How Many?

How many vehicles does it take to shut down the whole area?

Only one.

"Don't go anywhere!" #1 Son said as he came in from work.

Yes, i heard, i told him.  Your father called to get me to look online to see if there were any routes open.  The whole area is shut down from a car breakdown about 5 hours ago.

"I know!  It's amazing that one car breaking down on the bridge can shut down the whole thing!  How does that happen?" he asked.

Oh, the usual, i answered.  One car breaks down or there's an accident up on one of the interstate areas.  It slows to a crawl, so people flood the what they call the surface streets and the other highways, trying to get through.  Then add more traffic as people get off work and are trying to leave, and it shuts everything down.

"Yeah, well, it took me an hour from about two miles from here!"

That's how it goes, i told him.  So i expect your dad to be late, which means i can't pay this bill online until he gets here, and it has to be done today.

"What's with that?" he asked.

Well, it's one of those sites that asks for your credit card number and expiration date, as usual.  The only problem is, my card expires this month, and they only ask for the expiration month and year, not the day.  Thus, they have decided that this card is expired, even though it is still good until the end of the month or until i get the new one and activate it.  And i can't just use the new expiration date that will be on the new card, because that card hasn't been activated yet, since i don't have it.  So i will have you use your father's card, which has a different expiration month from mine!

"That's dumb!" he said.  "They should know that an expiration month means at the end of the month!"

You would think, i said.

So how many cars does it take to shut down this whole area and turn it into a 7 hour traffic nightmare?  Only one.  How many websites does it take to make me almost wish we could go back to paper and pen and a check in the mail?  Also only one.

And how many of my kids does it take to put me back in a good mood?

"Mom, I just found out we get a whole week for spring break!" Little Girl practically yelled.

Of course, i said.  You get Good Friday and all of the week after Easter.

"A whole week for Mardi Gras, and a whole week for Easter!  Bless the Catholics!" she yelled.

The answer is still only one.


Today is:

Biezputras Diena (Porrige Day) -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (date unconfirmed, some sites suggest it's always on a Sunday before Feb. 23 instead)

Create-A-Vacuum Day -- an internet generated celebration of the nothingness of vacuums

Cultural Caravan for Peace -- various cities in Mali and on the Niger River; the Caravan for this very remote music festival will be hosted by The Festival on the Niger through the 8th, then continue in various other cities through the 15th

Festival sur le Niger -- Segou, Mali (Festival on the Niger, an annual heritage celebration, with a special combination festival with the Festival au Desert on the 6th; through the 9th)

General Thaddeus Kosciuszko Day -- Poland (birth anniversary)

Homemade Soup Day

Independence Day -- Sri Lanka

King Frost Day -- London (Celebrated yearly until WWI, in remembrance of the frozen River Thames on this day in 1814.)

Liberation Day -- Angola

National Girls and Women in Sports Day -- US (information here) 

National Stuffed Mushroom Day

Quacker Day -- for those who love Quacker Factory clothes

Spoiled Cats' Day -- internet generated, and isn't this every day?

St. Andrew Corsini's Day (Patron of Carmelites; against civil disorder and riots)

St. John de Brito's Day (Patron of Portugal; Sivagangai, India)

Thank A Mailperson/Postal Worker Day -- because someone decided it would be a good day to do that, and put it on the internet

Tu B'Shvat -- Judaism ("New Year of the Trees", began yesterday at sunset)

USO Day -- US (founded this date in 1941)

World Cancer Day -- International  


Anniversaries Today:

United Service Organizations (USO) founded, 1941
The University of Wisconsin is established, with one classroom and 20 students, 1849


Birthdays Today:

Natalie Imbruglia, 1975
Oscar De La Hoya, 1973
Gabrielle Anwar, 1971
Michael Goorjian, 1971
Rod corddry, 1971
Clint Black, 1962
Lawrence Taylor, 1959
Lisa Eichhorn, 1952
Alice Cooper, 1948
Dan Quayle, 1947
George A. Romero, 1940
Jhn Schuck, 1940
David Brenner, 1936
Gary Conway, 1936
Betty Friedan, 1921
Ida Lupino, 1918
Rosa Parks, 1913
Clyde W. Tombaugh, 1906
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906
Charles Lindbergh, 1902
Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 1746


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours"(Album), 1977


Today in History:

The Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta, 211
The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries, 960
Maximilian I assumes the title Holy Roman Emperor without being crowned, 1508
Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler meet for the first time near Prague 1600
In Edo (now Tokyo), The 47 Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) after avenging the death of their master, 1703
The worst earthquake in 8 years in Calabria, Italy, leaves 50,000 dead, 1783
The first Anglican bishops of New York and Pennsylvania are consecrated in London, 1787
George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College, 1789
The French National Convention proclaims the abolishment of slavery, 1794
An earthquake in Quito, Ecuador, kills 41,000, 1797
J.W. Goodrich introduces his rubber galoshes to the public, 1824
The Mormons of Nauvoo, Missouri, leave to go west, eventually settling in Utah, 1846
The Codex Sinaiticus is found at the Greek Monastery of Mount Sinai, 1859
The first rolling lift bridge opens, in Chicago, 1895
The first Winter Olympics games close at Chamonix, France, 1924
The first tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks open, in New Orleans, 1930
Radium E is the first radioactive substance to be produced synthetically, 1936
The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops, 1941
Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft, 1967
After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections, 1997
Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg, 2004
The Federal Court of Australia's ruling in Roadshow Films v iiNet sets a precedent that Internet service providers (ISPs) are not responsible for what their users do with the services the ISPs provide them, 2010
The remains found the previous year in a dig at Leicester are confirmed to be those of King Richard III of England, 2013