Just as "They" said.

Last night, i finally saw it.

It's a good thing for our pocketbooks, i must admit, but with our state budget in a shambles, it's not good for the overall economy of our state.

Yes, it's kind of been expected for a while now.  Although, really, every time it happens, most of us probably figure it's the last time and it won't happen again.

Then it does.  The "mysterious they" are quoted on the news, telling us it will happen, and the "mysterious they" try to predict about when, but it's never a sure thing.

A few years ago, the "mysterious they" predicted a horror scenario that didn't happen. The whole thing struck me as funny when everyone celebrated that it didn't, because if the "mysterious they" hadn't made such a dire prediction, then what really did happen would have been considered awful.

What am i meandering on about this time?  This:

Gasoline at "only" $1.999, thus under $2/gallon!

The "mysterious they" is probably the gas industry watchers, such as AAA and consumer groups, but sometimes i wonder about them.

A few years ago, the mysterious they had everyone up in arms about how "gas prices are going to go to $5/gallon before the end of summer!"  There was panic, there were cries of woe, and there was a massive, collective sigh of relief when the prices "only" went to around $3.50.

The whole time i was watching this play out, i figured we were being played for saps and wondered if the "mysterious they" and the whole petroleum industry weren't laughing in their sleeves at us.  After all, if the "mysterious they" hadn't started a panic at the thought of $5/gallon, wouldn't we have been really ticked off when it went up as high as it did?

Yes, i think we would have.  As it was, we, the collective we, acted grateful.

Since then, i listen with more suspicion than i ever had before when the "mysterious they" are quoted.

Meanwhile, though, i'm out talking to a potential new client today, and i'm going to treat the Jalopy to something she hasn't had in a while -- more than half a tank of gas.  For a minivan, she has an enormous tank, and half a tank is usually about all i can get her. 

Today is

According to Hoyle Day -- death anniversary of Edmond Hoyle

Be Kind to Humankind Week: Speak Kind Words Saturday

Birthday of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Chop Suey Day

Day of Loose Talk -- Fairy Calendar
 
Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (Patron of baptism, bird dealers, converts, convulsive children, cutters, epileptics, farmers, French Canadians, lambs, monastic life, motorways, printers, tailors; over 70 cities and countries around the world; against convulsions, epilepsy, hail and hailstorms, spasms)
     Head Day -- Iceland (a weather omen day; whatever today's weather, it will stay the same for at least 3 weeks)

Full Sturgeon Moon a/k/a Full Red Moon, Green Corn Moon, or Grain Moon
     Native Wild Rice Harvest -- Northern Cree, Ojibwa, and Algonkian Native Americans (celebrated during the August full moon; if there are two full moons, it is during the second)
     Nikini Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka (begins at sundown)
     Wahgaung Full Moon -- Myanmar 

Hotter 'n H*ll Hundred Bike Race -- Wichita Falls, TX, US (cyclists of all ages in the largest sanctioned century ride in the US, in the Texas summer heat)

Individual Rights Day -- on the birth anniversary of John Locke, the first philosopher to argue that a human being has basic rights based on his status as a sovereign human being, and that people are not slaves of their government, but their human rights should be protected by government

International Bat Night -- through tomorrow, go enjoy these wonderful creatures; www.eurobats.org or www.batcon.org

International Day Against Nuclear Testing -- UN

Judgment Day -- according to "The Terminator"

Koenji Awa Odori Festival -- Suginami City, Tokyo, Japan (thousands dance in the streets, through tomorrow)

Lemon Juice Day

More Herbs, Less Salt Day

National Sarcoidosis Awareness Day -- US (by presidential proclamation in 1991)

Notting Hill Carnival -- Notting Hill, London, UK (through Monday, the 2nd largest street festival in the world)

Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival -- Pittsburgh, PA, US (relive the days of yore, watch artisans practice the olde crafts, and have a high good time; weekends through September)

Raksha Bandhan -- GJ, RJ, UK, & UP, India; Nepal (the Hindu festival that celebrates the the love and duty between brothers and sisters)

Runic Half-Month Rad begins (Motion)

Schemitzun(Green Corn Pow Wow) -- Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (through tomorrow, Pow Wow and presentations of Native heritage to all)

Sheep Market Fair -- Ho, Denmark (annual sheep market and family fair; through Sunday)

Slovak National Uprising Anniversary -- Slovakia

Usuki Stone Buddhas Fire Festival -- Usuki, Japan (torchlight at twilight lights the regions mysterious Buddha statues; includes a beach party!)


Birthdays Today

Lea Michele, 1986
Rebecca De Mornay, 1962
Mark Morris, 1956
Michael Jackson, 1958
`Richard Gere, 1949
Robin Leach, 1941
William Friedkin, 1939
Elliot Gould, 1938
John McCain, 1936
Richard Attenborough, 1923
Charlie "Bird" Parker, 1920
Isabel Sanford, 1917
Ingrid Bergman, 1915
Preston Sturges, 1898
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809
John Locke, 1632


Today in History

Era of Diocletian (Martyrs), the last major time of persecution for the early Christian churches, begins with Gen. Gaius Aurelius V Diocletianus Jovius becoming emperor of Rome, 284
Japan mints its first copper coins, 708
The last Incan King of Peru, Atahualpa, is executed by order of Francisco Pizarro, 1533
The first Indian "reservation" is formed by the New Jersey Legislature, 1758
Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction, 1831
The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of slavery in its empire, 1833
Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War, 1842
The first motorcycle is patented in Germany by Gottlieb Daimler, 1885
The chef of a visiting Chinese Ambassador invents "chop suey" in NYC, 1896
The Goodyear tire company is founded, 1898
The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers, 1907
Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California, 1911
The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, 1949
Speedy Gonzales makes his debut, 1953
The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in SanFrancisco, 1966
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party, 1991
Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, 2005
Sumatra's Sinabung volcano erupts for the first time in 400 years, killing one and causing Indonesia to evacuate thousands of people, 2010
London holds the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, 2012
Austrian researchers announce they successfully grew 'cerebral organoids' or mini-brains, containing several distinct regions of the brain; the mini-brains will help scientists understand how brains develop, and what causes schizophrenia and autism, 2013