Silly Sunday: Shocking Calls

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs.  The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

1. Post a joke.
2. Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
3. Read my joke.
4. Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
5. Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
6. Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

It's that time of year again, when we spend many Saturdays watching our home town heroes of the gridiron play.

One thing about going to the games that is a mixed blessing is that your phone may or may not get any reception while in the stadium.  Trying to keep up with all the kids who come with us, without being able to call them, can be challenging.

As i tried to call Red-headed Alec yesterday and couldn't get an answer, i was thinking about how we never had telephones to worry about when i first started going to games, because they were all back home attached to the wall.

Then i started thinking about other uses of telephones, and it reminded me of Boudreaux.

There are some things that are illegal everywhere except in extreme south Louisiana, where Boudreaux will tell you that it is legal there anyway when you are hungry enough.  This includes the old use of the cranking device from old-style telephones to generate electricity through wires dropped in the water.  This would shock the fish, which would float to the surface to be netted for consumption or sale.

After one such "fish shocking" expedition, Boudreaux was selling some of the fish he had caught to a local restaurant.  The buyer, suspicious about it, asked him, "Did you "telephone" these fish?

An' Boudreaux, he say, "Mais, no!  I jes' drop dem a line!"

Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Sao Tome and Principe

Defense Day -- Pakistan

Ear and Trumpter Contests for Mice -- Fairy Calendar

Father's Day -- Australia; Fiji; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea

Festa Della Rificolona -- Florence, Italy (one of Florences oldest and most colorful celebrations; through tomorrow)

Fight Procrastination Day/National Do It Day

Flag Day -- Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles

Harvest Wine Celebration -- Livermore, CA, US (open-house visits to over 40 wineries)

National Coffee Ice Cream Day -- Sweetie swears the best ever was at Howard Johnson Restaurants back in the day

Read A Book Day -- can't find the history on it, but enjoy!

Regata Storical (Historical Regatta) -- Venice, Italy (competition among two-oar racing gondolas, preceded by Venetian ceremonial boats)

Running of the Sheep -- Reed Point, MT (matched only by the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, hundreds of sturdy Montana bred woolies charge down the six blocks of the main street in town, plus there is a parade!)

Sacrifice to Hera Thelchinia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Somhlolo Day -- Swaziland (Independence Day)

St. Magnus of Fussen's Day (Patron of crops; against caterpillars, hail, lightning, reptiles, vermin)

Stillbirth Remembrance Day -- Canada (some Provinces); US

Unification Day -- Bulgaria

Wakes Sunday -- Abbots Bromley, England (Complete with the traditional celebration of the Horn Dance tomorrow)


Birthdays Today:

Justin Whalin, 1974
Sarah Strange, 1974
Rosie Perez, 1964
Elizabeth Vargas, 1962
Jeff Foxworthy, 1958
Jane Curtin, 1947
Swoosie Kurtz, 1944
Jo Anne Worley, 1937
Billy Rose, 1899
Joseph P. Kennedy, 1888
Jane Addams, 1860
Catharine Esther Beecher, 1800
John Dalton, 1766
Marquis de Lafayette, 1757
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, 1711


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp"(TV), 1955
Jack Dempsey/Billy Miske Boxing Match(First match broadcast on radio), 1920
"La clemenza di Tito/The Clemency of Titus"(Opera, Mozart K. 621), 1791


Today in History:

The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world, 1522
The Spanish "Silver Fleet" disappears off the Florida Keys, 1622
Founding of Salem, Massachussetts, 1628
The first US lighthouse is built in Boston, 1716
Hurricane hits Martinique and Guadalupe, hundreds of ships sink and thousands die on land and at sea, 1776
Thomas Blanchard patents the lathe, 1819
Oberlin Collegiate Institute of Ohio becomes co-ed, with 4 women and 30 men in attendance, 1837
Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807, 1870
Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands, 1948
Canada's first television station, CBFT-TV, opens in Montreal, 1952
Nine Israeli athletes are killed during a rescue attempt after being kidnapped at the Munich Olympic Games; two had died during the kidnapping the day before, 1972
The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: 
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and restores the name St. Petersburg to Russia's second largest city, 1991
Cal Ripken Jr of the Baltimore Orioles plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking a record that stood for 56 years, 1995
Diana, Princess of Wales is laid to rest in front of a television audience of more than 2.5 billion, 1997
China launches an investigation into its commercial pilots upon learning that more than 200 of them had falsified their resumes, 2010
Central Australia reports the first sighting since 1960 of a Central rock rat, 2013