Bound and Gagged

"Hey, mom, what do you think?" Bigger Girl asked, holding up a contraption upon which she was weaving strips of leather.

Very nice, i said.  What is it?

"It's a leather crop for whipping someone!" she said.  "I'm making it as a gag gift for my friend Amber, for her engagement party.  We are all doing gag gifts, and i decided to make a homemade whip, like a bondage tool, I looked up how to make it online.  And when I give it to her, I'll tell her she needs to whip her husband into shape!"

Sounds like maybe you don't like him much, i said.

"Oh, no I like him, I think they are great together.  It's a gag gift.  And I'll test it by whipping my stuffed bear, make sure it holds up."

Poor bear, i said.

"Don't worry, I'll blindfold him and pretend he likes it!" she said.

And i'll pretend i didn't hear that, i answered as we both dissolved into a fit of laughter.

What you can't learn to make on the internet these days!

Today is:

Apaturia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a three day meeting of the clans and welcoming newcomers and children into the community; date approximate)

Betcha Festival -- Onomichi, Japan (men in costume "beat" children with bamboo whisks to prevent them getting ill in the coming year)

Bunka no hi -- Japan (Culture Day)

Cliche Day -- get them all out of your system today; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Cuenca Day -- Cuenca, Ecuador

Housewives' Day -- birth anniversary of Roseanne Barr

Independence Day -- Dominica(1978); Federated States of Micronesia(1986); Panama (also called Separation Day, separating from Colombia in 1903)

Let Someone Have the Last Word Day -- internet generated, probably so you will quit with the cliches

Lhabab Duechen -- Buddhism (Descending Day of Lord Buddha)
     a public holiday in Bhutan

Melbourne Cup Day -- Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia (153rd running)

Parsley Scattering Season ends -- Fairy Calendar

Sandwich Day -- birth anniversary of John Montague, Fourth Earl of Sandwich and reputed inventor of the food item which bears his name; make yourself a really good one in his memory

SOS Day -- on this date in 1906 the Second International Radio Telegraphic Conference at Berlin, Germany, proposed it as the new wireless distress signal to replace CQD (Come Quick, Danger)

St. Hubert's Day (Patron of archers, dogs, forest workers, furriers, hunters and hunting, machinists, mathmematicians, metal workers, opticians, precision instrument makers, smelters, trappers; Liege, Belgium; Saint-Hubert, Belgium; against dog bites, hydrophobia/rabies)

St. Martin de Porres' Day (Patron of African-Americans, bargers/hair stylists, inter-racial justice, hotel-keepers/innkeepers, paupers, persons of mixed race, poor people, public education, public health, public schools, race relations/racial harmony, social justice, state schools, television; Biloxi, MI, US; Peru)

St. Pirminius' Day (Patron of Monsheim, Germany; against poisoning, snake bite)

St. Winifred's Day (Patron of incest victims, martyrs; Gwytherin, Wales; Holywell, Wales; Shrewsbury, England)

Tunnel Day -- NY, NY, US (anniversary of the start of the first subway tunnel in 1900)

Victory Day -- Maldives


Birthdays Today:

Gemma Ward, 1987
Evgeny Plushenko, 1982
Dolph Lundgren, 1959
Phil Simms, 1956
Adam Ant, 1954
Kathy Kinney, 1954
Kate Capshaw, 1953
Dennis Miller, 1953
Roseanne, 1952
Steve Landesberg, 1945
Ken Berry, 1933
Michael Dukakis, 1933
Monica Vitti, 1933
Charles Bronson, 1921
Bob Feller, 1918
Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski, 1908
Edward Douglass White, 1845
William Cullen Bryant, 1794
Stephen Fuller Austin, 1793
Thomas Kyd, 1558


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Diff'rent Strokes"(TV), 1978
"Good Morning America"(TV), 1973
Play Misty for Me(Film, NYC release date), 1971
"The Unsinkable Molly Brown"(Musical), 1960
"A Connecticut Yankee"(Musical), 1927


Today in History:

Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina, 644
Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea, 1493
The English parliament accepts the Act of Supremacy, declaring Henry VIII to be the leader of the Church of England, 1534
Great Patent is granted to Plymouth Colony, 1620
A great panic occurs in Europe over the close approach of a comet, 1679
Spain acquires Louisiana, 1762
The Bank of Montreal, Canada's oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal, Quebec, 1817
The Times of India, the world's most widely circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper, is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, 1838
John W. Menard, of Louisiana, becomes the first African-American elected to Congress, 1868
"Black Bart the Poet", stagecoach robber, commits his last robbery, leaving behind a clue that leads to his capture, 1883
J.H. Hunter patents a portable weighing scale, 1896
Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market, 1911
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika, 1957
NASA launches Mariner 10 toward Mercury; it would later become the first probe to reach that planet, 1973
Dutch and British astronomers find spiral nebula Dwingeloo 1, 1994
Pervez Musharraf declares emergency rule across Pakistan, suspending the Constitution, 2007
US Border Patrol discovers a sophisticated tunnel used by drug smugglers from Tijuana, Mexico to Otay Mesa, California, 2010