Weather and Korea and Saving Daylight, a Random Tuesday Post

And now, a bit of random news and some random thoughts from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.   

Guest dog has gone home until the next round of cold this coming weekend.  He will be back, mostly so we can get him to the veterinarian and get him neutered.  Where he lives, it would be easy for him to run off and end up in lots of trouble, and i hope that neutering will curb that desire intact male dogs have to want to roam.

Little Girl has told us that her boyfriend, Alston, is being deployed.  He will soon be in South Korea, and i know she will miss him.  We all will, and we hope he comes home safely.

Speaking of Korea, Dr. D was telling me that it’s “the little man in North Korea” who is messing up the weather.  According to her, his missile tests are disturbing the jet stream, and that’s why the weather patterns are off.  Listening to her is amusing and educational.

Sweetie scared me with the Jalopy the other day, he couldn’t get her started.  She’s a cranky old vehicle sometimes, and he and Bigger Girl have trouble with her.  Maybe she and i just understand each other better, i do not know.

One thing i enjoy about this time of year is that i can already tell the days are getting a bit longer.  The tiny bit of extra sunshine early and late makes a big difference in my mood.

Someone was mentioning Daylight Saving recently, and i hate that we will have to move the clocks again soon.  My suggestion is that we remember that how we measure time is our own construct, not something written into universal law.  So i suggest we split the difference, move the clocks forward by a half hour this spring and then leave them there, never to have these stupid time changes again.  

It would work, and it would get rid of the foolish and unneeded ritual of changing it all that messes up our rhythms.  Those who want the light later in the day would get it, just not as quickly, but all of us would get the relief of not having to lose sleep every spring.

Of course, because it would work, it will never happen.

Anyway, whatever time it is where you are, i hope you are enjoying your day.

Today is:

Balloon Ascension Day / Aviation in America Day -- the first manned free balloon flight in the US was on this date in 1793 at Philadelphia

Duelo Nacional -- Panama (Martyrs' Day)

Feast of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene -- Quiapo District, Manila, Philippines (culmination of the celebrations; a 400 year old Catholic procession with a black life-sized wooden statue of Jesus)

Festival of the Agonalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (gifts given to Janus)

Hatsu-Ichi -- Maebashi, Japan (a daruma -- good luck doll -- market, to start the year off right)

"I Will Stay" Day -- Brazil (anniversary of the start of the Independence Movement in 1922)

National Apricot Day

National No-Tillage Conference -- St. Louis, MO, US (conference to encourage ecologically sound farming; through the 132h)

Peace Agreement Day -- South Sudan

Positively Penguins Day -- a day to celebrate all things penguin

Republic Day -- Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Static Cling/Static Electricity Day -- on some sites, listed as April 26; i can only ask why it's listed anywhere for any reason

St. Marciana's Day (Patron of those with wounds)

Stepfather's Day -- not official, but it should be, there are some great stepfathers out there

Stuffed Animal Laundry Day -- give that old bear a bath!

Toka Ebisu -- Japan (parades and shrine rituals through Japan, but especially in Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka; through the 11th)

Anniversaries Today:

Connecticut becomes the 5th US State, 1788

Birthdays Today:

Sergio Garcia, 1980

Dave Matthews, 1967

Joely Richardson, 1965

Mark Martin, 1959

Imelda Staunton, 1956

J.K. Simmons, 1955

Crystal Gayle, 1951

Jimmy Page, 1944

Joan Baez, 1941

Susannah York, 1941 

Byron Barlett "Bart" Starr, 1934

Bob Denver, 1935

Judith Krantz, 1928

Lee Van Cleef, 1925

Les Paul, 1915 

Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick), 1914

Richard Nixon, 1913

Simone De Beauvoir, 1908

Chic Young, 1901

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, 1859

Gracie Fields, 1898

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"It Takes a Thief"(TV), 1968

"Rawhide"(TV), 1959

"Dear Abby"(newspaper column), 1956

"Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze"(Film), 1894

Today in History:

Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, 475

Seven hundred Jews, believed to be causing the Black Death, are burned in their homes in Basel, Switzerland, 1349

The first sighting of manatees by a European (Columbus), 1493

Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London, 1768

The first hot-air balloon flight in the US lifts off in Philadelphia, 1793

Income Tax is introduced in the UK (to fund the war against Napoleon), 1799

Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral, 1806

Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery, 1816

The Daguerrotype photo process is announced at French Academy of Science, 1839

Thomas Henderson makes the first measure of stellar parallax, of Alpha Centauri, 1839

The Astor Library opens in NYC, 1854

The first hostilities of the Civil War, at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861

The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow, 1880

New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts, 1894

Alfred Tennyson's son, Hallam, the Second Baron Tennyson, becomes the second Governor General of Australia, 1903

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University is founded, 1914

The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated, 1916

Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogiro (helicopter) flight, Spain, 1923

A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Quebec, Montreal, kills 78 children, 1927

Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians, 1964

Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is succeeded by Rawhi Fattouh, 2005

The Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group sign a peace agreement in Naivasha, Kenya, 2005