They Make ALMOST Anything Prettier (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by Lee at Kitchen Connection.   

This week’s “Words for Wednesday” are listed below:

  

Audacious

Angst

Narrative

Provocative

Thoughtless

Courtesy

OR

Caricature

Undercurrent

Multiple

Dominant

Ultimate

Confident

"Are you AUDACIOUS enough to try?"

There was an UNDERCURRENT of "I dare you" in that voice, and she was perspicacious enough to pick up on it, although as a computer generated voice it was not supposed to be PROVOCATIVE in any way.  It was simply supposed to give the options, and issue a challenge, THOUGHTLESS and simple.

She suspected it wasn't so simple.  The challenge she'd been issued seemed keyed to her particular form of ANGST, the NARRATIVE in which the MULTIPLE options were given was couched in terms that made her feel less CONFIDENT and less competent than she actually was.

For a moment, she actually asked herself why she had chosen to even go this route.  There were easier ways that took longer, that didn't put you in quite this position in quite the same way.  Then she gave herself a mental shake, thinking about how her competitor would portray her in CARICATURE if she backed out.

She threw her shoulders back in a DOMINANT stance and put an attitude she did not feel into her voice.

"I will try, thank you," she said, although she knew the COURTESY would be lost on the machine.  She assumed, correctly, the powers behind the machine would catch it.  They did and were impressed.

This was going to be an ULTIMATE test of her will, and she knew she would not back down.

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Today is:

Canadian Multiculturalism Day -- Cananda

Day of National Unity -- Tajikistan

Day of Turkmen Workers of Culture and Art -- Turkmenistan

Day Sacred to the Lares -- Ancient Roman Calendar (personal household gods); also

    Festival of Jupiter Stator -- Jupiter, Stayer of the Rout, god who helped soldiers especially to stand their ground

    Initium Aestatis -- three day festival for the goddess of summer, which season they saw as beginning on this day

Decide to Be Married Day -- sponsored by Barbara Gaughen-Muller; to focus n the joy of couples deciding to be married

Findle-Fritter's Stoat Wheedling Event -- Fairy Calendar

"Happy Birthday to You" Day -- tune composed this day in 1859

Independence Day / National Day -- Djibouti

Industrial Workers of The World Day -- founded this day in 1905

Martyrdom of Joseph & Hyrum Smith -- Mormon

Mixed Races Day -- Brazil

National HIV Testing Day -- US    

National Indian Pudding Day

National Orange Blosssom Day

National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day -- US (by Senate resolution)   

Seven Sleepers Day (Siebenschläfertag) -- Germany (according to legend, today's weather determines the pattern for the next seven weeks)

Smithsonian Folklife Festival -- Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., US (through July 1, then again July 4-8; a model of research-based presentations of contemporary living cultural traditions of people around the world)

St. Ladislaus' Day (Patron of Szekszard, Hungary)

Sunglasses Day -- a reminder to wear those shades, protect your eyes from UV damage!

Birthdays Today:

Gabi Wilson, 1997

Madylin Sweeten, 1991

Ed Westwick, 1987

Drake Bell, 1986

Tobey Maguire, 1975

J.J. Abrams, 1976

Jason Patric, 1966

Isabelle Adjani, 1955

Julia Duffy, 1951

James Daughton, 1950

Norma Kamali, 1945

Shirley-Anne Field, 1938

H. Ross Perot, 1930

Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan, 1927

Helen Keller, 1880

Patrick Lafcadio "Koizumi Yakumo" Hearn, 1850

Charles Stewart Parnell, 1846

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Live and Let Die(Film), 1973

"Dark Shadows"(TV), 1966

"Captain Video and His Video Rangers"(TV), 1949

Today in History:

General James Wolfe begins the siege of Quebec, 1759

Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail, 1844

George Dixon becomes the first black world boxing champion in any weight class, while also being the first ever Canadian-born boxing champion, 1890

The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia, 1898

Sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian Battleship Potemkin, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war, 1905

Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter perform the first ever aerial refueling in a DH-4B biplane, 1923

The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War, 1950

The world's first nuclear power station opens in Obninsk, near Moscow, 1954

The world's first ATM is installed in Enfield, London, 1967

The President of Uruguay dissolves Parliament and heads a coup d'état, 1973

U.S president Richard Nixon visits the U.S.S.R., 1974

France grants independence to Djibouti, 1977

The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, ILO 169 convention, is adopted, 1989

Slovenia, after declaring independence two days before, is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War, 1991

Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft to focus on his charity work, 2008

The first democratic election in the history of Guinea is held, 2010

Tests show radioactive cesium is present in small quantities in residents of Iitate and Kawamata, Fukushima, towns located 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 2011

NASA launches IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, a space probe to observe the Sun, 2013