Just Like That (Awwww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, and A to Z Post

 ***********************************

To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

***********************************

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Just like that, it's kitten season:

***********************************

Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

***********************************

Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Charlotte/Mother Owl always participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in at least once a month, too.  Spike's Best Mate often leaves a wonderful poem in the comments on one of our blogs.

This week the theme is A Favorite Invention.          

             

We can all admire the wheel,

The car, the telephone,

Things useful and items fun,

Like game systems or a drone.

There are inventions silly,

Such as the LED shoe,

No need to turn on lights at night

Sounds crazy, but it's true.

Some things are very clever,

Like the robot vacuum cleaner,

Newfangled light bulbs save energy

So we can all be greener.

The problem i need solved

Is not any of these,

The best invention ever

Someone make it for me, please.

It needs to block lights and noises,

Stop the cats that all over me creep,

The best invention ever,

Would help me get more sleep!

***********************************

Today is:

Big Wind Day -- anniversary of the strongest natural wind ever recorded on the earth's surfact, at Mount Washington, NH, US; the wind gusts reached 231 mph

D.E.A.R. Day (a/k/a Drop Everything And Read) -- sponsored by the ALA, on Bevery Cleary's birth anniversary    

Eat All Your Snacks Before the Movie Even Starts Day  -- with all the ads before the movie, doesn't that happen anyway?

Festival of Cerealia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (seven day public and private festival for Ceres)

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

Halifax Day -- North Carolina, US (anniversary of the resolution adopted authorizing voting for independence in 1776)

Hindu New Year -- Hindu (local custom/date may vary)

     Hari Raya Nyepi Tahun Baru -- Indonesia (New Year in the Balinese Saka calendar)

     Nyepi Day -- Bali, Indonesia (Day of Silence, Balinese New Year/Saka New Year celebration on which everything is closed, even the international airport)

     Ougadi -- Mauritius and some regions of India (the Telugu New Year)

     Ramayana -- Hindu (through April 21st; local customs/celebratory dates may vary) 

International Day for Street Children    

National Licorice Day     

Ramadan begins -- Islam (at sunset, through the evening of May 13)

Sinhala & Tamil New Year's Eve -- Sri Lanka

St. Sabas' Day (Patron of Lectors, torture victims)

St. Zeno's Day (Patron of anglers, children learning to speak, children learning to walk, fishermen, newborn babies; city and diocese of Verona, Italy)

Walk on Your Wild Side Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, a day in which to do something no one would expect from you

Yuri's Night -- International (Commemoration of first human in space, Yuri Gagarin)

     Cosmonaut's Day -- Russia

     International Day of Human Space Flight -- UN

Birthdays Today:

Saoirse Ronan, 1994

Riley Smith, 1982

Claire Danes, 1979

Sarah Jane Morris, 1977

Nicholas Brendon, 1971

Shannen Doherty, 1971

Nick Hexum, 1970

Art Alexakis, 1962

vince Gill, 1957

Andy Garcia, 1956

David Cassidy, 1950

Tom Clancy, 1947

Dan Lauria, 1947

David Letterman, 1947

Ed O'Neill, 1946

Herbie Hancock, 1940

Dennis Banks, 1937

Tiny Tim, 1930

Ann Miller, 1923

Beverly Cleary, 1916

Henry Clay, 1777

Lyman Hall, 1724

Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, BC599

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"21 Jump Street"(TV), 1987

"Your Hit Parade"(Radio), 1935

"Madame Bovary"(Publication date), 1857

"Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath"(Weber opera), 1826

"The Tatler"(Journal, first edition), 1709 Note:  this original version of a publication with the name lasted only two years

Today in History:

Constantinople falls to the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire, 1204

The formal inquest of Galileo by the Inquisition begins, 1633

The first edition of Tatler Magazine is published in London, 1709

The American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861

George C Blickensderfer patents a portable typewriter, 1892

Pierre Prier makes the first nonstop flight from London to Paris, in 3h 56m, 1911

Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England, 1937

The strongest surface wind gust ever measured, 231 mph, at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, 1943

The Salk vaccine is declared safe and effective, 1955

Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space, 1961

Samuel Doe takes over Liberia in a coup d'etat, ending 130 years of peaceful and democratic presidential successions, 1980

The first launch of a space shuttle, the Colombia, 1981

The Euro Disney Resort officially opens (now Disneyland Paris), 1992

Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet spam, 1994

Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwe Dollar as their currency, 2009

Following the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, Japan raises the crisis level to 7, equal to the disaster in Chernobyl, 2011

The new drug, ABT-450, with a 90-95% success rate for treating Hepatitis C, is announced, 2014

Scientists and internet entrepreneurs, including Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking, and Mark Zuckerberg, announce a joint interstellar project to send a robot spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, 2016

In an attempt to stabilize world oil prices, OPEC and several major oil companies agree to the largest-ever drop in production, 2020