Duck! (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and More Than (Poetry Monday)

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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!

These Muskogee ducks live at a pond near the shelter and come by for stale cat food to be thrown out the back door.  (Because we have a small managed feral colony and feed the outdoor cats, we have to throw food to the ducks to keep them from chasing the cats away and eating all the food.)  These two watched as i got out of my car. 

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

Source

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is on a blog semi-break and her poetry is sorely missed, we hope she comes back soon.   Charlotte/Mother Owl participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in at least once a month, too.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let Diane know!

This week the theme is DNA.                         

Most of us know the story

Of the scientists working away

To figure out the mystery

Of our body's code, DNA.

Our DNA tells us lots of

Things that about us are true,

Like whether we have big feet,

Or whether our eyes are blue.

But deeper than a double helix,

Beyond that tight-woven strand,

Is how we choose to express ourselves,

It's beyond just genetic demand.

Our DNA tells us do everything

We have to just to survive,

Our free will tells us it takes

More than that to truly thrive.

When instinct does instruct us

To look out for number one,

We can instead put others first,

Show the world how good is done.

When given a choice, choose kindness.

When given a choice, choose love.

Because instinct itself will never

Lead us to the heavens above.

Being human has to be more than

Just our genetic base,

Let's live the Golden Rule,

And bask in G-d's good grace!

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Today is:

Car Keys and Small Change Day -- ???

Dia de Andaluca -- Andalucia, Spain

DNA Day -- day in 1953 when Watson and Crick determined the double helix structure of DNA

Februalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification of Rome performed by citizens making sacrifices to the dead)

Floral Design Day -- a day to acknowledge this art form, sponsored by Rittners Floral School

Kalevala Day -- Finland (Finnish Culture Day)

Lailat al Miraj -- Islam (observance of Mohammed's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem; began at sundown yesterday, local customs and dates may vary)

Lundi Gras -- Fat Monday, Carnival, one of the last to days to feast before the Lenten fast begins Wednesday

     Bolludagur -- Iceland (Bun Day, the children wake the parents with a "spanking" while calling for cream buns that will be eaten that day)

     Old Mask Parade -- Oranjestad, Aruba (with the Burning of the Momo tomorrow, marking the end of Carnival)

     Rosenmontag -- German-speaking Countries (Rose Monday, highlight of Karneval)

National Chocolate Souffle' Day

National Science Day -- India

National Tooth Fairy Day - and/or August 22, depending on whom you ask

Nylon Day -- the first aliphatic polyamides were produced on this day in 1935

Peace Memorial Day -- Taiwan

Public Sleeping Day -- this one even has a wikiHow page 

Rare Disease Day -- International   

St. Hedwig of Poland's Day (Patron of queens)

St. Romanus' Day (Patron of the mentally ill; against drowning, insanity)

Teacher's Day -- Algeria; Bahrain; Egypt; Jordan; Libya; Morocco; Oman; Saudi Arabia; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen

Anniversaries Today:

University of Pittsburgh is chartered, 1787

Birthdays Today (followed by Feb. 29 Birthdays)

Ali Larter, 1976

Robert Sean Leonard, 1969

John Tuturro, 1957

Gilbert Gottfried, 1955

Bernadette, Peters, 1948

Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith, 1945

Brian Jones, 1942

Mario Andretti, 1940

Tommy Tune, 1939

Gavin MacLeod, 1930

Frank Gehry, 1929

Svetiana Allilueva, 1926

Charles Durning, 1923

Zero Mostel, 1915

Earl Scheib, 1907

Milton Caniff, 1907

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, 1906

Vincente Minnelli, 1903

Linus Pauling, 1901

Ben Heckt, 1894

Charles Blondin, 1824

John Tenniel, 1820

Mary Lyon, 1797

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1533

Antonio Sabato, Jr., 1972

Tony Robbins, 1960

Gretchen Christopher, 1940

Jack Lousma, 1936

Dinah Shore, 1916

Jimmy Dorsey, 1904

William Wellman, 1896

Herman Hollerith, 1860

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"On Golden Pond"(Play), 1979

"La Reine de Saba"(Opera), 1862

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling(Publication date), 1749

Today in History:

Coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China, BC202

The first edition of Henry Fieldings' "Tom Jones" is published, 1749

John Wesley charters the Methodist Church, 1784

The first commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) is chartered, 1827

Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec), 1838

Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor, 1849

The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire, 1870

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone, 1885

The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched, 1893

Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force, 1897

Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain, 1922

DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents Nylon, 1935

Basketball is televised for the first time, 1940

In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 civilian lives, 1947

James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2), 1953

The first-ever color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public, 1954

The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué, 1972

Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum, 1980

GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way, 1997

First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace, 1998

Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947, 2004

Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft, 2007

Egypt annunces the discovery of a granite head from a statue of King Tut's grandfather, Amenhotep III, 2010

Scientists announce they've been able to connect the brains of two rats so that they share information, 2013

The Caravaggio painting "Judith and Holofernes" (1607), lost for many years and rediscovered in an attic in Toulouse in 2014, is finally brought to auction, selling for to $171 million, 2019