What's Important (Cajun Joke) and Sunday Selections

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Just because Sandee of Comedy Plus is no longer hosting a Silly Sunday blog hop, do not expect me to quit telling Cajun jokes, especially as it has now become a habit.

The Carnival parades are in full swing all over south Louisiana.  You'd best check the online map before you go anywhere to be certain you aren't trying to get from here to there across a parade route.

Clothile an' Marie done be talkin' 'bout gittin' older an' havin' "physic ther'py" as dey call it since dey both gots a bad shoulder.

Clothile say, "I gots to git de ther'pist ta he'p me work on liftin' dis arm up high when I gots to git de clothes on de line to dry."

An' Marie say, "Mais, I done gots to git dem to he'p me wit' my throwin' arm so I can pitch de beads from de Mardi Gras Parade float!"

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Sunday Selections was started as a way for bloggers to use photos that might otherwise just languish in their files.  The rules have been relaxed, and it is now simply a showcase for your photos, new or old, good or bad, although nothing rude, please.  It was hosted by River, who still participates, and is now hosted by Elephant's Child, who is on a blog break for right now and sorely missed.  

It's Carnival Time!      

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Mexico

Birthday of Minerva -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Birth Anniversary of Shivaji -- Maharashtra, India

Chaoflux -- Discordianism

Chief Leschi Day -- US, especially Washington State (Native American chief wrongly executed for murder on this date in 1958; fully exonerated 2004)

Church Action on Poverty Sunday -- UK (Give, Act, and Pray) 

Cracker Jacks Prize Day -- the first prizes were added to the boxes of caramel popcorn this date in 1913

Daytona 500 Race -- Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL, US

Fasching Sunday -- Germany and Austria, and among German speaking peoples; the Party before Lent really kicks up now

Flag Day -- Turkmenistan

Fly-By for Goblins and others -- Fairy Calendar

Goa Month begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (month of the goddess Goa, personified as the daughter of Old Man Winter; as last month greeted her father well, greet her kindly, too, for an easy weather month)

     Konudagur -- Housewife's Day (just as the first day last month honored husbands, this month the wife is greeted with either coffee or flowers)

Hall Sunday -- meaning Hallowed Sunday, the Sunday before Lent, which has many traditions associated with it

Meatfare Sunday -- Orthodox Christian (final day on which meat may be consumed before the Lenten fast); related event:

     Maslenitsa -- Russia (between Meatfare Sunday and Cheesefare Sunday is Butter Week or Pancake Week, when you stuff yourself before the Orthodox Church Great Lent)

National Chocolate Mint Day (because every day needs chocolate in some form)

Prajatantra Diwas -- Nepal (Democracy Day, celebrating the overthrow of the Rana Dynasty in 1951)

Scout - Guide Week -- Canada (Scouts Canada and Girl Guides of Canada plan and hold special activities this week in honor of their founders)

Solar System Day -- birth anniversary of Copernicus

St. Conrad of Piacenza's Day -- (Patron against hernias)

Straw Wrapper Appreciation Day -- an internet spread holiday to remind you of how much fun it was as a kid to blow the wrappers off the straws

Temporary Insanity Day -- anniversary of the first time someone successfully pleaded temporary insanity in a court of law; Daniel Stickles, in 1859

Transfiguration Sunday -- Christian

Vassil Levski Day -- Bulgaria (Bulgaria's "Apostle of Freedom")

Anniversary Today:

Knights of Pythias founded, 1864

Birthdays Today:

Haylie Duff, 1985

Andrew Shue, 1967

Benicio Del Toro, 1967

Justine Bateman, 1966

Jonathan Lethem, 1964

Seal, 1963

Prince Andrew, Duke of York, 1960

Ray Winstone, 1957

Jeff Daniels, 1955

Margaux Hemingway, 1955

Amy Tan, 1952

Stephen Nichols, 1951

Lou Christie, 1943

Smokey Robinson, 1940

Lee Marvin, 1924

Merle Oberon, 1911 (some sources say Feb. 18)

Willam III of the Netherlands, 1817

David Garrick, 1717

Nicolas Copernicus, 1473

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Woman of Independent Means"(TV Miniseries), 1995

"Crazy For You"(Musical), 1992

"Eastenders"(TV), 1985

"Rumours"(Album release), 1977

"The Feminine Mystique"(Publication date), 1963

"Picnic"(Inge Play), 1953

"Alexander's Feast"(HWV 75), 1736

Today in History:

Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus' defeats beats Clodius Albinus at Lyon, 197

Emperor Constantius II shuts down all pagan temples, 356

The second Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ends as a council in Constantinople formally reinstates veneration of icons in the churches, 842

Jews of Tyrnau, Hungary (then Trnava, Czech) are expelled, 1539

The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America, 1600

Britain and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, and New Amsterdam formally becomes New York, 1674

British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III, 1819

The first practical coal burning locomotive in the US makes a trial run, in Pennsylvania, 1831

Tin-type camera is patented by Hamilton Smith of Gambier, Ohio, 1856

Daniel E. Sickles is acquitted of the murder of his wife's lover, Phillip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key), on the grounds of temporary insanity, the first time this defense is successfully used, 1859

Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom in Russia, 1861

Thomas Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph), 1878

Kansas becomes the first US state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages, 1881

WK Kellog and Charles Bolin found the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co., 1906

The first prize is inserted into a Cracker Jack box, 1913

Ed Wynn becomes the first talent to sign as a regular radio entertainer, 1922

Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize for poetry, 1949

Bill Keane's "Family Circus" comic strip makes its debut, 1960

Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital, 1985

The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft, 1986

NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system, 2002

NASA loses communication with the International Space Station's for three hours as a result of updating the station's command and control software, 2013

Nigeria confirms 110 girls are missing from a school in Dapchi, Yoba State, and were  presumed kidnapped by Boko Haram, 2018

After a 4-year ban, the World Anti-Doping Agency decides to allow some Russians to complete in international sports under the Russian Olympic Committee, 2021