Strays and Church and Early Sunsets, a Random Tuesday Post

And now, bits and bobs of random news from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.  

Little Girl has done it again.

Here's Zippy!

Her roommates found this one wandering their apartment complex, and it's very hard to get him to hold still for a picture.  He has fleas and ear mites and coccidia and probably everything else under the sun, but he's so friendly, always wanting to be held and petted.  We've put in the application at the shelter and offered to foster, so i'm sure he will be properly vetted and on his way to a good home soon.

This past Sunday we had a special evening service of remembrance for those who have lost unborn or infant children.  It was very moving and beautiful and sad and sweet.  All of us who have lost a baby were allowed to go light a candle 

Candles ready to be lit.

and write our child's name.  Many who had miscarried simply wrote "Baby" instead of a first name.  One family had three of those, another had four.  The names were read aloud during prayer.

The scripture was from Matthew 10, and the local Threads of Love made ornaments for us to keep.

From Matthew 18:10

In all, it was very healing.  Many years ago our church did this service once a year, but had gotten out of the habit.  Now that it has been done again, our pastor wants to keep it going, and i am very glad.

We are in the countdown to holidays, and i am starting my Christmas cards now.  If i don't start them early and get at least two a day done, i end up trying to cram it all into the last few days, and it becomes a stress instead of a blessing.  Better to do it early, i have finally learned.

Brother-in-Law, The Mouth, came by last night and was shocked that it got dark so early.  Winter is coming! i intoned solemnly, but it went totally past him.  This turning the clocks really does make a difference, though, which is why i wish we could pick one way and stick to it.

Today is the church ladies' meeting, i am bringing a salty snack for the meeting and a huge dark chocolate bar as a care item for our teacher encouragement gift for a teacher at the local public school we have "adopted".  Our discussion book is The Reason for G-d, Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller, i highly recommend it.  He has a lot to say about reexamining doubt and belief in different ways.

That's about it for this week's random, hope everyone has a blessed and beautiful Tuesday!

Today is:

Commemoration Day -- Tunisia

Day of Accord and Reconciliation -- Russia (formerly Great October Socialist Revolution Day, with the date determined by the Gregorian Calendar)

Feast of Blessed John Duns Scotus (the Subtle Doctor, known for merging the views from many philosophies)

    Dunce Day -- from the word Dunse, a name for the followers of the philosophy of John Duns Scotus

Feast of Stolen Fire -- find it listed on several sites, but none have any background; maybe celebrate that Prometheus stole fire for us?

International Tongue Twister Day -- internet generated

Magal de Touba -- Touba, Senegal (Muslim pilgrimage to honor the memory of Sheikh Amadou Bamba; through tomorrow)

Melbourne Cup Day -- Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia (154th running)

National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day

National Notary Public Day -- US 

National Revolution and Solidarity Day -- Bangladesh

October Revolution Day -- Belarus; Kyrgyzstan; Transdniestria

Stay Away from Anyone named Honest John Day -- internet generated; no comment

St. Florentius' Day (Patron against gall stones, ruptures)

St. Willibrord's Day (Patron of epileptics; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Utrecht, Netherlands; against convulsions, epilepsy)

Wish Granting Championships -- Fairy Calendar (Fairies)

Anniversary Today:

The Old Stoughton Musical Society, the oldest choral society in the US, is founded, 1786

Birthdays Today:

Jeremy London, 1972

Keith Lockhart, 1959

Joni Mitchell, 1943

Johnny Rivers, 1942

Barry Newman, 1938

Joan Sutherland, 1926

Al Hirt, 1922

Billy Graham, 1918

Albert Camus, 1913

Dean Jagger, 1903

Leon Trotsky, 1879

Madame Marie Curie, 1867

Captain James Cook, 1728

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"America Hurrah"(van Itallie play), 1966

"Face the Nation"(TV), 1954

"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"(Radio),1932

The Republican Elephant, as drawn by T. Nast in Harper's Weekly, 1874

"The Conscious Lovers"(Steele play), 1722

The Oxford Gazette(first edition), 1665 (Now The London Gazette)

Today in History:

The oldest meteorite with a known date of impact, the Ensisheim Meteorite, strikes around noon in a wheat field near the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France, 1492

Pierre Gassendi observes the transit of Mercury as predicted by Kepler, 1631

Anne Hutchinson is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a heretic, 1637

The first edition of the "London Gazette", the oldest surviving journal, is published, 1665

Lewis and Clark first sight the Pacific Ocean, 1805

The first Thomas Nast cartoon depicting the Republican Party Elephant is published, 1874

Edward Bouchet becomes the first black to receive a PhD from a US college (Yale), 1876

Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote, 1893

The first air freight shipment is undertaken by the Wright brothers and department store owner Max Moorehouse (from Dayton, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio), 1910

Mao Tse Tung proclaims the "Chinese People's Republic", 1931

Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected the 99th mayor of New York City, 1933

Carl B. Stokes is elected as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major American city, 1967

Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States, 1989

Mary Robinson becomes the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland, 1990

NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor, 1996

U.S. voters in the state of Massachusetts approve a referendum legalizing the use of medical marijuana; Colorado and Washington approve the legalization of recreational use of the drug, 2012

Sierra Leone, with a total death toll of 4,000, is declared free of Ebola by the World Health Organization, 2015

Time for Change

Is anyone else feeling almost hung over from the time change?

(Note:  i've never been drunk or hung over.  Not bragging, i just never found the idea of being out of my mind from a chemical and feeling horrible the next day appealing, so i never bothered.  Besides, half a glass of wine and i go right to bed anyway, so i just don't drink.  Thus when i say i feel a bit hung over, i'm going with what i think it might feel like, not actual experience.)

This problem seems to get worse with every year.  It's more and more difficult to catch up from that missed hour of sleep, and i'm not sure what to do about it.

If anything can be done, aside from staging a full on rebellion and starting a campaign to end the madness.

(Note:  just after writing this, i decided that someone has to have already begun a petition, and i was right.  It's here, if you want to sign it.) 

(Note:  the petitioners spell it incorrectly, adding the last "s" to the word "saving."  Doesn't matter to me, the fact that they have a petition going already means i don't have to start one!)

(Note:  i have a lot of notes today.  Must be because i'm still half asleep!)

We are back to dropping Little Girl off at school in the dark in the morning because the time change also starts earlier and earlier each year.

Maybe a better tack to take on this would be to change the clocks this one time, and never change them back.  After all, it's all rather arbitrary -- noon used to be when the sun was above your head, no need for a clock.

At least, if we just left it alone and made the current Daylight Saving Time the standard, we would have light as late in the evening as possible year round.

Until this happens, though, or we stop it altogether, i'm going to go get another cup of coffee.

Today is:

Cheltenham Hunt Festival -- Cheltenham Racecourse, Prestbury, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England (a four day Festival, with the big race on that final day)

Doctor's Day -- Venezuela

Dream Day -- supposedly begun by an instructor at Columbia University as a day to concentrate on how to make your dreams come true

Farvardigan -- Ancient Persia, Zoroastrians (10 day festival for the dead before Nowruz, the New Year)

Festival of Life in the Cracks Day -- internet holiday declared because this is where most of us are, and we deserve to be celebrated!

Harriet Tubman Day -- anniversary of her death in 1913

International Day of Awesomeness -- Celebrate what is awesome about you - always on Chuck Norris' birth anniversary, because no one is more awesome than Chuck

Mario Day -- for gamers, based on the date Mar 10

National Blueberry Popover Day

National Pack Your Lunch Day -- because it's cheaper and healthier

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day -- US

Organize Your Home Office Day -- Lisa Kanarek wants everyone to organize their home office on the second Tuesday in March; my response is:  in one day!  is she out of her mind!

Shiogama Jinja Hote Festival -- Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan (mikoshi parades and Shinto music)

St. Kessog's Day (Patron of Lennox, Scotland; Scotland)

Telephone Day -- Bell sent the first message by phone, to Watson in the next room, this day in 1876

Tibetan Uprising Day -- Tibetan Independence Supporters commemoration of the 1959 uprising

Whoopsical Day -- Fairy Calendar


Birthdays Today:

Emily Osment, 1992
Carrie Underwood, 1983
Shannon Miller, 1977
John Hamm, 1971
Edie Brickell, 1966
Prince Edward, 1964
Jasmine Guy, 1964
Rick Rubin, 1963
Pam Oliver, 1961
Sharon Stone, 1958
Shannon Tweed, 1957
Kim Campbell, 1947
Bob Greene, 1947
Tom Scholz, 1947
Chuck Norris, 1940
Dave Rabe, 1940
James Earl Ray, 1928
Pamela Mason, 1918
Bix Beiderbecke, 1903
Clare Boothe Luce, 1903


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer"(TV), 1997
"The Incredible Hulk"(TV), 1978
"Sweet Bird of Youth"(Play), 1959


Today in History:

The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end, BC241
Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire, 418
King Charles I dissolves Parliament; he calls it back 11 years later, 1629
English Quaker William Penn receives charter from Charles II, making him sole proprietor of colonial American territory Pennsylvania, 1681
French Huguenot Jean Calas, who was wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform, 1762
John Stone, of Concord, Massachusetts, patents a pile driver, 1791
England begins its first modern census, 1801
In St. Louis, Missouri, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States, 1804
The French Foreign Legion is established by King Louis-Philippe to support his war in Algeria, 1831
Abraham Lincoln patents a device to help free ships in rivers from shallow water; he built a small scale model, but no full-size device was ever built, and makes him the only US president to hold a patent, 1849
Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call by saying "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you," 1876
Commissioner George Scott Railton and seven women officers landed at New York to officially begin the work of the Salvation Army in the US, 1880
Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching, 1891
The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in Northern France, 1906
After Bob Fitzsimmons KOs much larger Jim Corbett to win world HW championship he says, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall," 1896
China ends slavery, 1910
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation, 1922
In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr.; he later retracts his guilty plea, 1969
Astronomers discover rings around Uranus, 1977
In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted 18 months after seizing power in a coup, 1990
The NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom, 2000
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars, 2006