What is Where? a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

Yesterday was a rousing game of "guess whether the clothes are clean or dirty" at Carl's place.

Does it surprise you to know i usually go with dirty?

One of the wet items he'd pulled out of the washer and left on the laundry room sink still had toothpaste stains on it.  He tries.  Fails splendidly, then tries again.  

You gotta hand it to him, but remember he's going to put it down somewhere and you're going to have to find it for him again.

He greeted me with "I have the day off.  Do you need anything?  'Cause I gotta go to the bathroom!"  He proceeded to do just that, then snoozed on his lounger chair while i cleaned.

During the morning he rousted 3 times.  First it was to get his blanket out of the dryer even before it was fully dry.  Why wait?  It's his favorite blanket.  Second was, "My mouth is fuzzy!"  Then he popped in with, "Where's my IHOP gift card, I want to order breakfast."

As his mother, Ms. V, says, it's a good thing he does physical labor because he loves to eat.

He bought more Q-tips, and i've noticed that i now have to check in his shoes for them.  It's the garbage can thing, he throws items at the garbage can, not necessarily in it.  Where it lands once he's thrown it in that direction is no concern of his.  When shoes are near the garbage can, check them for Q-tips.

Time for funnies.

Look carefully at the next 3 pictures and then read the explanation that follows.

Remember, this in India, where you call when you have a technical problem with your computer.

Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!  

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Today is:

American Diabetes Association Alert Day -- a day to remind people about how serious the illness is, and what the risk factors are 

As Young As You Feel Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, which encourages you to stop acting your chronological age and go act peppy!

Banned in Boston Day -- see history for 1630 for explanation

Coq Au Vin Day

Día de la Abolición de la Esclavitud (Emancipation Day) -- Puerto Rico

Einmánuðr Month Begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (Lone Month, the month dedicated to young men)

     Yngismannadagur -- Young Men's Day

International Goof-off Day -- sponsored by Monica A. Dufour and A.C. Vierow, who think everyone needs a special day each year to goof off.

International Day of the Seal -- drawing attention to a disappearing species

Laser Day -- the first patent on a laser was granted this day in 1960 to Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes

National Agriculture Day -- US (if you eat, thank a farmer!)   

National Bavarian Crepes Day

National Sing-Out Day -- begun by an anonymous person who must love singing; and yes, i promise, i won't sing where anyone has to listen to me

St. Darerca's Day (reportedly the sister of St. Patrick; Patron of Valentia Island, Ireland)

World Day for Water -- UN

Anniversary Today:

The Tuskegee Airmen are activated, 1941

Birthdays Today:

James T. Kirk, 2233

Cristen Powell, 1979

Reese Witherspoon, 1976

Elvis Stojko, 1972

Matthew Modine, 1959

Stephanie Mills, 1957

Lena Olin, 1955

Bob Costas, 1952

Andrew Lloyd Webber, 1948

James Patterson, 1947

George Benson, 1943

Bruno Ganz, 1941

Marvin Yagoda, 1938

M. Emmet Walsh, 1935

J.P. McCarthy, 1933

William Shatner, 1931

Pat Robertson, 1930

Stephen Sondheim, 1930

Allen Neuharth, 1924

Marcel Marceau, 1923

Karl Malden, 1912

Louis L'Amour, 1908

Chico Marx, 1887

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Conversations with My Father"(Play), 1992

"Brighton Beach Memoirs"(Play), 1983

"All You Need is Cash"(TV movie), 1978

"I Can Get It For You Wholesale"(Musical), 1962

"Mr. Wonderful"(Musical), 1956

"This Year of Grace"(Musical), 1928

"El maleficio de la mariposa/The Butterfly's Evil Spell"(Play), 1920

Today in History:

Hugo de Groot escapes imprisonment in Loevenstein Castle in a book case, 1621

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags, 1621

Algonquian Indians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population, 1622

Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables, 1630

Joseph Priestly invents carbonated water (seltzer), 1733

The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Stamp Act, which introduced a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies, 1765

The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current place in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand, 1784

The three protecting powers (Britain, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece, 1829

Cornstarch is patented by Orlando Jones, 1841

Slavery is abolished in Puerto Rico, 1873

The Edmunds Act adopted by US to suppress polygamy in the territories (especially aimed at the Mormons), 1882

August and Louis Lumiere privately screen the first "motion picture" ever made, of workers leaving their factory three days earlier, 1895

World's first airline, St Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line, begins, 1914

The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt, 1945

Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser, 1960

Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1978

The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips, 1993

Cosmonaut Valeriy Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in space, 1995

The Comet Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to earth, 1997

Tara Lipinski, age 14 years and 10 months, becomes the youngest women's World Figure Skating Champion, 1997

ETA, the armed Basque separatist group, declares a permanent ceasefire, 2006

Mount Redoubt, a volcano in Alaska began erupting after a prolonged period of unrest, 2009

A massive fire devours thousands of hectares of ancient forests and threatens wildlife on Mount Kenya, 2012

The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" between Hawaii and California has 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic and increasing rapidly according to new research, 2018

The journal Science publishes the first major announcement of the discovery of the Qingjiang biota, a 518 million year old fossil site near the Danshui River in China that is one of the most well preserved and diverse sites of the early Cambrian explosion ever found, 2019

Dowry vs. Bride Price vs. Indoor Plumbing?

Traditional societies have usually taken one of two views, according to anthropologists, of women.

In one view, the female is another mouth to feed, a drain on the family, and has to come with a dowry. If she doesn't have enough to bring with her because her family is poor, she might not even get married. Traces of this are still seen in China and India, where females are often undervalued, sons are considered to be better than daughters, and in some places, the number of female babies aborted or killed as soon as they are born is so high that the men can't find enough women to go around.

Then there is the bride price view. In this take, the woman's potential to bear children, thus increasing the family and its ability to work the land, is highly valued, and a man must pay a good price to get a good wife.

In modern Western society, you see traces of both systems, which is why the bride's family provides certain things for the wedding, and the groom's family is supposed to provide other amenities.

Well, there seems to be a new side to the story.

In India, where up until a decade or so ago, a man with several daughters was considered a poor man because of all the dowries he would have to provide, no matter how wealthy he actually was, a new awareness is dawning.

It seems that more brides are refusing to marry a man who cannot provide her with indoor plumbing.

A radio jingle there says it all: "No loo? No 'I do!' "

My college professor who taught Chinese history summed up Chinese history as, they kill off lots of the female babies, the men who can't find brides go off into the mountains and become bandits, eventually there are so many such unmarried men that they end up having some sort of revolution where these excess men get killed off, and the cycle repeats.

In India, the fact that the females are a bit more scarce is instead leading to a plumbing revolution. One that will raise the standard of living for the people as a whole.

Interesting news indeed.

Link to the full story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR2009101101934.html


Today is:

Army Day, Honduras

Babbling Day

Compact Day, Marshall Islands

Independence Day, Costa Rica

Lancing Tournament

National Day, Somalia

National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day

National Shut-In Day

National Youth Health Awareness Day

Overseas Chinese Day, Taiwan

St. John of Bridlington's Day (patron against complications in childbirth)

St. Ursula's Day (patron of teachers, schoolgirls, orphans, tailors, universities; against the plague)

Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day

Trafalgar Day


Birthdays Today:

Jeremy Miller, 1976
Carrie Fisher, 1956
Benjamin Netanyahu, 1949
Judge Judy Sheindlin, 1942
Celia Cruz, 1925
Joyce Randolph, 1925
Dizzy Gillespie, 1917
Alfred Nobel, 1833
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772


Today in History:


Constantinople emperor Constantine the Great rules laws against Jews, 335
Sultan Kilidj Arslan of Nicea defeats 1st Crusaders, 1096
Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg., 1512
Ferdinand Magellen arrives at Tierra Del Fuego (Pacific Ocean), 1520
Sea battle at Dunes, Lt Admiral Maarten Tromp defeats Spanish armada under De Oquendo, 1639
First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America, 1774
US Navy frigate Constitution, Old Ironsides, launched in Boston, 1797
Battle of Trafalgar, Adm Nelson defeats French & Spanish fleet & dies, 1805
The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia, 1816
Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement (Yorkshire England), 1824
Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb, 1879
First transatlantic radiotelephone message, Arlington, Va to Paris, 1915