Playful "Pup'

Miss Lizzie, who used to live here with her dog Hazelnut, now lives in an apartment of her own.  After poor Hazelnut was killed in a car wreck, she got a new dog, PepperJack.

Yes, my mommy named me after a food, like she does all her dogs.

He's not really a puppy, but you wouldn't know that from the way he jumps around and plays.  He's a bit over 2, i believe, and as Bigger Girl says, he's grown quite a personality since being adopted out of the cage at animal control.

Miss Lizzy does her best by him, feeding him high quality food, giving him only treats produced in the US, and taking him to the park or on a good, long walk each day.

Being Miss Lizzy, though, and living on disability, she does need help with him.  Bigger Girl helped me get him to the vet for his annual check-up.  He's now good on his vaccines, is protected from heartworm for 6 months, and i got her the flea and tick preventive that they take once a month, so no more trouble with ticks like he's had in the past.

While i know i wouldn't be a good dog owner, as i wouldn't spend the time training them that i should, i am a dog enjoyer, and don't mind helping keep him healthy.  After all, Miss Lizzy lives for her dog, he's the reason she stays clean and sober and is exploring ways to get her surgeries so maybe she can work again someday. 

Besides, he's a big goofball and i never could resist a goofball.

Goofy dog!

Today is:

Alasitis Fair -- Aymara Indians, Bolivia (offerings to the god of prosperity, now celebrated in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Feast of Our Lady of Peace, for whom La Paz is named)

Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show -- West Springfield, MA, US (8 1/2 acres of hobby train fun; through tomorrow)

Beer Can Appreciation Day -- the first canned beer went on sale today in 1935

Belly Laugh Day -- at 1:24pm local time, join the Belly Laugh Bounce Around the World!

Big Garden Birdwatch -- UK (sponsored by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; through tomorrow)

Eagle Day at the Lake -- Wyandotte County Lake Park, Kansas City, KS, US (learning about bald eagles in the environmental learning center, as well as eagle viewing over the lake and children's activities)

Economic Liberation Day -- Togo

Eskimo Pie Day -- patented this day in 1921

Fairy-Four Paganalia -- Fairy Calendar

Gasparilla Extravaganza -- Tampa, FL, US (the rum free version of the Pirate Festival celebration, with a kid's parade and lots of fun; the adult version is next Saturday)

Gold Rush Day -- US (gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill, sparking the California Gold Rush, in 1848)

Greater Springfield Garage Sale -- Springfield, MO, US (if you want to find it used, you can probably find it here; through tomorrow)

Hoggetowne Medieval Faire -- Gainesville, FL, US (jousting, birds of prey, medieval arts, food, entertainment; through tomorrow, and again next weekend)

IceFest -- Ligonier, PA, US (ice sculpture contest and lots of family fun; through tomorrow)

Kidfilm Festival -- Dallas, TX (international children's film festival; through tomorrow)

National Compliment Day -- begun by Debby Hoffman and Kathy Chamberlin, a day in which to compliment at least 5 people

National Peanut Butter Day

Opposite Day -- internet generated, and fun if you play it right

Orange City Blue Spring Manatee Festival -- Orange City, FL, US (learn about the manatee and have fun doing it; through tomorrow)

Paul Pitcher Day (So called because it is the eve of the Celebration of St. Paul's Conversion on the road to Damascus.  Cornish tin miners would traditionally set up a water pitcher in a public place and throw stones at it to destroy it.  A replacement pitcher was then bought and filled with beer, which was drunk and replenished through the day.  These miners were great inventors for reasons to celebrate, and they did this to rebel against the rule that only water was to be consumed during the work day.)

Sailing of Bast -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (people sailed the Nile to converge on Bubastis and celebrate the cat goddess; date approximate)

Sementivae, in honor of Ceres and Terra, begins -- Roman Empire (one of the few dating approximate items on the Roman Calendar, as each area of the Empire celebrated according to the timing of a local magistrate, but now through Feb. 2 was a typical time)

Social Sipping and Nibbling Rehearsal Day -- a day to practice cutting a piece of cake on a paper plate, using a plastic fork, and also balancing a napkin and punch in a paper cup; or practicing what clever thing you will say if you drop it all

SOS Radio Week -- UK (The Royal National Lifeboat Institution keeps the seas safer, and Radio Amateurs help them raise funds)

Sounkyo Ice Festival -- Hokkaido, Japan (snow and ice sculptures that are almost too good to be true, through March 29)

St. Francis de Sales' Day (Patron of authors/journalists/writers, confessors, deaf people, educators/teachers; Champdepraz, Aosta, Italy; against deafness)

Swamp Buggy Races -- Naples, Florida (the world famous swamp buggy races; through tomorrow)

TV Game Show Day -- birth anniversary of Mark Goodson

Vasant Panchami / Saraswati Puja  -- Hindu (celebrating Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge)

Wakakusa Yamayaki -- Nara, Japan (Grass Burning on Mt. Wakakusayama, and fireworks; an annual New Year tradition)

Ziua Unirii -- Romania (Unification Day)

Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities -- Eatonville, FL, US (celebrating Hurston's work, hometown, and cultural contributions, and the contributions of all Africa-descended people; through the 29th)


Anniversary Today:

Popeye meets Olive Oyl, 1929 (in Elzie Segar's Thimble Theater comic strip)


Birthdays Today:

Mischa Barton, 1986
Tatyana Ali, 1979
Ed Helms, 1974
Matthew Lillard, 1970
Mary Lou Retton, 1968
Nastassia Kinski, 1960
Jools Holland, 1958
Yakov Smirnoff, 1951
John Belushi, 1949
Warren Zevon, 1947
Michael Ontkean, 1946
Sharon Tate, 1943
Neil Diamond, 1941
Aaron Neville, 1941
Ray Stevens, 1939
Maria Tallchief, 1925
Jerry Maren, 1920
Oral Roberts, 1918
Ernest Borgnine, 1917
Jack Brickhouse, 1916
Mark Goodson, 1915
Granny D, 1910 (formerly Granny Haddock, or Ethel Doris Haddock, political activist)
Edith Wharton, 1862


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"I, Puritani"(Bellini Opera), 1835


Today in History:

Caligula, known for his cruel despotism, is assassinated and succeeded by his uncle Claudius, 41
Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders, 1639
The first Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland, 1656
Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga, 1776
The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia,1857
The Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza, with Bucharest as the capital, 1862
General Baden-Powell's publication of Scouting for Boys starts the Boy Scouts movement, 1908
The Gregorian calendar introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People's Commissars effective from February 14(NS), 1918
Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada, 1952
A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost, 1961
Jackie Robinson is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame, 1962
Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II, 1972
Soviet satellite Cosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered, 1978
The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale, 1984
Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 km (50,680 miles) of Uranus, 1986
Japan launches Hiten, the country's first lunar probe,and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States, 1990
Lara Giddings becomes the first female Premier of the Australian state of Tasmania , 2011

The long and short of it.

So, i asked myself as i took Miss Lizzie's dog for a walk, how did i get into this situation?

It's one of those stories.  You know the kind, where you just aren't sure where to start, or if you should.

For any who don't know, Miss Lizzie is a young woman, about 11 years older than Bigger Girl, who has "problems."  (Read, on disability for PTSD due to being molested as a child, ADHD, OCD, Borderline Personality,  scoliosis, kyphosis, bulging discs in her neck, impinged nerves in both elbows and wrists which cause chronic pain -- added together, there's always something wrong.)

She lived with us for a short time while trying to get herself together enough to get her own apartment.  She now has that, but with Miss Lizzie, the sailing is never smooth.

Yesterday, she was trying to get to an appointment with a new pain management doctor, because she wants to get a referral to someone who can do surgery on her impinged nerves, once she gets over the eye infection she currently has, and the infection in her feet, whatever that is.  The infectious disease specialist hasn't figured that one out yet.  As i said, it's never easy for her.

Anyway, she had a flat tire, and Bigger Girl was having finals.  So i picked her up, got her to the appointment, then took her to the BigBoxStore to get her prescriptions.

That can't go smoothly, either.  One script her Medicare wouldn't pay for, and it's going to take a few days to see if Medicaid will pick it up.  The other, that pharmacy was out of it.

By the time i had picked her up, gotten her to the appointment, and then back around to the store, it was way too late to cook dinner anyway, so it was rotisserie chicken, potato wedges, and a veggie tray, which i dropped off on the way to another pharmacy, that way the troops could eat.

When i finally got her back to her place, helped her put her groceries away, threw her garbage out, and walked her poor dog who practically had his legs crossed by this time, she said, "You know, it's been a long short day!  Or maybe a short long day.  You know what I mean, right?  One of those days where it's a long day, but you don't get anything much done that you had wanted to get done."

That is precisely what the day was -- a long day, with a lot done, but not the stuff you wanted.

Today, Bigger Girl has time to help Miss Lizzie deal with her car.  From now on, on the days when everything happens and nothing planned gets done, i'm going to remember that line.  It's a long short day.


Today is

Arlington National Cemetary Day -- US (the first serviceman to be interred here was Private William Henry Christman, on this date in 1964

Bun Bung Fai (Rocket Festival) -- Yasothon, Thailand (through the 14th, teams compete to build the highest flier, with no regard for safety!)

Celtic Tree Month Huath (hawthorn) commences

Fairy King and Queen Jumping Competition -- Fairy Calendar

Frog Jumping Day -- original date for celebrating Twain's short story

Garland Day -- Abbotsbury, Dorset, England

King Norodom Sihamoni's Birthday -- Cambodia

Lemuralia -- Ancient Roman Empire (third day)

Leprechaun Day -- spread around the internet, presumably by the little people themselves, as since St. Patrick gets a day, so should they!

National Apple Pie Day

National Fruit Cocktail Day

St Julian of Norwich's Day (Author of what is believed to be the first book written by a woman in the English language, Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love, around 1393)

St. Servatus' Day (3rd Ice Saint, Patron for success; against foot problems, lameness, leg problems, mice, rats, rheumatism, vermin)



Birthday Today:

Debby Ryan, 1993
Robert Pattinson, 1986
Samantha Morton, 1977
Darius Rucker, 1966
Stephen Colbert, 1964
Julianne Phillips, 1962
Dennis Rodman, 1961
Frances Barber, 1957
Stevie Wonder, 1950
Bobby Valentine, 1950
Franklyn Ajaye, 1949
Tim Pigott-Smith, 1946
Mary Wells, 1943
Ritchie Valens, 1941
Harvey Keitel, 1939
Beatrice Arthur, 1923
Joe Louis, 1914
Arthur Sullivan, 1842
Maria Theresa, 1717


Debuting/Premiering Today;

Let It Be(Film), 1970
"Paint It Black"(Single release), 1966
"The Pajama Game"(Musical), 1954
Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébraïque for Violoncello and Orchestra (Bloch concerto), 1917
"Apollo et Hyacinthus"(opera, Mozart K 38), 1767


Today in History:

The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother, 1568
A major earthquake in Santiago, Chile, kills 1/3 of the population, 1643
Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England  with eleven ships full of convicts (First Fleet) to establish a penal colony in Australia, 1787
Ecuador  gains its independence from Gran Colombia, 1830
The first performance of Finland's national anthem, 1848
Queen Victoria declares Britain neutral in the US Civil War, 1861
The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia, 1861
Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway, 1880
The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established in the United Kingdom, 1912
Igor Sikorsky becomes the first man to pilot a four-engine aircraft, 1913
The first commercial FM radio station in the United States (WDRC-FM) is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut, 1939
Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons, 1940
The trade mark Velcro is registered, 1958
The Free Speech Movement is born at UC Berkeley, 1960
Dr. Zakir Hussain becomes the third President  of India and the first Muslim President of Indian Union, 1967
Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike, 1989
Johnny Carson makes his last television appearance on Late Show with David Letterman, 1994
A 33 years old British mother, Alison Hargreaves, became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas, 1995
Star Trek: Enterprise broadcasts its final show in the U.S., 2005
Construction of the Calafat-Vidin Bridge between Romania and Bulgaria begins, 2007
In Belize, a construction company requiring road fill gravel destroys a 2,300 year-old Mayan pyramid, 2013

Intermarriage

"Is there any way someone there could come pick me up?  My doctor finally called in another prescription, and I was going to go pick it up, and I stopped at the dog park with PepperJack, and we were leaving to get the prescription and go home, and my tire is flat, so I walked to O'Reilly Auto Parts and left them my phone, which is why you don't have this number, someone else is letting me borrow theirs, but since I left them my phone they let me carry an air compressor back over here, but it didn't fill the tire up enough, so I'm going to walk back up there and give them the compressor and could someone pick me up from there and help me get my prescription and get back home?  I can come back for my car tomorrow."

How Miss Lizzy manages to speak without breathing like that flummoxes me sometimes.  Anyway, Bigger Girl and i got in Cicero (#2 Son had Jalopy), and we headed out to to rescue her.

We actually arrived just as she sent me a text saying she was there, and she climbed in the back with the dog.

"Thank you so much!" she said.  "My prescription is at the 24 Hour Walgreens.  Do you know where that one is?"

Yes, i said, and headed over as Bigger Girl asked her what was up with the car.

"Well, ever since the accident, I think the wheels are out of alignment, and so the front tire was losing air.  But it wasn't losing much, and so I waited until late afternoon, when the pavement is cooler because the sun is going down, to come out here.  It got me to the dog park, and looked fine, but when I tried to fill it with the air compressor, I could hear the air leaking out almost as fast as the compressor was pumping it in.  Besides, you see how torn up this road is with the construction, I realized that if it went all the way flat on this road, I'd be in big trouble.  So I'd rather deal with it tomorrow, during daylight."

That makes sense, i noted.  We pulled in to the 24 Hour Walgreens and i decided that, rather than have PepperJack howl at us if he was left in the car with me and Bigger Girl, we would just use the drive-up window.

Driving her back to her apartment, Bigger Girl asked her, "Do you still want me to come over tomorrow and help you with some cleaning?"

"Yes, please," she said.  "And because of the tire, I can't grocery shop like I was going to, so we might have to do that first, so I can make you the dinner I promised."

We dropped her off, and Bigger Girl did help her the next evening.

Two days later, Miss Lizzie called again.  This time, it was for a ride to the ER.  After two months of arguing with doctors and multiple trips to the ER and more arguing with doctors, they did a CAT scan and figured out what is wrong.  She's been telling them all along, but they wouldn't believe her.

So Bigger Girl took her to the ER, came home for a few hours of sleep (why do these things always happen in the middle of the night?), and went back to pick her up and take her home.  This time, she went home with the correct prescriptions so she can get over the infection she's been telling them she has.  

"Mom, I think she's an example of what happens when survivalists intermarry with white trash!" Bigger Girl told me after that episode.  "Remind me to never adopt a person again."

Duly noted and logged.


Today is:

Arts/Quincy Riverfest -- Quincy, IL, US (celebrating art, the Mighty Mississippi River, and riverfront parks)

Battle of Britain Day -- UK

Biosphere Day -- Noosaville, Australia

Eleven Days of Global Unity -- Day 5, Health (sponsored by We, the World)

Engineer's Day -- India

Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa) related observances
     Grito de Dolores -- Mexico (Cry of Dolores,a/k/a Father Hidalgo's Cry for Freedom Day, the evening before Independence Day)
     Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows Day -- Slovakia

Felt Hat Day (Traditional day upon which men started to wear their winter felt hats, similar to women beginning to wear white shoes on Memorial Day)

Independence Day -- Costa Rica; El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Nicaragua (all in 1821)

International Day of Democracy -- UN

Make a Hat Day -- just for fun (and if you are a guy, make a felt hat)

National Back to Church Sunday -- US (encouraging every church goer to invite just one person to come along, as studies show many people say they would go, if they were invited)

National Creme de Menthe Day

National Hispanic Heritage Month -- US, through Oct. 15

National Linguine Day

National Neighborhood Day -- US

National Women's Friendship Day 2013 -- always on the third Sunday of Septemberto encourage women to celebrate their bonds with friends as per Kappa Delta Sorority which started it; motto of the day is "Men come and go, but girlfriends are forever...and they're really handy at mocking the men who go."

Really Bad Ideas Exhibition -- Fairy Calendar (Gremlins celebration)

Restoration of Primorska to the Motherland Day -- Slovenia

Silpa Bhirasri Day -- Thailand

St. Catherine of Genoa's Day (Patron of brides, childless people, people in difficult marriages, people ridiculed for their piety, victims of adultery and unfaithfulness, widows; against adultery and temptation)

Wife Appreciation Day -- unofficially celebrated the 3rd Sunday in September


Birthdays Today:

Prince Harry, 1984
Dan Marino, 1961
Tommy Lee Jones, 1946
Oliver Stone, 1946
Merlin Olsen, 1940
Jackie Cooper, 1922
Fay Wray, 1907
Roy Acuff, 1903
Agatha Christie, 1890
Robert Benchley, 1889
William H. Taft, 1857
James Fenimore Cooper, 1789
François de La Rochefoucauld, 1613
Marco Polo, 1254


Today in History:

The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy, 1616
The French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow, 1812
The first Negro National Convention begins in Philadelphia, 1830
The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad, 1831*
HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands, 1835
Antoinette Louisa Brown Blackwell becomes the first woman in the US to be ordained a minister (Congregationalist), 1853
Timothy Alder patents the typesetting machine, 1857
RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube, 1947
United Nations gives Eritrea to Ethiopia, 1952
The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
*The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, D.C., 1981
Vanuatu becomes a member of the United Nations, 1981
Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, 2008

Who's That!

That, it just so happens, is PepperJack.

PepperJack has been our guest for a couple of days.  He is Miss Lizzie's dog.

So, how did we end up, again, taking care of Miss Lizzie's dog?

Funny you should ask.  It's long, and it's complicated.

Miss Lizzie, the young lady who lived with us for a while, has a section 8 apartment now, and is trying to arrange surgery for her arms and neck so she might be able to go to work.

Meanwhile, she is still having post traumatic stress flashbacks to the abuse from her childhood.  She had a flashback the other day, and in it, dropped something on the floor that broke, and she cut her foot on it very badly.  She sent me a 2am text asking me to send Bigger Girl to help, and called 911.

Until help got there, she poured bleach everywhere, because she is very highly germ phobic when she is having a flashback.  She also got scared that she had gotten something rotten in her mouth, and rinsed her mouth with a bit of the bleach.

The EMTs and Police got there before Bigger Girl, who might have been able to explain the way Miss Lizzie's mind works in these situations.  Instead, they saw blood, bleach, and heard her incoherently talking about rinsing her mouth with bleach, decided she had attempted suicide, and carted her off to the hospital, from which she was admitted to the psychiatric ward.

It took us almost 3 days to get it sorted out and spring her, because she is not suicidal, just undergoing her usual trials and tribulations that go along with having been molested many times as a young child by your grandfather.

So, Bigger Girl cleaned the blood and locked up the apartment and brought PepperJack here.

The cats were insulted, but they got over it.

Meanwhile, we got two more litters of kittens, had my parents up at the hotel, where we went to visit them, and i had to spend hours and hours fielding phone calls from two other emergency situations that only mommy can fix.  Of course.

PepperJack is back home with Miss Lizzie, though, and the week is finally done.  And i am done in.

Oh, and Bigger Girl visited Miss Lizzie in the hospital, and talked the doctor in to letting her out.  Meanwhile, she says there is a person in there right now who thinks he is Michael Jackson.  He spends as much time as they will let him spend in one room playing Michael Jackson Albums and singing/dancing along, very badly.

Let's hope i can find my sanity again, i'm not a huge fan of lousy Michael Jackson interpretations.



Today is:

Bartletide -- West Witton, Yorkshire Dales, UK (a/k/a Burning Bartle, a ceremony in which a straw effigy of Owd Bartle, a sheep theif of yore, is paraded, then burned after sunset, as a warning to the light fingered)

Birthday of Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Corvette Crossroads Auto Show -- Mackinaw City, MI, US (show that includes a Corvette parade across the Mackinaw Bridge; through tomorrow)

Country Fair and Auction -- McHenry, MD, US (sponsored by the local Mennonite churches, a good old-fashioned time of family fun)

De Ducasse -- Ath, Belgium (Giants of Ath Festival or Wedding of the Giants, a celebration since medieval times in which "Goliath" marries, then goes to do battle with David; through tomorrow)

Ferret Buckeye Bash -- Colombus, OH, US (ferret show)

Festival for Luna -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Festival of Mania -- Ancient Roman Calendar (to placate the Manes, a day when the Mundus, the portal to the afterlife, is open and the dead are free to roam)

Flag Day -- Liberia

Flitting Appreciation Day -- another "holiday" with no particular reason except that someone who enjoys flitting around wanted to celebrate it

Gangara Fire Festival -- Atago Shrine, Ikeda City, Japan

Green Corn Pow Wow -- Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (through tomorrow, Pow Wow and presentations of Native heritage to all)

Hotter 'n H*ll Hundred Bike Race -- Wichita Falls, TX, US (cyclists of all ages in the largest sanctioned century ride in the US, in the Texas summer heat)

Independence Day -- Ukraine(1991)

International Bat Night -- through tomorrow, go enjoy these wonderful creatures; www.eurobats.org or www.batcon.org

International Day Against Intolerance, Discrimination and Violence Based on Musical Preference, Lifestyle, and Dress Code -- sponsored by the Romanian Humanist Association and the Sophie Lancaster Foundation

International Strange Music Day -- as declared by strange musician and composer Patrick Grant

Knife Day -- internet generated, but how would we cook without them?  today remember how much you do each day with a good kitchen knife.

Koenji Awa Odori Festival -- Suginami City, Tokyo, Japan (thousands dance in the streets, through tomorrow)

National Peach Pie Day

National Waffle Day -- Cornelius Swarthout patented the first waffle iron in the US on this day in 1869

Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival -- Pittsburgh, PA, US (relive the days of yore, watch artisans practice the olde crafts, and have a high good time; weekends through September)

Saddleworth Rushcart -- Saddleworth, West Yorkshire, England (similar to rushbearing, a cart goes through the area with Morris men, the bounds of the area are checked for enemy breaches, rushes are gathered to line the church floor, and there is celebrating, gurning, wrestling, singing, and a final procession tomorrow to St. Chad's Church at Uppermill for the 11am service)

Sidewalk Art Festival -- Portland, ME, US

St. Bartholomew's Day (Patron of bookbinders, butchers, cobblers, Florentine cheese merchants, Florentine salt merchants, leather workers,plasterers, shoemakers, tanners, trappers, whiteners; Armenia; Borgo Tossignano, Italy; Boves, Italy; Carpineto dell Nora, Italy; Civitella in Val di Chiana, Italy; Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Gambatesa, Italy; Gharghur, Malta; Lipari, Sicily, Italy; Maastricht, Netherlands; Magalang, Philippines; Plzen, Czech Republic; Potosí, Bolivia; Salzano, Italy; Trino, Italy; against nervous diseases, neurological diseases, and twitching) related observance
     Schaferlauf -- Markgroeningen, Germany (Festival to honor St. Bartholomew, Patron of Herdsmen, on this day or the weekend after; includes traditional barefoot race by children of active shepherds and water carrying contests; also now has a music festival)

St. Owen of Rouen's Day (Patron of the deaf; against deafness)

Usuki Stone Buddhas Fire Festival -- Usuki, Japan (torchlight at twilight lights the regions mysterious Buddha statues)

Vesuvius Day -- anniversary of 79CE eruption which destroyed Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum

Vuelta a Espana -- Spain (the third of cyclings' prestigious Grand Tours; through Sept. 15)

Waratambar -- New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea (a native thanksgiving)

William Wilberforce Day -- Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, OH, US (birth anniversary of founder, in 1759)


Birthday's Today:

Rupert Grint, 1988
Marlee Matlin, 1965
Cal Ripken, Jr., 1962
Steve Guttenberg, 1958
Yasser Arafat, 1929
Hal Smith, 1916
Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, 1890
Daniel Gooch, 1816
William Wilberforce, 1759


Today in History:

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius buries Pompeii and Herculaneum, 15,000 die, 79
The Visigoths under Aleric begin to pillage Rome, 410
King John of England, a/k/a Humpty Dumpty for having to issue the first Magna Carta, marries Isabella of Angoileme, 1200
Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague, 1349
The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed, 1456
The first English convoy lands at Surat, India, 1608
Calcutta, India is founded, 1690
British troops invade Washington, D.C. and burn down the White House and several other buildings, 1814
Charles Darwin is asked to travel on HMS Beagle, 1831
The Panic of 1857 begins, touching off one of the most severe economic crises in US history (Which just goes to show you, the more things change, the more they stay the same), 1857
Cornelius Swarthout patents the waffle iron, 1869
The Wolseley Expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River
Rebellion, 1870
Captain Matthew Webb became first person to swim English Channel, 1875
Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera, 1891
Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal, 1909
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly non-stop across the North American continent, 1932
The treaty creating NATO goes into effect, 1949
France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power, 1968
Voyager 2 (launched 1977) reaches Neptune, 1989
Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1991
The first RFID human implantation is tested in the UK, 1998
Argon fluorohydride, the first Argon compound ever known, is discovered at the University of Helsinki, 2000
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is considered a Dwarf Planet, 2006