It finally happened here.

A couple of years ago, Bigger Girl and i had a talk about a man in Austria who sued to be allowed to wear a spaghetti strainer/colander on his head for his driving license photo because he is a Pastafarian, a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

It has finally happened in the US.  A lady in Massachusetts has won the right to wear her spaghetti strainer, showing her religious belief, in her driver's license photo.

What i want to know now is, what will happen when someone wants to wear it for a passport photo.  This could get ugly, weird, funny, or all three.  Let's hope it just stays weird and funny, those i can handle.

Speaking of Pastafarians, #1 Son once sent off for a certificate from some denomination, it may have been this one, that says he is an official minister.  It's recognized in Maine, i believe, and so he plans to one day perform a wedding there, just to say he did.

In other news, the run-off elections are this Saturday, and it can't happen soon enough, as far as i am concerned.  While i do not watch TV or listen to commercial radio, even i have heard bits and pieces of this very ugly fight.  My real wish is to be able to vote None Of The Above and have all of them thrown out and a new election called with no one who ran before allowed to run again.  That would be paradise as far as i'm concerned.

Today is:

Army Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo

Coping With Uncertainty Day -- of uncertain origin, as it should be

Electronic Greeting Card Day -- internet generated, and of course probably started by the electronic greeting card websites

Homemade Bread Day -- use the bread machine, it's fun and easy, i promise!  sponsored by the Homemade Bread Day Committee of Ann Arbor, MI, US

International Students Day -- International (meant to celebrate all students around the world, not specifically students studying in countries other than their own; anniversary of the Nazi storming and closing of the University of Prague)

John Peter Zenger Day -- marking his arrest in 1734 for libel; he continued to edit his newspaper from jail and was acquitted, an early victory for freedom of the press

National Baklava Day

National Entrepreneurs Day -- US (by Congressional designation)

National Farm Joke Day

National Unfriend Day -- all those people on Facebook you regret accepting as friends?  Jimmy Kimmel suggests you unfriend them today!

Polytechneio -- Greece (anniversary of the 1973 student protests against the junta)

Presidents' Day -- Marshall Islands

Public Restroom Hand Dryer Appreciation Day -- internet generated, and why?  they've been proven less sanitary, blowing germs everywhere; i will not appreciate this one

School Pride Day -- US (always on the Tuesday of American Education Week)

Shogi Day -- Japan (celebrating shogi, a chess-like game)

St. Elizabeth of Hungary's Day (Patron of bakers, beggars, brides, charitable societies, charitable workers, countesses, exiles, falsely accused people, hoboes, homeless people, hospitals, lace makers/lace workers, nursing homes, nursing services, people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety, tertiaries, tramps, widows; Sisters of Mercy; Teutonic Knights; Erfurt, Germany; Jaro, Philippines; against in-law problems, the death of children, toothache)

St. Hilda's Day (Patron of learning and culture)

St. Hugh of Lincoln's Day (Patron of sick children, sick people, swans)

Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

Take A Hike Day -- internet generated, and some websites say it's actually "Tell Your Boss to Take a Hike Day", but i don't recommend that unless you've recently inherited a fortune or won the Lotto

Tori No Ichi -- Japan (the second "rooster day" of November, so called because it is held on the three days of the rooster this month, in which to wish good luck and prosperity at temple and shrine ceremonies around the country, and celebrate with a fair)

Winter Welcome Quadrilles and Dainty-Sixes -- Fairy Calendar

World Famous Fish House Parade -- Aitkin, MN, US (plus chili cook-off, craft show, and more!)

World Prematurity Day -- International (raising awareness about premature birth, the leading cause of newborn death each year, and what can be done to prevent it)      



Birthdays Today:

Isaac Hanson, 1980
Laura Wilkinson, 1977
Matthew Settle, 1969
Daisy Fuentes, 1966
Sophie Marceau, 1966
Dylan Walsh, 1963
RuPaul, 1960
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, 1958
Danny DeVito, 1944
Lauren Hutton, 1944
Lorne Michaels, 1944
Tom Seaver, 1944
Lauren Hutton, 1943
Martin Scorsese, 1942
Gordon Lightfoot, 1938
Rock Hudson, 1925
Sichiro Honda, 1906
Lee Strassberg, 1901
Bernard Law Montgomery, 1887
August Mobius, 1790
John Peter Zenger, 1734
Atahualpa, last Emperor of the Inca, 1502
Flavius Claudius Julianus, Roman Emperor, 331
Vespian, Roman Emperor, 9


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Sunset Boulevard"(Musical), 1994
"Rumors"(Simon play), 1988
"The Elephant Man"(Play), 1977
"The Sorcerer"(Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera), 1877
"Andromaque"(Racine tragedy), 1667


Today in History:

Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, 284
England and Spain sign an anti-French covenant/treaty, 1511
Elizabeth I ascends the English throne, 1558
France and Spain sign the Peace of the Pyrenees treaty, 1659
The Church of England organizes in New England, 1785
Congress holds its first session in the still incomplete Capitol Building of Washington, D.C., 1800
The Delta Phi fraternity, America's oldest continuous social fraternity, is founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York, 1827
Ecuador and Venezuela separate from Greater Colombia, 1831
Street signs are first authorized at San Francisco intersections, 1853
David Livingstone becomes the first European to see Victoria Falls, 1855
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March is given its première performance in Moscow, 1876
Japan and Korea sign The Eulsa Treaty, 1905
The first US dental hygienist course is formed, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1913
US declares the Panama Canal Zone to be neutral, 1914
Lenin defends the "temporary" removal of freedom of the press, 1917
American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th Century, 1947
Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse, 1970
In Czechoslovakia, the Velvet Revolution that would overthrow the communist government begins when student protests in Prague are quelled by riot police, 1989
Brian May of the rock band Queen was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, 2007
In Sweden, divers find the wreckage of the Svardet, a warship sunk in 1676 during the Battle of Oland, 2011

What did the penguins do?

"Hey, mom, want to see my latest painting?"  Bigger Girl came in carrying a cork board.  She says she can't paint on canvass, she has to paint on something with texture.

Sure, i said, so she held it up.

Bigger Girl's latest.

"It's a girl dancing," she said.  "I love painting on textured surfaces!"

Nice, i said.

"Oh, and by the way, I accidentally jointed the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster today," she continued.

In a mock accusing voice i asked her, So, where is your colander!

"No, really, I was on their website, and they had a button that said, 'Join us' and I clicked on it, and it said, "So, you want to be a Pastafarian?  Congratulations, you're in!'  So now I'm a Pastafarian in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  We believe that heaven has a beer volcano and strippers!  Oh, and that h3ll has the same, but the beer is stale and all the strippers have social diseases.  Also, that there are penguins everywhere.  Mom, we're supposed to believe h3ll is full of penguins!"

What, i asked, did the penguins do to deserve that?

"I'm not sure, I haven't learned all my catechism yet!" she said, as she took the painting back to her room.

No penguin deserves that, although i can think of a few people who would.





Today is

Al-Yaom Al-Watany -- Saudi Arabia (National Day/Founding of the Kingdom)

Augustalia -- Roman Empire (birthday of Caesar Augustus, still the traditional New Year's Day in Constantinople and in the Eastern Orthodox Church)

Autumnal Equinox -- 2:29am UT, related observances (some began yesterday, depending on when the equinox actually occurred where you are!)
     Mabon -- Wicca/Pagan Northern Hemisphere
     Ostara -- wicca/Pagan Southern Hemisphere
     Alban Elfed -- Celtic Winter Finding
     Chuseok -- Korean harvest festival (high point of the festival)
     Feast of Carpo -- Greek Horae, goddess of autumn
     Kukulcan Snake God Celebration -- Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico (the snake appears at the equinox, a time to honor this Mayan god)
     Festival of the Sea Goddess -- Eskimo
     Higan -- Japan
     Mabon/Fallfest -- Asatru/Norse Pagan (harvest festival, time to make wine and mead for the next winter)
     Oenach Carman -- Ancient Celtic Calendar
     Sendai Great Tug-of-War -- Sendai, Japan (festival on the equinox that dates back over 400 years)    
     Svarog's Holiday -- Slavic Pagan Calendar/Asatru (day to drink mead in honor of Svarog, god of fire and the sky)

Bunster Winding -- Fairy Calendar

Checkers Day/Dogs in Politics Day -- thanks to Mr. Nixon; and i'm tempted to further comment, but this one is too easy

Citua -- Ancient Inca Empire (feast to the Moon, and to banish disease, in the month of Coyaraimi, date approximate)

El Grito de Lares -- Lares, Puerto Rico (anniversary of the first uprising against Spanish rule in 1868)

Innergize Day -- the day to take time for yourself! always on the day after the equinox, so either the 23rd or 24th, depending on where you live

International Restless Legs Syndrome Awareness Day -- on the birth anniversary of Professor Karl-Axel Ekborn, the neurologist who first described it

National Voter Registration Day -- US (Celebrating Democracy in America)

National White Chocolate Day

Neptune Day -- planet discovered this day in 1846 by Johann Galle of Germany

St. Adamnan's Day (Patron of Donegal, Ireland; Raphoe, Ireland)

St. Padre Pio's Day

Thrue Bab -- Bhutan (Blessed Rainy Day)

Woman Road Warrior Day -- to recognize the traveling businesswomen in today's world


Anniversaries Today:

The University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, is founded, 1908


Birthdays Today:

Anthony Mackie, 1979
Ani DiFranco, 1970
Elizabeth Pena, 1961
Jason Alexander, 1959
Bruce Springsteen, 1949
Mary Kay Place, 1947
Paul Petersen, 1945
Julio Iglesias, 1943
Tom Lester, 1938
Ray Charles, 1930
John Coltrane, 1926
Mickey Rooney, 1920
Walter Pidgeon, 1897
Friedrich Paulus, 1890
Walter Lippman, 1889
Victoria Woodhull, 1838
William H. McGuffey, 1800
Kublai Khan, 1215
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, BC63
Euripides, BC480


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Marcus Welby, M.D."(TV), 1969
"The Jetsons"(TV), 1962
"Threni: id est Lamentatines Jeremiae Prophetae"(Stravinsky dodecaphonic work), 1958


Today in History:

Concord of Worms, 1122
The first major battle of the Wars of the Roses, at Blore Heath in Staffordshire, 1459
First commencement exercises of Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass., 1642
Liechtenstein declares its independence from the German Empire, 1719
John Paul Jones' "Bon Homme Richard" defeats the HMS Serepis, 1779
Lewis and Clark arrive back in St. Louis from their explorations, 1806
The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York, 1845
Neptune is discovered by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams, 1846
Nintendo Koppai, later known as Nintendo Company, Limited, is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi; it produces and markets the playing card game Hanafuda, 1889
The Phantom of the Opera (original title: Le Fantome de l'Opera), a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, was first published, 1909
The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia’s first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait, 1959
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law, 1972
Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina, 1973
Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations, 1983
Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm; some passengers only receive minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history, 1991
The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released, 2002
Hurricane Jeanne strikes Haiti and leaves at least 1,070 dead, 2004
The identification of four genetically different types of breast cancer by researchers is announced, 2012