Wordless Wednesday: When i set out to catch Pokemon...

i had no idea they would be this big!

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.



Today is:

Banned Websites Awareness Day -- sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians 

Czech Statehood Day -- Czech Republic

Drink Beer Day

Feast of Hapi and Creation of the Nile -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Fish Tank Floor Show Night -- the Wellcat Holidays people say that your fish keep you entertained all year long, so turn about is fair play, entertain your fish tonight! 

Frances Willard Day -- Minnesota

International Right to Know Day -- FOI Advocates Network, promoting the right of access to information for all people and the benefits of open, transparent, and accountable governments 

Menkhet Festival -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Michaelmas Eve -- Celtic celebration, bake your bannock bread tonight for eating on St. Michael and All Angel's Day tomorrow; tonight, build a bonfire and dine on roast lamb, and make sure the menfolk protect the horses, for anyone is allowed to "borrow" one for the celebration tomorrow

National Day of Awareness and Unity against Child Pornography -- Philippines

National Good Neighbor Day -- US (begun when Mrs. Becky Mattson from Lakeside, Montana, began campaigning for this National Day in the 1970's; go greet the neighbors, and be a good neighbor yourself!)

National Strawberry Cream Pie Day

National Women's Health and Fitness Day -- US, sponsored by Fitness Day

Read a Child a Book You Like Day -- someone started this to get us to remember the books we loved as kids, and share them with children now

Runic Half Month Gyfu begins (gift)

St. Wenceslaus' Day (Patron of brewers; Bohemia; Czech Republic; Moravia; Prague, Czech Republic)

Tales of Kelp-Koli's Second Visit -- Fairy Calendar (through the 30th)

Teacher's Day -- Taiwan (on the traditional Western date of Confucius' birthday, of course)

World Rabies Day



Birthdays Today:

Frankie Jonas, 2000
Hilary Duff, 1987
Gwyneth Paltrow, 1973
Naomi Watts, 1968
Mira Sorvino, 1967
Janeane Garofalo, 1964
Suzanne Whang, 1962
Steve Largent, 1954
Jeffrey Jones, 1947
Ben E. King, 1938
Koko Taylor, 1935
Brigitte Bardot, 1934
Arnold Stang, 1925
Marcello Mastroianni, 1924
William Windom, 1923
Al Capp, 1909
Max Schmeling, 1905
Ed Sullivan, 1901
Kate Douglas Wiggin, 1856
Frances Willard, 1839
Confucius, BC551


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Ed Wood(Film), 1994
"Cosmos: A Personal Voyage"(Documentary series), 1980
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"(Single release, Gladys Knight), 1967
"Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales"(TV), 1963
"Dr. Kildare"(TV), 1961
"Hazel"(TV), 1961
"Purlie Victorious"(Play), 1961
Radio Times(Magazine, first issue), 1923


Today in History:

Pompey the Great, member of the Triumvirate, is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy of Egypt upon landing in that country, BC48
King/Saint Wenceslas murdered by his brother, 935
William the Conqueror invades England, 1066
Sinking of the Spanish fleet during a hurricane off the coast of Florida, 1528
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo becomes the first European to reach San Diego Bay, 1542
Publication of Pilgrim's Progress, 1678
Divorce is legalized in Maryland, 1701
American and French forces begin the siege of Yorktown, 1781
Napoleon Bonaparte, age 16, graduates from the Military Academy of Paris -- 42nd in a class of 51, 1785
Donati's comet becomes the first to be photographed, 1858
Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario, 1867
Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mould growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin, 1928
Indonesia joins the United Nations, 1950
Mali and Senegal join the United Nations, 1960
SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit, 2008

Six Sentence Story: New Versus Old

What in the world, i wondered as #1 Son wandered from his semi-detached garage room in through the front door of the house and into the library, staring at his phone the whole time.

"There!" he yelled, then walked back out of the door.

"It's probably that Pokemon game thing," Bigger Girl said, "the one where they have to chase down the Pokemon and catch them in actual places."

Yes, i sighed, i've heard of it, and then #1 Son walked back in and said, "I'm sorry I just walked in and didn't say anything, that was rude, I was chasing a Pokemon, and I caught it in the library!"

That's okay, i said, it reminds me a bit of me when i was younger.

"Mom, you didn't have a smart phone to follow around when you were young," Bigger Girl noted, to which i answered, no, but i accomplished the same thing by walking around with my nose in a book all of the time!

Linking up with Uncharted Blog and Six Sentence Stories, where the cue is Book.

Today is:

Barn Day -- celebrating barns, old and new, and their history and importance

Bastille Day / National Day -- France, French Territories and some former Colonies (Quatorze Juillet/Fete Nationale)

Birthday of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden -- an official Flag Day of Sweden

Children's Party at Green Animals Topiary Garden -- Portsmouth, RI, US (annual party for children and the young at heart)

Feast of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

Festival of Millennial Fairy Olympics -- Fairy Calendar (Closing Ceremonies)

Friendship Festival -- Lathrop, Missouri, US (including the super hero look-alike contest; through Saturday)

Hot Dog Nite -- Luverne, MN, US (free hot dogs to all comers!)

Macaroni Day

M&Ms Argument Day -- which are best?  plain?  peanut?  almond?  minis?  spend the day in a heated discussion with friends and end with an M&M feast

Nachi Himatsuri -- Kumano-Nachi Taisha, Nachi-Katsuura, Japan (one of Japan's 3 largest fire festivals, a grand summer festival and purification ritual, through tomorrow)

National Grand Marnier Day -- on Bastille day, to show the friendship between France and the US

National Nude Day -- New Zealand (although now it's often called International Nude Day, and celebrated everywhere as a day to enjoy your beautiful human form)

Pandemonium Day -- internet generated; don't let the crazy things that happen in your life get you down, celebrate instead!

Republic Day -- Iraq

Runic Half-Month Ur begins (primal strength)

Shark Awareness Day

Stirling Settler Days -- Stirling, Alberta, Canada (parade, pancake breakfast, firefighter games, a movie in the park, dancing, rodeo, and more; through Saturday)

St. Kateri Tekakwitha's Day ("Lily of the Mohawks", first Native American proposed for canonization; Patron of ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalism, environmentalists, exiles, people ridiculed for their piety, people who have lost their parents)

Tape Measure Day -- the first modern spring tape measure was patented this day in 1868 by Alvin Fellows of New Haven, NJ, US

Uniwaine / Unaine Day -- Kiribati (Senior Citizens' Day, specifically Elderly Men's Day / Elderly Women's Day)

Virginia Lake Festival -- Clarksville, VA, US (fun for the family, including tethered hot air balloon rides; through Saturday)


Birthdays Today

Missy Gold, 1970
Robin Ventura, 1967
Matthew Fox, 1966
Jackie Earle Haley, 1961
Jane Lynch, 1960
Joel Silver, 1952
Tommy Mottola, 1949
Steve Stone, 1947
Roosevelt "Rosie" Grier, 1932
Polly Bergen, 1930
John Chancellor, 1927
Harry Dean Stanton, 1926
Dale Robertson, 1923
Ingmar Bergman, 1918
Douglas Edwards, 1917
Gerald R. Ford, 1913
Woodie Guthrie, 1912
William Hanna, 1910
Ken Murray, 1903
Dave Fleischer, 1893
Florence Bascom, 1862


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Licence to Kill(Film), 1989
"Spring Symphony"(Britten Op. 44), 1949
Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care(Publication Date)


Today in History

Foundation of the Mission San Antonio de Padua in modern California by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra, 1771
Citizens of Paris storm the Bastille and free seven prisoners, 1789
First ascent of the Matterhorn, by Edward Whymper and party, four of whom die on the descent, 1865
The Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta, 1902
The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation, 1969
A powerful solar flare, later named the Bastille Day event, causes a geomagnetic storm on Earth, 2000
The United States Government admits to the existence of "Area 51", 2003
In Borneo, a rainbow toad, believed to be extinct since 1924, is sighted, 2011
Neptune, discovered in 1846, completes its first orbit of the sun since that date, 2011

Can you believe it?

"Can you believe it?"  #1 Son was in a talkative mood.

"They've come out with the lists of Oscar nominees, and neither Joaquin Phoenix nor Tom Hanks are nominated this year!"

"Oscars, isn't that the other name for the Academy Awards?" #2 Son came in and asked.

Yes, same thing, i said.

"Yeah, but think about it!  Especially Tom Hanks.  He turned in his best performance ever in his career as Captain Phillips.  I couldn't believe how well he acted that, especially at the end, where they've just been rescued, and not even a nomination!  Then again, Harrison Ford has never won one, either, in over 40 years of great performances.  So I guess that tells you something."

"Well, I've given up on the Oscars totally.  They've nominated The Croods, for heaven's sake!  Can you believe that!  The Croods!  Yes, it's in the animated category, but still.  I give up on them!" Bigger Girl said.

"I can make a better movie than that!" #2 Son said with a grin.  "It would be called Chasing Young Jacob, and it would be me chasing him, and it would be great!"

"Well, Frozen should win everything for animated.  That's the best Disney film they've had out in a long time.  I'm still singing the songs from that one in my head!" #1 Son said.  Then he added, "I still can't believe some of the people they overlook, like Ford and DiCaprio, and then this year.  They're nuts!"

"Oh, by the way," #2 Son said.  "Can you believe this t-shirt Young Jacob gave me?  It's awesome!"

Coming from Young Jacob, yes, i can believe that.

(For those of you who may not have kids who grew up on Pokemon, the above is the most famous of the Pocket Monsters, called Pikachu, pronounced peek-achoo.)


Today is:

Dairokuten-no-Hadaka Matsuri -- Chiba, Japan (around this date; one of Japan's "naked" festivals, as participants wear only a loincloth as they wrestle in the cold, wet mud, bringing luck to the community as they run through the crowds smearing the lucky mud on the onlookers)

Dance of the Secret Places -- Fairy Calendar

Dag van de Revolutie -- Suriname (Day of Liberation and Innovation)

Februaristaking -- Netherlands (commemoration of a strike against the Nazis)

Festival of Ptah -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Kitano Baika-sai (Plum Blossom Festival) -- Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Let's All Eat Right Day -- in honor of the birth of Adelle Davis in 1904, an early pioneer in good nutrition

National Chocolate Covered Peanuts Day -- some sites say any nuts will do, some specify peanuts; take your pick

National Clam Chowder Day -- not to be confused with New England Clam Chowder Day, back in January

National Day -- Kuwait

People's Revolution Day/People Power Day -- Philippines

Pistol Patent Day -- Samuel Colt received US Patent #138 for the first pistol on this day in 1836

Quiet Day -- can't find the history behind this one, but mommy wants one!

Spay Day USA -- sponsored by the HSUS; Sit! Stay! Spay!  Good Owner!

St. Walburga's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, harvests; Antwerp, Belgium; Eichstätt, Germany; Gronigen, Netherlands; Oudenarde, Belgium; Plymouth, England; Zutphen, Netherlands; against coughs, dog bites, famine, hydrophobia/rabies, mad dogs, plague, storms)

Soviet Occupation Day -- Georgia

World Spay Day -- don't let your pets litter!


Birthdays Today:

Josh Wolff, 1977
Chelsea Handler,1975
Sean Astin, 1971
Tea Leoni, 1966
Carrot Top, 1965
Lee Evans, 1964
Neil Jordan, 1950
Ric Flair, 1949
Karen Grassle, 1944
George Harrison, 1943
Diane Baker, 1938
Tom Courtenay, 1937
Bob Schieffer, 1937
Sally Jessy Raphael, 1935
"Texas Rose" Bascom, 1922
Bobby Riggs, 1918
Anthony Burgess, 1917
Jim Backus, 1913
Millicent Hammond Fenwick, 1910
Adelle Davis, 1904
Zeppo Marx, 1901
Meher Baba, 1894
Enrico Caruso, 1873
Charles Lang Freer, 1856
Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841
Xuande, Emperor of China, 1398


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Little Night Music"(Musical), 1973
"Toys in the Attic"(Play), 1960
"Wonderful Town"(Musical), 1953
"Your Show of Shows"(TV), 1950
"Natoma"(Herbert Opera), 1911
"Riders to the Sea"(Play), 1904
"Hernani"(Victor Hugo Play), 1830


Today in History:

The First Bank of the United States is chartered, 1791
The German Midiatisation is enacted, taking over 1,000 German sovereign states into about 40 larger entities, 1803
Samuel Colt patents the first revolving barrel multi-shot firearm, 1836
The first US electric printing press is patented by Thomas Davenport, 1837
Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress, 1870
The US Steel Corp. is organized under J P Morgan, 1901
The Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Toronto Marlboroughs in 2 games, 1904
Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, 1912
Oregon places a 1 cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax, 1919
Diplomatic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union are established, 1925
Glacier Bay National Monument (now Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve) is established in Alaska, 1925
Francisco Franco becomes General of Spain, 1926
Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission, 1928
The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier, 1933
In occupied Amsterdam, a general strike is declared in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazis, 1941
The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1951
Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston, 1964
The first unit of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, the first commercial nuclear power station in Canada, goes online, 1971
President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, 1986
In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshipers and injuring 125 more, 1994
In the Irish general election, the Fianna Fáil-led government suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government since the formation of the Irish state, 2011