Fade to Black

 "Mom, I did something amazing and astonishing at Youth Group tonight!"  Little Girl came in last night to grab a snack and made this announcement.

Okay, what was that? i asked.

"I went to Youth Group wearing a color other than black!  See, I have my blue t-shirt on, and apparently it's a big deal that I wore something other than black tonight!  Everyone was commenting on it, they were amazed."

So, now that they've gotten used to you being in black, are you going to start wearing blue every week instead?

"Well, since this is my only blue shirt, uh, no."  She picked up her plate and a glass of water, then turned and said, "By the way.  I don't understand why people say the glass is half empty or half full when, technically, it's always all the way full, just partly full of air."

And George Carlin says the glass is the wrong size i noted as she took her snack to the table.


Today is

Adhesive Postage Stamp Day -- the first adhesive postage stamps went on sale on this date in 1840 in Great Britain

Army Day/St. George's Day -- Bulgaria

Beverage Day -- an internet holiday that encourages you to try a beverage you've never had before

Festival of Min -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (a four day festival celebrating male fertility)

International No Diet Day -- for reasons not to diet, but focus n health instead, click here

Joseph Brackett Day -- birth anniversary of Shaker author of the song "Simple Gifts"

Martyrs' Day -- Syria

Melanoma Monday -- learn how to check yourself for skin cancer

Mounikhia / Munichia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Artemis, date approximate)

National Crepe Suzette Day

National Meeting Planners Appreciation Day 2013 -- US (you are only obligated to celebrate this if you love meetings, love to plan meetings, or have a meeting planner in your organization to humor)

National Nurses Day -- US, start of National Nurses Week

National Tourist Appreciation Day -- during US National Travel and Tourism Week

No Homework Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays (celebrated on Monday if it falls on a weekend)

Orthodox Easter Monday -- Orthodox Christians following the Julian Calendar
     Sham el Nessim

Remembrance for Eyvind Kelve -- Asatru/Norse Pagan Calendar (pagan martyr)

School Bus Drivers Appreciation Day -- US

St. George's Day -- Eastern Orthodox Churches (the day to visit graves and decorate, leave special food, and provide entertainment for the dearly departed) related observance:
     Shepherd's and Herdsman's Day -- Bulgaria

St. Gerard of Lunel's Day (Patron of epileptics and Montesanto, Italy; against epilepsy and headaches)

Yale Lock Day -- the Yale lock was patented this day in 1861


Anniversaries Today:

Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey (the first televised royal wedding), 1960


Birthdays Today:

George Clooney, 1961
Tom Bergeron, 1955
Tony Blair, 1953
Bob Seger, 1945
Willie Mays, 1931
Orson Welles, 1915
Stewart Granger, 1913
Rudolph Valentino, 1895
Gaston Leroux, 1868
Sigmund Freud, 1856
Robert E. Peary, 1856
Maximilian Robespierre, 1758


Today in History:

Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome, which many consider the end of the Renaissance, 1527
Mongol emperor Babur defeats the Afghans and Bengals, 1529
Henry VIII orders that English Bibles be placed in every church, 1536
Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles, 1682
The first African-American Masonic Lodge (African # 459) forms Prince Hall, Boston, 1787
John Deere produces the first steel plow, 1833
James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald, 1835
The Glaciarium, the world's first mechanically frozen ice rink, opens, 1844
Dr John Gorrie patents a "refrigeration machine", 1851
Linus Yale patents the Yale lock, 1851
Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska, 1877
The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris, 1889
George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII, 1910
George Herman "Babe" Ruth, of the Boston Red Sox, slams his first home run, against the New York Yankees, 1915
The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed, 1937
John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath, 1940
Bob Hope performs his first USO show, 1941
Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes, 1954
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel, 1994
Chaiten Volcano erupts in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people, 2008

Who is Supervising the Supervisor?

We have a Youth Pastor at our church.

He is a really great guy.

He taught my son to play the game where you put the fizzy antacids in your mouth, add soda, and see how long you can hold it. My son tried the game at homeschool co-op and got kicked out.

Last night was Fear Factor night for the youth. They spent the night at the church doing such things as capture the flag, hunting for cups in a dark room baited with mouse traps (the kind that pinch but won't actually break finger bones), paintball wars, and eating junk food.

My two kids came home with a bloody nose each, plug a goose egg on one's forehead and facial bruises on the other from a collision with both a tree and another kid.

I think the Youth Pastor needs more supervising!


Today is:

Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha -- Baha'i

Independence Day, Albania, Panama, Mauritania

Make Your Own Head Day

National French Toast Day

Red Planet Day

Republic Day, Chad

St. Simeon Metaphrastes' Day

Swine Time Festival, Climax, Georgia, US -- Come on out and join the fun, the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. Contests & Events include best dressed pig, corn shucking, hog calling, eating chitterlings, pig racing, syrup making, baby crawling and the greased pig chase!


Birthdays Today:

Jon Stewart, 1962
Judd Nelson, 1959
Ed Harris, 1950
Alexander Godunov, 1949
Paul Shaffer, 1949
Joe Dante, 1946
Randy Newman, 1943
Berry Gordy, Jr., 1929
Brooks Atkinson, 1894
John Bunyan, 1628



Today in History:

Skanderbeg and his forces liberate Kruja in Middle Albania and raise the Albanian flag, 1443
Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing Pacific Ocean, 1520
Washington & his troops cross Delaware River, 1776
The Times in London is for the first time printed by automatic, steam powered presses built by the German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer, signaling the beginning of the availability of newspapers to a mass audience, 1814
Ka Lahui: Hawaiian Independence Day - The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation, 1843
Women vote in a national election for the first time in the New Zealand general election, 1893
US-born Lady Astor elected first female member of British Parliament, 1919
Capt Cyril Turner of the RAF gives the first skywriting exhibition in NYC; Turner spelled out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200." 47,000 called, 1922
"Hopalong Cassidy" premieres on TV, 1948
The first Polaroid Camera is sold, 1948