Silly Sunday: Refreshing Idea

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs.  The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

1. Post a joke.
2. Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
3. Read my joke.
4. Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
5. Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
6. Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

Yesterday i went to the bank to deposit the larger portion of Little Girl's paycheck into her savings account, and bring the smaller amount back to her in cash.  As i sat in line at the drive up window at the bank, i thought about the disappearance of physical money and what that will mean.

No more giving kids their weekly commission payment for doing their chores (a/k/a allowance) in cash.  No more slipping a little something into the tip jar, or dropping some money into the collection box at the door of a museum or other place that relies on donations.  No way to anonymously give money any more, in any way, to anyone, for any reason.  That's a very sad thing to me.

Checks are a dying breed, too.  None of my children even bother with them.  If they need to send a check, they put the money in my account, and i send the check.

Some churches are turning on to the fact that their members want an easier way to give tithes and offerings.  (One wag noted that his nondenominational church accepts every denomination, but prefers $20s and $100s)

Boudreaux was at a meeting to discuss the addition of a card reader chip to the collection plates at his church to make it easier to give.

"I don' know 'bout dat," he was heard to say, "but what I done be wantin' fo' a long time is a refreshment stand at de back o' de church.  Mais, but I could use a cold root beer when Father be givin' a long homily!"

Today is

Aunt's Day -- you honored your mother last week, if you have an aunt who has been good to you and a good influence, call today and let her know

Bay to Breakers 12k Race -- San Francisco, CA, US (the oldest and largest footrace in the world, with 70,000+ runners, followed by a festival)

Birthday of the Raja -- Perlis, Malaysia

Constitution Day -- Nauru; Norway; Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Dea Dia Festival -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of growth)

Dia de las Letras Gallegas -- GA, Spain (Galician Literature Day in Galacia, an autonomous region of Spain)

Falling Off a Log Night -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Azamat(Grandeur) -- Baha'i

Grand Spring Festival -- Toshogu Shrine, Nikko, Japan (through tomorrow; includes horseback archery, processions in costume, and more)

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Liberation Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo

Merry-Go-Round Day -- the first merry-go-round, powered by horses, opened this day in 1620

Mifune Matsuri -- Kurumazaki Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (Boat Festival, with over 20 different kinds of traditional Japanese performing arts and costumes of the Heian Period)

National Cherry Cobbler Day

National Stationery Show -- NYC, NY, US (if you love beautiful paper, or quirky cards, or all forms of stationery, this is a show for you; through Wednesday)

National Walnut Day -- declared in the US in 1949 by the Walnut Marketing Board

Navy Day -- Argentina (anniversary of the victory at the Battle of Montevideo in 1814)

Neighbor Day -- Rhode Island, US (a "Day of Special Observance"  here, and they encourage everyone, before summer starts, get to know your neighbors so you will have more people with whom to enjoy the season)

Pack Rat Day -- come on out and admit it, you are a pack rat, too!

Route 66 Summerfest -- Rolla, MO, US (citywide celebration to kick off the summer; through tomorrow)

Rubber Band Day -- patented this day in 1845, and aren't we pack rats glad.

Shunki Reitaisai -- Toshogu Shrine, Nikko, Japan (Grand Festival of Spring, through the 18th)

Stepmothers' Day -- the too often overlooked and unsung heroines of families; if you have one, and she has been there for you, thank her today

St. Madron of Cornwall's Day (Patron against pain)

Tell An Umpire "I Love Your Outfit" Day -- only if he has a sense of humor or you can duck quickly

Watch a Baby Fall Asleep Day -- because few things in the world are as funny and precious

World Hypertension Day 

World Neurofibromatosis Awareness Day --  for information about neurofibromatosis click here or here  

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day -- UN

Yom Yerushalayim -- Israel (Jerusalem Day; began sunset yesterday, ends sunset today)


Birthdays Today:

Nikki Reed, 1988
Tahj Mowry, 1987
Drew Roy, 1986
Andrea Corr, 1974
Sendhil Ramamurthy, 1974
Mia Hamm, 1972
Jordan Knight, 1970
Trent Reznor, 1965
Craig Ferguson, 1962
Enya, 1961
Sugar Ray Leonard, 1956
Bob Saget, 1956
Bill Paxton, 1955
Debra Winger, 1955
Christian Lacroix, 1950
Dennis Hopper, 1936
Maureen O'Sullivan, 1911
James "Cool Papa" Bell, 1903
Joseph Norman Lockyer, 1836
Edward Jenner, 1749


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Information Please!"(Radio), 1938
"Shéhérazade"(Ravel song cycle), 1904
Comic Cuts(Comic Paper, first publication), 1890
"Cavalleria rusticana/Rustic Chivalry"(Opera), 1890


Today in History:

Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi becomes the first to see 2 belts on Jupiter's surface, 1630
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montréal, 1642
Frontenac becomes governor of New France (Canada), 1672
Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River, 1673
England passes the Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum & molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions, 1733
The US Continental Congress bans trade with Canada, 1775
The New York Stock Exchange is founded, 1792
John Hawkins & Richard French patent the Reaping Machine, 1803
Napoleon I of France  orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire, 1809
Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian, 1814
Antoine Joseph Sax patents the saxophone, 1846
Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language, 1863
Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby, 1875
Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer, 1902
The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the first-ever televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City, 1939
The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954
Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere  of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure, 1969
Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean, 1970
Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho, starting the Internal conflict in Peru, 1980
Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, 1983
After 18 years as the mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac takes office as President of France, 1995
Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown, 1992
Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1997
Massachussetts becomes the first US State to legalize same-sex marriage, 2004
The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef, 2008
Dalia Grybauskaite is elected the first female President of Lithuania, 2009
The brightest lunar meteor impact ever observed is recorded by NASA, 2013

For years now, there has been talk of moving to a cashless society.

In some ways it makes sense. After all, as my grandmother used to say, money is very dirty, you don't know whose hands have been all over it. My dad, a doctor, thought his mom was crazy for believing that, then saw a study done that showed all the bacteria and drug crystals on paper money, and realized that this was one of those "old wives tales" his mom got right.

In other ways, I don't want to see it happen. Money is called currency because it flows from hand to hand. I earn it, I save it, I spend it, it moves.

When it is just electronic, and we don't see it, it is not real to us. Seriously, studies have shown that people spend more when they use plastic than when they use cash, up to twice as much. It doesn't register to us as a real transaction the way pulling bills out of a wallet and paying does.

I find this to be true in my own life. I decided several months ago to simply cash my paycheck each week and get whatever else I need for the week out of the checking account at the same time, and when the cash is gone, nothing else gets bought. This is what gasses the vehicles, buys the groceries, gets Sweetie's one meal a week he buys at work, or anything else we need.

When the cash is gone, it is gone. It makes me stop and consider every trip every place. It makes me look twice at each purchase. It makes me realize that the money being spent is finite and real.

Using a card at the gas pump and the store and every place else never did that. Only having a limited supply of it on hand did that.

Yes, it is easier to pay some bills online. Yes, I have lots of stuff set to automatically debit from our account each month.

For the gas, groceries, clothes, lunches, kids buying sno-cones, etc., when I see the cash dwindling, and know there is an end, I am more careful how I spend each penny.

I don't want to lose that element of how cash makes me think before spending to the ease of a cashless society.


Today is:

Citizenship Day

Constitution Day

Feast of the Pilgrims, Villers-Perwin, Belgium

Festival of Min Kyawzwa, Burma (god of drinking and fireworks -- should they really be mixing those two?)

National Apple Dumpling Day

National Student Day

Stigmata of St. Francis' Day

St. Hildegard's Day

St. Lambert's Day (patron of children, nannies)

VFW Ladies Auxiliary Day


Birthdays Today:

Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, 1951
John Ritter, 1948
Ken Kesey, 1935
Anne Bancroft, 1931
Roddy McDowall, 1928
Hank Williams Sr., 1923
Jerry Colonna, 1904
Samuel Johnson, 1709


Today in History:

Arabs conquer Alexandria, and destroy its library for the last time, 642
Netherland sailors discover Mauritus, 1598
Massachusetts Bay Colony gets a new charter, 1691
Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain, 1776
US Constitution is adopted by the Philadelphia convention, 1787
Sprinkler system for extinguishing fires is patented by Phillip W. Pratt, 1872
The first transcontinental airplane flight, from New York to Pasadena, is completed after 82 hours 4 minutes, 1911