Red-Headed Alec doesn't, that is.
Yes, we now not only have all four of our kids living here, but Festus was told to move out by his parents, so he and #2 Son share a room, and Red-Headed Alec's mom and stepdad have been full of promises that never materialized, so he's here. It's that, or the homeless shelter, and he actually asks to help around the house. No use putting a young man who does that in a homeless shelter.
And giving him driving lessons doesn't drive me crazy.
Red-Headed Alec is 23, and between his biological dad who tried to kill him, his biological mom who abandoned him and then took him back in a year ago and has, as noted, promised but not delivered, and his Grandmother who legally adopted him and wouldn't teach him to drive and now won't let him live with her, he's really not had much of a chance to do something with his life.
There were promises, but no one taught him to drive until recently, when his girlfriend took him to lessons. So now he has a permit and needs practice. The Jalopy is a great practice vehicle. It's big enough that you will be comfortable driving a smaller vehicle later, but not so big as to be scary. The anti-lock brake system might or might not work at any given time, but we aren't doing any driving that will make it a problem.
Every evening, for about a half an hour, we get out in the Jalopy and he drives around the neighborhood. He knows what he's doing, he is a very careful, defensive driver, and all he needs is practice for confidence so when his girlfriend has her day off in a couple of weeks and takes him in for the test he won't be so nervous.
This what what i did with the other kids, but except for Little Girl, they made me a bit nervous. #1 Son has had several tickets and an accident since he got his license, and most of his friends are afraid to get into the vehicle with him. As much as i tried, i just couldn't get him to see that the way he takes chances could get him hurt. He mostly behaved behind the wheel with me, but i could see those tendencies.
Poor Bigger Girl took a while to learn because of the unique way her brain works. She's fine now, but it took a long time.
#2 Son was okay except for his propensity to want to just get on with it and gogogogogo.
Red-Headed Alec, though, won't go above 20mph if he even thinks children or pets might be around, and he counts the number of seconds he is stopped at a stop sign, counts out loud. This one i'm not going to have to worry about much.
Especially if he gets that job with #2 Son's store, and his mom actually does give him the car she promised, he will drive with extreme caution to keep his insurance rates down.
That is a good thing in a 23-year-old unmarried male.
Today is:
Candies Day -- they have to be kidding -- this close to Halloween we need another candy day?!
Chhat Parwa/Chhath Puja -- Nepal (Hindu/Vedic Festival of the sun god Surya)
Coronation Day -- Cambodia (anniversary of King Norodom Sihamony, in 2004)
Cumhuriyet Bayrami -- North Cyprus; Turkey (Republic Day)(1923)
Fiestas Patrias -- Honduras (through Friday)
Hermit Day / Hide From Everyone Day -- internet generated, for those who would rather have a peaceful day today than celebrate the other holidays listed; look up how to be a hermit on wikihow
Internet Day -- it's predecessor went live today, see Today in History for detail
Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day (And end up either getting yourself and everyone around you in a good mood, or yourself being observed at the hospital in a padded room.)
Naming Day -- Tanzania
National Cat Day -- US (with the goal of getting 10,000 cats adopted from shelters today)
National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day
National Oatmeal Day
Second Fiddle of the Month -- Fairy Calendar (a very poorly attended event -- who wants to play second fiddle?)
St. Mary of Edessa's Day (Patron against sexual temptation)
World Psoriasis Day -- www.worldpsoriasisday.com
Birthdays Today:
Gabrielle Union, 1972
Winona Ryder, 1971
Joely Fisher, 1965
Randy Jackson, 1961
Finona Hughes, 1960
Kate Jackson, 1948
Richard Dreyfuss, 1947
Melba Moore, 1945
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 1938
Dominick Dunne, 1925
Bill Mauldin, 1921
Fanny Brice, 1891
Charles Hercules Ebbets, 1858
Daniel Decatur Emmet, 1815
James Boswell, 1740 (wrote the biography of Samuel Johnson)
Edmund Halley, 1656 (O.S. Date) (yes, that Halley, found the comet)
Debuting/Premiering Today:
The Internet, 1969 (the first connection between computers that would become the Internet someday was made on this date when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute; this grew into ARPANET, and is now the Internet we know and yell at.)
"Let's Face It"(Musical), 1941
"Don Giovanni"(Mozart K. 527), 1787
Today in History:
Cyrus the Great entered the city of Babylon, BC539
First trial for witchcraft in Paris, 1390
Sir Walter Raleigh, adventurer, writer, and courtier, is beheaded, 1618
A severe earthquake shakes New England, 1727
Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague, 1787
The first Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans, 1811
Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia, 1889
The first intercity trucking service, from Colorado City to Snyder, Texas, begins running, 1904
Turkey declares its independence as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, 1923
Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal, 1956
Cassius Clay wins his first professional fight, 1960
Syria exits from the United Arab Republic, 1961
Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors, 1967
The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid, 1991
In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities, 1998
Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space, 1998
In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution, 2004
The 3G wireless transmitters at Mt. Everest make coverage available to the summit, 2010
Random House and Penguin merge to become Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the world, 2012
Turkey opens the first underwater rail tunnel linking Europe to Asia, 2013
...before the holiday even begins, i'm scared to see how the rest of the week is going to go.
Anyway. Last Thursday and Friday, Grandma and Grandpa were in town. Friday was Grandpa's birthday, and i had prepared two batches of the fried, sweet flatbreads called hojaldras that he loves for his gift. Most of those two days were spent entertaining Grandma while Grandpa had meetings and dinners and luncheons and the interminable discussions that go into doing work on Boards of AnythingAndEverything.
By the time they left Friday afternoon, Little Girl and i went and took care of the cats at the shelter, then i dropped her and some friends off for a movie. A couple of hours after that, a friend of mine came into town to stay with us.
She had expressed interest in seeing a home football game, and, since #1 Son was going to be working, i invited her. She drove down in her daughter the lawyer's Mercedes convertible, the one that still has some damage from a bullet hole in it. Note for those who want to be lawyers -- be careful which type of law you decide to practice. Divorces get messy, and sometimes the lawyer for the other side gets in the way.
Having her here was a breath of fresh air. We stayed up later than we should have, then i got up crazy early as i generally do. The game was a highlight, but absolutely cold. Not just a bit of autumn chill, the highest temp for the day was mid-50's and dropped from the time the game started. It's a good thing the team won, or it would have been insufferable. As it was, the inside areas were so crowded with us Southern hothouse flowers who don't do cold well that there wasn't room to breathe deeply.
Sunday morning the plan was to attend the very early service, then my friend Di would go toodle around the town a bit and meet me at noon when my nursery shift was over. Only problem: perfume.
People, i'm not a meanie, and i'm not against you wearing your favorite perfume, cologne, aftershave, whatever. What i am against is having to say, "Nice scent. Must you marinate in it?" Seriously, when your perfume is so strong that a person can't stay for a church service because her throat is closing up, you have used way too much. Take a tip from Miss Manners (Judith Martin) and make sure your scent is not so strong that it will stay in the room even when you are no longer present!
Anyway, Di had to leave the service, and she did toodle around the town a bit, and found her dog, The Terrorist Terrier, a Christmas outfit at the BigBoxStore. Meanwhile, Little Girl played with the 2-year-olds and i sat with crying babies in my lap. She and i met up again for lunch and talk and more talk.
Little Girl, by the way, deserves great kudos for giving up her room so my friend could stay. The child slept on the couch downstairs for two nights without complaint, and in fact, she had offered.
After Di left, extracting a promise from me that i would come visit her during the Christmas break, and i will, it was time for me to get ready for the annual ecumenical Thanksgiving service that several area churches take turns hosting each year. It was a lovely service, at the Methodist Church this year. They have a wonderful choir, and the speaker was from a local outreach ministry for the homeless that all of these churches band together to support.
So Sunday evening saw me ready for bed in earnest, and hoping for a break. Even though there is no school this week, there's no rest for the weary. Little Girl took her driving classes, the classroom instruction portion, in August. She has been waiting ever since to be called to do the 8 hours of behind the wheel instruction. They finally called, and that starts today, 8am sharp.
That, and the fact that we are again out of toilet paper, meaning i have no further excuses to put off grocery shopping, and the fact that we have so much to do for the holiday week, is going to keep us jumping.
Today is:
Anniversary of Moquegua City -- Peru (founded this date in 1541)
Cat-Napping Convention -- Fairy Calendar
Day Sacred to Proserpina -- Ancient Roman Calendar (also Persephone, of the Greeks, the Wheel goddess of the Underworld, often associated with St. Catherine; see below)
Dia de la Soberania Nacional -- Argentina (Sovereignty Day)
Evacuation Day -- 19th Century New York City (withdrawal of British troops in 1783)
Hari Guru -- Indonesia (Teacher's Day)
Icelandic Calendar Month Ylir (Whiner) begins -- named after the whining winter winds
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women -- UN
Learn When To Start Thawing the Turkey Day -- US (USDA "Let's Talk Turkey" hotline 800-535-4555; Butterball "Turkey Talk-Line" 800-323-4848)
Mangé Yam -- Haiti (fete de la moisson; a yam harvest festival)
National Day -- Bosnia and Herzegovina (commemorates the 1943 declaration of statehood within Yugoslavia)
National Don't Utter A Word Day -- internet generated, and variously listed as the 25th of November, February, or May; pick one if you want
National Military Families Recognition Day -- US (by Presidential Proclamation in 1993, the Monday before Thanksgiving Day)http://www.militaryfamily.org/
National Parfait Day
Persephone Day (a/k/a Kore) -- Ancient Greek Calendar (celebration of her as wheel goddess of the underworld; date approximate, but she is often associated with St. Catherine; see below)
Saint Catherine of Alexandria's Day -- of the Catherine Wheel, sometimes associated with the Wheel of Karma and the Hindu Kali; one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (Patron of apologists, archivists, attorneys, barristers, craftsmen who work with wheels of any sort, dying people, educators, girls, jurists, knife grinders and sharpeners, lawyers, librarians, libraries, maidens, mechanics, millers, nurses, old maids, philosophers, potters, preachers, scholars, schoolchildren, scribes, secretaries, spinners, spinsters, stenographers, students, tanners, teachers, theologians, turners, University of Paris, unmarried girls, and wheelwrights; Aalsum, Netherlands; Bertinoro, Italy; Camerata Picena, Italy; Dumaguete, Philippines; Heidesheim am Rhein, Germany; Kuldiga, Latvia; Mähring, Germany; Saint Catharines, Ontario; Zejtun, Malta; Zurrieq, Malta) related observance
Women's Merrymaking Day -- Women go 'Cath'rining' and have a good time (in some places, especially France, women may propose marriage on this day)
Shopping Reminder Day -- exactly a month until Christmas
Srefidensi -- Suriname (Republic Day/Independence Day)
Statehood Day -- FBiH, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Strange Names Day -- in honor of all the celebrity -- and other -- kids with "unique" names; sponsored the last Tuesday in November by Marlar in the Morning at 101QFL in Rockford, IL, US
Vajiravudh Day -- Thailand
Zibelemarit -- Bern, Switzerland (Onion Market Festival, in front of the Federal Palace, one of the country's best known and most popular autumn markets, always on the fourth Monday in November to commemorate the granting of market right to people after great fire of Berne in 1405.)
Birthdays Today:
Barbara and Jenna Bush, 1981
Donovan McNabb, 1976
Christina Applegate, 1971
Jill Hennessy, 1968
Amy Grant, 1960
John F. Kennedy, Jr., 1960
John Larroquette, 1947
Paul Desmond, 1924
Ricardo Montalban, 1920
Joe DiMaggio, 1914
Solanus Casey, 1870
Carry Nation, 1846
Karl F. Benz, 1844
Andrew Carnegie, 1835
Today in History:
A tsunami, caused by the earthquake in the Tyrrhenian Sea, devastates Naples (Italy) and the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, among other places, 1343
The siege of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, begins, 1491
A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha, in the Caucasus, killing 80,000 people, 1667
The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, reaches its peak intensity which it maintains through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people died, 1703
First English patent granted to an American, for processing corn, 1715
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is founded, 1758
Farmer's Almanac first published, 1792
The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy, 1826
A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40 foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa (never to be entirely rebuilt again); the storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths result from the disaster, 1839
Alfred Nobel patents dynamite, 1867
John B Meyenberg of St Louis patents evaporated milk, 1884
American College of Surgeons incorporates in Springield, Illinois, 1912
First Thanksgiving Day Parade is held in Philadelphia, 1920
690 earthquake shocks recorded in 1 day in Ito, Japan, 1930
The first Soviet liquid fuel rocket attains altitude of 261' (80m), 1933
Woody Woodpecker debuts with release of Walter Lantz's "Knock Knock", 1940
New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom, 1947
Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London later becoming the longest continuously-running play in history, 1952
The Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire destroys an entire city block, 1982
The United Nations establishes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to commemorate the murder of three Mirabal Sisters for resistance against the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship in Dominican Republic, 1999
Powerful storm brings 3 years worth of rain in 4 hours to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, sparking terrible floods, 2009
"Mom, can you come pick me up?" Little Girl was calling from her last day at driving school, a bit earlier than i expected.
Sure, i told her, grabbed my keys and wallet, and headed out. When i got there, i asked how she did.
"I got a 96% on the written test!" she gloated. "That means I only missed two questions, and now I understand those, too. The teacher was great. She was interesting, had good anecdotes, kept our interest, we actually learned, and she went over what we each got wrong so we would understand it."
Wonderful! i said, and she responded with "Nine and 3!"
What? i asked.
"Your hands, on the wheel, you're supposed to have them at 9 and 3!" She had a huge grin on her face.
Oh, so now you can correct me, right? i grinned back.
"Oh, you should have been in the car the other days, when dad came to pick me up! He was doing so much wrong while he was driving, and I kept telling him and laughing, and he was mad! It was so funny!"
That's called backseat driving, you know, and it can irritate people to no end, i told her.
"Yep! Nine and 3!" she called out again, and we were both laughing.
Well, you may backseat drive me if you want, but my hands stay around 8 and 4, because of the airbag.
"Close enough," she said. Then, "Oh, and we got to do something interesting today, too. They have these glasses that you put on, and get in a driving simulator, and the glasses show you what you would see if you were drunk. Guess what? I didn't hit any pylons! So I guess that means I would be a good drunk driver, even though I've never been drunk and don't ever want to be."
Well, that's a bit scary, i noted. Please don't take that as a reason to drive impaired. You might think you could do just as well, but you were probably driving very slowly to get those results. At real speeds, with more than just stationary pylons around, you wouldn't do so well.
"Believe me, I'm too scared of what cars can do to ever really try to drive drunk or even be drunk. Remember when I broke my arm and had to be on all of those prescription pain medicines? I hated that, you can't think right, and I don't like that feeling. No way I want to do that on purpose, get to where I'm not in control."
Neither do i, i noted.
"Nice blinker!" she yelled at the person who changed lanes in front of me with no signal.
While #2 Son didn't seem to much care either way, i think with this youngest i'm going to have to be on my toes a lot more, watching what i do more closely as i drive.
There are advantages to having a good backseat driver to be a role model for, and i'll take advantage of it.
Today is:
Anniversary of Snick-Snacker's Right Foot -- Fairy Calendar
Carnival Tuesday -- Granada
Day of Battle between Horus and Set; Aset gains the Horns of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
Defence Forces Day -- Zimbabwe
Festival of Aventine Diana / Nemoralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (commemoration of the dedication of her temple; celebrated between now and the 15th, and rededicated as the Festival of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin after Christianization)
Festival of Xocotl Huetzi -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (first fruits of harvest festival; date approximate, but two weeks around the end of August)
Fox Hill Day -- Nassau, Bahamas
Independence Day -- Central African Republic(1960)
International Left-Hander's Day -- sponsored by Lefthanders International
International Sundance -- Manitoba, Canada (an extraordinary gathering of Elders from many Native traditions around the world, to perform the sacred Sundance of the Lakota people and sacred ceremonies of the other traditions represented; through Saturday)
Lao Issara -- Laos (Day of the Free Laos)
Lesser Festival of Flora -- Ancient Roman Calendar
Machias Wild Blueberry Festival -- Machias, ME, US (blueberries and fun, in the place that has lobster, too; through Saturday)
National Filet Mignon Day
Obon -- Buddhist (celebration to revere the ancestors; celebrated at different times even within Japan, but usually the biggest dates are in mid-August)
Qi Xi -- China (Double Seven or Chinese Valentine's Day, the 7th day of the 7th moon, the day all the magpies in the world form a bridge so the cowherd and the weaver can meet across the Milky Way, which separates them.)
Runic Half Month As begins (the gods)
Skinny Dipping Day -- funny t-shirt: I no longer skinny dip. I chunky dunk!
St. Cassian's Day (Patron of students and teachers; Brixen, Italy; Comacchio, Italy; Imola, Italy; Mexico City, Mexico)
St. Concordia's day (Patron of nursing mothers and wet nurses)
St. Hippolytus' Day (Patron of horses, prison guards/officers/workers; Bibbiena, Italy)
Wall Day -- anniversary of the day in 1961 that the Berlin Wall began going up; observe it by trying to break down a wall or communication barrier somewhere in your own life
Women's Day -- Tunisia
World's Fair of Money -- Chicago, IL, US (the greatest money show on Earth, including dealers, exhibits from around the world, family activities and educational programs; through Saturday)
Birthdays Today
Danny Bonaduce, 1959
Midori Ito, 1969
Dan Fogelberg, 1951
Philippe Petit, 1949
Don Ho, 1930
Pat Harrington, Jr., 1929
Fidel Castro, 1926
George Shearing, 1919
Ben Hogan, 1912
Alfred Hitchcock, 1899
Bert Lahr, 1895
Annie Oakley, 1860
Today in History
The English army under King Henry V lands at the mouth of the Seine River, 1415
Tenochtitlan of the Aztecs is conquered by the Spanish, 1521
Tenbun Hokke Disturbance, in which Buddhist monks from Kyoto's Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto, 1536
John Smith submits the story of Jamestown's first days for publication, 1608
Christiaan Huygens discovers the Martian south polar cap, 1642
Founding of Litchfield, CT, 1651
Marie Antoinette and other French royals are imprisoned by Revolutionaries, 1792
Nat Turner sees the solar eclipse which he interprets as a sign from heaven to begin his ill-fated slave rebellion, 1831
Earthquake in Peru and Ecuador kills 25,000, 1868
Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his "Navigable Balloon", 1889
First production in the UK of stainless steel by Harry Brearley, 1913
Opha Mae Johnson is the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, 1918
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is established as a public company in Germany, 1918
The first barbed wire fence that would become the Berlin Wall is erected, 1961
The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York, 1969
Michael Phelps sets the Olympic record for most the gold medals won by an individual in Olympic history, 2008
A friend of mine has a son who, when she used to say, "You kids are driving me crazy!" would respond with, "But mom, don't bother driving, it's such a short trip, why waste the gas?"
Little Girl, my youngest, begins driving school today.
#2 Son's driving adventures will have to wait for another day, but after today, i will have no one left in the house who hasn't at least been initiated into the pool of potential drivers.
Gads. The shuddering you just felt is my wallet, as we already pay a huge amount for insurance.
Last night, as a celebration, Bigger Girl took her out for ice cream. When i told them not to stay out late as they would all have an early morning, Bigger Girl noted, "It's okay, mom, we are going to buy some and bring it back. After that, it's up to her to go to bed at a decent hour, and if she asks for coffee ice cream, it's her own fault!"
In preparation for this day, we took Little Girl to the eye doctor for another exam. It's about two months shy of a year since her last exam, but because of driving and school beginning (another story, the red tape nightmare of getting her into the regular schools around here), and she's been saying everything is blurry even with her glasses, i took her anyway. Her prescription has changed by about 4 diopters.
When i mentioned that to Sweetie, with a bit of concern, he said, "Ah, don't worry, when I was her age, mine would change by 2 diopters every 6 months, so she's right on schedule!"
Great to know, i responded with a bit of sarcasm.
Although it is nice to have proof, once again, that though she really doesn't look much like anyone in the family that we know of (there are extended family and some of Sweetie's biological family that we have no pictures of, so there could be a link to some of them, but we have no way of telling), she really isn't adopted as she likes to tell everyone when they ask why she looks so different.
And if you followed that last sentence, good for you. No, i'm not retyping it, it's the morning of my youngest starting driving school, and i'm not up for much editing.
Especially not as i'm trying to gear myself up to another round of hours and hours of sitting, white knuckled and clutching the door handle, through another kid learning the ropes.
If i'm even more of a dithering nut in the next several months, you will know why. And no, i won't let it drive me crazy, i'll walk because it's too short a trip to waste the gas.
Today is:
August Bank Holiday -- Australia; Ireland; UK
August Monday/Culturama -- Saint Kitts ande Nevis
Barsi Bhagat Puran Singh -- Sikhism
Bogota Carnival -- Bogota, Colombia (celebrating the city's Hispanic founding; through tomorrow)
British Columbia Day -- British Columbia, Canada
Carnival Monday -- Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; British Virgin Islands
Celtic Tree Month Coll (Hazel) commences
Civic Holiday -- Canada
Cuti Bersama -- Indonesia
"Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead" Day -- statement uttered this day by Admiral Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864
Emancipation Day -- Bahamas; Dominica; Granada; Guyana; Montserrat; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Turks and Caicos Islands
Farmer's Day -- Zambia
Festival Monday -- British Virgin Islands
Frídagur verslunarmanna -- Iceland (Commerce Day)
Hanakasa Matsuri -- Yamagata City, Japan (10,000 costumed dancers perform; through the 7th)
Independence Day / Republic Day -- Burkina Faso (former Upper Volta)(1960)
International Beer Day
Kadooment Day -- Barbados (huge carnival celebration of the end of the Crop Over festival, celebrating the end of the sugar cane harvest)
National Blackmail Day -- according to mostly ecard sites, with suggestions to send a card to the friend who has told you his/her secrets, with the notice that you plan on celebrating this date!
National Children's Day -- Tuvalu
National Underwear Day -- sponsored by www.freshpair.com, which encourages people to rethink their underwear style, make sure they have the right fit, and which gives away free underwear
details here about this year's attempt to break the Guiness World Record for most people publicly gathered in their skivvies in one place
National Waffle Day
New Brunswick Day -- New Brunswick, Canada
Nuestra Senora de Africa -- CE, Spain
Old Fiddler's Convention -- Galax, VA, US (fun and fiddles, dulcimers, banjos, autoharps, and more; through Saturday)
Oyster Day
Picnic Day -- NT, Australia
Pixie of the Year Competition -- Fairy Calendar
Sacrifice to Salus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of health, associated with Greek Hygeia)
St. Afra of Augsburg's Day (Patron of converts, martyrs, penitent women; Augsburg, Germany)
St. Oswald of Northumbria's Day (Patron of Zug, Switzerland)
Sturgis Rally -- Sturgis, SD, US (the grand-daddy of all motorcycle rallies and races; through Sunday)
Tampere Theatre Festival -- Tampere, Finland (largest such festival in the Nordic countries; through Sunday)
Turku Music Festival -- Turku, Finland (music from medieval to modern, by world-famous artists in the historic venues of Finland's oldest city, in historic buildings all over the city; through the 17th)
Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian defenders -- Croatia
Work Like a Dog Day -- different from work-a-holics, people who work like a dog work hard while they are at it, and rest when they aren't
Youth Day -- Kiribati
Birthdays Today:
Maureen McCormick, 1956
Loni Anderson, 1946
Neil Armstrong, 1930
Raoul Wallenberg, 1912
John Huston, 1906
Joseph Merrick, 1862
Guy de Maupassant, 1850
Today in History
The last outpost of Bar Kockba, Betar, falls to Rome, 135
Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Northumbria at the Battle of Maserfield, 642
King Edward and Earl Aetherlred, leading the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, defeat the last major Viking army to raid England at the Battle of Tettenhall, 910
Anti-Jewish riots in Arnstadt, Germany, 1264
Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland, 1583
The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America, 1620
New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true, 1735
US Army abolishes flogging, 1861
Standard Oil of New Jersey is established, 1882
The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor, 1884
Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip made in her husbands invention, the first patented automobile; her journey was to publicize the invention, and she garnered attention and sales, 1888
The first electric traffic light is installed, in Cleveland, Ohio, 1914
Debut of the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie", by Harold Gray, 1924
Debut of the comic strip "Andy Capp", by Smythe, 1957
Nelson Mandela is jailed, 1962*
The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty, 1963
The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm, 1995
The Copiapo mining accident traps 33 Chilean miners about 2,300ft below the ground, 2010
*Released in 1990
