The Serious and the Silly (Random Thoughts Rebel and Happy Tuesday)

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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Before i get into the funny stuff, i want to mention something that is on my heart a lot, and that is the idea of our freedom of worship.

It's something i cannot take for granted.  After watching Andrew Brunson's case for two years, and hearing the reports from China of crackdowns on churches that is "worse than during the Cultural Revolution" as per those who lived through it, i ache for people who cannot practice their religion as they see fit.  It even bothers me that some people live where they can't not practice the government enforced religion.

The day before yesterday, a young couple from a very restricted country were baptized at our church.  They attend the local university, became friends with some people at our church, heard the Good News of Jesus, and believed and wanted to be baptized before going back home.

The young woman, when she asked about baptism, also asked, "Will my name be turned over to the government?"

Don't take your freedoms for granted.

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus. 

This coming Friday, i have the joy of undergoing, for the second time in my life, a procedure known as a colonoscopy.

The whole situation got complicated very quickly.  It seems that you cannot simply call and schedule these any more, you have to go talk to someone about scheduling, and the place you go to do that is not where you go to have the procedure, which is also different from where you go to have your anesthesia consultation.

When we did get to the step where we set it up, the nurse called in the prescription for the "cleansing fluids" as i call them.  Sweetie went to pick it up as i was at work by then.

He called me and said, "It's going to be $169!"

So i asked the most obvious question -- isn't the insurance going to cover any of it?  He asked, and the answer was,

The co-pay was only $29.

This morning is the anesthesia consult, before i go to work for Ms. B's son, who is still staying at her house.

By the time this whole thing is over, i think i will feel this way:

Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Belfast International Arts Festival  -- Belfast, Ireland (International arts festival; through Nov. 4th)

Boss's Day -- either celebrate, or roll your eyes, both are acceptable responses (begun by Patricia Bays Haroski in 1958 in honor of her boss, who was also her father; this date was his birthday)     

Chrysanthemum Festival -- Japan ("The Festival of Happiness", various shrines; through Nov. 15)

Clean Your Bug Zapper Day -- internet generated, and we're getting a bit overboard here, aren't we?

Day of Pope John Paul II -- Poland

Dictionary Day / Learn a Word Day -- Noah Webster's birth anniversary

Dress Like A Dork Day -- does someone have it out for us with these?

Elephantine Festival -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (several such celebrations of elephants were held around this time of year in Egypt)

Ether Day (first demonstrated use, see History)

Feast of 'Ilm (Knowledge) -- Baha'i

National Feral Cat Day -- US (sponsored by Alley Cat Allies)     

National Liqueur Day

National Pharmacy Technician Day -- US, because pharmacy technicians "Help America Feel Better"    

Niihama Drum Festival -- Niihama, Japan (three day festival with two ton drum floats)

Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity   

Sennin Musha Gyoretsu -- Tochigi, Japan (procession of 1,000 warriors; through tomorrow)

St. Hedwig's Day (Patron of brides, duchesses, difficult marriages, widows; Bavaria; Berlin, Germany; Gorlitz, Germany; Silesia; against the death of children, jealousy)

Teachers' Day -- Chile

World Food Day -- UN

Anniversaries Today:

The first birth control clinic in the US is opened, 1916

Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah, 1875

Girton College, Cambridge is founded, becoming England's first residential college for women, 1869

Zion's Co-Operative Mercantile Institution, America's first department store, opens, 1868

The Collegiate School is established(forerunner of Yale University), 1701, Old Style Date

Birthdays Today:

John Mayer, 1977

Kellie Martin, 1975

Flea, 1962

Tim Robbins, 1958

Melissa Louise Belote, 1956

Barry Corbin, 1940

Bob Weir, 1947

Suzanne Somers, 1946

Gunter Grass, 1927

Angela Lansbury, 1925

William Orville Douglas, 1898

Eugene O'Neill, 1888

David Ben-Gurion, 1886

Oscar Wilde, 1854

Noah Webster, 1758

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Red Mill"(Musical), 1945

"The Man Who Came too Dinner"(Play), 1939

"Billy the Kid"(Ballet), 1938

Jane Eyre(Publication date), 1847

Today in History:

Jadwiga (yes, a she) is crowned King of Poland, 1384

Olivier van Noorts' ships reach the Philippines, 1600

George Washington takes Yorktown, 1781

Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is guillotined, 1793

Sir William Rowan Hamilton comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers, 1843

Dentist William T. Morton demonstrates the effectiveness of ether, 1846

Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" is published, 1847

John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, 1859

The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered", 1869

John Harwood takes out a patent on a self-winding watch, 1923

The Disney Company is founded, 1923

Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army, 1940

Fidel Castro is sentenced in Havana to 15 years in prison, 1953

The People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon, 1964

In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act, 1970

Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1973

Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave, 1978

Wanda Rutkiewicz is the first Pole and the first European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1978

Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1984

Reinhold Messner becomes the first person to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders, 1986

Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated, 2002

A 1,255lb. portion of the Chelyabinsk meteor is recovered by divers in Russia, 2013

New Zealand, Malaysia, Angola, Spain and Venezuela are elected to the United Nations Security Council, 2014

Ed Whitlock, 85, becomes the oldest person to ever finish a marathon in under 4 hours, completing the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 3 hours 56 minutes, 2016

Tuesday Coffee Chat: Happy Easter!

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week her topic is, Happy Easter!   Tell me about the best chocolate ever.  Or, if you are the religious sort, share some special thoughts on this day.

You would have to have never read my blog or been hiding under a rock to not know i am the religious sort.

Although, actually, i don't like religion.  No, i don't.  Religion doesn't help much, it doesn't do much good but instead makes people feel badly about themselves if they can't live up to all of the rules and regs, which no one really can.

Religion causes more trouble than it solves, and if you don't believe that spend about five minutes thinking about the Middle East situation.

What i like is relationship, the relationship with a personal and loving Savior.  The Savior Who cared so much He did everything possible to pay the cost and erase the separation between Him and us.

There's a popular Christian song with the lyric "All religion ever made of me was a sinner with a stone tied to my feet, it never set me free."

Don't go for religion, go for that relationship.

And Elmer's Gold Brick Eggs.  Until i gave up sugar, those were my go-to Easter standard.  Not necessarily the world's best chocolate, but locally made and delicious and they tasted like comfort to me. 

Today is:

Barthelemy Boganda Day -- Central African Republic

Borrowed Days begin -- old English/Scottish/Irish legends about how March borrowed the next 3 days from April; these are still seen as weather prognostication days based on several different legends

Day of Redress -- Fairy Calendar

Easter Tuesday -- TAS, Australia; Cyprus; Nauru

Knights of Columbus Founders Day

Martyrs' Day -- Madagascar

National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day

National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day -- as recognized by AICPA

Smoke and Mirrors Day -- some sites call it "Festival of Smoke and Mirrors Day," but appropriately no one knows who started it

Southland Provincial Anniversary Day -- Southland, NZ

St. Armogastes of Africa's Day (Patron of the poor and torture victims; against poverty and torture)

St. Gladys' and St. Gwynllyw's Day (the Welsh "Bonny and Clyde", who led a life of crime before their conversion)

Youth Day -- Taiwan


Anniversaries Today:

Harry Hamlin weds Lisa Rinna, 1997
Yeshiva College (now University) is chartered in New York, 1928


Birthdays Today:

Hideaki Takizawa, 1982
Jennifer Capriati, 1976
Lucy Lawless, 1968
Elle Macpherson, 1964
Christopher Lambert, 1957
Kurt Thomas, 1956
Earl Christian Campbell, 1955
Karen Ann Quinlan, 1954
Bud Cort, 1950
George Blaha, 1945
Eric Idle, 1943
John Major, 1943
John Joseph McLaughlin, 1927
Pearl Bailey, 1918
Sam Walton, 1918
Eugene Mccarthy, 1916
Philip Ahn, 1905
Denton True "Cy" Young, 1867
Isaac Mayer Wise, Rabbi and Founder of Reform Judaism, 1819
John Tyler, 1790
Carlo Buonaparte, father of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1746


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Woman of the Year"(Play), 1981
"The King and I"(Play), 1951
"Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows"(circus), 1919
"Mutt and Jeff"(Comic strip), 1908
"Jevgeni Onegin/Eugene Onegin"(Opera; Tchaikovsky Op. 24), 1879


Today in History:

The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded, 1549
Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629, 1632
Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, 1638
Ludwig von Beethoven, age 24, debuts as a pianist in Vienna, 1795
Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway, 1806
Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam, 1848
The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab, 1849
Ohio makes it illegal for children under 18 & women to work more than 10 hours a day, 1852
Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867
Queen Victoria presides over the opening of Albert Hall in London, 1871
The Knights of Columbus are established, 1882
Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in his back yard, 1886
The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time, 1941
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, 1951
NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury, 1974
The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982
Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province, 1993
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members, 2004
The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants, 2004
Thirty-five countries and over 370 cities join Earth Hour for the first time, 2008
A transistor-like transcriptor is built out of DNA and RNA molecules by American bioengineers at Stanford University, 2013

No Matter What The News Says

There is deep unrest in the country of Egypt, in case you haven't seen any news reports lately.  The initial unrest led to a new government that was promising, it seemed, to be the same old thing.  That was overturned, and the people who liked that status quo are upset.

The violence escalates, the people who want to push their agendas on everyone else in the country continue to stir up strife and turmoil.

That's not the whole story.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims provide free banquets in the streets for the poor so they can break their fast.  The banquets can also serve those who are working and can't make it home to break their fast.  They call these "the banquets of the Merciful G-d."

While Christian churches are often targeted in that country, one Christian church decided to step into the middle of the protests in Tahrir Square and undertook to make a banquet for 200 of the fasting Muslim protesters each Friday and Saturday during Ramadan.

They decided to call it "The united banquet of Love for Egyptians," and church members donated and prepared and served all of it themselves.

The original plan was to serve 200 people each of those nights, but it was so well received, it swelled to many more as Muslims expressed gratitude and received it so well.

The Muslims expressed to the Christians that they hope for a new Egypt where "equality is granted to   
all sects, affiliations, and religions in Egypt."

Yes, many Christians suffer in Muslim countries.  Yes, many Muslims who aren't of the correct branch of that faith suffer, too. Yes, many Muslims are fanatical, and don't want to grant freedom to anyone who disagrees, and want everyone to be forced to agree with them.

After reading what the pastor of that one Christian church wrote about reaching out and being so well received, i want to think that many, many more Muslims simply want freedom to worship as they choose, and for everyone else in their countries to have the exact same thing.  They want peace, and understanding, and a better future without fighting.

Next time you hear about extremism among any group, remember that not every member of that group feels that way, or is an extremist.

No matter what the news says.



Today is:

#2 Pencil Day -- internet generated, but since a pencil can draw a line 35 miles long, write under water, in zero gravity, or upside down, what's not to celebrate!

Antique Marine Engine Exposition -- Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT, US (annual exposition of pre-WWII marine engines and models; through tomorrow)

Battle of Blue Licks Celebration -- Blue Licks Battlefield State Park, Mount Olivet, KY, US (to commemorate the Revolutionary War Battle of Blue Licks with living history demonstrations, arts, crafts, games, reenactments and more; through tomorrow)

Bike Van Buren -- Van Buren County, IA, US (a leisurely two-day bike tour of villages, landmarks and landscapes)

Day of Rituals in the Temples of Ra, Horus, and Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Drink Coffee at the Office from A Sippy Cup Day -- begun by someone with a sense of humor, who wants you to see how long it takes people to notice

Festival of Diana -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Independence Day -- Indonesia(1945)

India Independence Day Parade -- Devon Avenue, Rogers Park, Chicago, IL, US (yes, a Celebration of Indian and American Democracy; anything for a party, even another country's Independence Day, right?)

International Federation of Library Associations Annual Conference -- Singapore; through the 23rd

International Geocaching Day

International Homeless Animals Day® -- International Society for Animal Right

Leadville Trail 100 Ultramarathon -- Leadville, CO, US (race 100 of the toughest miles in the country through the Rocky Mountains beginning at 4am; you have 30 hours to complete the course to the ghost town of Winfield and back)

Meaning of "Is" Day -- thank you, Clinton!

Minnesota Renaissance Festival -- Shakopee, MN, US (one of the countries largest and finest; weekends through the end of September)

Mt. Hagan Cultural Show -- Mt. Hagan, Papua New Guinea (one of the biggest cultural shows in Papua New Guinea; through tomorrow)

National Honey Bee Day -- US (this year's theme is Beekeeping: Ask Me How To Get Started)

National Medical Dosimetrists' Day -- US (medical radiation safety experts)

National Thrift Shop/Thrift Store Day -- no history on it, probably started by a thrift store having a summer sale; still a good idea

National Vanilla Custard Day

Odin's Ordeal begins -- based on the Ancient Norse legend, Modern Odinists and some Asatru practice silence for nine days, through the 25th

Portunalia -- Roman Empire (honoring the god of locks, keys, ports, and harbors)

Prekmurje Union Day -- Slovenia (celebrates the Slovenes in Prekmurje being Incorporated into the Mother Nation)

Sandcastle and Sculpture Day -- Nantucket, MA, US

San Martin Day -- Argentina (death anniversary of General Jose de San Martin, liberator of Argentina, chile, and Peru)

St. Hyacinth's Day (Patron of Camalaniugan, Philippines; Ermita de Piedra de San Jacinto, Philippines; Kradow, Poland; Lithuania; Poland; against drowning)

The World's Greatest Carrot Festival -- Bradford, Ontario, Canada (unleash your inner Bugs Bunny! through tomorrow)

Woodward Dream Cruise Day 2013 -- Detroit, MI, US (what began in 1995 as a fundraiser for a soccer field has grown into the largest one-day classic car show in the world)


Birthdays Today:

Sean Penn, 1960
Robert DeNiro, 1943
Maureen O'Hara, 1920
Mae West, 1892
charles I, last emperor of Austria-Hungary, 1887
Samuel Goldwyn, 1882
Davy Crockett, 1786


Today in History:

The Peace of Bergerac gives political rights to the Huguenots, 1577
John White returns to Roanoke, Virginia, to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier, 1590
Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins its first trip up the Hudson River, 1807
Solymon Merrick patents the wrench, 1835
The first bank in Hawaii opens, 1858
Patent granted for an electric self starter for automobiles, 1891
Pike Place Market, the longest continuously-running public farmers market in the US, opens in Seattle, 1907
Fantasmagorie by Émile Cohl, the first animated cartoon, is shown in Paris, 1908
First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California, 1953
Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana, 1958
East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall, 1962
Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage, 1969
Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus), 1970
Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine, 1978
The first Compact Discs are released to the public in Germany, 1982
The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts, 2005

Day in the Life

 "Mom, good news!  You and I have an 8am appointment on Wednesday to go to the Culinary School and talk to them!  They're going to give us a tour, and let us know what we need to do to enroll, and we should look at the website before we go and get familiar with the courses of study so we know what to ask about."  #2 Son can't wait to get started, and even the early hour isn't upsetting him.

Just as he finished telling me this, Little Girl walked in, saying "Abstinence is 99.99% effective!"

"What, not 100%?" Bigger Girl asked from the table where she was brushing up on some math formulas for her final exam tomorrow.

"Remember Jesus?" Little Girl grinned.

"Oh, I've never thought of that!" Bigger Girl looked startled.  Then she turned to me and said, "Speaking of religion, I was reading an article the other day about Native Americans, and how their culture and religion are used at sporting events as mascots and sporting rituals.  One of them was noting that if they decided to use Christianity as a mascot and celebrate the Lord's Supper as one of their pregame rituals, as a pep rally kind of thing, everyone would be horrified, but when their Native religion is used that way, people try to defend it.  Doesn't that make you think?"

Before i could answer, Sweetie walked in with his tube of antibiotic cream and a cotton swab.  "Can you help me put this on my scratches?" he asked, with a look that said i couldn't possibly say no.

The other night, during a bad thunderstorm, a big clap of thunder scared his coward cat, Horizon, so much that it jumped off the windowsill and landed, all claws out, right on Sweetie's face.  None of the lacerations were deep enough to need stitches (though he did go get his first tetanus shot in years), but a couple of them barely missed his eyes.  He has been taking excellent care of making sure we keep them moistened a few times a day with the cream, so it won't scar up so much.

Just as i finished the swabbing with the cream, i felt a nibble at my toe.  Time to feed kittens again.


Today is

Carabao Festival -- Pulilan, Philippines (to honor their patron, St. Isidro [St. Isadore the Farmer], hundreds of carabaos [water buffalo] are dressed up and paraded, and eventually blessed in front of the church; through tomorrow)

Cheung Chau Bun Festival -- Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong (coincides with Buddha's Birthday celebration, with the procession on the 17th; celebration through the 18th)

Commemoration Day -- Transdniestria

Dance Like a Chicken Day -- no idea why today, but i'm waiting for wedding season

Drunk Driving Memorial Day -- not sponsored by MADD, or anyone else i can find, but let's all work and pray for the day drunk driving by anyone is just a bad memory

French Fairy Awareness Day -- Fairy Calendar

Gesta de Independencia -- Paraguay

Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival -- Izumo-taisha, Japan (through tomorrow)

Marshmallow Fluff Day -- Mr. Durkee and Mr. Mower announced, on this day in 1920, that they were in business producing this sweet confection

Mars Invictus Festival -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Midnight Sun at North Cape -- Norway (the sun will not set until July 30)

National Buttermilk Biscuit Day

National Unification Day -- Liberia

President Kamuzu Banda's Birthday -- Malawi

Runic Half-Month Ing (expansive energy) commences

Shavuot -- Judaism (Pentecost; begins at sundown, through sundown on the 16th)

"Stars and Stripes Forever" Day -- first public performance this day in 1897

St. Bonifatius' Day (4th Ice Saint)

St. Matthias the Apostle's Day (Patron of carpenters, reformed alcoholics, tailors; Gary, Indiana; Great Falls-Billings, Montana; against alcoholism and smallpox)

Underground America Day -- Malcolm Wells wants us to imagine what our landscapes would look like if more of our buildings were under ground


Anniversaries Today:

Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark marries Mary Donaldson, 2004


Birthdays Today:

Miranda Cosgrove, 1993
Dan Auerbach, 1979
Martine McCutdcheon, 1976
Cate Blanchett, 1969
Danny Wood, 1969
Jose Da Silveira, 1965
Tim Roth, 1961
David Byrne, 1952
Robert Zemechis, 1951
George Lucas, 1944
Jack Bruce, 1943
Bobby Darin, 1936
Laszlo Kovacs, 1933
Otto Klemperer, 1885
Thomas Gainsborough, 1727
Gabrile Daniel Fahrenheit, 1686


Today in History:

Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony, 1607
Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox  vaccination, 1796
The Lewis and Clark expedition sets out, 1804
Paraguay  gains independence from Spain, 1811
The first edition of the London Illustrated Times is published, 1842
Gail Borden patents her process for condensed milk, 1853
Vaseline, the first petroleum jelly, is marketed, 1878
Lina Medina becomes the world's youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five, 1939
Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established; immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, 1948
Kuwait joins the United Nations, 1963
Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched, 1973
The Institute for War documents publishes Anne Franks complete diary, 1986
The last episode of Seinfeld airs, with commercials going for $2M per 30 seconds, 1998