#1 Son turns 21 today.
He is in the midst of many changes, planning to move within the next two weeks -- after his car gets repaired yet again -- to Kansas to be with his fiancee.
He already has a job lined up there, a manager at a restaurant wants him ASAP.
His two cats, Mikey and Dansig, will be staying with us until he has a place rented and pet deposits put in. Then he will retrieve them at some point during football season, when he wants to come visit and attend at least one game.
It's going to have its good and bad points, this flight of the first baby bird from the nest. We will miss him, that is plain. His younger brother will get his room, and the large enclosed garage that is only 1/3 bedroom and the rest storage will get a makeover so all of us can use it more easily. That will be a good thing.
So it begins. Stage next.
It will be slow, and yet quick. Little Girl is still only 14, so we've got several more years of teen angst from the three remaining to more than make up for the moving on of one.
Just as the last 21 has seemed fast, though, the next 7-10 will probably do the same.
Happy Birthday, #1 Son. We want good things for you, no matter where you go, and we will always save a home game ticket for you when you want it.
Today is
Atomic Bomb Day -- the first experimental bomb was set off today in 1945
Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera / Munoz-Rivera Day -- Puerto Rico
Closet Space Appreciation Day -- if you have some, enjoy (we have tiny closets!)
Crown Prince's Birthday Observed -- Tonga
Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; related observances (many noting her relationship to Carmen, ancient goddess of healing and midwifery)
Fiesta of the Virgin of Carmen -- Santurtzi, Basque Region, Spain
Lady of Carmen Day -- Chile
La Madonna della Carmine -- Naples, Italy (all of Italy, actually, but especially here)
Virgen Del Carmen -- Cetano, Puerto Rico
Fresh Spinach Day -- yippee!
Global Hug Your Kids Day
Ice Cream Cone Day -- this is one of the many days people say the confection was invented, so why not? just eat your spinach first, okay?
LaPaz Day -- Bolivia
Manu'a Cession Day -- American Samoa
National Corn Fritters Day
National Get Out of the Doghouse Day -- the day to work out any troubles with people you care about, so that you "get out of the doghouse"
National Personal Chef Day -- some websites say Feb. 24, but since i'm not going to have one, you may celebrate it whichever you choose
Petal-Hopping for Non-Starters Day -- Fairy Calendar
Phyang Tse-dup Festival -- Ladakh, India (Buddhist festival, through tomorrow)
President's Day -- Botswana
Sinclair Lewis Days -- Sauk Centre, MN, US (through the 22nd; a grand celebration in Lewis's hometown)
St. Eustathius' Day
Talk to a Telemarketer Day -- only if i can mess with his/her mind in some way!
Umi No Hi -- Japan (Ocean Day / Marine Day)
Birthdays Today
Corey Feldman, 1971
Larry Sanger, 1968
Barry Sanders, 1968
Will Ferrell, 1967
Michael Flatley, 1958
Ginger Rogers, 1911
"Miss Frances" Horwich, 1907
Barbara Stanwyck, 1907
Orville Reddenbacker, 1907
Roald Amundsen, 1872
Ida B. Wells, 1862
Mary Baker Eddy, 1821
Today in History
The Islamic Calendar begins, 622
East-West Schism between the Eastern and Western Christian churches begin, 1054
The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco, 1661
Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands, 1683
Father Junipero Serra founds California's first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, 1769
First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, 1782
The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown, 1809
Emily Stowe becomes the first female physician licensed to practice medicine in Canada, 1880
The world's first parking meter is installed in the Oklahoma capital, Oklahoma City, 1935
The world's first nuclear weapon, the "atom bomb," is detonated in New Mexico, 1945
The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane, 1948
J.D. Salinger novel The Catcher in the Rye published by Little, Brown and Company, 1951
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its very last "Big Tent" show in Pittsburgh, due to changing economics all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas, 1956
USS George Washington (SSBN-598) a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first Ballistic missile while submerged, 1960
The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens, 1965
Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1969
Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister; he will be in office 22 years, Asia's longest-serving political leader, 1981
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter (impacts continue until July 22), 1994
John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies in a plane mishap over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, along with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, 1999
Chicago's Millenium Park is opened to the public, 2004
Yesterday i ran across a BBC news story about a "global fat scale." It seems some brilliant researchers have compiled information from the UN and WHO and have a calculator that can tell you where you stand.
Since i enjoy such things, i plugged in my information. With my current height and weight measurements, according to this calculator i compare to women my age in Bangladesh.
Then i decided to plug in the highest weight i had ever been. Since i bounced up and down the scale like a yo yo for 30 years before getting my weight under control, i thought it would be interesting to see how far i had come.
It is interesting. As i have said, i was obese, and at that point larger for my height than over 90% of the women on the planet.
This sobered me up greatly. It got me thinking about what could have happened to me if i hadn't decided to get my act together just over 7 years ago.
It was simple (eat good food not trash, dummy! i told myself over and over), but not easy, like so much of life. This former major sugar addict managed to kick the habit, something i thought i could never do.
Each of us has something big in our lives that we have managed to change or overcome. For me, it was sugar as my drug of choice and fad diets that led to heartbreak and worse health.
What's your story? What did you fight to overcome or break, that has taken you to a new level in your life?
Today is
Be a Dork Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, which encourages you to wear goofy clothes and fall off a swing set today and be proud of Dorkiness
Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim -- Istanbul, Turkey (about 750 swimmers cross the Bosphorus Strait from Asia to Europe)
Cigarette Warning Day -- anniversary of the 1968 law passed in the US that requires health warnings on cigarette packaging
Codman Estate Antique Auto Sho -- Codman Estate, Lincoln, MA, US (a day to appreciate antique and classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, and fire engines)
Concours D'elegance -- Forest Grove, OR, US (one of the premier vintage auto shows in the US)
Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival -- University of Fairbanks, AK (a unique study and performance festival; through the 29th)
Feast of Rowana/Rauni -- Druid/Cornish/Flemish (rowan tree goddess; date approximate)
Festival of Castor and Pullox -- Ancient Roman Calendar every five years (celebrated with a cavalry and chariot procession)
Festival of Santa Rosalia -- Palermo; Sicily (remembrance of the Patron saint of the city on the date, in 1624, when she stopped the plague)
Galla Bayramy -- Turkmenistan (celebration of the wheat harvest)
Gorestnici -- Bulgaria (fire festival of 3 days duration, honoring the ancient belief that these are the 3 hottest days of the year)
Gummi Worm Day
Hakata Gion Yamagasa -- Kushida Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan (festival of floats, dates back to the 13th century, includes dousing teams carrying one ton floats with water as they race!)
Hundadagar -- Icelandic tradition, the "dog days" of summer begin, through Aug. 23
Ides of July -- Ancient Roman Calendar
I Love Horses Day -- all over the web with no specific reason given
La Festa del Redentore / Feast of the Redeemer -- Venice, Italy (procession of gondolas and other craft to commemorate the end of the epidemic of 1575; through tomorrow)
Luxembourg Beer Festival -- Diekirch, Luxembourg
National Ice Cream Day -- since it's always the 3rd Sunday in July, the trick is to eat it fast enough that it doesn't melt, but not so fast that you get a brain freeze!
National Tapioca Pudding Day
No-Hitter Day -- George Bradley of the St. Louis Brown Stockings pitched the first officially recognized no-hitter in MLB against the Hartford Dark Blues on this date in 1876
Petal-Hopping for Beginners Day -- Fairy Calendar
Respect Canada Day -- because Canada deserves it!
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival -- Santa Fe, NM, US (through Aug. 20; 40th year of this highly acclaimed chamber music festival that draws international talent)
St. Bonaventure's Day (Patron against intestinal problems; of Bagnoregio, Italy; Cochiti Indian Pueblo; St. Bonaventure University, New York)
St. Swithin's Day -- Saint Swithin's Society Annual Celebration in Toronto, ON, Canada; the weather prognostication associated with this saint says if it rains today, it will rain for the next 40 days (Patron against drought; of Stavenger, England; Winchester, England)
St. Vladimir of Kiev's Day (Patron of converts, parents of large families, reformed and penitant murderers; Russia; Ukranian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, Connecticut; Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Sultan's Birthday -- Brunei Darussalam
Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival -- Dorset, England; through the 17th
Birthdays Today
Tanner Maguire, 1998
Emily Roeske, 1991
Brian Austin Green, 1973
Beth Stern, 1972
Forest Whitaker, 1961
Kim Alexis, 1960
Jesse Ventura, 1951
Linda Ronstadt, 1946
Jan-Michael Vincent, 1944
Alex Karras, 1935
Clive Cussler, 1931
Mother Fraqnces Xavier Cabrini, 1850
Thomas Bulfinch, 1796
Clement Clarke Moore, 1779
Rembrandt Van Rijn, 1606
Today in History
Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege, 1099
John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hanged, 1381
Alexei Chirikov sights land and sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska, 1741
The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, 1799
Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west, 1806
Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon, 1815
A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, 1823
Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union, 1870
The stratovolcano Mount Bandai, Japan, erupts killing approximately 500 people, 1888
In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing), 1916
Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others, 1955
AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation; the Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day, 2003
"Hey, mom, what's for dinner?" #2 Son asked as he made himself a bowl of ramen noodles, a PB&J, a big cup of chocolate milk, and grabbed two bananas.
Breakfast for dinner, biscuits, bacon, eggs however you want them, fruit salad, oatmeal or grits or toast on request.
"Two eggs, then, scrambled with lots of hot sauce!"
He disappeared, then came back an hour later and ate his dinner, the aforementioned eggs, plus bacon and biscuits and fruit.
Later that night, evidence of the consumption of a can of chicken noodle soup, most of a pack of crackers, a salad serving bowl full of cereal with chocolate milk, and several more pieces of fruit.
The kid is 5'8" and weighs 110lbs.
Dave Ramsey tells the story of a person who was in one of his financial classes who took the challenge to track, for one month, where every single penny was spent, even to keeping track of a pack of gum if someone in the family bought one.
The man came back at the end and said, "We spent $1,200 on doggone restaurants! Now I know where our retirement went, we've been eating it!"
We can pretty much say our kids ate ours.
Today is
Art Fair on the Square -- Madison, WI, US (one of the Midwest's largest juried art fairs; through tomorrow)
Bald In - Bald Out Day -- sponsored by Bald Girls Do Lunch; if men can be bald and brazen, then women and children who cannot grow hair should bring bald INto their lives, and never feel on the OUTs!
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
Bohemian Club Annual Rites begin -- Bohemian Grove, CA US (if you are into conspiracy theories, this is supposedly when and where the male movers and shakers of the world meet for two weeks and decide the fate of the world for the next 12 months; the members of the club, including former presidents and other high level officials, do meet for a couple of weeks this time of year to have, among other things, a Cremation of Care ceremony)
Buxton Wells Dressing -- Buxton, Derbyshire, England (preserving the 650+ years of traditional "dressing" wells in foliage to thank the patron saint of that well for blessings, now with parades and carnivals)
Carver Day -- George Washington Carver National Monument, Diamond, MO, US
Children's Party at Green Animals Topiary Garden -- Portsmouth, RI, US (annual party for children and the young at heart)
Circus City Festival -- Peru, IN, US (did you ever want to run off and join the circus? This is the week kids age 7-21 get to do just that, so go watch and have fun with them! through the 21st)
Dunmow Flitch Trials -- Great Dunmow, Essex, England (come claim the bacon! Chaucer spoke of this tradition, now held every 4 years, in which a married couple must prove to a jury of 6 maidens and 6 bachelors that in "twelvemonth and a day", they have "not wisht themselves unmarried again"; winning couple takes home a "flitch" of bacon, which means half a pig cut lengthways)
Feast of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain
Festival of Millennial Fairy Olympics -- Fairy Calendar (Closing Ceremonies)
Galicnik Svadba -- Galicnik, Macedonia (wedding festival, when one lucky couple gets to be married in a traditional "Galichka" style wedding, through tomorrow)
Gentse Feesten -- Ghent, Belgium (a ten day music and theatre festival)
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 -- not sponsored by any nudist organization that i can find, so there's no telling who started this one
Omaha Railroad Days -- celebrating all things track and train, through tomorrow
Pandemonium Day -- internet generated; don't let the crazy things that happen in your life get you down, celebrate instead!
Pori Jazz Festival -- Pori, Finland (through the 22nd; a major international music event with world class performances)
Republic Day -- Iraq
Runic Half-Month Ur begins (primal strength)
Shark Awareness Day
Sourdough River Festival -- Edmondton, Alberta, Canada (Float Fest! through tomorrow)
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)
Stone House Day -- Hurley, NY, US (tour of several 250+ year old stone houses within 150-yards of each other)
Birthdays Today
Tommy Mottola, 1949
Roosevelt Grier, 1932
Polly Bergen, 1930
John Chancellor, 1927
Harry Dean Stanton, 1926
Dale Robertson, 1923
Ingmar Bergman, 1918
Gerald R. Ford, 1913
Woodie Guthrie, 1912
William Hanna, 1910
Dave Fleischer, 1893
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
"Hey, give that back!" #2 Son was chasing his younger sister, who had snatched his beloved green baseball cap from his head.
After a couple of seconds of giggles and a bit of a chase, she tossed it back to him and saw my stern look. "Here," she said, and then, "don't worry, mom. I wouldn't keep it really, I'd have nothing to gain."
"Yeah, cause I would eat her," was #2 Son's mischievous response.
She grinned at him, then asked, "By the way, mom, where did you put my backpack? You did get it out of the van before dad left, right?"
Yes, i told her, and showed her where it was in the library.
"Thanks! I have everything in there, and I do mean everything! My swimsuit, the permission slip for the jet skiing trip with youth group, the copy of the Declaration of Independence in Spanish, my extra hair..."
Extra hair?!
"Don't ask!"
Okay, i won't. But to paraphrase Foghorn Leghorn, "Somethin' the matter with that kid."
Happy Friday the Thirteen, everyone.
Today is
Barbershop Music Appreciation Day -- anniversary of the founding of Sweet Adelines International
Beans and Franks Day
Blissfest -- Harbor Springs, MI, US (through Sunday; three music stages, workshop areas, and the preservation of folk and roots music)
Cow Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Chick-fil-A
Embrace Your Geekness Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, celebrate your love of online dungeon games, comic books, or dressing up like a vampire
Feast of Kalimat (Words) -- Baha'i Faith
Fool's Paradise Day -- a day to figure out how a fool can achieve paradise? or how it can be paradise if it is full of fools?
Go West Day -- commemorates Horace Greeley's "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."
Gruntled Workers Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; those of us who are gruntled, as opposed to the disgruntled, should unite and pass along some "great work" compliments to those doing a good job
International Puzzle Day -- some sites say Jan. 29, but today is Erno Rubik's birthday
La Retraite Aux Flambeaux -- France (night watch, before Bastille Day)
National French Fries Day
Obon (Ulambana) -- Buddhist; Shinto (Festival of the Lanterns, a time of honoring the ancestors, a reunion of them with the living; through the 16th)
Rath Yatra -- Puri, India (Chariot Festival, pilgrims pull huge chariots across the city)
Statehood Day -- Montenegro
St. Henry the Emperor's Day (Patron of childless people, disabled people, dukes, handicapped people, kings, people rejected by religious orders, physically challenged people; Bamberg, Germany; Basel, Switzerland; Benedictine Oblates; against sterility)
St. Joel the Prophet's Day (Old Testament prophet of the Book of Joel)
St. Swithun's Festival -- Worcester, England (3 day festival at St. Swithun's Church, this year featuring a celebration of the life and mind of John Donne)
Targhee Fest -- Grand Targhee Mountain, Alta, WY, US (through the weekend; food, games, fun and tons of music in the beautiful Grand Teton mountains)
Three Rivers Festival -- Ft. Wayne, IN, US (Fort Wayne's biggest summer party; through the 21st)
Turkey Rama -- McMinnville, Oregon (through tomorrow)
Vancouver Folk Music Festival -- Jericho Beach, Vancouver, BC, Canada (through the 15th)
Wayne Chicken Show -- Wayne, NE, US (through Sunday; this year's theme is "Nightmare on Egg Street", and the family friendly fun includes a rubber chicken chuck and National Cluck Off)
Birthdays Today
Cheech Marin, 1946
Erno Rubik, 1944
Harrison Ford, 1942
Patrick Stewart, 1940
Jack Kemp, 1935
Bob Crane, 1928
Dave Garroway, 1913
Nathan Bedford Forrest, 1821
Julius Caesar, BC100
Today in History
Capt James Cook begins 2nd trip (Resolution) to South Seas, 1772
William Wordsworth, on a walking tour through the Wye Valley, visited the ruins of Tintern Abbey and a few miles further on composed a poem about them, 1798
Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeated Ottoman forces at Thermopylae, 1822
Henry R Schoolcraft discovers the source of the Mississippi River, 1832
After 9,957 unnumbered patents, the U.S. Patent Office issues Patent No. 1, for locomotive wheels, 1836
Queen Victoria becomes the first British monarch to live at Buckingham Palace in London, 1837
First day of the New York Draft Riots in response to President Abraham Lincoln's Enrolment Act of Conscription, 1863
Horace Greeley publishes his editorial advising young men to "Go West, young man, go west and grow up with the country," 1865
PT Barnum's American Museum was destroyed in one of the most spectacular fires in New York City's history, 1865
Gold was discovered near Cochrane, Ontario, Canada, 1909
The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight, 1919
Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in, 1973
The Live Aid benefit concert, a telecast fundraising concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow, 1985
American Thoroughbred racehorse Cigar wins his 16th consecutive top-class race, the first horse to do so since Triple Crown winner citation, 1996
Researchers reveal two studies showing the antiretroviral drugs prescribed to treat AIDS can also prevent HIV infections, 2011
For the background to what today means to me, go here.
Eighteen is such a great and interesting age. They tell you that you are a grown-up, but scientists know the parts of your brain that make good decisions aren't finished forming, and you act like a child quite often still. (So does everyone on occasion, by the way, but that's a different subject.)
The world is wide open to you, higher education is around the corner, you can drive and get out of the house when you want, so much is possible.
The last couple of days i've been a bit weepy, and it actually took me by surprise this year. Being in the hospital made me lose days, and i'm still catching up.
So today would be 18 years, had she lived.
Yes, i still wonder what life might have been like, and yes, i still think everything i went through was worth it.
Today is
Comic-Con International -- San Diego, CA, US (through the 15th)
Different Colored Eyes Day -- people with heterochromia, celebrate!
Hot Dog Night -- Luverne, MN, US (free hot dogs to all comers!)
Independence Day -- Kiribati(1979); Sao Tome & Principe(1975)
Kronia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate, a festival for Kronos, part of which included masters and slaves switching places for a meal)
National Pecan Pie Day
Orangemen's Day (a/k/a Twelfth Day) -- Northern Ireland
Oregon Trail Days -- Gering, NE, US (through the 15th, the oldest continuing celebration of the Oregon Trail)
Rainmaker Day -- Salem, Oregon (while it is understood that in Salem, you are more likely to rust than sunburn, from 1892 until 2006, no measurable rain fell on this date in this normally wet city)
San Francisco Silent Film Festival -- Castro Theatre, San Francisco, CA, US (through the 15th, a celebration of the art of silent film)
Simplicity Day -- sponsored by www.doonething.org on Thoreau's birthday, highlighting the concepts in the book Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin, and advocating finding sustainable ways to live
St. John Gualbert's Day (Patron of foresters and forest workers, park services and parks)
St. Veronica's Day (Patron of laundry workers and photographers)
Anniversaries Today
Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr, 1543 (the one who outlived him)
Birthdays Today
Michelle Rodriguez, 1978
Brock Lesnar, 1977
Kristi Yamaguchi, 1971
Cheryl Ladd, 1951
Richard Simmons, 1948
Christine McVie, 1943
Bill Cosby, 1937
Van Cliburn, 1934
Andrew Wyeth, 1917
Milton Berle, 1908
Pablo Neruda, 1904
R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895
Oscar Hammerstein II, 1895
George Washington Carver, 1861
George Ohr, 1857
George Eastman, 1854
Henry David Thoreau, 1817
Josiah Wedgwood, 1730
Today in History
England is unified by Athelstan of England, 927
Saladin's garrison surrenders to Conrad of Montferrat, ending the two-year siege of Acre, 1191
Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatan, burns the sacred books of the Maya, 1562
Ostrog Bible, the first printed Bible in a Slavic language, is published, 1580
The United States invades Canada at Windsor, Ontario, 1812
The Commonwealth Franchise Act, granting women's suffrage in Australia, is given royal assent and takes effect, 1902
Pune, India floods due to failure of Khadakvasala and Panshet dams; half of the city is submerged and the death toll exceeded 2000, 1961
A fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States, 1973
Boris Yeltsin quits the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1990
Israel invades Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, 2006
A ticket holder in Britain wins the largest EuroMillions jackpot in history, 161,653,000GBP, 2011
...well, i'm really not sure.
It could go under "more money than sense." It could also go under "when honesty is not convenient." Then there is "when did restaurant quality replace home made quality as the standard," but that might just be me, and so i digress.
There are more and more services these days in which you can have meals delivered to your home without it having to be a party that needs full traditional catering. For $15-$20 USD per entree, you can have gourmet quality meals delivered to your home.
Chefs all over major and medium cities around the world are jumping on this bandwagon, and there's noting wrong with it. It's pricier than take out, of course, or even than traditional pizza or Oriental food delivery, but for some people, or under certain circumstances, it might be worth it.
Then there is the London based Housebites. Like the others in the business, they promise to deliver "restaurant quality" meals to your home. They also offer another service that makes me pause.
For an extra fee, Housebites will also let you "rent" the dirty pots and pans they cooked your meal in, so you can "fool" your guests into thinking you slaved over a hot stove and are a culinary genius.
So, if you do this to impress someone, how impressive are you when you are discovered? Such as when the date you were trying to show off to asks you to come cook over at his/her place?
And, in my pinch-every-penny-until-it-screams brain, it just seems like something only a person who is either a spendthrift or willing to pay to be dishonest would do. Is making that impression really worth it?
Today is
Advice-to-the-Lovelorn-Day -- date, in 1896, the New Orleans Picayune first published the advice column of Dorothy Dix, Mother Confessor to Millions; it eventually ran in 300 papers for 55 years
Bonfire Night -- Northern Ireland (precursor to The Twelfth a/k/a Orangemen's Day)
Bowdler's Day
China National Maritime Day -- People's Republic of China
Day of the Flemish Community -- Flemish community of Belgium, commemorates the Battle of the Golden Spurs of 1302
Feast of Theano, Philosopher, Mathmatician, wife of Pythagoras, patron of vegetarianism (date approximate, supposedly when she was born)
Feast of Min -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
Free Slurpee Day at Seven-Eleven -- if you have these stores where you live, stop by between 11am and 7pm to get a free 11.7oz. Slurpee (TM) today
Gospel Day -- Kiribati
Imamat Day -- Ismailism
Naadam Festival -- Mongolia (a/k/a Revolution Day/National Day, traditional sporting events nationwide, but best at Ulaanbaatar, through the 13th)
National Blueberry Muffin Day
National Cheer Up The Lonely Day -- begun by Francis Pesek of Detroit, Michigan; he chose to spend his birthday as a day to promote kindness, especially the forgotten at nursing homes who have no visitors and shut ins
Reading Guilt Day -- the day you are supposed to start reading that book you only read the Cliff's Notes on in school
St Benedict's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, cavers/speliologists/spelunkers, civil engineers, coppersmiths, farm workers/farmers, Italian architects, monks, people in religious orders, people who are dying, school children, servants who have broken their masters belongings, students; Europe; Heerdt, Germany; Norcia, Italy; Subiaco, Italy; against erysipelas, fever, gall stones, inframmatory diseases, kidney disease, nettle rash, poison, temptations, and witchcraft)
World Population Day -- UN
Birthdays Today:
David Henrie, 1989
Marie Sernehold, 1983
Lisa Rinna, 1963
Richie Sambora, 1959
Suzanne Vega, 1959
Mark Lester, 1958
Leon Spinks, 1953
Giorgio Armani, 1934
Tab Hunter, 1931
Yul Brynner, 1920
E.B. White, 1899
John Quincy Adams, 1767
Today in History
Admiral Zheng He sets sail on his first exploratory expedition for the Ming Dynasty, 1405
Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec, 1616
Jews are expelled from Little Russia, 1740
Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire, 1750
Captain James Cook begins his third voyage, 1776
Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille, 1789
French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons made his first comet discovery (he discovered 36 over the next 27 years, more than any other person), 1801
Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel, 1804
Waterloo railway station in London opens, 1848
Tijuana, Mexico, is formally founded, 1889
The Lumière brothers demonstrate film technology to scientists, 1895
Babe Ruth makes his Major League debut, 1914
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, 1960
The first U.S. space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, 1979
According to the UN, the Earth's population crosses the 5,000,000,000 mark, 1987
The United States announces it will reestablish full diplomatic relations with Vietnam, 1995
Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called "Barefoot Bandit", is caught in the Bahamas after a 2 year manhunt, 2010
A recent conversation:
"Mom, did you know that at the end of WWII in England, because of the rationing, they were in the best health the nation has ever in? It was so good for them. Imagine having to save up sugar for a month to bake one birthday cake, and icing being illegal!"
Really, was my not very clever response.
"Yes! Everything was rationed except vegetables. It was very good for them. And if you lived out in the country, things were better. You had all the food you could grow and can. They had lots of fruit, too, except bananas. There wasn't a banana on the whole island for the war years, they couldn't get them."
Wow, i don't know how they went without bananas, i muttered as i stirred the spaghetti sauce.
"Well, they had other fruit, lots of apples and different kinds of berries. And they came up with clever recipe books, too. Out in the country, people would make hedgehog goulash!"
Well, that's something, i said, setting the spaghetti on to boil.
"Yes! Did you know that hedgehogs love tobacco? They will chew on cigarettes, foaming at the mouth and happy as can be. Can you imagine, setting a couple of cigarettes out on the lawn and going out there later to see happy hedgehogs chewing on them and foaming at the mouth?"
Until this moment, i noted, i never had to think about that before.
"Well, sometimes i wish this country would go to such strict rationing, in some ways, it would improve our health tremendously."
Of course, it would take a disaster of immense proportions to make that happen, i told her. The price of freedom is that people are free to do things that aren't necessarily good for them, including eating junk and not exercising.
"I know," she said. Then, "Hey, if i go buy some cigarettes, what do you think I could catch around here?"
Your father, pitching a fit, thinking you had started smoking, that's what you would catch.
"Well, someday I want to feed tobacco to a hedgehog!"
You do that, kid. Put it on your bucket list.
Today is
Armed Forces Day -- Mauritania
Blessing of the Boats -- Whitby, North Yorkshire, England
Clerihew Day -- in honor of the poetic form he invented, the clerihew:
Edmund's middle name was Clerihew
A name possessed by very few
But verses by Mr. Bentley
Succeeded eminently!
Don't Step On A Bee Day -- Wellcat Holidays wants to remind you, when going barefoot this time of year, watch out!
Feast Day of Knut the Reaper, Hela, Holda, and Skadi -- Norse deities whose celebration this day is due to their later association with Danish King Canute the Great
Independence Day -- Bahamas(1973)
Lady Godiva Day -- tradition says she took her famous ride on this day in 1040
National Pina Colada Day
New Robe for Athena Day -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)
Pick Blueberries Day
Silence Day -- followers of Meher Baba
St. Amalburga's Day (Patron of people with fever; Ghent, Belgium; against arm pain, bruises, and fevers)
Teddy Bear Picnic Day
Unaine Day -- Kiribati (Elderly Women Day)
Anniversaries Today
Wyoming becomes the 44th US State, 1890
Birthdays Today
Jessica Simpson, 1980
Arlo Guthrie, 1947
Ron Glass, 1945
Arthur Ashe, 1943
Fred Gwynne, 1926
Jean Kerr, 1923
Jake LaMotta, 1921
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 1921
David Brinkley, 1920
Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert, 1917
Edmund Clerihew Bentley, 1875
Marcel Proust, 1871
Nikola Tesla, 1856
Adolphus Busch, 1839
James Whistler, 1834
William Blackstone, 1723
John Calvin, 1509
Today in History
Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia at the Battle of Dyrrhachium, BC48
The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground, 1212
Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England, 1553
Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Mackenzie River delta, 1789
The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company, 1806
The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain, 1821
Big Ben, the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, rings for the first time, 1859
The eruption of Tarawera volcano destroys the famous pink and white calcium carbonate hot-spring terraces of North Island, New Zealand, 1886
Meher Baba, self declared Avatar of the Age, begins his silence of 44 years; his followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration, 1925
In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act, 1925
Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world, 1938
Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, is launched into orbit, 1962
Boris Yeltsin begins his 5-year term as the first elected President of Russia, 1991
In London scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution, 1997
Spain opens its first mosque since the Moors were expelled in 1492, in Granada, 2003
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