Because i am so sore from the flu shot -- every muscle hurts -- i'm going with something easy today.
A link for your enjoyment.
Today is:
Bonn Om Touk -- Cambodia (Water Festival; through the 11th)
Chaos Never Dies Day -- internet generated, and just look in my closets if you want proof that we need this one
Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day
Couch Beachcombing Day -- internet generated; also called sofa diving, you will be amazed what you will find!
Crystal Night -- marks the 1938 beginning of the Holocaust
Dia de los Natitas -- Bolivia (Day of the Skulls)
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
Hawaiki Nui Va'a Race -- French Polynesia (through the 11th; canoe races)
Independence Day -- Cambodia
Inventor's Day -- Austria; Germany; Switzerland
Lord Mayor's Day -- London, England (traditional date)
National Scrapple Day
Neon Sign Day -- Georges Claude received a patent for the neon sign on this day in 1911
Night of Nicnevin (Gyre-Carling), Daughter of Frenzy, Banshee -- Scots Pagan (date approximate)
Paul is Dead Day -- Beatle's Conspiracy Theorists, who claim Paul died this day in 1966 and was replaced by Billy Campbell
Sadie Hawkins Day -- US, traditional date (based on Li'l Abner comic, a day for women to ask out the man of their choice; traditionally on Nov. 9, but often moved to the Saturday nearest; also widely observed on Feb. 29 because of a law passed by Parliament of Scotland in 1288)
Schicksalstag -- Germany (Fateful Day)
St.Theodore the General's Day (Patron of Brindisi, Italy, and of soldiers)
Tree Festival Day -- Tunisia (equivalent to Arbor Day)
Wish-Granting Championships -- Fairy Calendar (Sprites)
Wizard of Id Day -- the comic strip made its debut this day in 1964
World Freedom Day -- US
Birthdays Today:
Chris Hericho, 1970
Lou Ferrigno, 1951
Tom Fogerty, 1941
Mary Travers, 1936
Carl Sagan, 1934
Spiro Agnew, 1918
Hedy Lamarr, 1913
James William Fullbright, 1905
Ed Wynn, 1886
Today in History:
Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery, 694
The Family de' Medici were expelled from Florence, 1494
Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1620
Hungarian parliament promises Protestants freedom of religion, 1681
The Rabbi Yehuda Hasid synagogue in Jerusalem is set afire by Arabs, 1720
Napoleon becomes dictator of France, 1799
The first US pharmacy college begins classes in Philadelphia, 1821
The NY Symphony Orchestra holds its first public performance, 1858
The first documented Canadian football game is held, at the University of Toronto, 1861
Ulyses Grant issues orders to bar Jews from serving under him, 1862
The Great Boston Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings, 1872
Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first US president to visit other countries during his tenure, visiting Puerto Rico and Panama, 1906
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people, 1913
Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with the photoelectric effect, 1921
Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast Blackout of 1965
First issue of Rolling Stone Magazine is published, 1967
Garry Kasparov 22, of the Soviet Union becomes the youngest World Chess Champion, 1985
The chemical element Darmstadtium is discovered, 1994
The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, 2005
The German Bundestag passes the controversial data retention bill mandating storage of citizens' telecommunications traffic data for six months without probable cause, 2007
That is a line my husband quotes, and i'm not sure where it came from, whenever he is told there is none of something.
The kids have no school for the next couple of days.
This is a good thing for me, as it cuts out the two trips a day and gives me more time to get other stuff done that sit in the car for an hour and a half a day.
This is a bad thing for me, as it means i get to trip over them all day, and get interrupted even more than when it's just me and the kittens here.
During this time, #2 Son has to get a haircut, or the teacher is going to send him to her barber husband for a crew cut.
That could be interesting, but i'm thinking not to let it go that far.
Meanwhile, 3 days without the commute. Love it.
Today is:
Abet and Aid Punsters Day -- promoted by Punsters Unlimited
Cooking Something Bold & Pungent Day
Dunce Day -- internet generated and politically incorrect, but there it is
Election Day -- US
Feast of Blessed John Duns Scotus
Feast of the Four Crowned Martyrs (Patrons of stonemasons, Freemasons)
Festival of the Mania -- Ancient Roman Calendar (to placate the Manes)
I Hate to Cook Day -- internet generated, and probably started by someone who wanted an excuse to go out to dinner!
National Cappuccino Day
National Harvey Wallbanger Day
National Parents as Teachers Day -- US
National Young Readers' Day -- sponsored by Pizza Hut's BookIt! Program
St. Claude's Day (Patron of sculptors)
Saints, Doctors, Missionaries, and Martyr's Day -- Church of England
Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the other Bodiless Powers of Heaven -- Eastern Orthodox Church
Wish-Granting Championships -- Fairy Calendar (Leprechauns)
World Urbanism Day
X-Ray Discovery Day
Anniversaries Today:
Opening of the Louvre, 1793
Mount Holyoke Seminary for Women is founded, 1837 (considered by many to be the first true college for women in the US)
Montana becomes 41st US State, 1889
Birthdays Today:
Masashi Kishimoto, 1974
Parker Posey, 1968
Leif Garrett, 1961
Mary Hart, 1951
Bonnie Raitt, 1949
Morley Safer, 1931
Patti Page, 1927
Christiaan Barnard, 1922
Esther Rolle, 1920
Margaret Mitchell, 1900
Hermann Rorschach, 1884
Milton Bradley, 1836
Today in History:
Emperor Theodosius declares Christianity to be the state religion, 392
Uprising against Piero de' Medici in Florence, Italy, 1494
First meeting of Montezuma and Hernando Cortez in Tenochtitlan, Mexico, 1519
The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened to the public, 1602
Benjamin Franklin opens the first US library, in Philadelphia, PA, 1731
Elijah Craig, of Bourbon, Kentucky, US, first distills Bourbon whiskey from corn, 1789
Sarah Bernhardt makes her US debut at NY's Booth Theater, 1880
The New Orleans general strike begins, uniting black and white American trade unionists in a successful four-day general strike action for the first time, 1892
Wilhelm Roentgen of Germany discovers X-rays, 1895
The New Testament Gospels are translated into Demotic Greek (as opposed to the Koine Greek of ancient texts), resulting in bloody clashes in Athens, 1901
The first Washington state elections in which women could vote take place, 1910
Operation Grapple X, Round C1: Britain conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific, 1957
Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate, 1966
Manolis Andronikos discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon (Alexander the Great's father), 1977
The UN Security Council demands that Saddam Hussein disarm or face serious consequences, 2002
Yesterday, Grandpa and Grandma came up to visit.
Grandpa, also called Dr. Born Organized Clean by this messy, impertinent child, brought our yearly ouchies, also knows as flu shots.
Thus my left arm will be sore for several days, but at least i should escape the worst of the winter cruddy maladies.
If you need one, now is the time. Though it doesn't guarantee total protection, it's still the best thing we have.
Today is:
Commemoration Day -- Tunisia
Day of Accord and Reconciliation -- Russia (formerly Great October Socialist Revolution Day, with the date determined by the Gregorian Calendar)
Feast of Stolen Fire -- find it listed on several sites, but none have any background; maybe celebrate that Prometheus stole fire for us?
International Tongue Twister Day -- internet generated
Job Action Day -- a day to put your career in the forefront and make an action plan
National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day
National Day -- Northern Catalonia
National Notary Public Day -- US
National Revolution and Solidarity Day -- Bangladesh
October Revolution Day -- Belarus; Kyrgyzstan; former Soviet Union (still unofficially observed in Russia)
Recreation Day -- Tasmania
Stay Away from Anyone named Honest John Day -- internet generated; no comment
St. Florentius' Day
St. Willibrord's Day (Patron of Holland; against epilepsy, convulsions)
Wish Granting Championships -- Fairy Calendar (Fairies)
Birthdays Today:
Keith Lockhart, 1959
Joni Mitchell, 1943
Joan Sutherland, 1926
Al Hirt, 1922
Billy Graham, 1918
Albert Camus, 1913
Dean Jagger, 1903
Leon Trotsky, 1879
Madame Curie, 1867
Captain James Cook, 1728
Today in History:
The oldest meteorite with a known date of impact, the Ensisheim Meteorite, strikes around noon in a wheat field near the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France, 1492
Pierre Gassendi observes the transit of Mercury as predicted by Kepler, 1631
Anne Htchinson is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a heretic, 1637
The first edition of the "London Gazette", the oldest surviving journal, is published, 1665
Lewis and Clark first sight the Pacific Ocean, 1805
The first Thomas Nast cartoon depicting the Republican Party Elephant is published, 1874
Edward Bouchet becomes the first black to receive a PhD from a US college (Yale), 1876
Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote, 1893
The first air freight shipment is undertaken by the Wright brothers and department store owner Max Moorehouse (from Dayton, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio), 1910
Mao Tse Tung proclaims the "Chinese People's Republic", 1931
Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected the 99th mayor of New York City, 1933
Carl B. Stokes is elected as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major American city, 1967
Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States, 1989
Mary Robinson becomes the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland, 1990
NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor, 1996
So, for those of you whose area has the joy of resetting the clocks twice a year, did you remember to fall back?
Around here, i have to be careful about that. There's noting quite so embarrassing as showing up for church an hour off, either way.
The biggest problem is when to reset them.
If i wait until right before bed, as is recommended, i end up only doing the one in my bedroom, as i'm not a night person and i'm so sleepy in the evening it's too much trouble to do all of them.
If i do it too early, i end up confusing myself and everyone else in the house.
So each time it comes around i wrestle with myself, and i'm not sure why. After all, my most important time piece, my phone, resets itself.
Now there's a non sequitur. Never did i imagine my phone would replace my watch and my alarm clock.
Since that has happened, though, it's got me wondering if and when we will ever drop this madness of resetting the clocks twice a year anyway.
No one has ever been able to logically explain to me why it's so important to keep up this tradition.
There is one scientist, whose name escapes me, who has an interesting idea, though. It's been several years since i read about it, but it really did seem like an interesting way to approach this.
He wanted to reprogram all clocks to be able to incrementally gain an hour over the course of a week, all of them at the same rate, so no one would be off.
Then, every Saturday night, we would set the clock back and get that extra hour, as that's the one change most of us like best.
This way, at the beginning of the week, the sunlight would be earlier in the day, and by the end of the week, when we want to stay out late on Friday and Saturday night, it would be dark early but stay light until later in the evening.
Since it would require a complete change in how clocks keep time, i don't think it will catch on.
It's a shame the original idea of daylight savings ever did, at least to me.
Today is:
Birth of Tiamat -- Ancient Babylonian Calendar (mother of gods, goddess of primeval chaos; date approximate)
Constitution Day -- Dominican Republic; Tajikistan; Tatarstan
Daylight Saving Time ends -- US (Fall Back Day)
Eid al Adha -- Islam (through the 9th)
Finnish Swedish Heritage Day -- Finland
Fish Returning Days begin -- Fairy Calendar (the fairies borrow centuries old fish in sealed crystal boxes from each other, and why they prefer each others or what they do with them, they will not tell)
Green March -- Morocco
Gustavus Adolphus Day -- Sweden
Halfway Point of Autumn
International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
Marooned Without A Compass Day -- internet generated; how's your sense of direction?
National Nachos Day
Saxophone Day
St. Illtyd's Day (Abbot, cousin of King Arthur)
St. Leonard's Day (Patron of prisoners, blacksmiths, porters, horses, locksmiths, coal miners, greengrocers; against robbery)
St. Paul of Constantinople's Day (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Zero Tasking Day -- spend the extra hour gained when turning the clocks back doing nothing, just practice being
Birthdays Today:
Pat Tillman, 1976
Rebecca Romijn, 1972
Ethan Hawke, 1970
Maria Shriver, 1955
Glenn Frey, 1948
Sally Field, 1946
Mike Nichols, 1931
Walter Perry Johnson, 1887
James Naismith, 1861
Ignace Paderewski, 1860
John Philip Sousa, 1854
Adolphe Sax, 1814 (yes, the musician who invented the Saxophone)
Today in History:
Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first known European to set foot in Texas, 1528
Spain grants independence to the Dominican Republic, 1844
Scenes of Clerical Life, the first work of fiction by the author later known as George Eliot, is submitted for publication, 1856
Canada celebrates its first official, national Thanksgiving Day, 1879
Mohandas Gandhi is arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa, 1913
Colonel Jacob Schick patents the first electric razor, 1928
Edwin Armstrong presents his paper "A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation" to the New York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers (hello, FM radio!), 1935
Parker Brothers acquires the forerunner patents for MONOPOLY from Elizabeth Magie, 1935
Plutonium is first produced at the Hanford Atomic Facility, 1944
The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation, 1962
Cuba and the United States formally agree to begin an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States, 1965
Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara, 1975
Australians vote to keep the Head of the Commonwealth as their head of state in the Australian republic referendum, 1999
The Hazelnut is tired.
One might even say exhausted.
She spent a huge part of the day yesterday at "the happy doggy place," our name for the dog park. We use that so she won't hear us say something about parking the car or the park across the street and get excited thinking she's going somewhere.
She was so tired she came in and lay down before her harness was off. When i joked that she got in bed still "dressed", she looked at me, and just rolled over.
So Miss Lizzy took the harness off, and the Hazelnut rolled over again and went to sleep.
She slept so soundly that, when she dreamed a little while later, she gently barked in her sleep!
It was funny to watch her twitching and hear the gentle "wuffs" that she made.
Tired, but still dreaming of fun.
Oh, to be so free from care and have such a life.
Today is:
Burning of the Tar Barrels -- Ottery St. Mary, Devon, UK (17 barrels soaked in tar are lit outside 17 taverns and carried through the town)
Conmemoracion Patriotica en la Ciudad de Colon -- Panama
Day of the First Shout for Independence -- El Salvador
Egyptian Day -- Medieval Europe day of bad fortune (common saying on this day was, "Notwithstanding, I will trust the Lord.")
Guy Fawkes' Day -- Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador; New Zealand; UK; a/k/a Gunpowder Day, bonfires celebrate that Guy Fawkes' plot did not succeed
Kanakadasa Jayanthi -- Karnataka, India
Lewes Bonfire Night -- Lewes, East Sussex, UK
National Doughnut Day -- well, it's better than buy a donut day, that one's too obvious
Nones of November -- Ancient Roman Calendar
Popes Day -- US name for the remembrance of Guy Fawkes' Day
Sadie Hawkins Day -- US (based on Li'l Abner comic, a day for women to ask out the man of their choice; also widely observed on Feb. 29)
St. Elizabeth's Day and St. Zechariah's Day -- parents of John the Baptist (Elizabeth is Patron of pregnant women)
Turning the Devil's Stone -- Shebbear, Devon, UK (erratic stone, possibly from an Ice Age deposit, turned every year on this day to assure good fortune)
Wet Wellington Day -- Fairy Calendar (Imps and Gremlins; they really love it when this falls on a Wednesday)
Wuwuchim Fire Ceremonies begin -- Hopi Native American (celebration of Masaw, god of death, and Spider Woman, the earth mother; a 16 day festival and manhood ceremony for adolescent boys)
Birthdays Today:
Judy Reyes, 1967
Tatum O'Neal, 1963
Tilda Swinton, 1960
Bryan Adams, 1959
Peter Noone, 1947
Sam Shepard, 1943
Art Garfunkel, 1941
Elke Sommer, 1940
Ike Turner, 1931
Vivien Leigh, 1913
Roy Rogers, 1911
Joel McCrea, 1905
Strom Thurmond, 1902
Today in History:
Wu MeKuan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, compiled in China, 1228
Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier (Brittany); it is the first Breton dictionary as well as the first French dictionary, 1499
St. Felix's Flood ravages the Dutch coast and destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands, 1530
The Gunpowder Plot, in which Catholics were trying to blow up the English Parliament, is foiled, 1605
Susan B. Anthony is arrested for trying to vote in Rochester, NY, 1871
The first US patent for a gasoline driven motor car is granted to George B. Selden, 1895
Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena from Sheepshead Bay, NY, completing the first transcontinental plane flight, in 49 days, 1911
Colombia joins the United Nations, 1945
USS Rentz, USS Reeves and USS Oldendorf visit Qingdao (Tsing Tao) China — the first US Naval visit to China since 1949, 1986
André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada, but is thwarted when the Prime Minister's wife locks the door, 1995
Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial, 2006
China's first lunar satellite, Chang'e 1 goes into orbit around the Moon, 2007
Quote of the Day:
Money is such a wonderful thing. It's a shame you waste so much time making it. ~ Richard M. Gibson of Lafayette, LA
Then again, looking at the behavior of some people who were born with silver spoons in their mouths, maybe it's a good thing that most of us aren't given the chance to test the universe in that way.
Today is:
Arbor Day -- Samoa
Chicken Lady Day -- Miami, FL, US (in honor of The Chicken Lady, whose nonprofit organization helps people get over being "chicken" about public speaking)
Citizenship Day -- Northern Mariana Islands
Community Service Day -- Dominica
Constitution Day -- Tonga
Flag Day -- Panama
Giomo dell'Unita Nazionale e Festa delle Forze Armate -- Italy (National Unity and Armed Forces Day)
Guy Fawkes Carnival -- Bridgwater, Somerset, UK (through the 7th)
Guy Fawkes Eve -- sometimes called Mischief Night in some parts of Australia, UK, New Zealand, although that is more appropriate to April 30/October 30
Hajj -- Islam (through the 7th)
Honeymoon Day -- reminisce about your own special trip, on the birthday of Art Carney
Ludi Plebeii -- Ancient Roman Calendar (public games, through the 17th)
Medical Science Liaison (MSL) Awareness And Appreciation Day
National Candy Day -- guess they're thinking you still have some left over from Hallowe'en
St. Charles Borromeo's Day (Patron of apple orchards, bishops, seminarians, spiritual directors, spiritual leaders, starch makers; against colic, intestinal disorders, stomach diseases, and ulcers)
Unity Day -- Russia
Use Your Common Sense Day -- on Will Rogers' birthday, of course, since "Common sense ain't all that common."
Victory Day -- Italy
Will Rogers' Day
*Waiting for the Barbarians Day -- internet generated, and i thought they came and took over a long time ago!
World Championship Punkin Chunkin -- Bridgeville, DE, US (through the 6th; come watch someone be crowned lord of the gourd!)
World Community Day
Yitzhak Rabin Memorial (unofficial, but widely commemorated)
Anniversaries Today:
Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange, 1677 (ruled jointly as William and Mary)
Abraham Lincoln weds Mary Todd, 1842
Discovery of King Tut's Tomb -- 1922
Taking of the US Embassy in Teheran, Iran -- 1979
Birthdays Today:
Sean "Diddy" Combs, 1970
Matthew McConaughey, 1969
Ralph Macchio, 1962
Jeff Probst, 1962
Kathy Griffin, 1960
Markie Post, 1950
Laura W. Bush, 1946
Loretta Swit, 1937
Doris Roberts, 1930
Martin Balsam, 1919
Art Carney, 1918
Walter Cronkite, 1916
Will Rogers, 1879
Augustus Montague Toplady, 1740 (wrote the hymn "Rock of Ages")
Today in History:
The Flood of the Arno River causes massive damage in Florence, Italy, 1333
Joan of Arc liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier, 1429
Thomas Wolsey, English cardinal, arrested, 1529
Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria, 1783
The Erie Canal is completed with Governor DeWitt Clinton performing the Wedding of The Waters ceremony in New York Harbour, 1825
Benjamin Palmer patents an artificial leg, 1846
Dentist John Beers of San Francisco patents the gold crown, 1873
Tonga adopts a constitution, 1875
James Ritty patents the cash register, to combat the pilfering of the till by the bartenders in his Ohio saloon, 1879
London's first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell, 1890
The Italian unknown soldier is buried in the Altare della Patria (Fatherland Altar) in Rome, 1921
Nellie Tayloe Ross is elected the first female US State governor, in Wyoming, 1924
The rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, 1955
Two-thirds of Florence, Italy is submerged as the River Arno floods; together with the contemporaneous flood of the Po River in northern Italy, this leads to 113 deaths, 30,000 made homeless, and the destruction of numerous Renaissance artworks and books, 1966
Genie, a 13-year-old feral child is found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life, 1970
The Netherlands experiences the first Car Free Sunday caused by the oil crisis, as the highways are deserted and are used only by cyclists and roller skaters, 1973
First conference that focuses exclusively on the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web, in San Francisco, 1994
Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an extremist Orthodox Israeli, 1995
Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress, 2002
Barak Obama is elected President of the United States, 2008
Brevity is the soul of personalized license plates.
A few i've seen around lately reminded me of just how much you can pack into 7 letters and numbers.
Telling you what they do for a living:
TTHMOVR
MTHTCHR
Telling you what team they love:
CHEEZHD
RGNCJUN (Ragin' Cajun, for those not from south Louisiana)
And revealing a bit of personality:
K8IEBUG
TOT ROD
That last was on the back of a minivan, of course, and the dad driving looked like he had given up a beloved dream for the family with him. He didn't seem upset about it, though.
So, have you seen any good ones lately?
Today is:
Apaturia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (meeting of the clans, a 3 day festival; date approximate)
Betchya Festival -- Onomichi, Japan (men in costume "beat" children with bamboo whisks to prevent them getting ill in the coming year)
Bunka no hi -- Japan (Culture Day)
Cliche Day -- get them all out of your system today
Festival of Fisher's Ghost -- Campbelltown City, Australia (come celebrate the legends of Australia's most famous ghost, Frederick Fisher; through the 13th)
Housewives' Day -- birthday of Roseanne Barr
Independence Day -- Dominica; Federated States of Micronesia; Panama (also called Separation Day, separating from Colombia)
Let Someone Have the Last Word Day -- internet generated, probably so you will quit with the cliches
Men Make Dinner Day -- BBQ is not allowed, and it would coincide with Sandwich Day, with a built in excuse to do it the easy way
National Day -- Dominica
National Sandwich Day -- make it a good one, in honor of the birthday of John Montague, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, its inventor
Parsley Scattering Season ends -- Fairy Calendar
SOS Day -- on this date in 1906 the Second International Radio Telegraphic Conference at Berlin, Germany, proposed it as the new wireless distress signal
St. Hubert's Day (Patron of hunters, mathematicians, foresters, furriers, makers of precision Instruments, Belgium; against dog bites, rabies)
St. Martin de Porres' Day (Patron of hairdressers, persons of mixed race, public-health workers, race relations, TV in Peru)
St. Pirminius' Day (Patron against snakebites. poisoning)
St. Winifred's Day
Thanksgiving Day -- Liberia
Victory Day -- Maldives
Will Rogers' Days -- Claremore and Oologah, OK, US (through the 5th; celebrating the man's wit and humor at his birthplace and the museum dedicated to him)
Birthdays Today:
Gemma Ward, 1987
Dolph Lundgren, 1959
Adam Ant, 1954
Kate Capshaw, 1953
Dennis Miller, 1953
Roseanne, 1952
Ken Berry, 1933
Michael Dukakis, 1933
Charles Bronson, 1921
Thomas Kyd, 1558
Today in History:
Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina, 644
Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea, 1493
The English parliament accepts the Act of Supremacy, declaring Henry VIII to be the leader of the Church of England, 1534
Great Patent is granted to Plymouth Colony, 1620
A great panic occurs in Europe over the close approach of a comet, 1679
Spain acquires Louisiana, 1762
The Bank of Montreal, Canada's oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal, Quebec, 1817
The Times of India, the world's most widely circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper, is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, 1838
"Black Bart the Poet", stagecoach robber, commits his last robbery, leaving behind a clue that leads to his capture, 1883
J.H. Hunter patents a portable weighing scale, 1896
Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market, 1911
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika, 1957
NASA launches Mariner 10 toward Mercury; it would later become the first probe to reach that planet, 1973
Pervez Musharraf declares emergency rule across Pakistan, suspending the Constitution, 2007
