Wordless Wednesday: Life's Too Short...

Bigger Girl will tell you that life is way too short to wear matching socks, or to do without animal print stockings.

Typical for Bigger Girl.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday

Today is:

Amun in the Festival of Raising Heaven -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Dragobete -- Romania (lover's day, and the day birds choose a mate, also considered by locals as the first day of spring)

Flag Day -- Mexico

Giving of Shoes -- Fairy Calendar

Gregorian Calendar Day -- Gregory XIII issued the Papal Bull requiring Roman Catholics to adopt his calendar reform on this day; the effective date of adoption was to be Oct. 4, 1582

Inconvenience Yourself™ Day -- enrich your life by looking for ways to make a positive impact on the world, even if it inconveniences you

Iseseisvuspaev/Independence Day -- Estonia(1918)

Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival -- University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, US (students from elementary to college from all over the US participate in student performances and attend concerts and clinics in vocal and instrumental jazz performance; through Saturday)

National Artist Day -- Thailand

National Tortilla Chip Day

N'cwala -- Zambia (Thanksgiving festival, celebrated with traditional dance, music, and specially brewed beer)

Nylon Toothbrush Day -- the first ones went on sale this date in 1938

Obnoxious Day -- probably started as a joke, the only ones who benefit from this day are the ecard companies

Regifugium -- Ancient Roman Calendar (flight of the king)

St. Æthelberht of Kent's Day (first Christian King of the Anglo-Saxons; some have his day listed tomorrow instead)

Teal Ribbon Day -- Australia (wear a teal ribbon, raise awareness of ovarian cancer) http://www.ovariancancer.net.au/



Anniversaries Today:

Hadassah is founded, 1912
Western Washington University is established, 1899
The American University is chartered by an act of the Congress of the United States of America, 1893


Birthdays Today:

Billy Zane, 1966
Kristin Davis, 1965
Eddie Murray, 1956
Paula Zahn, 1956
Steven Jobs, 1955
Alain Prost, 1955
Helen Shaver, 1951
George Thorogood, 1950
Edward James Olmos, 1947
Rupert Holmes, 1947
Barry Bostwick, 1945
Joe Lieberman, 1942
James Farentino, 1938
Renata Scotto, 1937
Michel Legrand, 1932
Mark Lane, 1927
Stephen Hill, 1922
Abe Vigoda, 1921
Chester W. Nimitz, 1885
Honus Wagner, 1874
Winslow Homer, 1836
Wilhelm Karl Grimm, 1786
Ibn Battutah, 1304
Emperor Toba of Japan, 1103


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Peer Gynt"(Play), 1876
"Rinaldo"(HWV 7), 1711
"L'Orfeo"(SV318), 1607


Today in History:

St. Francis of Assisi, age 26, receives his vocation in Portiuncula, Italy, 1208
In the first imperial coronation by a pope,Charles V is crowned by Clement V, 1530
Pope Gregory XIII, by decree, institutes what is now known as the Gregorian Calendar, correcting the older Julian Calendar, 1582
L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance, 1607
The London première of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, 1711
The US Supreme Court first declares a law unconstitutional (Marbury v Madison), 1803
London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute, 1804
The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West, 1831
William Otis of Pennsylvania patents the steam shovel, 1839
The first parade to have floats is staged at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana, 1868
Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached, 1868
The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries, 1875
China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty, 1881
Chicago is selected to host the Columbian Exposition, 1890
Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine, 1893
Hudson Motor Car Company is founded, 1909
National Public Radio is founded in the United States, 1970
The United States Olympic Hockey team completes their Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal, 1980
Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, 1981
A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II, 1983
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, 1989
The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church, 1996*
Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea, 2007
Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years, 2008
Final launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, 2011

*The Romans counted Feb. 24 twice in leap years, instead of adding Feb. 29; that continued in many places until 1996

Tuesday Coffee Chat: Lent

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week she asks the question, Give it Up?  We are in the Season of Lent: do you give anything up?  Do you observe Lent?

Yes, i do observe Lent.  Having grown up Catholic, it was ingrained into me.  If i want to go for a cheap giggle, i can say i went to schools where the nuns made sure we made it a habit to observe the church seasons.

Now that i attend a Presbyterian church whose Pastor is a huge fan of many Catholic theologians, i actually have the option again to attend to Lent properly.  So i was a good girl and went to get my ashes on Ash Wednesday.  Sweetie and i will continue to go to the Wednesday afternoon Lent services for the next several weeks.

The old "what are you giving up for Lent?" question that we discussed so much in my school days has changed for me.  When i decided, just about 10 years ago, that i was tired of being fat and wanted to eat right and take care of myself, i didn't so much cut things out or give them up as add good things to my diet so they eventually crowded out the not good for me things.

That's more of my approach to Lent, too.  Since i already don't eat sugar or white flour or desserts, and we don't own a TV, there's not much in the way of those things i can give up.

Instead, i'm trying to add good things that i hope will stay with me after the season.  Our Friday morning Bible study and prayer group is reading a book about praise, and so i am trying to cultivate many of the practices it recommends.

One of the more difficult is to be "thankful in all circumstances" as St. Paul says to do in his first letter to the Thessalonians.  It's not easy to be thankful in some circumstances, so my practice is to simply tell The Lord that i am thanking Him in obedience, even though the circumstances hurt or are difficult to bear.

My hope is that it will result in spiritual growth, and in helping me to have more gratitude and less grousing when everything isn't ideal.

Who knows?  Maybe i'll even learn to be more patient when driving around here.  That would be a miracle.

Today is:

Curling Is Cool Day -- embrace the Olympic sport the whole family can play; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Defenders of the Motherland Day (formerly Red Army Day) -- Russia and some former Soviet Republics
     Homeland Defenders' Day -- Kyrguzstan
     Motherland Defenders' Day -- Transdniestria

Diesel Engine Day -- Rudolph Diesel received his patent in Germany on this day in 1893

Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day -- while i can't figure out who started this one, even Mr. Google says it's celebrated today

Easy Divorce Day -- marking the passage, in 1915, of the Nevada law granting easy divorces after only a 6 month residency, the first such in the US

Iwo Jima Day -- commemoration of the US flag raising

National Banana Bread Day

National Day -- Brunei

Pebbles Day -- Pebbles Flintstone was born this day around 10,000BC

Republic Day (Mashramani) -- Guyana

Single-Tasking Day -- encouraging you to do one thing at a time, and not feel guilty; begun by Theresa Gabriel, who claims multitasking is inefficient and hurts your brain! she suggests it be on the 4th Tuesday of the month, although other sites list other dates

Spay Day USA -- sponsored by the HSUS; Sit! Stay! Spay!  Good Owner! www.humanesociety.org

St. Milburga of Shropshire's Day (Patron of birds)

St. Polycarp of Smyrna's Day (Patron against dysentery and earache)

St. Serenus the Gardener's Day (Patron of bachelors, falsely accused people)

Terminalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival for Terminus, god of land boundary markers)

World Spay Day -- don't let your pets litter!

https://www.worldspayday.org/



Birthdays Today:

Emily Blunt, 1983
Niecy Nash, 1970
Michael Dell, 1965
"Bobby" Bonilla, 1963
Howard Jones, 1955
Patricia Richardson, 1951
"Too Tall" Jones, 1951
John Sanford, 1944
Johnny Winter, 1944
Peter Fonda, 1939
Sylvia Chase, 1938
Donna J. Stone, 1933
Paul Tibbets, 1915
William L. Shirer, 1904
Victor Fleming, 1889
W.E.B. DuBois, 1868
Emma Hart Willard, 1787
George Frederic Handel, 1685
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, 1646
Samuel Pepys, 1633


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fortune and Men's Eyes"(Play), 1967
Pinocchio(Disney Cartoon film), 1940


Today in History:

Emperor Diocletian orders the general persecution of Christians, 303
Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type, 1455
France begins its fifth "holy war" against the Huguenots, 1574
Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army, 1778
The first US raw-cotton-to-cloth mill is founded, in Waltham, Massachusetts, 1813
The first US pharmaceutical college is organized, the College of Apothecaries in Philidelphia, 1821
Santa Anna begins his siege of the Alamo, 1836
John Newman leaves the Anglican Church and is welcomed into the Roman Catholic Church, 1846
In Mexico, American troops under General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna, 1847
Great Britain formally recognises the independence of the Boers in the area between the Orange and Vaal rivers, signing the Bloemfontein Convention with the Orange Free State, 1854
The London Times publishes the world's first classified ad, 1886
Charles Martin Hall, assisted by his sister Julia Brainerd Hall, produced the first samples of man-made aluminum, 1886
The French/Italian Riviera is struck by an earthquake that leaves 2,000 dead, 1887
The Tootsie Roll is introduced by Leo Hirshfield, 1896
In France, Emile Zola is imprisoned for writing his "J'accuse" letter accusing the government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus, 1898
The Cuban state of Guantanamo is leased to the US, 1903
The US acquires control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million, 1904
The Rotary Club International is founded in Chicago, 1905
Russian Tsar Nicholas II dissolves the Diet of Finland, 1909
The US state of Nevada enacts a convenient divorce law, 1915
The February Revolution begins in Russia, 1917
Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, 1941
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded, 1947
The first mass inoculation with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh, 1954
First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), 1955
The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri, 1983
Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 1987
A small fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir, 1997
An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31, 1999
Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster, 2010

Awww Monday: She's hardly more than a baby herself!

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

If you have ever wondered how soon a female cat can physically have kittens, the answer is sooner than you ever thought.  We get mama cats that are barely 6 months old, and when their kittens get to be about 2-3 months, they are already almost as big as their mother!

MamaCat and her baby.

Today is:

Abu Simbel Festival -- Egypt (one of the two days a year when the light illuminates the statutes of Rameses, Ra and Amun in the temple complex)
     Festival of the Perpendicular Sun/Illumination of the Inner Sanctum of Ramses II's Abu Simbel Temple -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Be Humble Day -- can't find the origin of this one, s/he wants to humbly remain anonymous

Butter Lantern Festival -- Tibet (the final celebration of the Tibetan New Year)

Call Somebody "Boo Boo" Day -- apparently just to see what s/he will call you back; be careful, this one started before anyone heard of Honey Boo Boo and doesn't take that into account

Concordia/Caristia  -- Ancient Roman Calendar, Festival of Goodwill

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch -- Roman Catholic Church

Full Snow Moon -- sometimes also called the Full Hunger Moon, as the most snow falls this month and finding food is hardest
     Meaka Bochea -- Buddhist (celebration of the final sermon of Buddha)
     Navam Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
     Spring Lantern Festival -- China (final day of the Chinese New Year celebrations)
     Tabodwe Full Moon -- Myanmar (month of Hta-Ma-Ne Feast, the harvest festival of Thanksgiving)

Guru Ravidas Jayanti -- CH, HR, and PB, India

Handing Back of Goblin Orphans Day -- Fairy Calendar (You know, the goblin orphans they adopted 2 days ago!  No fairy can tolerate a goblin longer than that.)

Independence Day -- Santa Lucia(1979)

International World Thinking Day -- a/k/a "B.-P. day" or "Founder's Day" -- World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
     Girl Guides Day -- UK

National Margarita Day (How is that going to help with the thinking?)

St. Margaret of Cortona's Day (Patron of falsely accued people, hoboes, homeless people, mentally ill people, midwives, penitent women, people ridiculed for their piety, reformed prostitutes, single laywomen, teriaries, and tramps; against insanity, loss of parents, mental illness, sexual temptation, and temptation)

Walking the Dog Day -- Can't find the originator of this one, but walk your dog, or do your yoyo tricks, whichever works for you

Washington's Birthday -- US


Anniversaries Today:

Ed McMahon marries Pamela Hurn, 1992
Kurt Corbin marries Courtney Love, 1992
Bill Bixby marries Laura Michael, 1991
Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania, 1855
Washington University in St. Louis is founded, 1853


Birthdays Today:

James Blunt, 1977
Drew Barrymore, 1975
Michael Chang, 1972
Lea Salonga, 1971
Clinton Kelly, 1969
Jeri Ryan, 1968
Vijay Singh, 1963
Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, 1962
Kyle MacLachlan, 1959
Julie Walters, 1950
Julius "Dr. J" Erving, 1950
Miou-Miou, 1950
Dan Millman, 1946
Jonathan Demme, 1944
Sparky Anderson, 1934
Edward M. Kennedy, 1932
Paul Dooley, 1928
Robert Wadlow, 1918
John Mills, 1908
Sheldon Leonard, 1907
Robert Young, 1907
Luis Bunuel, 1900
Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1892
"Chico" Marx, 1891
Lady Olave Baden-Powell, 1889
Lord Robert Baden-Powell, 1857
James Russel Lowell, 1819
Frederic Chopin, 1810
Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788
George Washington, 1732


Debuting/Premiering Today:

It Happened One Night(Film), 1934
"Lady Windermere's Fan"(Play), 1892
"Symphony No. 4 in F minor"(Tchaikovsky Op. 36), 1878


Today in History:

Jews are expelled from Zurich, Switzerland, 1349
Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published, 1632
The English House of Lords rules that authors do not have perpetual copyright of their material, 1774
Jews are expelled from the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland, 1775
The first US ship to trade with China, the "Empress of China," sails from New York, 1784
The Last Invasion of Britain by the French begins near Fishguard, Wales, 1797
Spain signs the Adams-Onis Treaty, renouncing its claim to the Oregon territory and west Florida, 1819
Spain sells east Florida to the US, 1821
Edward Payson Weston, "The Father of Modern Pedestrianism," who gave lectures on the health benefits of walking, first comes into the public eye by leaving on this date to walk to Lincoln's inauguration, a distance of 478 miles, 1861*
Frank W. Woolworth opens the first US chain store, his  "Woolworth's" 5 and 10 cent store, in Utica, NY, 1879
John Reid of Scotland establishes a 3 hole golf course near Yonkers, New York, thus introducing the game to the US, 1888
Hawaii becomes a US territory, 1900
Due to drought, the US side of Niagara Falls runs short of water, 1903
The Great White Fleet, the first US fleet to circumnavigate the globe, returns to Virginia, 1909
Calvin Coolidge gives the first US presidential radio address, 1924
Bert Hinkler successfully completes the first solo flight from England to Australia, 1928
Australian swimmer John Konrads sets 6 world records in two days, 1958
Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500, 1959
Following United States President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices, 1973
In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3, in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history, 1980
In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned, 1997
An earthquake measuring 6.3 in magnitude strikes Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 181 people, 2011

*Yes, he got there in 10 days, in time for the inaugural ball!

Silly Sunday: It's a Zoo Here!

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

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

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

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

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

#1 Son is between roommates again, so he and Mikey are back home again.  This place is more like a zoo every day!  Then, too, the shelter is quite chaotic right now as noted yesterday.

Speakin' of de zoo, Boudreaux usta run him a zoo.

After he done be runnin' it a while, he decide he goin' get him more animals, an' he decide he want him a mongoose display.

He study up an' get his people to build dem a place, an' he set down to write de letter to requisition de critters.

He say, "My zoo be expandin', so please sen' me two mongooses."

Den he look at dat, an' it sure don' look right, so he type it again.

"My zoo be expandin', so please sen' me two mongeese."

Well, he t'ink, dat don' look no better.  He t'ink a while, den he settle on "My zoo be expandin', an' since no zoo is complete wit'out havin' a mongoose, please sen' me two of dem!"

Today is:

Anniversary of His Majesty the King -- Bhutan

Anthesteria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (three day Festival of Flowers, feast of the dead, and drinking festival; date approximate)

Card Reading Day -- because greeting cards can be fun to just stop and read, can't they?

Day in Honor of Dr. W. H. Lini, Father of Independence -- Vanuatu

Daytona 500 Race -- Daytona International Speed-way, Daytona Beach, FL, US

Feast of the Feralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (final day of the Parentalia, with picnics in the graveyard that included libations to the departed)

Goa Month begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (month of the goddess Goa, personified as the daughter of Old Man Winter; as last month greeted her father well, greet her kindly, too, for an easy weather month)
     Konudagur -- Housewife's Day (just as the first day last month honored husbands, this month the wife is greeted with either coffee or flowers)

International Mother Language Day -- UNESCO 

Musikahan sa Tagum Festival -- Tagum City, Phillipines (the areas signature festival which celebrates the Filipino excellence in musical composition, performance, and production, and giving young people more opportunities to excel in learning the music industry and Filipino musical culture; through Mar. 7)

National Sticky Bun Day

Remember the Funniest Thing Your Kid Ever Did Day -- in honor of Erma Bombeck's birth anniversary

Sandino Day -- Nicaragua (assassination anniversary of Augusto César Sandino)

Shaheed Dibosh -- Bangladesh (International Mother Language Day/Language Martyr's Day, for those who died in the Bengali Language Movement in 1952)

St. Peter Damian's Day (Doctor of the Church)


Anniversaries Today:

Dudley Moore marries Brogan Lane, 1988
Liz Taylor marries Michael Wilding, 1952
The Washington Monument is dedicated, 1885


Birthdays Today:

Corbin Bleu, 1989
Ashley Greene, 1987
Ellen Page, 1987
Charlotte Church, 1986
Jennifer Love Hewitt, 1979
William Baldwin, 1963
Christopher Atkins, 1961
Alan Trammell, 1958
Jack Coleman, 1958
Mary Chapin Carpenter, 1958
Kelsey Grammer, 1955
Christine Ebersole, 1953
William Petersen, 1953
Olympia J. Snowe, 1947
Tyne Daly, 1946
Alan Rickman, 1946
David Geffen, 1943
John Lewis, 1940
Gary Lockwood, 1937
Barbara Jordan, 1936
Rue McClanahan, 1935
Nina Simone, 1933
Roberto Gomez Bolanos, 1929
Erma Bombeck, 1927
Hubert de Givenchy, 1927
Sam Peckinpah, 1925
Ann Sheridan, 1915
W.H. Auden, 1907
Anais Nin, 1903
Andres Segovia, 1893
Alice Freeman Palmer, 1855
Charles Scribner, 1821
John Henry Cardinal Newman, 1801
Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, 1794


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Die Physiker"(Play), 1962
"A Woman to Remember"(TV; first soap opera), 1949
"War as it Happens"(TV), 1944
"Green Pastures"(Play), 1930
The New Yorker(Magazine), 1925
The Communist Manifesto(Publication date), 1848
Cherokee Phoenix(Newspaper, first US Native American paper), 1828


Today in History:

England begins the trial against Joan of Arc, 1431
John Wilkes is thrown out of the English House of Commons for his pornographic poem "An Essay on Woman," a satire of Pope's "An Essay on Man," 1764
Freedom of worship is established in France under its Constitution, 1795
The first locomotive, Richard Trevithick's, runs for the first time, in Wales, 1804
The first Native American Indian newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, begins publication, 1828
The first known sewing machine in the US is patented by John Greenough of Washington, D.C., 1842
Sarah G Bagley of Lowell, Massachusetts becomes the first US woman telegrapher, 1846
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto, 1848
The US Congress outlaws foreign currency as legal tender in the US, 1857
Edwin T. Holmes installs the first electric burglar alarm, in Boston, Massachusetts, 1858
The first Roman Catholic parish church for blacks in the US is dedicated, in Baltimore, Maryland, 1864
Lucy B. Hobbs becomes the first US woman to earn a DDS degree, 1866
Benjamin Disraeli replaces William Gladstone as English premier, 1874
The first telephone book is issued, to 50 subscribers in New Harbor, Connecticut, 1878
Oregon becomes the first US state to declare Labor Day a holiday, 1887
The North Carolina legislature adjourns for the day to mark the death of Frederick Douglass, 1895
Dr. Harvey Cushing, the first US neurosurgeon, performs his first operation, 1902
Gustav Mahler conducts his last concerto, 1911
The Battle of Verdun (WWI) begins, will last until Dec. 18; over a quarter of a million casualties, half a million injuries, 1916
The last Carolina parakeet, Incas, dies in the Cincinati Zoo, in the same cage that had held Martha, the last passenger pigeon, 4 years earlier, 1918
The Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution, 1921
Great Britain grants Egypt independence, 1922
The first issue of "New Yorker" magazine is published, 1925
The first instant developing camera is demonstrated in NYC, by E H Land, 1947
The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free", 1952
Watson and Crick discover the structure of the DNA molecule; according to legend, they walk into the Eagle Pub in Cambridge and Crick announces "We have found the secret of Life," 1953
The Peace symbol is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1958
Malcolm X is assassinated, 1965
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna, 1971
The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon, 1972
Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison, 1975
Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, 1995
Euro zone finance ministers agree on a second bailout for Greece, 2012
Scientists discover that bumblebees have the ability to sense electric fields around flowers, enabling them to identify specific flowers for pollination, 2013

Feed them cake they actually like it.

The day before yesterday, this was a wall.  Things at the shelter are changing daily.

Now an arch, soon to be a very nice arch, but still rough around the edges.

We are keeping on top of things by labeling everything, and i do mean everything.

We have to know where these are.

Yes, even a special place for the dirty stuff, because we get a lot of that.

Even if you have to write on the masking tape on the wall.

Princess gets her usual special treatment, she is allowed outdoors most of the time in the fenced yard, since the weather has been nice.

The people who work there every day are keeping cheerful under the circumstances of trying to "live in a house and renovate it," and i'm trying to help.  Any time we have a cake we cannot sell for whatever reason, i bring it to them.  It seems to help, but somehow, cake often does.

 

Today is:

Adopt a Goblin Orphan Day -- Fairy Calendar

Blessed Wulfric's Day

Cherry Pie Day

Chinese New Year Parade -- San Francisco, CA, US (North America's largest Chinese community celebrates the Lunar New Year in style)

Clam Chowder Cook-Off -- Santa Cruz, CA, US (if you love clam chowder of any variety, this is the place for you)

Clean Out Your Bookcase Day -- supposedly begun in 1985, but i can't find information on who started it; donate books you don't need any more to a local friends of the library group

Desert Festival -- Jaisalmer, India (three days of local culture, contests, and fun)

Flying Car Day -- the Arrowmobile, the first flying car, patented this day in 1937 (and can you imagine, as bad as driving is, how many accidents we would have if these people were flying around instead?)

Hadaka Matsuri -- Inazawa Cho, Japan (thousands of loincloth-wearing men try to touch the closely guarded Shin-otoko [a man chosen, stripped naked, and shaved totally] as he is on his way to the shrine)

Hoodie Hoo Day (Northern Hemisphere) -- at noon local time, citizens are requested to go outside and yell "Hoodie-Hoo" to chase away winter and call in spring; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Ice Fishing Derby at Hell Creek -- Fort Peck, MT, US (subject to cancellation if there is no ice, so Hell has to freeze over for them to have this tournament!)

Khajuraho Dance Festival -- Khajuraho, India (annual gathering of Indian classical dancers from across the country and abroad; through the 26th)

La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros and Tucson Rodeo -- Tucson, AZ, US (celebrating the Old West heritage; through Feb. 28)

Love Your Pet Day -- a day to pamper pets, like they don't get pampered enough

National Handcuff Day -- yes, they are serious

Saidai-ji Hadaka Matsuri -- Okayama Prefecture, Japan (Naked Festival, in which a Shinto man strips, is completely shaved, then runs through town while thousands of townsmen in loincloths try to touch him while guard's throw cold water on them)

Showa-Shinzan International Yukigassen Tournament -- Japan; snowball fighting (yukigassen) at its best, through tomorrow

St Leo of Catania's Day (a/k/a Leo the Wonderworker, Patron of Rometta, Longi, and Sinagra, Sicily)

Toothpick Day -- first machine used to make them patented this day in 1872

World Day for Social Justice -- UN


Anniversary Today:

John Cleese marries Connie Booth, 1968
US Post Office, 1792 (George Washington signed the act which created it)


Birthdays Today:

Rihanna, 1988
Andrew Shue, 1967
Lili Taylor, 1967
Cindy Crawford, 1966
French Stewart, 1964
Charles Barkley, 1963
Ron Eldard, 1963
James Wilby, 1958
Patty Hearst, 1954
Gordon Brown, 1951
Ivana Trump, 1949
Jennifer O'Neill, 1948
Peter Strauss, 1947
Brenda Blethyn, 1946
Sandy Duncan, 1946
Phil Esposito, 1942
Buffy Sainte-Marie, 1941
Nancy wilson, 1937
Bobby Unser, 1934
Sidney Poitier, 1927
Robert Altman, 1925
Gloria Vanderbilt, 1924
Carl E. Stotz, 1920
Gale Gordon, 1906
Ansel Adams, 1902
Joseph Jefferson, 1829
William Prescott, 1726


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel"(Play), 1963
"Barber of Seville"(Rossini Opera), 1816
"Giulio Cesare in Egitto"(Opera, HWV 17), 1724


Today in History:

Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland so King Christian I can pay his daughter's dowry, 1472
An unnamed comet approaches withing 860,000 miles of Earth, the closest a comet has ever come to our planet, 1491
The first recorded wine auction is held, in London, 1673
The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington, 1792
Austria declares bankruptcy, 1811
Concepcion, Chile, is destroyed by an earthquake, 1835
The US Congress prohibits dueling in the District of Columbia, 1839
Luther Crowell patents a machine to manufacture paper bags, 1872
In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens, 1872
The first minor league baseball association is organised, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1887
King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra, 1913
A new volcano, Paricutin, erupts in a farmer's cornfield in Mexico, 1943
The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate, 1959
While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes, 1962
Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts, 1965
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands, 1976
Texas industrialist Ross Perot's U.S. presidential campaign begins, 1992
Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout, 2005
Estonia becomes the first country in the world to establish a national electric car charging network , with cars charging in less than 30 minutes, 2013

Feline Friday: They're Back!

Feline Friday is hosted by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is..

1) post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (They may be silly or cute)
2) go to Steve's page, linked above, then on the menu bar click on the Feline Friday tab to get the code
3) paste the code under your cat picture
4) add your name and link

That’s all there is to it! Be sure to check back every so often and visit all the Feline Friday bloggers. Also, please leave a nice comment on their blogs. Nasty comments will be deleted!

Guess what season it is.

No, i'm not talking spring, i'm talking kitten season!

No, we won't all look at the camera at the same time!

Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Mexico

Birthday of Minerva -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Birth Anniversary of Shivaji -- Maharashtra, India

Chaoflux -- Discordianism

Chief Leschi Day -- US, especially Washington State (Native American chief wrongly executed for murder on this date in 1958; fully exhonerated 2004)

Cracker Jacks Prize Day -- the first prizes were added to the boxes of caramel popcorn this date in 1913

Flag Day -- Turkmenistan

Fly-By for Goblins and others -- Fairy Calendar

National Chocolate Mint Day (because every day needs chocolate in some form)

Solar System Day -- birth anniversary of Copernicus

St. Conrad of Piacenza's Day -- (Patron against hernias)

Straw Wrapper Appreciation Day -- an internet spread holiday to remind you of how much fun it was as a kid to blow the wrappers off the straws

Temporary Insanity Day -- anniversary of the first time someone successfully pleaded temporary insanity in a court of law; Daniel Stickles, in 1859

Tokamachi Yuki Matsuri -- Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture, Japan (snow fest and kimono festival; through Sunday)

Vassil Levski Day -- Bulgaria (Bulgaria's "Apostle of Freedome")

Women in Blue Jeans Conference -- Mitchell, SD, US (celebrating women in agriculture; through tomorrow)

Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous -- Whitehorse, YT, Canada (mad trapper competition, flour packing, beard growing contest, old-time fiddle show, and more, with this year's theme being "The Magic and the Mystery"; through next Sunday)


Anniversary Today:

Knights of Pythias founded, 1864


Birthdays Today:

Haylie Duff, 1985
Andrew Shue, 1967
Benicio Del Toro, 1967
Justine Bateman, 1966
Jonathan Lethem, 1964
Seal, 1963
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, 1960
Ray Winstone, 1957
Jeff Daniels, 1955
Margaux Hemingway, 1955
Amy Tan, 1952
Stephen Nichols, 1951
Lou Christie, 1943
Smokey Robinson, 1940
Lee Marvin, 1924
Merle Oberon, 1911 (some sources say Feb. 18)
Willam III, 1817 (last king of the Netherlands -- there have only been queens since)
David Garrick, 1717
Nicolas Copernicus, 1473


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Woman of Independent Means"(TV Miniseries), 1995
"Crazy For You"(Musical), 1992
"Eastenders"(TV), 1985
"Rumours"(Album release), 1977
The Feminine Mystique(Publication date), 1963
"Picnic"(Inge Play), 1953
"Alexander's Feast"(HWV 75), 1736


Today in History:

Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus' defeats beats Clodius Albinus at Lyon, 197
Emperor Constantius II shuts down all pagan temples, 356
The second Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ends as a council in Constantinople formally reinstates veneration of icons in the churches, 842
Jews of Tyrnau, Hungary (then Trnava, Czech) are expelled, 1539
The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America, 1600
Britain and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, and New Amsterdam formally becomes New York, 1674
British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III, 1819
The first practical coal burning locomotive in the US makes a trial run, in Pennsylvania, 1831
Tin-type camera is patented by Hamilton Smith of Gambier, Ohio, 1856
Daniel E. Sickles is acquitted of the murder of his wife's lover, Phillip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key), on the grounds of temporary insanity, the first time this defense is successfully used, 1859
Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom in Russia, 1861
Thomas Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph), 1878
Kansas becomes the first US state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages, 1881
WK Kellog and Charles Bolin found the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co., 1906
The first prize is inserted into a Cracker Jack box, 1913
Ed Wynn becomes the first talent to sign as a regular radio entertainer, 1922
Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize for poetry, 1949
Bill Keane's "Family Circus" comic strip makes its debut, 1960
Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital, 1985
The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft, 1986
NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system, 2002
NASA loses communication with the International Space Station's for three hours as a result of updating the station's command and control software, 2013