Life Day 25109: Fore!

April 10, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in Today's Reasons To Celebrate | Leave a comment

Good morning linksters. Today is April 10th. The first holiday today is Golf (Golfer’s) Day.  National Golf (Golfer’s) Day celebrates all things Golf. On April 10, 1916 , the first professional golf tournament began, and that this is likely the reason why Golf (Golfer’s) Day is celebrated today. Another possible reason for celebrating this holiday on this date is that it marks the date in 1924 when the tubular steel golf club shaft was approved for championship play.
Personally, I haven’t played a round of “cow pasture pool” in almost two decades. I was never any good at it anyway. If you are a golfer, today is a good day, weather permitting, to get out on the links and play a round of golf…unless you would really rather get started on your wife’s “honey do” list.
Author’s Note: Alas! O. J. Simpson spent endless days “searching” Golf Courses across America for the “real murderers” of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Perhaps if  he weren’t incarcerated for another unrelated crime, today would be the day that he finally found the “real” culprits. Drat the luck.

The next holiday is ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Day. On this date in 1866, the New York legislature passed a charter to form the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Today, the ASPCA has a number of programs. They sponsor pet adoption and offer education concerning proper pet care. They also endeavor to provide positive outcomes for at-risk animals and help victims of animal cruelty. They are a non-profit organization with over a million members nationwide. It’s a sad fact that today, half the dogs and 70% of cats in shelters are euthanized because no one adopts them.
If you are looking for a family pet, don’t go to a pet store or a “puppy mill”. Instead visit your local ASPCA. They always have a wide variety of loving animals just waiting for a “forever home”. If not, today would be a good day to visit your local ASPCA and leave a generous donation.

The third holiday today is National Farm Animals Day. National Farm Animals Day is a special and vital day to raise awareness about the plight of slaughter animals, as well as to find homes for abandoned and abused farm animals. This holiday is the brainchild of Colleen Paige; a self-proclaimed Animal Rescuer, vegetarian and “Celebrity Pet Lifestyle Expert”. Whatever! If you agree with Ms. Paige and feel like donating to this cause, today is the day to do so. Otherwise, why not pay a visit to your local ‘petting zoo’ with your children or grandchildren. It would be a good learning experience for them.

Another holiday today is Safety Pin Day. Poor hapless Walter Hunt had no trouble thinking up new ideas. He invented a machine for spinning flax, a fire engine gong, a forest saw, and a stove that burned hard coal. Although his inventions worked flawlessly, he simply did not have the knack for making money from them. After incurring a $15.00 debt to a friend, Walter decided to invent something new and use the proceeds from that invention to repay the debt. From a piece of brass wire about eight inches long, coiled at the center and shielded at one end, he made the first safety pin. He took out a patent on his invention, which was approved on this date in 1849. He then sold the rights to his new invention for $400.00, paid his friend back the $15.00 and had $385.00 to spare. Then he watched his latest creation go on to become a million dollar money earner for someone else.
Unless you sew or are a “Punk Rocker”, you probably have little use for safety pins these days. With that said, I always carry a safety pin…just in case of a ‘wardrobe malfunction’.

Additionally, today is National Sibling Day. National Sibling Day is a day to appreciate and cherish your brothers and sisters. Claudia A. Evart initiated National Sibling Day after the tragic deaths of her brother and sister. Our siblings are often our best friends and closest confidants. If they live nearby, visit them today. If they live far away, call them or send them a card. If you are at odds with any of them, reach out to them today and try to mend fences. If they reject your overture, at least you tried.

The sixth holiday today is Salvation Army Founder’s Day. On this date in 1829, William Booth was born. He was a Methodist minister who began an evangelical ministry in the East End of London in 1865 and established mission stations to feed and house the poor. In 1878, he changed the name of his organization to the Salvation Army. Today, the Salvation Army operates in 126 countries and provides services in 175 different languages.

The last holiday today is Encourage a Young Writer Day. Encourage a Young Writer Day is a holiday to inspire any potential great writers that may you know to continue their pursuits. If there is a child in your life that loves to tell stories, has a vivid imagination, or passion for expression, encourage them to write stories, write poetry, or at least, start writing journals or a BLOG online to record their thoughts. Who knows, they might soon be in some pretty great company.  Some famous writers who began writing at an early age include:

• C.S. Lewis: starting writing the Chronicles of Narnia at the age of 8 or 9.
• Stephen King: was 13 when he sold his first story for a quarter.
• Anne Frank: starting writing the Diary of Anne Frank at the age of 13.

The food-related holiday today is National Cinnamon Crescent (Croissant) Day. People have been making croissant pastries since the 13th century, but cinnamon has been around for much longer. The first record of the spice appears in a Chinese manuscript dating back to 2800 BC. Cinnamon was used by ancient Egyptians as part of the mummy embalming process. Cinnamon has been used as a medicine to treat throat maladies and was also used to preserve meats. In Ancient Rome, people valued cinnamon more than silver and gold, and spices remained a highly prized luxury good through the Middle Ages. In fact, you could determine a person’s social rank by the number of spices they could afford. People used cinnamon to preserve meat, flavor their beverages, and cure certain ailments. In modern times, cinnamon is primarily grown in tropical areas such as South America and the West Indies. Today, cinnamon is still one of the most popular spices and is a key ingredient in many baked goods.
Cinnamon crescent rolls are essentially cinnamon rolls that are made using crescent roll dough (which may either be bought or made at home) filled with cinnamon, sugar, butter and sometimes raisins. They may also be frosted if desired. So basically, they are fancy-schmancy cinnamon rolls. If you aren’t feeling overly pretentious today, you can celebrate National Cinnamon Crescent (Croissant) Day by making a batch of just plain ole cinnamon rolls instead. Your secret will be safe with me.

 

On this date:

• In 1790 – The U.S. patent system was established.
• In 1814 – Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Toulouse by the British and the Spanish. The defeat led to his abdication and exile to Elba.
• In 1825 – The first hotel opened in Hawaii.
• In 1865 – During the American Civil War, at Appomattox, General Robert E. Lee issued his last order.
• In 1912 – The Titanic set sail from Southampton, England.
• In 1916 – The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) held its first championship tournament.
• In 1922 – The Genoa Conference opened. The meeting was used to discuss the reconstruction of Europe after World War I.
• In 1925 -“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published.
• In  1941 – In World War II, U.S. troops occupied Greenland to prevent Nazi infiltration.
• In 1941 – Ford Motor Co. became the last major automaker to recognize the United Auto Workers as the representative for its workers.
• In 1953 – Warner Bros. released “House of Wax.” It was the first 3-D movie to be released by a major Hollywood studio.
• In 1953 – Actress Hedy Lamarr became a U.S. citizen.
• In 1961 – Gary Player of South Africa became the first foreign golfer to win the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.
• In 1967 – The 13-day strike by the American Federation of Radio-TV Artists (AFTRA) came to an end less than two hours before the 39th Academy Awards presentation went on the air.
• In 1968 – U.S. President Johnson replaced General Westmoreland with General Creighton Abrams in Vietnam.
• In 1971 – The American table tennis team arrived in China. They were the first group of Americans officially allowed into China since the founding of the People Republic in 1949. The team had received the surprise invitation while in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championship.
• In 1981 – The maiden launch of the space shuttle Columbia was canceled because of a computer malfunction.
• In 1988 – On Wall Street, 48 million shares of Navistar International stock changed hands in a single block trade. It was the largest transaction ever executed on the New York Stock Exchange.
• In 1992 – A bomb exploded in London’s financial district. The bomb, set off by the Irish Republican Army, killed three people and injured 91.
• In 1992 – Outside Needles, CA, comedian Sam Kinison was killed when a pickup truck slammed into his car on a desert road between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
• In 1992 – In Los Angeles, financier Charles Keating Jr. was sentenced to nine years in prison for swindling investors when his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed. The convictions were later overturned.
• In 1996 – U.S. President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have outlawed a technique used to end pregnancies in their late stages.
• In 1998 – Negotiators reached a peace accord on governing British-ruled Northern Ireland. Britain’s direct rule was ended.
• In 2000 – Ken Griffey Jr. became the youngest player in baseball history to reach 400 home runs. He was 30 years, 141 days old.
• In 2001 – Jane Swift took office as the first female governor of Massachusetts. She succeeded Paul Cellucci, who had resigned to become the U.S. ambassador to Canada.
• In 2001 – The Netherlands legalized mercy killings and assisted suicide for patients with unbearable, terminal illness.
• In 2002 – Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the U.S. Senate as a representative of the Israeli government. He warned that suicide bombers would spread to the U.S. if Israel was not allowed to finish its military offensive in the West Bank. Netanyahu also cited the goals of dismantling the terror regime and expelling Arafat from the region, ridding the Palestinian territories of terrorist weapons and establishing “physical barriers” to protect Israelis from future Palestinian attacks.

If you were born on this date, you share a birthday with the following distinguished individuals:

• Commodore Matthew Perry 1794 – Commodore of the U.S. Navy.
• Lew Wallace 1827 – Novelist.
• Joseph Pulitzer 1847 – Publisher.
• George Arliss 1868 – Actor.
• Bernard Gimbel 1885 – Merchant.
• Martin Denny 1911 – Composer.
• Harry Morgan 1915 – Actor.
• Sheb Wooley 1921 – Singer.
• Chuck Connors 1921 – Actor.
• Liz Sheridan 1929 – Actress.
• Max Von Sydow 1929 – Actor.
• Omar Sharif 1932 – Actor.
• John Madden 1936 – Football player, coach, sports personality-analyst.
• Don Meredith 1938 – Football player.
• Paul Edward Theroux 1941 – Author.
• Ken Griffey Sr. 1950 – Baseball player.
• Steven Seagal 1952 – Actor.
• Peter MacNicol 1954 – Actor.
• Katrina Leskanich 1960 – Singer.
• Jeb Adams 1961 – Actor.
• Orlando Jones 1968 – Actor, comedian.
• Laura Bell Bundy 1981 – Actress, singer.
• Chyler Leigh 1982 – Actress.
• Ryan Merriman 1983 – Actor.
• Mandy Moore 1984 – Singer, actress.
• Haley Joel Osment 1988 – Actor.