Ernie's Blog

March 11th – Tool Time

Good morning handypersons. Today is Saturday, March 11, 2017. Today’s reasons to celebrate are:

Worship of Tools Day

To some people, a tool is a natural extension of their arm, and to others, even the rudimentary use of tools is a struggle. Most of us fall somewhere between. Whether your trade requires their use, or you are just a casual DIYer, everyone uses tools once in a while.
Knowing which tool to use for which job, and equally as important, knowing which tool NOT to use for certain jobs, means the difference between a job well done and a half-assed job that’s “close enough for government work”. In the hands of a craftsman, tools are used to repair machinery, build things, and create exquisite works of art. In the hands of an amateur, they can destroy more than they create. Learning how to use tools properly is a skill that will benefit you throughout your life. Doing a job right the first time is much more cost-effective in the long run.
Worship of Tools Day is the holiday to pay homage to those handy gadgets that make our lives so much easier. Taking care of your tools helps them last longer, so, show your tools some love today by cleaning those that need to be cleaned, sharpening those that need to be sharpened, oiling those that need to be oiled, repairing those in need of repair, and replacing those that are no longer serviceable — Then go out and fix or build something. The best way to celebrate Worship Your Tools Day is to use them for their intended purpose.

Genealogy Day

The seventh and final holiday of “Celebrate Your Name Week” is Genealogy Day (sometimes referred to as Descendent’s Day), which is always celebrated on the Saturday of the first complete week in March.
Climb into your family tree today and jiggle a few branches. Start piecing together your personal history.
Genealogy is becoming more popular as people try to discover their heritage and learn about their roots. Putting together your family tree can be time-consuming, yet at the same time, it can be rewarding. It’s like a puzzle waiting to be put together.
If you feel that you don’t have the time to do the extensive research necessary to put together your family tree, you might consider using the internet. There are quite a few websites available that have already done most of the work for you. Just know ahead of time that these websites charge a fee for their services in most cases, and the fees can widely vary.
Hopefully, you will discover that your family tree resembles a majestic spreading oak – rather than a totem pole.

International Fanny Pack Day  

Held on the second Saturday in March, International Fanny Pack Day pays tribute to this utilitarian fashion essential.
For the centuries, mankind has worn some form of gear to carry items for easy access…be it a backpack, a shoulder bag, or yes, a fanny pack. When you think about it, isn’t a fanny pack nothing more than a scaled-down backpack? Unless you’re going on an extended hike or camping trip, you no longer need a big bulky backpack to carry the essentials you need to survive. The answer, the fanny pack. In it, you can carry our glasses, a small camera for those spontaneous “Kodak moments”, some snacks, your Identification card, and whatever other small items you deem necessary.
Although they may not be chic, fanny packs are by far one of the most useful fashion accessories ever conceived. They carry what we need and allow us to keep our hands free for other things. I admit that I still use mine occasionally. Celebrate International Fanny Pack Day by wearing yours proudly today.

Johnny Appleseed Day

Johnny Appleseed Day honors one of America’s greatest folk legends. Johnny Appleseed was a real person, John Chapman (September 26, 1774, to March 11, 1845). He was a nurseryman by trade and planted and sold apple trees in New York and Pennsylvania. On his trek westward, (at the time, “the west” was places like West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana) he began to plant apple trees along his route. The further west he went, the larger his legend grew. A devout Christian, he was also known for his preaching, his generosity, and his love of animals. Some historians also believe that there is some link between Johnny Appleseed and very early Arbor Day celebrations, but ‘legends’ sometimes become larger than life, and there is no documentation to verify this contention.
Sadly, Johnny Appleseed Day celebrates the approximate date of his death. [Historians dispute this date as his actual date of his death, but it is known that he died sometime near this date of a “winter plague” in 1845, but the actual date of his death was never recorded].
Author’s Note: In some areas of the country, Johnny Appleseed Day is celebrated on September 26th, the anniversary of his birth…which is not in dispute.

Dream Day  

Dream Day does not refer to the dreams that you have when you’re asleep, but rather to your desires or aspirations. Virtually every successful venture began with a dream. Dreams are what inspire and motivate us to move ahead, create new things, and imagine a better life for ourselves.
So, on Dream Day, dream big and celebrate the power of your imagination.

World Plumbing Day  

World Plumbing Day is an international event started by the World Plumbing Council to celebrate the important role plumbing plays in the health and safety of modern society.
The aftermath of 2010’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, the 2011 tsunami in Japan, “Superstorm Sandy”, and other natural disasters show how easy it is to take the availability of safe drinking water and enough sanitation systems for granted…until they break down. History shows that great leaps in mankind’s advancement, both physically and socially, have been tied to advances in plumbing technology. Plumbers play an important role in keeping our drinking water safe and keeping our sewer systems functioning properly. Now, if we could only convince them to provide their services out of a sense of altruism, rather than profit.

Debunking Day

Debunking Day was listed in only one of my sources, and a Google search revealed no further information about this holiday. From what I could glean from the short description of the holiday in my single source, I guess that, on this holiday, you are supposed to try to debunk something. What you debunk is left entirely up to you.
With that in mind, I am going to “debunk” this holiday. If Debunking Day were valid, there would be more information available regarding its purpose, its creator, the reason it is celebrated on this date, and specifically how it should be celebrated. Without that information, how can we truly get into the spirit of this holiday? Sorry Debunking Day creators, but unless you update your website and give we celebrants some valid background information, this holiday will soon become the Dodo bird of holidays.

Oatmeal-Nut Waffle Day  

Waffles became a popular baked treat during the Middle Ages. The original recipe called for just flour and water, so vendors sold waffles on the streets during the religious fasting season. Bakers branded their waffle irons with coats of arms, religious symbols, and the traditional honeycomb pattern we are accustomed to today. Eventually, people began adding other ingredients like eggs, butter, milk, and honey.
Nutritionists say that we need three portions of whole grains daily. Oatmeal waffles are a good, and tasty way to start. Nuts, while they are somewhat high in calories and fat, contain protein plus the good, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (omega-3), which have all been shown to lower LDL cholesterol. Almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, some pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts are approved by the FDA since they contain less than 4 grams of saturated fats per 50 grams. Walnuts are better yet—they are more heart-healthy than olive oil and have bone-healthy alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an essential omega-3 fatty acid).
Oats are a whole grain and an excellent source of fiber.
Oatmeal-Nut Waffles are easy to make by simply adding quick-cooking oats and some of your favorite type of chopped nuts to your regular waffle batter. Here is one recipe. Toppings are a matter of personal preference. I like mine with butter and maple syrup. Do your body a favor and try some oatmeal-nut waffles today. Waffles — They aren’t just for breakfast anymore.

More Holidays

• National Promposal Day
• World Day of Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film 

On This Date

• In 1302 – The characters “Romeo and Juliet” were married this day according to William Shakespeare.
• In 1791 – Samuel Mulliken became the first person to receive more than one patent from the U.S. Patent Office.
• In 1810 – The Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.
• In 1824 – The War Department created the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Seneca Indian Ely Parker became the first Indian to lead the Bureau.
• In 1851 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, Rigoletto, premiered. Rigoletto is one of the most popular operas of all time. The piece was premiered at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy.
• In 1861 – A Confederate Convention was held in Montgomery, Alabama, where a new constitution was adopted.
• In  1865 – Union General William Sherman and his forces occupied Fayetteville, NC.
• In 1901 – U.S. Steel was formed when industrialist J.P. Morgan purchased Carnegie Steel Corp. The event made Andrew Carnegie the world’s richest man.
• In 1907 – President Theodore Roosevelt induced California to revoke its anti-Japanese legislation.
• In 1927 – The Flatheads Gang stole $104,250 in the first armored-car robbery near Pittsburgh, PA.
• In 1930 – President Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.
• In 1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Lend-Lease Act, which authorized the act of providing war supplies to the Allies.
• In 1948 – Reginald Weir became the first black tennis player to participate in a U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Association tournament.
• In 1965 – The Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died after being beaten by whites during a civil rights disturbances in Selma, Alabama.
• In 1966 – Three men were convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.
• In 1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev was named the new chairman of the Soviet Communist Party.
• In 1990 – Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare its independence. The Baltic country’s secession marked an important step in the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
• In 1990 –  Patricio Aylwin became Chile’s first democratically elected president since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. Pinochet had been in power since a CIA-backed coup d’état in 1973. Under his command, thousands of political opponents were interned, tortured, and killed.
• In 1992 – Former President Nixon said that the Bush administration was not giving enough economic aid to Russia.
• In 1993 – Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the first female attorney general.
• In 1998 – The International Astronomical Union issued an alert that said that a mile-wide asteroid could come very close to, and possibly hit, Earth on Oct. 26, 2028. The next day NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that there was no chance the asteroid would hit Earth.
• In 2002 – Two columns of light were pointed skyward from ground zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
• In 2004 – In Madrid, Spain, several coordinated bombing attacks on commuter trains killed at least 190 people and injured more than 2,000.
• In 2011 – The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred in Japan. The nuclear meltdowns occurred after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami. It was the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Noteworthy Birthdays

If you were born on this date, Happy Birthday. You share your birthday with the following list of illustrious individuals – and about 20-million other people.

• Thomas Hastings 1860 – Architect.
• Malcolm Campbell 1885 – Early auto racer.
• Lawrence Welk 1903 – Band leader.
• Harold Wilson 1916 – Former British Prime Minister.
• Terence Alexander 1923 – Actor.
• Ralph David Abernathy 1926 – Civil Rights activist.
• Valerie French 1931 – Actress.
• Rupert Murdoch 1931 – Media mogul.
• Sam Donaldson 1934 – Broadcast journalist.
• Nancy Kovack 1935 – Actress.
• Antonin Scalia 1936 – U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
• Tricia O’Neil 1945 – Actress.
• Mark Metcalf 1946 – Actor.
• Bobby McFerrin 1950 – Singer.
• Jerry Zucker 1950 – Director.
• Dominique Sanda 1951 – Actress/model.
• Susan Richardson 1952 – Actress.
• Anissa Jones 1958 – Child actress.
• Alex Kingston 1963 – Actress.
• Wallace Langham 1965 – Actor.
• Lisa Loeb 1968 – Singer.
• Terrence Howard 1969 – Actor.
• Johnny Knoxville 1971 – Actor.
• David Anders 1981 – Actor.
• LeToya Nicole Luckett 1981 – Singer.
• Thora Birch 1982 – Actress.
• Anton Yelchin 1989 – Actor.

March 10th – Awesome!

Good morning my awesome friends. Today is Friday, March 10, 2017. Today’s reasons to celebrate are:

International Day of Awesome 

International Day of Awesome affords us the opportunity to celebrate every person, place, thing, or idea in the world that is awesome. As the official tagline points out, “No one is perfect, but everyone can be awesome.” A man named Kevin Lawver declared the need for an International Day of Awesomeness in 2007. He was working with an intern who suggested that the office should celebrate Lawver’s awesomeness. Lawver replied that there should be an International Day of Awesomeness. He posted the idea to Twitter and the rest is history.
This is the holiday to release your inner ‘awesome’.  To celebrate the occasion, organize a group of friends and perform feats of awesomeness.
Below are the answers to the six basic questions about International Day of Awesome:

1. What: International Day of Awesome.
2. When: Always March 10th.
3. Where: Everywhere
4. Who: Everyone.
5. How: By being as awesome as you can be.
6. Why: Because March 10th is the birthday of Chuck Norris…and who is more awesome than Chuck Norris?

Check out the official website for this holiday – and have an awesome day!

Middle Name Pride Day

Middle Name Pride Day is the sixth holiday of “Celebrate Your Name Week” and is always celebrated on the Friday of the first complete week in March.
Today’s name celebration requires honesty and possibly some courage as well. Reveal your middle name, whether you like it or not, to three people who don’t already know it.
My middle name is McCutcheon (my mother’s maiden name). Mission accomplished. Now, it’s your turn.

Salvation Army Day

On this date in 1880, Preacher William Booth and his wife Catherine founded the organization that became known as the Salvation Army. It was modeled after the British Army so William Booth called himself General William Booth, although he wasn’t officially a general.  The Salvation Army was ahead of its time in one regard – women and men held equal ranks.
Initially, the work of the Salvation Army could be hazardous and many of its’ officers and soldiers were imprisoned and even killed. But, through perseverance and dedication to their cause, the organization was eventually officially recognized by President Grover Cleveland in 1886.
The Salvation Army is dedicated to helping people and spreading the word of God at the same time

Land Line Telephone Day

For my troglodyte friends who still use this archaic, crude, and cumbersome form of communication, today marks the 140th anniversary of the day that Alexander Graham Bell uttered the immortal words “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you” using the first telephone. [Shortly thereafter, he allowed Mrs. Bell to call Mrs. Watson…and the world was forever changed.]

U.S. Paper Money Day

U.S. Paper Money Day commemorates the date on which the united States first issued paper money as legal tender. Although banks began issuing paper money as early as 1690 in the United States, it wasn’t until this date in 1862 that the U.S. Government began issuing its own paper money. The denominations of the first bills were $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1000.

Festival of Life in the Cracks Day

After 9,876,543,210 Google searches, I still can’t find a definitive answer about who created Festival of Life in the Cracks Day, why it was created, how it is meant to be celebrated, or to what it even pertains. So, let me posit a couple of theories of my own.
My first theory takes the literal approach. Go out today and examine any cracks and crevices you encounter (ie: cracks in your driveway, a crevice in a piece of old wood, etc, etc) for signs of life (insects, mold, moss, etc).
My second theory is more esoteric. It takes a philosophical approach. My theory is that man exists in a void, or crack if you will. He spends his life in the rat-race trying to figure out how to escape that void. A few succeed, but most just exist in their own ‘crack’ and never realize the true meaning of life. Which do you think it is? Do you have an alternative theory of your own? I’d like to hear it.

National Pack Your Lunch Day

National Pack Your Lunch Day, oddly enough, urges you to pack a lunch today, so why not pack a lunch today instead of buying one? Children and workers have carried their lunches to school/work in tin boxes or paper bags for centuries, so the concept of packing one’s lunch is nothing new.
The advantages of packing your own lunch are obvious:

• You determine what’s on the menu that day.
• You know what is in the food you prepare yourself.
• Over time, you’ll save a lot of money compared to buying lunch every day.

If, like yours truly, you are retired, and have no job to go to, pack a lunch anyway and go to a park or just have a picnic in your backyard. Don’t forget to pack extra seeds and nuts for your avian and squirrely friends that will inevitably show up as soon as they discover that you have food.
Author’s Note: In 1935, the Mickey Mouse lunch box was introduced. It was the first children’s–themed cartoon character lunch box.

National Popover Day

Basically a quick-bread, the popover is an Americanization of Yorkshire Pudding. In the America, popovers are often served as a substitute for a roll or biscuit and are often served at brunch with butter or jam (although they are quite yummy on their own).
A popover is an egg batter cooked in custard cups or muffin tins to produce a very light, hollow roll—essentially, an eggy crust. The name comes from the fact that the batter swells or “pops” over the top of the cup while baking. The outside crust is crispy, while the inside is light and airy. The recipe is pretty basic, with just a few ingredients. Popovers are not a make-ahead type of bread. They need to be served and eaten as soon as they come out of the oven. They deflate as they cool, and can tend to become rubbery if not consumed shortly after baking.

More Holidays

In the interest of brevity, and to avoid carpal-tunnel syndrome, I am merely listing the rest of today’s holidays below. As usual, a link to each is provided so you can research them on you own if one piques your interest.

• Mario Day.
• International Bagpipe Day.
• International Wig Day.  
• Skirt Day.
• Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
• World Kidney Day.

On This Date

• In 1629 – England’s King Charles I dissolved Parliament and did not call it back for 11 years.
• In 1656 – In Virginia, suffrage was extended to all free men regardless of their religion.
• In 1776 – “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine was published.
• In 1785 – Thomas Jefferson was appointed the minister to France. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin.
• In 1804 – The formal ceremonies transferring the Louisiana Purchase from France to the U.S. took place in St. Louis.
• In 1848 – The Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war with Mexico.
• In 1849 – Abraham Lincoln applied for a patent for a device to lift vessels over shoals using inflated cylinders.
• In 1864 – Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Union armies in the Civil War.
• In 1880 – The Salvation Army arrived in the U.S. from England.
• In 1893 – New Mexico State University canceled its first graduation ceremony because the only graduate was robbed and killed the night before.
• In 1902 – Tochangri, Turkey, was entirely wiped out by an earthquake.
• In 1902 – Attorney General Philander Knox announced that a suit was being brought against Morgan and Harriman’s Northern Securities Company. The suit was for the enforcement of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Northern Securities loss in court was upheld by the Supreme Court on March 14, 1904.
• In 1903 – Harry C. Gammeter patented the multigraph duplicating machine.
• In 1903 – In New York’s harbor, the disease-stricken ship Karmania was quarantined with six people dead from cholera.
• In 1912 – China became a republic after the overthrow of the Manchu Ch’ing Dynasty.
  In 1913 – Civil Rights activist and nurse, Harriet Tubman, died.
• In 1913 – William Knox rolled the first perfect 300 game in tournament competition.
• In 1924 – The Supreme Court upheld a New York state law forbidding late-night work for women.
• In 1933 – Nevada became the first state to regulate drugs.
• In 1945 – American B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo, Japan, 100,000 were killed.
• In 1947 – The Big Four met in Moscow to discuss the future of Germany.
• In 1949 – Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as “Axis Sally,” was convicted of treason in Washington, D.C. She served 12 years in prison.
• In 1952 – Fulgencio Batista assumed power in Cuba after a coup. The dictator was overthrown by rebels under the command of Che Guevara in 1959.
• In 1959 – A revolt erupted in Lhasa, sparking the Tibetan uprising. Fearing the Dalai Lama’s abduction by China, 300,000 Tibetans surrounded his palace.
• In 1966 – France withdrew from NATO’s military command to protest U.S. dominance of the alliance and asked NATO to move its headquarters from Paris.
• In 1969 – James Earl Ray pled guilty in Memphis, TN, to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray later repudiated the guilty plea and maintained his innocence until his death in April of 1998.
• In 1971 – The Senate approved an amendment to lower the voting age to 18.
• In 1981 – The U.S. Postal Service announced an increase in first class postage from 15 to 18 cents.
• In 1994 – White House officials began testifying before a federal grand jury about the Whitewater controversy.
• In 1998 – U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf began receiving the first vaccinations against anthrax.
• In 2000 – The dot-com bubble burst when the NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5408.60. The dot-com boom, which started in 1997, accompanied the advent of countless new Internet-based companies. When the speculative bubble burst, many small investors were affected.
• In 2002 – The Associated Press reported that the Pentagon informed Congress in January that it was making contingency plans for the possible use of nuclear weapons against countries that threaten the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, including Iraq and North Korea.

Noteworthy Birthdays

If you were born on this date, Happy Birthday. You share your birthday with the following list of illustrious individuals – and about 20-million other people.

• Barry Fitzgerald 1888 – Actor.
• Bix Beiderbecke 1903 – Jazz musician.
• Claire Booth Luce 1903 – Author.
• Heywood Hale Broun 1918 – Author.
• Pamela Mason 1919 – Actress.
• Ralph Emery 1933 – Talk show host.
• David Rabe 1940 – Playwright.
• Chuck Norris 1940 – Actor, martial artist.
• Dean Torrence 1940 – Singer.
• Katharine Houghton 1945 – Actress.
• Bob Greene 1947 – Newspaper columnist.
• Osama Bin Laden 1957 – Saudi Arabian terrorist, founded al-Qaeda.
• Shannon Tweed 1957 – Actress.
• Sharon Stone 1958 – Actress.
• Jasmine Guy 1962 – Actress.
• Neneh Cherry 1964 – Singer.
• Prince Edward 1964 – British Royalty.
• Edie Brickell 1966 – Singer.
• Paget Brewster 1969 – Actress.
• Bree Turner 1977 – Actress.
• Shannon Miller 1977 – Olympic gold-medal gymnast.
• Carrie Underwood 1983 – Singer.
• Emily Osment 1992 – Actress.

March 9th – Happy Birthday Barbie

Good morning fans of unrealistically proportioned dolls. Today is Thursday, March 9, 2017. Today’s reasons to celebrate are:

Barbie Day

On this date in 1959, the first Barbie doll went on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City, to mixed reviews. It’s hard to believe that Barbie is 58 years old today.
March 9th is listed as Barbie’s official birthday in her “official” biography. At eleven inches tall (1/6 scale), with a waterfall of hair, Barbie was the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult features – however unrealistic. The original Barbie came with a black and white zebra-striped one piece bathing suit, and she was available as either a blonde or brunette. Her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, and she hails from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin.
The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945. After seeing her young daughter ignore her baby dolls to play make-believe with paper dolls of adult women, Handler realized there was an important niche in the market for a toy that allowed little girls to imagine the future.
Barbie’s appearance was modeled on a doll named Lilli, based on a German comic strip character. Originally marketed as a racy gag gift to adult men in tobacco shops, the Lilli doll later became extremely popular with children. Mattel bought the rights to Lilli and made its own version, which Handler named after her daughter, Barbara.
Some people think that Barbie’s never-ending supply of designer outfits, cars and “Dream Houses” encouraged children to be materialistic. However, it was Barbie’s appearance that caused the most controversy. Her tiny waist and enormous breasts (it was estimated that if she were a real woman, she would be 5 feet 6 inches tall and her measurements would be 36-18-38) led many to claim that Barbie provided young, impressionable girls with an unrealistic and harmful example of what young girls were “supposed” to look like, which had a harmful effect on their psyches and fostered feelings of negative body image.
Barbie has had many incarnations over the years: Airline stewardess, doctor, pilot and astronaut, Olympic athlete, and even U.S. presidential candidate to name a few. I think it’s high time for Mattel to market some updated, more realistic, versions of Barbie.
Below are a few suggestions:

1. Bitter Divorcee Barbie: Barbie discovers that Ken had been having an affair with her younger sister, Skipper, for decades.
2. Post-menopausal Barbie: Barbie discovers that she is not immune to the ravages of time.
3. Melanoma Barbie: Barbie discovers that all those years of “fun in the sun” without sunscreen came with a price.

Nametag Day

Nametag Day is the fifth holiday of “Celebrate Your Name Week” and is always celebrated on Thursday of the first full week in March.
Yup, you guessed it, today’s celebration of names stipulates that wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you wear a “Hello, My name is [your name here] name-tag. If you are in a whimsical mood, use a name other than your own, or make up a name for yourself that reflects your current mood.
I think I’ll wear a name tag today that says “Hello, My name is Cur Mudgeon”.

Get Over It Day  

Coincidently (or perhaps not) the date on which Get Over It Day is celebrated is the exact midpoint between Valentine’s Day and April Fool’s Day. No one is happy all of the time. Whether rich or poor, popular or unpopular, we all have issues; things which cause undue stress in our lives.  Ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends, ex-husbands or ex-wives, stressful school or work-related issues, fears, insecurities, embarrassing moments, bad relationships with neighbors, et al can all take their toll on our happiness.
Get Over It Day is the time to finally let go of all of those stress-inducing problems, and start being happy again. Remember, no matter how bad you think things are going in your life, there is always someone, somewhere, whose life ‘sucks’ worse than yours, so “get over it” and move on with your life.

False Teeth Day

False Teeth Day celebrates people with false teeth. Not long ago, false teeth were the quite commonplace…both of my parents had false teeth. Dentures were the norm.
False Teeth Day, I think, highlights the many advances made in the field of dentistry. Modern dentists try to save as many of their patients’ original teeth as possible and opt for false teeth only as a last resort. False Teeth Day should serve as a reminder to take care of your teeth and develop a good oral hygiene regimen. Wouldn’t you prefer to look at your smile in the mirror every morning, rather than in a jar on your nightstand when you wake up?

Panic Day

Don’t panic, it’s not what you think. Looming deadlines, a failed alarm clock, and traffic jams are just a few of the things that we have to deal with on a daily basis, and are enough to make us want to scream. But, often we can’t.
Panic Day is a holiday that makes it acceptable to relieve your frustrations verbally. Let out a primal scream, then go about your day as usual. Relax and try to remain calm, even if the world seems to be falling apart around you.

Popcorn Lovers Day

Popcorn Lovers Day is celebrated annually on the second Thursday in March. It not only celebrates popcorn but the people who love it. Popcorn is most often enjoyed at home, and, if you’re independently wealthy, at sporting events, and in movie theaters. It is usually served salted, with butter, but sweetened versions, such as caramel corn and kettle corn, are also readily available.
Popcorn is a type of corn that expands from the kernel and puffs up when heated. There are many techniques for popping corn. Commercial large-scale popcorn machines were invented by Charles Cretors in the late 19th century. Many types of small-scale home methods for popping corn also exist, and you can’t omit prepackaged microwave popcorn…however, my favorite way to pop corn is still in a large, deep cast-iron skillet.
Depending on how it is prepared, popcorn can be healthy…if you eliminate the bad stuff like butter, salt, and sugar. On its own, popcorn is naturally high in dietary fiber, low in calories and fat, and free of sugar and sodium. So basically, if you make popcorn inedible, you can eat all you want. I’ll keep on having mine with plenty of butter and salt, thank you…just not as often as I’d like.

National Meatball Day

National Meatball Day obviously celebrates one of the world’s favorite food items – meatballs. There is no wrong way to make meatballs – the only limits are your personal taste preference and your imagination. There is a restaurant in New York that features 54 different kinds of meatballs.
Meatballs are made by mixing various combinations of ground or minced meat with spices, breadcrumbs, eggs or other ingredients and then rolling the mixture into the shape of a ball, then cooking them. Cooking methods vary and include frying, braising, or baking.
Food historians have, thus far, been unable to pinpoint the exact origins of the meatball. Every culture today, and most ancient cultures have some type of meatball in their cuisine. In Turkey, there is a dish called kofte which is a meatball and has many different variations. In China, there is a record of a recipe that dates back to 221 BC. There is a surviving cookbook from Ancient Rome that contains a variety of recipes with balls of meat.
Meatballs are a versatile food item. They can be an appetizer, a side dish, or the main course. Whether you prefer a heaping plate of spaghetti and meatballs, a meatball sub, Swedish meatballs, or you have another favorite way you like meatballs, celebrate National Meatball Day by eating some delicious meatballs today.

National Crab Meat Day

Due to the ubiquity of crabs on every coastline, it is likely that feasting on crab meat dates back to pre-historic times. Crabs thrive in every ocean in the world and therefore are readily available everywhere. That is probably why crabs are enormously popular in most cuisines around the world.  In the United states, crabs run a close second to shrimp as the most popular shellfish.
I am not a big fan of seafood in general, but I do enjoy the occasional crustacean, and crabs are no exception. Just make sure there is plenty of drawn butter available. Treat yourself to some crab tonight…either at your favorite local seafood restaurant or in the comfort of your own home. Crab is relatively easy to prepare, so don’t be intimidated. All you need is a big pot, some boiling water…and of course, crabs.

More Holidays

Joe Franklin Day

World Kidney Day  – Second Thursday in March.

On This Date

• In 1788 – Connecticut became the 5th state to join the United States.
• In 1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first balloon flight in North America. The event was witnessed by President George Washington.
• In 1796 – Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine de Beauharnais were married. They were divorced in 1809.
• In 1820 – Congress passed the Land Act that paved the way for the westward expansion of North America.
• In 1822 – Charles M. Graham received the first patent for artificial teeth.
• In 1832 – Abraham Lincoln announced that he would run for a political office for the first time. He was unsuccessful in his run for a seat in the Illinois state legislature.
• In 1862 – The first battle between armored ships, the Monitor, and the Merrimac took place in the Battle of Hampton Roads.
• In 1863 – General Ulysses Grant was appointed the commander-in-chief of the Union forces.
• In 1916 – Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. 17 people were killed by the 1,500 horsemen.
• In 1931 – The electron microscope was invented. German physicist Ernst Ruska is credited with the invention of the microscope. His first instrument allowed a resolution of 50 picometers (trillionths of a meter).
• In 1933 – Congress began its 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
• In 1949 – The first all-electric dining car was placed in service on the Illinois Central Railroad.
• In 1954 – WNBT-TV (now WNBC-TV), in New York, broadcast the first local color television commercials. The ad was Castro Decorators of New York City.
• In 1961 – Ivan Ivanovich, a human dummy, traveled into space. On its test flight on board the Soviet spacecraft Korabl-Sputnik 4 (also known as Sputnik 9), the mannequin was accompanied by a dog, reptiles, mice, and guinea pigs.
• In 1964 – The first Ford Mustang rolled off of the Ford assembly line.
• In 1967 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Josef Stalin’s daughter, defected to the United States.
• In 1969 – “The Smothers Brothers’ Comedy Hour” was canceled by CBS-TV.
• In 1975 – Work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline.
• In 1976 – The deadliest cable car accident in history occurred in Italy. Forty-three people died when the cable car plunged 160 ft (50 meters) to the ground after the steel cable had snapped. 14-year-old Alessandra Piovesana was the only survivor.
• In 1986 – Navy divers found the crew compartment of the space shuttle Challenger along with the remains of the astronauts.
• In 1987 – Chrysler Corporation offered to buy American Motors Corporation.
• In 1989 – The Senate rejected John Tower as a choice for a cabinet member. It was the first rejection in 30 years.
• In 1989 – President George H.W. Bush proposed a mandatory death penalty in drug-related killings.
• In 1993 – Rodney King testified at the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of violating his civil rights.
• In 1996 – Legendary comedian George Burns died. He had just celebrated his 100th birthday in January.
• In 2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery completed its final mission. The shuttle touched down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after its journey to the International Space Station (ISS).

Noteworthy Birthdays

If you were born on this date, Happy Birthday. You share your birthday with the following list of illustrious individuals – and about 20-million other people.

• Amerigo Vespucci 1454 – Explorer (Namesake of America).
• Alexis Mikihailovich Romanov 1629 – Czar of Russia.
• Leland Stanford 1824 – Industrialist (founder of Stanford University).
• Phoebe Palmer Knapp 1839 – Methodist hymn writer (wrote more than 500 hymns).
• Eddie Foy, Sr. 1854 – Vaudevillian.
• Will Geer 1902 – Actor.
• Mickey Spillane 1918 – Author.
• Carl Betz 1920 – Actor.
• Irene Papas 1929 – Actress.
• Keely Smith 1932 – Actress, singer.
• Lloyd Price 1933 – Country singer.
• Yuri Gagarin 1934 – Cosmonaut.
• Joyce Van Patten 1934 – Actress.
• Glenda Jackson 1936 – Actress
• Marty Ingels 1936 – Actor, comedian.
• Mickey Gilley 1936 – Country Singer.
• Raul Julia 1940 – Actor.
• Mark Lindsey 1942 – Singer (Paul Revere and the Raiders).
• Bobby Fischer 1943 – Chess player.
• Robin Trower 1945 – Musician.
• Trish Van Devere 1945 – Actress.
• Jimmy Fadden 1948 – Musician (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band).
• Michael Kinsley 1951 – Journalist.
• Linda Fiorentino 1960 – Actress.
• Juliette Binoche 1964 – Actress.
• Brian Bosworth 1965 – Football player
• Emmanuel Lewis 1971 – Actor.
• Kerr Smith 1972 – Actor.
• Jean Louisa Kelly 1972 – Actress.
• Brittany Snow 1986 – Actress.

March 8th – National Proofreading Day

Good morning readers. Today is Wednesday, March 8, 2017. Today’s reasons to celebrate are:

National Proofreading Day

National Proofreading Day promotes mistake-free writing. Today, project a professional image with well-written documents that are 100 percent accurate…as you should be doing every day anyway.
I am amazed every day in my perusing of the internet at the number of spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors that I encounter…even from major media outlets. What happened? Are we not teaching spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage in school anymore, or, do people just not care? We need a holiday like National Proofreading Day to get back on track. Now if we could only get the people who use Twitter, Facebook, et al to proofread before they hit ‘send’, the rest of world might not think we are a nation of functional illiterates.

Discover What Your Name Means Day

Discover What Your Name Means Day is the fourth holiday of “Celebrate Your Name Week” and is always celebrated on Wednesday of the first complete week in March.
Have you ever been curious about what your name means? Let’s face it, names are nothing more than words…and words have a meaning. Therefore, your name(s) have a meaning. For instance, my given name, Ernie (Ernest) means sincere, and my surname Wood means woods or forest. This website will enable you to find the meaning of both your given name and your surname – if you don’t already know. If your name is not listed there, try a simple Google search.

International Women’s Day  

International Women’s Day was first celebrated on February 28th, 1909 in New York. Two years later, German socialist Luise Zietz proposed that the holiday should become an annually observed event that would celebrate various women’s issues, such as suffrage, to promote equal rights for women. The first few International Women’s Days were celebrated in a quite different fashion than they are today, with hundreds of demonstrations taking place, mainly in Europe. During these demonstrations, women demanded they finally be given both the right to vote and to hold public office. Employment sex discrimination was also an important issue. Over a century later, women are still being discriminated against, marginalized, and exploited throughout much of the world.
Until 1977, International Women’s Day was celebrated mainly in socialist countries. It was only after the United Nations General Assembly’s decision to proclaim March 8th International Women’s Day that the holiday gained worldwide popularity. International Women’s Day affords an opportunity to recognize the many economic, political, and social achievements women have accomplished throughout history. This holiday is also known as International Working Women’s Day and the United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is: “Be Bold For Change”.

Girls Write Now Day

The mission of Girls Write Now Day is to offer guidance, support, and opportunities for at-risk and underserved girls to develop their creative, independent voices, explore careers in professional writing, and learn how to make healthy school, career and life choices. The Girls Write Now organization was founded in 1998. Today, give your daughters or granddaughters a pen and paper and encourage them to explore the power of their unique, creative voice.

Be Nasty Day

I saved Be Nasty Day for last because I hope that none of you choose to celebrate it. According to Mr. Webster’s dictionary, the word nasty means physically filthy or disgustingly unclean; offensive in smell or taste, objectionable, vicious, spiteful, ugly, indecent, obscene, or hard to deal with. None of these are desirable traits or actions, and I see no reason to celebrate any of them.  If you do, remember that there is a difference between being nasty and being cruel – oh yeah, also, kindly keep away from me.

National Peanut Cluster Day

For those unfamiliar with this salty-sweet treat, a peanut cluster is a crunchy bundle binding handfuls of nuts with chocolate and sometimes other things. Popularized as early as 1912 by the Goo Goo™ brand, which uses caramel and marshmallows, peanut clusters are easy snacks that can be made in a matter of minutes. Simply melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or microwave, drop the peanuts in, then plop tablespoonfuls of the concoction on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet, then put into the refrigerator to cool until hardened. Try this yourself today.

More holidays

National Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day – Second Wednesday in March

No Smoking Day – Not affiliated with “The Great American Smoke-out.”

On This Date

• In 1618 – Johann Kepler discovered the third Law of Planetary Motion.
• In 1817 – The New York Stock Exchange was founded. The NYSE at 11 Wall Street in New York City is the world’s largest stock exchange.
• In 1855 – A train passed over the first railway suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, NY.
• In 1880 – U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes declared that the United States would have jurisdiction over any canal built across the isthmus of Panama.
• In 1887 – The telescopic fishing rod was patented by Everett Horton.
• In 1894 – A dog license law was enacted in the state of New York. It was the first animal control law in the U.S.
• In 1907 – The British House of Commons turned down a women’s suffrage bill.
• In 1910 – In France, Baroness de Laroche became the first woman to obtain a pilot’s license.
• In 1910 – The King of Spain authorized women to attend universities.
• In 1917 – Russia’s “February Revolution” began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg. The revolution was called the “February Revolution” due to Russia’s use of the Old Style calendar.
• In 1917 – The U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.
• In 1945 – Phyllis Mae Daley received a commission in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. She later became the first African-American nurse to serve duty in World War II.
• In 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools was unconstitutional.
• In 1965 – The United States landed about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam. They were the first U.S. combat troops to land in Vietnam.
• In 1971 – In the Fight of the Century, Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali. Ali had been stripped of his World Heavyweight Champion title in 1967 for refusing to serve in the armed forces. As he was still undefeated, Frazier had to beat him to be recognized as the world champion.
• In 1978 – The first episode of the radio comedy The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was broadcast. Douglas Adams’ radio play was a major success with BBC Radio 4 listeners. The book version consisting of five novels – A Trilogy in Five Parts – became a worldwide success.
• In 1979 – The compact disc was presented to the public. The CD was developed by Philips and Sony. The companies later collaborated to produce a standard format and CD players.
• In 1999 – The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
• In 1999 – The White House, under President Bill Clinton, directed the firing of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee from his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The firing was a result of alleged security violations.

Noteworthy Birthdays

If you were born on this date, Happy Birthday. You share your birthday with the following list of illustrious individuals – and about 20-million other people.

• Oliver Wendell Holmes 1841 – Supreme Court Justice.
• Stuart Chase 1888 – Economist.
• Louise Beavers 1902 – Actress.
• Claire Trevor 1909 – Actress.
• Alan Hale, Jr. 1918 – Actor.
• Cyd Charisse 1923 – Actress/dancer.
• Sue Ane Langdon 1936 – Actress.
• Lew DeWitt 1938 – Singer (The Statler Brothers).
• Lynn Redgrave 1943 – Actress.
• Mickey Dolenz 1945 – The Monkees.
• Carole Bayer Sager 1947 – Singer/songwriter.
• Jamie Lyn Bauer 1949 – Actress.
• Aidan Quinn 1959 – Actor.
• Andrea Parker 1970 – Actress.
• Freddie Prinze Jr. 1976 – Actor.
• James Van Der Beek 1977 – Actor.

March 7th – Be Heard Day

Good morning entrepreneurs. Today is Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Today’s reasons to celebrate are:

Be Heard Day

Be Heard Day was not created for you, as an individual, to voice your opinion or air your grievances. Be Heard Day was created by business strategist Shannon Cherry in 2004 as a way to help small businesses in America stand up and be heard through all the big business marketing.
There are more than 145 million small businesses in the United States, but often, small business owners can’t get the media coverage of their larger competitors. It’s too easy for big businesses to steal the spotlight. Be Heard Day is set aside to recognize the plight of these small businesses forced to compete with multi-billion dollar corporate giants. It celebrates the innovative advertising tactics and creative marketing techniques that small business owners, who are struggling to break through the big-business dominated media clutter, use to remain solvent in an increasingly competitive economy.
Innovation seems to be the only way these small businesses can survive in the world of these behemoth corporate giants. Today is a day for small businesses to stand up and “be heard”.
To celebrate Be Heard Day, support and patronize as many small businesses in your area as possible.

Unique Names Day

Your name is one of the first things people will remember about you…especially if it is unique or out of the ordinary. Unique Names Day is the third holiday of “Celebrate Your Name Week” and is always celebrated on Tuesday of the first complete week in March. Unique Names Day salutes your friends, acquaintances and loved ones who have a unique name – the ones who go through life never being able to find their names on those ready-made key chains and miniature license plates that you find in travel centers and convenience stores across America. If you know anyone who has a unique name, ask them about it’ origins. If you have a unique name, share the origin of your name with your friends and family today.
Author’s Note: If you had the misfortune of being born to “celebrity” parents (Moon Unit, Dweezil, Apple, North, et al), this holiday is custom-made for you.

Pancake Day

Pancake day was created by International House of Pancakes (IHOP) in 2006 as a way to raise money for charities. Since then, they have raised over $24 million for their charities. Celebrate National Pancake Day at IHOP restaurants and enjoy free pancakes. Guests are asked to consider leaving a donation.
Note: IHOP changes the date annually, but Pancake Day is always celebrated around this time each year.
For more information regarding IHOP’s free breakfast and the designated charities for National Pancake Day at IHOP, please visit:
http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/
Author’s Note: This Pancake Day is in no way affiliated with the Pancake Day we celebrated last Tuesday along with Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday before the beginning of Lent.

Crown Roast of Pork Day

A crown roast of pork is a pork rib roast which is arranged in a circle with rib bones partially stripped of meat and protruding up as points to resemble a crown. It is a good way to turn an otherwise ordinary pork roast meal into a festive occasion making a beautiful centerpiece on the table.
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig. The word pork denotes specifically the fresh meat of the pig that is left unsalted, but it is often mistakenly used as an all-inclusive term which includes cured, smoked, or processed meats (ham, bacon, prosciutto, etc.) It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC. Pork is eaten in various forms, including cooked (as roast pork), cured (some hams, including the Italian prosciutto) or smoked or a combination of these methods (other hams, gammon, bacon or Pancetta). It is also a common ingredient in sausages.
Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, many from pork.
Pork is a taboo food item in Islam, Judaism, and some Christian sects.

National Cereal Day

Obviously, National Cereal Day celebrates those toasty, tasty bits of processed grain Americans eat daily. Today, over 200-million Americans start their day with a bowl of cereal and cereal is the most popular breakfast food in America. But, cereal isn’t just for breakfast anymore. Many people enjoy cereal as a bedtime snack, and some even have cereal for dinner. Wholegrain cereals are an excellent source of fiber, iron, and B vitamins.
Up until the 1860’s, most people had a meat-based diet, eating few vegetables and grains. Then, in 1854, Ferdinand Schumacher, a German immigrant, began the cereal revolution with a hand oats grinder in the back room of a small store in Akron, Ohio. His German Mills American Oatmeal Company was the nation’s first commercial oatmeal manufacturer.  In 1877, he adopted the Quaker symbol, and Quaker Oats became the first registered trademark for a breakfast cereal.
The dry cereal industry rose from an interest in healthier foods. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will Keith Kellogg were experimenting with granola. They boiled some wheat, rolled it into a thin-film, and baked the resulting flakes in the oven. They discovered that each wheat berry formed its own flake and acquired a patent in 1891. In 1895 they used the same process with corn and launched Corn flakes, which became an overnight success. In 1906, William, after working for John, broke away, bought the corn flakes rights from his brother and set up the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company. His signature on every package became the company’s trademark and ensured quality.
Charles W. Post introduced Grape-nuts in 1898 and soon followed with Post Toasties. And since both Post and Kellogg are based in the city of Battle Creek, Michigan, it is nicknamed the “Cereal Capital of the World”.
In 1939, cereal manufacturers began to sweeten some of their cereal products with sugar or honey to make them more appealing to children. The first sweet cereal creation was called Ranger Joe Popped Wheat Honnie and was marketed towards children – and the rest is history. From that moment forward cereal manufacturers used first radio, then television advertising to market their sweet sugar-based cereals to children.
My current favorite cereal is “Crispix”. It requires little or no sweetener and is equally as good as a breakfast or a light snack right out of the box. [Sorry “Wheaties”, when you took Mary Lou Retton’s picture off of your box, I found a new favorite breakfast cereal].

More Holidays

National Sportsmanship Day – First Tuesday in March since 1991.

On This Date

• In 0322 BC – Greek philosopher, Aristotle, died.
• In 1774 – The British closed the port of Boston to all commerce.
• In 1850 – Senator Daniel Webster endorsed the Compromise of 1850 as a method of preserving the Union.
• In 1854 – Charles Miller received a patent for the sewing machine.
• In 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell received a patent (U.S. Patent No. 174,465) for his telephone.
• In 1900 – The SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse became the first ship to send wireless signals to shore. The German transatlantic liner was fitted with wireless communication by its owner, Norddeutscher Lloyd, in order to outdo its rival Hamburg America Line.
• In 1901 – It was announced that blacks had been found enslaved in parts of South Carolina.
• In 1904 – In Springfield, OH, a mob broke into a jail and shot a black man accused of murder.
• In 1906 – Finland granted women the right to vote.
• In 1908 – Cincinnati’s mayor, Mark Breith announced before the city council that, “Women are not physically fit to operate automobiles.”
• In 1911 – Willis Farnsworth patented the coin-operated locker.
• In 1926 – The first two-way transatlantic telephone took place. The conversation between the post office in London and Bell Laboratories in New York was established using a short-wave radio signal.
• In 1927 – A Texas law that banned Negroes from voting was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• In 1933 – The board game Monopoly was invented.
• In 1936 – Hitler sent German troops into the Rhineland in violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles.
• In 1942 – Japanese troops landed on New Guinea.
• In 1945 – U.S. troops captured the Ludendorff Bridge and cross the Rhine at Remagen. The legendary capture yielded little strategic advantage but it raised the morale of the U.S. troops in pursuit of retreating German fighters.
• In 1955 – “Peter Pan” was presented as a television special for the first time.
• In 1955 – Phyllis Diller made her debut at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, CA.
• In 1959 – Melvin C. Garlow became the first pilot to fly over a million miles in jet airplanes.
• In 1965 – Police brutally attacked civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama. Scores of demonstrators were injured, and the day entered history books as Bloody Sunday. The event helped to shift public opinion in favor of the Civil Rights movement.
• In 1971 – A speech by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman helped spark the Bangladesh war of independence. Bangladesh’s founding leader made his historical speech at a time of mounting tensions between East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh, and West Pakistan, which became present-day Pakistan.
• In 1975 – The Senate revised the filibuster rule. The new rule allowed 60 senators to limit debate instead of the previous two-thirds.
• In 1983 – TNN (The Nashville Network) began broadcasting.
• In 1985 – The first AIDS antibody test, an ELISA-type test, was released.
• In 1987 – Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight title holder when he beat James Smith in a decision during a 12-round fight in Las Vegas, NV.
• In 1994 – The Supreme Court ruled that parodies that poke fun at an original work can be considered “fair use” that does not require permission from the copyright holder.
• In 2002 – A federal judge awarded Anna Nicole Smith more than $88 million in damages. The ruling was the latest in a legal battle over the estate of Smith’s late husband, J. Howard Marshall II.
• In 2003 – Scientists at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center announced that they had transferred 6.7 gigabytes of uncompressed data from Sunnyvale, CA, to Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 58 seconds. The data was sent via fiber-optic cables and traveled 6,800 miles.

Noteworthy Birthdays

If you were born on this date, Happy Birthday. You share your birthday with the following list of illustrious individuals – and about 20-million other people.

• Maurice Ravel 1875 – Composer.
• Anna Magnani 1908 – Actress.
• James Broderick 1927 – Actor.
• Lord Snowdon 1930 – Photographer.
• Willard Scott 1934 – Television personality.
• Janet Guthrie 1938 – Auto racer.
• Daniel J. Travanti 1940 – Actor.
• Michael Eisner 1942 – Walt Disney CEO.
• Tammy Faye Bakker 1942 – Evangelist.
• John Heard 1946 – Actor.
• Donna Loren 1947 – Actress.
• Peggy March 1948 – Singer.
• Franco Harris 1950 – Football player.
• Lynn Swann 1952 – Football player.
• Ivan Lendl 1960 – Tennis player.
• Wanda Sykes 1964 – Comedian.
• Taylor Dayne 1965 – Singer.
• Rachel Weisz 1971 – Actress.
• Jenna Fischer 1974 – Actress.
• Laura Prepon 1980 – Actress.