Category: History

What day is it?

Outside of January 16th, which is National Nothing Day, which really is a National Day of Something come to think about it…we as a world have celebrated either a National, International, or World day of one thing or another, for over a decade. That is to say, 2013 is when the National Day Of calendar began, but International Days of one thing and another, have been around much, much longer.

Curiosity got me to GTS this morning, and today, April 12th, is celebrating the following:

NATIONAL DAYS

Grilled Cheese

Licorice

Clean Up Your Pantry Day

Only Child Day

For Twelves Day
On National for Twelves Day (4/12), the nation will honor a magnificent number that holds significance in several ways. We measure our days in two 12 hour sets. When we buy roses, eggs, and pastries, we purchase them by the dozen. How many months are in a year? Twelve.

Big Wind Day
1934 – The strongest velocity wind ever recorded on the summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire is 231 mph

D.E.A.R. Day (Drop Everything And Read)

Walk on Your Wild Side Day
The day was created in recognition that ‘what will other people think’ stops us from doing what we want to and prevents us from living our best lives. Paying heed to such thoughts shows a lack of courage. We only have one life to live and there is absolutely no reason not to live each day of our lives to its fullest. Our dreams are valid and we should give them a shot. We can change our lives and the world with our crazy ideas and leave behind a lasting legacy. We must encourage each other to not shy away from sharing our seemingly wild thoughts and ideas.

On Walk On Your Wild Side Day, you can also change the life of someone else! By living your life on your own terms, unafraid of the opinions of others, you may inspire someone to also live their life to the fullest. Someone who’s feeling shy or discouraged may need a gentle nudge from you to change their life for the best.

Wear a Star Day
In honor of children that have passed away at a young age, and are now “little stars.”

INTERNATIONAL DAYS:

Human Space Flight AND Yuri’s Night
1961 – The first person to orbit Earth is Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin in Vostok 1

1981 – The STS-1 Columbia mission is the first launch of a Space Shuttle


For Street Children
This day was started to provide a voice for children who live on the street. This was so that their rights cannot be ignored.

WORLD DAYS:

Hampster Day

It’s estimated that hamsters have been around for at least 15 million years, but they weren’t domesticated until the 20th century.

And, something a little different. I didn’t know, did you?

RECIPE OF THE DAY:

Healthy Banana Muffins
4 very ripe bananas (mashed)
1/2 cup organic apple sauce
1/2 cup olive oil, or melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (you can use all-purpose flour too)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin liners in your muffin pans.

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine. Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, combine your mashed bananas, organic apple sauce, melted coconut oil, vanilla, Stir until all ingredients are combined.

Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients. Stir until mixed but do not over mix or muffins will be tough.

Fill muffins 2/3 full and top with chopped walnuts.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

_________________________________________________________

So, Today is a day for the many and the few. We can celebrate something specific…as above, or we can celebrate the simple fact…we have another day.

Either way, wherever your heart takes you today…get out there and make a difference.

Be Kind – Be Alive – Be Present – Be Yourself – Be the Best You Can Be!

American Pie in the Face

A long, long time ago

I can still remember how my stories

Used to make them smile

And I knew if I had my chance

I could make this keyboard dance

And maybe we’d be happy for a while

Sad to say that now I quiver

With every speech I hear delivered

Bad news on the right front

Worse news on the left front

I can remember that I tried

To keep the faith and walk beside

Those flinging arrows long and wide

The day we ran outta pie

So, bye-bye, our American Pie

Prayed for truth, reason, life and love, but was denied

Joined those good ol’ boys and drank some whiskey and rye

Then I told them we were all outta pie

Yes, I told them we were flat outta pie

How to re-write this book of hate

And can we find strength to navigate

Will the media let us be?

Now, I do believe deep down inside

That we can stem this mortal tide

Can you help me help them, you know?

And I know you’re thinking I’m insane

‘Cause I’ve tortured these iconic refrains

But we’ve all pulled on our boots

And kicked us back to our roots

It took two centuries plus to get this far

In the blink of an eye we’ve ripped the scar

And now we’re flinging feathers and tar

The day we ran outta pie

Try to remember, why-why we love American pie

Life’s too tough to stand and watch the past hate revive

The bad ol’ days were in the past we survived

Because we all remembered the pie

Please help each other make some more pie

From One Boomer to Another…yikes!

1966 – 2016

1966 : Long hair
2016:  Longing for hair

1966 : KEG
2016:  EKG

1966 : Acid rock
2016:  Acid reflux

1966 : Moving to  California  because it’s cool
2016:  Moving to  Arizona  because it’s warm

1966 : Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
2016:  Trying NOT to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor

1966 : Seeds and stems
2016:  Roughage

1966 : Hoping for a BMW
2016:  Hoping for a BM

1966 : Going to a new, hip joint
2016:  Receiving a new hip joint

1966 : Rolling Stones
2016:  Kidney Stones

1966 : Screw the system
2016:  Upgrade the system

1966 : Disco
2016:  Costco

1966 : Parents begging you to get your hair cut
2016:  Children begging you to get their heads shaved

1966 : Passing the drivers’ test
2016:  Passing the vision test

1966 : Whatever
2016 : Depends

And…just in case you weren’t feeling old enough, this will certainly change things.

Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of this year’s incoming freshmen.

Here’s this year’s list:

  • The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1998.
  • They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
  • Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
  • Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
  • The CD was introduced 7 years before they were born.
  • They have always had an answering machine.
  • They have always had cable.
  • They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
  • Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
  • They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
  • They can’t imagine what hard contact lenses are.
  • They don’t know who Mork was or where he was from.
  • They never heard: “Where’s the Beef?”, “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”, or “de plane, Boss, de plane.”
  • They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is. Mc Donald’s never came in Styrofoam containers.
  • They don’t have a clue how to use a typewriter.

Do you feel old yet?

The Post Politic

As I await the dawn of my 20,075th day on this earth, I feel the need for reflection.  Time enough alive, I should think, to have learned a thing or two. Sorry to say, it hasn’t been all good.

However, owing to the fact that tomorrow is an election day here, and the boob-tube shows nothing but boobs…I couldn’t help but get stuck in the quagmire that is our government

Having learned that cliches are cliches, and euphemisms are euphemisms for good reason, and never more evident than when a pattern of behavior BEGS to be seen for exactly what it is, I do think it’s time for me to call it what it is and like I see it…
B U L L S H I T

And by bullshit, I mean Politics

If you’ll allow, I give you:

The top 20 cliches and euphemisms of this 20,074 ½ day old female, who believes are alive and well in today’s bloody, rotten, stinkin’, crappy, silly, non-productive, infuriating, ridiculous, embarrassing; yet ours…world of politics

The more things change, the more they stay the same – POLITICS

A house divided against itself, cannot stand – POLITICS

Actions speak louder than words – POLITICS

Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it – POLITICS

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em – POLITICS

Money talks – POLITICS

Stupid is as stupid does – POLITICS

Birds of a feather flock together – POLITICS

Talk is cheap – POLITICS

The ends justify the means – POLITICS

There’s one born every minute – POLITICS

The truth is stranger than fiction – POLITICS

Two wrongs don’t make a right – POLITICS

Cut off your nose to spite your face – POLITICS

Feeding frenzy – POLITICS

Out of sight, out of mind – POLITICS

The blind leading the blind – POLITICS

The status quo – POLITICS

It takes one to know one – POLITICS

A good man/woman  is hard to find – POLITICS

…and trust me, I could go on

But another pattern of behavior ‘frosts my ass’ too.   And you’ll likely notice that many of the above can be applied to what is below

I think I’ll call it the Tolerance/Intolerance Side Show to the circus that is Political Correctness:

Protesting to rename highways, parks, etc., and trying to remove monuments that celebrate confederate Generals because they fought a fight you don’t agree with

Yet…organizing campaigns to rename those same said highways, parks, etc. for people that answered the call for civil rights decades after the fact. The same protesters, I might add, who themselves never cried out for the removal from written history, all who made their lives hell

Removing the Confederate flag from all state and federal facilities because some see it as a symbol of hatred, when in fact, it was a battle flag designed to differentiate it from the Union flag and therefore has historical value; nothing more

Yet, not protesting when a world renowned symbol of the United States, The Empire State Building, is used to herald the achievements or celebrate holidays of the very countries that would like nothing more than to see the United States cease to exist

Removing something as iconic as The Duke’s of Hazard from TV Land because the car had a Confederate flag on it, even though not a single word of a single episode, ever suggested bigotry or racism or intolerance

Yet, if you’re a fan of TV Land programs, have you noticed George Jefferson says the word Honky in just about every episode?

And there are some behaviors that are not so easily categorized, yet the influence of today’s PC madness is evident in the overwhelming number of those who ascribe to these beliefs relating to color:

Listening as people of color tell me that I’ll never understand, could never relate, to what it’s like to be a person of color

True.  Yet at the same time, those said same people of color, tell me they know exactly what it is to be white, because being white means only one thing; privilege

[I get it, in theory.  But I can just as easily say that I wouldn’t know what it’s like to be a bird. It’s irrelevant.  And, another truth is that, unless you’ve walked the back roads of my life…your right to this claim is false.  So let’s stick to the truth that none of us can know what it’s like to be in another man’s shoes, unless we’ve walked in them, and call it a day.]

Sanitizing our history books to shield our kids from the worst in our country’s history, including the path of our growth (that we are still on by the way)

Yet making sure we do include a focus of study that tries to maximize a culture of them vs us, with little regard for how far we’ve come, nor teachings on the strides made in the last 200 years…as though nothing has changed

The worst of it comes out in the various ways we bite each other’s ankles…and to what end?

For instance:

Demonizing the rich for having too much

Denigrating the poor for having too little and needing more

Expecting the government to give more and more

Blaming the government for sticking it’s nose in our business

Tolerance for groups that separate and segregate

Intolerance for groups that point it out

Fighting for women’s equality

Crying that chivalry is dead

Calling for change through peaceful protest for the injustices seen in all facets of the human struggle, especially those affecting minorities

Yet some especially touched by these injustices hide behind a guise of protest for change, take it as the opportunity to loot for personal gain and destroy entire neighborhoods, then scream racism when motives are questioned

Are we so intolerant or jealous of each other’s success that we have to denigrate and belittle?
Are we so comfortable in our misery, we feel we must maintain it at all costs?
Have we forgotten what it’s like to celebrate each other to the point that every gain should be looked at as a loss because it didn’t happen 200 years ago?  100 years ago?  50?  Yesterday?

When all we have to show for the 3 centuries we’ve been a country are broken teeth and bloody socks…why the hell do we even try?

Is this to be our legacy…?

Welcome to the United States

The land of equal opportunity damning

Damned if we do

And by God

Damned if we don’t

Is the only way to prove I’m not a racist to agree with everything a person of color says and thinks?

Why?  Why can I not just agree and disagree with anyone and everyone based on what I believe and be done with it!

Conversely, is the only way to be true to your heritage as a person of color to pretend success doesn’t matter lest your peers think you an Uncle Tom or some other stupid shit?

That’s ridiculous on its face and damned insulting to every person who’s ever made more of themselves than those around them!  REGARDLESS of your heritage.

Is the only way I can prove I’m a strong woman to think and act like a man?

Shit, I’d rather be a cat (I almost said dog, but cats get away with more!)

We are better than this!

We…men, women, black, white, red, yellow, brown, HUMAN…are better than this!

This began as a reflection in the wading pool that is this political swamp, but resulted in getting caught in the current of political correctness, and nearly drowning in the tidal wave of whatthefuckarewethinking!

Enough already!

Just

Enough

I end it here…I am 55 tomorrow.
I am seeing the country I love implode because of an agenda I have no interest in adopting as my own.

I am proud to be an American.
I am proud to be a Christian.
I am proud to hold the values I hold and don’t feel the need to label them one way or the other.
I am proud to be a woman.
I hold no pride in being white…I have ZERO say in that.
Nor do I maintain guilt because of it.
I am proud to champion anyone who leaves the world a better place.
I don’t see the race or religion.
I could care two-shits for the land that you hailed from as long as you take good care of the one you are living in.
I will celebrate your achievements, but none so much as your paying forward that which you can to those that cannot.

I am a member of one race – the human one – and unless you expect me to give that up – I’ll always welcome you at my table

THIS…IS WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE

In The Pink

A Photo a Week Challenge:  Pretty in Pink

I’ve never been a girly-girl so pink has very little space in my closet.  It’s not because I don’t like it.  I do.  But I never think of myself in pink.  My husband says I don’t look good in pink.  I disagree because I happen to think everyone looks good in pink.  It’s one of those colors that brings out life’s natural blush and who doesn’t look good in blush?

I’ve always made a point of putting my boys in pink.  Yup, I was one of those mothers.  I wasn’t keen on teaching them that blue is for boys and pink for girls.  That there are differences in the sexes sure, but color choice isn’t one of them.  And damned if they don’t look great in pink!

Still, pictures of people in pink I do not have.  Nary a one.  A shame it is too.  But one thing I do have is nature in pink.  Lots of it.  Light, medium, dark – you name it, nature’s got it.  So, while I may not be able to show you how gorgeous a couple’a handsome dudes are in pink, and because nature lovers will leave pink all over the page…how about I leave you with a little man-made Pinkishness?

Wow…I’d say London’s Museum of Natural History looks darn good in pink!

IMG_7129

One Incredible Teen – 2 Incredible Minutes

This starts very quietly, so don’t think there is no sound.

Seventeen year old Joe Bush got a high school assignment to make a
Video reproduction. He chose history as a theme and tucked it all into two minutes.

Joe took pictures from the internet; added the sound track “Mind Heist”
By Zack Hemsey (from the movie Interception) and came up with this.
Incredible work for a 17-year old. Just finding the pictures was a
formidable task.

Bush’s video, titled “Our Story In 2 Minutes,” was made for a unique class at Stillwater Area High School in Stillwater, Minnesota. Known as Cutaway Productions, the class gives high school students a chance to run a video production company, making public service videos, music videos, advertisements and more.

All I can say is…WOW!