Friday, June 1, 2012

Imagine trying to rhyme Weyd-monath

June is the sixth month of the year and consists of thirty days. The ancient Romans gave it twenty-nine days until 46 BC, when Julius Caesar added the thirtieth for reasons known only to himself (Caesar's hobbies seem to be conquest of the known world, sleeping with some very rich North African teenager and calendar making.) The last day of the month is therefore referred to as its "Caesarian Section" by calendar insiders. (Calendar insiders need to get out more often.)



The month is believed to derive its name from either the Roman goddess Juno, patron goddess of marriage, or the Latin work iuniores, (the young ones).



June marks the transition from spring to summer in the northern hemisphere, and from fall to winter in the southern hemisphere. (It is not a transitional month in other hemispheres.)



June has usually been the most popular month for weddings, but it's commonly overlooked that it's also one of the top twelve months for bathtub drownings and spontaneous human combustions.



June is traditionally considered the poet's month because with the warming of the earth and the lengthening light of the fragrant evenings, thoughts inevitably turn to romance as hearts and passions swell. Also, June rhymes with a lot of words. For example: afternoon, aswoon, attune, baboon, balloon, bassoon, bestrewn, boon, buffoon, cartoon, cocoon, commune, croon, doubloon, dragoon, dune, entune, expugn, festoon, harpoon, hewn, honeymoon, immune, inopportune, impugn, jejune, lagoon, lampoon, loon, macaroon, maroon, monsoon, moon, noon, pantaloons, picayune, platoon, poltroon, pontoon, prune, raccoon, rune, saloon, soon, spittoon, spoon, strewn, swoon, tune, tycoon, typhoon & untramaroon.


Did you know that NYC will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of National Donut Day today?  The holiday began as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army in 1938. It is celebrated annually on the first Friday of June, and honors all the female volunteers who served donuts to soldiers behind the front lines during World War I.



To celebrate Donut Day 2012, Krispy Kreme will be giving away a free donut to every customer, no strings. At Dunkin’ Donuts, customers will receive a free donut with any beverage purchase. And in Madison Square Park, Entenmann's will be handing out free Entenmann’s donuts and coffee, using the largest Entenmann's donut box ever. 



How this all squares with Mayor Bloomberg's new proposed ban on soft drinks remains to be seen.


June 1, 1968 -
The British television series The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan, had its American premiere on CBS-TV, as a summer replacement for a Jackie Gleason series, on this date.



The black and white head shot of Patrick McGoohan, which showed him smiling slightly and wearing a black tie and a grey suit, that was seen in the opening credits and in such episodes as "Free for All" and "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling", is a promotional photograph from McGoohan's earlier series, Secret Agent.


Today in History:
June 1, 1571 -
The "Triple Tree" gallows was installed at Tyburn, England in time for the execution of John Storey, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered for committing treason.



The Triple Tree consists of an equilateral triangle nine feet long on each side, 18 feet off the ground. It can hang as many as 24 prisoners at once, and will remain in place for almost 200 years.




June 1, 1660 -
After having received a last-minute reprieve seven months earlier, Mary Dyer is hanged for heresy after returning to Boston.



Dyer was guilty of the heinous crime of being a member of the Quakers, a subversive religious sect which had been banned by the Puritan colony under "pain of death."


June 1, 1813 -
The U.S. Navy gained its motto as the mortally wounded commander of the U.S. frigate Chesapeake, Captain James Lawrence was heard to say, "Don't give up the ship!", during a losing battle with a British frigate Shannon; his ship was captured by the British frigate.



James Lawrence died of his wounds on June 4th, while Chesapeake was being taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, by her captors. His body was later repatriated to New York for burial.


June 1, 1926 -
I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.



Gladys Baker gaves birth to Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles on this date.

Unfortunately, things did not quite work out for little Norma Jean.


June 1,1938 -
Superman made his first appearance in D.C. Comics’ Action Comics Series issue #1. The comic book sold for 10 cents. Jerry Siegel created Superman in 1933 after he dreamed about the Biblical story of Moses, whose parents abandoned him as a baby in order to save his life. This became the plot of the first Superman story.


On March 29th, 2010, ComicConnect.com sold a copy of the comic for $1.5 million, making it the most expensive and most valuable comic book of all-time.

While that kind of money gives even Jerry Seinfeld pause, it doesn't make Pavel Durov break stride.


June 1, 1967 -
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, was released on this date and was certified "gold" on the same day of release.



It topped the charts all over the world, holding the number one slot in Britain for 27 weeks and for 19 in America. It received four Grammys including Best Album.



The album was heavily produced and took 129 days and about 700 hours to complete. The Beatles first album, Please Please Me, was recorded in less than 10 hours.


June 1, 1968 -
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.




Helen Keller -- America's all-time favorite deaf and blind Socialist -- died in Westport, Connecticut at the age of 87, on this date..


June 1, 1980 -
Cable News Network (CNN) made its debut as the first all-news station.



How sad, Darth Vader had to do voice over work to rebuild the death star


It's Oscar the Grouch's birthday.



Remember to leave something nice out in the trash today. (Please note: when Oscar first moved into his trash can he was orange. Then the gangrene set in.)


It's also my sister's birthday



She's not as old as Mr. Burn's but I'd be happy to get her anything she wanted (within reason.)



And so it goes.


Before I let you go - If you have a lot of extra cash and someone very special has a birthday around the corner - bid on this item; it's up for auction at Skinner's Auction House.



Who doesn't need a coin-operated automaton of a mortuary?

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