Thursday, July 19, 2012

Happy Flitch Day

Every year on this day, since about 1104, any married couple who could prove they had been faithful and loving to one another for one year was awarded half a pig, known as a flitch of bacon.



However, very few couples would actually "bring home the bacon!"


It's both National Ice Cream Day and National Daiquiri Day.



 

It's been very hot the past few days, so either one of these are appropriate to celebrate (although, I have to believe Hemingway never knowingly had a slice of Cookie Puss cake.)


If you felt like screaming "It;s a twister, it's a twister", yesterday afternoon, you had good cause - I don't remember seeing hail like we had yesterday in a very long time.

Hopefully you're windshield didn't get cracked; up and down my block, many of the car owners are unhappy campers.


Today in history:
July 19, 1692 -
Five Salem witches are hanged for the crime of witchcraft, based primarily on the accusations of little girls who were bewitched.


Eventually, the village executes a total of 20 witches.


July 19, 1870 -
France attempted to declare war on Russia. Due to a typographical error, however, France inadvertently declared war on Prussia and caused the Franco-Prussian war. This eventually led to the creation of Germany, which led to World War I, World War II, and the volkswagen.


Moral: always proofread.


July 19, 1937 -
The Nazis opened Entartete Kunst, the Degenerate Art show, in Munich. The traveling exhibition offers up Expressionism for ridicule, carefully arranged by (offensive) subject.



The German youth are not admitted, lest they become tainted.


July 19, 1952 -
During a series of UFO sightings in Washington, D.C. occurring over July 13-29, unidentified objects are picked up on D.C.'s National Airport radar system. Sightings in the region are so extensive the Air Force is prompted to hold a press conference. Conveniently, these are all "radar mirages" resulting from "temperature inversions."



Keep watching the skies.


July 19, 1966 -
Frank Sinatra marries Mia Farrow in Las Vegas on this date.



Ava Gardner's famous comment on the union: Hah! I always knew Frank would end up in bed with a little boy!

Ouch.



And so it goes.


Before I let you go: According to the website Boingboing, fundimentalists have made it easy to figure out if you could be the devil's plaything. Do you engage in any one of the following activities:


Scientology,
Remote viewing,
Cyberpunk culture,
Vegetarianism,
Lord of the Rings,
Lycanthropy,
Postmodernism,
Alt "comix",
Marijuana & Pot parties,
LSD/shrooms,
Video games,
Harry Potter,
Dungeons & Dragons,
Halloween,
Fornication,
Skull & Bones,
Rock Music,
heavy metal, 
Burning Man,
Twilight films,
Goth culture
Yoga


Who knew Tommy Chong, Dubya and Tom Cruise could be lumped into one group?

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