Be kind to your web footed friends

They're probably lost.
Solar flares could really disrupt life as we know it…who knew? Besides disrupting satellites, affecting astronauts in space, and creating communication issues for planes traversing the poles, (flights are being rerouted,) scientists have found that homing pigeons are becoming disoriented.

Scientist believe that the winged rats may use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate. The solar storm is distorting the Earth's normal magnetic field and the pigeons can no longer rely on their normal guidance system and may become lost.



So please, if you see a pigeon staggers around, direct him to the park.


It's the third day of the Lunar New Year
Families who had an immediate relative deceased in the past 3 years will not go house-visiting as a form of respect to the dead. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead. Some people conclude it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all, as it is believed that evil spirits roam the earth this day and hence it would be bad luck to be outdoors.



The third day is a good day for sons-in-law to pay homage to their parents-in-law. Bring offerings of mandarin oranges and sweet foods. Parents should give red envelopes filled with auspicious money to their sons-in-law. The third day is also a good day to propose marriage or to get married. The third day is not a good day to travel or go clubbing. It is not a good day to throw a party to celebrate. According to legend, the third day of the Lunar New Year is the day when mice marry off their daughters. Thus, on that night, people are supposed to go to bed early so that the mice can perform their wedding ceremonies.


January 25, 1951 -
The story of a little boy who would only talk in sound effects, Gerald McBoing-Boing, winner of the Oscar for best animated short subject for 1951, was released on this date.



In a poll of animators, film historians and directors conducted during the 90's, this cartoon was rated the ninth greatest cartoon short of all time.


January 25, 1961 -
Walt Disney's 101 Dalmations, premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on this date.



Cruella De Vil was designed as a manic take-off on the flamboyant actress Tallulah Bankhead, as well as some of her personality quirks.


January 25, 1970 -
Robert Altman's Oscar winning film starring Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, M*A*S*H, premiered in NYC on this date .



The opening title sequence has a text that identifies the place as Korea. This was added at the insistence of the studio after director Robert Altman had removed every reference to Korea, intending it to be mistaken for Vietnam, which would reinforce the anti-war statement.


Today in History:
January 25, 1759 -
It's Robert Burns' birthday and people will be celebrating with a Burns Supper.

The Burns Supper is eaten all across Scotland each year on the anniversary of the national poet's birth. It consists of haggis and whiskey. It is customary for the host to read Burns' Ode to a Haggis at the dinner table, presumably as a diversionary tactic.


January 25, 1924 -
The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France .



Prior to this, figure skating and ice hockey had been events at the Summer Olympics. Few, if any, of the athletes survived those winter sports Summer Olympics, as the rinks continually melted. And you don't want to know about the injuries sustained during nude hockey games.


January 25, 1927 -
Antonio Carlos Jobim, composer and primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, was born on this date.







If you are in your mid 40's to early 50's, you probably wouldn't have been born without the help of this guy - go ask your parents.


January 25, 1938 -
Etta James, blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter, was born on this date





Pour yourself a double and remember this great singer.


January 25, 1947 -
Anita Pallenberg, model, actress, fashion designer and bathtub companion to Mick Jagger, was born on this date.




January 25, 1947 -
Mobster Al Capone dies in Florida, released from Alcatraz , due to his declining health (his mind gone from long untreated syphilis.)



For the wages of sin is death


January 25, 1960 -
Actress Diana Barrymore, Drew's aunt, committed suicide by taking a combination of sleeping pills and alcohol on this date.



Go out and rent The Bad and the Beautiful (the Lana Turner character is based on Diana.)


January 25, 1971 -
Idi Amin Dada, everybody's favorite tyrant, comes to power in Uganda on this date.



Forest Whitaker won a Golden Globe award, a BAFTA, the Screen Actors' Guild award for Best Actor (Drama), and the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of this cannibal.

Hopefully, Forest isn't a method actor.


January 25, 1971 -
Charles Manson and three of his followers are convicted in Los Angeles of the Tate and LaBianca murders on this date.

All were sentenced to the gas chamber, with sentences commuted to life imprisonment when the death penalty was temporarily abolished.


January 25, 1990 -
An Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel and crashed in Cove Neck, N.Y. on this date.



73 of the 161 people aboard were killed.



And so it goes.