Lucky day they're standing where you are

Bon temps roulez, mes amis - It's Mardi Gras!









No one needs to disrobe, it's much too cold and we've got plenty of beads (unless you like to disrobe in public and then, it's between you and your maker.)


Today is also know as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, which heralds the beginning of fasting in Lent. On this day (so the historians say) there were feasts of pancakes to use up the supplies of fat, butter and eggs... foods that were forbidden during austere Lent.



In England there are several celebrations on this day but perhaps the best known one is the Pancake Day Race at Olney in Buckinghamshire which has been held since 1445. The race came about when a woman cooking pancakes heard the shriving bell summoning her to confession. She ran to church wearing her apron and still holding her frying pan, and thus without knowing it, started a tradition that has lasted for over five hundred years.

Keep flipping them pancakes


It's also National Tortellini Day



And it has something to do with Venus di Milo's belly button


February 13, 1932 -
The Our Gang short, Free Eats premiered on this date. This marked the introduction of George "Spanky" McFarland to the Our Gang comedies.



He and his brother Tommy auditioned for Our Gang in the Spring of 1931, with Spanky passing a screen test easily. Tommy also appeared in many Our Gang film in bit roles.


February 13th, 1966 -
The Rolling Stones returned for their third appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date.







Their performances had been taped the day before.


February 13, 1972 -
Bob Fosse's film version of the musical Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey premiered on this date.



Liza Minnelli designed all her own hair and make-up with the help of her father, famed musical director Vincente Minnelli.


Rules of the road


Today in History:
On February 13, 1542, Henry VIII of England's Vth wife, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery on this date.



Given the track record of Henry's other wives, one would have figured out marrying Henry was not a career with a lot of advancement possibilities.


On February 13, 1883, German composer and posthumous Hitler idol Richard Wagner, best known for writing the soundtrack to Apocalypse Now, died on this date.







Almost exactly eleven years later (February 12, 1894), Hans von Bulow, German pianist and composer, and the first husband of Wagner's wife Cosima, also died on this date.


February 13, 1945 -
An estimated 135,000 people, mostly women and children, died in the firebombing of the 13th-century city of Dresden, a revenge bombing that had no real military justification, which had begun on this date.





Kurt Vonnegut was one of just seven American prisoners of war in Dresden to survive, in an underground meatpacking cellar known as Slaughterhouse Five.


February 13, 1950 -
 ... Jacques the Monkey! Jacques the Monkey! ...





Peter Gabriel, singer, was born on this date.


February 13, 1953 -
Transsexual Christine (nee George) Jorgensen arrived in New York with much fanfare on this date.



She had had sex change operations performed in Denmark by Dr. Christian Hamburger, becoming the first successful surgical transgender. Upon return, she became a cabaret actress
.


The excess parts of George went on to become the other half of the famous East German TV Comedy Duo, Gunther and Smeckel.


February 13, 1959 -
Barbara Millicent Roberts, noted American Idol contestant, Ballerina, Fashion model, Movie producer, Movie star, Rock star, Radio City Music Hall Rockette, Aerobics instructor, Olympic gymnast, Olympic figure skater, Tennis star, WNBA basketball player, Dentist, Medical doctor, Nurse, Pediatrician, Surgeon, Veterinarian, United States Army officer, United States President, UNICEF Summit diplomat, Ambassador for world peace, Firefighter, Police officer, Canadian Mountie, Astronaut, Flight Attendant ( for both American Airlines & Pan Am ), NASCAR driver, Pilot, Cowgirl, Chef, Paleontologist, McDonald's Front Desk and Flight Attendant, etc. was introduced by Mattel in California on this date.



What have you done with your life? (There is some debate whether or not today or March 9th is actually her birthday.)


February 13, 1960-
France conducted its first nuclear test, code-named “Gerboise Bleue” (Blue Desert Rat). The day marked the beginning of a series of four atmospheric nuclear tests at the Reganne Oasis, in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.



The test also sets France on the path to building the country’s nuclear capacity, acquiring nuclear aircraft, missiles and submarines. France is happy to remind it's neighbor, Germany, that she has the bomb and Germany does not.


February 13, 1961 -
Henry Lawrence Garfield (Henry Rollins), singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, stand-up comedian, author, actor, activist and publisher, was born on this date.



And he will mess you up if you don't believe that he is a sensitive soul.


February 13, 2004 -
Astronomers announced the discovery of the largest "diamond" in the universe on this date.  The diamond was actually a white dwarf star which was found to be very similar in composition to a diamond.



It was nicknamed "Lucy" after the Beatles' hit Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.



And so it goes.

Before you go - I haven't posted a video from the folks at Burger Fiction in a while. Last week they posted a supercut of Every Best Visual Effects Oscar Winner. from 1929 to present.



Don't forget the Oscars will be broadcast of March 4th on ABC-TV.


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