February days are a marketing gimmick; love happens every day.

February: Even though it is the shortest month of the year, sometimes it seemed like the longest.



According to the Gregorian calendar, February is the second month of the year, and also the shortest month. February has 28 days until Julius Caesar gave it 29, and 30 days every four years. According to tradition, Augustus, the Roman emperor, took one day off to add one day to August, the month named after him.

Damn those freakin' Romans.



We now have February with 28 days, and 29 on leap years. Sweden had a February 30 in 1712. They tried it but didn't didn't work out. February begins on the same day of the week as March and November in a common year, and on the same day of the week as August in a leap year.

Sorry but there's no rhyme to remember that.



In the northern half of the world, February is a very cold month. There are usually sunny days that show Spring is not too far off. The Southern Hemisphere usually enjoy midsummer weather during February.

February Month Observances

* African American History Month (Black History Month)
Remember the joke that Black History Month occurs during the shortest month on the year
* AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month
Making it very difficult to read this posting
* American History Month
Which is sponsored by National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (who probably did not vote to share the month with Black History Month.)
* Bird Feeding Month (Wild Bird Feeding Month)
(most cats prefer the taste of wild bird over domesticated bird)
* Cat Health Month (US National)
(which is caused by cats celebrating 'Bird Feeding Month' a little too much.)
* Candy and Chocolate Lovers Month
(Secretly sponsored by Hallmark and the American Dental Association.) * Children's Dental Health Month and Dental Month
(What did I tell you.)
* National Pet Dental Health Month
(a slightly scary thought that All the dentist are in collusion)
* Condom Month, Creative Romance Month and An Affair to Remember Month
(Also secretly sponsored by Hallmark and the American Dental Association.)

Remember kids - There will be a quiz.


Happy Chinese New Years Day - The Lunar New Year starts today, and it's the Year of the Tiger, but which one?



In Chinese astrology, each year is associated with a Chinese zodiac animal sign and one the Five Elements: Gold (Metal), Water, Wood, Fire, or Earth. Both the sign and element of your birth year are said to affect your personality and destiny. Once again, this year’s elemental sign is water - so we are celebrating Water Tiger.

(Please be aware that once again, Mr. Teeny and I will be celebrating Chinese New Year recklessly this Year of the Tiger, by shooting firecrackers in public locations for the next two weeks. Please also remember that people in China don't call it Chinese New Year, it's Lunar New Year; other countries celebrate Lunar New Year as well.)



According to a Chinese legend, Nüwa is the goddess who created the world. She created certain animals on different days, hence each day is considered the birthday of the corresponding animal.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, she created chickens. Legend also has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on the Lunar Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.

People born under the ‘water tiger’ are said to be brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident. They are very charming and well-liked by others. But sometimes they are likely to be impetuous, irritable, and overindulgent. Chinese horoscopes say that, just as last year, this year of your birth sign is not the luckiest, so famous people born in the year of tiger, such as Queen Elizabeth II, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lady Gaga, and Shawn Mendes need to watch out and avoid the color brown, gold, and silver and the numbers six, seven and eight.



This year Tigers may find luck in some areas of their life, but others will require hard work to avoid potential pitfalls. There’ll be no shortage of problems for tigers to solve, but if they like changes to spice up their life, this may be the year for you.

It is also believed that the Tiger is most compatible with the Horse, the Dog, or the Pig, but least compatible with the Ox, the Snake, the Goat, and the Monkey.



The world’s largest annual human migration is now well underway as the 2.8 billion usual trips are made across China (before COVID concerns cut back the number of trips,) in what is known as Chunyun, when students, migrant workers and office employees living away from home will make the journey back to celebrate with their families.


February 1, 1929 -
The Broadway Melody directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Bessie Love premiered on this date. It was the first film with sound to win an Oscar (in 1930).



In addition to its many historical firsts, The Broadway Melody is a full-throttle pre-Code film, its backstage milieu featuring scantily clad chorines, an overtly gay costume designer and an unmistakably lesbian wardrobe mistress.


February 1, 1953 -
Private Secretary (Susie, in syndication), starring Ann Sothern, premiered on CBS-TV on this day.



The show ran during the regular TV seasons on CBS, and last show was September 10, 1957. It ran on NBC-TV in the summers of 1953 and 1954.



The original title sequence has not been viewed since Private Secretary's original run.


February 1, 1964 -
The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There were released in the United States in late 1963, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.



I Want to Hold Your Hand sold better in the first 10 days of release in the US than any other British single, and remains the best-selling Beatles single in the United States, moving over 12 million copies. The song became their first US number #01 hit on the date.


February 1, 1972 -
Neil Young releases his x solo album, Harvest, on this date. It goes on to become the best selling album of 1972



Despite being the title track of the Harvest album, the song has enjoyed far less fanfare than songs on the set like Heart of Gold, Alabama, and The Needle And The Damage Done. In that way, it's similar to the Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, another Young title track that was overlooked in favor of other songs.


February 1, 1976 -
Irwin Shaw's Rich Man, Poor Man mini-series premiered on ABC-TV, on this date.



The mini series is based on the novel by Shaw; it was originally published as a short story in Playboy Magazine.

Hey, so some people actually used to read Playboy.


February 1, 1982 -
40 years ago today, Late Night With David Letterman debuted on NBC-TV on this date, where it stayed for 11 years.



Besides Bill Murray, one of Dave's first guests was Don Herbert aka Mr. Wizard.


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History :
February 1, 1861 -
Texas seceded from the Union, becoming independent once again. Since Texas believed the articles of statehood passed by the U.S. Congress gave Texas this right, it is perhaps the only state whose secession was legal.



a few years ago, Texas Republicans barely avoided having to vote on whether Texas should secede from the United States (by two votes.)

Once again, ask yourself: are the Dallas Cowboys really ready to stop being America’s Team?


February 1, 1893 -
Thomas A. Edison opened the world's first motion picture studio, his Black Maria, (on account of its resemblance to a police patrol wagon,) in West Orange, New Jersey. The studio had a roof that could be opened to admit sunlight for illumination, and the building itself was mounted on a revolving pivot so that the structure could be constantly repositioned to keep it aligned with the sun.



Edison built a glass-enclosed rooftop movie studio in New York City and the Black Maria was closed in January 1901. Edison demolished the building in 1903. The U. S. National Park Service maintains a reproduction of the Black Maria, built in 1954 at what is now the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange.


February 1, 1896 -



The opera La Boheme, written by Giacomo Puccini, premiered in Turin, Italy on this date.



Who knew all Cher had to do to win an Oscar 94 years later, was tweeze her eyebrows and cry while she watched this opera.


February 1, 1951 -
TV station KTLA broadcast of an atomic explosion was the first to be seen publicly on television on this date.



The event was captured by an NBC camera on Mount Wilson, 300 miles away from the test blast at Frenchman Flats, Nevada.


February 1, 1964 -
Governor Matthew Welsh of Indiana declares Louie, Louie by the Kingmen "pornographic".



And while the FCC couldn't figure out the lyrics, the governor's move backfires by making the song one of the most covered titles in existence.


February 1, 1968 -
In Saigon, South Vietnam's national police chief Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan summarily executed an accused Viet Cong spy with a bullet to the head on this date.

Unfortunately for the general, he happened to shoot him right in front of NBC cameraman Vo Suu and Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams.



Oops


February 1, 1970 -
US Government report reveals that 31% of college students have tried pot.



Now that legalized pot has been so successful in several states, there is a possibility that more states will jump on the excess tax band wagon.


February 1, 2003 -
Because the heat-resistant tiles covering the left wing’s leading edge had been damaged or were missing, wind and heat entered the wing and the Space Shuttle Columbia blew up on re-entry, with its debris hitting homes and businesses in Nacogdoches, Texas on this date.



In August 2003, an investigation board issued a report that revealed that it in fact would have been possible either for the Columbia crew to repair the damage to the wing or for the crew to be rescued from the shuttle. The Columbia could have stayed in orbit until February 15 and the already planned launch of the shuttle Atlantis could have been moved up as early as February 10, leaving a short window for repairing the wing or getting the crew off of the Columbia.


February 1, 2004 -
During the MTV-provided halftime show of the Superbowl, former boy band member Justin Timberlake conducts an obviously pre-scripted move to expose Janet Jackson's right bosom on this date, which oddly sports a ninjitsu-style throwing star as a pasty.



The nation is shocked, simply shocked, that a pristine, noncommercial event such as the Superbowl could be ruined by a Jackson.



All appears to be forgiven; Janet Jackson has completely absolved Justin Timberlake of any lingering guilt over the incident in her new documentary



And so it goes.