Read the ramblings of Dr. Caligari. Hopefully you will find that Time does wound all heels.
You no longer need to be sad that nowadays there is so little useless information.
I found a list of Children's books not shelved in their school's libraries.
Trust me. they're going to get a hell of a lot worse
Once again I missed World Nude day (February 6th). I believe I be excused - I was already dancing around naked in house house, drinking all the alcohol I was told to purchase because of the supposed storm that was going to hit NYC.
February 7, 1908 - Buster Crabbe, Olympic swimmer and actor, was born on this date.
Crabbe is the only actor who played Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers — the top three comic strip heroes of the 1930s. We can only assume that he didn't smoke dope.
February 7, 1914 - Charlie Chaplin first appears as The Tramp, as his first film Kid Auto Races at Venice is released at Keystone Studios. The Tramp, as portrayed by Chaplin, is a bumbling but usually good-hearted character who is most famously presented as a vagrant who endeavors to behave with the manners and dignity of a gentleman despite his actual social status.
However, while he is ready to take what paying work that is available, he also uses his cunning to get what he needs to survive and escape the authority figures who will not tolerate his antics.
February 7, 1962 - Edward John "Eddie" Izzard, stand-up comedian, dramatic actor and until recently an executive transvestite, was born on this date.
Long time readers of this silliness may have realized that I am very partial to Mr Izzard, Executive Transvestite.
February 7, 1965 - Chris Rock, stand-up comedian, actor and not an executive transvestite.
February 7, 1974 - Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles opened on this date. Teen age boys everywhere celebrate by telling fart jokes.
The role of Bart was intended for Richard Pryor, but due to the controversial nature of Pryor's stand-up routines of the day and his background, Mel Brooks couldn't secure financing for the project with Pryor in that role. So Pryor was made a co-writer of the script, and Cleavon Little played Bart.
Here is your Today in History - February 7, 1964 - It was 46 years ago today, The Beatles arrive at JFK International Airport to begin their first tour of the United States. They helped bring about a social revolution whose effects can be felt to this day.
The Beatles came from Britain, sometimes known as England, a little island in the North Atlantic from which many people have come to the United States over the years, some of them without guitars.
The British (or English), like so many other Europeans, have a long and storied history. Although it took the French to perfect the guillotine, the English (or British) made up for in zeal what they lacked in technological savvy, and next week is the anniversary of three British (or English) queens having their heads hewn from their shoulders.
On February 8, 1587, after nineteen years in prison, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded.
On February 12, 1554, Lady Jane Grey, Queen for nine days in 1553, was beheaded.
On February 13, 1542, Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's Vth wife, was beheaded.
If you can get to an English (or British) pub next week, order a beer with extra head and see if they get the joke. Be prudent, however, as people will sometimes react in unexpected ways when asked for any kind of head at all.)
February 7, 1845 - An 'intemperate' vandal, William Lloyd, entered the British Museum and smashes the irreplaceable Portland Vase into over 200 pieces. The elaborate glass amphora was created when Augustus was Caesar and is about ten inches high.
It takes a lot of crazy glue and months to repair.
On February 7, 1898, the trial of Emile Zola began in Paris. He lost, but then eventually he won. He accused someone of something. Somehow, the actor Paul Muni is involved. Or vice-versa. Long story.
It all began in the backwoods of Illinois... no, that was Lincoln. Never mind
February 7, 1968 - It became necessary to destroy the town to save it. -- This was a quote attributed by Peter Arnett to an anonymous American major speaking about the town of Ben Tre, the main town in Ben Tre province, Vietnam, after the Americans had heavily bombarded it.
February 7, 1990 - The Soviet Union's Communist Party agreed to let opposition political parties compete for control of the country, thereby giving up its monopoly on power .
They were forced to sell of most of their properties on Baltic Avenue.
but I guess I should have used this weather forecast to plan my weekend:
Today is Waitangi Day in New Zealand. This celebrates the February 6, 1840 signing of "The Treaty of Waitangi" by representatives of the British Crown and leading Maori chiefs in Waitangi. The treaty preserved many Maori rights while making New Zealand a British Colony.
Given the confused and confusing state of things, I must recommends that America join her Kiwi friends in celebrating Waitangi Day. There's no particular logic to this, but it's fun to say "Happy Waitangi Day." We could all wear funny hats and buy each other Waitangi presents.
Sound silly?
Just four days ago we were all waiting for a stupid rodent to crawl out of a hole and look for his shadow.
February 6, 1921 - The Kid, starring Charlie Chaplin and 6-year-old Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester), was released in the US on this date.
The scene where Chaplin and Coogan tearfully reunite is as touching as anything ever enacted on film.
Today in History: February 6, 1911 - That great American, Ronald Reagan, who appeared in such films as Jap Zero, Girls on Probation, and Bedtime for Bonzo, is born in Tampico IL.
It should be a national holiday.
February 6, 1917 - Zsa Zsa Gabor, Queen of Outer Space is born in Budapest. Party girls everywhere are celebrating their patron saint's day.
Enough said.
It was on this date in 1919 that the German constituent assembly met in Weimar for the first time to declare itself The Official German Government For The Time Being.
This Weimar Republic, as it came to be known, should not be confused with the Weimar Republic fashion clothing outlet found in many American malls. The former caused an economic depression, Hitler, and the horrors of the second World War. The latter caused a slight dip in sales at Banana Republic and Old Navy.
February 6, 1943 - Actor Errol Flynn acquitted of raping an adolescent. The woman had actually tried this shakedown with other celebrities and wasn't quite an adolescent despite her testifying with pigtails and a lollypop.
In like Flynn.
February 6, 1945 - Bob Marley, musician, singer-songwriter and Rastafarian was born on this date.
How can your day not be a little brighter.
February 6, 1952 - Elizabeth II becames Queen upon the death of her father George VI, on this date. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
Talk about bizarre ways you can land a job - Elizabeth went up a tree a princess and came down a Queen.
Today is exactly halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox, which is the scientifically correct way of saying it's the middle of freakin' winter. Bottoms up: it only gets better from here.
(Except, of course, in the Southern Hemisphere, where it only gets worse, which might have something to do with why it's Waitangi Day down there.)
I was listening to a news story about a documentary about Soul Train. The director had to tell his crew who Al Green was
Hey, I was dancing up a storm listening to the Reverend in the kitchen (well, the second martini might have helped.)
February 5, 1914 - William Seward Burroughs II, junkie, novelist, murderer, painter and performer was born on this date.
Hey, he was a busy guy.
February 5, 1940 - Hans Ruedi Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer best known for his design work on the film Alien, was spawned on this date.
He had a very happy childhood.
February 5, 1816 - Rossini's Opera "Barber of Seville" premieres in Rome on this date.
February 5, 1919 - Four of the leading figures in early Hollywood: Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith, incorporated to form their own company to better control their own work as well as their futures. The company was United Artist.
Their collective corpses have not stopped spinning in their graves when they heard that Tom Cruise wanted to revive the company in 2006 (trust me, I can't get the image of rotating corpses out of my head.)
February 5, 1927 - Buster Keaton's movie The General premiered on this date. The film was a box-office disaster at its original release,
but is now considered by critics as one of the greatest films ever made.
February 5, 1936 - Charlie ChaplinLittle Tramp makes his final silent-film appearance, Modern Times, is released on this date.
The Little Tramp is shown struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. This was one of the films which, because of its political sentiments, convinced the House Un-American Activities Committee that Charles Chaplin was a Communist, a charge he adamantly denied. He left to live in Switzerland, vowing never to return to America.
February 5, 1953 - Walt Disney'sPeter Pan, opens at Roxy Theater, on this date.
Remember, it's the second to the right (and straight on till morning.)
February 5, 1967 - The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour premieres on CBS, on this date.
Mom actually liked both of them equally.
Today in History Today is Liberation Day in San Marino. Americans remain woefully misinformed about San Marino.
(American remain woefully misinformed about most countries that aren't located between Canada and Mexico, but today is only Liberation Day in San Marino so let's not get off-topic.)
About seventeen-hundred years go, during an epic game of hide and seek, Marinus the Stonemason ran up Mount Titano in Italy to hide from the Roman Emperor Diocletian. It was a good hiding spot and he was never found. He started his own country to pass the time, and the Republic of San Marino survives to this day, an island of foreign nationals in the middle of Italy.
Citizens of San Marino are not San Mariners. They are Sammarinese.
The population of San Marino is about 25,000. The population of San Marino, California, is about 13,000.
The California town was named in 1878 by James de Barth Shorb, who had built his home there and didn't think people would go for Shorbtown. Instead, he named it after the Maryland town in which he'd been born.
That was reportedly San Marino, Maryland, which the California town's website claims to have been named "for the tiny European republic."
There is no Maryland town named San Marino. (If there is, they haven't yet made their presence felt on Google.) Foul play is obviously afoot.
Proceed with caution.
February 5, 1783 - A large earthquake in Calabria Italy leaves 50,000 dead.
Luckily none of my wife's or a good friend of mine forebearers were involved or they wouldn't be here.
As if Curious George was enough - Werner Herzog reads Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
I'm waiting for If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - a searing indictment of child rearing.
On February 4, 2008, at 00:00 GMT, NASA transmitted the Beatles song Across The Universe in the direction of the star Polaris, 431 light years from Earth. The transmission was made using a 70m antenna in the DSN's Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex, located outside of Madrid, Spain. It was done with an "X band" transmitter, radiating into the antenna at 18 kW.
Why - because they could.
February 4, 1918 - Ida Lupino, actress, director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers was born on this date.
Nobody messes with Ida Lupino
February 4, 1948 - Vincent Furnier (Alice Cooper), rocker and avid golfer, was born on this date.
Yes, we're all not worthy.
February 4, 1977 - Fleetwood Mac'sRumours was released on this date.
What a happy little album
Today in History: February 4, 1861 - State delegates meet in Montgomery, Ala., to form a Confederate government.
Do you think Hallmark has a card commemorating this event?
February 4, 1889 - Harry Longabaugh is released from Sundance Prison in Wyoming, thereby acquiring the famous nickname, The Sundance Kid.
February 4, 1902 - Isolationist, racist, neo-nazi and early environmentalist Charles Lindbergh, first man to fly solo across the Atlantic, was born on this date.
Kind of complicated guy, don't you think.
February 4, 1913 - Rosa Lee Parks, civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Alabama started the Civil Rights Movement, was born on this date.
February 4, 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
February 4, 1983 - Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia nervosa. She frequently took laxatives and induced vomiting to prevent weight gain.
At the time of her death she was pencil thin. Lead graphite thin.
February 4, 1987 - Pianist/jewelry wearer Wladziu Valentino Liberace in Palm Springs, California due to complications from AIDS.
Nobody ever suspected the man was gay.
February 4, 1998 - Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates is assaulted with a direct hit by a fluffy cream pie during a three-pronged attack in Brussels. He was in Belgium attending meetings with industry and government leaders.
Rumour is that the attack was engineered by Noel Godin, infamous for his other pie throwings at government officials.
The MTA in NYC has wasted millions improperly monitoring shoddy work. AM NY has pictures in today's paper of the newly refurbished South Ferry Station, already looking like crap.
Remember this when the next fare increase comes rolling along.
I found this good home-made stop action video - Rex The Dog Bubblicious
Two big thumbs up from my kids at home.
I'm not sure if the Craig Ferguson writers have been reading my blog or not.
But one's again Puppets on TV - funny
February 3, 1944 - Another film Orson Welles has his fingerprints all over, Jane Eyre, was released on this date.
Orson Welles did enough work behind the scenes that the production company offered him a producer credit, which he turned down. Welles's official reason for this is a belief that a person who is not directing the film shouldn't be "just" a producer. Look for Elizabeth Taylor in an uncredited role in the film.
February 3, 1951 - Another great Sylvester cartoon, Canned Feud, premiered on this date.
They forgot to put out the cat! Ha, ha, ha! The cat? *I'm* the cat!
February 3, 1956 - It's Nathan Lane's birthday
Pound for pound, one of the funniest guest on a talk show.
February 3, 1945 - Walt Disney's The Three Caballeros, premiered in the US, on the date.
The film was produced as part of the studio's contribution to the Good Neighbor policy towards South America
Today in History - February 3, 1468 - About 600 years ago a child was born in the city of Mainz, in what is today Germany. His name was Johannes Gutenberg. He worked as a goldsmith and gem cutter until finally converting a wine press into a printing press.
He printed 200 copies of the Bible and gradually went broke. He died on this date.
Lesser known to history is the name of Edgar Weasle-Puck, the Englishman who developed a printing press at around the same time as Gutenberg. Instead of printing Bibles, however, Weasle-Puck ran off 500 copies of Lewde & Graffical Engravingf of Perfonf Not Wearing Any Clothef. He made a small fortune, changed his name, purchased an Earldom, and moved to southern France, where he spent the rest of his days eagerly awaiting the invention of the lower-case "s."
February 3, 1882 - P.T. Barnum purchases the elephant Jumbo. He keeps him for three years until the animal's skull is crushed by a train.
After his death, Jumbo's skeleton was donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The elephant's heart was sold to Cornell University. Jumbo's hide was stuffed by William J. Critchley and Carl Akeley, both of Ward's Natural Science, and the mounted specimen traveled with Barnum's circus for a number of years.
In 1889, Barnum donated the stuffed Jumbo to Tufts University, where it was displayed until destroyed by a fire in 1975, coincidentally a fate that befell many of Barnum's exhibits during his own lifetime. The great elephant's ashes are kept in a 14-ounce Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter jar in the office of the Tufts athletic director.
I could not make this up if I wanted to do so.
February 3, 1913 - In one of the blackest days in U.S. history, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. This amendment created the income tax.
Although, most teabagger would like to thinks this is a fairy tale.
The United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany on February 3, 1917. The Germans were very upset by this and tried to make America jealous by flirting with Mexico. Britain overheard Germany's sweet talk and told America everything she'd heard. Unfortunately for Germany, however, it didn't make America jealous. It made America angry. A few months later the United States declared war on Germany.
(Less than two years later, World War I ended with Germany's defeat. This made Germany upset again, and they spent the next two decades planning how they'd get even. Eventually this led to World War II, which also ended with Germany's defeat. Germany remains upset to this day, but, having been deprived of an army, poses no serious threat to anyone but France.)
February 3, 1927 - Kenneth Anger, American underground avant-garde film-maker, author of the book Hollywood Babylon
and professional Dan Rather impersonator, was spawned on this date.
February 3, 1959 - The Day the Music Died: A small plane carrying The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), Buddy Holly, and Richie Valens crashes near Mason City, Iowa, while en route to a show in Fargo, North Dakota. Richardson had developed a case of the flu during the tour (erroneously thought to have been caused by riding on the unheated bus) and asked one of Holly's bandmates, Waylon Jennings, for his seat on the plane; Jennings agreed to give up the seat. According to an account by Jennings years later, when Holly heard about this, his reply to Jennings was, "Well, I hope your ole bus freezes up!" to which Jennings replied, "Well, I hope your damn plane crashes!" This exchange of words, though made in jest at the time, haunted Jennings for many years afterward.
Dion DiMucci of Dion & The Belmonts, who was the fourth headliner on the tour, was approached to join the flight as well; however, the price of $36 was too much. Dion had heard his parents argue for years over the $36 rent for their apartment and could not bring himself to pay an entire month's rent for a short plane ride.
And yet Yoko Ono still lives.
February 3, 1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
Many believe the incident proves that NYPD officers tried to kill him.
In honor of the occasion, here's a little history -
Groundhog Day, February 2nd, is a popular tradition in the United States. It is also a legend that traverses centuries, its origins clouded in the mists of time with ethnic cultures and animals awakening on specific dates. Myths such as this tie our present to the distant past when nature did, indeed, influence our lives. It is the day that the Groundhog comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow.
If he sees it, he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and returns to his hole.
If the day is cloudy and, hence, shadowless, he takes it as a sign of spring and stays above ground.
The groundhog tradition stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day and the days of early Christians in Europe, and for centuries the custom was to have the clergy bless candles and distribute them to the people. Even then, it marked a milestone in the winter and the weather that day was important.
According to an old English song:
If Candlemas be fair and bright,Come, Winter, have another flight;If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,Go Winter, and come not again.
The Roman legions, during the conquest of the northern country, supposedly brought this tradition to the Teutons, or Germans, who picked it up and concluded that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, an animal, the hedgehog, would cast a shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of bad weather, which they interpolated as the length of the Second Winter.
Pennsylvania's earliest settlers were Germans and they found groundhogs to in profusion in many parts of the state. They determined that the groundhog, resembling the European hedgehog, was a most intelligent and sensible animal and therefore decided that if the sun did appear on February 2nd, so wise an animal as the groundhog would see its shadow and hurry back into its underground home for another six weeks of winter.
The Germans recited:
For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,So far will the snow swirl until the May.
This passage may be the one most closely represented by the first Punxsutawney Groundhog Day observances because there were references to the length of shadows in early Groundhog Day predictions.
Another February 2nd belief, used by American 19th century farmers, was:
Groundhog Day - Half your hay.
New England farmers knew that we were not close to the end of winter, no matter how cloudy February 2nd was. Indeed, February 2nd is often the heart of winter. If the farmer didn't have half his hay remaining, there may have been lean times for the cows before spring and fresh grass arrived.
The ancient Candlemas legend and similar belief continue to be recognized annually on February 2nd due to the efforts of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.
Growing Fame
From offering support of political events, to rooting for area sports teams, to becoming the star of a Hollywood movie, Dr. Phil has increasingly been in the public eye. Early observances of Dr. Phil's predictions were conducted privately in the wooded areas that neighbor the town. Today's celebration sees tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world as revelers await Phil's appearance as most fans wait to see their favorite rock stars.
The Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper is credited with printing the news of the first observance in 1886 (one year before the first legendary trek to Gobbler's Knob. Let's polish the Knob everybody):
"Today is groundhog day, and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen his shadow."
Over the course of Dr. Phil's appearances, Phil has had numerous noteworthy highlights:
During Prohibition Dr. Phil threatened to impose 60 weeks of winter on the community if he wasn't allowed a drink.
In 1958 Dr. Phil announced that it was a "United States Chucknik," rather than a Soviet Sputnik or Muttnik that became the first man-made satellite to orbit Earth.
In 1981 Dr. Phil wore a yellow ribbon, and nothing else in honor of the American hostages in Iran. Several elderly women and young children fainted. Strong men had to be restrained from gouging their eyes out.
Dr. Phil traveled to Washington DC in 1986 to meet with President Reagan. He was joined by Groundhog Club President Jim Means, Al Anthony and Bill Null.
Dr. Phil met Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburg in 1987.
In 1993, Columbia Pictures released the movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray.
Dr.Phil frequently appeared on the Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman show.
In the years following the release of the movie, record crowds numbering as high as 30,000 have visited Gobbler's Knob to 'polish the Knob' in Punxsutawney!
BTW, the damn vermin saw his shadow so six more weeks of inane psychobabble!!!
Today in History: James Joyce was born on February 2, 1882. Mr. Joyce was one of many drunken Irish geniuses who got the hell out of Ireland as soon as he could afford a passport.
Mr. Joyce wrote Ulysses, a famous book perhaps most notable for the fact that few people ever actually read it.
Gertrude Stein was born a day later, eight years earlier. She wrote books that were much easier to read than Mr. Joyce's yet made even less sense.
Congestion Advisory In 1626, Dutchman Peter Minuit bought the island of Manhattan for $24. People often joke about that, but twenty-four bucks wasn't such an unreasonable price. It was a lot of money back then, and it's not like Mr. Minuit just turned around and built Times Square. Manhattan was a big rock in the middle of cold rushing waters and the weather was awful, even for a Dutchman. It wasn't even a city until February 2, 1653, when it became New Amsterdam. It had a population of 800 at the time.
Eventually it was renamed New York, which, according to the 2000 census, has a population of more than 8 million. This represents an increase of one million percent. At this rate, by the year 2319 New York will have a population of over 80 billion.
Anticipate more traffic.
February 2, 1793 - Czech composer Franz Kotzwara, who penned The Battle of Prague, visited a prostitute in Vine Street, Westminster named Susannah Hill. After dinner with her in her lodgings, Kotzwara paid her two shillings and requested that she cut off his testicles. Hill refused to do so. Kotzwara then proceeded to tie a rope around the doorknob and then his neck and proceeded to have vigorous sexual intercourse with Hill. After it was over, Kotzwara was dead.
His is most likely the first recorded death from erotic asphyxiation.
Now you know.
Following a custom she maintained throughout her widowhood, Queen Victoria spent Christmas at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. She died there from a cerebral hemorrhage on January 22, 1901, at the age of 81. At her deathbed she was attended by her son, the future King, and her oldest grandson, German Emperor William II. As she had wished, her own sons lifted her into the coffin. She was dressed in a white dress and her wedding veil. Her funeral was held on February 2nd, and after two days of lying-in-state, she was interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park. Since Victoria disliked black funerals, London was instead festooned in purple and white.
When she was laid to rest at Frogmore Mausoleum, it began to snow. Victoria had reigned for a total of 63 years, seven months and two days—the longest of any British monarch.
February 2, 1964 - The GI Joe doll made its debut on the market as a popular American toy.
It would be several years before GI Joe would be released with his Kung Fu grip. Even though GI Joe is 12" of fighting machine - Joe is genital-less - so the grip is useless.
February 2, 1971 - Idi Amin assumes power in Uganda, taking the government from President Milton Obote. One of his favorite pastimes seems to have been eating the brains of live prisoners. Also while in office, he eats one of his own sons.
How lovely
February 2, 1979 - Sid Vicious, bassist for the Sex Pistols, dies in his sleep of a heroin overdose.
He was waiting to stand trial for the stabbing death of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
The Oscar nominations are in:
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Nine Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air Mo'nique, Precious
Best Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, Invictus Woody Harrelson, The Messenger Christopher Plummer, The Last Station Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side Helen Mirren, The Last Station Carey Mulligan, An Education Gabourey Sidibe, Precious Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart George Clooney, Up in the Air Colin Firth, A Single Man Morgan Freeman, Invictus Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Jame Cameron, Avatar Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds Lee Daniels, Precious Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds The Messenger A Serious Man Up
Adapted Screenplay: District 9 An Education In the Loop Precious Up in the Air
Foreign Language Film: Ajami El secreto de sus ojos The Milk of Sorrow Un Prophete The White Ribbon
Animated Film: Coraline Fantastic Mr. Fox The Princess and the Frog The Secret of Kells Up
Best Picture: Avatar The Blind Side District 9 An Education The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Precious A Serious Man Up Up in the Air
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. February has twenty-eight alone, All the rest have thirty-one. Except Leap Year; that's the time When February's days are twenty-nine.
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.
Those damn 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.
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.
Here is your Today in History - February 1, 1861 - Texas secedes from the Union, becoming independent once again. Since the articles of statehood passed by the U.S. Congress give Texas this right, it is perhaps the only state whose secession was legal.
I wonder what Dubya's going to do to celebrate?
February 1, 1893 - Inventor Thomas A. Edison opened the world's first motion picture studio, his Black Maria, in West Orange, New Jersey.
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 Bohème, written by Giacomo Puccini, premieres in Turin, Italy.
Who know all Cher had to do to win an Oscar 93 years later, was tweeze her eyebrows and cry while she watches this opera.
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 executes an accused Viet Cong spy with a bullet to the head.
Unfortunately for the general, he happens to shoot him right in front of NBC cameraman Vo Suu and Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams.
February 1, 1970 - US Government report reveals that 31% of college students have tried pot.
Now even Olympic Gold Medalist and New Jerseyians do too!!!
On February 1, 1976, Werner Heisenberg died in Munich. Mr. Heisenberg was one of the last century's foremost physicists, a reputation he earned primarily by having confused everybody so completely that most of us remain baffled to this very day.
The famous Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that the act of observation changes the state of the thing being observed. This principle is most vividly illustrated by the penis. Mr. Heisenberg studied with Nils Bohr and Albert Einstein before finally branching out into his own area of highly specialized confusion, eventually dubbed quantum physics. He was particularly confused by his efforts to identify the exact location of a given particle while simultaneously identifying another of its characteristics (such as height, weight, or telephone number).
It was confusing mainly because he couldn't do it. Not only that, but he was also able to discover that no one else could do it, either. Ever. No matter how hard they tried. This suggested a disturbing level of certainty about the Uncertainy Principle, making it paradoxical, which finally put an end to such premodern notions as fixedness, regularity, dependability, and reliability. Thanks to Mr. Heisenberg, the world is now a volatile aggregation of baffling incompatibilities.
Oops.
Perhaps anticipating Heisenberg, or a little overeager for Valentine's Day, the Soviet government declared on February 1, 1918, that it was actually February 14, 1918 (The Russian adopt the Gregorian Calendar).
February 1, 1976 - Irwin Shaw'sRich Man, Poor Man mini-series premiered on ABC, 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 read Playboy.
February 1,1982 - Late Night With David Letterman debuted on NBC, where it stayed for 11 years . Dave's first guests were Bill Murray and Don Herbert aka Mr. Wizard.
I wonder what ever happened to Dave?
February 1, 2003 - The Space ShuttleColumbia blows up on re-entry, with its debris hitting homes and businesses in Nacogdoches Texas.
Oops
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 tit, 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.
If only Janet had gone the Pink route -
a body suit and some strategically placed glitter - and we'd never be noting this anniversary.
Trust me. they're going to get a hell of a lot worse
It takes a lot of crazy glue and months to repair.
They were forced to sell of most of their properties on Baltic Avenue.
