Day 55 -TGIF!

Today is the 6th day of the 8th week, the 24th day of the 2nd month, the 55th day of 2023 [given how I am counting the days I manage to blog, as per my New Year's resolution to write something every single day, do I need to add this?  *ponders - maybe list the number of days remaining in the year instead?  Would that be more informative?], and:

• Friday Fish Day - I am old enough to remember when Catholics ate fish every single Friday.  Then the Second Vatican Council relaxed the guidelines in 1966, and most went to eating fish on the Fridays in Lent
• Forget Me Not Day - not the flower [that is celebrated on November 10th] but a reminder to reconnect.  It is a poignant day for me as one of the things I have always said was important to me was to matter to someone, so that when I shed this mortal coil, there would be a Carol-sized hole in their lives.  Not a void, just something missing.... 
• International STAND UP to Bullying Day
• National Dance Day
• National Skip the Straw Day - plastic straws are definitely single use items and bad for the environment.  But I have tried those biodegradable straws, and they just feel unpleasant on my lips.  I tried the permanent metal ones, but no matter how you clean them, after a while they get discolored and disgusting it seems.  
• National Tartar Sauce Day
• National Tortilla Chip Day
• National Trading Card Day
• Twin Peaks Day
• World Bartender Day

On this day in:

1208  St Francis of Assisi, 26, received his vocation in Portiuncula Italy

1582  Pope Gregory XIII announces the New Style calendar, commonly known as the Gregorian calendar

1797  Colonel William Tate and his force of 1,000-1,500 soldiers surrender after the Last Invasion of Britain (according to legend, to Welsh women in tall black hats, mistaken for elite guards regiment)

1835  Siwinowe Kesibwi (Shawnee Sun) is 1st Indian language monthly magazine

1839  Steam shovel patented by William Otis, Philadelphia

1942  The "Battle of Los Angeles" takes place, a series of anti-aircraft engagements over the city in response to a rumored but false Japanese attack. It would last until the morning of the following day.

1961  NASA Explorer S-45 mission; ionosphere beacon satellite fails to reach Earth orbit

1962  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1965  Beatles begin filming "Help" in Bahamas

1968  Discovery of 1st pulsar announced (CP 1919) by Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish

1969  Mariner 6 launched for Mars flyby to study planet's atmosphere

1979  Highest price ever paid for a pig, $42,500, Stamford, Texas.  In today's money, that porker would be worth $173,073.55, but that record was apparently shattered in 1997.  The pig was a duroc boar, and apparently purchased for breeding, and the pork is considered especially tasty  

1983  A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.

1983  USSR performs underground nuclear test

1989  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

2011  Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).

2016  Oldest Muslim graves in Europe, from the 8th century, identified at a burial site in Nimes, France

2020  Scientists identify the first animal that doesn't need oxygen to breathe - a tiny parasite living in salmon tissue, reported in journal PNAS

2023  Voyager 1 is 22 hrs 04 mins 27 secs of light-travel time from Earth 

Quote of the day:

“First Thoughts are the everyday thoughts. Everyone has those. Second Thoughts are the thoughts you think about the way you think. People who enjoy thinking have those. Third Thoughts are thoughts that watch the world and think all by themselves. They’re rare, and often troublesome. Listening to them is part of witchcraft.” 

~ Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

I'm afraid I am possessed with First Thoughts today....