Month: April 2024

17
Apr
2024

WEDNESDAY keeps coming around

Today is Evacuation Day, a public holiday in Syria. his is Syria’s National Day and commemorates the evacuation of the last French soldier from Syria on this day in 1946.

Syria had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the start of the 16th century. During the first world war, the Ottoman Empire entered the conflict on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Defeat for the Ottomans meant that their territories in the middle east came under control of France and Great Britain.

The now-infamous, but at the time, secret pact of 1916, the Sykes-Picot Agreement split the region between the two European powers, with what is now Syria coming under French control. After the second world war, Syrian nationalists forced the French out of the country and on April 17th 1946, the last French soldiers left Syria.

unfortunate juxtaposition…

DOGS…

Today is the birthday, in 1974, of businesswoman, fashion designer, model and singer, Victoria Beckham, (Posh Spice), The Spice Girls who scored the 1996 UK No.1 & 1997 US No.1 single ‘Wannabe’, plus eight other UK No.1 singles). She had the solo 2000 UK No. 2 single ‘Out Of Your Mind’ and married footballer David Beckham at Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland in June 1999. Beckham has become an internationally recognized style icon and fashion designer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJLIiF15wjQ

Posted by Tom in eighties music, Humor, Music
16
Apr
2024

It’s TUESDAY at my house

Today is Emancipation Day in Washington, DC. Emancipation Day marks April 16th 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act.

The Act freed over 3,000 slaves in the District of Columbia eight months before President Lincoln issued his broader Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act means the District has the distinction of being the only part of the United States to have compensated slave owners for freeing enslaved persons they held.




Bada Bing!!

I was disappointed to learn that the International Institute of Origami has folded. They lost their contract with PaperView.

You can’t fix stupid. But, you can sell it red hats, gold clown shoes, bibles, and worthless stock.

Now that the eclipse is over, those glasses can be used for viewing FOX news.

I think this ladder I’m on is unstab…

I went to the paint store to get thinner. It didn’t work.

I hope when I eventually choke to death on gummy bears, people will say I was killed by bears and leave it at that.

Dear Coca-Cola Company: No more new flavors. Either add the cocaine back or leave it alone.

We squint at the sun because it’s bright. We squint at some people because they’re not.

I watch so many crime programs when I turn off the TV, I wipe my fingerprints off the remote.

I didn’t know that Sylvester Stallone is on his third marriage…I guess his first one was rocky, and his second was rocky too.

Today is the birthday, in 1939, of English singer Dusty Springfield who had her first solo UK hit single in 1963 with ‘I Only Want To Be With You’, which reached No.4, the 1966 UK No.1 & US No.4 single with ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’ plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles. With her brother Dion O’Brien (“Tom Springfield”) and Tim Feild, Springfield formed the folk-pop vocal trio The Springfields. Two of their five 1961–63 top 40 UK hits ‘Island of Dreams’ and ‘Say I Won’t Be There’ reached No. 5 on the charts. Her image, marked by a peroxide blonde bouffant/beehive hairstyle, heavy makeup and evening gowns, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties. She died on 3 March 1999 age 59. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp4339EbVn8

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies
15
Apr
2024

Like it or not…MONDAY

Today is the beginning of Thingyan Holiday in Myanmar. Thingyan culminates in the Burmese New Year and the period of holidays are the most important and the biggest festival in Myanmar. Formerly the dates of Thingyan would have been based on the Burma lunisolar calendar, but the dates have now been fixed on April 13th.

Thingyan is is celebrated at the same time as many other New Years in the region (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia). Thingyan historically marked the changing of the year by the sun moving from Pieces to Aries. The word Thingyan is thought to have derived from ancient Sanskrit and means ‘change’.

The legend of the origin of Thingyan relates to an argument over a mathematical problem between two gods. The loser of this argument had his head cut off. However, when his head hit the ground, the earth would burn; if thrown in the sea, the water would dry up and if thrown in the air, it would explode in a fireball. To keep this from happening, seven goddesses took turns holding the head for a year each, changing over on Thingyan. The winner of the argument cut off the head of an elephant and stuck it on the headless body, thereby creating the god, Ganesh.

Even though Thingyan has now been fixed in mid-April, its current date is a welcome position in the calendar as it occurs at the hottest time of the year in Myanmar and being a water festival, it is a great opportunity to cool down and get some relief from the sweltering heat.

Dancers in traditional costumes perform during celebrations for the Thingyan festival, also known as the Buddhist New Year, in Yangon on April 13, 2019. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)

Car Salesman Math…

I didn’t find any good birthdays today so here’s Shania Twain in a great parody of some Robert Palmer videos… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJL4UGSbeFg&list=PLzSz6NxvKpJAiHk1LKjz27By8GnLrLtsD&index=23

Posted by Tom in eighties music, Humor, Music
12
Apr
2024

Finally FRIDAY!

Sinhala and Tamil New Year Eve is today! Called Aluth Avurudda in Sinhala and Puthandu in Tamil, New Year’s Day is a statutory holiday in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, the public holidays for Tamil New Year also recognise that this is also Sinhalese New Year. Like Tamil New Year, it marks the end of the harvest and the arrival of spring as indicated by the sun moving from Meena Rashiya ( Pisces) to Mesha Rashiya (Aries).

To mark the new year, everyone in the country celebrates by wearing light golden clothes and turning towards the east.

The rituals include milk rice mixed with curd as well as sweetmeats with undu flour at specific propitious times of the morning. In Sri Lanka, the day is the time of the traditional first plowing of the ground to mark the start of the new agricultural season. It is a tradition that the first financial transaction of the year is when elders give gifts of money to the unmarried young, as a sign of good luck.

Today is the birthday, in 1950, of American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist David Cassidy, known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother Shirley Jones), in the 1970s musical-sitcom The Partridge Family, which led to him becoming one of popular culture’s teen idols and pop singers of the 1970s. The Partridge Family had the 1970 US No.1 single ‘I Think I Love You’, and the 1972 UK No.3 single ‘Breaking Up Is Hard To Do’. As a solo artist he scored the 1972 UK No.1 single ‘How Can I Be Sure’. He he died of liver failure on November 21, 2017, aged 67. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW4E0jAeAf8

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies
11
Apr
2024

Yup. It’s THURSDAY again.

Today is the Anniversary of the Battle of Rivas, a public holiday in Costa Rica. This day, also known as Juan Santamaria Day, honors this pivotal fight for Costa Rica, as well as the 19-year-old, barefooted hero who fought bravely against Nicaragua’s filibuster army and gave his life. The Battle of Rivas occurred on April 11, 1856, in the Nicaraguan city of Rivas. In Costa Rica, the fight is most known for Juan Santamaria’s destruction of the opposing army’s citadel. It is regarded as the most significant in a series of wars, with profound importance to Costa Rica’s national identity.

Three???

More signs…

I couldn’t find any good birthdays today so here is this amazing performance by Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94h2L9oBOHM

Posted by Tom in folk, Humor, Music