Today is Ragnar Lodbrok’s Day. Ragnar Lodbrok according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Swedish and Danish king.
He is known from Old Norse poetry of the Viking Age, Icelandic sagas, and near-contemporary chronicles. According to traditional literature, Ragnar distinguished himself by conducting many raids against the British Isles and the Carolingian Empire during the 9th century. He also appears in Norse legends, and according to the legendary sagas Tale of Ragnar’s Sons and a Saga about Certain Ancient Kings, Ragnar Lodbrok’s father has been given as the legendary king of the Swedes, Sigurd Ring.
Around this day in 845, a Viking invasion of France culminated in the siege and capture of Paris. The Viking forces were led by a Norse chieftain named “Reginherus”, or Ragnar, who tentatively has been identified with the legendary saga character Ragnar Lodbrok. Reginherus’s fleet of 120 Viking ships, carrying thousands of warriors, entered the Seine in March and sailed up the river.They withdrew after Charles the Bald paid a ransom of 7,000 French livres [2,570 kg (83,000 ozt)] in gold and silver.
March 27, 1860 was a very important day. M.L. Byrn of New York was granted a patent for a very handy device. Wine enthusiasts rejoice, it was a corkscrew!
Early in the 1700s, glass-blowing technology had advanced to the point where cylindrical-shaped glass bottles with a small bottleneck could be made from a mold. When closed with cork, the bottle became airtight, making possible the aging of wine. (Historically, a variety of substances were kept in corked bottles, of course, not just wine. We’re not going there today!)
On this day in 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk announced the successful test of his polio vaccine on a small group of children and adults. Based on his results a large field trial was undertaken including some 440,000 children. The results of the field trial were announced on 12 April 1955 (the tenth anniversary of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose paralytic illness was generally believed to have been caused by polio.
Soon after Salk’s vaccine was licensed in 1955, children’s vaccination campaigns were launched. In the U.S., following a mass immunization campaign promoted by the March of Dimes, the annual number of polio cases fell from 35,000 in 1953 to 5,600 by 1957. By 1961 only 161 cases were recorded in the United States.
Home Depot is a bit kinky…
How to wear a hat…
Unfortunate juxtaposition…
SIGNZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Today is the birthday, in 1959, of British session drummer Chris Whitten who provided drums for the hit singles ‘What I Am’ by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, ‘World Shut your Mouth’ by Julian Cope and ‘The Whole of the Moon’ by The Waterboys. Whitten has also worked with Paul McCartney, Dire Straits, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, The Pretenders, Swing Out Sister, ABC and The The. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDl3bdE3YQA
Today is, of course, MARYLAND DAY, one of the most important days of the year. On this day in 1634, some 140 settlers, led by Leonard Calvert (younger brother of Lord Baltimore) and accompanied by 3 Jesuit priests became the first settlers in the Province of Maryland, landing on St. Clement’s Island in the Potomac River. In thanksgiving for the safe landing, Jesuit Father Andrew White celebrated the Mass for the colonists.
The colony’s grant was renewed to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, (1605-1675), two years prior by Charles I of England, after first being given to his father Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, (1574-1632), along with the title of “Lord Baltimore”.
“My Food Bowl is Empty, Sharon” – sculpture circa 1567
BADA BING!!!
After his 8th failed rocket attempt, I think it’s safe to say Elon Musk has projectile dysfunction.
My best friend said that dating after 50 is like trying to find the least damaged thing in a thrift store that doesn’t smell.
Me: Those are flies! Dog: Sky raisins!
Every tech innovation for the last 15 years boils down to ‘let’s make everything shittier and force you to pay a monthly subscription for it.’
I don’t mind getting older but my body is having a hissy fit about it.
I thought I was a good person, but the way I react when people drive slowly in the left lane would suggest otherwise.
If you ever think English is not a weird language just remember that read and lead rhyme and read and lead rhyme. But read and lead don’t rhyme, and neither do read and lead.
Missouri House unanimously approves bill allowing pregnant women to get a divorce. And yes it’s 2025.
My wife and I decided we don’t want children. It was a difficult decision, but we’re telling them tonight.
Apparently, stress balls are not supposed to be thrown at people who are stressing you out.
My son found me crying in the kitchen, wrapped his arms around me and said, “Is it because you’re fat?” Now I’m crying for two reasons.
I barely talk to anyone. So if I talk to you and you’re not a dog, congrats!
It turns out a ceiling fan will not cut a bagel in half even on high speed. Also, we need a new window.
Marjorie Taylor Greene said she doesn’t want to discuss her vaccination status. I agree – those conversations are best left between Marjorie and her veterinarian.
When I have to fill out a form asking who to call in case of an emergency, I always write ambulance. Because no one in my family is going to answer a call from an unknown number.
Old age is a thing… last night I was in bed for 20 min when I heard the pizza guy cough. Then I remembered I came to my room for my wallet.
A narcissist mindset, that didn’t happen, and if it did, it wasn’t that bad, and if it was, it’s not a big deal, and if it is, it’s not my fault and if it was, I didn’t mean it, and if I did, you made me do it.
How can we be sure that the Teslas aren’t setting themselves on fire to avoid the association with Elon Musk?
We’re going to have to color potatoes for Easter this year.
Every news agency reported that the capsule landed in the Gulf of Mexico and I’m sure the most petty man in the universe was fuming.
Donald Trump is trying to shutter the Department of Education, which will make it very difficult for students to know the last time America was grate.
If you believe that teaching about god in public schools will improve people’s morality, you first need to explain why it doesn’t work in a church.
I will never understand how they were more upset about a Super Bowl halftime show than Elon Musk stealing our social security numbers.
Today is the birthday, in 1951, of Maizie Williams, from German vocal group Boney M, who had the 1978 UK No.1 & US No.30 single ‘Rivers Of Babylon’ and with more than 150 million records sold, they are one of the Best Selling Artists of all time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3QxT-w3WMo
On this day in 1882, German physician and microbiologist Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis. Koch also discovered the causative agents of anthrax and cholera. His discovery of the anthrax bacterium (Bacillus anthracis) in 1876 is considered as the birth of modern bacteriology. Koch used his discoveries to establish that germs “could cause a specific disease” and directly provided proofs for the germ theory of diseases, therefore creating the scientific basis of public health, saving millions of lives. For his life’s work Koch is seen as one of the founders of modern medicine.
Ummm….
This is kinda long, but read it anyway…
Snakes also known as Garter Snakes (Thamnophissirtalis) can be dangerous Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes. Here’s why.
A couple in Sweetwater, Texas, had a lot of potted plants. During a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze.
It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants. When it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa.
She let out a very loud scream.
The husband (who was taking a shower) ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa.
He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind. He thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor.
His wife thought he had had a heart attack, so she covered him up, told him to lie still, and called an ambulance.
The attendants rushed in, would not listen to his protests, loaded him on the stretcher, and started carrying him out.
About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa. The Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That’s when the man broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital.
The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor who volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch… Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief.
But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, and the snake rushed back under the sofa.
The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her.
The neighbor’s wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband’s mouth on the woman’s mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches.
The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that the snake had bitten him. She went to the kitchen and got a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man’s throat.
By now, the police had arrived.
They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all when the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little garden snake!
The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.
Now, the little snake again crawled out from under the sofa and one of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table. The table fell over, the lamp on it shattered and, as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes.
The other policeman tried to beat out the flames and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car.
Meanwhile, neighbors saw the burning drapes and called in the fire department.
The firemen had started raising the fire ladder when they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires, put out the power, and disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area (but they did get the house fire out).
Time passed!
Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car and all was right with their world.
A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for that night. The wife asked her husband if he thought they should bring in their plants for the night.
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