Sizdah de bar

Alright, it's Hump Day again( aka, Bhud-waar, yawm al arb'a, Idal, Boomtime). And I am feeling a wee bit exhausted. For some reason I was up extremely late last night. One thing that few people would expect is that I have learned how to use tools. There was a point in my life in which I was afraid of tools. I don't know why. I was never given instruction on their use, and thus they were strange to me, like chopsticks to most Americans. Oddly enough, I learned the art of eating with chopsticks long before the manly skills of tool usage.

Anyway, today is Chaharshanbeh, Farvardin 14, 1387 in Iran and is a holiday called Sizdah de bar. This has nothing to do with drinking unfortunately. It actually is the last day of their New Year celebrations and a time for Iranians to go to parks and have picnics and throw sprouts into a river symbolizing the cycle of life. And if that doesn't complete the day, they figure out ways to develop nuclear weapons and flex their proverbial muscle.

In 1513 Ponce de Leon set foot on Florida proclaiming, "It's squishy." In 1792 the US Mint was established. In 1863 a mob of angry women rioted in Richmond, VA due to a food shortage. I believe if there's something that can change the world, it's a mob of angry women. A man can barely handle one angry woman, an entire mob of them could certainly make an impression. In 1902 the first movie theater opened in Los Angeles. In 1917 Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to take a seat in the US Congress. In 1982 Argentinian Special Forces invaded the Falkland Islands (known as the Malvinas to the Argentinians). This started a "war" which the British easily won. In 1991 Rita Johnson beame the first female Premier of a Canadian Province, British Columbia. The following year John Gotti was convicted of murder and racketeering. And in 2004 a Jihadist attack was thwarted in Madrid.

Today is Internatinal Children's Book Day and International Autism Day. The two are completely unrelated.

Birthdays: the OG, and first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne; Preseident Thomas Jefferson; Hans Christian Andersen (Danish author); Emile Zola (French author); Max Ernst (German artist); Rodney King (American dumb ass); Marvin Gaye (American icon); Sir Alec Guinness (British actor) and Giacomo Casanova (Italian pimp).

I was reading a bit about Casanova and that guy lived a pretty interesting life. He basically whored his way through the upper echelon of 18th-century European society and then wound up a broken-hearted librarian in Bohemia. He said of his autobiography, "I am writing "My Life" to laugh at myself and I am succeeding." That's pretty awesome, to look back at your life and laugh. Hopefully not at yourself, but with those you love...

I've been possessed by cheese demons...someone help me.