Welcome
- September 10, 2025
- National Piano Month 2025
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My favorite musical instrument is the piano. I have always envisioned myself some erstwhile Leon Russell tickling the ivories with my distinct style and technical imprimatur.
Alas, I am not the late great Leon Russell and likely will never truly attain those great heights he attained.
The piano dates back to the 1700s in Padua, Italy by one Bartolomeo Cristofori.
It took a while for it to gain the popularity it enjoys presently.
This is National Piano Month.
True pianos have 88 keys that include a row of 52 white keys and 36 black keys.
There are other lesser keyboard implementations such as the 76 key, 61 key, 49 key, 37 key, 36 key and 32 key as well — but they were never anything I would personally purchase.
The range of this instrument is astounding. Even I who simply "play at" the piano can make interesting noise from it. I have been accused of "playing" when I have had no formal training. The piano is here to stay. This is it's month.
Happy National Piano Month to you !
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- September 9, 2025
- National When Pigs Fly Day 2025
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A few times in my life responses to when something might happen have began:
"When pigs fly ..."
The notion was that my question was highly unlikely of ever realistically coming to fruition.
So today we have National When Pigs Fly Day.
The day was first observed September 9, 2020 by one Lisa J Schanley when she submitted it for consideration as a new holiday.
It's all about dreams and possibilities and having that which may seem absurd or impossible actually come true. It's also about those steps we can take toward making it all happen. Setting your goals higher and never giving up on them. You know ... perseverence.
So reach for the stars and who knows, you just might get there !
Happy National When Pigs Fly Day.
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- September 8, 2025
- Star Trek Day 2025
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Thus far I am happier with Star Trek Piccard than I have been with all the woke ass bullcrap that was put out in the franchise prior to the Piccard segment.
I'm so sick of these johnney come lately "wood be" trekkers imparting their irrelevant stench to the various Star Trek franchises because they exhibit their stupidity and lack of grasp of both the characters and the plot — not to mention the flavor of Star Trek in it's various iterations.
Today is Star Trek Day.
It is observed each September 8 to celebrate the legacy of Star Trek and to mourn that faux pas which was the idiotic additions made during the stupid Biden Harris era by the woke sickos who they cultivated with wild abandon. I have been watching Star Trek since 1966 and I have participated in the evolution before both the big and small screen iterations. I don't watch the new serial iterations because I view them as irrelevant. I think Star Trek has imparted sufficient cultual significance on the world to warrant an annual observance of both it and it's impact and those characters I have personally come to love ...
Like Mr Data.
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- September 7, 2025
- Blood Moon September 7
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A fully eclipsed Moon is sometimes referred to as a Blood Moon for its reddish color.
The term, though not scientific is appropos nontheless because it is highly descriptive.
A blood moon is that red-orange appearance of the full Moon during a total lunar eclipse, which occurs when the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting a shadow on it.
Sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, which filters out blue light and scatters it, leaving the redder wavelengths to be reflected off the Moon's surface, giving it a copper or rusty red color.
It may further be referred to as:
A total lunar eclipse
A lunar tetrad
The Full Moon in October
While an interesting sidebar, the appearence is purely that — the way it looks. It is not going to involve any actual blood, detrimental effects, nor harm to the solar system.
So I hope you can take a moment and view the astronomical show.
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- September 6, 2025
- National Read a Book Day 2025
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I used to be an avid reader. More so in a younger day.
This, after a career of forced indulgence in reading scientific literature to the point of distraction in the name of subject matter expertise for presentation in the classroom of a local technical college.
One of those early reads was Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough, which I purchased from the Book of the Month Club back in the early 1970s — prior to it becoming the sorry piss poor excuse of a book club it is today.
Frazer's work is a comparative study of mythology and religion and taught me of man and his pursuit of spirituality and cultural evolution.
Today is National Read a Book Day.
It is observed each September 6 and beckons the bibliophile to indulge reading and books.
The origins of the day are somewhat obscure with several places claiming ownership.
Though my book reading heyday is long over I still indulge reading albeit in more the electronic variants available than those published tomes I used to covet with such fierce affinity.
Regardless of how and what you read, I hope you'll take a moment to engage the mind in those pages which will truly take you places you may have never been.
Happy National Read a Book Day to you.
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- September 5, 2025
- Bring Your Manners to Work Day 2025
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A favorite of my good ole ex friend Darrell was American journalist and author Judith Martin who goes by the pen name Miss Manners.
She has been dispensing advice on etiquette and social behavior through her syndicated column since 1978.
She promotes civilty through her writings via etiquette as a mechanism for expressing goodwill and respect for others.
I lost my friendship with Darrell due to my lack of etiquette.
I don't know who I thought I was ...
So today we have Bring Your Manners to Work Day.
It is observed on the first Friday in September.
That will make it September 5th this year.
The workaday world likely has you spending more time with those at your place of employment than with your family. Such is our 21st century schizoid world.
Manners in the workplace may include eliminating messy workstations, conversing politely, and not using your cellphone when you’re in the company of others.
The crux of the day is bad manners make for bad business and bad workplaces and as such we should endeavor to be cognizant of the others around us and accommodate a sense of decorum in the name of a more pleasant workday.
Happy Bring Your Manners to Work Day. I'm glad I'm retired.
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- September 4, 2025
- Remembering John McCarthy
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Not everyone in computers is a "sooner" such as myself.
I was very lucky to be certified in subject matter expertise in several critical areas as the result of inservice training with vendors during my career.
There are pedigreed individuals touting advanced degrees and academic accolades across the land. One such individual is the late John McCarthy. He was an American computer and cognitive scientist.
While I have extensive experience and utilized acquired skills with both common and Franz Lisp, I have never achieved any level of academic excellence toward that end.
He contributed to the founding of artificial intelligence and co-authored the document that coined that term "artificial intelligence" aka "AI".
He also developed the programming language family Lisp, influenced the design of the language ALGOL, and popularized time-sharing and and invented the automatic memory management in computers called "garbage collection".
He was born September 4, 1927 and died October 24, 2011.
As a computer scientist he founded the field of Artificial Intelligence.
John McCarthy pivotal figure in the field of artificial intelligence defining the discipline and establishing its first major research labs at MIT and Stanford.
He was awarded the Turing Award for his work, including the invention of the Lisp programming language and the concept of time-sharing, and his contributions shaped the course of AI research for decades, leading to developments like conversational AI and cloud computing.
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- September 3, 2025
- Remembering Judy Carne
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When I was a child one of those television programs I frequented was Rowan and Martin's Laugh In.
It was comedy in an era when the cruel hostilities associated with my every day existence made me able to use a laugh when and where one should present itself.
One of those regulars on the program was Judy Carne a Brit actress and comedian who became the "Sock It To Me" girl and as a result an overnight sensation.
Miss Carne was born Joyce Audrey Botterill on April 27, 1939 at Northampton, England. She passed on September 3 2025 at age 76 in the same location, which she considered "home".
She had two short marriages each lasting about 1 or 2 years. One was to actor Burt Reynolds the other to producer Robert Bergmann.
She penned her autobiography which was entitled "Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the Inside: The Bittersweet Saga of the Sock-It-To-Me Girl" in 1985.
The expose covered her frailties, marriages, bisexuality, and drug use.
Carne returned home to Northamptonshire, England, in the 1980s, living quietly in the village of Pitsford. There she passed this earthly existence from pneumonia on September 3, 2015 at a hospital in Northampton.
She was always a favorite of mine due to her Laugh In Days and that respite they brought to what was an otherwise intolerable existence. Rest in peace.
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- September 2, 2025
- VJ Day Anniversary 2025
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You hate to nuke an adversary to get them to stop attempting to dominate the world. However, "We will annihilate you" became that battle cry which came to fruition and stopped the Japanese nation from attacking and killing it's neighbors in some misguided attempt to be a set of asian Nazis seeking living room beyond their own borders.
Today is V-J Day. Victory in Japan.
It corresponds to V-E Day which designated Victory in Europe which occurs on May 8.
V-J Day is observed each September 2 in the US and commemorates the turning of the tide of the Second World War in favor of the Allies.
Conventional wisdom states that the Japanese Empire ultimately surrendered after the US bombed two major Japanese cities, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, with atomic warheads, causing such a concentrated and gigantic loss of Japanese citizens that afterwards there really was no viable hope of for victory thereafter.
There are iconic images from the time which still resonate with the American people of that era. My personal opinions are somewhat obscured by the fact that these events happened before my birth.
The portents were somewhat confusing.
All my Japanese friends have been good to me personally and I have no ill will toward any of them. My only negative experience was in Seventh Grade geography where I was told of the atrocities which precipitated the dropping of the bombs.
Nonetheless, Happy VJ Day to you !
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- September 1, 2025
- Labor Day 2025
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Here we have another Labor Day.
It is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September in honor and recognititon of the American labor movement as well as the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements in the United States.
It began as the trade union and labor movements grew in the late 19th century.
Trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor.
I view it all as a commie plot for get over federal employees to leech another day's work from the taxpayer to go along with their largely undeserved Navy disability payments.
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- September 1, 2025
- Acne Positivity Day 2025
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When I was in school I was always the "fat new kid with acne".
Yes, I suffered from acne and the others at school viewed it as a hygiene matter when it was not that at all. There was a preponderance of acne in our family which I can only attribute to my "inferior genetics" as I was told by Dr Bill Robinson the unskilled, defective personality quack.
Today is Acne Positivity Day.
It is observed each September 1 annually in the US.
Acne vulgaris is a skin disease that happens when oil and dead skin cells clog your hair follicles. It creates pimples, whiteheads, as well as blackheads. Though most common among teens, people of all ages may be affected by the scourge.
As common as it is, acne can be a prominent source of insecurity for many people, affecting other aspects of their lives, such as social and personal aspects. Some of my darkest memories include getting a pimple on the end of my nose and watching the eyes of those with whom I was convering flick down to it throughout the conversation ...
National Acne Positivity Day aims to end this by encouraging self-love, acceptance, and appreciation of this natural skin phenomenon and ourselves.
Good luck with that you pimpley poor hygiene oily faced brat.
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- August 31, 2025
- National South Carolina Day 2025
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I am a South Carolinian. This is due to my birth and geographic location.
I have to say I was much more patriotic in this regard than I am presently.
When I was a child I was a Navy brat. Military children typically run more on the patriotic side of attitudes than many others.
Today is National South Carolina Day.
It is observed each August 31st annually to mark the history, people, and culture of South Carolina.
We were one of the first states ot ratify the US Constitution and as such we have been a foundation in the annals of US history. South Carolina was first established in the late 17th Century as "Carolina" which was a colony of King Charles I. Soon it was divided into North and South segments.
We subsequently became the eighth state in the Union and became the site of some of those battles significant to the history of American independence. During the Civil War the state suffered losses and economic decline which were regained during and after reconstruction.
Textiles and policy were the turning point and although textiles have pretty much gone by the wayside as evidenced by the great mill between the Midway and Brookland communities, Lancaster, South Carolina.
However, that distinctive flavor which is Southern hospitality permeates the entirety of the state.
Happy National South Carolina Day to you.
See Also:
Military Brat's Day 2025
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- August 30, 2025
- International Whale Shark Day 2025
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Gigantic fish have always interested me.
I recall my first dead sunfish in Garrison's Bight at Key West, Florida.
The thing was huge and I went to where it was and looked at it a very long time.
This brings us to the Whale Shark. Another huge true fish, it is slow and gentle and would swim the shallows in that same region as the sunfish.
This is the largest shark species on the planet and to see one in person is awe inspiring.
This is an animal I wish people would forego as a food source. Alas, this is not the case.
The whale shark has an average food intake of 44 lbs of food daily. They start out at 16 to 24 inches and may grow from 40 to 60 feet. They have 300 rows of 3,000 teeth, which are 0.2 inches long and the animals feed primarily on plankton and krill.
They are hunted for meat, fins, and recreation. Their primary predators are Orcas, various shark species, and of course — man — I am happy to report that our Japanese brethren who think they have a right to take any living thing from the ocean because nobody has sufficiently told them NO primarily places these fish in Aquaria and as such is more of an attempt at conservation than anything else.
In a sad note, these magnificent animals have been placed on the endangered list of the world’s species.
Today is International Whale Shark Day.
It is a day to consider the place of the Whale Shark in the ecosystem and attempt protections from those predators who exist with the rest of us on the planet. It is an important effort to try and save them from those who think they own the world.
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- August 29, 2025
- GG Allin's Birthday 2025
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There was once an abomination named Kevin Michael Allin.
He was born on August 29, 1956 of modest beginnings in an off the grid style log cabin.
He was named "Jesus Christ" by his father based on religious delusions he harbored — but went by the stage name GG Allin. He was aka The Madman of Manchester.
He was a punk rock musician and songwriter.
Being a self identified extreme individualist who was anti authoritarian and a promoter of lawlessness and violence against police officers he engaged in disturbing visuals including self-mutilation as well as assaulting his audience during his stage acts. He blamed it all on his upbringing.
He formed a band with his brother and released several songs prior to his death by heroin overdose on June 28, 1993.
He was 36 years of age.
Though I have never and will never be a fan of his art, if any story in history could be called tragic it is certainly his.
Rest in peace.
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