04/04 - National Fun Day

National Fun Day is a bewildering idea. Is there a fee? Some little kids used to "have fun" now and then, time and circumstances permitting, at least the lucky ones did, but "fun" all too soon became a commodity. This country has long been awash in advertising for "fun". Places, events, activities, pastimes, toys or equipment, and all with a price tag and sometimes a nagging bit of worry that you weren't getting your money's worth, that ir really wasn't so much fun at that. And, of course, it's also time restricted, with opportunities for fun doled out sparingly, a bit here and there, now and then. Excess fun is frivolous, you should be working, making money or improving yourself or your looks or health. It hit me that perhaps I had missed the memo, and we were all now both allowed and mandated to go "have fun" on this specific day and this day only, but I found no evidence of that.

At last it hit me that I had overlooked the obvious - Chow Fun. Sure, the government and oligarchs (ok, so it's redundant, so shoot me) want us to hate the Chinese in order to maintain and perfect a unipolar US global hegemony and economic supremacy, but that's no reason to eschew their chow food. And a personal favorite of mine and many others is chow fun. In particular, for me at any rate, that would be broccoli-beef chow fun or just beef chow fun. It's fun and fun and delicious, nutritous and good for what ails you. And, for most of us, you still have to buy it, so it even meets the paradigmatic "Fun = something you spend money on" test. Sorry, but this is making me hungry, so I'll just stop and run out for some fun.

It's also 404 Day but I decided not to go there because I couldn't decide which politician or CEO's photo to use for the title graphic. Speaking of which, the exact same reasoning applies to National Tell a Lie Day

AND, lastly, it's Sweet Potato Day; presumably, that ol' sweet pertata, the Ocarina:

[Peru 1999 by Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen, (CC BY-NC-ND} 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/legalcode

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On this day in history:

1609 – Moriscos were expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivered the first paleontological lecture. 1814 – Napoleon abdicated for the first time 1818 – The United States Congress adopted the flag of the United States 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elected Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the US 1905 – An earthquake hit the Kangra Valley in India killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) was founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany. 1944 – The first bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces killed 3000 civilians. 1945 – Red Army troops liberated Hungary from German occupation 1949 – Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO 1958 – The CND peace symbol was displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agreed to grant independence to the Mali Federation 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implanted the first temporary artificial heart. 1975 – Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan was executed. 1981 – The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force attacked H-3 Airbase and destroyed about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle Challenger made its maiden voyage into space. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan called for an international ban on chemical weapons, heh 1996 – Comet Hyakutake was imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The MPLA government of Angola and UNITA rebels signed a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France announced the return to full participation in NATO of its military forces 2020 – China held a national day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

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Some people who were born on this day:

Man is not made better by being degraded

~ Dorothea Dix

1572 – William Strachey, author 1640 – Gaspar Sanz, guitarist, composer, and priest 1646 – Antoine Galland, orientalist and archaeologist 1648 – Grinling Gibbons, sculptor 1688 – Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, astronomer and cartographer 1802 – Dorothea Dix, nurse and activist 1818 – Thomas Mayne Reid, author and poet 1821 – Linus Yale, Jr., engineer and businessman 1826 – Zénobe Gramme, engineer, invented the Gramme machine 1835 – John Hughlings Jackson, physician and neurologist 1842 – Édouard Lucas, mathematician and theorist 1868 – Philippa Fawcett, mathematician and educator 1869 – Mary Colter, architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower 1906 – John Cameron Swayze, journalist 1913 – Muddy Waters, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1914 – David W. Goodall, ecologist and botanist 1915 – Louis Archambault, sculptor 1921 – Orunamamu, author and educator 1928 – Maya Angelou, memoirist and poet 1928 – Monty Norman, singer, songwriter, and producer 1939 – Hugh Masekela, trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer 1940 – Sharon Sheeley, singer and songwriter 1942 – Kitty Kelley, journalist and biographer 1944 – Mary Kenny, journalist, author, and playwright 1944 – Bob McDill, country music songwriter 1946 – Dave Hill, guitarist 1948 – Berry Oakley, bass player 1948 – Pick Withers, drummer 1949 – Junior Braithwaite, singer 1949 – Shing-Tung Yau, mathematician and academic 1952 – Gary Moore, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1953 – Chen Yi, violinist and composer 1957 – Graeme Kelling, guitarist 1957 – Nobuyoshi Kuwano, singer and trumpet player 1958 – Peter Baltes, bass player 1958 – Cazuza, singer and songwriter 1962 – Craig Adams, bass player and songwriter 1965 – Vinny Burns, guitarist and producer 1966 – Mike Starr, bass player 1970 – Josh Todd, singer, songwriter, and actor 1972 – Jill Scott, singer, songwriter, and actress 1973 – Kelly Price, singer, and songwriter 1975 – Miranda Lee Richards, singer and songwriter 1979 – Andy McKee, guitarist 1980 – Johnny Borrell, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1986 – Eunhyuk, singer, songwriter, and dancer

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Some people who died on this day:

Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law.

~~ Oliver Goldsmith

1609 – Carolus Clusius, botanist, mycologist, and academic 1617 – John Napier, mathematician, physicist, and astronomer 1774 – Oliver Goldsmith, novelist, playwright and poet 1807 – Jérôme Lalande, astronomer and academic 1870 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, chemist and physicist 1875 – Karl Mauch, geographer and explorer 1883 – Peter Cooper, businessman and philanthropist, founded Cooper Union 1890 – Edmond Hébert, geologist and academic 1912 – Isaac K. Funk, minister, lexicographer, and publisher, co-founded Funk & Wagnalls 1919 – William Crookes, chemist and physicist 1923 – John Venn, mathematician and philosopher, created the Venn diagram 1929 – Karl Benz, engineer and businessman 1932 – Wilhelm Ostwald, chemist and academic 1961 – Simion Stoilow, mathematician and academic 1967 – Al Lewis, songwriter 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr., minister and activist 1976 – Harry Nyquist, engineer and theorist 1980 – Red Sovine, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1984 – Oleg Antonov, engineer and businessman, founded Antonov 1985 – Kate Roberts, author and activist 1987 – Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, journalist, poet, and author 1992 – Arthur Russell, singer, songwriter, and cellist 1993 – Alfred Mosher Butts, game designer, invented Scrabble 2001 – Liisi Oterma, astronomer 2001 – Ed Roth, illustrator and engineer 2007 – Karen Spärck Jones, computer scientist and academic 2011 – Scott Columbus, drummer 2013 – Roger Ebert, journalist, critic, and screenwriter 2014 – Wayne Henderson, trombonist and producer

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

404 Day International Carrot Day National Fun Day Sweet Potato Day Vitamin C Day National Tell A Lie Day Peace Day (Angola) One of the possible days for Qingming Festival.

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MUSIC goes here; With apologies ;-)

Gaspar Sanz

Muddy Waters

Hugh Masakela

Dave Hill

Berry Oakley