Today is Friday, October 21, 2016, and the temperature in Chicago is beginning its inexorable slide into winter. In the UK, though, it’s Apple Day, so if you’re a Brit, eat one of the good apples available in your land. In the US, it’s an odious food day: National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day. I cannot recommend this comestible.
On this day in 1520, Ferdinand Magellan discovers a the passage now called the Strait of Magellan, and in 1854, Florence Nightingale and her staff of 38 nurses went off to the Crimean War to lift the lamp high. Finally, on this day in 1945, French women became able to vote for the first time.
Notables born on this day include Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772), Alfred “Mr. Prize” Nobel (1833), Oswald Avery (1877), and Dizzy Gillespie (1917). Those who died on this day include Horatio Nelson (1805), Jack Kerouac (1969), and Ben Bradlee (2014). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is having Deep Cat Thoughts:
Hili: Have you ever wondered what happens to Thursday when Friday comes?A: No, I’ve never thought about this problem.
Hili: Czy zastanawiałeś się, co się dzieje z czwartkiem, kiedy przychodzi piątek?
Ja: Nie, nigdy nie rozważałem tego problemu.
And in Winnipeg, a respite from the blizzards has given Gus a chance to enjoy the garden:
And I couldn’t resist including two lovely cat photos by Keira McKenzie of Oz, who sent the lovely pictures of wildflowers—and of her black cat Plushie—yesterday. She also sent a photo of a neighbor’s cat with some information:
This is a cat I know very well: Charlie. He has many, many photos, and photo books and photo essays. He is quite the model: One photo attached. Charlie lives with his 85 year old mum about a block away from me, but I see him frequently and his mum (Italian) always gives me wine and cheese as we chat about all sorts of things – and Charlie. She is devoted to him and loves all cats. She thinks Plushie is delightful.
Here is one of Charlie being idiotic. He’s 9 or 10 and as playful as a kitten – which is why it’s not as 100% clear as it might have been. He does not always stay still. I printed this as a Christmas card for his mum and she laughed and it’s still on a shelf in her lounge room.
Also World Worm Day!
https://twitter.com/earthwormsoc
🙂
Hope there are no worms in your apples!
Also Trafalgar Day…
I’m going to have some apple cake made by a colleague. Seems fitting enough for Apple Day in Bristol!
Well, I feel I must stand up for pumpkin cheesecake. It was the first dessert, perhaps the first foodstuff in general, that my son learned how to make (a no-bake version) and it was quite good. He still makes it some times, but usually around Thanksgiving. So, dear readers, with no disrespect or ill will towards PCC(E), I urge those who have not tried pumpkin cheesecake to give it a go, as I feel that pretty much all foods, unlike incest and country dancing, ought to be tried at least once.
Cheers!
I’d probably try only half of these weird soups:
http://listverse.com/2009/10/06/top-10-most-bizarre-soups/
I would also pass on the fried poop chutes (actual recta or anal sphincters) popular in places like Vietnam.
I would refuse some of those soups on moral grounds; I will not eat anything that is endangered. I am a vegetarian, 20 years and counting, but I will try a bite of foods with meat in them. I usually pay for my curiosity with intestinal distress of some sort but it’s worth it.
And at least one episode of Chopped.
The pumpkin is an extravagant cultivar. Outside every supermarket are scores if not hundreds of pumpkins of every size and color, and inside a similar number of pumpkin foods to try. Too bad I don’t like it.
Got 2 apples, a pear and a peach in my snack bag for work.
I didn’t know we had an Apple Day. Anyway in the spirit of Apple Day I’ll recommend my favourite apple. Braeburn , beautiful, I eat the lot apart from the stem.
Charlie seems quite the character. Resembles a tuxedo cat of a good friend we have down the street. Only that one is very calm and quiet, but living with two rambunctious d*gs. When we visit, it generally hops onto my lap and stays there the whole time so I can’t get up to get a 2nd beer.
On this date in 1805 admiral Nelson led the English to victory at the battle of Trafalgar.
It is also the 50th anniversary of the disaster at Aberfan, Wales, when a coal tailings heap gave way and engulfed a school killing 144 people including 116 children.
I had just come to Canada and was living at the Y when I heard about it. My wife and family were still in England. 50 years on Wales still remembers that awful day and so do my wife and I.
I much prefer Reptile Awareness Day (yes, that is a thing).
But who makes up these days and what use are they to anybody except comedians looking for a cheap shot?
Does someone officially have to issue a proclamation or can the Association of Podiatric Dermatologists unilaterally declare National Athletes Foot Day? (I just made that one up. I think.)
I tried googling for a list of the more absurd national days and there are plenty of lists but I have a strong suspicion many of them are made up, which somewhat reduces their impact. Pity.
cr
Apples from Darwin’s garden for National Apple Day
https://twitter.com/HomeofDarwin/status/789567285669265409