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Today is National Inane Answering Machine Day, observed on January 30th every year. This holiday encourages you on this day to bring an end to all of the mindless and endlessly long answering machine messages that annoy and waste the time of callers. Or, you could leave a long, drawn out, insane message on someone’sContinue reading “Do people still have answering machines?”

January 29, 1929 – The Seeing Eye was incorporated in Nashville, Tennessee by Dorothy Harrison Eustus and Morris Frank, on this date. A few weeks later, the first seeing-eye Dog Guide School in the United States opened in Nashville. (The name the Seeing Eye came from Proverbs 20:12 in the Bible, “The seeing eye, theContinue reading “Love leads the way”

January 29, 1979 –Brenda Spencer fired repeatedly at the school across from her residence in San Diego, killing two and wounding eight children, using the rifle her father had given her as a gift. I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day. — The reason she gave inspired the Boomtown Rats song. Remember: gunsContinue reading “Nobody’s gonna go to school today”

January 29, 1595 –My bounty is asboundless as the sea,My love as deep. The more I give to thee,The more I have,for both are infinite …. William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet was probably first performed on this date (unless it wasn’t). I don’t know, I wasn’t there, were you? Demand Euphoria!

January 28, 814 – First Reich: Charlemagne, German emperor, dies at the age of 71 on this date. Though he had conquered much of Europe, his legacy was considerably reduced after his death from mismanagement and incompetence. Coincidentally, The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 until January 28, 1871, bringing about French defeatContinue reading “The French, they are a funny race”

January 28, 1986 –The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 74 seconds into its flight, killing teacher Christa McAuliffe and the rest of the crew. Their capsule plunged intact into the ocean, pulverizing everyone on impact, making a rescue attempt difficult, if not impossible. The cause was later found to be failure of a booster rocket O-ringsContinue reading “Avoid rocket travel this week, if possible.”

January 28, 1973 –Barnaby Jones, starring Buddy Ebsen, premieres on CBS-TV, on this date. Barnaby Jones guest stars frequently included children of the regulars. Among them, Buddy’s daughter Bonnie Ebson appeared in six episodes, playing a different character every time. Also featured were Lee Meriwether’s daughter, Kyle Aletter, and producer Quinn Martin’s daughter, Jill Martin.

January 27, 1967 –A launchpad flash fire in the Apollo I capsule killed the astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward H White and Roger B Chaffee at Cape Canaveral on this date. An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo I command module was the probable cause of the fire. And so it goes

The United Nations General Assembly designated this date, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educationalContinue reading “For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.”

Thomas Crapper died on January 27, 1910. In popular American folklore, the British Mr. Crapper was the man who invented and gave his name to the flush toilet. Unfortunately, there is little historical evidence to support Mr. Crapper as anything but a friendly British plumber. I say unfortunately because the world is ambiguous enough asContinue reading “Sooner or later, all magazines end up in the toilet.”