It’s February 16, 2022. Another unique, once in a lifetime, 24-hour trip across space awaits; just like all the others. I write this post to remind myself, and you, to treasure each day I/we live and be grateful for the opportunity. Today is Do a Grouch a Favor Day (I avoid grouchy people), National Almond Day, Kyoto Protocol Day, and Tim Tam Day (Australian candy bar). February is also the Great American Pie Month so you can always celebrate that. Now let’s see what happened on this date in history. In 600 Pope Gregory the Great decreed that “God bless You” was the correct response to a sneeze. In 1838 Kentucky passed a law permitting women to attend school. On this day in 1861 Abraham Lincoln stopped his train at Westfield on his way to Washington to thank an 11-year-old girl in person who suggested that he should grow a beard to gain more votes. In 1883 “Ladies Home Journal” began publishing. In 1943 a sign appeared on a building in Munich Germany that read “Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!” The sign was posted by Sophie Scholl who was a member of the “White Rose”, a student group protesting the Nazis. She was caught on 2/18 and beheaded on 2/22. She was 21 years old. Today we will stop at the gravesite of Iain Banks who was born on this day in 1954 and died in 2013. Iain was a Scottish author. He said, “There has seldom if ever a shortage of eager young males prepared to kill and die to preserve the security, comfort and prejudices of their elders, and what you call heroism is just an expression of this simple fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots.” “One of the advantages of having laws is the pleasure one may take in breaking them.” I’ll wrap today up with “After doing extensive research, I can definitely tell you that single malt whiskies are good to drink.” I think I agree with him. Abide.
