This year the 11th day of February falls on a Friday. When I was working, it was my favorite day of the week. The weekly party was about to begin. Now, it’s always Saturday and the party started in 2010. I do enjoy retirement. Here are the commission’s suggestions: Get Out Your Guitar Day (ukulele for me), Grandmother Achievement Day, National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day, National Peppermint Patty Day, Satisfied Staying Single Day, National No One Eats Alone Day and National Make a Friend Day. Now to the history part of this post. This date is traditionally recognized as the day Japan was founded in 660 BC. In 1794 the 1st session of the US Senate was opened to the public. In 1809 and this date, Robert Fulton received a patent for the steamboat. In 1812 Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting bill resulting in the first “gerrymander”. In 1852, the first British public female toilet opened on Bedford Street in London. This is a pretty big deal. Until this happened, public toilets were men only. In 1902 police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels. In 1963 American chef Julia Child’s show “The French Chef” premiered. You can still watch some of these shows on YouTube and improve your kitchen skills. The first quote today is from Leo Festinger who passed in 1989. He was a psychologist and only a few of his quotes are available. This one is excellent: “A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree, and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” I’ll end this post with a couple of quotes from Frank Herbert who was the author of the “Dune”. He died in 1986. Frank said,” The best contribution one can make to humanity is to improve oneself.” “Never attempt to reason with people who know they are right.” “Most believe that a satisfactory future requires a return to an idealized past, a past which never in fact existed.” Abide.
