|
Click stars for Universe today
Cafe
Diem! Our store
Highly recommended:
Folklore of World Holidays
by Margaret
Read MacDonald
Teotihuacan
City of the Gods
Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage
Power and Terror -
Noam Chomsky
The Pagan Prosperity
The Triumph of the Moon
The Celtic Dragon
Tarot
Sabbat Entertaining
The Pagan Book of Days
The Rise of the Creative
Class
Celebrate the Earth
A Year of Holidays in the Pagan
Tradition
Wheel of the Year
The Trouble
with Islam
Brave Hearts, Rebel
Spirits
The Five Biggest Lies Bush
Told Us About Iraq
Lady Godiva
Lucifer Ascending: The
Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture
Activists Beyond
Borders
The Book of Spells
Spellcraft
The Book of Saints
The Encyclopedia of Saints
Daily Everything
Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
To support this project
Search by keywords for books, music, computers, software, home and family products and much more.
What
Would Jefferson Do?
By Thom
Hartmann
The Price of Loyalty
The
Torture Debate in America
The
Culture of the New Capitalism
Pagan
Christianity
By Robert Fisk
The God Who Wasn't There
A
Question of Torture
By Alfred McCoy
When Corporations Rule the World
Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on
Journalism
The Corporation
Highly recommended DVD
Crimes Against Nature : How George W Bush and His Corporate
Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy
By Robert F Kennedy, Jr
The Skeptic's Dictionary
Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of
Investigative Journalism in America
By Bruce Shapiro
A Dictionary of Saints Days, Fasts, Feasts and
Festivals
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
365 Goddess
Adventures in a TV Nation
Michael
Moore
Drawing Down the Moon
Globalization/Anti-Globalization
More books, calendars, T-shirts, mugs, music, posters, etc at
Cafe Diem!
Celtic Daily Prayer
Dude, Where's My Country?
Photo of the day
Mother Earth Spirituality
Rich Media, Poor Democracy
Robert McChesney
Shamanism
Women's Activism
and Globalization
Click to promote
your blog or website
another excellent
way we do
|
 Feast day of St Catherine
of Siena, virgin and Doctor
of the Church
St Catherine of Siena (born
on March
25, 1347,
in Siena,
Italy, died on April 29, 1380,
in Rome)
was a Dominican
tertiary, or
lay affiliate, of the Dominican Order,
and a
scholastic
philosopher and
theologian. St Catherine, at the age of six, was a learned and devout girl who locked herself up with other children in a room where they whipped themselves (just why is not recorded). Her father,
Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, once saw her with the
Holy Spirit sitting on her head as a dove.
At the age of seven she consecrated her
virginity to Christ despite her family's opposition, becoming at the
age of 16 a Dominican tertiary. In about
1366, St Catherine
experienced what she described in her letters as a "Mystical
Marriage" with Jesus, after which she began to tend the sick and
serve the poor. St Catherine
mortified her body, giving up meat and bread, living on herbs and water. Once,
Jesus Christ came to her as a pilgrim in need of clothing because it was cold. Because she gave him clothes, Christ gave Catherine an invisible garment to protect herself from the weather. Once he came and took her heart, bringing her back his own. She showed doubters the scars.
St Catherine's life was attended by miracles. Once, while she was making bread from spoiled flour, the
'queen of angels' came and made the bread good. Several times, Satan threw her into fires.
She wrote letters
to men and women in authority, especially begging for peace;
her letters, of which some 300 remain, are considered one of the
great works of early
Tuscan literature. St Catherine died of a stroke at Rome in 1380, aged
only 33. The very same day, her ghost appeared to Father Raymundus at Genoa. Her body was able to work miracles, or, so it is said.
Pope Pius II
canonized
Catherine in 1461.
Pope Paul VI
bestowed on her, in 1970, the title of Doctor of the Church, the first
woman, with St Teresa
of Ávila, ever to receive this honour. In
1999, Pope John
Paul II made her one of Europe's patron saints. Her body is in
Rome, her head in Siena and her foot in Venice.
She is shown in ecclesiastical art as a
virgin and/or Doctor of the Church; with a Dominican
nun's habit,
lily, book, crucifix, heart, crown of thorns, stigmata, ring, dove,
rose, skull, miniature church, and/or a miniature ship bearing the
Papal coat of arms. Her patronage includes: against fire, bodily
ills, diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, Europe, firefighters,
illness, miscarriages, nurses, people ridiculed for their piety,
sexual temptation, sick people, sickness, television, and the
historically Catholic American sorority,
Theta Phi
Alpha. She is also the patron saint of Italy, along with St
Francis of
Assisi. Catherine's feast day for
Traditional Roman Catholics is
April 30.
Wikipedia says: There is a myth that explains how
Catherine's head was able to get to Siena, where it has been
entombed in the Basilica of San Domenico. The people of Siena
knew they could not get her whole body past Roman guards and
decided to take only her head which they placed in a bag. They
were still stopped by guards and they prayed to St Catherine to
help them because they knew Catherine would rather be in Siena.
When they opened the bag to show the guards, it no longer held
her head, but was full of rose petals. Once they got back to
Siena they reopened the bag and her head reappeared. Due of this
myth, St Catherine is often seen holding a rose.
The mummified head of St Catherine of Siena, Italy
Runic
half-month of Lagu commences
Representing the flowing and mutable forces of water, Lagu
symbolizes life, growth and waxing power of this time of year.
Festival of Floralia, or
Floral Games in honour of Flora, Roman Empire (Apr 28 - May 3)
Feast day of St Agapius
Feast day of St Antonia
Feast day of St Ava
Feast day of St Daniel
Feast day of St Dichu
Feast day of St Emilian
Feast day of St Endellion
Feast day of St Fiachna of Ireland
In Goidelic (Celtic) mythology, Fiachna was the husband
of Caintigerna and father of Banba, Fodla,
and Eriu.
Feast day of St Hugh of
Cluny (Hugh the Great), abbot of Cluny
St
Hugh of Cluny (1024
- 1109)
was one of the most influential leaders of one of the most
influential monastic
orders of the Middle
Ages.
More
Feast day of St Inischolus
Feast day of the Martyrs of Corfu
Feast day of St Paulinus of Brescia
Feast day of St Peter
Verona (Peter Martyr; Peter of Verona)
St Peter Verona (1206
- April
6, 1252)
was a 13th-Century Dominican
saint. He was murdered (see image
and another)
on the road between Como
and Milan
by Cathars. Carino
cut his head with an axe,
and then gave Peter's companion Dominic several fatal wounds. His
murderer, Carino, was converted and eventually became a Dominican at
Forli
and is the subject of a local cult as 'Blessed Carino of Balsamo'.
He was canonized
a year after his death by Pope Innocent
IV on March
9, 1253,
only 337 days after his death, making him the fastest papally
canonized saint in history.
Message Of John Paul II on the 750th Anniversary of the martyrdom of St Peter Martyr
Feast day of St Robert Bruges
Feast day of St Robert
(Robert of Molesme), abbot of
Molesme
(Herb Robert; Geranium robertianum, is
today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
St Robert (c. 1027
- March 28,
1111)
was a Christian
saint,
abbot
and miracle worker, one of the founders of the Cistercian
Order in France.
Some hermits
living in the forest of Colan
sought Robert out there and asked to be put together under his
direction in a new monastery.
He obtained the permission of Pope Gregory
VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy
in 1075.
Pope Honorius
III canonized
Robert in 1222.
More
Feast day of St Secundinus
Feast day of St Senan
Feast day of St Tertula
Feast day of St Torpes of
Pisa
Feast day of St Tychicus
Feast day of St Wilfrid the Younger
Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Shop saints
Ploughing
Ceremony, Thailand, honouring the Earth and fertility
Source: The Phoenix and
Arabeth 1992 Calendar
Nagasaki
Takoage, or Kite-Flying Event,
Nagasaki,
Japan (Apr 3 - 29)
Mibu
Dainembutsu Kyogen, Japan (Apr 21 - 29)
Cassé canarie (Broken Canary
Festival; Breaking the jugs:
deliverance of the soul from purgatory), Voudon
(Voodoo) Source
Exaltation of Wine, Ribeiro
Region, Spain (Apr 28 - May 1)
La Folia Festival, at
San Vicente de la
Barquera,
Spain
(Apr 28 - May 1)
Minato Matsuri, or Port Festival, Nagasaki,
Japan
(Apr
27 - 29)
The Minato Matsuri commemorates the 16th-Century
opening of Nagasaki as Japan's sole foreign trade port and
features a folk song contest, fireworks, and a costume parade. On April 27,
the fish market has a memorial service for the catch. The famous Peiron (boat race) takes place today.
Holocaust
Remembrance Day
(Date variable)
International
Dance Day
Japan
(public holiday since 1927, traditionally the start of the Golden
Week holiday period.)
The ninth day of the Festival of
Ridván,
Bahá'í
Faith
1665
James
Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (d. 1745),
Irish statesman and soldier
 1667 John
Arbuthnot (d. February 27, 1735), British
physician, mathematician and
author best known for his satirical writings. Along with friends Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John
Gay, Arbuthnot was a member of the
Scriblerus Club, formed to satirize the
abuses of learning.
Arbuthnot is best remembered for his 1712 'John
Bull' pamphlets under the composite title Law is a Bottom-less Pit; or, The History of John Bull, satirizing the Whig
war party and popularizing John Bull as the personal symbol of Britain. In 1705, he was appointed physician to Queen Anne.
1686
Peregrine
Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven (d. 1742), English
statesman1727
Jean-Georges
Noverre (d. 1810), French dancer and ballet master 1762
Jean-Baptiste
Jourdan (d. 1833), French marshal
 1838
Bernhardt Holtermann (d. April 29,
1885), German-born
Australian gold miner, merchant, sponsor of photography for the
encouragement of immigration, member of parliament. He was the discoverer of
the Holtermann Nugget, the largest single mass of gold ever
discovered in the world, measuring
1.5 metres
long and weighing almost
290 kg.
See also
the Welcome Stranger, 1869 1863
William Randolph
Hearst (d.
August 14, 1951), American newspaper proprietor, subject of the
Orson Welles film, Citizen Kane
More
1868
Charlie
McKeahnie (surname pronounced 'Mer-kek-nee'; d.
August 3,
1895), Australian
horseman believed by some historians to be the inspiration for the
poem 'The
Man from Snowy River' by AB
'Banjo' Paterson. It may be that Australian
poet
Barcroft Boake committed suicide due to his feelings for one of
McKeahnie's five sisters.
1875
Rafael
Sabatini (d. 1950),
Italian-born British novelist (The Sea Hawk;
Scaramouche)
1876
Empress Zauditu
of Ethiopia (d. 1930)1879
Sir Thomas
Beecham (d. 1961),
English conductor 1882
HN
Werkman (d. 1945),
Dutch artist and printer 1885
Egon
Erwin Kisch (d. 1948),
Czech journalist and author 1893 Harold
Urey (d. 1981), chemist, winner of the Nobel
Prize for Chemistry
1895 Sir
Malcolm Sargent, English conductor
1899 Duke Ellington (d. 1974), pianist, bandleader
1901 Hirohito (d. 1989),
Japanese emperor
1905
Rudolf Schwarz, Viennese-born conductor of the BBC Symphony
Orchestra
1907 Fred Zinnemann (d. 1997), film director
1917
Maya Deren,
Ukrainian-American
avant-garde
filmmaker, ethnologist, choreographer, dancer, poet, writer and
photographer
More
1920 Harold Shapero, composer
1929 Peter
Sculthorpe, Australian composer whose music evokes the sounds and feeling of
the Australian bushland and outback
in works such as Kakadu (1988) and Earth
Cry (1992)
Big
Idea - Interview with Peter Sculthorpe (ABC Radio National)
1931 Lonnie Donegan (d. 2002), British musician
1931 Frank
Auerbach, painter
1933
Rod McKuen, poet, composer
1933 Mark
Eyskens, Belgian minister and Prime Minister
1936 Zubin
Mehta, Indian conductor and violinist
1942 Klaus Voormann, illustrator
1946 John
Waters, director, writer
1947 Tommy
James, musician
1947 Olavo de Carvalho, philosopher
1952 David
Icke, controversial conspiracy writer
1954 Jerry Seinfeld, comedian, actor, writer,
producer
1955 Kate Mulgrew, actress
1957 Daniel Day-Lewis, actor
1958 Michelle Pfeiffer, actress
1961
Cyndi Boste, Australian
singer/songwriter
"Formerly a private 'discovery' for
a few, Cyndi is rapidly gaining a wider audience. Late 2004 saw
her on a two-month European tour with Barb Waters taking in
Germany, Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia and the UK. Back home,
Cyndi was chosen by US country blues legend Eric Bibb to support
him on his 2005 Australian tour through March and April."
Source
1970 Uma
Thurman, actress
Phew!!
Have a rest before the big This
day in history section
Send
a free e-card greeting for today's celebrations to a loved one
Do you forget
birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule
your cards
to be sent during the coming year.
Varies
Full
Moon Day
Varies
Friday
the 13th
Varies
Hindu
holidays
Varies Passover
Varies
Orthodox
Holy Friday
Varies Good
Friday
Varies
Orthodox
Easter
Varies Easter
Varies Baisakhi
Varies Mahavir
Jayanti
Varies Hanuman
Jayanti
Varies
Arbor
Day
Varies
Child
Care Professionals Day
![Mother's Day [ May 14 ]](http://img.123greetings.com/homeimages/side_mothers_day_1.gif)
April
29 Zipper
Day
29 Spring
Festival (California, USA)
29 International
Dance Day
30 Oatmeal
Cookie Day
30 Hairstylist
Day
May
1 May
Day
1 Chocolate
Parfait Day
1 New
Homeowner's Day
1 Plant
A Flower Day
1 Beltane
1 Lei
Day (Hawaii, USA)
1 Bird
Day (Oklahoma, USA)
1 School
Principals' Day
1 Global
Love Day
2 Teacher
Day
2 Brothers
And Sisters Day
2 Baby
Day
3 Raspberry
Popover Day
3 Polish-American
Day( Connecticut, USA)
4 Naked
Day
4 Orange
Juice Day
4 National
Day Of Prayer
4 International
Firefighters' Day
5 Cinco
De Mayo
5 International
Tuba Day
5 Halfway
Point Of Spring
5 Chocolate
Custard Day
5 Hoagie
Day
5 International
Midwives Day
6 Nurses
Day
6 No
Diet Day
6 Astronomy
Day
6 Freud
Day
6 Derby
Day
7 School
Day
7 Unmothers'
Day
8 Senior
Citizens Day
8 Student
Nurses Day
8 World
Red Cross Day
8 V-E
Day
9 Tear
Tags Off Mattresses Day
10 Blood
Pressure Day
10 School
Nurse Day
10 Clean
Up Your Room Day
10 Golden
Spike Day
... More
Events
Visit
the Blogmanac, where today's Almanac is 'live'
And
I hope you will sign my GuestMap
 If you are enjoying this page, click to
receive similar items daily with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac
ezine
Webmaster,
webmasters free content, or else articles at very reasonable rates
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your website or publication, on
application. Further details
1376 Sir
Peter de
la Mare became the first Speaker
of the House of Commons of England (during the Good
Parliament).
1429 Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc
relieved Orleans
from an English
siege.
1661 China's Ming
Dynasty occupied Taiwan.
1672 Franco-Dutch
War: Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands.
1676 Michiel Adriaanzoon de Ruyter (b.
March 24, 1607), "great Dutch admiral, whose brilliant naval victories in the
Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars enabled the United Provinces to maintain a
balance of power with England, dies from mortal wounds received while fighting
the French off Sicily". Source
1745
Cowper
Thornhill (Cooper Thornhill), keeper, from
1730 until his death in 1759, of the Bell Inn
on the Great
North Road at Stilton,
now in Cambridgeshire,
in the former county of Huntingdonshire,
England, made
what was at the time the greatest horse-ride ever known: 213 miles in twelve
hours, 17 minutes. The
ride was from the Bell Inn to Shoreditch Church in
London (bringing to mind the nursery
rhyme 'Oranges
and Lemons'), then back, and back again to London.
Thornhill
must have been a remarkable man. He is also generally referred to as the man who popularized
Stilton
cheese (one of my favourite delicacies). He discovered a distinctive blue-vein cheese while visiting a small farm
in rural Leicestershire, fell in love with the product and forged a business
arrangement that granted the Bell exclusive marketing rights to blue
Stilton.
"Stilton cheese has its origins in the early 18th
Century at about the same time that Sam Cullum was starting the business
which was to become Paxton & Whitfield. Elizabeth Scarbrow was housekeeper
at Quenby Hall near Leicester and saw a cheese being made which was known as
Lady Beaumont's cheese. Elizabeth learned to make it herself and sold it as
far afield as the Bell Inn in the village of Stilton, a Great North Road
coaching inn some 30 miles away. Here it was purchased & enjoyed by
travellers & became known as Stilton after the place where it was bought.
Elizabeth married and one of her daughters continued to produce the cheese
while the other married the landlord of the Bell. So popular was the cheese
that others in the area produced similar cheeses and, in 1910, the producers
had the foresight to lay down methods of production and to define the nature
of the cheese and where it could be produced."
Source
1858
France:
Justice by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, philosopher, economist, sociologist, was published.
Works
by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon at Project
Gutenberg, and also
Mondo
Politico on-line Library
1885 Oxford
University decided to allow women to sit for examinations.
 1903 The Frank Slide: At
4:10 am, a 30,000,000-cubic-metre landslide killed about 76 people in the mining
town of Frank, Alberta, Canada.
The noise was heard 160 km (approx. 100 mi) away.
"There were some miraculous escapes that night. One of the most spectacular was that of Marion Leitch, a baby at the time. She was thrown from her crushed home onto another boulder which, in turn, crushed a neighbour's home and came to rest. The little girl was found sitting on top of the boulder in a pile of hay which had been ripped out of a mine barn by the boulder."
Source
FrankSlide.com Frank Slide, Alberta -
When a mountain fell on a town
 1913 Gideon Sundbäck (1880 - 1954), a Swedish engineer working in the US,
patented the first 'hookless fastener' (the BF Goodrich Company
coined the word 'zipper' for this device in
1926).
On August 29, 1893, a
mechanical engineer from Chicago, by the name of Whitcomb L Judson, patented
what he called a 'clasp locker', which was a device with hooks, eyes and a
slide clasp with which to open and close. Despite his fine inventor-type
moniker, and his exhibiting the clasp locker at the 1893 World's Columbian
Exhibition in Chicago, Judson failed to prosper from the device, selling just 20
to the US Postal Service, to close mailbags. (The problem of sealing mailbags
must have occupied postal services in those days: Louisa Lawson
[1848 - 1920], pioneer Australian feminist
and mother of writer Henry
Lawson [1867 - 1922], invented
a mailbag-closing device that was used by the Australian postal service. She
spent most of the rest of her life trying to get them to pay her for the idea.)
Source et al
1916 Easter
Rebellion: Martial law in Ireland was
lifted and the rebellion was officially over with the surrender of Irish
nationalists to British authorities in Dublin.
1921
Death of
Bay City, Michigan, USA school teacher, Annie
Edson Taylor (Annie Taylor; Anna Taylor), the first person to survive a trip
over Niagara
Falls in a barrel (on October
24, 1901 at the
age of 63).
Taylor died at the Niagara County Infirmary in Lockport,
New York and is buried in the 'Stunters Section' of Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara
Falls, New York.
Her words following the stunt: "No
one ought ever do that again".
More
 1925
Bobby Leach ('The Canadian Daredevil'),
a native of Cornwall,
UK, who had been the first man over Niagara Falls
in a barrel, did not long survive this day's close encounter with a piece of orange
peel. In New Zealand, while on a Down Under tour that included the Land of the
Long White Cloud and its neighbour,
Australia, Leach slipped on said peel,
injured himself, and soon contracted gangrene, to which he succumbed (April
26,
1926). He is buried in New Zealand (see his
grave's headstone).
Daredevil
Chronological Lists Daredevils of Niagara Falls
More
Wilson's Webcam Watch
The
image of Niagara Falls, below, if it's appearing, is generated
by a live webcam. Webcam images refresh at set intervals, so if
you refresh this page it might show a changed image. If you click
it, you'll go to an enlargement or the recommended webcam site.
List of
featured webcams and webfeeds
Recommend
a webcam or report malfunction
Niagara Falls live
1930 A telephone
connection was completed between Britain and Australia.
1945 World War II: The German
Army in Italy
unconditionally surrendered to the Allies.
1945 On the day before their deaths, Adolf Hitler and his long-time partner
Eva
Braun married in a Berlin bunker and he designated Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor.
1945 Holocaust:
The Dachau concentration camp, where
more than 200,000 people were executed, was liberated by United States troops.
1945
American poet, Ezra Pound,
was turned over to the American Army by Italian partisans as a
traitor.
1946 Former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki
Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders were indicted for war
crimes.
1960 USA:
Payola Scandal: Before a United States House
of Representatives subcommittee, radio disk jockey Dick Clark denied involvement
in the scandal.
1967 After refusing induction
into the United States Army the day before
(citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali was stripped of his boxing
title.
 1967 Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman (1936 - '89)
handed flowers to soldiers in a VFW 'Support our Boys in
Vietnam' march. He coined the phrases 'flower power', and 'we shall not wilt'.
Wilson's
Almanac Book of Days hip list
1968
The rock musical
HAIR opened at the Biltmore
Theatre, New York. HAIR has a
star named after it. It is located in the constellation, Aquarius.
1970 Vietnam
War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia
to hunt Viet Cong.
1972 Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman gave
a speech at
Brandeis University. He was quoted in The Justice as
saying, "I learned one thing; you never do anything for fame or
money. You only do things 'cause they're fun or good. If you can
combine the two at the same time, you can make a contribution to the
world and have a lot of happiness".
Wilson's
Almanac Book of Days hip list
CounterCulture
Wiki
1974 Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announced the release of
edited transcripts of White
House tape recordings related to the scandal.
1975 Vietnam
War:
Operation Frequent Wind – The
last American citizens began evacuation from Saigon
prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. United States
involvement in the war came to an end.
1977 Spain legalised trade unions for the first time since 1936.
1981 Fire killed 16 at a
Sylvania,
NSW,
Australia, nursing home. An
88-year-old patient was charged with murder.
1988 Glasnost:
Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev promised increased religious freedoms.
1992 1992 civil unrest in Los
Angeles: Riots in Los Angeles, California,
following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive
force in the March
3, 1991 beating of Rodney
King. During the next 3 days 54 people were killed and hundreds
of buildings destroyed.
2002 "Paul McCartney was granted
an injunction by Justice Laddie at London's High Court preventing
Christie's auction house from selling a draft manuscript of 'Hey
Jude.'" Source
2004
USA: President
George W Bush and Vice President
Dick Cheney
testified before the
9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the
Oval Office. They did so after approximately two years of
arguing that there should be no public enquiry. Following the
White House coming under intense fire concerning the commission
from many victims' families, Bush and Cheney agreed to testify, on
certain tight conditions:
- That they would be allowed to testify
jointly;
- That they would not be required to take an
oath before testifying;
- That their testimony would not be recorded
electronically or transcribed, and that the only
record would be notes; taken by one of the
commission staffers;
- That these notes would not be made public.
Tomorrow: Parading of Capitaine Danjou's wooden hand
Main calendar
| Yesterday |
Tomorrow | Search
An oldie but a goodie
In case you needed further proof that the human race is doomed through stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods.
On a Sear's hairdryer:
"Do not use while sleeping." (Gee that's the only time I have to work on my hair.)
On a bag of Fritos:
"You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. Details inside." (The shoplifter special)
On a bar of Dial soap:
"Directions: Use like regular soap." (And that would be how ...?)
On some Swanson frozen dinners:
"Serving suggestion: Defrost." (But its "just" a suggestion)
On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom):
"Do not turn upside down." (Too late!)
On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding:
"Product will be hot after heating." (As night follows day . . .)
On packaging for a Rowenta iron:
"Do not iron clothes on body." (But wouldn't this save me more time?)
On Boot's Children Cough Medicine:
"Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medication." (We could do a lot to reduce the rate of construction accidents if we could just get those 5-year-olds with head-colds off those forklifts.)
On Nytol Sleep Aid:
"Warning: May cause drowsiness." (One would hope.)
On most brands of Christmas lights:
"For indoor or outdoor use only." (As opposed to what?)
On a Japanese food processor:
"Not to be used for the other use." (I gotta admit, I'm curious.)
On Sainsbury's peanuts:
"Warning: contains nuts." (Talk about a news flash.)
On an American Airlines packet of nuts:
"Instructions: Open packet, eat nuts." (Step 3: Fly Delta.)
On a child's superman costume:
"Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly." (I don't blame the company. I blame parents for this one.)
On a Swedish chainsaw:
"Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals." (Was there a lot of this happening somewhere? My God!)
Wikipedia
and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed
are both excellent resources that aid my research.
I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft'
and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude.
© My own copyright
policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply.
Read more about today at Wilson's
Blogmanac
|
reetings from Australia. 
Solar
alignment at 
Understanding
Aztec/Mexican calendar systems
