George Washington |
By Gilbert Stuart, Public Domain, Link
George Washington |
By Gilbert Stuart, Public Domain, Link
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
April 26th is Hug an Australian Day.
Australia is the lone continent that is also one entire country. Australia Day is celebrated each year on January 26th marking the 1788 landing of the first fleet into Sydney Harbor and the subsequent raising of the Union Flag of Great Britain. 3 months to the day later you can celebrate Australians all over again by hugging them.
Originated in 1996 in Melbourne, Hug an Australian day promotes warmth and wellness.
Wallaby,Dhammagiri Forest Hermitage, Buddhist Monastery, Brisbane, Australia www.dhammagiri.org.au
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Today's Song of the Day is We are Here by Randy Stonehill & Buck Storm
23 songs for the playlist
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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
April 25th: Multiple Holidays Abound
Everyday of the year there are a plethora of holidays, My job for the challenge was to scour through those holidays and find one that somehow relates to the letter of the day. Since todays letter is V, I thought I might give you a variety pack of holidays, events, and occurrences to celebrate today.
Holidays
National Hairstylist Appreciation Day Held on the 25th April since 2012. Prior to that it was celebrated on April 30th, but alas, that wasn't it's "permanent" day.
International Delegates Day - United Nations The current U.S. Ambassador for the U.N. is Linda Thomas Greenfield. The last former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. that I voted for for President of the U.S. was Nikki Haley.
World Penguin Day Statred in 1972, April 25th coincides with he day that Adelie penguins begin their northern migration. It is a little confusing because I thought it was March of the Penguins, not April.
3 Adelie PenguinsCC BY-SA 2.0, Link
License Plate Day On April 25th 1901 the state of New York made the first law requiring automobiles to have license plates. Speaking of license plates click here to see the I holiday Indicted Illinois Governors Day.
Born On April 25th
Al Pacino - American Actor 1940- present
Edward R Murrow - Radio and Television Journalist - 1908-1965
Edward R Murrow Public Domain,
David Strathairn As Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck |
Guglielmo Marconi - Inventor and Physicist 1874-1937
Died on April 25th
Ginger Rogers - American Actress and Dancer. Died in 1995 at the age of 83
By RKO Radio Pictures Public Domain, Link
John Havlicek - Boston Celtics Basketball Star died at the age of 79 in 2014
Bea Arthur- Actress best know for her roles on t.v. shows Maude, and Golden Girls- died at the age of 86 in 2009
Happened on April 25th ...
2021 - Chloe Zhao win's Best Director Oscar for the film Nomadland. Frances McDormand won the Academy award for Actress in a Leading Role for Nomadland, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture.
1990- Hubble Space Telescope Sent Into Orbit.This hour video show the Space Shuttle bringing the telecope into space and then releasing it into orbit.
This poster shows many of the great pictures taken with the telescope.
By Unknown author Public Domain, Link
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Song of the Day The View From Here Bob Bennet
There is an entire house concert from 2019 on this video, if I have set this up correctly, the intro to the song should start as you open the video. There are 22 songs on the A to Z Spotify playlist now. Just like today it houses a lot of variety.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
A Very Special Installment Today
Dave Out Loud Presents Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day
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Song of the Day: Under The Sun - Michael Card
21 letters 21 songs assembled in a playlist. 5 more remain. Here is what we have so far.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
April 23rd is World Table Tennis Day
I'm gonna be honest. Most of these holidays I am highlighting for the challenge. I am going to forget about for next year. Some I've probably already forgotten. World Table Tennis Day is one holiday I don't want to forget. In fact, I am kind of bummed that I probably won't ping some pong today. Ping some pong is what I call playing ping pong or table tennis.
When I think of table tennis the first thing that pops into my head is this commercial from when I was a kid.
Gnip Gnop not only sparked a passion for ping pong but also a passion for gnikaeaps sdrawkcab (speaking backwards) which turned into my love for all things palindromic.
When other people think of ping pong this scene from Forrest Gump may pop in their head ...
I love playing table tennis. I may lack the Gumpian endurance or skill but what I lack in endurance and talent I make up in zeal. In college I played a lot of table tennis, it is a great way to spend time between classes or as a study break. It is both social and athletic. I even had an album that I thought was the best accompaniment for playing ping pong. It was Jacob's Trouble's debut album, Door Into Summer. When I hear other people incorrectly say that this group has better albums, my initial thought is not to play ping pong with. You listen and you tell me if the beat doesn't want to make you ping some pong.
One fun thing to on World Table Tennis Day would be to play a variation called round robin. It is basically a cross between table tennis and musical chairs. You play with 2 paddles and as many people as can fit around a ping pong table. Instead of describing it, here is play in action ...
To get a full ping pong experience play the round robin clip without volume while listening to the Jacob's Trouble and you'll see what I'm talking about. So, ping some pong today if you get a chance and if you can't that's just how the ball bounces.
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The song of the day today is Tell It Again by J.J. Heller
20 songs now comprise the A to Z playlist.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
Joel Aldrich Matteson, the 10th governor of Illinois (1853-1857) was charged in 1859 in the Canal Scrip Fraud Scandal. Matteson redeemed Scrip for the Canal for himself. He was indicted but then acquitted and returned the majority of the funds to the state.
Otto Kerner Jr, was governor of Illinois from 1961-1968. In 1972 He was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals when he was indicted on multiple charges including mail fraud, & income tax evasions. Charges he was eventually convicted og. Kerner served six months on a three year sentence. His crimes went back to 1962 when as a governor he colluded with race track owners.
Dan Walker was governor of Illinois from 1973-1977. Unlike Kerner, Walkers convictions came from crimes committed after his time as governor. As CEO of a savings and loan siphoned bank money for his own use, Walker was indicted, convicted and served 17 months of a seven year sentence.
George Ryan was governor of Illinois from 1999-2003 and was the Il Secretary of State prior to that, As Secretary of State he presided over a huge bribes for licenses scheme. This scheme was exposed after a truck killed 6 children in the same family and it was revealed that the trucker had paid bribes for his license. Ryan was sentenced to 6 1/2 years of prison and was released in 2013.
Rod Blagojevich was governor of Illinois form 2002 - 2009 when he was impeached by the Illinois General Assembly. When Blagojevich (Blago) rand in 2002 his mantra was no more business as usual. This was in the wake of the Ryan scandals. The problem is Blago missed his own memo, and went back to business as usual, and business was booming. Blago was caught on tape trying to sell the senate seat of President Elect Obama, and was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and solicitation of bribery. He was convicted and sentenced to 14 years and was in prison from 2012 to 2020 when hw was pardoned by Donald Trump.
While it's true that our last 3 governors have not gone to jail. We could use the growth mindset, and say they have not gone to jail yet. Why do so many of the governors of my state go to jail. It may just be a matter of linguistical expectations. What do governors and convicts have in common. They both serve terms. So in a way their first career sets up their second.
While I made up this holiday, I unfortunately did not make up the history.
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Song of the day: I Believe In You - Bob Dylan
The playlist is really taking shape now.
That's it for me . Feel free to add a comment before moving on with your day.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!In tribute to that performance I am including every song I can find on the internet that he performed at that concert. All of the songs he perfformed on March 2nd in St. Louis are listed in Bold Letters (Just in case you don't know what Bold Letters look like, they look like this.)Many of his songs can be found on Spotify. Songs I could not find on Spotify, I found on BandCamp. Songs I could not find in either place I pulled from you-tube or Patreon.
1. Irresistable Future - Mystery Highway
2. Faithful - Until We Have Wings
3. Get Me Out of Hollywood- Get me Out of Hollywood
4. The Last Day - Not on Album Yet. Video from Randy's Patreon PageOn this Day March 12th, 1951 fellow baby boomer and my favorite singer Randy Stonehill was born in California. He turns 71 today and to celebrate I will link 71 of my favorite songs (and yes, I have that many) of his here on this very happy birthday post. Many of these songs can be found on Spotify. All of these songs are available for purchase at Bandcamp. Note: Songs are listed from the album they originally appeared. The song is not always being played from that album.
1. Never Can Repay - Born Twice
2. Faithful - Until We Have Wings
3. Get Me Out of Hollywood- Get me Out of Hollywood
4. Starlings - Return To Paradise 5. Christmas Song For All Year 'Round - Welcome To Paradise