Celebrate 13 July

The Hollywood sign was officially dedicated on 13 July, 1923. Of course at the time it said Hollywoodland, not Hollywood, and was just there to promote a new housing development. But is has become an icon of American culture. The cocktail also being a uniquely American invention, I suggest toasting the Hollywood sign with your favorite.

Celebrate 12 July

Today is Richard Simmons' 60th birthday. Toast him with a glass of Ensure.

Celebrate 11 July

Today is July 11. There aren't any anniversaries today that strike me as particularly amusing, so I would just suggest going down to your closest 7-11 and grabbing a six-pack of beer. And a Slurpee. Maybe you could make a beer slurpee.

Celebrate 10 July

On 10 July 1821, the United States formally took possession of Florida under the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain. The U.S. had actually already occupied West Florida west of the Peridido River (though not actually the whole of West Florida, which began at the Apalachicola River) and American settlers made up the majority of the European population in Florida anyway; and Andrew Jackson didn't ride into town to raise the American flag over Florida until the 17th. The Spanish never did much with Florida anyway since there was no gold or silver, the land wasn't especially fertile, and the natives were frankly better at holding on to their land than the Spanish army was at taking it from them. Regardless, this is the day that Florida formally became part of the United States. We should raise a glass to this most enigmatic of states; orange wine might be the appropriate beverage.

Celebrate 9 July

Today is Independence Day in Argentina, commemorating that country's declaration of independence from Spain in 1816. If you have any fireworks leftover from the 4th, why not set them off now in celebration of the nation that gave us Eva Peron and the world's best Malbecs. (A glass of Malbec would be a good toast, in fact…)

Celebrate 8 July

The first reports of a UFO crash-landing at Roswell, New Mexico, were published on 8 July, 1947. Let's have a toast to the little green men who may or may not really exist.

Celebrate the weekend, too

I see I've been chastised for taking a little break...
Well, only fair. I actually did have celebrations for the 5th and 6th, but I was out of town and away from the computer. Actually I'm glad Rambling prompted me because I really like the one for the 6th.

July 5:
Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult, was born in 1996. Hooray for cloning! Or not. Depending on your point of view this could be cause for celebration or cause for a wake. Either way you could get drunk. (And since Dolly was Scottish, getting drunk seems the only reasonable celebration at all, unless you like haggis.)

July 6:
On this date in 1978, British-Maltese peace activist Yana Mintoff hurled three bags of horse manure onto the floor of the House of Commons to protest British military involvement in Northern Ireland. I don't know how this protest was supposed to fix anything, but what the hell. Somebody threw a sack of shit into Parliament. That's funny.

Celebrate July 7

This is the best day of the year to have the famous drink known as a Seven and Seven. One part Seagram's 7, one part 7-up, all parts tasty. (Actually I think both ingredients are nasty by themselves, but that's the beauty of mixing stuff together. Sometimes 1+1=3.)

Celebrating 4 July

On this date in 1776, the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. Sweet.

Celebrate July 3

It's Tom Cruise's birthday today. If it weren't for Mr. Cruise and his hilariously off balance Scientology-inspired rantings, what would we have to make fun of while Britney Spears is off at rehab?

Celebrate 2 July

On this date in 1777, Vermont became the first territory in the U.S. to abolish slavery. Huzzah for the Green Mountain Boys!

Celebrate 1 July

The ZIP Code is 45 years old today. Prior to 1 July 1963 the Post Office had to just figure out where to send mail based on the address, of all things. Now they can do it with a 5-digit code, which will at least get it to the right area of the country. Because, you know, the name of the city and state, those aren't good enough. Actually for 20 years prior to the ZIP Code's introduction larger cities were divided up into postal zones, which you had to know in order to send mail. Faster mail service—or at least the idea of faster mail service—is worth a little celebrating.

Celebrate June 30

On 30 June, 1864, President Lincoln granted the Yosemite Valley to the state of California for "public use, resort, and recreation," to be held for those purposes "for all time." I mean come on, did you see the pictures I posted from our honeymoon? This is totally cause for celebration; this would be a grimmer world indeed were the Yosemite Valley to be carved up into golf course subdivisions or buried under a reservoir. Plus it's an excuse for me to post this picture again!

Celebrate the 29th a day late!

I can't believe I actually missed the 29th! Here it is:

I was going to suggest celebrating the one-year birthday of the iPhone today, but since I don't own one, and the odds are that you don't own one (unless you're Officer Whetstone), I've got something way better. Five days ago (I write these in advance so sometimes I miss things like this) the state of Florida entered into an agreement to purchase 187,000 acres of land from the U.S. Sugar Corporation. Why does that matter to you? Well, these 187,000 acres (which will be leased back to U.S. Sugar for five years while they shut down their operation) happen to be among the most important acres for the future preservation of the Everglades. And it's the first step in what I believe will be the ultimate demise of the sugar industry in Florida. And what happens when the sugar industry in Florida goes away? Louisiana doesn't grow enough to supply the American market by itself, so once the Florida sugar industry dries up the government will be forced to allow imports of sugar from places where it's much much cheaper and less environmentally detrimental to grow it, and the price of sugar—and thus of most prepackaged foods—will fall. It may even fall enough to displace High Fructose Corn Syrup as the sweetener of choice for American food producers. Oh, you didn't know that the only reason HFCR is so popular is because sugar is too expensive in this country? Just wait; with the continuing increase in corn prices, if American sugar prices were permitted to reflect the market and not our idiotic protectionist agriculture policy, you'd see more sodas and other products sweetened with cane juice and sugar instead of HFCR. Sugar is no health food, but it's better than HFCR. I think ten years from now we'll recognize this event not just for its positive environmental impact, but also for it's positive dietary impact. Why not toast this wonderful development by reading my Everglades story while drinking your favorite sugar-sweetened beverage?

June 28

28 June (that is, 6/28) is the only date on the calendar year where both the day and the month are perfect numbers. A perfect number is one that is the sum of its positive divisors, excluding itself. Both 6 and 28 are perfect numbers; the next one is 496. A number's divisors are those numbers which, when multiplied, equal the number: 1x6=6, and 2x3=6. So the positive divisors of 6 are 1, 2, and 3. Add those together and you get 6. For 28, it's 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14. What does all this mean? Absolutely nothing. And it probably won't impress your date tonight (unless she's into math nerds). But by God if you can't celebrate something pointless and absurd then how can you celebrate anything at all?

Celebrate June 27

On 27 June 1923, Capt Lowell H. Smith and Lt John P. Richter performed the first ever inflight refueling, in a DH4B biplane (an early DeHavilland); they received 75 gallons of fuel from a tanker (also a DH4B) flown by Lts Virgil Hine and Frank Seifert. Smith and Hine flew the aircraft while Richter and Seifert handled the refueling duties; essentially, Seifert dangled a 50-foot length of rubber house out of the back cockpit, while Smith flew the aircraft into position so that Richter could reach out and grab the hose. Richter then plugged it into an opening in the gas tank, and he and Seifert both opened manual quick-release valves at each end of the hose. The fuel was then gravity transferred; no pumps. We've come a long way since those days, but everything starts somewhere. Take a look at this picture; in the larger resolution you can actually see Lt Richter standing up in the back of receiver aircraft to grab the hose. In the early days of aviation most pilots were relatively crazy, as this demonstrates; you could argue that not much has changed.

Celebrate Christmas in June!

On 26 June 1870, the United States government officially declared Christmas a national holiday. I don't think you need a better reason to celebrate. Only 181 shopping days left!

Celebration for 25 June

Today is the birthday of Canadian writer Yann Martel (in 1963). His 2001 novel Life of Pi is one of my favorite books, a beautiful work of magical realism that deals with issues of spirituality and the nature of truth. I read it before I started reviewing books on this blog but I highly recommend it. You can drop by your local library today and check out a copy.

Celebrate 24 June

It's summer! In Florida summer is actually the worst time of the year, but for most of the country summer is a special season, the season for grilling outdoors, staying out late, catching fireflies, camping, fishing… all sorts of wonderful things. Just think about the great produce that comes in season this time of year: big beefsteak tomatoes, corn-on-the-cob (I like it on the grill), eggplants and peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, raspberries and blackberries… mmm. The list goes on. I've got a fresh local cantaloupe in the fridge right now. Summer is always an excuse to celebrate.

Celebrate 23 June

On 23 June 1894, the International Olympic Committee was formed, largely under the impetus of Baron Pierre de Coubertin; the first modern Olympics were held two years later in Athens. Over the years the Olympics have had their political troubles, and certainly the IOC has not been the model of a well-run non-profit organization (or a well-run anything) of late. But the Olympics themselves have proven to be a special and worthwhile event, one that is certainly worth celebrating, even in the midst of anti-Chinese torch demonstrations and questions about air pollution, we can look forward to this summer's games and all the excitement and pageantry therein. I'll drink to that.