Today Is...International Cat Day

When i was a small girl, we briefly took in a cat for a relative who was going away to Scotland or some such hell-hole for a few weeks. The idea of a joyful, bundle of fur to play with soon lost it's sheen as it slowly dawned on me, along with scratches, that cats and i are not compatible.
It seems that more people are coming to the same conclusion because the RSPCA has asked us to stop dumping our felines with them.
The animal Charity has coughed up a furball in horror at the number of cats it is being called upon to rescue which account for over a third of all their unwanted pets.
'Sadly, there do now seem to be cycles in which one pet is more fashionable than another' says an animal inspector taking a short break from litter tray duty no doubt, 'It could be that handbag dogs or pit bull-type animals are in fashion and that could leave no room for a cat in the home. We have even had cats handed in because they didn't match the new carpet.'
Just think if we could extend that decor logic to men.
I'm sorry but your pasty white skin clashes with my magnolia walls. It's over.
And take your bloody horrible cat with you.

Today Is...Gherman Titov Circles Earth

The early Soviet missions were very much seat of the pants stuff, the best most of them hoped for was a merciful, quick death and Yuri Gagarin is rightly lauded as the first man to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 1 in April 1961 but the Soviets also had the second, Gherman Titov, who completed 20 orbit's around the Globe in Vostok II before landing in a Russian field and downing a beer.
After some less than favorable results from sending animals around the Globe, the original target was for no more than three orbits but they ended up doing many more mainly so Titov's landing was in the right part of Southern Russia.
Also amongst his firsts was the first person to orbit the Earth multiple times, he was also the first to spend more than a day in space (24.5 hours), the first to sleep in orbit, the first to photograph and video the Earth from Space and to suffer from space sickness becoming the first person to vomit in space and when you think of how things float around you once you are up there, eeeww.
On his return he was asked by reporters how his space flight affected his philosophy of life and he replied that he looked all day but he never saw God or any Angels and his changed philosophy became obvious when he engaged in behaviours that the Soviets found unacceptable for someone working within the space program and he was ordered to stop womanising, excessive drinking and driving fast cars recklessly. 
He must have done because he went on to assume a senior position in the Soviet space program and has a crater on the Moon named after him and on his retirement where he went into Politics before dying in a Sauna aged 65.

Today Is...Hiroshima Bomb Dropped

As President Harry S. Truman ate lunch on the Augusta, returning home from his meeting at Potsdam with Churchill and Stalin, he was given the news of the dropping of the first Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and told the group of sailors around him: 'This is the greatest thing in history'.
He may have considered the killing of over 140,000 Japanese in the blink of an eye in a civilian city with no military significance the greatest thing in history, but too many what the US did against Hiroshima and days later Nagasaki where another 100,000 died, is amongst the roll call of humanities greatest atrocities where almost a quarter of a million innocent people died instantly.
The Enola Gay pilot said that he had been asked many times if he regretted what his team did that day and he said no and that he was proud to be on the Enola Gay that day which says something about a man directly responsible for probably the greatest number of deaths by a human in so short a time.
I do get that it was war and tales of Japanese brutality and mistreatment of prisoners was widely known but why America chose a civilian city and not used against a military target is open to speculation.
They did not even need to slay so many innocent people, a show of strength on one of the uninhabited islands with a warning that this could be one of your cities next time would have achieved the same reaction from the Japanese if this was their aim.
To drop such a horrific weapon and kill so many civilians when the Japanese were negotiating an end to hostilities stinks of America wanting to impress the Soviets, to lay down a marker that they are the top dogs now and they have the Atomic Bomb to prove it.    
The only silver lining is that the devastating accounts from Hiroshima was so shocking and the death toll so huge, that hopefully, nobody will ever be reckless enough to use them ever again.

Interesting 2024 For Trump

Makes me smile when Donald Trump fans say that the sheer amount of persecutions against him prove that it is a politically motivated and it doesn't occur to them that the reason there are so many prosecutions against him is because he is a complete bell-end who keeps doing illegal things.
Of the three (so far) incitements against him, the latest is said to be the most dangerous for his ability to from the soap in the shower without a rude introduction to exactly why Big Pete has that nickname.
Yesterdays indictment was around the Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election and include charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
His defence is that he was not directly responsible because he actually told supporters to march peacefully on the Capitol but if the Judge decides him saying 'We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore' doesn't mean the same thing as march peacefully he potentially faces penalties ranging from a substantial fine up to 35 years in prison
The other case against him is for 40 charges of mishandling thousands of classified material after he left the White House and obstruct the FBI's attempts to retrieve them.
For these he potentially faces 35 years jail-time but his defence for this case is that he declassified the material while President although him being recorded saying he could have declassified them but never means his defence is less than water tight.
The third case he is facing regards 34 counts of falsifying business records after paying hush money from his Presidential campaign funds to porn actress Stormy Daniels although he denies ever having sexual relations with Ms Daniels but admits he did make a payment to her but that was to protect his family from false allegations which is about as likely as him winning weight watcher of the year.
No jail time is predicted for this but a substantial fine could see his quickly dwindling bank balance a few million dollars lighter.
On the horizon are further court appearances for illegally trying to overturn his loss in Georgia in 2020, part two of his sexual assault of writer E Jean Carroll, of which he has already been found guilty and fined $5m, this time for defamation and sexual battery.
Obviously if Trump becomes President he will pardon himself of all charges or if a friendly Republican beats him to the White House then he will be expecting him or her to Pardon him which is probably why the judges are trying to make sure that all the cases are heard before the 5 November 2024.
All in all 2024 could be a very stressful time for the former President and it couldn't happen to a nicer racist, pussy grabbing sex offender.

Today Is...Pilgrim's First Attempt To Reach America

The East Midlands got a little less holy today in 1620 as 102 of Nottingham's finest bible carriers, miffed that their demands that England become as fundamentally religiously nutty as them was rebuffed by King James, said right then, your persecuting us so we're off to make our own country and climbed aboard a ship and set sail for the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean to start up a new country.
It didn't go as smoothly as that because their first choice of ship at Plymouth docks was the Oranjebooom but someone noticed it was such an unseaworthy wreck that it would do well to make it out of British waters which they were proved wrong about as it made it to Iceland before sinking days later.
Instead they loaded their bibles and other religious paraphernalia onto the Mayflower and the Speedwell Ship's and shouted onward to the New World but  made it as far as Dartmouth Docks along the coast as the Speedwell began taking on water so all 120 of them piled onto the Mayflower and tried again, Virginia ahoy, not sinking and being eaten by Sharks permitting.
Despite it not occurring to any of the Pilgrims to bring supplies, six weeks of disease, scurvy and stepping in people's sick later they arrived 200 miles away from Virginia but everyone said for crying out loud let us this bloody ship so they landed and one of the very first things they did to celebrate them leaving behind all things English was to name the place they landed Plymouth after the English city where they sailed from.
One doesn't need to wonder what sort of country a bunch of religion fans would possibly come up with because as we know the Pilgrim's went on to survive and develop America into the gun toting cheeseburger gorging nation we know today and poke fun of because of their completely loopy gun laws. 

Today Is...Dom Perignon Invents Champagne

As the son of a local vineyard owner in the Champagne region of France, when young Dom entered the Benedictine Order in the 1630's he was asked to help out with their wine which was a bit of a money spinner for the Monastery but Dom wasn't impressed by it and set about improving it.
First up was the job of modernising their methods and their grape presses as well as introducing the cork as a more effective seal and using English glass which was stronger and better able to withstand pressure due to the secondary fermentation process which would make the bottles explode when the CO2 built up.
Some of the locals were invited to taste the Dom Perignon version and everyone agreed that it was far superior and news of this wonderful tasting new Dom Perignon wine he called Champagne after the region it came from, spread and they began to sell the Champagne further afield and soon they were shipping barrels to Paris and London.
The monastery wine process was taken over by Moët & Chandon and became one of the most highly prized sparkling Champagnes in the world and they even hired Dom Perignon to work as the cellar master until he died but as a man of the Lord it is unknown how he felt about his drink being supped from a bosom shaped glass.
The Champagne glass shape is based on one of the boob's of the French King Louis XV's mistresses, Madame de Pompadour, although it might be better to not ask exactly what the long, thin Champagne flute glass shape is based on.

Today Is...The Berlin Olympics

It may have began in a controversial manner with calls for America to be banned as it's racial discrimination was a violation of Olympic rules and the Germans banning Jews and blacks which was later repealed, but once it got underway the 1936 Olympics in Berlin turned out to be quite a eye-opener but especially for the Nazis.
The Spanish and Soviets boycotted the event but they were not missed as the largest number of teams so far from around the world participated in these Games, 49 nations in all and it began with a nice touch from the organisers, coming up with the idea of the torch being run from ancient Olympia to the host city which was kept for all future Olympics.
Germany topped the medal table with United States second and Great Britain finishing down in 10th place with four golds but especially pleasing was Jesse Owens 4 golds and 3 world records but he did say that he was shown more respect as a black man in Nazi Germany than he ever was in his own country
where he was viewed as a second-class citizen, having to ride in the back of the bus and use the back door at restaurants and even after returning victorious, he had to take the freight elevator to his own reception.
He also received a telegram from Hitler congratulating him on his Olympic glory which is more than he got from his own President, FDR, who didn't send squat because he didn't want to offend Southern voters being seen mixing with a black man.
The guy who orchestrated the greatest racially motivated genocide in history behaved better towards Owens than his own countrymen, in Germany he had been allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, at a time when African Americans in his own country had to stay in blacks only hotels.
After he died of lung cancer in 1980, the President said: 'Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry' which is true but as Owens himself may have said, the greatest struggle against racists and bigots was in his own country.

Today Is...Earth Overshoot Day

Today is Earth Overshoot Day which means as of today, we are now using up more ecological resources for the rest of the year than the Earth can regenerate.
Humanity is currently consuming nature 1.75 Earth's worth of resources and the United Nations have released a report, saying that humanity's pace of environmental destruction could endanger the ecological foundations of society and create a global health emergency leading to millions of deaths from air and water pollution.
Seems no matter how many warnings they get, how much extreme weather they see destroying their cities or how much scientific evidence is thrown at them, the people in power who could actually do something about the damage we are inflicting to the planet and ourselves, are just too selfish and moronic to do anything about it.
We can all do our bit but the biggest change needs to come from corporations and governments who need to take responsibility for their actions and start implementing sustainable practices that benefit the environment.
The idea of overshooting our resources isn't new, but the alarming pace at which we are approaching this milestone is a clear signal of our collective impact on the planet and that we desperately need to change course and live within the Earth's means while leaving a healthier planet for future generations.

Today Is...National Girlfriend Day

I haven't been anybodies girlfriend since the mid 90s so i am having to reach far back in my memory banks to remember those days but the good people at POPxo have a handy list to look at which describes the eight different types of girlfriends for today's man or woman.
That she is always right is a given straight off the bat and applies to all eight which are the chilled out one (she will never ask check your phone or be too concerned about who you are hanging out with), the classy one (likes candlelight dinners, dresses to perfection and is an absolute charmer) and the the psycho one (checks your texts, is moody and jealous).
There is also the gamer girlfriend (prefers to play video games and is brilliant at them as well as being able to handle her beer), the witty-sassy one (great sense of humour and has a sarcastic something to say for everything) and the food lover (prefers pizzas, pies and chips to romantic relationships).
The last two are the I-don’t-care-how-I-look type of girlfriend (will only dress up for a special occasion otherwise it's whatever she wears whatever her hand lands on first in her wardrobe) and the texter (not big on chat as she is on her mobile phone texting all the time).
I guess looking at them i could be a bit of all of them but what doesn't change (so im told by my husband) is saying one thing while actually meaning something else so according to him, when we say: 'I’m almost ready', it actually means i’ll be ready in an hour and if you keep asking if im almost done it will take even longer.
'We need to talk about this' actually means I'll talk, you'll listen and 'Do what you want means' do that and your single again while 'Nothings wrong, i'm fine' really means everything is wrong. Everything. I'm the complete opposite of fine you heartless barstool while of course 'I'm not angry with you babe' means  i am beyond angry, i'm furious!
'I’m not really that hungry' is order something we can both share and 'Sorry, i didn't quite catch that' is you had better take this chance to change what you just said while a simple 'Yes' could be Yes, Maybe or No, you work it out.
Personally, it all makes perfect sense to me, don't know what their problem is.

Most Scandalous Government Ever?

As a Labour supporter it could be expected that i would say that this has been the Worst Government in history but as bad as things were under David Cameron and Theresa May, they have gone up a whole level since 2019 under the short lived tenure of Liz Truss and then Boris Johnson and now Rishi Sunak. 
Since Boris Johnson won the election that cold December morning in 2019, he has been found guilty of committing a criminal offence while at Number 10 catapulted out of the Commons after being found guilty of serially lying to parliament Deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, was removed for bullying, Party chair  Nadhim Zahawi sacked for tax evasion, Home Secretary Suella Braverman forced to quit because she committed a security breach and Gavin Williamson ejected from the cabinet the first time for leaking National Security Council meetings, then sacked again for being woefully inadequate as Education Secretary and then forced to quit a third time for bullying and then Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned from government after breaking his own Coronavirus rules in an affair with an aide.
Junior ministers and backbenchers who have resigned their seats in disgrace include Owen Paterson for a lobbying scandal, Neil Parish who quit as an MP after watching porn in the Commons and Imran Ahmad Khan resigned from parliament after he was sentenced to 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
Julian Knight had the Conservative whip withdrawn after an allegation of sexual assault, Rob Roberts is under investigation for sending lewd texts to a 21-year-old intern, David Warburton had the whip withdrawn following allegations of harassing three women and snorting cocaine and Chris Pincher resigned after groping two men at a club.
One unnamed Conservative MP was arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault has been told to stay away from parliament amid an ongoing investigation but there have always been scandals with sexual predators, liars, crooks and bullies  in previous eras but not this many so there is something rotten in our Government or the election process which the Conservatives use to send these dreadful people to Parliament.