#February 1 Coast Guard Day

[manasastuff-blog]

"Indian Coast Guard Day"#trending #youtubeshorts

Indian Coast Guard Day Importance is more than just a date—it's a tribute to the brave men and women safeguarding India's maritime borders. Celebrated on February 1st every year, this day honours the relentless service and sacrifices of our Coast Guard personnel who ensure national security, prevent smuggling, and conduct life-saving rescue missions at sea.

Call:7799799221

Website:www.manasadefenceacademy.com

#IndianCoastGuardDay #CoastGuardIndia #DefenceForces #MaritimeSecurity #IndianNavy #IndianArmedForces #CoastGuardHeroes #NationalSecurity #DefenceAwareness #IndiaFirst

[reality-detective]

Your thoughts on this folks?

Americans have been watching a massive, controlled Military Operation who strategically and critically planned and successfully trapped the Washington Establishment��� Made them all confess their crimes and play a role in this operation piece by piece… as Americans have had to visually see and witness a ‘Continuation of Government’ in the form of a “Presidential Administration” where these corrupt and evil people will, have, and will continue to destroy their system from within, spend all of their dirty money doing so, until it’s time for the Military to visually step in.

The timelines all add up and prove the Military Operation and Occupancy:

1.     Snake Poem read by candidate Donald Trump – January 2016

2.     2016 Presidential Election – November 2016

3.     President Elect Trump and Putin on Fox News = “ready for ‘reset’… I will work with Trump” – November 9, 2016

4.     Law of War Manual (Military Occupancy and Negotiations etc.) – December 2016

5.     Military Justice Act (Supreme Court clarifying Military Law is separate than Civil Law; heavy emphasis on Military Tribunal terms) – 2016

6.     Military stands behind CIC Trump (Military Intelligence and JAG head bands; Optics) at Inauguration – January 2017

7.     Saudi Arabia crowns Trump King – May 2017

8.     Declares Jerusalem Capitol of Israel – December 2017

9.     Executive Order 13818 – Declares National Emergency to deal with Human Rights Abuse – December 2017

10. CIC Trump walks in front of Queen – July 14, 2018

11. Putin hands CIC Trump soccer ball (“the ball is in your court”; did not participate in 2022 World Cup) – July 16, 2018

12. Executive Order 13848 – September 2018

13. CIC Trump makes history; walks into North Korea – June 2019  

14. National Quantum Initiative – Executive Order 13885 – August 2019

15. Space Force established as Military Branch – December 2019

16. Corona Sars Virus first mentioned to American Public as a Threat from China – February 2020

17. Two more National Emergencies Declared – March 13 and 27, 2020

18. Executive Order 13912 Federalizing 1,000,000 National Guard to Active-Duty Status – March 27, 2020

19. CIC Trump quote on attack worse than Pearl Harbor and 9/11 combined – May 2020

20. National Guard Troops place fence around Capitol Building (47 US Code 606) – January 2021

21. CIC Trump receives full grade Constitutional by Law and Military Grade Inauguration ceremony – January 20, 2021

22. “Joe Biden” breaks 20th Amendment amongst many other violations – January 20, 2021

23. Aircrafts constantly over and through 33 mile no fly zone radius D.C. – January 2021 to present day

24. “Biden” extends Executive Order 13848 (first time) – September 2021

25. Quantum.gov launched – September 2021

26. New York Times reports Military Tribunals coming mid-2023 – December 2021

27. Army and branches transfer all communications to Space Force under ONE command (Biden’s never mentioned the Space Force not once; zero News Articles with his name tied to Space Force) – August 2022

28. Major Optics and Comms in CIC Trump speech – November 15 2022

29. More News Articles establishing Space Force Command Centers with zero mention of Biden – December 2022

Those few timelines and timestamps do nothing but prove a Military Operation and Occupancy along with many more Laws, Codes, Orders, Statutes, Acts, Optics,

The National Guard has been out of their state militia status and operating as Active-Duty Status every day since they were Federalized in March 2020.

There’s MORE than enough documentation and ‘proof’ to show not only the National Guard, but also thousands of World Alliance Aircrafts in and out of the United States and National Guard bases.

There’s United States Coast Guards with United States Navy at their stations. USCG is Department of Homeland Security during Peacetime and transferred to the Department of the Navy during Wartime.

The Brunson vs. Adams case simply states the obvious… Congress violated the Constitution.

- Benjamin Fulford

I will add; everyone thinks they know what's going on but very few have done any research on Trump's executive orders. Everyone has discarded Q because they have seen dates come and go without seeing any results. Fact is they weren't dates but rather chapters and paragraphs from the law of war manual.

We're going by the Book. Why? Because it has to be done by the rule of law, if not, it's just more crimes being committed.

Sun Tzu - The Art of War... Know your enemy, löök weak when you're strong, infiltrate and use disinformation to confuse the enemy. 🤔

[oohnotvery]

Edges of the Night (Chapter 1) *new fic*

Like all my other works, this is also posted on AO3 (I'm the_eternal_optimist).

Scully’s moving on autopilot tonight. Pack up briefcase. Slip into jacket. Turn off lights. Lock office door. Move through silent halls. Wave goodbye to the security guard manning the entrance. Walk one hundred steps to the car. Unlock door. Shuffle inside. Seatbelt. Engine on. Lights.

It’s been a while since she’s felt this tired after work. With her days normally so quiet and undemanding, she usually leaves the office looking forward to the night to come—dinner with Alan, or maybe her downstairs neighbor Andrea. A glass of wine. Sometimes a movie, maybe the next JAMA article. In bed by nine, or if Alan is staying over, ten. Ten-thirty if things get rowdy. Usually, she plans this all out in the car ride home. It’s not a long drive to her apartment from work, but lately she’s been taking the scenic route home, the one that goes by the ocean. She likes to roll down the windows and drink in the salty sea air. It frizzes her hair but does wonders for her mood. For the first few months she lived here, it seemed the ocean was the only thing that soothed her fury, her hurt, her brokenness.  

Tonight, though, she decides on the shortest, quickest route home. All she can think about is whether she’s going to eat or take a bath first. It’s been ages since she’s had a day full of meetings and she’s forgotten how draining it can be listening to someone droning on and on and on and on about budgets. She can’t remember if Alan said he was staying over tonight. Although she enjoys his company, she desperately needs some alone time. There’s a headache building from hours spent staring at spreadsheets, and wouldn’t it be nice to be snuggled under the sheets by eight o’clock?

But then again, maybe he’s already there and maybe he’s made dinner. Last week, he made something particularly delicious in the crockpot. In this aspect, he’s more than proven his worth. On second thought, it might be quite nice if there’s a pot roast waiting when she breezes in through the door. Although it’s just February, spring has arrived early on the California coast and the weather might even be warm enough to eat outside on the balcony.

She stops at a red light and glances at her reflection in the rearview mirror. A street lamp illuminates her long red hair and bright blue eyes and she carefully traces a thumb along her lower lip, removing a smudge of lipstick. If Alan indeed is at her place, she should probably consider powdering her nose before she goes inside. Of course, he’s seen her in various stages of composed and not-so-composed, but it’s a nice gesture to make an effort.

The light shifts to green and she turns left onto her road. This part of the street curves up a slight hill enveloped by thick eucalyptus trees, their shaky branches interrupted by the occasional palm and sweet-smelling jacaranda. She hasn’t lived here long enough to see the jacarandas in full bloom, but childhood recollections of their lavender blossoms fill out her memories of San Diego summers. She’s glad to have something beautiful to look forward to this year.

Her car climbs the steep hill, its headlights illuminating the dark road. Her apartment is just a mile from the crest of the hill, and as she approaches it, she glances in her rearview one more time to study her appearance. Satisfied, her eyes flit back to the road, just in time to see a car whip out from a side street several feet in front of her, traveling the opposite direction. Before she can react, it pulls into her lane, coming towards her at full speed, its headlights glaring brightly in her windshield. Shouting in surprise, she yanks at the steering wheel and pulls her car across the road, missing a direct collision by mere inches. She slams on the brakes and her car hits the guardrail with a smash, but it’s not hard enough to deploy the airbags. Her mind, all-too-familiar with trauma, reacts instantly, quickly starting to piece together what just happened. Car accident. No injuries. Drunk driver? College student? Those dumbass frat boys who live in the apartment above hers?

But then she hears it, a sound she hasn’t heard in months. Gunshots. With a shriek, she dives across the front of the car just as a bullet hits her back window, cracking the glass.

Another bullet zings into her rear bumper and she covers her head protectively. In an instant, her thoughts turn from frat boys to murderers. This was no accident. This was intentional. Unarmed—because she has no need to carry a weapon these days—she knows she needs to get out of here fast. She’s about to force the car into reverse when she hears another sound: the scream and squeal of a violent crash, metal grinding against metal. She grits her teeth and braces for impact, but seconds go by and she doesn’t feel anything. Her car doesn’t move. And then everything around her falls eerily quiet.

She counts slowly to ten, then glances up and tries to peer through the back window, but with the shattered glass, she can’t make sense of anything behind her. Very slowly, she cracks her door open and peers outside. Ten feet away, the other car has slammed into the guardrail too, but the driver’s side of the vehicle looks completely crushed. Her pursuer must have hit the railing at a ferocious rate of speed.

She stares at the wreckage for just a moment, trying to memorize details of the other car—beige Ford Taurus, nondescript—when its passenger door opens. She gasps—someone survived.

A man sticks his head out of the door and begins to violently throw up onto the pavement. She knows she needs to move, needs to get away from this person who is likely armed, needs to get to safety and call 911. But there is something unnervingly familiar about this man, with his long legs and lean torso and dark hair. He coughs and spits and gags and retches for another half a minute, and even from this distance, she sees the sheen of blood matted in his hair. Her doctor’s eyes make the quick calculation—head injury. Likely concussion. Possibly from hitting head on dashboard.  

She’s about to withdraw into her vehicle and make her getaway when the man lifts his head. His eyes climb to meet hers across the distance and her heart stutters to a stop.

Mulder.

It’s Mulder.

After all this time, impossibly, unbelievably, incredibly, it’s Mulder.

All rational thought, all anger, all hurt, all pain escapes her brain. She clicks off her seatbelt and climbs out of her car to run to him. Her heels clack loudly on the pavement as she approaches the vehicle. He’s staggering unsteadily to his feet and without a second thought, she jumps to catch him, avoiding the pile of sickness at their feet. They haven’t touched in nine months, and yet he sags into her with the relief and trust that only years of familiarity can bring. She briefly notes that his hands are zip-tied together. Bracing one hand on his chest and another on his shoulder, she supports him, then leans down into the car to glance at the driver. The sight is grisly—a smashed, bloody head against the driver’s window; his crushed body against the door. Most certainly dead. She wrinkles her nose and draws her eyes up to Mulder’s face. He stares down at her hazily.

“You okay?” he manages to ask, his eyebrows bent in pain.

She nods shakily. “I’m okay. Let’s get you to the car.”

She helps him into the passenger seat and leans over him to buckle him in, ignoring the way her stomach clenches as her torso presses briefly against his own. Before she clambers back into her side, she quickly assesses the damage to her car. All she notes is a dented-up fender and a cracked windshield; she considers herself very lucky.

“I’m taking you to the hospital,” she announces quietly as she shifts the car into reverse.

Mulder shakes his head just like she knew he would. “We need to drive, Scully.”

Scully.

She swallows past a wave of emotions. No one has called her that in months.

“No,” she says firmly, maneuvering her car around the other vehicle. “You need immediate medical attention.”

He leans over and with bound hands, grips her wrist, clamping on so tightly that she yelps. She glances over at him and immediately recognizes the emotion flitting across his eyes—fear. Crippling, devastating fear.

“Please,” he begs. “Just drive.”

And then his hands release hers to fumble clumsily around in his pants pocket. After a moment, he pushes something into her palm. She slows the car to a crawl and glances down at her hand. In it, there’s a piece of paper and a key. She unfurls the paper and sees the scrawl of an address.

An address in Montrose, Colorado. Montrose, Colorado? She’s never even heard of that place.

“You want me to drive here?” she asks in disbelief.

He nods, then winces. He lifts his hands to touch his forehead and seems surprised when his fingertips come away bloody.

“Oh, Mulder,” she sighs under her breath, and reaches over to wipe a trickle of blood off his eyebrow. He meets her eyes and she regards him tightly, then drops the paper and key into a cupholder.  

For five minutes, she doesn’t ask questions, she just drives. She drives past her apartment and notes offhandedly that Alan’s dark green truck is in the lot. A wash of worry and guilt flushes over her and she shoves the feelings away. She won’t be coming home tonight; that much is clear.

Beside her, Mulder has started falling in and out of consciousness. She pulls her bottom lip through her teeth anxiously and considers her options. She hasn’t made up her mind yet if she’s going to drive him to Colorado. She’s exhausted from a long day, wound tight from the accident, emotionally shaken from their encounter, and Mulder himself is in no physical condition to endure a long drive.

But whatever happens next, triage comes first. She needs to find a place where she can properly assess his injuries. His eyes have closed but she senses him breathing. Every few minutes, she places her palm to his forehead and cheek to assure herself that he is still alive. From her angle, she doesn’t see any more obvious injuries other than his bleeding head, but she needs to stop as soon as she can.

Despite her worries, her exhaustion, and her emotions, she feels herself starting to sink into a calm, collected mental space—FBI mode. She is reminded that she once used to be a field agent—and a pretty damn good one at that. In this headspace, she drives to a familiar spot, a park that overlooks the ocean. There’s a deserted campground at its edge and a playground that’s usually full of children. At this time of night, however, the parking lot is deserted. Under the cover of a leafy tree, she throws the car into park.

Mulder’s eyes crack open.

“We have to keep moving,” he mumbles.

She unbuckles her seatbelt and opens the car door, throwing him a warning look. “We’re not going anywhere until I’ve looked at your head.”

A very slight smile ticks up on his lips, but he makes no reply.

In her trunk, she pulls out the sturdy black bag that she hasn’t had a chance to use since moving to San Diego. When she slides back into the car, she flips on the overhead lights and starts pulling tools out of her kit—gauze, ointment, sterilizing pads, alcohol. Mulder grumbles something about the light being too bright and she shushes him.

“Come here,” she mutters, tapping at his bound wrists. He holds them up to her and with a pair of surgical scissors, she cuts the plastic of the zip ties. They fall away and Mulder rotates his hands gratefully. Red, raw marks stain his wrists and she frowns. Whoever tied him up was intent on inflicting pain.

She dabs some antibiotic cream onto his wrists and then motions for him to lower his head. Scooting up in her seat, she carefully begins to move her hands through his thick hair, which is matted with blood.

“Oh, Mulder,” she murmurs when she finds the source of the injury. “I really need to wash this.”

He glances up at her. They are close, her hands buried in his hair, her body leaning over the console. Their noses are just inches apart and for a second, she can’t breathe. The last time they touched was so uncharacteristically violent that it has played in her mind on repeat for months. For weeks after she moved to San Diego, any time she closed her eyes, she saw the scene in her head—his hands shoving her away, her palm smacking at his arms. To touch him now with the careful gentleness that used to embody their relationship feels abnormal, bizarre.

“We have to keep driving,” he reminds her.

“Are you going to tell me why?” she asks, and he nods, then winces. “That hurts?”

He mutters a yes.

“What else hurts?”

He closes his eyes. “My head is throbbing. It feels like I’m going to redecorate the inside of your car at any moment.”  

“Concussion,” she says as she reaches into her bag to pull out more supplies. It is difficult in these circumstances to properly clean the blood out of his hair and expose the wound. There is a nasty red gash at his hairline. “This really needs stitches,” she laments, praying she has some butterfly tape with her.

She does, and after cleaning, sterilizing, and protecting the wound as best she can, she seals it with tape, wondering if she should just try to stitch him up here in the car. But his breathing is labored and his eyes have shut tight, and she doesn’t know if he could withstand the pain right now. She touches his shoulder gently. His eyes blink open.

She doesn’t want to drive across the country in the middle of the night, especially with an injured, semi-conscious Mulder. She desperately wants to admit him to a nearby hospital, but she remembers the way he looked when he begged her to drive. Afraid. Something is very, very wrong. Why and how and under what circumstances he ended up here in San Diego—outside her apartment, in a potential assassin’s car—is beyond her.

“Please,” he asks, breaking her thoughts. “I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think it was important.”

She shuts her eyes briefly, contemplating his insane request. There is so much tugging her back to reality—Alan, her job, her tiredness, Mulder’s injuries. All of those things are screaming at her to stay here, just stay here.

But Mulder is sitting here in the flesh, after all this time. This is the first request he has made of her in nine months. This is their first communication after a rift that she assumed couldn’t be repaired in a hundred lifetimes. And despite the way they left things, it is impossible to ignore the way a familiar sort of comfort washes over her in his presence. His scent alone seems to bring her heart rate back to normal. The feeling of his skin under her fingertips grounds her to the moment. The warmth of his grey-green eyes soothes the pain in her chest. An otherworldly sort of communication is taking place between their bodies. If he is asking this of her, under these circumstances, she knows it is serious. They have lost a lot in these nine months of separation, but one thing remains. One thing will always remain.

“I’ll drive,” she finally concedes, “because I trust you.” Palpable relief and something else, something stronger, wash over his face. To her astonishment, he grabs her hands in his and brings them to his mouth, pressing his lips to her knuckles. Her heart starts to pound even as her brain demands she ignore the way his touch provokes her to sentimentality, nostalgia, tenderness.

“Thank you,” he breathes, catching her eye meaningfully. His fingertips slide across her hand and when they catch on the sparkly ring on her left hand, he freezes in shock. Her cheeks blaze hotly, similarly astonished by his discovery. He was never supposed to know about her personal life. She tugs her hands away and he stares at her like a kicked puppy.

Don’t look at me like that. You forced me out, she thinks angrily. The memory of their last encounter slices through her brain, instantly souring her tender thoughts.

He drops her gaze and falls back against his seat, his eyes closing once more.

“I’ll wake you every hour,” she promises after a moment, her hands tingling with a long-forgotten ache. In the Before Times, she would have reached out and brushed his cheek or maybe patted his thigh, reassuring him of her presence, her trustworthiness, her care. But instead, she just flips off the overhead lights, buckles her seat belt, and pulls out onto the darkened road.

And then she drives.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

American financier Jay Bloom offered 'last minute' discounted price to sit in doomed Titan submersible with his son - but he turned it down over safety concerns

An American tycoon has revealed a text exchange with submersible chief executive Stockton Rush, who tried to convince he and his young son to pay for a reduced six-figure seat to see the Titanic by telling him: "It was safer than crossing the street."

By David Wu

June 24, 2023

An American tycoon has revealed how submersible chief executive Stockton Rush tried to convince he and his son to buy two tickets on the doomed Titan vessel.

Financier Jay Bloom shared the text exchange with Mr Rush months before the CEO died with four other passengers when the craft suffered a "catastrophic implosion."

He tried to offer his friend a "last minute price" of $AUD225,000, with the original cost of the seat valued about $365,000 in April for an expedition the following month.

The first messages started as far back as February, when the chief executive wondered if there was an interest to see the famous shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean.

Mr Bloom said his son Sean had been "put a little scare in him" after one of his friends researched the dangers of travelling in deep waters.

"I'm happy to have a video call with him. Curious what the uninformed would say the danger is and whether it's real or imagined," Mr Rush responded.

The financier said his son was worried about "perceived threats to the vessel," such as a sperm whale or a giant squid attack compromising Titan's hull.

"Yeah, very stupid. The pressure is over 100 million pounds. No sperm whale or squid is ever going to be able to mess with the sub," Mr Rush replied.

"While there's obviously risk, it's way safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving. There hasn't been even an injury in 35 years in a non-military subs."

Three days later, Mr Rush would again try to reassure Mr Bloom and his son by sending a link to how deep sperm whales can go underwater.

Mr Bloom said he was not concerned about being eaten by a whale and decided to set up a Skype call, so his questions could be answered properly.

There would be limited text communication before Mr Rush sent a message on April 24, offering discounted tickets to see the Titanic wreck.

"Have a space on mission 1 (may 11-19) and 2 (may 20-28). Last minute price is $150k pp," the chief executive advised.

Mr Bloom said he would have to check his schedule to see if he could fit it in, as Mr Rush asked three days later: "Any luck?"

That trip would be later postponed to June 18 due to weather conditions.

Mr Bloom shared the messages to his Facebook page.

The financier even met face-to-face on March 1 with Mr Rush, who took him through the Titanic Exhibit at Luxor in Las Vegas before having lunch at a food court.

"He was absolutely convinced it was safer than crossing the street," Mr Bloom said on the post about his interactions with the creator of Titan.

Mr Rush also gave him a limited edition of a book of photos signed by him and French mariner Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, who was also aboard the submersible.

Mr Bloom advised he could not join them on the once-in-a-lifetime trip until 2024.

Their tickets were later sold to prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, the latter who was "terrified" to go.

The fifth person was adventurer and British billionaire Hamish Harding.

The five men entered Titan and started their 3,800m journey down to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday morning.

However, less than two hours into the trip, mothership Polar Prince lost contact with the roughly six-metre long vessel, which sparked a large-scale international search.

The United States Coast Guard on Thursday (local time) confirmed pieces of debris found near the Titanic wreck belonged to the missing submersible.

"An ROV subsequently found additional debris, in consultation with experts from within the unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber (of Titan)," Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters.

Undersea expert Paul Hanken said five major different pieces of debris had led experts to conclude they were the remains of the OceanGate Expeditions craft.

"The initial thing we found was a nose cone, which was outside of the (Titan) pressure hull. We then found a large debris field and within that large debris field we found the front and back of the pressure hull," he said to reporters.

"Shortly thereafter, we found a second, smaller debris field and within that debris field we found the other end of the pressure hull.

"(It) ultimately contained the totality of that pressure vehicle. That was our first indication that there was a catastrophic event."

It was revealed the US Navy had detected an "anomaly consistent with implosion or explosion" where Titan was reported missing hours after the sub departed.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada announced on Friday (local time) it has launched an investigation, as Polar Prince was a Canadian-flagged ship.

A team of investigators will travel to St Johns in Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador where they will "gather information and conduct interviews."

It will also coordinate its operation with other agencies.

TSB will provide updates throughout the investigation.

[mariacallous]

A suspected new undersea cable break has occurred in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden’s Gotland Island, Yle News reported on Friday, citing the Swedish Coast Guard.

According to the Swedish broadcaster SVT, the damaged line is C-Lion 1, a telecommunications cable operated by the Finnish state-owned company Cinia, which connects Finland and Germany. The incident occurred within Sweden’s exclusive economic zone.

Yle News noted that this isn’t the first time this cable has been damaged. A similar incident was reported in November 2024, and the cable was repaired within days. The Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 was suspected of causing the damage.

When exactly the latest damage occurred is unclear. The Swedish Coast Guard said it has been aware of the incident since February 20, while Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reported that he had been informed about it “for some time.”

“We take all reports of possible infrastructure damage in the Baltic Sea very seriously. As I have said before, such incidents must be viewed in the context of the serious security situation,” Kristersson added.

Swedish authorities have launched a preliminary investigation.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 2.1

Holidays

Abolition of Slavery Day (Mauritius)

Air Force Day (Nicaragua)

Aroma Day (Japan)

Be An Encourager Day

Bigfoot Day

Canadian Mounties Day

Car Insurance Day

CBD Day

Cerebral Creatine Deficiency Syndrome (CCDS) Awareness Day

Change Your Password Day

Coast Guard Day (India)

Commemoration of the Abolition of Slavery (Mauritius)

Conservatorship and Guardianship Abuse Awareness Day

Constitution Day (Mexico)

Cross-Quarter Day

Day of Remembrance & Respect to Victims of the Communist Regime (Bulgaria)

Dignity Action Day (UK)

FCC Censorship Day

Federal Territory Day (Malaysia)

45 RPM Record Day

Freedom from Slavery Day

G.I. Joe Day

Golden Ticket Day

Heroes Day (Rwanda)

Highlight Your Hair Day

Holiday Hugs Day - Celebrating Dedicated Platelet Donors

Hourly Comic Day

Hula In the Coola Day

Igbi (Avar people; Russia)

Inspire Your Employees to Excellence Day

International Brownie Camera Day

International Day of Black Women in the Arts

International Face & Body Art Day

Medicare Day (Australia)

Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary)

Moving-Picture Studio Day

National Appreciation Day for Catholic Schools

National Breathing Space Day (Scotland)

National Energy Assistance Day

National Freedom Day

National Get Up Day

National Girls and Women in Sports Day

National Heroes’ Day (Rwanda)

National Lonely Hearts Day

National Serpent Day

National Texas Day

National Unclaimed Property Day

National Youth Heart Screening Day

No Hijab Day

No Politics Day

O.E.D. Day

PreCure Day (Japan)

Robinson Crusoe Day

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Day (Manitoba)

Sandy B. Hooks Day (Lousiana)

Sherman’s March Day

Spunky Old Broads' Day

13th Amendment Day (US)

Triohonsi begins (Wolves' holiday, ends 3rd; Bulgaria)

Tupperware Sculpting Day

Visite du Pape (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Wardrobe Malfunction Day

White Rabbit Day

World Aspergillosis Awareness Day

World Galgo Day

World Hijab Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Baked Alaska Day

Dark Chocolate Day

Decorating with Candy Day

International Furmint Day

International Gruit Day

National Cake Pops Day

National Canned Food Day

Skippy Peanut Butter Day

Nature Celebrations

Bay Laurel Day (French Republic)

National Day of the Mexican Axolotl (Mexico)

Primrose (Youth & Longing; Korean Birth Flowers)

Independence, Flag & Related Days

Confederation Agreement Day (Senegal; 1981)

The Consulate of Jovak Helm (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

East New Jersey (Purchased by William Penn; 1682)

Federal Territory Day (Malaysia)

Texas (Voted to Secede from the U.S.; 1861)

Thulia (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

United Arab Republic (Created by merger of Egypt & Syria; 1958)

New Year’s Days

Imbolc (a.k.a. Oimelc; Celtic, Pagan) [1 of 8 Festivals of the Natural Year]

1st Saturday in February

Barber Day [1st Saturday]

Burning the Hom Strom (Graubünden, Switzerland) [1st Saturday]

Global Chaplains Day [1st Saturday]

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day [1st Saturday]

International Pisco Sour Day [1st Saturday]

Lace Day [1st Saturday]

National Play Outside Day [1st Saturday of Every Month]

Pork Rind Appreciation Day [1st Saturday]

Sandwich Saturday [Every Saturday]

Satyr's Day (Silenus, Greek God of Beer Buddies and Drinking Companions) [1st Saturday of Each Month]

Scout Sabbath [1st Saturday]

Six For Saturday [Every Saturday]

Sleep Over Saturday [1st Saturday of Each Month]

Social Saturday [1st Saturday of Each Month]

Sourdough Saturday [1st Saturday of Each Month]

South African National Beer Day (South Africa) [1st Saturday]

Spaghetti Saturday [Every Saturday]

Take Your Child to the Library Day [1st Saturday]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 1 (Last Week of January)

African Heritage & Health Week (thru 2.7)

International Networking Week [1st Week]

La Poutine Week (Canada) [thru 2.7]

National Patient Recognition Week (thru 2.7)

Solo Diners Eat Out Week (thru 2.7)

Women’s Heart Week (thru 2.7) [Always from 2.1]_

World Interfaith Harmony Week (thru 2.7) [1st Week]

Yukon Quest [thru 2.6]

Festivals Beginning February 1, 2025

AFRMA Fancy Rat and Mouse Show (Riverside, California)

Arizona Renaissance Festival (Apache Junction, Arizona) [thru 3.30]

Boys & Girls Club of Laredo Wine Tasting Gala (Laredo, Texas)

Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza (Brainerd, Minnesota)

Carnival in the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) [thru 2.27]

Carolina Chocolate Festival (Moorehead City, North Carolina) [thru 2.2]

Chocolate Tour (Excelsior Springs, Missouri)

Downtown Gadsden Chili Cook-Off (Gadsden, Alabama)

Florida Renaissance Festival (Deerfield Beach, Florida) [thru 3.23]

Hudson Valley Wingfest (Poughkeepsie, New York)

Melodifestivalen (Lulea, Sweden)

Panagbenga Festival (Baguio, the Philippines) [thru 3.1]

Something in the Way (Boston, Massachusetts) [thru 2.2]

South Florida Garlic Fest (Wellington, Florida) [thru 2.2]

Temecula Valley Barrel Tasting (Temecula, California) [thru 2.2]

Feast Days

Astina (Syrian Church; Saint)

Brigid, patron saint of Ireland (Saint Brigid's Day) [brewers]

Brigid’s Day (Pagan)

Brigit’s Day (Celtic Earth Mother & Godess of Fire, Wisdom, Poetry, and Sacred Wells; Everyday Wicca)

Candelaria of San José (Christian; Blessed)

Candlemas (Pagan)

Candlemas Eve

Chronos Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Day Sacred to Juno Sospita, Jupiter, Hercules, and Diana (Ancient Rome)

Emaculation (The Season of Intoxication begins, a.k.a. ‘Frop Harvest; Church of the SubGenius)

Festival of Dionysus begins (Ancient Greece) [thru 2.14]

First of Fettuccine February (Pastafarian)

Henry Morse (Christian; Saint)

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (Christian; Saint & Martyr)

Imbolc (a.k.a. Oimelc; Celtic, Pagan) [1 of 8 Festivals of the Natural Year]

John of the Grating (Christian; Saint)

Kalends of February (Ancient Rome)

Kinnia, Virgin of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Là Fhèill Brìghde (Day when the Cailleach Beara gathers firewood; Celtic)

Landsegen (Germanic Neopaganism)

Langston Hughes (Writerism)

Lenaia  (Festival of Drama to Dionysus, Greek God of Intoxication)

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, Day 1 of 3 (Ancient Greece festival honoring Ceres, Demeter, Persephone, and Proserpine)

The Lucaria (Festival of the Grove to Sucellus, Gaulish God of Alcohol; Ancient Rome) [also 7.19 & 7.21]

Mac the Dog (Muppetism)

Mauni Amavasya (Day of Silence; Hinduism)

Muriel Spark (Writerism)

Pindar (Positivist; Saint)

Pionuis (Christian; Martyr)

Serial (Christian; Saint)

Sigebert III, King of Austrasia (Christian; Saint)

Spring Mother Celebration (Norse)

Tapati Festival (a.k.a. Rapa Nui; Easter Island)

Terry Jones (Writerism)

Tuppence Day (Shamanism)

Verdiana (Christian; Saint)

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 4 (Xin-Chou)

Day Pillar: Metal Ox

12-Day Officers/12 Gods: Establish Day (建 Jian) [Inauspicious]

Holidays: Spring Festival Golden Week

Secular Saints Days

Fritjof Capra (Science)

Thomas Cole (Art)

Vladimir Dimitrov (Art)

Don Everly (Music)

John Ford (Entertainment)

Clark Gable (Entertainment)

Victor Herbert (Music)

Gilbert Hernandez (Art)

Lagston Hughes (Poetry)

Rick James (Music)

Terry Jones (Entertainment)

Galway Kinnell (Poetry)

Ștefan Luchian (Art)

Vivian Maier (Photography)

Del McCoury (Music)

Garrett Morris (Entertainment)

Takashi Murakami (Art)

George Pal (Entertainment)

Reynolds Price (Literature)

Joe Sample (Music)

Emilio G. Segrè (Science)

Muriel Spark (Literature)

Zao Wou-Ki (Art)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [8 of 30]

Premieres

Ain’t Nature Grand (WB LT Cartoon; 1931)

Alice Chops the Suey (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Alice Gets Stung (Disney Cartoon; 1925)

Alice’s Little Parade (Disney Cartoon; 1926)

American Gigolo (Film; 1980)

Argybargy, by Squeeze (Album; 1980)

Bartender, Turn Those Lights Off a A Shot in the Dark (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 342; 1965)

Battling Bosko (WB LT Cartoon; 1932)

Big Game Fishing (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1968)

The Bird Man (Krazy Kat Cartoon; 1935)

Blind Date (Terrytoons Heckle & Jeckle Cartoon; 1954)

The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum (Novel; 1980)

Cagey Business (Modern Madcaps Cartoon; 1965)

Cakes and Ale, by W. Somerset Maugham (Novel; 1930)

Call Me, by Blondie (Song; 1980)

Call Mr. Fortune, by H.C. Bailey (Novel; 1920)

Call Northside 777 (Film; 1948)

Camptown Races, by Stephen Foster (Song; 1850)

Cockatoos for Two (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1947)

Col. Herza Liar’s Mysterious Case (Colonel Herzl Liar Cartoon; 1924)

Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton (Novel; 1948)

Dawn (Go Away), by The Four Seasons (Song; 1969)

Dingbat Land (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1949)

Dookie, by Green Day (Album; 1994)

Double Indemnity, by James M. Cain (Novel; 1936)

Dr. Ha-Ha (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1966)

Drum Up a Tenant (Modern Madcaps Cartoon; 1963)

Duck Fever (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1955)

Felix Follows the Swallows (Felix Cartoon; 1925)

Felix ‘Hyps’ the Hippo (Felix Cartoon; 1924)

The First Flying Fish (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1955)

The Fox Hunt (Terrytoons Heckle & Jeckle Cartoon; 1950)

Gag Buster (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1957)

The General’s Little Helper (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1969)

The Ghost Fakir (Krazy Kat Cartoon; 1926)

Giant Steps, by John Coltrane (Album; 1960)

Gold Diggin’ Woodpecker (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1972)

Good and Guilty (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1962)

Good Snooze Tonight (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1963)

The Goods Thing of Life (Key Holding Cartoon; 1922)

Good Times (TV Series; 1974)

Hair Cut-Ups (Terrytoons Heckle & Jeckle Cartoon; 1953)

Hardcase (Hanna-Barbera TV Movie; 1972)

A Hare-Breadth Finish (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1957)

Hare-Less Wolf (WB MM Cartoon; 1958)

Harvest, by Neil Young (Album; 1972)

The Hillbilly (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1935)

Hound Dog, by Elvis Presley (Song; 1953)

House of Cards (TV Series; 2013)

The House That Dinky Built (Dinky Doodle Cartoon; 1925)

How to Relax (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1954)

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, by Richard Bach (Novel; 1977)

I’m Afraid to Come Home in the Dark (Fleischer Screen Songs Cartoon; 1930)

Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace (Novel; 1996)

It’s a Bird (Lowell Thomas Tall Story Cartoon; 1936)

It’s a Living (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1958)

Jaws, by Peter Benchley (Novel; 1974)

Jessie’s Girl, by Rick Springfield (Song; 1981)

Johnny Angel, by Shelley Fabares (Song; 1962)

The Kid from Mars (Modern Madcaps Cartoon; 1961)

Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes (Fleischer Out of the Inkwell Cartoon; 1925)

Kung Fu: The Movie (TV Movie; 1986)

La Boheme, by Giacomo Puccini (Opera; 1896)

Land Grab, featuring Hector Heathcote (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1970)

The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper (Novel; 1826)

Late Night with David Letterman (Talk Show; 1982)

The Lion’s Busy (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1961)

Manon Lescaut, by Giacomo Puccini (Opera; 1893)

The Man Who Fell To Earth, by Walter Tevis (Novel; 1963)

MASH: A Novel about Three Army Doctors, by Richard Hooker (Novel; 1968)

The Masquerade (Fleischer Out of the Inkwell Cartoon; 1924)

Mechanical Bird (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1952)

Miami Maniacs (Terrytoons Heckle & Jeckle Cartoon; 1956)

Michel’s Mixed-Up Musical Bird (DePatie-Freleng Animated TV Special; 1978)

The Misunderstood Giant (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1960)

Modelling (Fleischer Out of the Inkwell Cartoon; 1923)

Mr. Winlucky (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1967)

The Old Folks at Home (Fleischer Ko-Ko Song Car-Tune Cartoon; 1925)

Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens (Novel; 1837)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey (Novel; 1962)

Oxford English Dictionary, 1st Edition (Dictionary; 1884)

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (Film; 1951)

Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag, recorded by James Brown (Song; 1965)

The Phantom Ship (WB LT Cartoon; 1936)

Pink Breakfast (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1979)

Popcorn and Politics (Modern Madcaps Cartoon; 1962)

A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Novel; 1912)

Racket Buster (Mighty Mouse Cartoon; 1949)

Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat (The Inspector Cartoon; 1966)

The Red Tractor (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1964)

Reduced Weights (Krazy Kat Cartoon; 1929)

Rhythm in the Beaux (WB MM Cartoon; 1935)

Road Runner a Go-Go (WB LT Cartoon; 1965)

Romantic Warrior, by Return to Forever (Album; 1976)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, adapted by Barbara Shook Hazen (Children’s Book; 1939)

Russian Doll (TV Series; 2019)

Sacré Bleu Cross (The Inspector Cartoon; 1966)

Same Time, Next Year (Film; 1979)

Seaside Adventures (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1952)

The Sky’s the Limit (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1965)

Slackers (Film; 2002)

Sleepy Time Chimes (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

Sniffles Bells the Cat (WB MM Cartoon; 1941)

A Southern-Style Breakfast or How Many Grits Can You Eat? (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 341; 1965)

Stardust, by Neil Gaiman (Novel; 1999)

Space Kid (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1966)

Stage Struck (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1951)

The Story of George Washington (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1965)

Supermarket Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1980)

Surrealistic Pillow, by Jefferson Airplane (Album; 1967)

The Tale of a Dog (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1959)

Three Is A Crowd (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1951)

Time Gallops On (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1952)

To Be Or Not to Be (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1963)

Train Terrain, featuring Hector Heathcote (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1971)

Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller (Novel; 1937)

Tumblr (Social Media App; 2007)

Under the Pink, by Tori Amos (Album; 1994)

Von Heute auf Morgen, by Arnold & Gertrude Schoenberg (Opera; 1930)

Warm Bodies (Film; 2013)

Where There’s Smoke, featuring Deputy Dawg (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1962)

Whiz Quiz Kid (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1964)

Wise Quacks (Dinky Duck Terrytoons Cartoon; 1953)

Today’s Name Days

Brigitta, Katharina, Reginald, Severus (Austria)

Trifon (Bulgaria)

Brigita, Miroslav, Sever (Croatia)

Hynek (Czech Republic)

Brigida (Denmark)

Birgit, Birgitta, Gita, Piret, Pireta, Pirja, Pirje (Estonia)

Riitta (Finland)

Ella, Siméon (France)

Maria, Neujahr (Germany)

Tryfonas, Vasiliki, Vasilis (Greece)

Fruzsina, Ignác (Hungary)

Brigitta, Geminiano, Verdiana (Italy)

Andra, Brigita, Brita, Gita, Indra (Latvia)

Brigyta, Eidvilė, Gytautas, Ignotas (Lithuania)

Birte, Bjarte (Norway)

Bryda, Brygida, Dobrocha, Dobrochna, Iga, Ignacja, Ignacy, Paweł, Siemirad, Żegota (Poland)

Trifon (Romania)

Ksenia (Russia)

Tatiana (Slovakia)

Brígida, Cecilio (Spain)

Max, Maximilian (Sweden)

Basil, Bohdan, David, Vasylyna (Ukrainę)

Birgit, Birgitta, Bret, Brett, Bridget, Bridgette , Brigitte, Brita, Britney, Britt, Brittani, Brittany, Brittney, Clark, Clarke, Langdon, Langston (USA)

Today’s National Name Days

National Cameron Day

National People Named Dave Day

National Sean Day

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 32 of 2025; 333 days remaining in the year

ISO Week: Day 6 of Week 5 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 12 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 4 (Xin-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Snake 4723 (until February 17, 2026) [Ding-Chou]

Coptic: 24 Tubah 1741

Druid Tree Calendar: Cypress (Jan 25-Feb 3) [Day 8 of 10]

Hebrew: 3 Shevat 5785

Islamic: 2 Sha’ban 1446

Julian: 19 January 2025

Moon: 13%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 4 Homer (2nd Month) [Pindar)

Runic Half Month: Elhaz (Elk) [Day 11 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 43 of 90)

SUn Calendar: 2 Gray; Twosday [2 of 30]

Week: 1st Week of February

Zodiac:

Tropical (Typical) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 13 of 30)

Sidereal Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 18 of 29)

Schmidt Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 7 of 27)

IAU Boundaries (Current) Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 13 of 28)

IAU Boundaries (1977) Zodiac: Capricornus (Day 14 of 28)

Calendar Changes

February (Gregorian Calendar) [Month 2 of 12]

[whitesinhistory]

On March 24, 1942, the U.S. government began army-directed evictions and evacuations, forcing over 200 Japanese American residents on Bainbridge Island in Washington state to evacuate their homes within six days. Any person of Japanese ancestry found on the island after noon on March 30 was subjected to criminal penalties.

During the early 20th century, prejudice against Japanese Americans was rampant in the U.S. After Japanese military forces bombed American forces at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii in December 1941, the U.S. entered World War II. Anti-Japanese bigotry quickly worsened, and many political leaders and media outlets called for the internment of individuals of Japanese descent residing in the western portion of the country. Bainbridge Island was cited as a high-sensitivity area due to its proximity to the Puget Sound Navy Yard.

Just hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the FBI arrested and detained over a thousand Japanese religious and community leaders and searched the private homes of thousands of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. By February, advisors to President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that “the Japanese race is the enemy race” and, on February 19, 1942, the president signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing military leaders to detain Japanese Americans in camps, en masse, without due process.

Although the Department of Justice and the FBI insisted that people of Japanese descent did not pose a security threat, the internment process began soon after this executive order was signed. On March 24, 1942, the U.S. military ordered all individuals of Japanese ancestry residing on Bainbridge Island in Washington to report to concentration camps within seven days. Individuals possessing "at least 1/16 Japanese blood" were required to leave their homes and dispose of their possessions and businesses and were given a paper identification tag. Couples who possessed different ancestry under these guidelines were separated. In the concentration camps, conditions were prison-like: armed guards and barbed wire surrounded the camps and housing areas were overcrowded and filthy.

Internment was politically popular and faced no serious opposition from elected officials or the courts. In 1944, the Supreme Court decided Korematsu v. United States, upholding the constitutionality of the internment order and authorizing the continued detention of Japanese Americans. Between 1942 and 1944, 120,000 individuals of Japanese descent were interned, 70,000 of whom were American citizens.

When the internment order was officially rescinded in January 1945, after the end of the war, individuals were released from internment but received no compensation for their lost property and mistreatment. More than four decades later, in 1988, the United States passed an act formally apologizing for internment and authorizing a $20,000 redress payment to each living internment survivor.

[jacks-tracks]

Hows the weather?

A broad topic.. now February 28 the air is still(9am) am, hot(30 degrees) and the humidity is rising.

Sequentialy November when iIarrived was the end of the rainy season, so still muggy. Daytimes 28, nightime lows 24. With the night winds off the Sierra madre mountains it felt right chilly, and a blanket was needed at dawn. Dawn then being 6:30 am with sunset at 6pm. Not much seasonal variation , perhaps 1 hour of daylength. The winds cycling from the onshore(heat rising in the interior) day breeze at come on at 10 am. Fading at sunset, to be replaced by the reversal of the wind by 9 pm with the breeze dropping from the mountains to the cooler sea. Day winds peak at 15 mph, night winds surprisingly get up to;'' 20 mph, flapping the bananna plant leaves and bringing a welcome coolth. It rained twice in November, only at night, with brief showers that evaporate on the still hot cement. More rain falls in the hills, keeping the rivers and streams full, and plants green. This is when the birds nest in the lagoons after their arduous migrations. Trees and flowering plants burst in a shower of blossoms. Tree flowers run from pink popcorn clusters to creamy white showers of curious long stammened brown sheaths. There are trees with purple 5 petalled tiny flowers, trees with bright yellow crowns on leafless branches, and what I call Tulip trees with their deep red upthrusting deep throated blooms which are probably really called African flame trees. There,s a peculiar tree growing tall over the pool brick wall that starts out with clusters of white green frothy falls of sweet scented blooms very popular with bees, and frequented by yellow breasted fly catchers who feed on the insects attracted to the flowers pollen. Those flowers set a seed pod that starts out pale pink and turns redbrown while curling into a spiral. Black seeds like mung beans shower down, but must not be edible as no birds pick them. In the past flocks of tropical birds would swoop in to gobble the insects and pick at the flowers, while fly catchers dipped in flight to gobble bugs. This year, though there was a good blossom set, almost no birds fed there. In fact the usual squabbling flocks of grackles and dipping pigeons were missing as were most of the ubiqitous sparrows who once nested in the power pole holes. It was pointed out to me that there is a Perigrine (sp?) falcon who perches in the front yard Norfolk pine daily. It must have been a smorgasboard for him. Another blooming tree grows out of the pavement sidewalk near the market, which while it produces a pea like seed, throws out streamers of brilliant yellow deep throated orchid shaped blooms. just the right height to pick and that keep very well in a vase.

December and the Bouganvellia bursts into a tangle of deep green leaves and a wide variety of colours, ranging from deep red to pale cream, pink, and a nice variety with softly blended shades. The tough vine like stems form an impenetrable thorny wall, good for stopping burglars. Some are just knee high, others shoot up to 30 feet given some support like a wall or a tree. There,s no rain, and temps run steady at 25 in the day to 22 at night, quite comfortable.

January is the coolest month. Those night winds drop the pool temp to chilly, so much so that I wore my rash guard shirt as a sort of wet suit. A surprise shower at night, just enough to get me up pulling in the laundry, which stopped the rain. By dawn the cement was dry, so there really wasn,t much percipitation. Pelicans and cormorants start to fly from their lagoon nests out along the beach moving from one lagoon to the next. This coast is lined with big lagoons , entrances blocked by winter storm tidal sand, and filled by the ephemeral streams that trickle out of the hills. Rich in aquatic life, a perect feeding ground, shrimp, fish, and hordes of insects,providing a reliable source of food. Some lagoons bioluminesce(sp?) so boat operators switch from day time birding excursions to night time light viewing. The full moon dims the brightness of the bio, so some enterprising guides built floating shelters to block the rays and still give tourists the sight of light. Some ignorant or very daring tourists swim in the bioluminesence, which probably looks cool. There are lots of crocodiles in all the lagoons, feeding on abundant fish and the occasional unwary dog. Big crocodiles! At the breding pen ,I,ve sen a 5 meter bull rush the fenced enclosure(after a passing dog) and kawang off the steel mesh. I was standing right there and levitated 10 feet back. That,s when I noticed that the adjacent gate was tied with a flaky piece of string!

February and the heat returns in force. The winter low humidity pops up from 30% to 80%, and suddenly the pleasantly baking heat feels quite oppressive. Another rain shower, this time substantial, but still conveniently falling at night. More daytime clouds, muggy. Mangos are blooming everywhere, loaded with fruit that will ripen and fall in April. The price of mangoes(imported from Chiapas) drops from $1 each to 10 cents. Bees like the mango blossoms and zoom around each cluster.

March and the snowbirds start flocking north to shovel snow . The heat rises to 32 in the day and there,s little nightime relief from the humidity. I,ve taken to dipping my legs in the pool about 9pm, or sometimes doing a full on swim. It,s awkward sitting on the pool rim as there are always leaf cutter ants parading by with their harvest. One night I ran my flashlight along and saw an inexplicable line of pink. Closer examination revealed those leaf cutter ants harvesting the fallen bouganvillea petals and packing them off in a solid line away to a hole in the brick wall.

April sees the sesonal change come. Daily clouds pile up in the afternoon, showers fall nearly every day, and the heat stays way up. April is the hottest month. By then the birds are migrating back north, lagoons flood with the rain and the sandbar plugs burst so the swollen waters can flood out to sea. This weather pattern continues until the fall.

Given the abysmal(sp?) weather back home. Winter storms , torrential endless rain, followed by a 3 week deep freeze that only broke to let in the seasonal spring storms, alll against the backdrop of short dark days, I plan to come back to Puerto next November. Getting the best of the weather, longer spring days, spring sun, lovely summers, and temperate autumns. It,s only 3000 miles to paradise..6 hours on a plane!

[brookston]

Holidays 2.19

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Mexico)

Best Friends Day (SpongeBob Squarepants)

Book Giving Day (Armenia)

Brâncuși Day (Romania)

Bruce Wayne Day

Chief Leschi Day (Washington)

Coast Guard Reserves Day

Coltsfoot Day (French Republic)

Confession Day (India)

Copernicus Day

Cracker Jack Prize Day

A Day of Remembrance: Japanese American Evacuation (California)

Feminine Mystique Day

International Day Against Homophobia in Football

International Kazoo Day

International MRKH Awareness Day

International PechaKucha Day

International Tug-of-War Day

Iwo Jima Day

Japanese-American Internment Anniversary Day

Knights of Pythias Day

Mystery Science Theater Day

Narconon Day (Scientology)

National Airboat Day

National Emblem Day (Ukraine)

National Hickey Day

National Lash Day

National Longevity Day (UK)

National Soldier Day (Mexico)

National Vet Girls Rock Day (a.k.a. Vet Girls Rise Day)

Ornithologist Day (Russia)

Photoshop Day

Polish Science Day (Poland)

Prajatantra Diwas (National Democracy Day; Nepal)

Prevent Plagiarism Day

Psychology Day

Quaid Day (Pakistan)

Rubber Chicken Day

Skate Shop Day

Solar System Day

Straw Wrapper Appreciation Day

Temporary Insanity Day

219 Day

University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day (UK)

Vassil Levski Day (Bulgaria)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cherry Coke Day

National Chocolate Mint Day

World Eat For Good Day

Nature Celebrations

National Arabian Horse Day

National Boston Terrier Day

National Whippet Day

Oak Day (Friendly, Sociable; Korean Birth Flowers)

World Marine Mammal Protection Day

Independence, Flag & Related Days

Aarianian Union of North America (Declared; 2011) [unrecognized]

Annexation Day (Texas)

Coat of armsrms Day (Ukraine)

Constitution Day (Gabon)

Cyprus (Treaty established Independence; 1959)

Flag Day (Turkmenistan)

3rd Wednesday in February

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

National RA Appreciation Day [3rd Wednesday]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wandering Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wiener Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 19 (3rd Week of February)

American Birkebeiner Cross-Country Ski Race / Birkie Week (thru 2.23)

Festivals On or Beginning February 19, 2025

Dubai International Boat Show (Dubai, UAE) [thru 2.23]

Montana Beer Awards (Helena, Montana) [thru 2.22]

NordicFuzzCon (Malmö, Sweden) [thru 2.23]

NWA Convention (Austin, Texas) [thru 2.22]

30A Wine Festival (Alys Beach, Florida) [thru 2.23]

Whippersnap Festival (Brooksville, Florida) [thru 2.22]

Feast Days

Barbatus of Benevento (Christian; Saint)

Beatus of Liebana (Christian; Saint)

Boniface of Brussels (Christian; Saint)

The Caim Protective Circle (Celtic Book of Days)

Chaoflux (Discordian)

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti (Maharashtra, India)

Conrad of Piacenza (Christian; Saint)

Ennius (Positivist; Saint)

Feast of Minerva (Ancient Rome)

Feast of Pusiuraura (God of the Dart Game; Melanesia)

Fly-By for Goblins and Others (Shamanism)

Hachinohe Enburi (Folk Dance Festival; Japan; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Henry Fielding (Writerism)

Lentil Sauce Day (Pastafarian)

Lucy Yi Zhenmei (one of Martyrs of Guizhou; Christian)

Martyr’s Day (Ethiopia)

Mesrop (Christian; Saint)

Narconcon Day (Scientology)

Pisces Zodiac Sign begins (Astrology)

Señor Wenches Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Shivaji Jayanti (Maharashtra, India)

Victor the Rattlesnake (Muppetism)

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 22 (Ji-Wei)

Day Pillar: Earth Sheep

12-Day Officers/12 Gods: Initiate Day (执 Zhi) [Auspicious]

Holidays: None Known

Secular Saints Days

Constantin Brâncuși (Art)

André Breton (Literature)

Nicolaus Copernicus (Astronomy)

Benicio del Toro (Entertainment)

Enrico Donati (Art)

Mama Cass Elliot (Music)

Henry Fielding (Literature)

Lucio Fontana (Art)

John Frankenheimer (Entertainment)

Tim Hunt (Science)

Stan Kenton (Music)

Marta (Sports)

Lee Marvin (Entertainment)

Carson McCullers (Literature)

William Messner-Loeb (Art)

Gabriele Münter (Art)

Ryū Murakami (Literature)

Smokey Robinson (Music)

Amy Tan (Literature)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 8 of 60)

Premieres

Ain’t Nature Grand! (WB LT Cartoon; 1931)

All Fowled Up (WB LT Cartoon; 1955)

American Music Awards (Music Awards Show; 1974)

Animal Cracker Circus (Columbia Favorites Cartoon; 1947)

Army of Darkness (Film; 1992)

Battling Bosko (WB LT Cartoon; 1932)

The Big Game Hunt, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1937)

Big Little Lies (TV Series; 2017)

Blithe Spirit (Film; 2021)

Broadway Folly (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1930)

Bucks for Boris or Rocky Pays the Piper (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 100; 1961)

Cleaning House, featuring The Captain and the Kids (MGM Cartoon; 1938)

Cockatoos for Two (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1947)

Crashing (TV Series; 2017)

Dinky Doodle in Lost and Found (Bray Cartoon; 1926)

Don Quichotte, by Jules Massenet (Opera; 1910)

Don’t Worry About Me, by Joey Ramone (Album; 2002)

The Doors of Perception, by Aldous Huxley (Book; 1954)

EastEnders (UK Soap Opera; 1985)

Elizabeth (Film; 1999)

Face Value, by Phil Collins (Album; 1981)

Felix the Cat in Ohm, Sweet Ohm (Felix the Cat Cartoon; 1928)

The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan (Feminist Critique; 1963)

Flying Bullets or A Cartridge in a Pear Tree (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 206; 1963)

Get a Job, by The Miracles (Song; 1958)

Hello Aloha (Disney Cartoon; 1952)

The Hooper-Bloob Highway (DePatie-Freleng Dr. Seuss Animated TV Special; 1975)

In the Still of the Nite, recorded by The Five Satins (Song; 1956)

Jungle Jitters (WB MM Cartoon; 1938)

Knights of Pythias (Fraternal Organization; 1864)

The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, by George Orwell (Essay; 1941)

Little Girls Blue (Adult Film; 1979)

Losing My Religion, by R.E.M. (Song; 1991)

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (TV Series; 1985)

The Mummy Strikes (Fleischer Superman Cartoon; 1943) [#14]

Nomadland (Film; 2021)

Office Space (Film; 1999)

October Sky (Film; 1999)

The Organ Grinder’s Swing (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

Peter the Pirate (Silent Film; 1925)

Picnic, by William Inge (Broadway Play; 1953)

Pluto and the Armadillo (Mickey Mouse Disney Cartoon; 1943)

The Rat Pack Attacks or Sharrup You Mouse (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 99; 1961)

Red Rackham’s Treasure, by Hergé (Graphic Novel; 1944) [Tintin #12]

Rushmore (Film; 1999)

Say Ah-h! (Educational-Bowers Comedy Cartoon; 1928)

Seein’ Red, White ’n’ Blue (Famous/Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1943)

Shipyard Symphony (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1943)

Shutter Island (Film; 2010)

Solid Tin Coyote (WB LT Cartoon; 1966)

The Sound of Silence, recorded by Simon and Garfunkel (Song; 1964)

Story of Civilization, by Will Durant (Eleven Volume History; 1975)

Such is Life at the County Fair (Pathe Review Cartoon; 1919)

The Tale of a Shirt (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1933)

Teardrops on My Guitar, by Taylor Swift (Song; 2007)

Theory of the Long Range Shell (Paramount-Bray Pictographs Cartoon; 1919)

Too Much Too Moon or What Makes Lunar Tick? (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 205; 1963)

The Toy Shoppe (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1934)

When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin’ Along (Screen Songs Fleischer Cartoon; 1932)

Today’s Name Days

Hadwig, Irma, Irmgard (Austria)

Blago, Konrad, Rajko, Ratko (Croatia)

Patrik (Czech Republic)

Patrik (Denmark)

Ülla, Ülle, Ülli, Ülve, Ülvi (Estonia)

Eija (Finland)

Gabin (France)

Hedwig, Irma, Irmgard (Germany)

Filothei (Greece)

Zsuzsanna (Hungary)

Corrado, Mansueto, Publio, Tullio (Italy)

Zane, Zuzanna, Zuze (Latvia)

Konradas, Nida, Šarūnas, Zuzana (Lithuania)

Ella, Elna (Norway)

Arnold, Arnolf, Bądzisława, Gabin, Henryk, Konrad, Konrada, Leoncjusz, Manswet, Marceli (Poland)

Apfia, Arhip, Filimon (Romania)

Maria (Russia)

Vlasta (Slovakia)

Álvaro, Gabino (Spain)

Ella, Gabriella (Sweden)

Leo, Lev, Levko (Ukraine)

Conrad, Conradine, Cortez, Curt, Curtis, Konrad, Kurt, Kurtis (USA)

Today’s National Name Days

National Stan Day

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 50 of 2025; 315 days remaining in the year

ISO Week: Day 3 of Week 8 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 22 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 22 (Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Snake 4723 (until February 17, 2026) [Ding-Chou]

Coptic: 12 Amshir 1741

Druid Tree Calendar: Pine (Feb 19-28) [Day 1 of 10]

Hebrew: 21 Shevat 5785

Islamic: 20 Sha’ban 1446

Julian: 6 February 2025

Moon: 59%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 22 Homer (2nd Month) [Ennius)

Runic Half Month: Sigel (Sun) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 61 of 90)

SUn Calendar: 20 Gray; Sixthday [20 of 30]

Week: 3rd Week of February

Zodiac:

Tropical (Typical) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 1 of 30)

Sidereal Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 7 of 30)

Schmidt Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 25 of 27)

IAU Boundaries (Current) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 3 of 23)

IAU Boundaries (1977) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 4 of 24)

Calendar Changes

Pine (Feb 19-28) [Druid Tree Calendar] (Month 7 of 41)

Pisces (The Fish) begins [Tropical (Typical) Zodiac Sign 3; thru 3.20]

[thetumblerdiaries]

Saluting the Indian Coast Guard: Guardians of Our Maritime Frontiers

Introduction

On this special occasion of their Raising Day, we salute the Indian Coast Guard for their unwavering bravery, dedication, and relentless vigilance in protecting our vast coastline. These formidable guardians of our seas play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of our waters and people. From maritime security to disaster response, from anti-smuggling operations to environmental conservation, the Indian Coast Guard stands as a beacon of hope and protection for our nation's maritime interests.

A Brief History of the Indian Coast Guard

The Indian Coast Guard was established on February 1, 1977, as an independent armed force of India. Its inception was a result of the recognition of the need for a specialized force to protect India's maritime zones and enforce maritime laws. Since its establishment, the Indian Coast Guard has grown significantly in size and capability, becoming an indispensable part of India's defense and security apparatus.

The Multifaceted Role of the Indian Coast Guard

Maritime Security

The primary responsibility of the Indian Coast Guard is to ensure the security of India's maritime zones. This includes protecting the country's territorial waters, contiguous zone, and exclusive economic zone. The Coast Guard conducts regular patrols, surveillance missions, and interceptions to prevent illegal activities such as:

Unauthorized fishing

Smuggling of goods and narcotics

Human trafficking

Piracy

Disaster Response

In times of natural disasters and emergencies, the Indian Coast Guard plays a crucial role in search and rescue operations. Their quick response and efficient coordination have saved countless lives during:

Cyclones

Tsunamis

Floods

Maritime accidents

The Coast Guard's disaster response capabilities were particularly evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the more recent cyclones that have hit India's coastal regions.

Anti-Smuggling Operations

The Indian Coast Guard is at the forefront of combating smuggling activities along India's coastline. Their efforts have led to:

Interception of contraband goods

Seizure of illegal weapons

Disruption of drug trafficking networks

These operations not only protect India's economic interests but also contribute to national security by preventing the inflow of illegal arms and narcotics.

Environmental Conservation

The Indian Coast Guard also plays a significant role in protecting India's marine environment. Their responsibilities in this area include:

Oil spill response and clean-up

Protection of marine flora and fauna

Enforcement of marine pollution regulations

By safeguarding India's marine ecosystems, the Coast Guard ensures the sustainability of our oceans for future generations.

Unwavering Bravery and Dedication

The men and women of the Indian Coast Guard exemplify unwavering bravery and dedication in their service to the nation. They face numerous challenges, including:

Harsh weather conditions

Dangerous maritime situations

Long periods away from family

Despite these challenges, Coast Guard personnel remain committed to their duty, often putting their lives at risk to protect others.

Safeguarding India's Vast Coastline

India boasts a coastline stretching over 7,500 kilometers, making it one of the longest in the world. The Indian Coast Guard is tasked with the monumental responsibility of safeguarding this vast expanse. Their efforts include:

Regular coastal patrols

Monitoring of maritime traffic

Coordination with local law enforcement agencies

Implementation of coastal security measures

The Coast Guard's vigilance ensures that India's coastline remains secure from external threats and illegal activities.

The Importance of Relentless Vigilance

In today's complex geopolitical landscape, the importance of relentless vigilance cannot be overstated. The Indian Coast Guard maintains a state of constant readiness through:

24/7 surveillance of maritime zones

Advanced radar and satellite monitoring systems

Rapid response capabilities

Regular training and drills

This unwavering vigilance has been instrumental in preventing numerous security incidents and ensuring the safety of India's maritime interests.

Excellence and Integrity: The Hallmarks of the Indian Coast Guard

The Indian Coast Guard is known for its commitment to excellence and integrity in all its operations. This is reflected in:

Rigorous training programs for personnel

Adherence to international maritime laws and conventions

Transparency in operations and reporting

Continuous improvement of skills and capabilities

These qualities have earned the Indian Coast Guard respect and recognition both nationally and internationally.

Conclusion

As we celebrate the Raising Day of the Indian Coast Guard, we pay tribute to these unsung heroes who safeguard our nation's maritime frontiers with excellence and integrity. Their unwavering bravery, dedication, and relentless vigilance in protecting our vast coastline deserve our utmost respect and gratitude.

From ensuring maritime security to responding to disasters, from combating smuggling to preserving our marine environment, the Indian Coast Guard stands as a pillar of strength for our nation. They are truly the formidable guardians of our seas, ensuring the safety of our waters and people.

Let us take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices and contributions of the Indian Coast Guard personnel who work tirelessly to keep our maritime borders secure. Their commitment to duty and service to the nation is an inspiration to us all.

On this special occasion, we join Dr. Nowhera Shaik, MD & CEO of Heera Group of Companies, in extending our heartfelt gratitude to the Indian Coast Guard. May they continue to serve with distinction and honor, protecting our nation's interests at sea for generations to come.

[mannycameron]

🇮🇳 Honoring the Guardians of Our Seas: Indian Coast Guard Day 2025 ⚓🚢

On February 1, we celebrate Indian Coast Guard Day, marking the 47th Raising Day of this vital maritime force. Since its inception, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has been a pillar of strength in securing our coasts, ensuring maritime safety, and protecting our nation’s waters.

As Mohammad Alothman highlights, “The role of the Indian Coast Guard extends beyond security—it’s about safeguarding lives, preserving marine ecosystems, and ensuring smooth maritime operations.”

At AI Tech Solutions, we acknowledge the impact of AI-driven surveillance, smart monitoring systems, and data analytics in enhancing the efficiency of maritime security.

The Indian Coast Guard's Key Contributions:

✅ Maritime Security – Protecting Indian waters from external threats.

✅ Search & Rescue Missions – Responding to emergencies at sea.

✅ Anti-Smuggling Operations – Preventing illegal activities along the coastline.

✅ Marine Environment Protection – Enforcing laws against pollution and illegal fishing.

✅ Disaster Relief & Assistance – Assisting during natural calamities and maritime accidents.

Technology and AI integration are becoming game changers in maritime defense, improving surveillance, predictive threat analysis, and operational efficiency. The future of coast guard operations will see even stronger AI-powered solutions, ensuring faster response times and better coordination.

Let’s take a moment to honor the brave men and women of the Indian Coast Guard who work tirelessly to protect our seas and secure our nation. 🇮🇳⚓

[mohammedalothman]

🇮🇳 Honoring the Guardians of Our Seas: Indian Coast Guard Day 2025 ⚓🚢

On February 1, we celebrate Indian Coast Guard Day, marking the 47th Raising Day of this vital maritime force. Since its inception, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has been a pillar of strength in securing our coasts, ensuring maritime safety, and protecting our nation’s waters.

As Mohammad Alothman highlights, “The role of the Indian Coast Guard extends beyond security—it’s about safeguarding lives, preserving marine ecosystems, and ensuring smooth maritime operations.”

At AI Tech Solutions, we acknowledge the impact of AI-driven surveillance, smart monitoring systems, and data analytics in enhancing the efficiency of maritime security.

The Indian Coast Guard's Key Contributions:

✅ Maritime Security – Protecting Indian waters from external threats.

✅ Search & Rescue Missions – Responding to emergencies at sea.

✅ Anti-Smuggling Operations – Preventing illegal activities along the coastline.

✅ Marine Environment Protection – Enforcing laws against pollution and illegal fishing.

✅ Disaster Relief & Assistance – Assisting during natural calamities and maritime accidents.

Technology and AI integration are becoming game changers in maritime defense, improving surveillance, predictive threat analysis, and operational efficiency. The future of coast guard operations will see even stronger AI-powered solutions, ensuring faster response times and better coordination.

Let’s take a moment to honor the brave men and women of the Indian Coast Guard who work tirelessly to protect our seas and secure our nation. 🇮🇳⚓

[halcyon-digest]

2020

Art Klaudt: Walking around the cliffs near my parents house listening to Clube Da Esquina

Anonymous 1: on stimulants and obsessed with staying in my room reading and categorizing

ava: covid lockdown

kate: I finally graduated with my Master's in engineering and got a job, at a company I still work at, though things have evolved. I had actually applied to the company pre-pandemic for a different role, but they were hiring people for a team formed specifically in response to the pandemic, so in a way I have covid to thank for the last 4 years of my employment. I don't remember my first day as much as the interview and little I knew about how to interact with the recruiter vs the hiring manager or how many stages there would be, and how awkward it felt when they revealed it was actually for a "more junior" role for a contractor instead of being a full time employee. Like I hadn't qualified to be a "real" engineer but I did qualify to be a meat shield between them and covid. But the joke was on them because the contracting company actually miscalculated how much they wanted us to be paid and the hourly rate came out to about $104k/yr. It was wild to get out of college and immediately be making 6 figures doing a job that did not feel like it should be 6 figures, in the middle of a pandemic to boot. Anyways now I'm a real employee and making essentially the same lol.

Anonymous 2: i have a lot of trouble remembering things from this year. the only thing i can really think of is walking my dog around the suburban development my family lived in

Lucas: COVID lockdowns

Anonymous 3: Waking up at 5am to phone B. who at the time was in a city on the west coast of America where it was 9pm. Our conversation springing straight out from the non-differentiation of my sleep made it easy to get to the purity of reflexivity that he and I were always trying to reach in our conversations at that time. Feeling the fractal purity of talking about the act of talking, of trying to be as present to the reality of the moment without interjecting "topics" to talk "about", which when our conversations were at their best was the whole point of them, to be the only real way of trying to connect two subjectivities, feeling like this was the closest I'd ever come to genuinely sharing an experience with someone in a shared subjectivity, instead of being trapped as two subjectivities irrevocably in object positions vis a vis each other, and that feeling being love.

Anonymous 4: Online school and a ton of work at Five Below

superswag: All the events, covid shopping, CHAZ

v0w0v: The Minneapolis Uprising. I had just moved into the city and was very involved from day one. I was in contact with a lot of mutual aid networks and as the only person in the house with a car i found myself doing a lot of stuff on behalf of the people I lived with. It was a very busy time. I saw and did a lot of things. Something that stood out to this day is when I was on the way to meet with a front lines aid group. I came to an intersection that had a car crash. Someone had crawled out of the car and was crying out in pain. There was national guard soldier on the corner by an apartment complex standing by with a huge automatic rifle, just watching along with the crowd of onlookers. They didn't try to help the person at all. They were not equipped to help. There was a heavy military presence in the whole city. I remember the smell of tear gas.

Anonymous 6: Being isolated, sitting in a faraday cage at an art exhibit as heat lamps droned above me, still instinctively trying to flick on my phone.

Anonymous 7: watching nge.

binnie: A blur

Anonymous 8: COVID, Having my first seizure and getting cheated on

April M. Mildew: Falling down the stairs at a ski lodge while listening to the 2015 recording of Times to Die by Car Seat Headrest on a Nintendo 3DS. It must have been in February. January?

[laresearchette]

Sunday, February 11, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: PUPPY BOWL XX (Animal Planet Canada) 2:00pm SUPER BOWL LVIII (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 6:30pm TRACKER (CTV) 10:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: STUPID PET TRICKS (Premiering on February 12 on CTV Comedy at 10:30pm)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

NETFLIX CANADA FATHER STU

FIBA BASKETBALL (SN) 11:20am: Canada vs. Japan (SN1) 1:30pm: Spain vs. Hungary

NHL HOCKEY (TSN2) 1:00pm: Blues vs. Habs (SN) 1:30pm: Canucks vs. Capitals

NBA BASKETBALL (TSN) 2:00pm: Celtics vs. Heat (SN) 3:00pm: Kings vs. Thunder

SUPER BOWL LVIII (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 6:30pm: 49ers vs. Kansas City

BOLLYWED (CBC) 7:00pm: With two renos and peak wedding season underway, Kuki decides the whole family needs to attend all customer weddings together.

NORTHERN AIR RESCUE (APTN) 7:00pm: At Grace Lake Airport, low-lying fog is grounding Missinippi Airways' flights to Pukatawagan. With customers and baggage backing up in the terminal, pilots and customer service reps wait patiently for the weather to improve.

PUSH (CBC) 7:30pm: As Bean prepares to meet her boyfriend in person for the first time, she seeks the Wheelie Peeps' advice about sex with a fellow wheelchair user; Brian and Victoria reach a decision about their future.

OCEAN WARRIORS: MISSION READY (APTN) 7:30pm: After a long day of patrolling the waterways in Quatsino Sound, the Coastal Nations Coast Guard Auxiliary team is tasked with searching for two missing kayakers. As night falls and temperatures drop, the search for the kayakers becomes an urgent.

RIVALRY SERIES HOCKEY (TSN2) 8:30pm: Canada vs. United States

NORTH SHORE (CTV Drama) 9:00pm: Max and Meg come closer to the truth; Simon informs Lloyd about his retirement, only Lloyd reveals a hidden card which changes everything.

BÖRJE - THE JOURNEY OF A LEGEND (Crave) 9:00pm: Börje is severely hurt during a game; Margitta fears for his life and can no longer stand by and watch her husband suffer; Ballard has hired a new coach, trading players left and right and pushing the players past their breaking points.

HIDDEN ASSETS (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): A year after the bombings, Trestford boss Richard Melnick dies in Antwerp, and CTU's Christian de Jong remains under investigation for shooting Luca Rivera; in Ireland, Bibi Brannigan makes an offer to CAB, now led by DS Claire Wallace.

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND (History Canada) 10:00pm: While Gary and Rick uncover unprecedented finds in the swamp, the team finally reaches depth in the Garden Shaft and their probe drilling operation delivers thrilling results immediately.

[newstfionline]

Monday, February 5, 2024

Biden finds that ‘forever wars’ are hard to quit (Washington Post) “It is time to end the forever war,” President Biden said in 2021, ahead of his administration’s fateful decision to push ahead with plans to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Biden, a major player within a Washington establishment that launched a generation of open-ended military interventions in the Middle East and South Asia, was summoning the language of critics desperate to close the book on the United States’ post-9/11 misadventures. The debacle that ensued saw the Taliban take over a feeble state that had been propped up for close to two decades with U.S. resources. Biden and his allies still defend what transpired, anchored in a conviction that the American public wanted to end the longest war in the country’s history and that the chaotic collapse in Kabul was an outcome already set in motion by the mistakes of Biden’s predecessor. Whatever the merits of that claim, this weekend Biden plunged once more into the sprawling battlefields of the post-9/11 era. The United States and a number of Western allies launched strikes on dozens of targets belonging to Iran-affiliated militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. “It looks like a very significant action by the Biden administration, but on the other hand I don’t think it’s going to be anywhere near sufficient to deter these groups,” Charles Lister, director of the Middle East Institute’s Syria program, told my colleagues. “These militias have been engaged in this campaign for more than 20 years, they are in a long-term struggle. They are ultimately engaged in an attritional campaign against the U.S.”

Rally for Border Security in Texas (NYT) A line of trucks and campers, cars and vans—from South Dakota and North Carolina, Washington and Pennsylvania—snaked over farm roads before gathering on the winter-brown grass of a ranch, steps from the Rio Grande, in the rural community of Quemado, Texas. The gathering on Saturday marked the final stop of a days-long journey: a convoy of conservative Americans who drove to the border to demonstrate their frustration, fear and anger over what they saw as a broken immigration system. The location in Quemado had been chosen for its proximity to the city of Eagle Pass, a flashpoint in the pitched confrontation over border security and immigration between the Biden administration and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas. Other convoys this week reached the border in Yuma, Ariz., and San Ysidro, Calif. The Republican governors of 25 states said that they would stand alongside Texas in its confrontation with the federal government.

Mexican police hit the beaches after killings in Acapulco (AP) Tourists have barely started trickling back into the Mexican resort of Acapulco after deadly storm damage last year, but the gangland killings on the beaches have already returned. Late Friday, the government of the Pacific coast state of Guerrero said it was deploying 60 gun-toting detectives to patrol the beaches “in light of the violent events that have occurred recently.” At least three people were shot dead on beaches in Acapulco last week, one by gunmen who arrived—and escaped—aboard a boat. The violence continues despite the presence of thousands of soldiers and National Guard officers deployed to the city after Category 5 Hurricane Otis in late October. Acapulco has been bloodied by turf battles between gangs since at least 2006. The gangs are fighting over drug sales and income from extorting protection payments from businesses, bars, bus and taxi drivers.

U.S. warns tourists to ‘reconsider travel’ to Jamaica after 65 murders in 1 month (NJ.com) The U.S. State Department has issued a security warning, urging people to “reconsider travel” to Jamaica after 65 people were murdered in one month. “Violent crimes, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides, are common. Sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts,” the warning from the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica stated.

For the first time, an Irish nationalist will lead Northern Ireland’s government (AP) An Irish nationalist made history Saturday by becoming Northern Ireland’s first minister as the government returned to work after a two-year boycott by unionists. Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O’Neill was named first minister in the government that under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord shares power equally between Northern Ireland’s two main communities—British unionists who want to stay in the U.K., and Irish nationalists who seek to unite with Ireland. Northern Ireland was established as a unionist, Protestant-majority part of the U.K. in 1921, following independence for the Republic of Ireland, so O’Neill’s nomination was seen as a highly symbolic moment for nationalists.

Ukraine hits Russia’s Volgograd oil refinery in latest drone attack, source says (Reuters) Two Ukrainian attack drones struck the largest oil refinery in southern Russia on Saturday, a source in Kyiv told Reuters, detailing the latest in a series of long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities. Local authorities in Russia said earlier that a fire had been extinguished at the Volgograd refinery following a drone attack. Oil producer Lukoil later said the plant was working as normal. The Volgograd refinery is the latest in a series of facilities to be targeted by drones. Kyiv sees such infrastructure as important for the Kremlin’s war effort. The distance between the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv near the Russian border and the southern Russian city of Volgograd is more than 600km.

Pakistan’s wedding season heats up in cool weather (AP) There’s a scrum of people trying to get photos with the married couple at the Radiance banquet hall, and you can barely hear someone talk above the din of 400 guests tucking into biryani and chicken tikka, music and the drone whirring around the room. The bejeweled bride and her natty groom are beaming. Outside, the street is jammed with cars heading to wedding parties in neighboring banquet halls, L’Amour, Candles and Hill Top. Hill Top, a multiplex, has three weddings going on at once. It’s winter in Pakistan, and that means weddings. Lots of weddings. During the cooler weather between November and February, millions of people attend weddings every week. Pakistani diaspora come home from around the world for the season, packing airport arrival halls and five-star hotels. Weddings are one of the few opportunities for people in the conservative Muslim country to socialize and party. So it’s no surprise that people draw them out a bit.

Xi’s Nuclear Acceleration (NYT) Nineteen days after taking power as China’s leader, Xi Jinping convened the generals overseeing the country’s nuclear missiles and issued a blunt demand. China had to be ready for possible confrontation with a formidable adversary, he said, signaling that he wanted a more potent nuclear capability to counter the threat. Now, as China’s nuclear options have grown, its military strategists are looking to nuclear weapons as not only a defensive shield, but as a potential sword—to intimidate and subjugate adversaries. Even without firing a nuclear weapon, China could mobilize or brandish its missiles, bombers and submarines to warn other countries against the risks of escalating into brinkmanship.

Shrinking international aid and enduring conflict compound earthquake misery for Syrians (AP) A year ago, Sido Naji woke to his house shaking in northwest Syria. He was used to the sounds of shelling and airstrikes after more than a decade of war, but this time the assailant was a force of nature: a massive earthquake. The 16-year-old and his father managed to flee before the house collapsed. As they ran, a stone wall crashed onto them, crushing the teen’s leg and breaking his arm. The devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 6, 2023, killed more than 59,000 people in Syria and Turkey. For its survivors in Syria, the massive temblor compounded already rampant poverty, destroyed hospitals and electrical and water systems, and forced many Syrians already displaced by war to move into tented settlements. In Jinderis, as in many of Syria’s earthquake-hit areas, there has been nearly no reconstruction and whole blocks still lie in rubble. Naji, whose leg was amputated, lives in a muddy tent. An initial outpouring of international assistance quickly subsided. United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organizations have been struggling to fund programs that provide a lifeline in Syria, blaming donor fatigue, the COVID-19 pandemic, and conflicts elsewhere that have erupted in recent years.

Israel Signals Its Military Will Move Into a Gaza City Turned Refuge (NYT) Israel’s defense minister has signaled that ground forces will advance toward the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, which has become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians pushed from their homes by nearly 13 weeks of war. Rafah, which has also been a gateway for humanitarian aid, is a sprawl of tents and makeshift shelters crammed against the border with Egypt. About half of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have piled into and around the city, where about 200,000 people lived before the war, the United Nations said Friday. “We fear for what comes next,” Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said at a news conference in Geneva on Friday. He described Rafah as a “pressure cooker of despair.”

Houthis promise ‘escalation’ after U.S., British strikes in Yemen (Washington Post) The Houthis said they would retaliate after U.S. and British forces launched a new wave of strikes on targets used by the Iranian-backed militant group in Yemen. The joint attacks “will not go unanswered, and we will meet escalation with escalation,” Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, said early Sunday local time. The Yemen strikes targeted 13 locations associated with Houthi storage facilities and weaponry, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, saying the attacks won’t cease until Israel’s assault on Gaza is over. U.S. forces struck a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile in Yemen that was “prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea” at 4 a.m. local time Sunday, U.S. Central Command said, calling the missile an “imminent threat” to U.S. Navy ships and commercial vessels.

Senegal’s president delays elections indefinitely (Washington Post) Senegalese President Macky Sall on Saturday announced that elections scheduled for Feb. 25 would be indefinitely delayed, marking a first in Senegal’s history and fueling concerns about the electoral process in a country with one of the strongest histories of democracy in West Africa. Sall, who has served for two terms, said during an address to the nation that the delay was because of a dispute over which candidates were able to run. He reiterated that he would not seek a third term but gave no indication of when the elections would be held. The choice to delay the vote just hours before official campaigning was scheduled to start could fuel a new round of protests in Senegal, where frustration with the political process was already running high.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 2.19

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Mexico)

Best Friends Day (SpongeBob Squarepants)

Book Giving Day (Armenia)

Brâncuși Day (Romania)

Bruce Wayne Day

Chief Leschi Day (Washington)

Coast Guard Reserves Day

Coltsfoot Day (French Republic)

Confession Day (India)

Copernicus Day

Cracker Jack Prize Day

A Day of Remembrance: Japanese American Evacuation (California)

Feminine Mystique Day

International Day Against Homophobia in Football

International Kazoo Day

International MRKH Awareness Day

International PechaKucha Day

International Tug-of-War Day

Iwo Jima Day

Japanese-American Internment Anniversary Day

Knights of Pythias Day

Mystery Science Theater Day

Narconon Day (Scientology)

National Airboat Day

National Emblem Day (Ukraine)

National Hickey Day

National Lash Day

National Longevity Day (UK)

National Soldier Day (Mexico)

National Vet Girls Rock Day (a.k.a. Vet Girls Rise Day)

Ornithologist Day (Russia)

Photoshop Day

Polish Science Day (Poland)

Prajatantra Diwas (National Democracy Day; Nepal)

Prevent Plagiarism Day

Psychology Day

Quaid Day (Pakistan)

Rubber Chicken Day

Skate Shop Day

Solar System Day

Straw Wrapper Appreciation Day

Temporary Insanity Day

219 Day

University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day (UK)

Vassil Levski Day (Bulgaria)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cherry Coke Day

National Chocolate Mint Day

World Eat For Good Day

Nature Celebrations

National Arabian Horse Day

National Boston Terrier Day

National Whippet Day

Oak Day (Friendly, Sociable; Korean Birth Flowers)

World Marine Mammal Protection Day

Independence, Flag & Related Days

Aarianian Union of North America (Declared; 2011) [unrecognized]

Annexation Day (Texas)

Coat of armsrms Day (Ukraine)

Constitution Day (Gabon)

Cyprus (Treaty established Independence; 1959)

Flag Day (Turkmenistan)

3rd Wednesday in February

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

National RA Appreciation Day [3rd Wednesday]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wandering Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wiener Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 19 (3rd Week of February)

American Birkebeiner Cross-Country Ski Race / Birkie Week (thru 2.23)

Festivals On or Beginning February 19, 2025

Dubai International Boat Show (Dubai, UAE) [thru 2.23]

Montana Beer Awards (Helena, Montana) [thru 2.22]

NordicFuzzCon (Malmö, Sweden) [thru 2.23]

NWA Convention (Austin, Texas) [thru 2.22]

30A Wine Festival (Alys Beach, Florida) [thru 2.23]

Whippersnap Festival (Brooksville, Florida) [thru 2.22]

Feast Days

Barbatus of Benevento (Christian; Saint)

Beatus of Liebana (Christian; Saint)

Boniface of Brussels (Christian; Saint)

The Caim Protective Circle (Celtic Book of Days)

Chaoflux (Discordian)

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti (Maharashtra, India)

Conrad of Piacenza (Christian; Saint)

Ennius (Positivist; Saint)

Feast of Minerva (Ancient Rome)

Feast of Pusiuraura (God of the Dart Game; Melanesia)

Fly-By for Goblins and Others (Shamanism)

Hachinohe Enburi (Folk Dance Festival; Japan; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Henry Fielding (Writerism)

Lentil Sauce Day (Pastafarian)

Lucy Yi Zhenmei (one of Martyrs of Guizhou; Christian)

Martyr’s Day (Ethiopia)

Mesrop (Christian; Saint)

Narconcon Day (Scientology)

Pisces Zodiac Sign begins (Astrology)

Señor Wenches Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Shivaji Jayanti (Maharashtra, India)

Victor the Rattlesnake (Muppetism)

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 22 (Ji-Wei)

Day Pillar: Earth Sheep

12-Day Officers/12 Gods: Initiate Day (执 Zhi) [Auspicious]

Holidays: None Known

Secular Saints Days

Constantin Brâncuși (Art)

André Breton (Literature)

Nicolaus Copernicus (Astronomy)

Benicio del Toro (Entertainment)

Enrico Donati (Art)

Mama Cass Elliot (Music)

Henry Fielding (Literature)

Lucio Fontana (Art)

John Frankenheimer (Entertainment)

Tim Hunt (Science)

Stan Kenton (Music)

Marta (Sports)

Lee Marvin (Entertainment)

Carson McCullers (Literature)

William Messner-Loeb (Art)

Gabriele Münter (Art)

Ryū Murakami (Literature)

Smokey Robinson (Music)

Amy Tan (Literature)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 8 of 60)

Premieres

Ain’t Nature Grand! (WB LT Cartoon; 1931)

All Fowled Up (WB LT Cartoon; 1955)

American Music Awards (Music Awards Show; 1974)

Animal Cracker Circus (Columbia Favorites Cartoon; 1947)

Army of Darkness (Film; 1992)

Battling Bosko (WB LT Cartoon; 1932)

The Big Game Hunt, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1937)

Big Little Lies (TV Series; 2017)

Blithe Spirit (Film; 2021)

Broadway Folly (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1930)

Bucks for Boris or Rocky Pays the Piper (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 100; 1961)

Cleaning House, featuring The Captain and the Kids (MGM Cartoon; 1938)

Cockatoos for Two (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1947)

Crashing (TV Series; 2017)

Dinky Doodle in Lost and Found (Bray Cartoon; 1926)

Don Quichotte, by Jules Massenet (Opera; 1910)

Don’t Worry About Me, by Joey Ramone (Album; 2002)

The Doors of Perception, by Aldous Huxley (Book; 1954)

EastEnders (UK Soap Opera; 1985)

Elizabeth (Film; 1999)

Face Value, by Phil Collins (Album; 1981)

Felix the Cat in Ohm, Sweet Ohm (Felix the Cat Cartoon; 1928)

The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan (Feminist Critique; 1963)

Flying Bullets or A Cartridge in a Pear Tree (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 206; 1963)

Get a Job, by The Miracles (Song; 1958)

Hello Aloha (Disney Cartoon; 1952)

The Hooper-Bloob Highway (DePatie-Freleng Dr. Seuss Animated TV Special; 1975)

In the Still of the Nite, recorded by The Five Satins (Song; 1956)

Jungle Jitters (WB MM Cartoon; 1938)

Knights of Pythias (Fraternal Organization; 1864)

The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, by George Orwell (Essay; 1941)

Little Girls Blue (Adult Film; 1979)

Losing My Religion, by R.E.M. (Song; 1991)

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (TV Series; 1985)

The Mummy Strikes (Fleischer Superman Cartoon; 1943) [#14]

Nomadland (Film; 2021)

Office Space (Film; 1999)

October Sky (Film; 1999)

The Organ Grinder’s Swing (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

Peter the Pirate (Silent Film; 1925)

Picnic, by William Inge (Broadway Play; 1953)

Pluto and the Armadillo (Mickey Mouse Disney Cartoon; 1943)

The Rat Pack Attacks or Sharrup You Mouse (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 99; 1961)

Red Rackham’s Treasure, by Hergé (Graphic Novel; 1944) [Tintin #12]

Rushmore (Film; 1999)

Say Ah-h! (Educational-Bowers Comedy Cartoon; 1928)

Seein’ Red, White ’n’ Blue (Famous/Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1943)

Shipyard Symphony (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1943)

Shutter Island (Film; 2010)

Solid Tin Coyote (WB LT Cartoon; 1966)

The Sound of Silence, recorded by Simon and Garfunkel (Song; 1964)

Story of Civilization, by Will Durant (Eleven Volume History; 1975)

Such is Life at the County Fair (Pathe Review Cartoon; 1919)

The Tale of a Shirt (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1933)

Teardrops on My Guitar, by Taylor Swift (Song; 2007)

Theory of the Long Range Shell (Paramount-Bray Pictographs Cartoon; 1919)

Too Much Too Moon or What Makes Lunar Tick? (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 205; 1963)

The Toy Shoppe (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1934)

When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin’ Along (Screen Songs Fleischer Cartoon; 1932)

Today’s Name Days

Hadwig, Irma, Irmgard (Austria)

Blago, Konrad, Rajko, Ratko (Croatia)

Patrik (Czech Republic)

Patrik (Denmark)

Ülla, Ülle, Ülli, Ülve, Ülvi (Estonia)

Eija (Finland)

Gabin (France)

Hedwig, Irma, Irmgard (Germany)

Filothei (Greece)

Zsuzsanna (Hungary)

Corrado, Mansueto, Publio, Tullio (Italy)

Zane, Zuzanna, Zuze (Latvia)

Konradas, Nida, Šarūnas, Zuzana (Lithuania)

Ella, Elna (Norway)

Arnold, Arnolf, Bądzisława, Gabin, Henryk, Konrad, Konrada, Leoncjusz, Manswet, Marceli (Poland)

Apfia, Arhip, Filimon (Romania)

Maria (Russia)

Vlasta (Slovakia)

Álvaro, Gabino (Spain)

Ella, Gabriella (Sweden)

Leo, Lev, Levko (Ukraine)

Conrad, Conradine, Cortez, Curt, Curtis, Konrad, Kurt, Kurtis (USA)

Today’s National Name Days

National Stan Day

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 50 of 2025; 315 days remaining in the year

ISO Week: Day 3 of Week 8 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 22 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 22 (Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Snake 4723 (until February 17, 2026) [Ding-Chou]

Coptic: 12 Amshir 1741

Druid Tree Calendar: Pine (Feb 19-28) [Day 1 of 10]

Hebrew: 21 Shevat 5785

Islamic: 20 Sha’ban 1446

Julian: 6 February 2025

Moon: 59%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 22 Homer (2nd Month) [Ennius)

Runic Half Month: Sigel (Sun) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 61 of 90)

SUn Calendar: 20 Gray; Sixthday [20 of 30]

Week: 3rd Week of February

Zodiac:

Tropical (Typical) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 1 of 30)

Sidereal Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 7 of 30)

Schmidt Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 25 of 27)

IAU Boundaries (Current) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 3 of 23)

IAU Boundaries (1977) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 4 of 24)

Calendar Changes

Pine (Feb 19-28) [Druid Tree Calendar] (Month 7 of 41)

Pisces (The Fish) begins [Tropical (Typical) Zodiac Sign 3; thru 3.20]