Today is...

[IceWizard]

15 Feb 2017


National Singles Awareness Day



After a Christmas spent with elderly family members asking when they’re finally going to get married, or at least find a boyfriend or girlfriend to bring home, life does not get any easier for singles after Christmas, either. No sooner have the Santa Claus and snowman decorations vanished from the shops than the shelves begin to burst with cuddly teddy bears, heart-shaped balloons and boxes of cheap chocolates, all in shades of nauseating neon pinks and reds. Yes, Valentine’s Day has become one of the world’s most profitable occasions, yet another marketing scheme that has hit pay dirt more than the original creators of the idea could have ever dreamed.

If you’re in a relationship Valentine’s day is bad enough, what with all the additional pressure to be ‘romantic’, if such rampant and blatant consumerism and commercialism can be considered romantic at all. The restaurants are all overpacked with couples trying too hard to impress each other, and it seems every flower in the whole city has been bought out, just so someone can say it’s pretty once and then throw it away. Hallmark holidays are called that for a reason.

History of Valentine’s Day

For singles, on the other hand, Valentine’s day can be a simple and cruel reminder that they are alone. No pink stuffed animals for them, and no tacky heart-shaped boxes of poor quality chocolate, either, though one does tend to wonder whether that really makes them worse off in the first place.

Singles Awareness Day used to be an alternate name used for Valentine’s Day among those who found themselves unattached during the day, but it all became too depressing. So by single’s hive-mind consensus, it fell to the day after as a perfect antitode to all of the neon nonsense.



And



National Hippo Day



Bet you didn’t know that Hippo loosely translates to River Horse in ancient Greek. Hippo Day, then, celebrates the third largest mammal on Earth. Why not take some time to waddle in a mud bath, get angry with some tourists, and yawn a lot whilst opening your mouth really-really widely?[/b][/b]

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February 15 Birthdays



Mick Avory - 72



David Brown - (1947 – 2000) (53)



John Helliwell - 71



Galileo Galilei - (1564 - 1642) (77)



Susan B Anthony - (1820 - 1906) (86)



Chris Farley - (1964 - 1997) (33)



Jane Seymour - 66



Lillian Disney - (1899 - 1997) (98)



Miep Gies - (1909 - 2010) (100)



Brandon Boyd - 41



Matt Groening - 63






February 15th

2002: Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee was sued by the parents of a four year old boy who drowned in a pool at Lee’s Malibu mansion the previous June. Lee would be cleared by a jury in April 2003.

1999: Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura declared Rolling Stones Day in Minnesota before their concert in Minneapolis. Ventura was a bodyguard for the group.

1998: The Rolling Stones closed out the second North American leg of their tour in support of Bridges to Babylon in Las Vegas at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, which included Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt & Sting in attendance.

1995: ZZ Top filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Steridyne Corporation which made a $100 gel-filled mattress bed-sore product named the ZZ Topper.

1981: Mike Bloomfield, guitarist for The Paul Butterfield Blues Band & Bob Dylan was found dead of an accidental drug overdose in a parked car in San Francisco. He was 37 years old.

1977: Glen Matlock was fired as the bassist for the Sex Pistols. When the group reunited in 1996, 2002 & 2007, Matlock was their bassist.

1975: Rush released their sophomore album Fly by Night which was their first album with Neil Peart on drums.

1969: The Doors peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with “Touch Me” which was their third and final top ten single in the U.S.

1964: The Beatles reached number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart for the first time with Meet the Beatles! which spent eleven weeks on top of the chart.



Birthdays:

Mick Avory -Drummer for The Kinks born in 1944

John Helliwell - Saxophonist for Supertramp born in 1945

David Brown - Bassist for Santana born in 1947