Sunday, June 21, 2009

Spotlight
Moms had their day; now it's time for the dads. Just as Mother's Day comes first in the calendar year, it was first on the calendar, period. No one thought seriously of taking a day to honor fathers until a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, sitting in a church service on Mother's Day, thought of her father, who acted as both father and mother to his six children after his wife's death years earlier. It occurred to her that he deserved to be honored every bit as much as the mothers of the world. She arranged for a tribute to her father in 1910, and began a campaign to declare an official annual holiday in honor of the fathers. Though a bill was introduced in 1913, it was only in 1972 that President Richard Nixon made Father's Day an official holiday in America. Here's to the fathers!

Quote
"I hope everyday I see a little more of my father in me." — Keith Urban, "Song for Dad"

Question of the Day
What should you get your dad for Father's Day?
Essentially, there are two kinds of gifts for these occasions:
● Sentimental gifts — personal touches on gifts, photographs, memory books, poetry, donation to his favorite charity, etc.
● Practical gifts — centered around the man himself, things he likes, wants, etc.

The point of Father's Day is to show your dad how much you care about him. If you put a lot of thought into what to get him he will be sure to value it. It doesn't have to be something really expensive; it's (usually) the thought that counts. You could get your dad a card and write a message of how thankful you are to him for what he does for you, etc. You could also write him a poem.... More

Word of the day
thespian

adj.
1. Of or relating to drama; dramatic: thespian talents.
2. Thespian Of or relating to Thespis.

n.
An actor or actress.

(© Houghton Mifflin Company)

Today's History

SpaceShipOne

• US Constitution: went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it (1788)
• Ellen Louks Fairclough: was sworn in as the first female member of the Canadian cabinet (1957)
• Women's National Basketball Association: league play began (1997)
• polio: the World Health Organization declared Europe free of the disease (2002)
• SpaceShipOne: the first privately funded and developed spacecraft was launched over the Mojave Desert and piloted into space by Michael Melvill (2004)
• Pluto: newly discovered moons were named Nix and Hydra (2006)

Today's Birthdays

Prince William

• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980): existentialist author, Being and Nothingness; plus, writers Joaquim Machado de Assis (1839-1908), Jose Graça Aranha (1868-1931), Mary McCarthy (1912-1989) and Françoise Sagan (1935-2004)
• Shirin Ebadi (62): first Iranian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
• Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007): Pakistan's first female prime minister
• Berke Breathed (52): creator of Bloom County; cartoonist Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) was also born today
• Doug Savant (45): Tom Scavo on Desperate Housewives; also, actors Jane Russell (88), Bernie Kopell (76), Monte Markham (74), Ron Ely (71), Mariette Hartley (69), Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross (both 61), Juliette Lewis (36) and Chris Pratt (30)
• Prince William (27): second in line to the British throne