August 20 - LED Mosquito eating Pie

 I love my summer, except I've always wondered why are there mosquitoes?  I don't know of any positive benefits to them, and they just make some summer nights awful.

And yet, today we 'celebrat'e World Mosquito Day.

It's 'celebrated' as in 1897 is when the guy who was researching malaria discovered that it was transmitted through the females of the species in their gut.  

Again, I'll ask: Why are there mosquitoes??

What's not annoying, but definitely something that 'buzzes' in my brain is some good ol' fashioned Led Zeppelin.  I can't listen to anything from IV and not be suddenly transported back in time to grade 10 and studying for exams.

Led's frontman, Robert Plant is turning 73 today.

And you can't have a birthday without some pie.  Wonder if Robert likes pecans ... in the USA it's National Chocolate Pecan Pie day.

August 19th - flying humans around the world for laughter while saving the orangutans

 Today, in 1871, the man who would eventually invent the airplane, or one of them, Orvill Wright was born.

And the plan became such a ubiquitous tool, it helped make our planet smaller.  Making us smaller made us realize we need to help one another, and today is also World Humanitarian Day.

Although, not humans, but a distant cousin, are the Orangutans, and it's International Orangutan Day.

Did you know that their population has almost halved in just 5 years?

Pretty sombering, and then I bet a perfectly timed comedian like Groucho Marx would have something to say to lift the mood.  

Groucho died in 1977 (the year I was born) - he would have been 86.

August 18th - Peralta books Genghis over a Pinot Noir scam

 Detective Peralta, played by hilarious actor, Andy Samberg (of Lonely Island fame, with which I am more accustomed) just turned 43... 

...dang, I'm a year older than that guy, look what he's done!

And thinking of legacies, there's none larger than Genghis Khan himself.  Not even speaking of all that the Mongols conquered, it's said he had over 500 concubines... now apparently only legitimized 4 sons (and acknowledged 14), but dude probably had his DNA in way more pools than you think.  They say 1 in every 200 men alive today is a relative of his.

He died in 1227 of unknown reasons.  They don't really know if he was either 65 or 72.

All this during Pinot Noir day.

August 17 - Feet, De Niro & Brian

 In 1979, to a ton of criticism - just because they were a troop of characters who pushed every boundary - Monty Python released their "LIFE OF BRIAN" epic movie.

Graham Chapman playing the role of Brian, the hapless person who unwittingly becomes the messiah in a huge Christianity spoof of the life of Jesus.  

I laughed the whole way through it the first time I watched it, and still do.  Such hilarity, gentlemen... well done.

Speaking of acting, not so much a 'funny guy', playing someone you definitely wouldn't want to cross is Robert De Niro.

He turns 78 today.  How many movies has he played an amazing role in, Vito Corleone (The Godfather II), Frank "The Irishman" (The Irishman), Jack Byrnes (Meet the Parents), Louis Gara (Jackie Brown), Max Cady (Cape Fear)... so many roles.

All of this on "Love Your Feet Day".  

Maybe it was from that scene in Life of Brian where he loses his sandal and walks barefoot... who knows how these days come about.

August 16th - Sports, Madonna, Taika and the King

 Growing up around my house with brothers and a dad who were very sports obsessed, we had a lot of Sports Illustrated issues around.  

The very first issue came out on August 16th, 1954.

A few years later, a certain queen of pop, Madonna was born (1958)

Then in 1975, Taika Waititi was born.

...and he's done some funny stuff I tell you.  Still have to finish watching Jo Jo Rabbit

Then in 1977 Elvis Presley was found dead.

Unless you're one of those who believes he's still alive... (he'd be 86).

All, during Rum Day.

Except for Taika, he was born in New Zealand and Rum Day is an American thing.

August 13th - going left from scary to food

 It's August 13th, and not just any day - it's a Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th has always been an auspicious day - filled with superstition - there was even a whole series of horror movies surrounding it.

You almost don't know anything about Friday the 13th EXCEPT that movie franchise.  There's a ton of theories about why FRIDAY is the bad 13th, but I think it's more so that people really didn't like the number 13.

Speaking of horror movies, it also is the birthday of the modern horror movie filmmaker - Alfred Hitchcock (he would have been 122).

And then in other famous people news, Julia Childs, the famous TV chef star died on 2014 (age 91).

I bet Julia probably made this dish a few times: filet mignon.  And it's National Filet Mignon day (in the US).

I'd always thought that bacon was a must, for it to be filet mignon.  Guess I'm always learning things.

It's also International Left Handers Day - so go have a guess which of the above folks were left handed... it's about 10% of the population, given the number of Friday the 13th movies, I bet one of those Jasons was.

Aug 12 - Schrodinger's Young Elephant

 Ask people about Schrodinger, and they may - just may be able to remember something about him and a cat in a box.  But Erwin Schrodinger (who would have been 134 today) brought much more than a gedankenversuch about a cat that's both dead and alive - that thought experiment came out of his explanation of how something can be 2 things in quantum mechanics.

He won the nobel prize for his Schrodinger equation which describes the behaviour of the wave function.

Now, as for the young elephant.

Today is also International Youth Day

Isn't that every day for them?

And it's also, my son's favourite animal (speaking of youth), World Elephant Day.

Wonder if Schrodinger first tried to do his thought experiment with a young elephant in the jungle before he settled on cats in boxes with poison.