November 30th - Andrew sits on a stone

 Today is a very interesting day for Scots.

First up, most well known is the fact that today is "St. Andrew's Day".

A day for feasting and celebrating the patron saint of Scotland, making it the de facto National Day for Scotland.

Fly the saltire (the cross of St. Andrew), and it's a nice prelude to the upcoming Hogmanay, then Burn's Night.

Another peculiar quirk for today as it relates to Scotland is that today was the day in 1996 that the Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland.

The Stone of Destiny, a bunch of neat history there.  Apparently, it was the 'pillow' of some saint or other who had a vision, or the first king of the Scots was the crowned while sitting on it.  

Kenneth MacAlpin (who's somewhere away back in my own family tree) had brought the stone to Scone.

Now, the Brits had stolen the stone during Edward I's invasions in Scotland in 1296 and brought it to eventually incorporate it into the Coronation Chair.

There it sat until about 1950 when 4 plucky Scots stole it and tried to bring it home... but didn't last.  Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 had the stone under the chair.  That is if you believe that it was recovered at all... I think there was a Hamish MacBeth episode that covered this.

But this day in 1996 it was announced that the stone would officially return home.  Started it's resting place at Edinburgh castle, but is now available for viewing in the Perth City Hall.

November 29 - Listening to Pong Championships on Phonograph

 The very first game I can remember was my dad's sister bringing over a ColecoVision and playing pong.

Obviously, it was many years after the game was introduced as it was first released on November 29th, 1972 by Atari.

Another invention that shares this date is the phonograph, was first demonstrated on this day in 1877.

The patent was granted to Edison in February of the following year.

November 26 - Snoopy Plays Hockey

 On this day in 1917 the National Hockey League was formed.

4 Canadian teams battling it out.  Taking 7 years before we let a yankee team in!

In 1922 the creator of Peanuts was born - Charles M. Schulz.

I have a lot of memories as a kid reading Peanuts, and even had the Snoopy that had the different outfits!

November 25 - Hit Homers, not Women

 November 25th is known as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  I won't say any more about that as it's as serious as it can be.

Just don't hit women.

Be like Joe DiMaggio and hit home runs instead.  He would have been 107 years old today.

November 24 - Freddie goes over the wire

 On this day in 1874 the first patent on barbed wire was granted to Joseph Farwell Glidden (he had submitted it October 27 of the previous year).

Now, his was essentially the patent on the manufacture, as there were patents back in 1867.

Someone who could really belt it out, as if they had fallen on barbed wire, was Freddie Mercury.  His wire was unfortunately cut short on this day in 1991.

November 23 - Doctor Who Censored Willie's Espresso

 Ooooo-weee-ooooh.  Woosh woosh...

If you're a geek, you know that sound and start running to find a Police Box.  The first time it got to appear was on this day in 1963 with William Hartnell as the first Doctor in the episode "An Unearthly Child".

Man, what a ride that show has been over the years.

Another wild ride, in a similarly shaped device was when Charlie won the Chocolate Factory and the elevator shot around in Willie Wonka's factory.

The book was written by Roald Dahl, who also wrote other kids books like James and the Giant Peach.  He passed away today in 1990 (aged 74).

Some interesting stories for sure, and with all the requests lately to remove books, that would be against John Milton's wishes of no censorship.  His Aeropagitica was released on this day in 1644.

We should all just chill and relax with a nice cuppa... personally, I like a good espresso.

In the US it's National Espresso Day.

November 22 - JFK got no respect, so have a drink

 When I was learning pipes, my instructor always had this large bottle of Scotch on his shelf - got it from Cutty Sark, he said.  They had sponsored the band at one point, so he kept it.  Wasn't a great Scotch apparently, but it was Scotch.

THE Cutty Sark was launched this day in 1869.

Almost a hundred years later, in 1963, then president John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Whatever theories (conspiracy or otherwise), it's easy to say someone 'had no respect' for the man.

"I get no respect" is a line that Rodney Dangerfield used to use often.

Had Rodney not passed (at the age of 82) in 2004, he would have been 100 today.