Today is...

[IceWizard]

23 Apr 2017


National Lost Dog Awareness Day



We all had that best friend as a kid, that floppy eared ball of fur who was always excited to see us, no matter what our day had been like. They asked nothing from us but a pile of cuddles and scruff of the ear, and maybe the last bit of our sandwich. Sometimes these furry family members would go out into the world on a grand adventure, always intending to return home but never quite able to find their way. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an organization who stood to help these stalwart companions find their way home? Lost Dog Awareness Day was organized by just such a group, and is a day dedicated to helping our furbaby’s find their way home.

History of Lost Dog Awareness Day

All too often, when someone finds a lost and wandering dog along the street, they assume that this dog is a stray, and has no home. Lost Dogs of America (LDOA) was formed to help prove this assumption wrong, and help those wayward mutts find their way back to their owners and friends. The organization was established in 2011, and in 2013 established Lost Dog Awareness Day.

Over those years they have helped 42,000 dogs find their way back to their loving homes.

One of their success stories is a dog by the name of Molly who wandered away from her home in Illinois. Thanks to a flurry of postings across a series of Facebook groups, Molly was quickly identified when the person who found her took her to be scanned for a microchip. While Molly didn’t have one, the vet noticed Molly’s image on Lost Dogs Illinois, and was returned home within just a couple of hours of being posted as lost. That’s the kind of magi LDOA and Lost Dog Awareness Day can work in the lives of dogs and dog owners alike.



And




National English Language Day

”We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”
~ James Nicoll

There was a quiet language that began on a small cluster of islands off the coast of Western Europe, it slowly developed and spread through a few different permutations until one day, in an explosion of colonialism, it suddenly spread across the world like wildfire. It became the language of what was once the most powerful nation in the world and has since become the language of commerce in countries all over the world. English Language Day celebrates this language, its history, and its oddities!

History Of English Language Day

The first origins of the English Language can be found in medieval England and takes its name from the Angles. The Angles were a West Germanic tribe that found its way to England, taking their name from the Anglia peninsula that juts out into the Baltic Sea. From its inception, it has taken on grammar, tones, and words from every language it has come into contact with. There are those who would argue that English is no longer a language of its own, but an amalgam of every language it’s come into contact with.

So powerful has English become, that it is now the Lingua Franca of the entire world, bringing together everyone for trade and communication, and serving as a required second language in almost every nation. English has become the official language of nearly 60 countries throughout the world, and it seems to gain ground with every passing year.

However, it also stands as one of the most complicated languages to learn as a second language (with Japanese standing toe to toe with it for this inauspicious award). Unsurprising when it contains words like their, there, and they’re. Or when the plural of goose is geese, but the plural of moose is… moose. English Language Day celebrates its history, its future, and its strangeness.

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April 23 Birthdays



William Shakespeare - (1564 - 1616) (52)




George Lopez - 56




Shirley Temple - (1928 - 2014) (85)




Valerie Bertinelli - 57




Roy Orbison - (1923 - 1988) (52)




James Buchanan - (1791 - 1868) (77)




Joyce DeWitt - 68





April 23rd

2003: Twisted Sister announced that they were reuniting for their first tour in 16 years. The tour kicked off the following month for a USO tour of military bases in Korea.

2003: Pearl Jam purchased a 1,400 square-mile area of rainforest in Madagascar to compensate for the 5,700 tons of greenhouse gas emissions they estimated that they will incur on their tour of North America.

1994: Pink Floyd debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with their final studio album The Division Bell which spent four weeks on top of the chart and went on to sell three million copies in the U.S.

1991: Johnny Thunders, guitarist for the New York Dolls died under mysterious circumstances which have been rumored to be the result of foul play and drug related causes in New Orleans. He was 38 years old.

1988: During a Bruce Springsteen concert at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Springsteen led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to Roy Orbison, who was in attendance on his 52nd birthday.

1988: Iron Maiden reached number one on the U.K. Album Chart for the second time with Seventh Son of a Seventh Son which spent one week on top of the chart.

1983: U2 kicked off the North American leg of their tour in support of War in Chapel Hill, NC at Kenan Stadium.

1978: The Sex Pistols’ bassist Sid Vicious filmed his rendition of Paul Anka’s “My Way” for The Sex Pistols’ movie The Great Rock n Roll Swindle.

1956: Elvis Presley made his live debut in Las Vegas at the New Frontier Hotel. The audience response was so poor that Presley’s scheduled two week run was called off after the first week.



Birthdays:

Steve Clark - Guitarist for Def Leppard born in 1960