Dragon

Thanks for the info sandm, found this while I was looking, these folks go all out!
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/christmas-has-a-festive-tree-so-why-not-easter.html

Baldur

Are we a culture that places more value on the amount of drama a person creates (or endures) or the beauty emanating from that same person?
This is a timely thought upon the death of Whitney Houston.
Baldur agrees that she was truly talented, but was she inspirational?
In many ways her life seemed like a train wreck exploited by the media.

Compare what is about to happen with the hullaballoo that surrounded Amy Winehouse's passing. Was Michael Jackson's death a better analogy?What does this say about us?

Baldur

Charles the Fat is crowned Emperor of Italy by the pope (881)
The Battle of the Herrings (1429)
Lady Jane Grey is beheaded (1554)
Charles Darwin is born (1809)
Abraham Lincoln is born (1809)
Tex Beneke is born (1914)
The NAACP is founded (1919)
Lillie Langtry dies (1929)
The airship USS Macon crashes into the Pacific Ocean (1935)
Edward Munch's painting 'the Scream' is stolen (1994)
Screamin' Jay Hawkins dies (2000)

Today is Red Hand Day

sandm

Sure, we live in a culture, which is "attracted by sensations and drama" and there is an important worldwide industry of wide influence, producing these attractions (and making big money thereby).

But I wouldnt say "we are" , because I dont want to be such a "we", and hopefully I am not. And I guess, you too arent "in" this culture, otherwise you wouldnt state this question. And there are many others, being not "in". This is, "what is says about us". ... Just my thought upon your entry.

Baldur

It appears to me that the media chooses who is popular, not the public.
Truly talented artists without controversial personalities or lifestyles do not get the same attention.

Baldur

Henry VIII's 5th wife Catherine Howard is executed (1542)
Richard Wagner dies (1883)
ASCAP is established in New York (1914)
Bruno Hauptmann was found guilty of kidnapping the Lindbergh baby, there is some evidence that he was made a scapegoat (1935)
A spark plug is found encased in a 500,000 year old rock near Olancha, California (1961)
Fonzworth Bentley is born (1974)
Randy Moss is born (1978)
More than 2 miles of city streets are destroyed by sewer explosions in Louisville, Kentucky (1981)
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologizes to the Australian Aborigines (2008)

Lupercalia begins

Dragon

I would say that Whitney Houston was a very talented artist before the drugs and disastrous choice of husband but I would not call her inspirational. Perhaps at the beginning of her career she was but I don't think anyone should aspire to be what she became at the end of it.

Hazer

Wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day! I am not able to sit at my desk for very long yet, but do manage to peek in and admire the talent.

sandm

Happy Valentine`s day Hazer and a quick recovery! Hope you are doing well.

Baldur

St. Valentine dies (270)
Several hundred Jews are burned to death and the rest driven from the city of Strasbourg (1349)
A show 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite' is held at Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal (1843)
George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. is born (1859)
Both Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell apply for patents for a device called 'the telephone' (1876)
Jack Benny is born (1894)
Jimmy Hoffa is born (1913)
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre (1929)
Teller is born (1948)
Television viewers are taken on a tour of the White House by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1962)
P. G. Wodehouse dies (1975)
Dolly the sheep dies (2003)

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Baldur

Baldur knew that he had better visit Mother on Valentine's Day, or else.
Generally I take her on errands every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but even being a Tuesday this day demanded an appearance.
My hunch was correct. She was waiting by the door.
En route I stopped at a large market that has its own floral department and purchased her a African Violet.

Oddly this is one plant that I'd never grown myself.
However, James Underwood Crockett, in his book, 'Crockett's Indoor Garden' states they are very easy houseplants and quite simple to start from a small cutting.
This specimen was rather loverly, being a burgundy color rather than the royal purple, pink or white that one often sees.
The center of each flower has what appears to be tiny bright yellow beads.
I took a single leaf and cut the stem down to one inch. Then I made a hole in the soil in a small pot at a 45 degree angle and inserted the stem.
After pressing the soil down to make contact with the stem all that is left to do is to wait three weeks until you see the rosette of the new baby plant.

I did cheat and applied rooting hormone powder to the buried part of the stem. Some things are best not left to chance.
Wish me luck.

sandm

Wish you good luck, Baldur! My grandmother planted the African Violets in her room, near the window. She had lots of them, various colours and it wasnt difficult to do, they only need sufficient sun.

AuntieB

Don't even mention flowers to Auntie B today.
I've gotten so many delivered there is absolutely no place left to put more.
(There is always space for more jewelry!)
Oops! There is the doorbell again.
Gotta run

Baldur

Galileo is born (1564)
Susan B. Anthony is born (1820)
The sinking of the Maine (1898)
Cesar Romero is born (1907)
Nat King Cole dies (1965)

Happy Candlemas
and a Happy Flag Day to my Canadienne audience

indigo

Merci Beaucoup Mon Cher Baldur *L*

Dragon

Yay Flag Day!

I have had a few African Violets and have indeed found them fairly easy keepers. Mine seemed to have no rhyme or reason as to when they bloomed but then I've always had trouble getting anything with flowers to bloom so the fact that they did at all is a testiment to them. Mine would go several months with nothing at all happening then suddenly burst out for weeks at a time. I did unfortunately manage to kill my last one when I lived in a basement suite with tiny windows and no natural light. I put it on my bedside table below the largest window to try to give it a chance, however that was the window the cats liked to sit in and the violet gradually grew a thick shaggy cat hair coat that it did not like at all. I will warn Baldur that they don't like their leaves to have water on them or to be touched all that much (which is sad because they're so fuzzy and inviting!) I have a suspiscion they will thrive at Boughbreak and look forward to hearing when they bloom for the first time.

Baldur

The next plant I'd like to add to the indoor garden is a strange one from Madagascar. It's called Alluaudia Procera and is mostly intimidating thorns.

Baldur

Tutankhamun's burial chamber is unsealed by Howard Carter (1923)
Nylon is patented by Wallace H. Carothers (1937)
Jerome Bettis is born (1972)
Keith Haring dies (1990)
The Kyoto Protocol comes into force (2005)

Happy Statehood Day to our Lithuanian audience

sandm

They are selecting the winners for 2012 within the next days

http://improbable.com/ig/

sheftali52

I had to look up the Alluaudia Procera, and noted that it looked like an ocotillo but was not even related. Should be a very cool plant, Baldur. I have a large African violet which I recently divided. It was given to me ten years ago by a friend who has since passed away. The plant is a lovely bloomer, and a great reminder of my friend.