Your August Birthday: August Holidays, Traditions and More

Poor ol' August doesn't have any national holidays or well-known religious holidays. It's too early to trick-or-treat and it's WAY too early to write to Santa. August doesn't even usually get a very interesting calendar picture! What's a summer baby to do for celebration around here? Well, there's more to August than meets the eye, and you will find most of it here!

Monthly Observances
August is National Win with Civility Month, as well as the National Month for immunization awareness, inventors, panini, and water quality, so after a long day slaving over your inventions, you can have a grilled sandwich and a glass of crystal-clear water and think about how nice it is to have all your immunizations. But don't gloat; be a good sport about it!

Weirdest Holiday: While I must admit some fascination for Southern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day (22^nd), I fear I may not be allowed to participate by dint of my not being located on the proper half of the Earth. We Northern Hemisphere people will have to be content with Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night (8^th), which should offer plenty of opportunity for hijinks to ensue...

August Traditions
Flower: gladiolus - sincerity, strength of character
Birthstone: peridot -marital happiness Leo's gem: amber
Zodiac sign: Leo (1-23) and Virgo (24-31; see September for details). Leo, represented by the powerful lion, is a fire sign and displays the spontaneity and unpredictability of that element. Leos are not always as forceful as you'd think, but have a very secure sense of self and like to associate with people and possessions that make them look good. Leos love to joke around and be the life of the party, so it can be difficult to get them to be serious about things, and making any kind of commitment can be an immense challenge for them! Best friends: Sagittarius and Aries. Best love matches: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius.

Famous Birthdays: Francis Scott Key (1^st), Mary-Louise Parker (2nd), Tony Bennett (3^rd), Barack Obama (4th), Neil Armstrong (5^th), Andy Warhol (6^th), Charlize Theron (7th), Dustin Hoffman (8^th),  Whitney Houston (9th), Antonio Banderas (10th), Alex Haley (11^th), Mark Knopfler (12th), Alfred Hitchcock (13^th), Halle Berry (14th), Julia Child (15^th), Madonna (16th), Mae West (17^th), Robert Redford (18^th), John Stamos (19th), Amy Adams (20th), Count Basie (21^st), Ray Bradbury (22^nd), Kobe Bryant (23rd), Dave Chappelle (24th), Sean Connery (25^th), Mother Theresa (26th), Confucius (27^th), Goethe (28^th), Michael Jackson (29^th), Cameron Diaz (30th), Richard Gere (31^st).

Catholic Feast Days
1- St Peter's Chains, Lammas Day, St Alphonsus Mary de Ligouri, St Friard
2 -The Virgin of the Angels, Ste Sidwell
3- Ste Lydia
4 -St John Baptist Marie Vianney, St Sithney
5 -Sts Addai & Mari, Ste Afra, St Oswald
6 -The Transfiguration
7 -St Albert of Trapani, St Cajetan, St Dometius
8 -St Cyriacus the Slave, St Dominic, the Fourteen Holy Helpers, St Hormisdas, the Blessed Mary MacKillop, St Altman
9- Ste Edith Stein, St Emygdius
10- St Besse, St Lawrence
11- St Alexander "Carbonaris", Ste Clare, Ste Philomena
12- St Porcarius, St James Tam
13- St Cassian of Imola, Ste Concordia, St Hippolytus, Ste Radegund
14- St Maximilian Kolbe, St Werenfrid
15- The Assumption, St Arnulf of Soissons, St Tarsicius
16- St Armel, St Rock, St Stephen of Hungary
17- St Hyancith, St Mamas
18- St Agapitus, Ste Helena
19- Ste Joan DeLanoue, St Sebald
20- St Bernard of Clairvaux, St Amadour, St Philibert
21- St Bernard Tolomei, St Pius X
22- St Symphorian
23- Ste Rose of Lima
24- St Bartholomew, St Owen of Rouen
25- St Genesius, St Joseph Calasanctius, St Louis
26- Ste Teresa Jornet e Ibars, Ste Elizabeth aiz de Bichier des Anges, St Zephyrinus
27- Ste Margaret the Barefooted, Ste Monica, St Phanurius
28- St Augustine of Hippo, St Hermes, St Moses the Black
29- Ste Sabina, St Richard Herst
30- St John Roche
31- Aidan of Lindisfarne, St Raymond Nonnatus

Want to see more? Check out these other months:

January - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2017/01/your-january-birthday-january-holidays.html
February - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/02/your-february-birthday-february.html
March - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/03/your-march-birthday-march-holidays.html
April - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/03/your-april-birthday-april-holidays.html
May - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/05/your-may-birthday-may-holidays.html
June - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2017/05/your-june-birthday-holidays-traditions.html
July - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2017/07/your-july-birthday-july-holidays.html
September - https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2019/08/your-september-birthday-september.html
October - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/09/your-october-birthday-october-holidays.html
November - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2017/10/your-november-birthday-november.html
December - http://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2016/12/your-december-birthday-december.html

Image of gladiolus from Pixabay  https://pixabay.com/en/gladiolus-flowers-white-yellow-965890/

Is it Okay to Pee in the Shower?

To pee or not to pee...in the shower? That is the question. Some people do and some people don't, but only very few admit it, and they are all men, with the exception of a soul-unburdening Liz Lemon, frightened of dying on a plane in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. She's a fictional character, but was Tina Fey confessing, too? It had a ring of truth. But what is there to confess? What is wrong with peeing in the shower, exactly?

What harm does it do?
Is it unsanitary to pee in the shower? Well, urine is actually sterile; your skin will shed far more bacteria into the shower-simply from the stuff we contact casually every day-than your urine stream ever will. So no, it's not particularly unsanitary, even though it might not smell as delightful as your peony-scented body wash. It almost seems more sanitary, at least from the standpoint of cleansing oneself afterward. Why just wipe when you can lather up and scrub?
There is, however, the Squick Factor, a powerful deterrent. Whether or not you pee in your own shower, it seems undecorous to pee in your friend's shower. It is, after all, your friend's territory.

Okay, then, what good does it do?
Egyptian turkey vultures pee on their feet to wash off the bacteria. That's right; these birds, who feed on carcasses, are somewhat small (about wild-turkey-sized) and tend to walk around in their food, which is, after all, decomposing bodies. Their feet are feather-free so as to be more easily rinsed by the birds' urine. Some humans also swear by the anti-fungal properties of urine, as evidenced by the belief that to pee on one's feet helps ward off Athlete's Foot.

There is also the argument that one can save resources by peeing in the shower. Why flush that extra water down the toilet, and then climb into the shower? It is possible, however, that the minute or so it takes you to, uh, drain, you are too distracted to make much of the water cascading down upon you, thereby making the water savings negligible and saving only toilet paper. Which is something, I guess.

So, Pee or No Pee?
Your personal decision. The Squick Factor is purely psychological but hard to overcome. I would suggest whatever you decide, Don't Ask, Don't Tell may be the best policy. Happy Washing!

Image from Pixabay  https://pixabay.com/en/shower-shower-head-water-1502736/

The Statue of Liberty

I thought I would take this Independence Day to talk a little bit about the Statue of Liberty, who raises her torch over New York's harbor, welcoming tourists to come to Liberty Island. The 126-year-old statue weathered 2012's monster Hurricane Sandy successfully, but Liberty Island suffered serious damage from the storm and required some time to repair docks and pavement that were destroyed by the hurricane. But on July 4, 2013, after eight long months, the ferry started delivering visitors once more, just in time for our nation's birthday that year. The statue has been closed before, notably after 9/11 and also for renovations, so the public was happy to get another chance to come see Lady Liberty up close and even to venture inside.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the American people from the nation of France in celebration of our centennial, and after being assembled in France, shipped and installed on the island, it was presented to the public in an unveiling ceremony on October 28, 1886. The lady has been a symbol of welcome, as she stands in the harbor to which many foreign vessels traveled, and also because she overlooks Ellis Island, for many years the location at which immigrants from Europe entered the country. Emma Lazarus created the iconic poem that is displayed on a plaque at the base of the statue, containing the well-known lines "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", another message that the United States of America was willing to serve as a refuge for immigrants fleeing persecution or poverty in their countries of origin and hoping to start a new, better life in this land.


So a gift from France becomes a gift to all; to those who follow the promise of a better life for themselves and their families, and also for those who have achieved that better life, to visit the historical icon that symbolizes hope and freedom for all.

Image from Wikimedia Commons, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty#/media/File:Statue-de-la-liberte-new-york.jpg