June 30
Log Cabin Day
I would rather be poor
in a cabin full of books
than a king
without the desire to read.
On this day in 1859, Charles Blondin tightroped across Niagra falls. He was history’s most famous tightrope walker (or “ropedancer” or “fun-ambulist,” in 19th century parlance). Here’s a laughing at myself moment: When I first read about the tight rope walker, I thought it said Charles Bronson and for a moment I thought, well that explains his daredevil/brave guy reputation. Bronson is old, but not that old.
I happened upon a Niagra Falls Smiley when cruising the channels late one night. It starts out scary, but all is well in the end–duh, this is a smiley post on the smiley website!!
It’s also Toss a Pebble Day over on a calendar of a month full of Smiley Silliness. I was never good at that whole skipping stones thing. I’ll never forget an old friend (now long gone) who could skip great big rocks. When he claimed to have this skill we all mocked him–he showed us! Nate, you are missed. Gone too soon.
It is on this day that we sometimes add a second, a leap second (like a leap year), to perfect our time of day due to slight irregularities in the Earth’s rotation. There’s also a Leap Second Day on December 31st. Both are only employed as needed. So far there have only been positive leap seconds (adding a second) and never a negative leap second (taking away a second). I had no idea. Learn something new each day; it’s a great goal!
Today we say happy birthday to Lena Horne (1917) and David Alan Grier (1956). Great talents, both. How fun it would be to dine with this pair!
BTW, the Smileys and holidays on a month full of Smiley Silliness are all different than the ones you see here on the website’s Daily Smiley.