12 May 25

My big event for today is my semiannual dental cleaning. That's enough to justify wearing this vibrant paisley tie!

(Among many musical heroes born on this date: Johann Baptist Wanhal (1739), Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755), Jules Massenet (1842), Gabriel Fauré (1845), Burt Bacharach (1928), Steve Winwood (1948), Eric Singer (1958). Find even more at https://www.onthisday.com.)

26 April 22

 For National Pretzel Day, I've chosen one of my bright paisley ties, for their twisty design. I am enjoying soft pretzel sticks from Dairy Queen, but Ben also got some "original" twisted ones from Auntie Anne's Pretzels! 26 April has been celebrated as Pretzel Day for twenty years (by declaration of the Governor of Pennsylvania).

25 March 21

 SURPRISE! The very first Easter -- the Resurrection of Jesus -- (may have) happened on this date 1990 years ago. That was the calculation by Dionysius Exiguus (470 or 475-544), a monk who originated the "Christian Calendar" in 525. He labeled dates as "Anno Domini," "in the year of our Lord." He determined that the first Easter was on 25 March 31 "AD," and all of our calendar dates are derived from that base point. His chronology was actually off by several years, and so in our own time the preferred designation is CE, for "Common Era," to get away from the theological inaccuracy of AD. I think my orange, green and blue paisleys are pretty surprising.

1 August 19

Thirty-one years ago today we welcomed Jonathan Albert Kleppinger into our family! He chose this paisley tie for me to wear, noting that it was found at Goodwill by Mallie when she was one year old!

30 August 18

I like paisleys! Mallie found this tie for me four years ago at Goodwill (when she was just over one year old). I don't have any special occasion for today -- except to note that it is National Toasted Marshmallow Day (which is different from National S'Mores Day), the date in 1901 when the vacuum cleaner was patented, and the date in 1146 when European leaders outlawed the crossbow, intending to end war for all time (which did not happen).

21 May 17

The opposing swirls of the paisleys on my tie help honor the birthday of Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis in 1792. This French physicist was the first to explain how angular momentum behaves in a rotating frame of reference -- which is most evident to us in the way weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere rotate clockwise, while those in the Southern Hemisphere rotate counterclockwise. The "Coriolis effect" is observable only for large-scale phenomena like major storms and large cloud formations. Although some popular mythology says that it causes water to drain in opposite swirling directions in the two hemispheres, the forces that actually do produce the Coriolis effect are far too weak to affect the liquids we meet every day. Coriolis is also known as the first person to give the physical description of "work" as a force moving through a distance (in 1829).

31 August 16

Everyone can find a reason to celebrate the last day of August! Some of the more famous people born on this date: TV and radio journalist Daniel Schorr (1916-2010), Broadway lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986), TV news anchor Dan Rather (1931), baseball player Frank Robinson (1935), violinist Itzhak Perlman (1945), musician Van Morrison (1945), actor Richard Gere (1949) and actor Chris Tucker (1972). It is National Trail Mix Day and National Diatomaceous Earth Day. According to the French Republican Calendar we are to honor walnuts today! Bright paisleys in orange and green and blue are certainly appropriate.

17 November 15

Today is the right day to have a one-track mind! August Ferdinand Möbius was born on this date in 1790. He is famous for studying the properties of the "Möbius strip," the amazing three-dimensional surface that has only one side. Photobucket has some wonderful images of Möbius strip art. Although the paisleys on my tie are not Möbius figures, they are sufficiently loopy to be appropriate for this anniversary.

4 November 14

It's election day! I vote for this tie, found for me by Mallie at a Goodwill store last week. I always enjoy bright paisleys.