June 16th (today’s date) is a triple occasion: Bloomsday, the anniversary of the Zwicky – Daingerfield wedding, and my stepson Kit’s birthday. This Sunday is also Commencement Day at Stanford and Father’s Day.
Bloomsday. From Wikipedia:
Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce during which the events of his novel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. It is observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere… The name is derived from Leopold Bloom, the Ulyssean protagonist.
The wedding anniversary. Ann and I were married 51 years ago today. (Postings about the occasion here and here.)
Weddings are an occasion for pairing family names, in wedding announcements in newspapers. Nothing special in Zwicky – Daingerfield, beyond the oddness of the two names. But sometimes you get an unfortunate combination of names, as in a set of wedding announcements Gregory Ward passed on in e-mail on the 5th.
(Note: some newspapers put the groom’s name first, as the Reading Eagle did with my marriage to Ann, but some put the bride’s name first.)
From Gregory’s e-mail (heavy on double entendres):
Traylor – Hooker, Best – Lay, Hardy – Harr, Wang – Holder, Looney – Warde, Beaver – Wetter, Wendt – Adaway, Filler – Quick, Drinkwine – Layer, Kuntz – Dick, Aikin – Johnson, Peters – Rising, MacDonald – Berger, Wacker – Dailey, Gowen – Geter
Kit Transue’s birthday. The kids are all middle-aged now, sigh.
Stanford Commencement. The main Commencement speaker is New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. After the big ceremony, individual schools and departments have diploma-granting ceremonies, which are always touching events.
A note on errors: I’ve been having trouble typing the word Commencement, skipping from the first E to the third, producing Commencent. See my recent posting on telescoping errors.
Father’s Day. Today’s Zits unites father and son via musical tastes:
In other Father’s Day news, the Men’s Wearhouse has been running an ad for the occasion:
Because no two fathers are alike, right now we’re offering Buy One Get One Free.
which I understood at first hearing to be offering fathers for sale. You can always use an extra dad.
Finally, here’s a photo of my father (and my mother and a very very young me) from 1940:
(In those days, everybody wore hats. Even newborn me.)
Other seasonal events. Other events that sometimes coincide with one or more of these occasions include the San Francisco Free Folk Festival (which this year was on June 8th and 9th), San Francisco Pride (which this year is on the latest possible dates in Pride Month, the weekend of June 29th and 30th), and San Jose Pride (which this year is very late indeed, the weekend of August 17th and 18th).
[Addendum later in the day: Today is Palo Alto World Music Day:
Palo Alto World Music Day is a music festival that takes place every year on Father’s Day. It will be celebrated for the fifth time in Palo Alto on Sunday June 16, 2013 from 3:00 pm to 7:30 pm, on University Avenue … and King Plaza (City Hall).
Meanwhile, June 16th is National Fudge Day. And the birthday of Tupac Shakur, Stan Laurel, Geronimo, Joyce Carol Oates, and Nobelist Barbara McClintock, among others.]
June 16, 2013 at 9:52 am |
My gods! Professor Zwicky without his notebook!