Via e-mail, Bonnie Stone reminds me of something very important that I almost forgot: today is National Mole Day!

Huh? you ask. Well, to quote myself from 10/23/2002:

This annual holiday — which technically starts at 6:02 AM and ends at 6:02 PM — does not actually celebrate small furry animals that dig holes in the ground, but rather, a chemistry concept: Avogadro’s number, the “mole,” 6.02 x 10²³. (10/23… 10²³… get it?) That’s 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, for the scientific-notionally challenged among us, and it’s an inconceivably huge number. How huge? A mole of marshmellows would cover the planet Earth 12 miles high, and a mole of seconds would last so long, the universe would die out before it was done!

(Hat tip: myself, in last year’s post on Mole Day.) Wikipedia explains the history:

Mole Day originated in an article in The Science Teacher in the early 1980s. Inspired by this article, Maurice Oehler, now a retired high school chemistry teacher from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, founded the National Mole Day Foundation (NMDF) on May 15, 1991.

So, yeah, It’s Mole Day. Have some Mole Day cake!

Blogger "RA" of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania has a lengthy Mole Day post on her blog, in which she nerdily explains:

Nestled within National Chemistry Week, October 23 celebrations glorify the mole and Avogadro’s number, approximated at 6.022 x 10²³. A mole is an absolute number without a unit, similar to a dozen. A dozen is always 12, whether it’s made up of donuts or people or cars. It’s the same with a mole, except that it’s always 6.022 x 10²³, which is a number of fantastic magnitude, such that a mole of oranges would be as large as the earth. Practically speaking, when dealing with elements and compounds, the mole allows us to switch between atomic mass units (which are ridiculously small) to grams, which we can see, feel, and measure. So, 6.022 x 10²³ atoms of carbon (atomic weight of 12 amu), or a mole of it, would have a mass of 12 grams, which is so much more helpful because we have known atom quantity and mass. On Mole Day, we’re really celebrating the awesomeness of this one magical number.

"Nerdily" is a compliment in this instance, by the way. :) Meanwhile, in Downer’s Grove, Illinois, some high-school students are using the day as an opportunity to show off their extreme dorkiness:

Classes do not begin at Downers Grove North until 8 a.m., but more than 350 students are expected to be at school at 6:02 a.m. Tuesday.

About 14 percent of the student body will be running laps and decorating windows with homemade periodic tables for Mole Day, a national celebration of Avogadro’s number, 6.02 x 10 to the 23rd power, which is used as a basic measurement in chemistry. What was initially planned as a one-time event with 100 people four years ago, has grown steadily, much to the surprise of chemistry teacher Tom Redig who organized the first event. …

Senior Jess Mulcone of Downers Grove said she first went to Mole Day as a sophomore for extra credit but got hooked on the event. Even though Jess is not in chemistry now, she said she is looking forward to going with many of her friends.

“It’s fun just being at school at 6:02 in the morning,” she said. “No one else is there, and you feel so ridiculous for being there.”

Heh. Nerds! I love it!

But this is stuffed-animal cruelty: "The run or walk starts with a bang from a mole cannon, a tube filled with flammable materials used to detonate a stuffed mole." Oh, the mole-manity!

Arrr! Avast, me hearties, it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Shiver me timbers!

Now gather ’round the YouTube, ye lily-livered landlubbers, and listen to Ol’ Chumbucket and Cap’n Slappy explain the difference between pirates and ninjas:

Arr! Ninjas suck! Arr!

Aye, and let it be known, all across the seven seas, that neither today, nor this Saturday, nor any other day this fall, will the Pirates of Troy be surrendering the Booty! Arrr! Beat the Cougarrrrrrrs!

Also, Go Irrrrrish, Beat Sparrrrrrtans!! Make a block, ye mangy O-Line bilge rats, or walk the plank! It’ll be Davy Jones’ Locker for Charrrrrlie if we don’t win soon, and that be no lie!

So, in conclusion: Arrrrr!

P.S. Guestbloggers are encouraged to use as much pirate-speak as possible in anything they post today. :)

Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Marat, we’re poor, and the poor stay poor.
Marat, don’t make us wait anymore.
We want our rights, and we don’t care how.
We want a revolution — now.
- from the musical Marat/Sade

Marat was an extremist among extremists, a polemicist. He whipped up the French to bloodthirsty mobs in 1789 with the diatribes he wrote and published. He signed the death warrants of Louis XVI ane Marie-Antoinette. He was instrumental in bringing on the bloodbath of the French Revolution.

Marat had a disfiguring skin disease that kept him in a medicinal bath almost around the clock. He did his writing there. And he was ultimately assassinated there.

The artist who painted him was a polemicist also — in art. He also signed those death warrants. He painted Marat unblemished, almost unbloodied, gracefully slumped, a hero, a martyr, almost a dead Christ figure.

You can see this Marat by googling MARAT DAVID PAINTING. You will see how we are supposed to believe he was, how we are supposed to believe all the instigators of the years-long massacre were, when we sing The Marseillaise today, Bastille Day.

Good luck getting through the day, everyone. Try not to be overwhelmed by paraskavedekatriaphobia!

It’s 7/7/07, which means some superstitious folk are gambling or getting married — or better yet, doing both (in Vegas). Meanwhile, in Connecticut, one man is turning 77.

On a far more somber note, it’s the second anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in London.

The fireworks show was nice, though it was a little annoying that the Sunsphere was directly between us and it. Made for interesting pictures, though:

The bright “star” at top right is Jupiter, by the way. More photos after the jump.

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Freedom isn’t free.

UPDATE: In honor of the day, Rick Moran is liveblogging the Continental Congress. Er, in a manner of speaking. Continued here, and, presumably, eventually here. (Hat tip: Malkin.)

Happy 140th birthday, Canada!

I should let Becky render the verdict on this one, but I think her 25th birthday has been a pretty good, if laid-back, one. When we got up this morning around noon :), I gave her her two presents: Season 1 of Kyle XY on DVD (she’s been intrigued by the TV ads) and two tickets to the PBR rodeo in Nashville on Sunday. (Becky was all jealous when I went to the rodeo in Denver with Kristy and V, so I jumped at the chance when I saw the PBR tour was stopping in Tennessee on her birthday weekend.) We then went out to our local IHOP for brunch, which was a nice little treat. After coming home for a while, we went to see Surf’s Up, which was surprisingly good (though I’m pretty sure the concept for the movie originated with a bunch of Hollywood stoners sitting around smoking weed, and one of them said, “Hey man, I have this awesome idea for a movie! See, there’s this penguin, and he surfs! And then there’s this other penguin, who’s a washed-up former surfer! And they’re friends with a chicken! It’s gonna be awesome, man!”). When we came home from that, I made Becky a birthday dinner of Kraft Mac & Cheese and cantelope. I know, very fancy and romantic. :) Anyway, it’s been a fun day, and the weekend in Nashville should be great. Yee-haw!

It’s surprisingly difficult to come up with a fitting birthday tribute to the love of one’s life. Nothing seems adequate! I could write a silly (or sappy) poem about Becky, or post a cute picture of her, or just say “I love you, honey bunny! Happy birthday!” … but surely there’s something more meaningful I can post, especially on a birthday that feels like something of a milestone (a quarter century!). Yet I’ve been sitting here, staring at this screen for the better part of the last hour, and I’m still at a loss.

Hmm, well, here’s an idea. Maybe it would be fun to think about where we were, both geographically and in our lives (now our life) as a couple, on each previous Becky birthday since we met. Cue the BrendanLoy.com time machine…

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Don’t forget to let your mommy know you love her.

I realize the tintinnabulation is a bit cacophonous (how’s that for a sentence that would impress your high-school English teacher?) in my mobile-video post from the Basilica, so here’s a higher-quality recording:

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It was a lovely Vespers service. I’ll admit I got goosebumps when, after a long build-up on the organ, the choir finally started singing “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today” (one of my favorite hymns, hence the audio clip earlier).

Anyway, here are a couple of photos:

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