odditudes-and-weirdities

Summer heat, country music, the separation of church and state, Caesar salads, barbecued spareribs in particular, barbecuing in general, abstaining from eating meat, invisibility, the creation of the US as an independent nation, building scarecrows, and contraptions all attract holiday attention today: Build a Scarecrow Day Contraption Day Independence Day Independence from Meat Day Indivisible Day Invisible Day National Barbecue Day National Barbecued Spareribs Day National Caesa r Salad Day National Country Music Day Sidewalk Egg-Frying Day Parts of the US have already seen record-breaking hot temperatures; Sidewalk Egg-frying Day gives summer heat its own holiday. It sounds like Indivisible Day is actually about supporting the idea of a separation of church and state. I'm suspicious that Invisible Day is a corruption of Indivisible Day ... but lets celebrate the idea of being invisible anyway. On this date in 1776 the US declared its independence from Great Britain. Photo by Bel...

On this date in 1883 Rube Goldberg was born. Goldberg was best known for his cartoons of contraptions that used impractically complicated methods to perform relatively simple tasks, i.e. Rube Goldberg Machines . Though certainly not efficient, these contraptions were popular with the public, and are used today to demonstrate creativity , especially in kids. Here's an original example of such a contraption from Goldberg himself, demonstrating a way to wipe your mouth with a napkin after consuming a spoonful of soup. [[File:Self-operating napkin (Rube Goldberg cartoon with caption).jpg|Self-operating napkin (Rube Goldberg cartoon with caption)]] Nowadays people don't just use them in cartoons but actually build these contraptions for recreation and contests. jclarson from New Mexico, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons