neerG adniK gnileeF

Today's offering brings together several notable events. It's Backwards Day (!nuF giB) as well as Brussels Sprouts Day! Speaking of a certain color, on this date in 1936 the Green Hornet radio program debuts on WXYZ Radio (and how perfect is that?) in Detroit, Michigan. And lastly but certainly not leastly, today in 1747 London's Lock Hospital opens the first venereal-disease clinic.

(We hope your venereal disease does not progress to the point where you need an ambulance - better to avoid getting VD in the first place.)

This Ambulance, backwards Green T-Shirt — additional wares with the same design here — is from the safety-conscious EMS/EMT/Fire Rescue area of the eclectic CafePress.com Terry Kepner's Design Oddities shop.

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...after the beep...

I'M NOT HERE
RIGHT NOW!
Leave a message and
I'll get back to you.

It's National Inane Answering Machine Message Day, a necessary holiday if ever there was one. Whoever invented it deserves a Pulitzer Prize, notification of which should not involve leaving a message on said electronic device.

To observe today's momentous occasion we feature this I'm Not Here, Leave Message T-shirt. More of these items for men and women can be plucked from the respective men's and women's Attitude (PG-13) sections within the abundantly arrayed CafePress.com Personali-Tees shop which contains some adult-only items.

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On the Road

Enjoy Your Travels

On this date in 1886 Karl Benz, of Karlsruhe, Germany, patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

We honor his achievement with this stunning Enjoy Your Travels Tote Bag — more Enjoy Your Travels items here — an example of the delightfully retro offerings found in the Places to Go department of the colorful and delicious CafePress.com Our Krazy Kulture Shop.

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P-O-P

We celebrate the birthdays of two cultural icons today: Sesame Street's Rubber-Ducky-loving Muppet, Ernie (circa 1969), and the Swedish Pop-Artist Claes Oldenburg — known for his oversize sculptures of everyday objects — born in 1929.

This Pop-Arty I LUV ERNIE Infant/Toddler T-Shirt — the full panoply of Ernie-inspired wares here — is from the extensive Men's Names division of the CafePress.com Candy Heart Shop. Their adult themed area is decidedly not for Sesame Streeters.

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Eureka!

On this day in 1880 Thomas Alva Edison receives a patent (#223898) for his "electric lamp for giving light by incandescence." And today in 1948 the first tape recorder is sold. Two inventions that changed the world.

Commemorate these historical moments with this Future Inventor Kids T-Shirt — more products on this theme here — a discovery from the sharply designed (future) Occupations area of CafePress.com's The Odd Matter Gift Shop, whose goods were featured in the November 27th edition.

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Edelweiss

Mein Lederhosen bin at der Drycleaner

This date marks the 1905 birthday of Maria Augusta von Trapp, matriarch of the Austrian Trapp Family Singers, whose escape from the Nazis after the Anschluss served as inspiration for The Sound of Music.

This amusing Mein Lederhosen bin at der Drycleaner Long Sleeve T-Shirt — additional styles here — is from CafePress.com's Collisterwear! shop. The shirt would look very nice with a pair of lederhosen as well, once they came back from der Drycleaner.

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Down

Today is Opposite Day.

The theme is visually expressed most eloquently in this Up Logo Messenger Bag from the small but well-kept CafePress.com Drunken Jellyfish Co. shop — "Slightly off-key stuff for the slightly off-key person."

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Rushing

Two diverse events converge in today's offering: On this date in 1848 James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill (Coloma, California) — marking the beginning of the Gold Rush — and on the same day in 1899 Humphrey O'Sullivan patents the rubber heel, a most useful invention.

This yellow Retro Empty Pockets T-Shirt with its beautiful vintage comic book style line drawing of a shoe moving purposefully forward at the expense of some very loose change — the complete Retro Empty Pocket series is here — can be found in the absolutely fabulous Retro Art section of CafePress.com's Digiart-Mall shop.

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'script

My Handwriting
Is prescription
strength!

Today we observe National Handwriting Day!

On this date in 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her MD by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, thereby becoming the first woman physician in the United States.

Wrap up both events — doctors are known for their cryptic penmanship — with this Handwriting Baseball Jersey, found on the shelves of the small but serviceable CafePress.com nerdware shop.

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Dots

We celebrate National Polka Dot Day!

And today in 1939 scientists at New York's Columbia University split an atom of Uranium for the first time. This date also marks the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion. In 1831 on this day Charles Darwin takes his Bachelor of Arts exam and on this date in 1992 Princess Sarah Ferguson wears a paper bag over her head during an airplane ride. One can only wonder if it sported polka dots.

This Red Flag T-Shirt — the design looks quite grand on a tote bag as well — is from the multicolored Dot Matrix zone in CafePress.com's mediatwistShop.


If a single dot simply will not suffice try this groovy 3-dotted Jr. Raglan — theme variations here — plucked from the three big dots area of the Ladies department in the CafePress.com So Quintessential shop.

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Sharp

Today in 1793 King Louis XVI of France is executed for treason, his thick neck meeting a guillotine's blade before a cheering crowd. Speaking of sharp edges on this date in 1853 an envelope-folding machine is patented by Russell Hawes in Worcester, Massachusetts.

This Letter Baby Doll T-Shirt is a selection from the Baby Doll T-Shirt area (it's especially nice on a messenger bag, too) of CafePress.com's LiveVillage Icon Store, whose quirkily drawn graphic-based output I wrote about on November 27th.

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Line Man

On this date in 2003 caricaturist Al Hirschfeld dies at the age of 99 in New York City. Known for his inimitable ink line drawings of theatrical personalities and other celebrities, Hirschfeld's portraits usually incorporated the name of his 1945-born daughter Nina — sometimes multiple times — cleverly hidden in strands of hair, the folds of a garment, et cetera. He would add a number next to his signature, indicating the total NINA appearances in a given illustration, to aid his viewers, many of whom found NINA-scavenger-hunting to be an obsessive pastime. In 1991 the United States Postal Service commissioned the artist to create a series of commemorative postage stamps — waiving their rule forbidding hidden messages in US stamp designs by allowing the inclusion of the famous NINAs. Mr. Hirschfield was very disappointed to learn that the US Army had employed his cartoons to train bomber pilots, using the NINA insertions as instructional spotting devices. He told The Comics Journal in a late 1990's interview that he found the idea of his work being used to help kill people repulsive.

In a oddly related counterpoint, today in 1949 F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover gives actress Shirley Temple a tear-gas fountain pen.

This lovely got ink? Book Bag — more got ink? wares and wear here — is just one of many attractive and quite literate offerings to be found within the CafePress.com Bibliophile Bullpen shop.

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10 Ne

On this date in 1915 the electric Neon discharge tube sign is patented in the United States for use in advertising by Frenchman George Claude. Today in 1955 the board game Scrabble debuts in Australia and the United Kingdom, being sold by J.W. Spear & and Sons — it had been available under various incarnations and via different manufacturers in the United States since 1938 when it was created by architect Alfred Mosher Butts. In 1948 he sold the rights to James Brunot who refined the game and called it Scrabble, a real word meaning "to grope frantically."

This bright Neon graphic Ringer T design from the Periodic Table of Elements — more Neon items here — seems like a kind of third cousin to a Scrabble tile. It can be found in the Elements section of the tidy and eclectic CafePress.com jvworldwide Online "Stuff" Store.

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Word.

On this date in 1779 Peter Mark Roget, physician, inventor and lexicographer who created the Thesaurus, is born in London.

We commemorate this event with a shirt — more products from this line here — bearing a word unlikely to be found in Roget's book — kltpzyxm — a reference to a Superman comic book imp/villain named Mister Mxyzptlk who would be involuntarily transported back to his home — the fifth dimension — for a minimum of ninety days if he said or spelled his name backwards: Kltpzyxm. From the wide assortment of wares in the CafePress.com Celebrity Rocket shop. Some items for grownups only.

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!

Oy! in Yiddish

Some odd convergences in the world of Jewish history... On this date in 1945 the Nazis begin the evacuation of Auschwitz as Soviet forces draw near. That same day Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews, is arrested by secret police in Hungary. Today in 1949 The Goldbergs airs; it is the first situation comedy on American television. Simon and Garfunkel, two nice Jewish boys, release their second album, Sounds of Silence, on this date in 1966 and today in 1975 Bob Dylan, another n.J.b. — with a brief foray into Christianity — releases Blood on the Tracks. Finally, on this day in 1992 Sarah Ferguson attends dinner at the Jew-excluding Everglades Club. Oy!

This delightful exclamation point graphic Oy! (in Yiddish) T-Shirt is from the Humor area of the small but Schmutz-free CafePress.com Yiddish Gift Shop.

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A Big Zero

On this date in 1973 newspaperman Harold Coffin (Reno, Nevada) creates the first National Nothing Day to provide Americans with one day "when they could sit around without honoring anything."

So, we take a breather with this Pop-Arty Candice 3D 0 Baseball Jersey — more Candice 3D 0 items here — from the Candice 3D division within the Initials & Numbers section of the CafePress.com JacktheLads Store — "initial clothing and gifts."

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Sweet

Today is Hat Day, during which you are encouraged to wear and enjoy a hat of your own personal choice and style. Coincidentally it is on this date in 1797 that the first top hat is worn — by John Etherington of London.

Speaking of making history — on this day in 1983 Thom Syles inexplicably manages to keep a Lifesaver candy intact in his mouth for over seven hours. In other news from the Sweet Department today marks the 1919 Boston Molasses Disaster wherein an enormous storage vat of Purity Brand Molasses ruptures, spilling a 15-foot high river (2 million gallons) of the viscous substance into the city streets, drowning twenty-one people and injuring 150. Ironically the flood was not slow as molasses, advancing as fast as 35 miles per hour. No life savers on that scene. Also, on this date in 1935 three hundred Dutch ice cream salesmen protest against the Italian competition and today in 1971 George Harrison releases My Sweet Lord.

This vibrant Smiling Thru Sailor Boy Pear Vintage Crate Label Art Infant/Toddler T-Shirt — more items with this motif here — is from the Vintage Labels Collection area of the CafePress.com Crazy Legs Gift Emporium.

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#

Today is all about numbers. We mark the 1791 birthday of Calvin Philips, who became the shortest known adult male, measuring 2'2" (67 cm); on this date in 1967 20,000 people attend the Human Be-In in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park; today in 1973 tap dancer Ray Castle is clocked at 1440 taps per minute on BBC-TV; in 1980 on this day Shakuntala Devi mentally multiplies two thirteen-digit numbers in twenty-eight seconds; the FCC frees stations to air as many commercials an hour as they wish on this date in 1981; TV-host David Letterman undergoes quintuple heart bypass surgery today in 2000 and that same day the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches a record high of 11,722.98.

This Infinity Plus One Baseball Jersey — variations here — is one of numerous products in the CafePress.com Warehouse Larry shop. Some items suitable for persons over a certain age.

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Shirt Happens

Today is Blame Somebody Else Day, a notable occasion. On this date in 1863 English plumber and businessman Thomas Crapper pioneers (but does not invent) the one-piece pedestal flushing toilet. Mr. Crapper heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and popularized the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom at a time when the topic of such fixtures was virtually unspeakable. Despite obvious etymological associations with a certain minor four-letter-word beginning with C, Crapper is an old Yorkshire name meaning cropper and the noun in question was in use long before he was born. An unfortunate — dare I say crappy — coincidence for Mr. C.

These two momentous events are united visually in the Don't blame me! I was in the can! Ringer T-Shirt above — additional In the can products can be found here — which is from the Retro zone of the CafePress.com Tasty Apples Online Store. Some adult items on board.

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Daisy, Daisy...

It is on this date that HAL, the deviant computer in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey — based on the same-titled book by Arthur C. Clarke — becomes operational. (In the movie the year is 1992; in the novel and screenplay it is given as 1997). A rumor, hotly denied by Mr. Clarke, was that the computer was so named because it played on the acronym IBM: H – A – L preceding I – B – M by one letter, indicating that HAL was one step ahead of International Business Machines.

Whatever the truth is this HAL Fitted T-Shirt, with its design most definitely spoofing the IBM logo, is pretty nice. It's from the CafePress.com Movierama shop.

Open the pod bay doors!

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Teats

Drink more MILK for health

Today is Milk Day, most likely because on this date in 1878 a Brooklyn, New York dairy introduces deliveries of milk in glass bottles. This day also marks the 1988 births of the L'Esperance quintuplets and the 1974 births of the Rosenkowitz sextuplets — the world's first surviving set. If there wasn't enough breast milk to go around for all those hungry mouths perhaps the bovine variety was employed.

This lovely vintage print Drink more MILK for health Kids T-Shirt — more items with this image here — is among the delightful offerings of the Food & Drink aisle in the Retro Gear area of the Default page within CafePress.com's The Outfitter shop. There are some adult items amidst their wares.

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Hosiery

It's Volunteer Fireman's Day, something actor and dancer Ray Bolger — born today in 1904 — might have appreciated when the Wicked Witch of the West set his no-brain Scarecrow character aflame in The Wizard of Oz. This day also marks the 1883 fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which killed 71 people. General Tom Thumb — of P.T. Barnum fame — escapes unscathed. And, on this date in 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis' song Great Balls of Fire reaches number one on the pop-single charts. Around the corner from the burning sphere department today in 1994 Lorena Bobbitt goes on trial for cutting off her husband's penis while he sleeps. (Did I mention it is also Peculiar People Day?) To top things off, so to speak, it is the birthday of Linda Lovelace, Deep Throat porn-star/actress — and later anti-pornography activist.

This suggestive Really Long Hose T-Shirt — all variants here — can be pulled from the Safety department of the CafePress.com TessTees shop. Depending on your point of view and concept of levity there are numerous offensive and/or adult humor items to be found. No big surprise given that their motto is t-shirts... with balls.

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LQQK!

January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month and on this date in 1929 The Seeing Eye is established in Nashville, Tennessee with the mission of training dogs to assist the blind.

In other vision news today in 1493 Christopher Columbus and crew are the first known Europeans to sight a manatee; on this day in 1839 France's Academy of Science announces the Daguerreotype photographic process, invented by artist and chemist Louis J. M. Daguerre; and Thomas Edison's Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze is released in movie theaters on this date in 1894.

The first issue of Look Magazine — a weekly general interest publication whose emphasis is more on photographs than articles — goes on sale in the United States today in 1937.

This Eye C U T-Shirt — and more products bearing the same watchful image — are on view in the CafePress.com Eye C U shop.

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A Little Bubbly

It's Bubble Bath Day!

Celebrate with this Bubbles Infant/Toddler T-Shirt — more Bubbles items here — coming to the surface within CafePress.com's The Nonexistent Places Emporium & Gift Shop.

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Grub

Today in 1896 Fannie Farmer publishes her first culinary effort, The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, and on this date in 1901 Alferd Packer is released from prison in Colorado after serving 18 years for cannibalism. Dark-humored cartoonist Charles Addams, whose 1912 birthday we mark today, might have appreciated the coincidence.

The Food Ahead road sign symbol on the Dark T-Shirt above — all variations on wares and wears here — can be sighted in the Have Geek, Will Travel department of the expansive CafePress.com Ultra Geek Store, whose work I featured on November 24th.

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. . . _ _ _ . . .

S.O.S. in Morse Code

Today in 1838 Samuel Morse makes his first public demonstration of the telegraph.

This S.O.S. T-Shirt is the lone offering of the CafePress.com exiclick shop. Sometimes simple is best. If you are going to carry only one item this is a very apt choice. You never know when you will need it and if that time should come there it is, your lifeline to safety!

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Birds & Birds & Bees

It's National Bird Day, I suspect because on this date in 1905 The National Association of Audubon Society incorporates. It is also the last day of the Audubon Society's 107th annual Christmas Bird Count which began on December 14th and takes place with the help of tens of thousands of volunteer birders.

Today in 1825 Alexandre Dumas (père) fights his first duel during which his pants fall down. And — on the topic of lowered trousers — on this date in 1948 American biologist Alfred Kinsey, publishes Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, a bestselling tome known as The Kinsey Report. Regarded as the "father of sexology" — the systematic, scientific study of human sexuality — Kinsey developed a scale measuring sexual orientation which is now known as the Kinsey Scale, ranking from 0 to 6; 0 being exclusively heterosexual and 6 being exclusively homosexual.

The charming and chirpily cheerful Gay Bird Mousepad above can be found in the Fur and Feathers area of the CafePress.com Mondo Betty shop whose vintage-inspired "retro-velvety goodness" I recently featured on December 30th.

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I C

"Danger" written in Braille

Today is Humiliation Day if you have a need for such a thing. And, although it is Trivia Day as well I don't particularly feel like going all over the place, despite the font of miscellanea at my fingertips. Speaking of which, this date marks the 1809 birthday of French educator Louis Braille, after whom the tactile reading system he developed for the blind is named. The first road signs appear today in 1901 and on this day in 1962 the first automated and unmanned subway train is set into motion in New York City.

Yesterday I happened to be in the subway and came to the assistance of a nice man with a white cane. I helped him down the stairs and we waited for the downtown R train until it arrived and then sat together in the subway car until it was my stop, the whole time his arm intertwined with mine. He had an open sense of humor and we talked about a lot of things, very frankly, as is my inclination, and I asked him if the signs posted in Braille at odd locations on the walls or metal columns within the subway system made any sense to him because to me as a sighted person they seemed absurd — how would a blind person know where such signs were, that they even existed, and thus be able to read them? He agreed and laughed and said "We in the blind community are greatly overlooked," the last word perhaps being a bit of an unintentional pun, I realized only after we parted.

This Braille Electric Danger Baseball Jersey — the entire line of apparel here — follows the same psychology. How would a sightless person note such a sign, and in the finding (and feeling) thereof would he not place himself in the very mortal electric danger that is the subject of the visual alert? I cannot think about this too much without getting upset. I do like the shirt, though. It can be found amidst the Electric Danger International collection within the International Signs division of the eclectic CafePress.com Park Crush shop.

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Nothing to Declare

Today two celebrations converge, seemingly at odds — it is Jump Out of Bed Month and Festival of Sleep Day. Try managing both of those if you can.

On this date in 1624 William Tucker is born — the first Black child in America. In 1871 today Oleomargarine is patented by Henry Bradley of Binghamton, New York; Marvin C. Stone patents the first wax drinking straw on this date in 1888; the first electric watch is introduced by the Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania today in 1957; twenty years later on this date Apple Computer is incorporated; in 1496 today Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine and in 1938 on this date the atom is first split. Yes, a significant day for many great minds. Speaking of which, Irish playwright Oscar Wilde arrives in the United States today in 1882 and when asked by customs agents if he has anything to declare famously replies — "Nothing but my genius."

This Genius Kids T-Shirt — the full array of Genius wares here — is quite cleverly spelled using periodic table element symbols, found in the Periodic table zone of the absolutely geektastic CafePress.com Superbug shop. As it is also National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day you might want to avail yourself of their sweet periodic table styled chocolate goods.

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For Sale

Today in 1859 Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette and on this date in 1965 the obverse design of all Canadian coins is changed to depict the Queen with a slightly more mature look. Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins on this day in 1870. If you save up your coinage I'll sell it to you.

This vintage looking Coin Collector T-Shirt is from the Collecting department within the Hobby Gifts section of CafePress.com's The Gift Shop.

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HNY!

A Happy New Year

The Daily Shirt wishes our readership a most happy, healthy and fruitful 2007.

This lovely antique postcard print on a New Year Muse Baseball Jersey — more choices here — is from the New Year Writer's T-Shirts And Warmers corridor inside the nostalgic CafePress.com Please Write shop — "postcard images on Gifts for Writers." What could be more inspiring for the days ahead!?

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