Sew,sew,sew your shrine...

For those moments when you need to sew up that spare kidney whilst belting out your footy song on the church organ.

February 12

Needle Memorial, Japan
"In Japan, in a ritual that goes back 1500 years, women dress in kimonos and take the sewing needles that have broken in the previous year to the local Buddhist shrine where a three-tiered altar has been set up. The lower tier displays sewing accessories: scissors, thimbles, thread, etc. The top tier holds offerings of seasonal fruit and white mochi. On the center tier is a vast slab of tofu into which the broken needles are plunged. Priests sing sutras to comfort the needles, heal their broken spirits and thank them for work well done. No sewing takes place on this day."

Happy Birthday

1828 Jules Verne French science fiction writer.He foresaw the submarine, the aqualung, television, space travel, etc. Discovery of a long-lost novel revealed that, from the start, the father of science fiction was gravely concerned with the dangers of technology.

1931 James Dean actor

1957 Cindy Wilson singer B52's

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1587 Mary Queen of Scots became a wee dithering thing at Fotheringay Castle when she lost her head for a moment.

1836 The first railway opened in London and it's been full steam ahead ever since.

1879 Sydney Cricket Riot -one of the earliest riots at an international cricket match.One of the umpires Edmund Barton helped to defuse the situation, a feat which benefitted his publicity campaign when he stood for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly later that year. He later became Australia's first Prime Minister. A young Banjo Patterson who later went on to write the patriotic Australian song Waltzing Matilda,was in the crowd.

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Keith Urban sues Keith Urban......think I'll take his place in rehab for a good lie down.

Royal thrones.....hope it's 24 carart double ply .

Why did the man cross the river?