Happy Independence Day - may it truly be a safe day of patriotic activities for you and yours. I hope you all enjoy yourselves immensely and keep the patriotic spirit alive. Me and mine are going to Uncle Hans' place for a BBQ. He is my brother-in-law (wife's brother) and he is also a gourmet Of course, if you are in New York City, do not have access to a BBQ grill, have nothing to do today but want something to do and can get to Brooklyn - then get yourself to Coney Island and enjoy a nice day at the beach and maybe lunch at Nathan's. Get yourself a hot dog or two, a cool beverage and then sit back and enjoy the show. What show? The annual Nathan's hot dog eating contest - that is what show.
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpps/sports/nathans-hot-dog-contest-dpgo-20100704-fc_8476358
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpps/news/hot-dog-chomp-ion-seeks-to-defend-title-at-nyc-contest-dpgonc-km-20100704_8477090
If you stay there into the night then you will also get to see a pretty spectacular fireworks show. As for fireworks, please be careful if you are setting any off. There has already been one tragic accident up this way, see here:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/03/police-new-york-man-blows-arm-party-fireworks/?test=latestnews.
Now, for your amusement and mine, let me ask you a question that some pollster asked a large number of folks as per Fox News reporting just a couple of moments ago:
From whom did the 13 Colonies declare independence on this day - July 4 in 1776? (Actually 12 of 13 original colonies declared independence. The NY delegate was forced to await instructions from the NY Provincial Government before voting for or signing the the Declaration of Independence. This was due to the invasion of NYC and NY's provincial government having to flee the city thus not being able to review revisions to the Declaration that had just been made. The NY government did not reconvene until July 10, 1776. Therefore NY's delegate to the Continental Congress, not having authority to vote on the Declaration or to sign it, abstained from doing so until July 11, 1776 and then voted yes and signed the Declaration Of Independence once approval was received from the reconvened NY Provincial Government.)
Now back to the question - no, I am not kidding, that is my question, or that was the question that Fox reported on.
I suppose at least 99% of my American readers would get it right if not 100%. The thing is though, as reported by Fox News, only 74% of Americans who were asked it got the right answer. Another 20% were unsure as to from which country we declared our independence.
Finally, 6% actually got it wrong with at least one person saying China and one or more saying Mexico.
Heaven help us! Happy Independence Day and by the way - if you do not know from whom we declared our independence on this day - just ask someone wearing an American flag shirt, pin or cap. I am sure they will let you know.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thanks for the flag: http://foxtrotters.tripod.com/animate.htm
