FATHER'S DAY 2022

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Today is Father’s Day in Oz.

A happy Father’s Day to all the Byter dads reading this.

A moment also to reflect, remember, honour and the fathers who may no longer be with us.

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Some Father’s Day miscellany and trivia . . .

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Father's Day is not only about honouring dads, it is also to respect the influence of fathers in society.

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In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages.

For centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church has appointed the second Sunday before Nativity as the Sunday of the Forefathers to commemorate the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, starting with Adam and emphasizing the Patriarch Abraham, to whom God said “In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3, 22:18).

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In the United States, Father's Day was founded in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd, an American whose father raised his six children single handedly after the death of her mother.

Dodd campaigned for a day to celebrate fathers after noticing all the fanfare surrounding Mother's Day, which was started in 1908 by Anna Jarvis. Dodd and her five brothers were raised by her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, who became a widower after his wife, Ellen Victoria Cheek Smart, died while giving birth in 1898, when Sonora was 16 years old.

William Jackson Smart

Sonora Dodd

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In the US, Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June.

The day is held on various dates across the world, and different regions maintain their own traditions of honouring fatherhood.

In Australia it is celebrated on the first Sunday in September, whoch is also the first Sunday of Spring.

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In the US:

In 1916 US President Woodrow Wilson approved the idea of observing an annual Father's Day.

In1924 President Calvin Coolidge made Father's Day a national event.

In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day.

In 1972 Father’s Day became a national holiday in the US when it was officially recognized by President Richard Nixon’s administration,

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The rose is the official flower for Father's Day. A red rose signifies a living father while a white rose signifies a deceased father.

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The idea of Father's Day wasn't initially well received in Australia in the 1910s and 1920s. Many thought it was either unnecessary or undermined a father's assumed “supremacy” as head of the household. Newspapers at the time printed satirical poems and critical editorials of the new American tradition.

This paralleled early thinking in the US. The idea of a holiday exalting fatherhood was inconceivable to most people during the early 1900s. Men dominated American society in the early 20th century so establishing a special day to honour fathers was thought of as unnecessary.

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Father’s Day in Australia was originally observed in June, matching the USA date, with church services and the wearing of a red flower.

In June 1925, Janet Heyden of Sydney (who also advocated for Mother's Day celebrations in Australia) began collecting donations to bring cheer to elderly men in nursing homes.

While Mother's Day became instantly popular, it wasn't until the 1930s that Father's Day came to be popularly celebrated in Australia on the first Sunday in September.

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From the vault . . . 

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The Father's Day Council of Australia was established in 1957 and continues to honour distinguished fathers with an annual Australian Father of the Year award.

Present and past recipients since 2000:

Awarded	Name	Notes
2022	Craig Foster	Former Socceroo's captain and political activist
2021	Brendan Murphy	Former Chief Medical Officer of Australia
2020	Shane Fitzsimmons	Former Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and Head of Resilience NSW
2019	Mark Beretta	Television journalist
2018	Dick Smith	Entrepreneur and philanthropist[4]
2017	Mike Baird	Former Premier of New South Wales
2016	Lieutenant General David Hurley	Governor of New South Wales
2015	Jamal Rifi	Doctor, founder of Australia Muslim Doctors against Violence)
2014	Andrew Gaze	Basketballer
2013	Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith	Soldier
2012	John Symond	Executive Chairman of Aussie Home Loans. Chairman of Sydney Opera House Trust
2011	Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston	Former Chief of the Defence Force
2010	Guy Cooper	Former Chief Executive of the Taronga and Western Plains Zoos
2009	Li Cunxin	Dancer
2008	Paul Roos	Footballer
2007	David Koch	Television Presenter
2006	Ron Delezio	Founder of Day of Difference Foundation
2005	Steve Waugh	Cricketer
2004	Graeme Clark	Cochlear Implant Developer
2003	Karl Kruszelnicki	Scientist
2002	Steve Vizard	Media personality
2001	Jim Rafter	Father of nine including tennis player Pat Rafter
2000	Stephen Biddulph	Parenting activist

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Father's Day traditions in Australia include school crafts with handmade gifts and cards from younger children, taking dad out for lunch, BBQs, and outdoor family activities.

Public schools often hold a Father's Day gift stall with inexpensive presents for fathers, grandfathers, carers, or other role-models.

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A father limerick . . .

Each night Father fills me with dread

When he sits on the foot of my bed;

I'd not mind that he speaks

In gibbers and squeaks,

But for the seventeen years he's been dead.

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Greeting card maker Hallmark has claimed that Father's Day makes up the fifth largest card-sending holiday in the world.

Greeting cards make up the number one gift item on the occasion of Father's Day and one third are funny in nature.

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Research has shown that female shoppers spend approximately 50 percent more than men while buying gifts for their dad.

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QUOTE FOR THE DAY

 

5 X 5: AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTERS

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5 Facts About 5 Australian Prime Ministers

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Gough Whitlam

(For your enjoyment, Noel . . .😂 . . .)

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Edward Gough Whitlam (1916 – 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, in office from 1972 to 1975.

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He is the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and is the only prime minister to grow up in the national capital, He was dubbed ‘the young brolga’ when he entered parliament, for his height (194cm) and imperious bearing, one of only 2 prime ministers whose lifetime spanned the lives of all 25 prime ministers in Australia’s first 100 years (John Gorton was the other).

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Whitlam was on active service in World War II as a RAAF navigator, despite suffering badly from airsickness. In late 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and with a year remaining in his legal studies, he volunteered for the RAAF and, while awaiting entry into the service, Whitlam met and married Margaret Elaine Dovey. He reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant and completed his studies after the war, obtaining his Bachelor of Laws.

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Whitlam was responsible for reform of the ALP:

Whitlam believed the Labor Party had little chance of being elected unless it could expand its appeal from the traditional working-class base to include the suburban middle class. With the ALP's governing bodies unwilling to reform themselves, Whitlam worked to build support for change among ordinary party members. He was successful in reducing union influence in the party and was able to reconstruct the problematic Victoria party organisation against the will of its leaders, proving essential to victory in the 1972 election.

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He is the only prime minister dismissed from office:

Whitlam became Prime Minister in December 1972, defeating William McMahon. His government, for most of the time it lasted, did not have a majority in the Senate, the upper house of the Australian Parliament. This made it hard for Whitlam's government to make laws but the Whitlam government nevertheless made progress in many areas including free health care for everyone, equal rights for women, equal rights for Aboriginal people including the right to own or control land, no further compulsory military service, trade relations with communist China, free tertiary education, and the chance for people with low incomes to get a lawyer to defend their rights.

In 1975, the government thought about borrowing US$4 billion in foreign loans. One cabinet minister, Rex Connor, had secret discussions with a loan broker from Pakistan. The Treasurer, Jim Cairns, misled parliament over this. Partly as a result, the new leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, used the Senate to cut off supply, that is, to stop money to the government until there was an election. This meant that the government had no money with which to pay civil servants and carry out administration. In order to end the crisis, the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, acting on the Queen’s representative, dismissed Whitlam. Fraser became the temporary Prime Minister and Whitlam was defeated by Fraser in the election that was held a month later.

Whitlam addresses the crowd on the steps of Parliament House after his dismissal:

"Ladies and gentleman, well may we say God Save the Queen because nothing will save the Governor-General. The proclamation which you have just heard read by the Governor-General’s official secretary was countersigned ‘Malcolm Fraser’ who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Kerr’s cur."

Whitlam was defeated for a second time by Fraser at the next election in 1977, and resigned from parliament shortly after.

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The two old warhorses and adversaries in later years . . . 

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

 

FUNNY FRIDAY

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Welcome to another Funny Friday, Byters, and an apology in advance for some salty language and for some eye-rolling, groanable corn that will have you using your own salty language.

Enjoy, dear constant readers.

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SOME HUMOUR:

A mathematics professor noticed that his kitchen sink at his home leaked

The plumber came the next day and sealed a few screws, and everything was working as before.

The professor was delighted. However, when the plumber gave him the bill a minute later, he was shocked.

"This is one-third of my monthly salary!" he yelled.

Well, all the same he paid it and then the plumber said to him, "I understand your position as a professor. Why don't you come to our company and apply for a plumber position? You will earn three times as much as a professor. But remember, when you apply, tell them that you completed only seven elementary classes. They don't like educated people."

So it happened. The professor got a job as a plumber and his life significantly improved. He just had to seal a screw or two occasionally, and his salary went up significantly.

One day, the board of the plumbing company decided that every plumber had to go to evening classes to complete the eighth grade. So, our professor had to go there too. It just happened that the first class was math. The evening teacher, to check students' knowledge, asked for a formula for the area of a circle. The person asked was the professor. He jumped to the board, and then he realized that he had forgotten the formula. He started to reason it, and he filled the white board with integrals, differentials, and other advanced formulas to conclude the result he forgot. As a result, he got "minus pi times r square."

He didn't like the minus, so he started all over again. He got the minus again. No matter how many times he tried, he always got a minus. He was frustrated. He gave the class a frightened look and saw all the plumbers whisper: "Switch the limits of the integral!"

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I'm not very good at similes

I'm like a guy that's not very good at similes

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I threw away a bottle of gin, but it kept showing back up in my liquor cabinet.

Turns out it's 86-proof.

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Jesus drove a Honda, but never spoke of it.

"For I speak not of my own Accord" - John 12:49

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When the body was first made, the different parts of the body argued to see which should be in charge.

The brain said "I do all the thinking so I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

The eyes said "I see everything and let the rest of you know where we are, so I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

The hands said "Without me we wouldn't be able to pick anything up or move anything. So I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

The stomach said "I turn the food we eat into energy for the rest of you. Without me, we'd starve. So I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

The legs said "Without me we wouldn't be able to move anywhere. So I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

Then the rectum said "I think I should be in charge."

All the rest of the parts said "YOU? You don't do anything! You're not important! You can't be in charge."

So the rectum closed up. After a few days, the legs were all wobbly, the stomach was all queasy, the hands were all shaky, the eyes were all watery, and the brain was all cloudy.

They all agreed that they couldn't take any more of this and agreed to put the rectum in charge.

The moral of the story: You don't have to be the most important to be in charge, just an asshole.

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LAW & LAWYERS

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LIMERICK OF THE WEEK:

You may not believe me, and yet,

Old girls are the very best bet.

They don’t yell, tell or swell

And they screw hard as hell

For it may be the last one they’ll get!

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GALLERY:

Sent to me by friend and colleague Leo M (thanks, Leo) . . . 

Our friend and colleague Tony Z would relate to the above).

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RELIGION SPOT:

Jesus drove a Honda, but never spoke of it.

"For I speak not of my own Accord" - John 12:49

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CORN CORNER:

Remember a few weeks ago the somewhat lengthy corn items about the relatives of Alan Turing?

Here is another about the relatives of Bruce Lee . . .

Bruce Lee was fast, but he had an even faster brother…

Sudden Lee

Quick Lee…

Quick Lee may have been fast, but Alleged Lee his wife wasn't very happy about that.

And if you were impressed by Quick then well his cousin Speedy Lee was even speedier.

Instantaneus Lee

Swift Lee and Immediate Lee would like a word

Quick Lee was fast but he made good decisions, unlike cousin Hasty Lee

But who could forget their angry father, furious lee

But who could forget their angry father

If I had to guess, Forgetful Lee.

Him and his wife calm made a good couple

Bruce treated his body like a temple and was always very healthy. But not as healthy as his brother - Brocko Lee (I’ll just see my way out)

Don't make me Ang Lee, you wouldn't like me when I'm Ang Lee.

And don't forget Strombo, his adopted brother from Italy

And his cousin from Mexico, Guacamo

There was the happy brother, Glad Lee

And his other brother notorious for his lack of humor, Serious Lee.

And his twin smi

Don't forget about his cousin the priest, Ho

Just look out for the cousin...

Sneaky lee

Exact Lee!

Of this you can be Certain

They don't talk about their nudist cousin. Bare Lee

Was Bare Lee legal?

Don't forget the Air Force member Jet Lee

and his excessively enthusiastic and devoted fan, Stan Lee.

And he had a brother who was good at estimation, Approximate Lee

Not as perfect as his smaller brother precise

And Gim Lee, his dwarf cousin

He's also got a Ronin brother, Lone Lee.

His unfortunate cousins Ug & Home

And his son: Dead Lee….

His sister was a dessert maker - Sara Lee.

He also had a brother he didn’t know… Anonymous Lee

His brother the porn star Hard Lee.

Actually the real stars were on his cousin sisters side who married Mr Fuk.

Most famous was Ho Lee-Fuk

There's also their religious brother, Faithful Lee

You forgot to mention his slower brother, who was always very precise…

Exact Lee

He had twin cousins. You know those two brothers…Ever

He also had a slower brother, Eventual Lee.

It wasn’t all good in the family, there was also a disappointing cousin Horrib Lee and his obese brother Morbid

and the pain in the ass cousin, Anal-Lee

You guys need to stop with the harassment of Bruce Lee and his family. He has a mean cousin that's a lawyer, Legal Lee.

His racist cousin from the south General.

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QUOTE FOR THE DAY