Why the K??

This rather wierd and curious question just hit me a few mins ago... while watching the daily news on KCAL 9. Why do all the news channels in CA have their names starting with "K"?? I tried googling on this but couldnt get anything.... the only sensible explanation that comes to mind is, they wanted to use "C" for California, but that must have been used by some other state..... any comments??

"Bless you" for sneezing?? Not sure if you need that anymore!

Southern California has some of best weather in the United States. Its never too hot or too cold, just right. It doesnt rain a lot here either, but when it does, it rains cats and dogs. At the begining of this year we had rains non-stop for almost 3 weeks. I was lucky to have escaped that because I happened to be on vacation in warm (rather hot) India! Well... the rains seem to have come back again, its been pouring, almost non-stop, for the last 3 days. With rains, come colds and sneezing, which brings me to my topic. Why is it (or has it become) customary for people to say "bless you" when someone nearby sneezes?
Some research into this revealed various theories, ranging from the rather ridiculous "Your soul leaves your body when you sneeze" (and has nowhere else to go, so returns? ;-) ) to the seemingly scientific "your heart stops when you sneeze". But the one that I felt was the most convincing states that it all may have started as early as 150 AD. And predictably, back then it wasnt just out of etiquette of thoughts, but rather due to a serious illness that many Romans died from. One of the symptoms of this illness, as you may have guessed, was sneezing. Over the years, saying "bless you" became a way of wishing a person well or good health. And now it seems to have totally become common courtesy (like saying "thank you" or "you're welcome").

Well... isnt' it a lil' ironic that the more a person has been blessed... the more he has sneezed in life!!

Presidents Day...

I always thought that this day was marked as a celebration of George Washington's Birthday. Turns out, the 3rd Monday of February has been marked as a celebration of both George Washington and Abraham Lincon's Birthday's.

Washington, of course, was the first president of the United States and is also known as the "father of the country". A very apt title for someone who fought valantly in the American Revolution and played a major role in the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4th, 1776. What's interesting is that, the signers of the original declaration of independence were from only thirteen states - Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Georgia, Virginia, N and S Carolina, new Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland

Lincoln was the sixteenth president and is also known as "The great emancipator", probably because the civil war broke out just 6 weeks into his first president term and he was assasinated just six days after the war ended.

Presidents day, like other festivals and important days seem to have become more of a commercial thing nowadays, as the following news articles seem to suggest.

Lincoln’s legacy turned into way to make a buck
"... The front door opens, and Abraham Lincoln appears -- tall, lanky, just a bit melancholy. He smiles gently, assesses his visitor for a good five seconds. Then he draws in a breath and slowly, deliberately, he speaks.

"Did you park at the Holiday Inn?" the 16th president asks....."


Lincoln belongs to the ages, and to the marketers
"... Today, Abraham Lincoln is an empty vessel for dreamers and schemers, for humorists and educators and trinket salesmen and appliance dealers looking to add a bit of cachet to Presidents Day sales. "Time to take Lincoln and Washington shopping," an ad for Macy's encouraged last week...."