Thread the Needle Day has nothing to do with sewing, the face on Mars isn't real, and other disappointments

Brownielocks.com is among the Usual Suspects to identify Thursday, July 25 as Thread the Needle Day. Usual Suspect Holiday Insights is among those that suggest (not unreasonably) that Thread the Needle Day must have something to do with sewing. (The one day a year when one's hands are steady enough to thread a needle, perhaps?) But Brownielocks says Thread the Needle Day commemorates a game. Children can play it anytime (the lucky devils) but grownups are restricted to one day a year. Today, apparently. To prove her contention, Brownielocks links to this source, which describes says that this as a game in which two of the players hold their arms up in an arch and the others run through -- threading the needle. This is done repeatedly, with different couples taking turns to form the arch.

You may find this disappointing.

Many found it disappointing to realize that the "Face on Mars" wasn't really a face.
It was on July 25, 1976 that NASA's Viking I probe snapped this photo of the Cydonia region of Mars. (You mean that John Carter and Dejah Thoris don't live happily ever after on Barsoom?)

And folk purists were disappointed by Bob Dylan July 21, 1965 when he appeared at the Newport Folk Festival -- The audience wanted their folk music straight, but Dylan plugged in that day (with Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar, Al Kooper on organ, Jerome Arnold on bass, Sam Lay on drums, and Barry Goldberg on piano). He wanted to 'electrify' the audience, perhaps, but, according to most observers, the aficionados booed.

And, speaking of folk music, Steve Goodman was born on July 25, 1948. His music didn't disappoint -- but he left us far too soon (in 1984).