Love to all my Buffistas

Sophia, can you ask her to modify the spreadsheets, so that they include that information. Maybe the process can be changed, such that the necessary information is required in the request or notification process?

UnAmerican in search of hivemind wisdom (also known as "more fun than Google, due to the added amount of snark): what's the story behind February 14th becoming the national bring-cards-and-flowers-to-SO day? Was "Valentine" some historic/christian figure?

Butt-pats all around!

Apple store employee gossip about celebrities' behavior in the stores.

[link]

Melanie Griffith threw a tantrum when she was unable to buy a pink iPod mini early last year, according to the sales associate who tried to serve her.

The associate, who asked to remain anonymous, said Griffith came right up to him and "pretty much demanded" a pink iPod mini. The mini was in short supply, and the associate told her there were none in stock.

"She then proceeded to get pissed off at me personally because we didn't have any in stock," the associate said. "She said we have a special stock of iPods for people like her.... I hadn't seen any celebrities there up until then, so at first I was like, 'Oh wow, cool, Melanie Griffith.' But then she opened her mouth and used me as a doormat, and I was like, 'What the fuck is this shit? Milk Money sucked.'"

...

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart "finds what he wants, smiles and leaves."

>Maybe the process can be changed, such that the necessary information is required in the request or notification process?

This is a good idea. I'm sure that it is just that she's never ordered these before. It just seems like I am forever telling people these things (I can't send a fedex without a telephone number. I can't get a courier without an address or knowing the approximate weight of what I am shipping.)

Valentine was a saint, but I don't know his story, except that I sort of get St. valentine mixed up with St. Vitus' dance.

what's the story behind February 14th becoming the national bring-cards-and-flowers-to-SO day? Was "Valentine" some historic/christian figure?

St. Valentine defeated the Blue Meanies at the battle of Abbey Road.

OK, I made that up. He was a real saint. That's all I know.

St. Valentine defeated the Blue Meanies at the battle of Abbey Road.

All you need is love.

Thanks Sophia, tommy.

Nilly, Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that used to be pagan and then got co-opted by the Catholic Church. There's a decent page here [link]

Basically, Feb. 15th was the feast of Lupercalia, then a Pope declared the 14th to be St. Valentine's Day, as the three Valentines that were martyred all apparently died on Feb. 14th.

Here's the story of the most popular Valentine:

Most scholars believe that the St. Valentine of the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic begins. According to one legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death. Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed "from your Valentine." Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.

Nilly, a brief history of Valentine's Day. Briefly, St. Valentine became associated with romantic love.

Completely unrelated is the Valentine's Day Massacre. A famous Chicago gangster killing that occurred on Valentine's Day, 1929.

Isidore "Saint" Valentine, so named for his unsaintly ways, worked as a hit man for Al Capone. After his notorious St Valentine's Day massacre of 1929, the Hallmark company was left with a great deal of bloodstained card stock, so they launched the lurve holiday as a way to sell off the damaged goods....

or something.