Skip the mall - Shop Small

It's Small Business Saturday once again - the first one was in Roslindale Village, Massachusetts in 2010 as a counterpart to Black Friday (which features big box retailers, and its anti-consumerist counterpart, Buy Nothing Day targets big business).

American Express used to give their customers discounts or incentives to support small businesses across America. Since AMEX isn't featuring me, you'll need to figure out if your favorite local business is covered.


Today is the feast day of Saint Andrew, older brother of Saint Peter. In the Gospel of Matthew, it is said Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and saw Andrew and Simon Peter fishing and told them to join him and become 'fishers of men'. In many faiths, he is sometimes referred to as, 'first called', as he and his brother became the first apostles of Christ.



St. Andrew is the patron saint of fishermen and singers. He is also the patron saint to several countries and cities including: Scotland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Patras.


November 30, 1934 -
W.C. Fields was very busy in 1934 - his fifth film of the year, It's a Gift, co-starring Baby LeRoy, premiered on this date.



Harold Bissonette's grocery store sells actual brand-name products of the period, including Kellogg's Corn Flakes and 3-in-1 Oil. This was highly unusual in 1934; most movies avoided showing real products because the studios didn't want to give their manufacturers free advertising.


November 30, 1971 -
The TV movie that makes 'real men' weep unabashedly, Brian's Song debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



Louis Gossett, Jr. was originally cast as Gale Sayers. A few days before shooting began, Gossett tore his Achilles' tendon while working out. Studio executives quickly hired Billy Dee Williams as a replacement, leaving Gossett depressed over missing his "shot". Producer David L. Wolper promised Gossett the first great role that came along. Wolper cast Gossett as "Fiddler" in Roots, the Emmy-winning role that made him a star.


November 30, 1979 -
Pink Floyd released its album The Wall on this date.



Syd Barrett had a great influence on the other band members even after he left.  In the movie The Wall, several scenes are inspired from actual events involving Syd. In the movie, the character Pink shaves off all his facial hair, including his eyebrows - something Syd once arrived to the studio having done himself.


November 30, 1982 -
Michael Jackson’s second solo album, Thriller, produced by Quincy Jones, was released on this date.



Unfortunately for the Jackson estate, The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), which was originally released in 1976, surpassed Thriller as the best-selling album of all-time in the US, with the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) reporting sales of 38 million copies, nationwide. Thriller, meanwhile, is five million behind at a measly 33 million copies.

How will they ever make ends meet.


November 30, 1990 -
Rob Reiner's adaptation of Stephen King's thriller, Misery, premiered on this date.



Jack Nicholson was offered the role of Paul Sheldon, but passed because he was not sure he wanted to do another movie based on one of Stephen King's novels, after what he had experienced with Stanley Kubrick on The Shining.


Don't forget to tune into The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


The focus of Today in History on this date should be used as a guide to help you realize the blessings you should find in life:



On November 30, 1935, the German government proclaimed a failure to accept the tenets of Nazism as grounds for divorce.



Be grateful you never married a Nazi.


Jonathan Swift was born on November 30, 1667,



and Mark Twain was born almost 170 years later, in 1835.



Be grateful that not everyone is taking everything so goddamn seriously.


Winston Churchill (one of my favorite American who became British Prime Minister) was also born on November 30, in 1874, in a coat closet of his family home (really).



Be grateful that not everyone was so grateful for Peas In Our Time.


Otherwise, here are some other events that occurred on this date
November 30, 1858 -
The Mason Jar was invented and patented (U.S. patent #22,186) by Philadelphia tinsmith John Landis Mason.

I wonder if he knew his jar would be used as a cocktail glass.


November 30, 1886 -
George Westinghouse opens the first commercially successful alternating current power plant in the U.S. in Buffalo, New York to compete against Edison’s direct current ventures.

Alternating current power can be transmitted much further than direct current power by using transformers at the source for a higher voltage, which decreases the loss of energy.


November 30, 1900 -
Celebrated Irish author and noted card carrying sodomite Oscar Wilde, died in Paris of meningitis on this date. Wilde had been charged three times with indecency, specifically "the seduction and corruption of young men." Evidence admitted against him included testimony about fecal stains on his sheets.



Be thankful that we obviously have better cleaning detergents than the British did back then.


November 30, 1929 -
Dick Clark, the American Bandstander, was born on this date.



Be thankful the few of us are faced with bargaining with Satan for our careers.


November 30, 1936 -
The Crystal Palace, originally built by Sir Joseph Paxton in London's Hyde Park for the 1851 Great Exhibition, burnt to the ground on this date.



It was said that over 75,000 people came to watch the blaze, among them Winston Churchill, who said, "This is the end of an age". The glow was visible across eight counties.

Be thankful that you weren't down wind from this one.


November 30, 1954 -
At 1 pm, an 8.5 pound stone meteorite fell from the sky and struck Ann Elizabeth Hodges from Sylacauga, Alabama.  She was the first reported person in modern times to be struck by an object from outer space.

The housewife was seriously bruised but survived, although the meteorite destroyed her radio.

Oh the humanity!



And so it goes!

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