We're about at the half way point

(For some reason this did not post earlier)

The seventh day of the Lunar New Year is commonly referred to as “Ren Ri” (the day of human), because according to the legend, Nu Wa ( a Goddess in Chinese mythology who is believed to create the world and human beings) created human beings on the seventh day.

Humans were made using mud, mixing yellow soil and water. Also, human learned about marriage; so human could reproduce themselves.



Therefore, the seventh lunar day of the year becomes everyone's birthday.


Today is Hansen's Disease Day.  Celebrate World Leprosy Day - be like St. Francis - lick a leper's sores.



Or not.



You could think about the fact that Barry Manilow's song, Mandy went gold on this date in 1974.


January 31, 1921 -
John G. Agar, American's greatest B movie actor, first husband of Shirley Temple,



and once the owner of the world's largest King Kong Statue (I kid you not),

was born on this day.



Sometimes, it's just a red letter day.


January 31, 1957 -
Terrorama! Double Horror Sensation!






It's not to be believed but on a double bill, Attack of the Crab Monsters and Not of this Earth premiered on this date.

Oh Roger Corman, we love you!


January 31, 1986 -
Paul Mazursky's funny remake of Jean Renior's film Boudu Saved From Drowning, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, starring Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss, premiered on this date.



The first movie from the Disney company (produced/released under their Touchstone company) to receive an "R" rating from the MPAA.


January 31, 1988 -
Everyone went back to the late 60s and early 70s when The Wonder Years, starring Fred Savage, Danica McKellar and Josh Saviano premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Each of the schools that the characters on the show attended, RFK Junior High, Lincoln Junior High, and McKinley Senior High were all named after men who were assassinated.


An important message for those of you celebrating Dry January


Today in History:
January 31, 1606 -
Guy Fawkes and a group of English Catholics attempted to overthrow and assassinate King James I with the intention of installing his daughter, Princess Elizabeth as queen, on November 5, 1605. The failed attempt came to be known as the Gunpowder Plot.



Fawkes was sentenced to the traditional traitors' death - to be 'hanged, drawn and quartered'. In any event, on this date, he jumped from the gallows, breaking his own neck and thereby avoiding the horror of being cut down while still alive, having his testicles cut off and his stomach opened and his guts spilled before his eyes. His lifeless body was hacked into quarters and his remains sent to 'the four corners of the kingdom' as a warning to others.



While most of England celebrates the failed Gunpowder Plot as a national holiday on November 5, Guy Fawkes was also voted #30 in the BBC-sponsored list of "100 Greatest Britons" in 2002.


January 31, 1921 -
The Carroll A. Deering was a five-masted commercial schooner that was found run aground off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on this date. Its crew was mysteriously missing.



Theories abound about the the crews disappearance ranging from piracy, mutiny and victims of the dread 'Bermuda Triangle'.

The truth is out there.


January 31, 1940 -
The first monthly retirement check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, in the amount of $22.54. Miss Fuller, a Legal Secretary, retired in November 1939. She started collecting benefits in January 1940 at age 65 and lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1975.



Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years were a total of $24.75. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits.


January 31, 1945 -
Private Eddie Slovik was the first U.S. soldier to be shot for desertion since the Civil War on this date.



Although over 21,000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik's was the only death sentence carried out.


January 31, 1950 -
Coming off yet another three day bender, President Truman gave the go-ahead for the development of Edward Teller's hydrogen bomb on this date.

The "hell bomb," as it was called, served to greatly heighten US-USSR tensions in the Cold War.  Hopefully, the terrorists are not reading my blog and taking notes.


January 31, 1958 -
Explorer-I, officially Satellite 1958 Alpha (and sometimes referred to as Explorer 1), was the first Earth satellite of the United States, having been launched at 10:48 pm EST on this date, as part of the United States program for the International Geophysical Year.



The satellite was launched from LC-26 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, on board a Juno I rocket.



Electrical power was provided by mercury chemical batteries that made up approximately 40 percent of the payload weight. These provided power that operated the high power transmitter for 31 days and the low-power transmitter for 105 days. (This is on the test.)


January 31, 1961 -
The United States sends its first space monkey into space, Ham the chimpanzee. His Mercury/Redstone 2 achieves an altitude of 158 miles. Ham's capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by a rescue ship later that day.



After the flight, Ham lived for 17 years in the National Zoo in Washington D.C., then at the North Carolina Zoo before dying at the age of 27 on January 19, 1983. Ham the Chimp was not the first animal in space. That honor goes to Laika the dog, who was sent into orbit by the Soviet Union in 1957. Ham could not deal with this fact; and NASA had to hide the fact that Ham had become a heroin addict.


January 31, 1966 -
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program. Three days later, on February 3, 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data to Earth.

For unknown reasons, the pictures from Luna 9 were not released immediately by the Soviet authorities.



Now the truth can be told.



And so it goes.



Before you go - I think we'll start looking at some of the 'leaked' 'Great Game' commercials


.


(Who's a good boy?)



355

Kicking Out The Poverty Ghost

Today is the Sixth day of Lunar New Year and the God of Poverty visits each household. According to the legend, the ghost of poverty is a son of Zhuan Xu (an emperor among the Three Emperor and Five Sovereigns in ancient China).

He was short and weak, and liked wearing ragged clothes and eating poor porridge. Even when people presented him with new clothes, he would not wear it until he ripped it apart or burn it. So, he got the name of 'the man of poverty', and with time passing by, he gradually became the ghost of poverty.



Also, according to tradition, families should clean their toilets because the God of Toilets will come to inspect the cleanliness of your bathroom.

In the agriculture society, before plumbing, Chinese farmers called someone to clean the manure pit every 3 to 5 days. This is the day to clean the manure pit (Man it always sucks when you have to clean the manure pit.)



Today is National Inane Answering Machine Day, observed on January 30th every year. This holiday encourages you on this day to bring an end to all of the mindless and endlessly long answering machine messages that annoy and waste the time of callers.



Or, you could leave a long, drawn out, insane message on your machine this day.



The choice is up to you.


January 30, 1931 -
Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (A Comedy Romance in Pantomime) premiered at Los Angeles Theater on this date. The episodic film includes a complete musical soundtrack and various sound effects - but no speech or dialogue.



Charles Chaplin invited Albert Einstein and his wife Elsa to join him at the Los Angeles premier on January 30, 1931. When the house lights came up, Chaplin was surprised to see Einstein's eyes tearing at the final scene. Chaplin said in his autobiography that he had not known Einstein to be so "sentimental."


January 30, 1969 -
At a free concert at their Apple corporate headquarters in London, The Beatles made their last-ever public appearance as a group on this date.



The performance, filmed for the documentary Let It Be, was eventually halted when police arrived after neighbors complained about the racket.


January 30, 1981 -
Universal Pictures released the Joel Schumacher film The Incredible Shrinking Woman, starring Lily Tomlin and Charles Grodin, on this date.



The film's title is a variation on and spoof of The Incredible Shrinking Man made and released around 24 years earlier. In fact, both movies are based on the same source Richard Matheson novel The Shrinking Man. Richard Matheson disliked the film, calling it "terrible" and unfunny.


January 30, 1987 -
Woody Allen's warm remembrance of the Golden Age of Radio, Radio Days premiered on this date.



When the Uncle goes next door to confront the communists, the man screaming about the plight of the "worker" is Larry David, who can be seen in a long shot.


Throwback Thursday - another favorite song


Today in History:
January 30, 1649 -
If history teaches us anything, it's that sometimes, it not good to be the king.



King Charles I of England, was beheaded for treason at Banqueting House on this date. It is reputed that he wore two shirts as to prevent the cold January weather causing any noticeable shivers that the crowd could have been mistaken for fear or weakness. He put his head on the block after saying a prayer and signaled the executioner when he was ready; he was then beheaded with one clean stroke.



It was common practice for the head of a traitor to be held up and exhibited to the crowd with the words Behold the head of a traitor!; although Charles' head was exhibited, the words were not used.


January 30, 1835 -
Andrew Jackson was the subject of the first recorded assassination attempt on a U.S. president. Jackson was crossing the Capitol Rotunda following the funeral of a Congressman when Richard Lawrence approached Jackson and fired two pistols, which both miraculously misfired. Jackson proceeded to beat the living daylights out of Lawrence with his cane, prompting his aides to restrain him.



As a result, Jackson's statue in the Capitol Rotunda is placed in front of the doorway in which the attempt occurred. Lawrence was later found to be mentally ill, having accused Jackson of preventing him from becoming King of England.


January 30, 1889 -
Kids, your history teachers lied to you once again - World War I really started on this date.

The bodies of Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, syphilitic, depressive, whore mongering heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, and his air headed 17 year old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera, were discovered in the Imperial hunting lodge at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods on this date.



The Prince had either a.) shot himself after killing his mistress, b.) been killed by his mistress in a suicide pact or c.) been a victim of a political assassination. Their death and the resulting cover-up left Rudolf's cousin, The Archduck Ferdinand heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.



And you see where that got Europe.


January 30, 1948 -
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Gandhi



Sometimes, it's not good to be the world's greatest advocate of non violence.



Mohandas K. Gandhi was assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse on his way to morning prayers on this date.


January 30, 1968 -
The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Communist forces launched a surprise offensive on the lunar New Year Tet holiday truce that became known as the Tet Offensive on this date.

Although the Communists were beaten back, the offensive was seen as a major setback for the US and its allies and shocked the complacent American television viewer who had been led to believe the war was won.



Faced with an unhappy American public and depressing news from his military leaders, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to end the escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.


January 30, 1976 -
George H.W. Bush became the 11th director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a position which he held until 1977.

And you still wonder how Dubya won.



And so it goes.


356

It's the Fifth day of the Lunar New Year

Many stores open on this day after the Lunar New Year holiday. Some store owners put a table in the front of company's main entry. They prepare fruit, flower, candy, tea, candles and animal sacrifices on the table to worship the God of Wealth. Some even invite the lion dance team to celebrate the opening ceremony. The mascot of the God of Wealth will appear and enter the store.



The store owner will give the mascot a Red Envelope with money reward inside.  (I will be happy to accept any and all red envelopes that may come my way.)


January 29, 1595 -
These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die; like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore love moderately: long love doth so....









William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet was probably first performed on this date (unless it wasn't).

I don't know, I wasn't there, were you?


January 29, 1959 -
With a budget that exceeded $6 million, Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty premiered in Los Angeles on this date.



In the traditional Italian version of this fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty is named Princess Aurora. In the German version, she is named Briar Rose. The film incorporates both names by having Princess Aurora use the name Briar Rose while undercover.


January 29, 1964 -
Introducing us to saving our precious bodily fluids and the rule about no fighting in the War room, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was released in the United States, on this date.



The scene where Gen. Turgidson trips and falls in the War Room, and then gets back up and resumes talking as if nothing happened, really was an accident. Stanley Kubrick mistakenly thought that it was George C. Scott really in character, so he left it in the film.


January 29, 1977 -
The Rose Royce song Car Wash, went to No. #1 on this date. The soundtrack album for the film Car Wash, went gold and this song won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture.



Norman Whitfield, who wrote many Motown classics, was commissioned to write songs for the soundtrack of the movie Car Wash. He was having a meal of Kentucky Fried Chicken while watching a basketball game, when inspiration struck. He wrote the lyrics on the bag containing the chicken.


January 29, 1983 -
The Australian group, Men At Work's song Down Under reached #1 on the UK pop music chart.



Barry Humphries is an Australian entertainer who has created many popular characters, including Dame Edna Everidge. He was also the voice of Bruce the Shark in the movie Finding Nemo. Lead singer Colin Hays explained his influence on this song: "He's a master of comedy and he had a lot of expressions that we grew up listening to and emulating. The verses were very much inspired by a character he had called Barry McKenzie, who was a beer-swilling Australian who traveled to England, a very larger-than-life character."


January 29, 2018
The Marvel film Black Panther directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis premiered in Los Angeles on this date.



The Black Panther was created in July 1966, two months before the founding of the Black Panther Party. Many people mistakenly assumed the name referred to the Party, so the character was renamed the Black Leopard. However, neither the readers nor the creators cared for that title, and it didn't last long. However, the Black Leopard name gets a nod from T'Challa's battle paint at his inauguration fight.


Another failed ACME product


Today in History:
It's Thomas Paine's birthday today. He was born in 1737.



You could commemorate the occasion by reading (or rereading) Common Sense. You could also commemorate the occasion by registering to vote or piercing your perineum or bleaching someone else's rectal area.

I don't care, it was just a suggestion.


January 29, 1845-
Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poem The Raven was originally published in the New York Evening Mirror, on this date, where it met with lukewarm reviews.



Poe was almost completely unappreciated during his lifetime, but later became an extremely popular author in both the detective and Gothic genres.


January 29, 1886-
Karl Benz patented the Benz Patent Motorwagon, on this date, which looked much like a tricycle with a cushioned seat; this was the first gas-powered car.

Making a gas-powered car had been a long-time dream of Benz, who had originally started tinkering with engines in his spare time as a bicycle shop owner.


January 29, 1929 -
The Seeing Eye was incorporated in Nashville, Tennessee by Dorothy Harrison Eustus and Morris Frank, on this date. A few weeks later, the first seeing-eye Dog Guide School in the United States opened in Nashville. (The name the Seeing Eye came from Proverbs 20:12 in the Bible, "The seeing eye, the hearing ear; The Lord hath made them both." )



Frank had trained under Jack Humphrey in Switzerland at a kennel owned by Dorothy Eustis. Humphrey's became the Seeing Eye’s first geneticist and served as chief instructor.

Buddy was Frank's first dog and in 1936 became the first seeing-eye dog to ride as a passenger on an American commercial airline.


January 29, 1954 -
Oprah Gail Winfrey, the most influential (and one of the wealthiest) woman in the world, is another year older.



Although Oprah is not going to run for president in 2020; she still could easily get weapon grade uranium - don't piss her off.


January 29, 1979 -
Brenda Spencer fired repeatedly at the school across from her residence in San Diego, killing two and wounding eight children, using the rifle her father had given her as a gift.



I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day. -- The reason she gave inspired the Boomtown Rats song.



Remember: guns don't kill people, it's the damn gifts our father's give us.



And so it goes.


357

Cooking is a philosophy; it's not a recipe.

Today, the Fourth day of the Lunar New Year is the day to welcome the kitchen god, the god of fortune and other gods.

Families should stay at home to prepare abundant fruits, burn incense and light candles to welcome the gods, asking to be provided with ample food in the new year.


(this is my kitchen god.)

On this day, the Kitchen God would check the household and therefore people should not leave home.

The old saying "three rams bring bliss" is connected with the fourth day, which says that by making a good beginning, a happy end comes.


The word of the day - Serendipity - the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.

The word derives from an old Persian fairy tale,  The Three Princes of Serendip,  (Serendip is the Persian name for Sri Lanka,) and was coined by Horace Walpole on January 28, 1754 in a letter he wrote to his friend Horace Mann (not the same man as the famed American educator).



This should not be confused with Synchronicity - which is an album by the Police (but that's another story).


January 28, 1953 -
J. Fred Muggs joined NBC's Today Show on this date.

Please note: any reselmblance between Mr. Muggs and any of my nephews is purely coincidental.


January 28, 1973 -
Barnaby Jones, starring Buddy Ebsen, premieres on CBS-TV, on this date.



Shortly after the cancellation of The Beverly Hillbillies, Buddy Ebsen was Quinn Martin's first choice for the lead role in the show, he accepted it.


January 28, 1978 -
Fantasy Island, starring Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



The waterfall seen during the opening sequences is the real-life Wailua Falls in Kauai, Hawaii.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
January 28, 814 -
First Reich: Charlemagne, German emperor, dies at the age of 71 on this date.



Though he had conquered much of Europe, his legacy was considerably reduced after his death from mismanagement and incompetence.

Coincidentally, The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 until January 28, 1871, bringing about French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and led to the establishment of the German Empire (Second Reich).



Due to a severe shortage of food, Parisians were forced to slaughter whatever animals at hand. Rats, dogs, cats, and horses were regular fare on restaurant menus.

* Consommé de Cheval au millet. (horse)
* Brochettes de foie de Chien à la maître d'hôtel. (dog)
* Emincé de rable de Chat. Sauce mayonnaise. (cat)
* Epaules et filets de Chien braisés. Sauce aux tomates. (dog)
* Civet de Chat aux Champignons. (cat)
* Côtelettes de Chien aux petits pois. (dog)
* Salmis de Rats. Sauce Robert. (rats)
* Gigots de chien flanqués de ratons. Sauce poivrade. (rats)
* Begonias au jus. (flowers)
* Plum-pudding au rhum et à la Moelle de Cheval. (horse)

Even Pollux and Castor, the only pair of elephants in Paris, were not spared.


January 28, 1813 -
Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice was published by Thomas Egerton in the United Kingdom on this date.



Austen didn’t put her name on her novels, and would only say they were “By a Lady.” The title page of Pride and Prejudice said, “by the author of Sense and Sensibility.” It wasn’t until after her death that her brother revealed her name to the public.


January 28, 1829 -
In Scotland, serial killer William Burke was hanged for murder following a scandal in which he was found to have provided extra-fresh corpses for anatomy schools in Edinburgh. His partner William Hare had turned king's witness.

If only he had gone for the less fresh corpses. The scandal led to the 1832 Anatomy Act.


January 28, 1896 -

January 28, 1915 -
The Coast Guard was formed with the merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life-Saving Service on this date, as an organization under the U.S. Department of the Treasury. They were originally intended to crack down on piracy while helping people out as a side interest.



Their services were later incorporated the US Lighthouse Service, and was itself incorporated into the Department of Homeland Security in 2002.


January 28, 1921 -
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was installed under the Arc de Triomphe on this date. The tomb was dedicated to the French soldiers who had died in World War I.



It has remained a popular tourist spot both for French citizens and international visitors to Paris. Jacqueline Kennedy was inspired by her visit with her late husband, President Kennedy to the Arc de Triomphe in 1961, to request that an eternal flame, much like the one she had seen at the Tomb, to be placed at her husband's grave, in 1963.


January 28, 1958 -
Those damn little toys that you step on in the middle of the night became legal today.



The Lego company patented their design of modern Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.


January 28, 1958 -
Bizarrely on the same day, Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella's career ended when he lost control of his car on a slick highway.

He became a paraplegic and was confined to a wheelchair the remainder of his life.


January 28, 1977 -
Star of TV's Chico and the Man, Freddie Prinze has a violent allergic reaction to lead on this date.



Despondent over his upcoming divorce and battling a major drug addiction, Prinze, shot himself in the head days earlier, died on this day. He was 22 years old.


January 28, 1986 -
The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 74 seconds into its flight, killing teacher Christa McAuliffe and the rest of the crew. Their capsule plunged intact into the ocean, pulverizing everyone on impact, making a rescue attempt difficult, if not impossible.



The cause was later found to be failure of a booster rocket O-rings because of the cold weather.

Moral: Avoid rocket travel this week, if possible.



And so it goes.


358

Today is Chigou's Day

It's the third day of The Lunar New Year and Chigou literally means "red dog". Red Dog is the name of the God of Anger, who brings bad luck to people.

So people don't like to go out on this day, otherwise they might lose their temper easily and become argumentative. Actually, After a 2-day binge of, eating, drinking, playing, gambling, many people are tired and would probably want to sleep in. They said that if people want to work on this day, they won't get much accomplished. Therefore, the Red Dog day is a good excuse for people who need a rest.



Today is also known as the Mice Wedding Day.



They said that people should turn off the light and go to bed early, because the night is the Mice's Wedding and one shouldn't disturb them. The other reason people should turn out the lights, so the mice can’t see their wedding, which would slow down mice breeding.  In the old farmer society,  people would leave a few grains of rice or cake crumbs in the corner of a room for the mice at night.


It's Punch the Clock day. I have no idea why anyone would want to celebrate the soul-numbing activity of having to punch into work.



So instead, let's listen to a deep cut from the Elvis Costello album Punch the Clock, T.K.O. (Boxing Day).


January 27, 1918 -
Tarzan of the Apes, the first Tarzan film, premiered at the Broadway Theater in NYC on this date.



Edgar Rice Burroughs sold the film rights for Tarzan of the Apes to the National Film Corporation on June 6, 1916. He received a record $5,000 cash advance on royalties, $50,000 in company stock and 5% of gross receipts.


January 27, 1976 -
Laverne and Shirley, a spinoff from Happy Days, starring Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, premiered on ABC-TV on this date .



Penny Marshall worked the milk and Pepsi joke in based on her own life because as a child her mother would fill the same cup with milk as later with Pepsi and often wouldn't rinse out the cup or even wait until it was empty.


January 27, 1984 -
Cyndi Lauper released the second single, Time After Time, from her debut album She's So Unusual on this date.



Cyndi Lauper wrote this song with Rob Hyman, who also sang backup. Hyman was in a Philadelphia band with Eric Bazilian and Rick Chertoff. When Rick took a job as a staff producer at Columbia Records, he kept in touch with Rob and Eric, who formed The Hooters. Chertoff was assigned to produce Lauper, a then-unknown artist. Lauper's band, Blue Angel, had broken up, so she needed musicians. Rick suggested Rob and Eric, then brought her to see The Hooters at a club called The Bottom Line.


January 27, 1987 -
One of Woody Allen's favorite films, Broadway Danny Rose, starring Woody Allen, Mia Farrow and Nick Apollo Forte premiered in the US on this date.



Woody Allen's manager and producer, Jack Rollins, was the inspiration for the Danny Rose character. Rollins appears in the movie as himself.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
January 27, 1756 -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian musical genius, composer and fart joke lover, whose works included The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, was born on this date.



When Mozart died in 1791, probably of heart disease, he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.


January 27, 1832 –
... One of the secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.







Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Anglican deacon, children's author, mathematician, and photographer (child pornographer?) was born on this date.


January 27, 1859 -
Kaiser Wilhelm II, (Queen Victoria's first grandchild and first cousin to both King George V and Tsar Nicholas II) emperor who ruled Germany during World War I but was forced to abdicate in 1918, was born on this date.



Oh, those wacky royals.


January 27, 1900 -
Hyman Rickover, American admiral who is considered the "Father of the Atomic Submarine", was born on this date.



Creating a detail-focused pursuit of excellence to a degree previously unknown, Rickover redirected the United States Navy’s ship propulsion, quality control, personnel selection, and training and education, and has had far reaching effects on the defense establishment and the civilian nuclear energy field.


On January 21, 1901, the great maestro Joe Green (Giuseppe Verdi was merely his stage name) suffered a stroke while staying at the Grand Hotel et de Milan, in Milan. So revered was the composer that horses hooves were wrapped in blankets to muffle their noise as they passed the hotel where he rested.



Verdi gradually grew more feeble and died six days later, on this date. To date, his funeral remains the largest public assembly of any event in the history of Italy.


In popular American folklore, the British Mr. Thomas Crapper was the man who invented and gave his name to the flush toilet. Unfortunately, there is little historical evidence to support Mr. Crapper as anything but a friendly British plumber.

Thomas Crapper died on January 27, 1910. To honor this day and the spirit of the man, we can choose to embrace the legend of Thomas Crapper.


January 27, 1967 -
A launchpad flash fire in the Apollo I capsule killed the astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward H White and Roger B Chaffee at Cape Canaveral on this date.



An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo I command module was the probable cause of the fire.


January 27, 1973 -
North and South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and the United States signed the Paris Peace Accord on this day, ending one of the longest and most unpopular wars in American history.



Despite a ceasefire that had been put into effect a few days earlier, the last American troop to die in Vietnam was killed just 11 hours before the treaty was signed.


January 27, 1992 -
Candidate Bill Clinton and Gennifer Flowers mutually accuse each other of lying about whether or not they had a 12 year affair on this date.



Oh, it's hard to keep the old hound dog on the porch.


January 27, 2010 –
Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and whose books, such as A People's History of the United States, inspired young and old to rethink the way textbooks present the American experience, died on this date.



Go out and buy his book, if not for a kid you know, buy it for yourself.



And so it goes.


359

Today is the second day of the Lunar New Year.

Some believe the second day is also the birthday of all dogs and remember them with special treats.



The God of Wealth presides over a vast bureaucracy with many minor deities under his authority. A majestic figure robed in exquisite silks often he is pictured riding a black tiger, a golden yuanbao (ancient ingot used for currency) is always close to him. Legend says that every Lunar New Year, Tsai Shen descends from heaven to inspect his followers.

People eat dumplings to honor the god because the dumplings were thought to resemble yuanbao. Tsai Shen leaves for heaven on the second day of the Lunar New Year to report on whom should have good fortune in the following year.



Traditionally, it’s the time for married women to visit their parents. In ancient times in China, women usually didn’t visit their parents’ places much once they got married. People nowadays can do that at any time, this custom, to visit birth parents on second day of the Lunar New Year celebrations, remains.


Today is the feast day of St. Timothy.  St. Timothy is known to be the patron saint of those who suffer from stomach aches or other intestinal disorders (he was prescribed 'a little wine' for his own stomach troubles.)  Timothy is famous for being the companion and secretary to St. Paul. One of the requirements of the job was circumcision; Timothy, ever pious and eager for the job, immediately went out and did the job himself, (remember that the next time you are hiring administrative assistants.)

Timothy, in his later life, become the first bishop of Ephesus.  While he was there, he objected to the parading around of a nude statue of the goddess Diana in celebration of the festival of Katagogian, which seems odd as Timothy was Greek himself and seeing nude statues of Greek goddesses should have been no big deal. It apparently was a big deal to the locals of Ephesus and he was stoned to death on this date.


Today is the 71st annual Republic Day in India. Spectators line up to watch dancers from all over the nation gather in New Delhi every year on this day to dance in the huge National Arena and all along a five mile parade route.



It's Australia Day today (formerly known as Foundation Day in Australia) as well and commemorates the establishment of the first settlement at Port Jackson, now part of Sydney, in 1788. (The fleet was led by Captain Arthur Philip, who went on to establish the Colony of New South Wales, the first penal colony in Australia.) The day is filled with drinking, merriment and sodomy - Remember Australia: Where men are men and sheep are nervous.



On January 26, 1979, Le Freak was on the top of the American charts.



It's nice to think there's a connection.


January 26, 1974 –
Ringo Starr's song, You’re Sixteen, hit #1 on this date.



The song was the second solo project by Ringo Starr to reach #1 (Photograph was the first.) Ringo got a lot of help on his solo efforts, and on this track - Harry Nilsson sang backup and Paul McCartney made the noise that sounds like a kazoo (producer Richard Perry said he was singing; the album credits him for "vocal sax solo"). Others who contributed to the album include John Lennon, George Harrison, Rick Danko, Nicky Hopkins, Levon Helm and Marc Bolan.


January 26, 1979 -
Dukes of Hazzard premiered on CBS television with One Armed Bandits - (A shipment of slot machines is hijacked.)



High comedy indeed.


January 26, 1994 -
The pilot episode of Babylon 5, Midnight on the Firing Line premiered on TNT Network on this date.



Producer Douglas Netter's picture appears in this episode as President Louis Santiago, who is later assassinated.


January 26, 2001 -The Columbia Pictures film The Wedding Planner, starring Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, and Alex Rocco, premiered in the U.S. on this date.



The film may hold the unofficial Hollywood record for most credited producers of any movie ever made: fourteen, including six "executive producers", six "producers" and two "co-producers".


I believe that I have read this book


Today in History:
January 26, 1885 -
General Charles George “Chinese” Gordon (Charlton Heston), an extremely popular and influential figure in the British Empire and governor-general of Sudan, was killed on the palace steps in the garrison at Khartoum by the forces of Muhammad Ahmed, El Mahdi on this date.



Unfortunately for Gordon, immediate after he was stabbed to death, he was decapitated and his head was paraded around for several hours until it was presented as a trophy to Muhammad Ahmed.


January 26, 1913 –
Jim Thorpe, the World's Greatest Athlete, relinquished his 1912 Olympic medals for being a professional athlete. He was paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateur rules at that time.



His Olympic medals were reinstated posthumously by an act of Congress in 1983.


January 26, 1958 -
Ellen DeGeneres, actress, comedian and Cover Girl spokes model, was born on this date.



So kids remember, it is now OK to host a successful talk show wearing sneakers.


January 26, 1961 -
President Kennedy appointed Janet Travell as his personal physician, making her the first female presidential physician (as well as possibly the only woman he did not sleep with) on this date.



It was later found that she prescribed over five painkillers to the president at one time, as well as a variety of sleep aids and orthopedic shoes. The real original Dr. Feelgood.


January 26, 1962 -
Mafia boss Charles Lucky Luciano died of natural causes at the Naples airport. On the day of his fatal heart attack, Luciano had plans to sell the rights of his life's story to a movie maker. Luciano dropped dead as he was about to shake hands. The Mob disliked the idea and had tried unsuccessfully to change his mind. It has been hypothesized that Luciano's heart attack was a result of poisoning by the Mafia.



He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Queens, New York after a federal court ruled his burial on United States soil could not be blocked on the grounds that a corpse is not a citizen of any country and is therefore not subject to immigration control or deportation laws.


January 26,1979 -
70-year-old multibillionaire Nelson Rockefeller was stricken by a massive heart attack while giving dictation to his 27-year-old research assistant, Megan Marshack on this date. Some time after that event, Marshack had called her friend, news reporter Ponchitta Pierce, to the townhouse and it was Pierce who phoned 911 approximately an hour after the heart attack.



Much speculation went on in the press regarding a personal relationship between Rockefeller and Marshack. Rockefeller's will left Marshak $50,000 and the deed to a Manhattan townhouse.


January 26, 1984 -
A magnesium flash bomb at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles ignited Michael Jackson’s hair during the filming of a Pepsi television commercial, causing third-degree scalp burns.



It is later reveals that unscrupulous doctors prescribe a full but highly unorthodox regiment of pedophilia to ease the singer’s wounds.


January 26, 1996 -
Insane madman millionaire John E. Du Pont shot Olympic wrestler David Schultz three times, killing him on this date. A two day police standoff follows at the Foxcatcher estate and wrestling compound, with SWAT teams biding their time under the assumption that Du Pont, an expert marksman, possessed an arsenal at his disposal (see Foxcatcher.)

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Mr. Du Pont later died in prison. Perhaps Mr. Du Pont has gone to a better place where greasing yourself up and rolling around a mat with another person in nothing but a jock strap or a unitard is not considered a crime against nature.


January 26, 1998 -
U.S. President Bill Clinton denied, on television, having had sexual relations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.



The president must have skipped class that day.


January 26, 2004 -
A decomposing sperm whale exploded while in transport in Tainan City, Taiwan on this date. The whale was being moved to a laboratory for study when a critical build-up of gas caused it to explode, covering people and shop fronts in Tainan City with whale viscera.



Though decomposing whales are regularly exploded with dynamite to clear beaches, it is thought to be the first time a whale exploded in a city.  You may have had a bad day but you never had to go home to change because you were covered in whale viscera.



And so it goes.



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Gong Hei Fat Choy

The Lunar New Year starts today, and it's the Year of the Rat, but which one?



In Chinese astrology, each year is associated with a Chinese zodiac animal sign and one the Five Elements: Gold (Metal), Water, Wood, Fire, or Earth. Both the sign and element of your birth year are said to affect your personality and destiny. This year’s elemental sign is Metal - so we are celebrating Golden Rat.

(Please be aware that once again, Mr. Teeny and  I will be celebrating Chinese New Year recklessly this Year of the Rat - it's our birth year, by shooting firecrackers in public locations for the next two weeks.

Please also remember that people in China don't call it Chinese New Year, it's Lunar New Year; other countries celebrate Lunar New Year as well.)



Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on the Lunar New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. The Rat tricked the Ox into giving him a ride. Then, just as they arrived at the finish line, Rat jumped down and landed ahead of Ox, becoming first. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.

People born under the ‘Metal Rat’ tend to be reliable and live a stable life. They may  Those born under the sign of the rat tend to hold some power and are able to turn unlucky events into fortune. 2020 is considered a year of new beginnings and renewals. Famous people born in the year of rat, are Katy Perry, Antonio Banderas, Avril Lavigne, Cameron Diaz, Churchill, Colin Firth, President Jimmy Carter, Kathy Bates, Kenny Loggins, Marlon Brando, Mozart, Pedro Armendáriz, President George Washington, Samuel J Jackson, Sean Penn, Shakespeare, Timothy Hutton, Mark Zuckerberg, Scarlett Johansson.



People born in the year of Rat have pretty good fortune in wealth and career. Their salary may increase and they might get promoted and pass some qualification exams and get the certificates. In the aspect of health, they may have some respiratory system disease and heart problem.



It is also believed that the Rat is most compatible with the Ox, the Dragon, and the Monkey, but least compatible with the Horse, the Goat and the Snake.



The world’s largest annual human migration is now well underway as 2.8 billion trips are made across China in what is known as Chunyun, when students, migrant workers and office employees living away from home will make the journey back to celebrate with their families. Complicating matters, of course is the potential pandemic of  the deadly Coronavirus.


Reason to be cheerful  - There are 54 days until spring begins.



If that doesn't float your boat, it's National Irish Coffee Day


January 25, 1921 -
The play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) by Karel Capek premieres at the National Theater in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on this date. The play marks the first use of the term “robot,” which Capek coined from the Czech word “robota,” which is the word for the labor serfs were required to perform on their masters’ land.

To celebrate the anniversary, a robot in a factory in Flint, Michigan, in this date in 1979, killed an employee, Robert Williams. Mr Williams was struck in the head by a mechanical arm, trying to speed up retrievals from a storage space, became the first human ever killed by a robot.


January 25, 1949 -
The first Emmy Awards, which were devoted solely to local Los Angeles programming, were held on this date, at the Hollywood Athletic Club.

The very first Emmy, for Outstanding Personality, went to Shirley Dinsdale, a 20-year-old ventriloquist from UCLA, star of the children's show Judy Splinters—named after her talking puppet and broadcast on local station KTLA.


January 25, 1961 -
Walt Disney's 101 Dalmatians, premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on this date.



The company was in debt following the flop of Sleeping Beauty and desperately needed a hit. There was even talk of closing down the animation division as the company was refocusing on live action films, television and theme parks.  The film went on to become the highest grossing movie of 1961 in the US.


January 25, 1970 -
Robert Altman's Oscar winning film starring Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, M*A*S*H, premiered in NYC on this date.



The operating scenes were almost cut out due to their graphic nature. However, two women who were visiting the set told the producers that the operating scenes were what made the movie, and should be kept in.


January 25, 1985 -
John Schlesinger's spy drama, The Falcon and the Snowman, starring, Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn, premiered on this date.



In 1986, this movie became associated with one of the most famous hacking incidents in television history. On the night of April 27, 1986, a Florida satellite TV dealer named John MacDougall was working late at Central Florida Teleport which up-links pay cable services to satellites. Before his shift ended, he pointed the dish directly upwards toward the location of HBO's Galaxy 1 satellite and for four and a half minutes, East Coast subscribers who has been watching The Falcon and the Snowman saw a message on a colored test pattern which read: GOOD EVENING HBO FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT $12.95/MONTH? NO WAY! [SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]. MacDougall had performed the stunt as a protest of satellite subscribers being forced to pay higher fees than regular cable subscribers. He turned himself in, was charged a $5,000 fine and placed on one year probation.

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


Today in History:
January 25, 1759 -
It's Robert Burns' birthday and people will be celebrating with a Burns Supper.



The Burns Supper is eaten all across Scotland each year on the anniversary of the national poet's birth. It consists of haggis and whiskey. It is customary for the host to read Burns' Ode to a Haggis at the dinner table, presumably as a diversionary tactic.


January 25, 1924 -
The first Winter Olympics opened on this date in Chamonix, France.



Prior to this event, figure skating and ice hockey had been events at the Summer Olympics. Few, if any, of the athletes survived those winter sports during the Summer Olympics, as the rinks continually melted. And you don't want to know about the injuries sustained during nude hockey games.


January 25, 1927 -
Benjamin Kubelsky married Sadye Marks (Marcowitz) on this day.

Sadye changed her name to Mary Livingstone and joined her new husband's act. Back in 1921, Kubelsky had once again changed his name from Ben K. Benny to Jack Benny.


January 25, 1927 -
Antonio Carlos Jobim, composer and primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, was born on this date.







If you are in your 50's, you probably wouldn't have been born without the help of this guy - go ask your parents.


January 25, 1938 -
Etta James, blues, soul, R&B, rock 'n roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter, was born on this date



Pour yourself a stiff double and remember this great singer.


January 25, 1947 -
Anita Pallenberg, model, actress, fashion designer,



bathtub companion to Mick Jagger and bed mate companion to Keith Richards, was born on this date.


January 25, 1947 -
Mobster Al Capone died in Florida on this date, having only recently been released from Alcatraz, due to his declining health (his mind gone from long untreated syphilis.)



For the wages of sin is death


January 25, 1960 -

Actress Diana Barrymore, Drew's aunt, committed suicide by taking a combination of sleeping pills and alcohol on this date.



Go out and rent The Bad and the Beautiful (the Lana Turner character is based on Diana.)


January 25, 1961 –
President Kennedy held the first live presidential press conference on this date.  It was viewed by an estimated 65 million people.



By the time of his death in November 1963, Kennedy had held 64 news conferences, an average of one every 16 days.


January 25, 1964 -
Echo 2, a big balloon satellite designed for collaborative communications experiments with the Soviet Union, was launched on this day. The 13-story satellite was positioned about 800 miles above South Africa. Echo 2 was the second busiest and the heaviest of all satellites created up until this time.



It was constructed of mostly plastic with an aluminum foil skin and weight about 535 pounds. Echo 2 would be spotted every so often, as announced by NASA, who encouraged people to look out for it.


January 25, 1971 -
Charles Manson and three of his followers were convicted in Los Angeles of the Tate and LaBianca murders on this date.

All were sentenced to the gas chamber, with sentences commuted to life imprisonment when the death penalty was temporarily abolished.


January 25, 1971 -
Idi Amin Dada, everybody's favorite tyrant, comes to power in Uganda on this date.
  

Forest Whitaker won a Golden Globe award, a BAFTA, the Screen Actors' Guild award for Best Actor (Drama), and the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of this cannibal.


January 25, 1980 -
Ex-Beatle and pothead, Paul McCartney, after being detained for smuggling approximately 8 ounces (200 g) of pot into Japan, was released from Tokyo jail and deported without charge, on this date.



Kids let this be a lesson to you all - Pot is bad and you should never be carrying your stash on you if you are that wealthy.


January 25, 1990 -
Avianca Flight 52 ran out of fuel and crashed in Cove Neck, N.Y. on this date.



73 of the 161 people aboard were killed.


January 25, 1995 -
Hey, the world almost ended on this date and you probably didn't even know it:
Russia almost launched a nuclear missile at a Norwegian research rocket after mistaking it for a US missile.



The event, known as the Norwegian Rocket Incident, highlighted remaining Cold War tensions, despite the fact that the war had officially ended four years earlier.


January 25, 2017 -
I think I can take responsibility for that in that I was the audience. I was the voice of sanity around whom all these crazies did their dance. And I reacted in the same way that a member of the audience would have reacted.



Mary Tyler Moore, TV icon passed away on this date.



And so it goes.


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