* September 8, 1565: This day of thanksgiving was celebrated by a group of Spaniards lead by Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilé, in Saint Augustine, Florida. Interestingly, Menéndez de Avilé even invited the Timucua tribe to dine with them on that Thanksgiving.
* 1598: In San Elizario, Texas, Spanish explorer Juan de Onate, on the banks of the Rio Grande, along with those with him held a Thanksgiving festival after they successfully crossed over 350 miles of Mexican desert.
* December 4th, 1619: Thirty-eight settlers landed on James River, on a ship called the Margaret, about 20 miles from Jamestown. Their charter required that the day of landing be set aside as a day of thanksgiving both on that first date and every year after. This tradition died out due to the “Powhatan tribe uprising of 1622” where many of the settlers were killed and most of the rest fled to Jamestown. (The Powhatan were the family of Pocahontas, who did not marry Captain John Smith but John Rolfe, but that's another story...)
One tree from Orange County is about to become a celebrity. Rockefeller Center has chosen its Christmas Tree for 2020.
The tree is a 75-foot Norway Spruce that Al Dick from Oneonta, New York, donated to Rockefeller Center. The 61 years old tree has a 46-foot diameter and weighs approximately 11 tons. The tree was cut down yesterday. It's the second time in recent years that a tree from the town of Oneonta has been chosen for Rockefeller Center. A tree owned by Angie and Graig Eichler was used in 2017.
The tree is making its way to New York City, arriving at Rockefeller Center on November 14. The tree lighting will be on December 2th - remember to avoid midtown at all cost on that date. After January 5th, the tree will come down and be donated to Habitat for Humanity for its lumber to be used to build homes.
It's National Pizza with the Works (Except Anchovies) Day. (Can we skip the pineapple?)
What's so wrong about anchovies?
(Well there is an old joke by George Carlin, but I'm not going to play it to you, you'll have to find it yourself, but I guess that would put me off anchovies.)
November 12, 1964 -
On his 19th birthday, Neil Young wrote Sugar Mountain, where he reflects on his fleeting youth ("You can't be 20 on Sugar Mountain"), the first formal release was a recording of the song made on November 10, 1968.
Joni Mitchell's The Circle Game was inspired by this song. As she explained to a live audience at The Paris Theatre in 1970, "Neil Young wrote this song that was called 'Oh to live on sugar mountain' which was a lament for his lost youth. And I thought, God, you know, if we get to 21 and there's nothing after that, that's a pretty bleak future, so I wrote a song for him, and for myself just to give me some hope. It's called 'The Circle Game.'"
November 12, 1976 -
Featuring a cast of 50 million, the very strange documentary All This And World War II, a collection of WWII newsreel footage, clips from other movies, and covers of Beatles songs, opens in US theaters on this date.
The film's director Susan Winslow was hired as she had been a researcher on the movie Brother Can You Spare a Dime which integrated film footage and 1930s newsreels with gramophone songs of that era. Her original role was as a researcher and to select footage but her contribution became so important she was named the film's director.
November 12, 1982 -
Robert Altman's low budget (and well received) adaptaion of Ed Graczyk's play, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, starring, Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black, and Kathy Bates premiered in NYC on this date.
The film's one set was actually one double-set with two-way mirrors which were utilized for the flashback sequences. The two-way mirrored double-set was operated by computerized lighting modules which caused their own unique problems for the production.
November 12, 1993 -
Jane Campion's Oscar-winning film, The Piano starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel (and his penis), Sam Neill and Anna Paquin, was released in the US on this date.
Holly Hunter received three on-screen credits for the film, playing the character of Ada, playing the piano herself, and being a British sign language interpreter for Anna Paquin.
November 12, 2008 -
Danny Boyle's international hit, Slumdog Millionaire, starring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto went into limited release in the US on this date.
Longiness Fernandes was the choreographer of the dance sequence set to the song Jai Ho, which is played during the end credits. But his name was inadvertently left out in the credits of the film. Upset with this, Longiness skipped the preview parties. Danny Boyle was also upset over this mistake and promised Longiness that he would make it up to him, and did it in style. While accepting the Best Director Oscar, he admitted his mistake before the audience and thanked Longiness.
November 12, 2016 -
Kate McKinnon sang Hallelujah in character as Hillary Clinton to open Saturday Night Live the Saturday after the 2016 presidential election.
Still oddly powerful and moving.
Another court-ordered ACME PSA
Today in History:
King Cnut of England, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden died on this date in 1035. (Cnut is better known to most Americans as King Canute, which offers fewer typographical hazards.)
Cnut was the son of Svein Forkbeard, son of Harald Bluetooth, son of Gorm (now you know.) In 1013 Cnut's father conquered all of England from the Saxon King Aethelred but died anyway. This allowed Aethelred to take England back, which made it necessary for Cnut himself to reconquer England in 1016. He enjoyed this so much that he went on to conquer Scotland, Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden, all of which came to be known collectively as Cnutland, perhaps explaining the region's subsequent popularity among European dyslexics.
This will be on the test.
November 12, 1859 -
The first flying-trapeze circus act was performed by Jules Leotard at the Circus Napoleon (later renamed Cirque d'Hiver) in Paris on this date.
His act caused a sensation in Paris, and soon other circus performers were trying out his technique. Leotard designed the garment that bears his name. Jules died at the age of 28 in Spain, leaving behind the famous Leotard and the art of flying trapeze.
November 12, 1912 -
The bodies of Captain Robert Scott and his men were found on the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, frozen solid in one huge block of ice, on this date.
So he had literally become Scott of the Antarctic.
November 12, 1928 -
S. S. Vestris left New York November 10, 1928, with 129 passengers and 196 crew. The next day she ran into a severe storm and developed a starboard list, caused by a partially open coal port four feet above the water line
An SOS was sent out on November 12, some 200 miles off Hampton Roads, Virginia, and the ship was abandoned and after a few hours, the ship fell on her side and sank. Approximately 112 of the 325 onboard were lost (there was never a conclusive count - you know how it is during a disaster): all 13 children on board perished, as well as 28 of the 36 women.
November 12, 1933 -
Hugh Gray of the British Aluminum Company took five pictures of the Loch Ness Monster, the first known photos. Four the the five exposures were blank, and the remaining photo was later proven to be a hoax.
Early on the morning of November 12, 1942, Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, mob informer, then in protective custody, fell to his death from a hotel window. It is not known whether he was thrown or pushed out the window, or if he was trying to escape. The angle of trajectory suggests that he was, in fact, defenestrated (my favorite word.)
November 12, 1945 -
When you're young, you don't have any experience - you're charged up, but you're out of control. And if you're old and you're not charged up, then all you have is memories. But if you're charged and stimulated by what's going on around you, and you also have experience, you know what to appreciate and what to pass by.
Happy Birthday Neil Percival Young !!! (I'm glad they resolved your citizenship issue.)
It was on this date in 1948 that former Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and seven others were sentenced to hang.
(This was back in the quaint old days, when the world considered it legal not only to have enemies, but to kill them after they tried to kill you.)
November 12, 1955 -
Today was one of the most event-filled dates in Hill Valley, CA history:
During the famous Hill Valley Thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning strikes the Clock Tower at precisely 10:04 p.m., and it hasn't rung since.
November 12, 1980 -
NASA's space probe Voyager 1 reached Saturn on this day and sent photos of the planet's rings back to Earth, nearly a billion miles (about 1.6 billion km) away.
And so it goes
Before you go -
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