Shiver me timbers

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - Only 5% of the ocean has been explored.



According to the National Ocean Service, it’s a shockingly small percentage. Just 5 percent of Earth’s oceans have been explored and charted – especially the ocean below the surface. The rest remains mostly undiscovered and unseen by humans. Sea exploration and mapping didn’t truly start until the 1960s due to the lack of technology beforehand.


American youth wants to know - the 2020 Collins word of the year this year is -

"Lockdown" has been declared the word of the year for 2020 by Collins Dictionary, after a sharp rise in its usage during the pandemic. According to the Collins Dictionary, "Our lexicographers chose ‘lockdown’ as Word of the Year because it is a unifying experience for billions of people across the world, who have had, collectively, to play their part in combating the spread of COVID-19," Collins Dictionary said on its website last week.


November 18, 1928 -
Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse (even though this is his third appearance in a cartoon.) I never argue with a corporation that has Darth Vader as a board member.



Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, was released on this date.


November 18, 1931 -
The groundbreaking film, Mädchen in Uniform, premiered in Berlin, on this date.



The Nazi regime tried to burn all the copies of this movie. They couldn't, as prints had been distributed around the world, including the United States and Japan and many other nations, by the time they came to power in 1933.


November 18, 1959 -
The Biblical spectaculars to end all spectaculars, Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, had its world premiere in New York, on this date.



The chariot race required 15,000 extras on a set constructed on 18 acres of backlot at Cinecitta Studios outside Rome. Tour buses visited the set every hour. Eighteen chariots were built, with half being used for practice. The race took five weeks to film.


November 18, 1972 -
Steely Dan's first single Do It Again was released on this date.



The song became a hit in both the US and UK, earning the group a lot of press coverage. The group's sound was very unusual, and when asked to explain it, they sometimes described it as "smart rock."


November 18, 1987 -
Bernardo Bertolucci's magnificent take on Pu Yi, The Last Emperor, premiered in NYC on this date.



In real life, when Puyi met Empress Cixi, he screamed in terror. He later described seeing an eerie yellow curtain with an ugly thin face behind it. She was displeased, and had one of her servants offer him candy. When he screamed even louder, she had him taken away. She died the next day.


November 18, 1992 -
The biopic of the influential Black Nationalist leader, Malcolm X, premiered on this date.



To prepare for his role, Denzel Washington avoided eating pork, attended Fruit of Islam classes and learned to Lindy Hop. He was so in character that he even knew which pair of glasses Malcolm X was wearing on a particular day.


November 18, 2005 -
20th Century Fox bio-pix Walk The Line, based on the life of Johnny Cash, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, opened in US on this date.



Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon performed all of the songs themselves, without being dubbed. They also learned to play their instruments (guitar and auto-harp, respectively) from scratch.


Another failed ACME Product.


Today in History:
November 18, 1307 -
After refusing to salute the Habsburg badge at Altdorf on Lake Lucerne, local child services authorities in Uri, Switzerland reported that a William Tell shot an apple off his son's head on this date.



- Charges may still be pending. Tell may or may not also have assassinated local tyrannical Austrian ruler Gessler, as well.


November 18, 1421 -
It was a lovely November, but a certain beautiful young woman walked about in a daze, heavy of heart and despairing of hope. She was betrothed to a rich and cruel young man who didn’t love her. Then she met a boyishly handsome young ruffian who loved her for who she really was. His every sentiment seemed to echo those in her own soul, sentiments that had gone too long unanswered; his smile radiated warmth and joy, and quickened her blooming young heart, which had withered too long from neglect; his touch sent shivers down her spine, which had always consisted of numerous vertebrae. They fell in love abruptly and completely.

Sadly, the sea broke through the dikes, and they were drowned along with 100,000 other less interesting people, in Dort, the Netherlands in the St. Elizabeth flood, on this date.


November 18, 1477 -
William Caxton published the first book printed in England, on this date. The book was a translation of The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, by Frenchman Guillaume de Tignoville. The translation to English was performed by Anthony Wodville, Earl Rivers, who had devoted a considerable portion of his life to the study of philosophers' dictes.

Wodville first formulated the theory that the length of a philosopher's dicte was less important than its thrust. He has also been credited with originating the theory that a philosopher's dicte was commensurate with his shoe size. Neither theory is given much credence by contemporary philosophers, most of whom appear to be dicteless anyway.


November 18, 1686 -
Louis XIV's, King of France, anal fistula was operated on this date, by surgeon Charles Francois Felix, with great success, in front of the horrified yet fascinated court. To prepare for the operation Felix practiced his surgery on anuses of the peasantry, with some fatalities at first but improving his technique in time for the royal bung.

This is what passed for entertainment at the french royal court.


November 18, 1922 -
Marcel Proust, a pioneer of the modern novel (A la Recherche du Temps Perdu), died at 51 on this date.



While it is generally agreed upon that he died of pneumonia and a pulmonary abscess, I believe he was crushed by the sheer weight of the unedited proof of his massive novel.

(Please feel pleased as punch with yourself that you've read about Proust twice in one week.)


November 18, 1966 -
After this final "meatless" day of sacrifice, the American Roman Catholic Church would withdraw its edict forbidding meat consumption on Fridays.

No one knows how much the American Jellied Ox Tongue Consortium 'donated' to the church on that day.


November 18, 1970 -
Singer/polygamist Jerry Lee Lewis divorced his third wife Myra Gail, after 12 years of marriage. Not only was she jailbait when they got married (being 13 at the time), but Lewis was married to Jane Mitcham at the time.

It's so hard to keep details like the number of wives you have straight in your mind.


November 18, 1978 -
Congressman Leo Ryan was slain at the People's Temple compound in Guyana, after which over 900 members of the cult led by the Reverend Jim Jones drank cyanide laced Flavor Aid (a Kool Aid knockoff), including over 270 children. It was probably not a pretty sight.



The Kraft Foods Company would like you guys to stop making those damn 'drink the Kool Aid' jokes

- it wasn't them.

November 18, 1985 -
Cartoon strips approached their zenith on this date.

The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson, was first published on this date. We first learn of Hobbes' love for tuna fish


Before you go - This year the UK food chain, Aldi's, has once again brought back the beloved character, Kevin the Carrot, this time trying to get home in time for Christmas.



Britian first fell in love with Kevin back in 2016 when he premiered as part of Aldi's Christmas campaign and there's been an incredible response to Kevin since.



And so it goes


Begin discussing with your family the Thanksgiving menu and the possibility of not seeing family due to Covid quarantine.

(Feel free to contact U.N. peace observers.)


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