Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - To most people, Tuesday is just another day, and that’s mostly because it is.
Tuesday gets its English name from the Old English Tiwesdæg and the Middle English Tewesday, meaning ‘Tiw’s Day.” Tiw was the Norse God of Single Combat, Victory, and Heroic Glory. Tiw is also associated with the Roman God of War, Mars. This is why Tuesday contains a reference to Mars in other languages derived from Latin. Like “Mardi” in French, “Martes” in Spanish and “Martedi” in Italian.
On December First each year, we celebrate World Aids Day, the day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. In the United States, during 2018, there were an estimated 37,832 new diagnoses of HIV infection and worldwide, there were about 1.7 million new cases of HIV.
December is the twelfth and last month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. This is used in almost all the world today. It was the tenth month in the early Roman calendar. It became the twelfth month in a later Roman calendar. Until 46 B.C., December only had 29 days.
But the Roman statesman Julius Caesar added two days to December, which made it 31 days. You get to do that if you are dictator to the known World.
In Finnish, since about the 18th century, December has been called Joulukuu, meaning "month of Christmas." Before that it was called Talvikuu, meaning "month of winter." In Irish, December is known as Mí na Nollaig, also meaning "month of Christmas". In the northern half of the world, Winter begins in December. Winter does not begin until December 21 or 22, and most of December is usually warmer than other winter months.
In the Northern Hemisphere, most birds and elderly folks have gone to warmer climates. But many animals are active. Mink, ermine, beavers, and foxes grow beautiful coats of fur. Nature finishes preparing for the long winter ahead. Many people make feeding places for birds and squirrels.
December is International Calendar Awareness Month, Safe Toys and Gifts Month, and Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month . The first week in December is both Christmas Tree Week and Cookie Cutter Week.
Today is the ninth Annual Giving Tuesday. Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and standing in stark contrast of the shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is a movement to create an international day of giving as a response to commercialization and consumerism.
#GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.
December 1, 1903 -
The first Western film, directed by Edwin S. Porter, The Great Train Robbery, was released on this date.
The final shot of a gun being fired toward the camera had a profound effect on audiences. As cinema was in its infancy, many people who saw the film thought that they were actually about to be shot.
December 1, 1983 -
Brian De Palma’s remake of the 1932 Howard Hawks' classic Scarface, starring Al Pacino, premiered in NYC on this date.
When director Brian De Palma submitted the film to the MPAA, they gave it an "X rating". He then made some cuts and resubmitted it a second time; again the film was given an "X rating" (one of the reasons apparently being that Octavio the clown was shot too many times). He yet again made some further cuts and submitted it a third time; yet again it was given an "X". De Palma refused to cut the film any further to qualify it for an R. He and producer Martin Bregman arranged a hearing with the MPAA. They brought in a panel of experts, including real narcotics officers, who stated that not only was the film an accurate portrayal of real life in the drug underworld, but ultimately it was an anti-drug film, and should be widely seen. This convinced the arbitrators that the third submitted cut of the film deserved an "R rating" by a vote of 18-2. However, De Palma surmised that if the third cut of the film was judged an "R" then the very first cut should have been an "R" as well, to which the MPAA disagreed. However, since he believed the studio execs wouldn't know the differences between the different cuts that had been submitted, De Palma released the first cut of the film to theaters anyway, confessing to the fact only after its home video release several months later.
December 1, 1984 -
The Eddie Murphy mega-hit, Beverly Hills Cop, co-starring, Judge Reinhold, and John Ashton, premiered in Los Angeles on this date.
To cast the roles of Rosewood and Taggart, the director paired up various finalists and asked them to do some improvisation to get a feel for their chemistry. He paired up Judge Reinhold and John Ashton and gave them the following direction: "You are a middle-aged couple, married for years. You are having a conversation on an average evening." Reinhold immediately picked up a nearby magazine and the two improvised the "five pounds of red meat in his bowels" bit almost exactly as it eventually appeared in the movie.
December 1, 1989 -
The very silly National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki, premiered on this date.
Beverly D'Angelo improvised grabbing Chevy Chase's crotch when the SWAT team holds up the house. She later said she did it on only one take, on the off chance it could make the film's final cut, which is what happened.
You can never be sad listening to a Uke
Today in History:
December 1, 1135 -
King Henry I of England was both the first English King who could actually read (which was no small bragging right) and was famed for holding the record for the largest number of acknowledged illegitimate children born to any English king, with the number being around 20 or 25. How he found time to read is anybody's guest? But that is not why we discuss him today: Henry died on this date after eating a plate of spoiled eels while visiting his grandchildren in Normandy.
December 1, 1887 -
The first adventure in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, A Study in Scarlet, introducing the reader to the brilliant detective and his faithful companion, Doctor Watson, first appeared in print on this date. Doyle received £25 for its publication in Beeton's Christmas Annual.
Holmes' deductive genius was modeled on Doyle's medical school mentor Dr. Joseph Bell.
December 1, 1929 -
Little old people and Catholic priest rejoice!!!
Bingo was invented by Edwin S. Lowe, on this date.
December 1, 1934 -
Politburo member Sergei Kirov was killed by Leonid Nikolayev on orders of Josef Stalin on this date.
The assassination is used as an excuse to commence the Great Terror in the years 1935 to 1939, in which 800,000 were executed and over 8.5 million arrested.
Uncle Joe sure knew how to hold a grudge.
December 1, 1935 -
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.
Allen Stewart Konigsberg, writer and film director was born on this date, and immediately regretted the entire incident, complaining that he didn't know his mother well enough to be involved in such an 'intimate experience' as birth.
December 1, 1940 -
I believe the ability to think is blessed. If you can think about a situation, you can deal with it. The big struggle is to keep your head clear enough to think.
Richard Pryor, comedian, actor and genius, was born on this date.
December 1, 1945 -
When it's three o'clock in New York, it's still 1938 in London.
Bette Midler, singer, actress, comedian was born on this date.
December 1, 1947 -
Aleister Crowley, British occultist, writer, mountaineer, poet, yogi, skilled sodomite and the wickedest man in the world, died in Hastings England at age 74. Crowley also appears on the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper.
It's nice to have a hobby.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to sit on the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in violation of the democratic and egalitarian laws that so many Americans had fought so hard to preserve.
This resulted in a period of national reflection upon the meaning of the phrase "all men are created equal," which no longer appeared so self-evident. After considerable debate, the U.S. judicial system eventually made the novel decision that "all men" might be interpreted to mean "all men," and America has been a paragon of peaceful coexistence ever since.
And so it goes
Before you go - Have you wondered what a postal service commercial would look like directed by Ingmar Bergman. Wonder no more!
It's a ad for the Norwegian Postal Service features an angry Santa Claus who tells his therapist that he feels become outdated and finds himself wishing for those bygone eras in which he was welcomed inside every home across the land.
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