Don't forget the distribution of tzedakah

The holiday season is once again upon us and it's the third night of Hanukkah. Last year, your bathroom linens remain relatively clean but your heart and home are empty of visiting love one. This year, we're sure your home is bursting with the various mishpocha, soiling your hand towels.

Remember that ACME Eagle Hand Soap comes in a powdered form, excellent for all your laundry needs


Today is also the tenth 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.


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, 1956 –
CBS became the first network to broadcast from videotape on this date. It was a rebroadcast to the West Coast of the 15-minute Douglas Edwards and the News program.

The program was broadcast live to the eastern U.S. from New York. It was recorded on 2-inch tape with an Ampex Mark IV machine.


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



Having played football in high school, James Caan was a more accomplished athlete than Billy Dee Williams. In the film, Gale Sayers is supposed to surpass Brian Piccolo in speed and playing ability, so Caan was forced to slow down considerably so that Williams could believably outplay him.


November 30, 1977 -
Bing Crosby's last Christmas special premiered on this date. The program was recorded in September, and Crosby died that October.



The show is remembered for Crosby's unusual duet with David Bowie, where they sing a modified version of Little Drummer Boy, with Bowie singing the new Peace On Earth lyrics composed by the show's writers. Even more strange is, when Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in 2010, filmed a shot-for-shot remake, even sticking to the original dialogue.


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



Pink Floyd rarely released singles that were also on an album because they felt their songs were best appreciated in the context of an album, where the songs and the artwork came together to form a theme. Producer Bob Ezrin convinced them that Another Brick In The Wall part II could stand on its own and would not hurt album sales. When the band relented and released it as a single, it became their only #1 hit.


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



Most homes had VCRs in 1983 and sales of videos were big business. Along with the Jane Fonda workout tapes, you could buy a VHS or Beta copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller, which included the full video and also The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, a behind the scenes documentary. This tape became the best selling music video at the time, and was later certified by Guinness World Records as the top selling music video of all time, moving nine million units. Part of its appeal was the price, a mere $24.95 at a time when movies on tape cost much more.


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



James Caan once showed up to the set hungover, and all of the scenes he shot that day were unusable. Rob Reiner told Caan he had to do the scenes again because there was "a problem at the lab." When Caan learned it had nothing to do with labs, he offered to cover the money he lost the studio.


November 30, 1994 -
The Beatles' first album in 25 years, Live at the BBC, is released in Britain on this date.



BBC producer Peter Pilbeam meet an unknown group through their young manager Brian Epstein in February of 1962. He was impressed the group’s four-song audition and thus began a relationship that would span roughly three years, with the Beatles delivering 52 performances for the BBC between 1962 and 1965. Decades later, recordings from these shows would make up the compilation album Live at the BBC.


Today's moment of Zen


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, 1940 -
Comic actress Lucille Ball first met Cuban-born bandleader Desi Arnaz while filming the Rodgers and Hart stage hit Too Many Girls. At first, Arnaz was not fond of Lucy. When they met again later that day, the two connected immediately and eloped the same year.



They got married in Greenwich, Connecticut on this date. Lucy said "It wasn't love at first sight. It took a full five minutes."


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