Read the ramblings of Dr. Caligari. Hopefully you will find that Time does wound all heels.
You no longer need to be sad that nowadays there is so little useless information.
My own mother discovered an early cancer during her annual PAP smear (TMI, I'm sure)
but this is just too much and I sure that you are all happy that Santa can't deliver this gift.
Also, when did Tiger find time to play golf?
December 7, 1958 Tim Butler, bass player and co-founder of the Psychedelic Furs was born on this date.
We'll let him serenade Joan, the birthday girl. (It would be very rude to ask how old she is?)
Christmas video countdown - Rockers (female) sing Christmas carols
Here's Today in History: December 7, 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero, famous Roman writer and orator, literally gets his head handed to him on this date, when soldier in Marc Antony's army chops off his head & right hand then display them in the Roman Forum.
Now there's a holiday display you don't see that often.
It was on this day in 1941 that Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack came after the United States had frozen Japanese assets and declared an embargo on shipments of petroleum to Japan.
On the morning of December 7, soldiers at Pearl Harbor were learning how to use a new device called radar, and they detected a large number of planes heading toward them. They telephoned an officer to ask him what to do. The officer said they must be American B-17s on their way to the base, and he told the soldiers not to worry about it.
A sailor named James Jones, who would go on to write the novel From Here to Eternity (1951), was in the mess hall that morning.
There were ultimately 2,390 Americans killed at Pearl Harbor and 1,178 wounded. Two days after the attack, the Navy passed out postcards to the survivors and told them to write to their families, but not to describe what had happened. Some families did not get their postcards until February.
December 7, 1949 - It's Tom Waits' birthday.
Let's all get drunk and sing really sad songs in a raspy voice in his honor.
According to a 2005 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts from their doting owners. Of those 7 dogs, six of them will take a dump on the rug anyway.
5 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 18 more shopping days until Christmas.
I often search the web so you don't have to finding the new and weird but this
really is just so odd, on so many levels.
Christmas video countdown - It's a Dr. Demento Christmas
Listen to these songs and Christmas will never be the same again.
December 6, 1896 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist (and major writer of the American Song Book) was born on this date.
If you're of an age, it part of the music you hear in your head as you walk down the street.
Today in History - December 6, 1917 - On the morning of December 6, the munitions ship Mont Blanc explodes in Halifax harbor after being struck by another ship, the Norwegian ship Imo. It is the largest explosion before the atomic age. The ship was carrying 200 tons of TNT, 61 tons of gun cotton, 35 tons of Benzyl, and 2,300 tons of picric acid; the explosion destroys 325 acres of the city, leaving 1,900 people dead and injuring over 9,000.
Luckily, Gordon Lightfoot didn't write a damn song about it.
December 6, 1960 - Domino's Pizza was founded by Thomas S. Monaghan.
And the pizza still sucks.
December 6, 1969 - A concert by the Rolling Stones at Altamont ends in the death of a fan at the hands of the Hells Angels, who were hired for security. He was a fat hippie anyway. (Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name..)
(Contrary to a popular urban legend, Sympathy for the Devil was not playing while Meredith Hunter was being stabbed, rather, the song was Under My Thumb.
And Mr. Hunter was not a fat hippie but an African American)
December 6, 1973 - House minority leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the first unelected Vice President, succeeding US Vice President Spiro T. Agnew (under President Richard M. Nixon).
Agnew, the only VP to resign in disgrace, resigned on October 10, and pleaded no contest to one charge of income tax invasion in return for the dropping of all other charges, and was fined $10,000 and given three year's probation .
December 6, 1989 - Frances Bavier - "Aunt Bee" on The Andy Griffith show died of heart failure on this date.
Suffering from advance stages of senility, Ms. Bavier became convinced that she was "Aunt Bee" towards the end of her life.
"Andy, Opie, come in for dinner boys."
After "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens wrote several other Christmas stories, one each year, but none was as successful as the original. Among some of the titles were, "How Father Christmas, a Fat, Smelly, Rat Bastard, died in the chimney at 307A Gin Lane last Christmas", "Oh no, Mother's drunk on the holiday punch again" & "Little Nell meets Jack the Ripper on Boxing Day".
6 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 19 more shopping days until Christmas.
Here's a helpful tip for you - if you're writing your Christmas cards out today, here are some sample messages:
May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, The gladness of Christmas give you hope, The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
You know you're getting old, when Santa starts looking younger
You might as well do your Christmas hinting early.
Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip.
Just wanted to spread peace, love, joy and other marketing buzz words.
I can't wait to have a flamboyantly dressed stranger grope my children.
I've heard you cheat at dreidels. You'd be surprised how much gelt talks.
Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.
We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.
December 5, 1932 Rev. Richard Wayne Penniman, (Little Richard) singer, songwriter, pianist and one of the seminal influences in Rock and Roll first graced this earth.
To get the true healing powers, strip down to your underwear, touch the screen and dance with wild abandon.
Get well soon Rev.
Christmas video countdown (If you are easily offended - don't watch)
Sometimes Christmas isn't all jolly and bright.
Today in History (It's an crappy day)- December 5, 1484 - Pope Innocent VIII released a papal bull to combat the spread of witchcraft and heresy in Germany, on this date, leading to one of the severest witch hunts in European history.
The bull was, alas, less interested in fighting these affronts to civilization than in finding romantically-inclined heifers and was subsequently relieved of his duties.
Witchcraft and heresy therefore flourished (over the next three centuries 200,000 accused witches die under most unpleasant circumstances) and eventually caused Protestants.
December 5, 1484 - The beautiful Technicolor fairy tale, The Thief of Bagdad, opened in NYC on this date.
Producer Alexander Korda was so demanding that he went through six directors during the production of this film, including his brother Zoltan Korda and leading art director William Cameron Menzies.
December 5, 1906 Otto Ludwig Preminger, Austrian-born film director, whose films included Laura, The Man with the Golden Arm, Anatomy of a Murder and Advise and Consent, was born on this date.
All right then, gentlemen, we are all friends again. And with Christmas coming on I have a special treat for you. I'll have you all deloused for the holidays and I'll have a little Christmas tree for every barrack. You will like that.
December 5, 1926 - Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin premieres, dramatising the uprising on the Battleship Potemkin that occurred in 1905 when the crew of a Russian battleship rebelled against their oppressive officers of the Tsarist regime.
The film is widely regarded as one of the most influential films of all time.
December 5, 1933 - Fourteen years of prohibition end when Utah ratifies the 21st amendment. One has to wonder if the delay in the states' ratification had anything to due with the fruits of poligamy.
Let the good times roll.
December 5, 1991 - Richard Speck, a murderer who killed eight student nurses in Chicago on July 14, 1966, dies of natural causes while incarcerated.
News anchor Bill Kurtis received video tapes from an anonymous source detailing Specks life behind bars.
The tape includes explicit scenes of sex, drug use, and money being passed around by prisoners, who seemingly had no fear of being caught; in the center of it all was Speck, performing oral sex on another inmate, ingesting cocaine, parading in silk panties, sporting female-like breasts grown from smuggled hormone treatments, and boasting, "If they only knew how much fun I was having, they'd turn me loose."
Christmas Trivia: A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard. A traditional Sicilian message is a severed horses head served raw in bed.
7 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 20 more shopping days until Christmas.
Here’s a funny, children’s themed video re-telling of Keith Moon’s crazy lifestyle as the iconic drummer of The Who - on the night of his death.
So kiddies, there is a lot to be thankful for on this holiday, after all, you could be dead.
Goodnight Keith Moon
Christmas video countdown -
Please remember to time your drugs correctly to view this.
December 4, 1955 Cassandra Wilson, jazz vocalist extraordinaire, songwriter, and producer was born on this date.
Today in History - December 4, 1783 - At Fraunces Tavern in New York City, General George Washington formally bids his officers farewell.
Many of his subordinates were quite emotional until they realized that George stuck them with the check.
Our old friend, Francisco Franco was born 116 years ago today.
Franco graduated from the Spanish military academy at Toledo and became the youngest major in the Spanish army at the age of 23. By the age of 34 he was a general, and by 41 he was Commander of the Spanish Army.
Eager for war but lacking an enemy, the ambitious young Spanish commander-in-chief declared war on Spain in 1936 and defeated her in just three years.
The war was so successful and exciting it inspired World War II, and Franco's rise to power foreshadowed the ascension of other evil bastards in Europe.
After his victory Franco named himself "Generalísimo" ("villainous bastard") to better distinguish himself from the "Fuhrer" ("maniacal bastard") in Germany and "Il duce" ("vicious bastard") in Italy.
Franco ran the country until shortly after his death in 1975.
General Franco, heroically, remains dead.
The Panama Pacific International Exposition was the 1915 worlds fair held in San Francisco, California. Taking over three years to construct, the fair had great economic implications for the city that had been almost destroyed by the great earthquake and fire of 1906. The exposition was a tremendous success, and did much to boost the morale of the entire Bay Area and to help get San Francisco back up on its feet.
Architects and designers went all-out for the design of the fair's buildings. There never before had been a fair who's architectural focus had been so all-encompassing. 76 city blocks had been cleared or filled to set the stage for the exposition, and its final size was 635 acres, which allowed for the hundreds of buildings that were built. The spectacular palaces, courts, state and foreign buildings at the fair were made of a temporary plaster-like material, designed to only last for the duration of the fair.
The fair ran from February 20th until December 4th, 1915 -- and was widely considered to be a great success.
Enjoy this strange little film shot on location at the PPIE
December 4, 1937 - Another great early Bob Clampett/ Chuck Jones (rarely seen) B & W Looney Tunes, Porky's Hero Agency, premiered on this date.
Oops, some of you may have noticed that I posted the wrong clip before - I guess I shouldn't be nipping at the Guzzler's Gin before writing my posts.
December 4, 1930 - The encyclical Casti Connubii issued by Pope Pius XI stated that the Calendar-based method, sometimes known as the Rhythm method,
is an acceptable method of birth control.
December 4, 1954 - The first Burger King, originally called Insta Burger King, is opened in Miami, Florida.
Not to be gross but many of those first patrons still have their first burgers lodged deep within their digestive system.
December 4, 1981 - Falcon Crest premieres on CBS on this date.
A staunch Catholic, Jane Wyman scrapped a proposed lesbian storyline that was to involve Jane Badler's character Meredith Baxter and the character of Erin Jones. Meredith and Erin were rewritten to be sisters instead. Do you think Jane knew something?
Quote of the Day Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little. - Gore Vidal
8 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 21 more shopping days until Christmas.
Hey kids, here's a chart on how to avoid the swine flu
So let's review, the best way to avoid getting sick - Air kisses, 'The Reverse Cowgirl' (with condom. please), a light arm squeeze & then fist bumping your date good night. Remember, there will be a test.
Christmas video countdown - early Christmas videos -
Enjoy
Today in History: December 3, 1890 - Isaac Jordan, the U.S. Congressional Representative from the great state of Ohio, dies after taking a drunken stumble down an open elevator shaft in his law offices.
This is a special safety message to all our elected officials - remember to check if the elevator is there when entering, especially if you are drunk.
December 3, 1948 - John Michael Osbourne, rock star, 'Prince Of Darkness', drug use casualty and animal vivisectionist is born on this date.
Rock on Ozzy!
December 3, 1968 - St. Elvis appears to his devoted acolytes. The leather clad Elvis - not the sweaty holy Elvis. This is the "Elvis has left the building" Elvis.
Touch the screen and feel his healing powers upon your pelvis.
December 3, 1974 -
During a shoot for the cover of Pink Floyds the Animals album, one of the props, an inflatable pig broke free due to a strong gust of wind (gaining a lot of press coverage). The pig, named Algie, floated above Battersea Power Station, then disappeared from sight within five minutes, and was spotted by airline pilots at forty thousand feet in the air. Flights at Heathrow Airport were cancelled as the huge inflatable pig flew through the path of aircraft, eastwards from Britain and out over the English Channel, finally landing on a rural farm in Kent that night.
There is nothing worse that a free flying porcine roaming the English countryside.
December 3, 1979 - At Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, eleven concertgoers are trampled several dozen others injured in the rush for seating at the opening of a sold-out concert by The Who.
Only a few doors were in operation that night, and there are reports that management did not open more doors due to the concern of people sneaking past the ticket turnstiles.
Festival seating anyone.
December 3, 1984 - Methyl Isocyanate leaks from a Union Carbide pesticide plant located at a slum in Bhopal, India. The gas kills 4,000 people and injures 200,000 others, many of whom were permanently blinded or disabled.
The event set a standard for industrial accidents that has yet to be equaled.
What else can one say.
9 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 22 more shopping days until Christmas.
Major Gridlock Alert - Avoid, like the plague or swine flu, midtown today!
Thousands will gather at Rockefeller Center in New York City for the 77th Annual Christmas tree lighting ceremonies tonight. Do you really want to be stuck in the middle of the throng? So once again, I've given native New Yorkers a gentle reminder - watch last year's lighting here.
The tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center is just about the same every year. The insane, morally weak and tourist are welcome to attend - everyone else should stay home and watch it in the comfort of your own home.
I laughed when I first saw this:
But upon further reflection, I'm left with so many disturbing questions that I need to lie down with a cold compress and a warm cup of tea.
My thoughts are so troubling.
Christmas video countdown: The Jacksons (that happy family from Gary, Indiana.)
Besides being a meal ticket from the grave, I wonder what Michael will get his brothers for Christmas?
Today in History: December 2, 1814 - Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, Marquis de Sade, dies in a lunatic asylum at Charenton.
The Marquis must have been a panic at parties - talk about getting carried away at orgies.
The Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed on this day in 1823.
The doctrine set forth the principle that meddling European bastards should keep their meddling goddam hands out of the Americas.
It should not be confused with the Marilyn Monroe Doctrine, which stated that fondling European bastards should keep their fondling goddamn hands out of—
December 2, 1908 - John Baxter Taylor Jr. was an American track and field athlete and member of the Irish American Athletic Club (yes, they were integrated) notable as the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal.
Less than five months after returning from the Olympic Games in London, Taylor died of typhoid fever on this date, at the age of 26. In his obituary, The New York Times called him "the world's greatest negro runner."
(thanks to our friends at www.wingedfist.org for the reference)
December 2, 1939 - LaGuardia Airport opens for business on this date.
Some of the first scheduled arrivals should just about be getting in.
December 2, 1956 - George P. Metesky, better known as The Mad Bomber, strikes again. Angry and resentful about events surrounding a workplace injury suffered years earlier, Metesky plants yet another bomber at Brooklyn's Paramount Theater, injuring 7.
Metesky planted at least 33 bombs, of which 22 exploded, injuring 15 people in New York City theaters, terminals, libraries and offices, including Grand Central Terminal, Pennsylvania Station, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Public Library, the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the RCA Building, as well as in the New York City Subway between 1940 and 1956.
Metesky was finally arrested in January of 1957. After undergoing extensive psychiatric examinations, for the time, he was found to be legally insane and incompetent to stand trial.
December 2, 1986 - Desi Arnaz died from lung cancer, on this date.
Although recognized as a great innovator of television, I guess he might have had second thoughts about that Lucky Strike sponsorship of the "I Love Lucy" show.
10 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 23 more shopping days until Christmas.
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33.4 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2008, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.
Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children. The concept of a World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities around the world.
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 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.
The latter part of December has long been a holiday season. Christians celebrate Christmas Day, as the birthday of Jesus Christ and not my nephew Frankie, as it is mistakenly believed in my sister's home.
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.
Thought for the day : " If you can relax without liquor or pills .....you're probably the family dog."
Today's Christmas Video countdown: It's Christmas with the Beach Boys
Because what's says Christmas more than music by kids abused by their domineering father (hey that give's me an idea - Tomorrow, Christmas songs by the Jacksons.)
Word of the day - Agonarch: noun, judge of a contest or activity. It was a difficult slog but we found enough agonarchs to ensure fairness in the Prune Martini contest.
December 1, 1934 - Politburo member Sergei Kirov killed by Leonid Nikolayev on orders of Josef Stalin.
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 knows how to hold a grudge.
December 1, 1935 - 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.
Thanks for the eggs.
December 1, 1947 - Aleister Crowley, British occultist, writer, mountaineer, poet, yogi, buggerer and the wickedest man in the world, died in Hastings England at age 74. Crowley also appears on the cover of Beatles' Sgt. Pepper.
It's nice to have a hobby.
(Keep looking, you can find him.)
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.
11 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 24 more shopping days until Christmas.
Wait - this just in - it's Cyber Monday. Continue to run for your lives!!!
Our Second Annual Christmas video countdown. Today is - Really bad Holiday Songs:
Oh Cliff, why, why
Warning: watch this video and this song by Wizzard will stick in your head for days, slowly driving you crazy. Fact.
Words simply cannot describe this song by Gunther & the Sunshine Girls - you have to see it to believe it.
Porky is funny for about :30 seconds then it's dreadful the rest of the way:
Perhaps this is the realy reason John died:
Sometimes you have to ask, why did they bother?
Dear friends, we here at 'Today in History' column hope that you will find today's posting a useful tool to help you count the blessing in your lives. Those who remain cynical and ungrateful might find cause for gratitude for at least one of the following historical events.
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 exactly 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 Peace In Our Time.
Otherwise, here are some other events that occurred on this date
November 30, 1900 - Celebrated Irish author/sodomite Oscar Wilde, dies in Paris of meningitis. 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 French did in 1900.
And remember, "I don't think that Wilde was a homosexual or bisexual, I think he just got carried away at those orgies".
November 30, 1929 - Dick Clark, the American Bandstander, was born on this date. We heard a rumor about extensive facial plasticizing treatments in the early 1970's. While this rumor remains unverified, we must note that before his unfortunate stroke, the man seemed to no longer age and may not even be human.
Be thankful the few of us are faced with bargaining with Satan for our careers.
November 30, 1954 - At 1 pm, an 8.5 pound stone meteorite falls from the sky and strikes Ann Elizabeth Hodges from Sylacauga, Alabama. The housewife was seriously bruised but survived, although the meteorite destroyed her radio.
Oh the humanity!
12 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 25 more shopping days until Christmas.
Hide your golf clubs when you wife accused you of infidelity. That's all I'm saying.
November 29, 1940 - W.C. Fields at his peak, The Bank Dick, premiered on this date.
I'm very fond of children. Girl children, around eighteen and twenty.
November 29, 1945 - Remarkable for it frank portrayal of alcoholism (for it's day), The Lost Weekend, opened in Los Angeles on this date.
Upon completion, Billy Wilder confidently predicted that Ray Milland would win an Oscar for his performance. He was right.
November 29, 1950 - Jean Cocteau's beautifully magical, Orphée, opened in the US on this date.
Both Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo were approached about playing the mysterious Princess. Both declined.
Today in History: November 29, 1864 - The Sand Creek Massacre occurred, on this date, when Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 400 Cheyenne and Arapaho noncombatants (mostly children, women, physically- and mentally-challenged, and elders) inside Colorado Territory.
The American Government has so much to be proud of with their dealings with the Native Americans.
November 29, 1961 - The US sends the chimpanzee Enos into space, on the Mercury Atlas 5 capsule from Cape Canaveral.
Enos returns to earth safely but dies less than a year later before he can sign with the William Morris Agency.
November 29, 1986 - 82 year old Archibald Leach, better known as Cary Grant, dies.
While rumors of Grant's sexuality have been around for years, consider in perspective the words of US congressman Bob Dornan, spoken on the House floor: "I do not think Cary Grant was a homosexual or bisexual. He just got carried away at those orgies."
I love that quote.
November 29, 2001 - The "quiet" Beatle George Harrison silenced by cancer.
Oh yeah, millions of years ago (or at least more than half a century ago) the earth cooled and formed a hard crust, huge dinosaurs ruled the land and John was there to see it all. Happy Birthday John.
About a decade later, vast plains with wildflowers sprung up and Mary skipped along them all. Happy Birthday Mary.
13 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 26 more shopping days until Christmas.
We still have a whole weekend in front of us - that's something to really give thanks for.
November 28, 1943 - Randall Stuart Newman, singer/songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist was born on this date.
Disney apparently can't release an animated feature without Randy Newman writing a song for it. The Princess and the Frog, Disney's 49th animated feature, contains music from the birthday boy.
November 28, 1962 - Jon Stewart, comedian, television host, and political satirist, was born on this date.
Such a nice boy.
We're going to start our Christmas video countdown on Monday - so hang on
Today in History - Sorry boys and girls but it's not a pleasant day in history today -
November 28, 1942 - A fire at the sleazy Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, kills 491 people. Flammable artificial palm trees aided the spread of the fire.
The numerous dead were crushed, burnt, and asphyxiated, all within minutes.
There's a lesson here boys and girl - sleazy nightclubs kill!!!
November 28, 1953 - Frank Olson, government scientist, jumps to his death from the Statler Hotel in New York City.
In 1975 it is revealed that Olson had been administered LSD by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb in a CIA experiment.
Only bad CIA agents kill!!!
November 28, 1981 - A drunk Natalie Wood topples off her yacht near Catalina Island and drowns. Her husband Robert Wagner, and melodramatic friend Christopher Walken, were on board and unaware of her predicament, apparently having some sort of argument in the cabin -
possibly about whether or not a drunken Natalie Wood could float (you know that's still an awful joke.)
November 28, 1994 - Jeffrey Dahmer is beaten to death with a broomstick by inmate Christopher Scarver while cleaning the prison bathroom.
Dahmer's brain was to be preserved in formaldehyde at the request of Mom, but a court ordered its destruction in late 1995.
There's yet another lesson here boys and girls, dirty prison bathrooms kill!!!
27 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 14 more shopping days until Christmas.
I hope you enjoyed watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. The first Macy's parade occurred on this date back in 1924 (since they didn't have TV's back then, you had to get their fat ass off the couch to watch it.)
As most of you know, the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year in the US. Hopefully you are still well into your cups from yesterday.
StoryCorps is still sticking with the Friday after Thanksgiving being 'a day of listening' so today is the second annual National Day of Listening.
This holiday season, ask the people around you about their lives: it could be your grandmother, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood. By listening to their stories, you will be telling them that they matter and they won’t ever be forgotten. It may be the most meaningful time you spend this year. (It's a good lie to tell yourself when you are listening to your drunk old uncle tell you for the umpteenth time how much he could by with a nickel in his day.)
Even though Hallmark has not yet put out a card totally devaluing the holiday, it still remains to be seen whether or not the event will catch on.
November 27, 1948 - This is not a Looney Tunes I'm all that familiar with (as much as you care), Riff Raffy Daffy, premiered on this date.
November 27, 1967 - The Beatles release Magical Mystery Tour on this date.
Are you really the Egg man? Coo, coo, kachoo.
While you read this today on your computer, let us ruminate upon the life of Ada Lovelace, who died on this date in 1852. Ada would have seemed to have been born into a charmed life. She was the only child of a titled lord and a very wealthy mother. Unfortunately for her, her father was the notorious, womanizing homosexual (let your mind rattle that around for a second) and not half bad poet Lord Byron. She was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, by whom he was rumoured to have fathered a child (oh yeah, I forgot that - he slept with his half sister). It was Augusta who encouraged Byron to marry to avoid scandal, and he reluctantly chose Annabella Milbanke (very wealthy heiress and noted stick-in-the-mud). On January 16, 1816, Annabella left Byron, taking 1-month old Ada with her. On April 21, Byron signed the Deed of Separation and left England for good a few days later. He was never allowed to see either again.
Ada lived with her mother, as is apparent in her father's correspondence concerning her. Lady Byron was also highly interested in mathematics (Lord Byron once called her "the princess of parallelograms"), which dominated her life, even after marriage. Her obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Lord Byron was one of the reasons why Annabella taught Ada mathematics at an early age. Ada was privately home schooled in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King and Mary Somerville. One of her later tutors was Augustus De Morgan. An active member of London society, she was a member of the Bluestockings in her youth.
In 1835 she married William King, 8th Baron King, later 1st Earl of Lovelace. Her full name and title for most of her married life was The Right Honourable Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace. She is widely known in modern times simply as Ada Lovelace, or by her birth name, Ada Byron.
She knew Mary Somerville, noted researcher and scientific author of the 19th century, who introduced her in turn to Charles Babbage on June 5, 1833. Other acquaintances were Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Charles Dickens and Michael Faraday. She apparently ran in heady circles for her day.
During a nine-month period in 1842-1843, Ada translated Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's memoir on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes which specified in complete detail a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers with the Engine, recognized by historians as the world's first computer program.
Lovelace's prose also acknowledged some possibilities of the machine which Babbage never published, such as speculating that "the Engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent."
Ada Lovelace was bled to death at the age of 36 by her physicians, who were trying to treat her uterine cancer, on this day. Thus, she perished, coincidentally, at the same age as her father and from the same cause - medicinal bloodletting. So while she considered the possible of the computer, doctors were still using leeches to cure their patients.
At her request, Lovelace was buried next to the father she never knew at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottingham.
Alfred Nobel signed his last will, which established the Nobel Prize on this date in 1895.
Mr Nobel is interesting because his fortune was founded in large part on the commercial success of something he invented in 1866: dynamite. Dynamite proved so lucrative for Mr Nobel that he was able to spend most of the rest of his life blowing things up in the interests of world peace. World peace was not achieved in his lifetime, however, and he therefore endowed a foundation with millions of dollars to give prizes to the men and women of future generations who helped bring the world closer to peace by blowing things up.
Sadly, in recent years the foundation appears to have forgotten its roots and has begun awarding prizes to men and women whose work for peace has resulted in things blowing up.
I encourage you all to write the Nobel Committee to take immediate corrective action, lest they continue to mislead people into thinking that Peace can be achieved by anything other than the blowing up of Evil Bastards.
November 27, 1978 - City Supervisor Dan White enters San Francisco City Hall through an open basement window (avoiding metal detectors), walks into the office of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, and shoots him dead. Then White continues to kill Supervisor Harvey Milk .
Apparently, Mr. White consumed too many Twinkies.
28 more shopping days until Christmas, 15 more shopping days until Hanukkah. Shop til you drop. Remember, if you don't, we won't have an economy.
