It's the first one of the year

It Friday the 13th, there will be 3 of them (including this one.) Look out for those black cats.



It is supposed that the modern basis for Friday the 13th phobia dates back to Friday, October 13, 1307.

On this date, the Pope Clement in conjunction with the King Philip of France secretly ordered the mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France. The Templars were terminated (burned to a crisp) for apostasy, idolatry, heresy, "obscene rituals" and homosexuality, corruption and fraud, and secrecy, never again to hold the power that they had held for so long.

Those wacky Knights were such party animals.


January 13, 1957 -
Back in the 1920s when Yale students invented a game of catch by tossing around metal pie tins from the Frisbee Baking Company in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut. Building inspector Fred Morrison puttered with and refined a plastic flying disc that he sold to WHAM-O (for $1 million, which bought a lot of pies back then) in 1955. The Wham-O Company produced the first Pluto Platter on this date.



Wham-O changed the name to Frisbee in 1958, upon hearing the Yale pie-tin story. (Mattel now owns the rights to Frisbee, which has become an American icon.)


Today in History
January 13, 1832 -
Horatio Alger, Jr., pederast, minister and American children's author (Ragged Dick, Tattered Tom and Julius, the Street Boy out West ) was born, on this date.



Some novels, uncompleted at Alger's death, include Out of Business and Having to Walk the Streets, Nelson, the Randy Pegboy, Young Captain Jack and the Lonely Sea Men, Jerry, the Barefoot Backwoods Boy (who wore no undergarments under his britches), From Farm to Fortune (with nothing but bacon grease) and Joey, the Ruggedly Handsome Meat Delivery Boy.

(Stop snickering.)


January 13, 1862 -
President Lincoln names Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of War on this date. He vigorously pursued the apprehension and prosecution of the conspirators involved in Lincoln's assassination. These proceedings were not handled by the civil courts, but by a military tribunal, and therefore under Stanton's supervision.



Stanton was appointed by President Grant to the Supreme Court, but he died four days after he was confirmed by the Senate, and taking the oath of office on his deathbed, set the record for shortest tenure on the Court.


January 13, 1900 -
To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary decrees German the official language of the Imperial Army on this date.



This causes all of the Esperanto schools in Austria-Hungarian Empire to close.


January 13, 1910 -
Lee De Forest, the American inventor of the vacuum tube, demonstrates the first radio broadcast, a live performance of Cavalleria Rusticana with Enrico Caruso from the Metropolitan Opera, on this date.



The broadcast over a telephone transmitter could be heard only by the small number of electronics hobbyists who had radio receivers or could squeeze into telephone booths. De Forest started regular nightly concerts in 1915, increasing interest in radio receivers, which at the time depended on the vacuum tubes manufactured by De Forest's company.

How convenient.


January 13, 1919 -
California votes to ratify the prohibition amendment on this date.



Much heavy drinking ensued.


January 13, 1962 -
Ernie Kovacs was killed in an automobile accident when he lost control of his Chevrolet Corvair station wagon while turning fast. Crashing into a power pole at the corner of Beverly Glen and Santa Monica Boulevards, he was thrown halfway out the passenger side, dying almost instantly from chest and head injuries.



Kovacs may have lost control of the car while trying to light a cigar. A photographer managed to arrive moments later, and morbid images of Kovacs in death appeared in newspapers across the United States. An unlit cigar lay on the pavement, inches from his outstretched arm. (I'm not posting the photo - you Google it.)

Kids - smoking kills.



And so it goes.

2011 Word of the Year

According to the American Dialect Society the WORD OF THE YEAR is:
occupy – verb, noun, and combining form referring to the Occupy protest movement.

MOST USEFUL
humblebrag – expression of false humility, especially by celebrities on Twitter.

MOST CREATIVE
Mellencamp – a woman who has aged out of being a “cougar” (after John Cougar Mellencamp).

MOST UNNECESSARY
bi-winning – term used by Charlie Sheen to describe himself pridefully, dismissing accusations of being bipolar.

MOST OUTRAGEOUS
assholocracy – rule by obnoxious multi-millionaires.

MOST EUPHEMISTIC
job creator – a member of the top one-percent of moneymakers.

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED
cloud – online space for the large-scale processing and storage of data.

LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED
brony – adult male fan of the “My Little Pony” cartoon franchise.


January 12, 1934 -
George Cukor's star-studded extravaganza Dinner at Eight, went into general release in the US on this date.



The character played by Marie Dressler is reportedly based on actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell, for whom George Bernard Shaw wrote the role of Eliza Doolittle in the play Pygmalion.


Today in History -
If you were ever an alter boy or ever took Latin, I don't need to tell you what jacta alea est means. But if you're like most Americans, to whom Latin is about as familiar as Urdu, let me translate: it means the die is cast. At least that's how it's usually translated. Back in the early days of English, when the phrase was first translated, that's how they would have said "the dice are thrown."

This Latin snippet is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly because it demonstrates the popularity of gambling with dice in the ancient world, which is an important bit of trivia for keeping wayward adolescents interested in the classics; secondly because it's a short little Latin phrase you can drop into conversation to impress snobs; thirdly because the event of its utterance changed the course of western civilization for ever.

The line was uttered by Julius Caesar on this very date in 49 BC. Caesar and his army had just crossed the Rubicon, a little stream in northern Italy. The Roman Senate had long ago established a rule that Roman citizens should be forbidden from crossing the the Rubicon with their armies, since they figured anyone coming south toward Rome with an entire army probably wasn't up to any good.



(If the Roman Senate had really wanted to play it safe, maybe they should have designed the infrastructure of their empire so that all roads didn't lead to Rome - but that's beside the point.)

You may be wondering why Caesar would set out to break the law this way. He had, after all, been a popular and successful general and had been governor of Gaul for some time. But that's exactly why he decided to cross the Rubicon: he had become so popular and so powerful that the Roman Senate ordered him to disband his army and give up Gaul. Which has always made me wonder why the Roman Senate didn't say jacta alea est after issuing their demands. Maybe they were just too eager to get back to their dice.



Anyway, by crossing the Rubicon, Caesar had officially committed treason and launched the Roman Civil War. I've also saved you several hours of watching DVD's of the series Rome. Except for the naked parts.

The rest is history.


January 12, 1865 -
General William T. Sherman issues Special Field Order No. 15, entitling the household of each freed slave "a plot of no more than forty acres of tillable ground" along the Carolina coastline between Charleston and Jacksonville.



After the Confederate surrender, the Johnson administration makes a halfhearted attempt to follow through on the acreage, but all efforts to parcel out the land in question are abandoned just a few months later.


January 12, 1928 -
Ruth Snyder became the first woman to die in the electric chair. She was electrocuted by “state electrician” Robert G. Elliott at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, along with Judd Gray, her lover and co-conspirator, for the murder of her husband, Albert on March 20, 1927. This was billed in the press as “The Dumb-Bell Murder.”

The case was the inspiration for the novel Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, which was later adapted for the screen by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. Cain also mentioned that his book The Postman Always Rings Twice took inspiration from the crime.


January 12, 1944 -
Probably Alfred Hitchcock's most underrated film, Lifeboat, opened in NYC on this date.



Tallulah Bankhead was cast in the film because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to use "the most oblique, incongruous person imaginable in such a situation".


January 12, 1966 -
Holy homoeroticism!!!

ABC premiered the brightly colored underwear wearing, perfectly genitally arranged comedy Batman on this date.



I'm not sure if it's still on the same bat channel though.


January 12, 1971 -
Oh Geez, stifle yourself. The first episode of All In The Family made television history by broadcasting the sound of a toilet flushing.



This is not, however, the first time a toilet tank is seen on television. That honor goes to Leave It to Beaver premiere episode, Captain Jack back in 1957.


January 12, 2010 -
A powerful 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti and crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace. Thousands of people were believed dead and untold numbers were trapped. An estimated 3 million people were in need of emergency aid.



The quake left over 200,000 people dead. Some 4,500 prison inmates escaped during the earthquake. By April they were terrorizing neighborhoods and fighting turf battles.



And so it goes.

Begin hoarding your Twinkies (again)

Hostess Brands Inc. is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, a move that would mark the second significant court restructuring for the Twinkies and Wonder Bread baker in the past several years.



Don't worry about the freshness, the little yellow cakes will remain soft and fluffy forever.


January 11, 1958 -
Lloyd Bridges starred as Mike Nelson, not the janitor trapped on a satellite, forced to watch cheesy movies (and mad scientists probed his mind) but a trouble shooting ex-Navy frogman on Sea Hunt on CBS-TV. The show ran for four years.



Lloyd Bridges decided to leave the show after four seasons because the producers wanted to emphasize cops-and-robbers plots while Bridges wanted to focus more on environmental themes.


January 11, 1966 -
The children's adventure-series Daktari, debuted on CBS TV on this date.



Erin Moran's (you remember Joanie from Happy Days) first major role was as "Jenny Jones" on Daktari. She played a seven-year-old orphan (although Erin was actually only five-years-old at the time) who was given a home by Dr. Tracy.


January 11, 1971 -
Mary Jane Blige, eight-time Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American R&B singer-songwriter rapper, record producer, and actress, was born on this date.




Today in History -
Harry Gordon Selfridge was born on January 11, 1864. Though American-born, he is best known as the founder of the British store Selfridge and Co., Ltd (think Macy's, for those of you unfamiliar with the store). He receives little or no attention here in the United States. His name does not appear in any textbooks, he is not honored with any holidays, his image does not appear on any currency, and his biography has never aired on A&E. And yet Mr. Selfridge's philosophy has had more impact on western civilization than a dozen Aristotles.

His great maxim is uttered carelessly by a million voices every day, is enshrined in the halls of commerce and government alike, and has permeated our culture to the point where it has become a cliche. Like most successful ideas, we can hardly imagine that his concept was ever new or controversial; we must strain our imaginations to conceive a world unilluminated by his wisdom.

It was Mr. Selfridge's philosophy that "the customer is always right."

Mr. Selfridge's birthday should be celebrated throughout western civilization as a holiday of emancipation, no less significant than the signing of the Magna Carta, the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, or the invention of microwave popcorn.


January 11, 1878 -
Milk was first delivered in bottles by milkman Alexander Campbell, in New York on this date.



Previously, one had to keep a cow in a spare room of their apartment making taking out the trash a mandatory daily occurrence.


January 11, 1940 -
The classic newspaper comedy, His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, premiered in New York on this date.



One of the first, if not the first, films to have characters talk over the lines of other characters, for a more realistic sound. Prior to this, movie characters completed their lines before the next lines were started.


January 11, 1943 -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt flew to Morocco for a top-secret meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He had not flown since 1932, when he traveled from Albany, New York, to Chicago to accept his nomination at the Democratic national convention.

No U.S. president had previously flown while in office because the Secret Service regarded flying as a dangerous mode of transport.


Did you know?
Francis Julius Bellamy, a Baptist minister from New York wrote the bulk of the Pledge of Allegiance back in 1891.

You never know, this might come up.



And so it goes

Today's friendly political advice

No matter what the context,



If you are a millionaire, who has made his millions gutting companies and feasting on their entrails, never say, I like being able to fire people - it's very poor form.


Say Happy Birthday to 45 RPM's -



The term for the record format introduced by RCA on January 10, 1949. This soon became the standard format used for vinyl “singles” for several decades. (Kids, RPM stands for “revolutions per minute.”)

Just think, all that pleasure with 7".


January 10, 1952 -
Cecil B. DeMille's circus extravaganza, The Greatest Show on Earth, opened on this date.



The film did well at the box office and went on to win Oscars for Best Picture and Best Writing.


January 10, 1964 -
The American version of the British program That Was The Week That Was (TW3), a weekly show of topical political satire, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.

Singer Nancy Ames, Buck Henry, Pat Englund and Alan Alda were among the regulars. The show proved equally groundbreaking in the United States and, like the British version, was no stranger to controversy.


Today in History:
Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously (not that Tom didn't know his name - it was theoretically punishable by death to denounce the crown and Tom wasn't quick looking for death at that time) on January 10, 1776, before the American Revolution. Paine wrote it with editorial feedback from Benjamin Rush, who came up with the title.



The document denounced British rule, and through its immense popularity contributed to fomenting the American Revolution. The second edition was published soon thereafter. A third edition, with an accounting of the worth of the British navy, an expanded appendix, and a response to criticism by the Quakers, was published on February 14, 1776.


January 10, 1870 -
Victor Noir, French journalist, was killed by Prince Pierre Bonaparte. Noir had called on him with a companion to present his editor's challenge to a duel because of a journalistic dispute concerning Corsican politics. Bonaparte was so insulted to have been approached by mere "menials" (his phrase, apparently) that he slapped the hapless 22-year-old in the face, pulled out a pistol and shot him on the spot.

Over 10,000 people attended his funeral and public sentiment over Noir's death forces Napoleon III to abdicate. A statue of Noir s prostrate figure became a magnet for infertile women rubbing themselves against him as a sexual charm.

Once again, the french they are a funny race.


January 10 1883 -
A fire at the six-story Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee kills more than 71 people. For years this was considered one of the worst single structure fires in the United States.

Two famous midgets residing there, General Tom Thumb (Charles Sherwood Stratton) and his brother-in-law Commodore Nut, are rescued by firefighters.


January 10 1927 -
The film Metropolis premiered in Berlin on this date. It was the most expensive silent film of the time, costing approximately 7 million Reichsmark to make.



While that seems like a very large sum of money due to the incredibly crushing inflation running rampant in Germany at the time, you could also just about buy a decent loaf of marble rye with that amount of money.


January 10 1948 -
Donald Fagen, singer and front man of the rock band Steely Dan, was born on this date.







In spite of themselves, Steely Dan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001.


January 10 1982 -
You could no longer go to Paul Lynde to block on this date. Mr. Lynde was found dead of a heart attack, naked and holding a bottle of poppers in his West Hollywood home.



Mr. Lynde's bed companion, it appears, neglected to call 911 to report the emergency.

Kids, remember don't count on that hustler to call the paramedics for you (that's always extra.)


January 10 1984 -
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry (1967) to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year on this date.



She may be unusual but Cyndi is still going strong more than 25 years later.



And so it goes.

Enjoy the start of your week

The is no better way to start the week than singing along with Ren and Stimpy -



... I TOLD you I'd shoot! But you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME?!...


Today in History:
January 9, 1768 -
The first modern circus opened in London. English cavalry sergeant Philip Astley staged the first modern circus, performing elaborate feats on the backs of horses racing around a ring.

And people paid good money to smell horse manure in a theatre.


It's the birthday of the 37th president of the United States, Richard Milhous Nixon, (born in Yorba Linda, California on this date in 1913. He had a childhood full of tragedy and disappointment.

When Nixon was 12, his older brother had a vision of young Dick's future and got a headache that turned out to be meningitis. He died a month later. Nixon said that he cried for weeks afterward. A few years later, Nixon's other brother caught tuberculosis and spent five years in a cut-rate sanitarium before he died. The cost of his treatment drained the family's resources, and Nixon had to turn down a partial scholarship to Harvard. He did get a full scholarship to Duke Law School, but he had to live in a one-room shotgun shack with no plumbing or electricity. He was forced to shave in the women's room of the Duke University library and bathe in a local bird bath.



Nixon's luck only began to change when he decided to join the military during World War II. Although raised a Quaker - morals never seemed to stand in his way. Nixon was interested in politics, and he knew that military service would look good on his résumé. One of the many things he learned in the military (besides compiling lists of his enemies) was that he was a fantastic cheat at poker. By the end of the war, he had earned almost $10,000. When he got back to civilian life, he used that money to fund his first political campaign.



He managed to win his first election for Congress, and he served as vice president under Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower suffered from heart problems and Nixon would try to entertain the ailing President by jumping out from behind the furniture shooting, "Boo" or "Oh My God, the Communists have begun bombing New Haven". Nixon was defeated for the presidency by John F. Kennedy in 1960 due in part to a perceived lack of personal hygiene. Then, in 1962, he lost a campaign for governor of California, and suddenly it seemed like his career was over. But just six years later, he was elected president of the United States.



His policies as president were surprisingly liberal by today's standards. He began arms control agreements with the Soviet Union and eased relations with China. He established the Environmental Protection Agency, expanded Social Security and state welfare programs, and he tried to create a national health insurance system.



The Watergate investigations eventually forced Nixon to resign in 1974. At his last meeting with his Cabinet in 1974, Nixon burst into tears.



He told them, "Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself."


Also born on this date -
January 9, 1911 (or 1913) -
Rose Louise Hovick, actress, ecdysiast and writer, was born on this date.



Sing out Louise!!!


January 9, 1915 -
When a person has an accent, it means he can speak one more language than you.



Fernando Álvaro Lamas y de Santos, actor and director, was born on this date.


January 9, 1981 -
Jesus saves and (insert your favorite sports figure here.)



Hockey Hall of Famer, Phil Esposito, said he would call it quits as a hockey player after the New York Rangers-Buffalo Sabres hockey game. It was a game that seemed like it might never end - both teams skated to a 3-3 tie. Esposito quit the New York Rangers and went on to become General Manager and coach of the Rangers. Phil Esposito played for the Boston Bruins when he won the Hart Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Player in the NHL in 1969 and 1974 and helped lead the Bruins to two Stanley Cup Championships in 1970 and 1972 .



And so it goes.

Who's this kinky so-and-so?

We've been winding down the holiday celebrations at our house, drinking too much wine and playing old LPs and such (yes kids, actual albums - ask your folks what the are.) One of the old 'acetates' we played was The Royal Scam, (the old Steely Dan Classic.) I thought I share this one with you -



Alright, you may go about your business.


Both Elvis the King (who was born on this date in 1935,)

(As I always say - lay your hand upon the screen and feel his power emanate from your loins.)

And Davy Jones (who was born on this date in 1947 - I hope where I'm 65, people can touch the scren and feel me heal them them their loins)



were both born on this date.


January 8, 1973 -
Carly Simon received a gold record for the single, You're So Vain on this date.



It's pretty much agreed upon that she is singing about David Geffen. Unless, of course, it's about Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson or Cat Stevens or ...


Today in History -
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, with General Andrew Jackson in command, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and America's vast western lands.



Unfortunately the war ended with the signing of The Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814. News of the peace would not reach New Orleans until February.

Oops


The only 'recognized' monarchy to reign in the United States died on this date.

Joshua Norton was a businessman in San Francisco in the 1800's. In the 1840's, just before the Gold Rush, he tried to corner the market on rice and failed. He went from being very wealthy to being destitute overnight and the experience completely shattered his reason. A couple of months after this event, he put on a formal admiral's uniform, complete with gold braid and epaulets and strode in to the office of the newspaper. He handed the editor a large, official looking proclamation which stated in quite formal language that, due to popular demand, he hereby declared himself Emperor Norton I of San Francisco, California, and Mexico. He bade all his subjects show him loyalty and the other courtesies due a person of such eminent stature.



On the evening of January 8, 1880, Joshua Norton collapsed on the corner of California Street and Dupont Street (now Grant Avenue) while on his way to a lecture at the Academy of Sciences. His collapse was immediately noticed by another citizen who raised the alarm, and "the police officer on the beat hastened for a carriage to convey him to the City Receiving Hospital."Norton died before the carriage could arrive.

Norton's funeral was a solemn, mournful and large affair. Some accounts report that as many as 30,000 people lined the streets to pay homage, and that the funeral cortege was two miles long. He was buried at the Masonic Cemetery, at the expense of the City of San Francisco.

The day after his funeral, January 11, 1880, the San Francisco skies were blackened with a solar eclipse.


January 8, 1992 -
George Bush, sick with the stomach flu, decided to revenge the US for the raid of Pearl Harbor at a Tokyo state dinner. He vomited in the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister while cameras are rolling, to the great amusement of everyone except the Prime Minister.



Sushi, anyone?



And so it goes.

Start mulching your Christmas trees today

Remember that most of a pine tree is actually edible.

And yet, do you really want wood chips stuck in your colon for most of the year?

This year, MulchFest will take place on January 7 and 8, 2011 (in NYC.) Parks will host 35 chipping sites and 35 additional drop-off locations: 70 sites in all!


Today in History:
January 7, 1800 -

Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States, was born on this date. (Often cited as one of the 10 worse Presidents because he backed the Compromise of 1850 that delayed the Southern secession by allowing slavery to spread.



And no, he didn't install the first bathtub in the White House, that was a hoax by Henry Louis Mencken.


January 7, 1894 -
William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for the first practical celluloid film and decided on 35 mm for the size, a standard still used.



The earliest surviving copyrighted motion picture, the Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze is a short film made by W. K. L. Dickson in January 1894 for advertising purposes. Often referred to as Fred Ott's Sneeze, this is is one of the world's earliest motion pictures and America's best known early film production. The star is Fred Ott, an Edison employee known to his fellow workers in the laboratory for his comic sneezing and other gags.


January 7, 1912 -
Charles Addams, cartoonist known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters, was spawned on this date.




January 7, 1943 -
The world's greatest inventor, Nicola Tesla, died alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, of heart failure on this date in history.



Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books.


January 7, 1957 -
Katherine Anne Couric, TV news host and colonoscopy spokes model, was born on this date.




January 7, 1967 -
The Newlywed Game premiered on ABC TV on this date.



I know your thinking about it - where was the most unisual place you and your husband made whoppee?


January 7, 1999 –
This is not a great day for Bubba - The impeachment trial of President William Jefferson Clinton began on this date.



It was only the second impeachment of a President in American history, following the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868.



And so it goes.

OK folks, the holidays are official over -

take the damn decorations down.


Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. - John Milton

It's the Feast of the Three Kings (Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar), Little Christmas, etc. If you're playing the home version of the game - the Gifts of the Magi were Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh (or the watch fob and a set of combs would have been an acceptable answer.)



... The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. - O. Henry







May your day be filled with small moments of infinite joy and wisdom.


January 6, 1945 -
Another fine Chuck Jones Looney Tunes outing, Odor-able Kitty, premiered on this date .



This was Pepe LePew's debut.


January 6, 1963 -
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins began on NBC on this date .



See Jim try to swim to his dugout canoe through a lake of piranhas, while I watch safely from the studio, stirring the fresh ice in my second pitcher of martinis


January 6, 1973 -
The animated lesson series Schoolhouse Rock premiered on ABC with the Multiplication Rock series.



So kids, this is why a threesome is so special.


January 6, 1979 -
Soul Man, recorded by comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the fictitious singing team, The Blues Brothers, debuted on Billboard's pop charts.



The Blues Brothers had originally been created for TV's Saturday Night Live, and had been so popular that it prompted several records and a movie with Jake and Elwood Blues. Soul Man peaked at No. 14 on the charts .


Today in History:
January 6, 1856 -
Sherlock Holmes, noted English apiarist, morphine and cocaine addict and sometimes detective, was born on this date.







"Elementary, my dear Watson", (was never actually said by Holmes.)


Franklin Pierce, served as the 14th President of the United States. Most historians agree that he was the worst President ever (time will tell) and after the Presidency, Pierce became a hopeless alcoholic (once running over an elderly woman while driving a carriage intoxicated.)



He started his presidency in a state of grief and nervous exhaustion. Two months before he took office, on January 6, 1853, the President-elect's family had boarded a train in Boston and shortly there after been trapped in their derailed car when it rolled down an embankment near Andover, Massachusetts. Pierce and his wife survived, merely shaken up, but saw their 11-year-old son Benjamin crushed to death.

Not a great way to start a new job.


January 6, 1994 -
Ice skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by Tonya Harding's bodyguard, Shane Stant on this date.



"Why? Why?"



And so it goes

Yes Virginia, Christmas is nearly over

It the eve of the Epiphany - you may begin to put your decorations away.




The final gift tally: you would have received 12 drummers drumming, 22 flutist, 30 members from the house of Lords, hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock, 36 Fan dancers, 40 angry dairy workers, on permanent coffee break, 42 Swans, trying to mate in your dining room (avert the childrens eyes) , 42 geese a' laying, 40 golden rings, 36 calling birds, 30 French hens, 22 turtledoves and 12 partridges in their respective pear trees.

Take the rings, set fire to the house and start a new life.

January 5, 1944 -
Another great movie from Preston Sturges, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, premiered on this date.



Once you understand the internal logic of the movie, you can't believe he snuck it past the censors.


January 5, 1961 -
Mr. Ed, the talking horse (with a daily diet was twenty pounds of hay, washed down with a gallon of sweet tea.,) debuted on CBS-TV on this date.



The show starred Alan Young as Ed's owner, Wilbur Post. Wilbur's wife, Carol, was played by Connie Hines. The voice of Mr. Ed was Allan 'Rocky' Lane.

January 5, 1969 -
Brian Hugh Warner was born on this date.



He's such a nice boy.


Today in History -
Sometimes, it's not so good to King (or his potential assassin either.) Louis the XV wasn't the most incompetent or profligate spending monarch.

The spending at the court of Louis XV was not any higher than under previous French kings, and certainly much lower than in some other European courts, such as in Russia, where Peter the Great and Empress Elizabeth spent enormous amounts of money to build palaces in and around Saint Petersburg. Court spending also helped to carry French arts to their zenith under Louis XV, and supported thousands of families of artists and craftsmen. Yet at the time the French public (the great unwashed), influenced as it was by a violent campaign of libels against the king and the Marquise de Pompadour starting in the mid-1740s, could only see royal incompetence and spending sprees. This was what may have inspired the assassination attempt on the king by Robert Damiens.

On January 5, 1757, would-be assassin Damiens entered the Palace of Versailles, as did thousands of people every day to petition the king. As the king was walking in the Marble Courtyard between two lines of guards lighting the way with torches, headed toward his carriage, which was waiting at the edge of the Marble Courtyard, Damiens suddenly emerged from the dark, passed through the guards, and stabbed the king in the side with a penknife. The 3.2 inch blade entered the king's body between the fourth and fifth ribs. The king, who was bleeding, remained calm and called for a confessor as he thought he would die. Thoughts of poison came to his mind. At the sight of the queen, who had come in a hurry, he asked for forgiveness for his misbehavior (Louis, as was the habit of most kings of his time, slept with anything that had an orifice). However, the king survived. He was probably saved by the thick layers of clothes he wore on that cold day, which cushioned the blade, protecting the internal organs. Allegedly, the blade penetrated only 0.4 inch into the king's body, leading Voltaire to mock what he called a "pinprick".



Damiens, who was mentally unstable, had been a servant of members of the Parliament of Paris where he had heard much criticism of the king. This, combined with the violent pamphlets and general discontent with the king, convinced him that he had to commit regicide in order to save France. In any case, it was the first attempt at regicide in France since the murder of King Henry IV by Ravaillac in 1610. The king, bent on forgiving Damiens, could not avoid a trial for regicide.

Tried by the Parlement of Paris, Damiens was executed on the Place de Greve on March 28, 1757, following the horrible procedure applied to regicides: after numerous tortures, Damiens was carried to the Place de Greve in the cold afternoon of that day. There, he was first tortured with red-hot pincers; his hand, holding the knife used in the attempted murder, was burnt using sulphur; molten wax, lead, and boiling oil were poured into his wounds. Horses were then harnessed to his arms and legs for his dismemberment. Damiens's joints would not break; after some hours, representatives of the Parliament ordered the executioner and his aides to cut Damiens's joints. Damiens was then dismembered, to the applause of the crowd. His trunk, apparently still living, was then burnt at the stake. There was an immense crowd to watch this gruesome spectacle, which nobody had witnessed in 147 years. Balconies in buildings above the Place de Greve were rented to women of the aristocracy for the exorbitant price of 100 livres per balcony (approx. $700 in 2007 US dollars).

As I always say, give the people what they want and they will come.


January 5, 1919 -
The Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei was founded by Anton Drexler and others at the Furstenfelder Hof tavern in Munich on this date.

Why does so much of early Nazi history seems to center around beer halls? It must have been something in those Bavarian Beer Purity laws.


January 5, 1933 -
Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins on the Marin County side, which spans the deep channel at the entrance to San Francisco Bay .



People have to line up for more than four years before suicides can begin (The Golden Gate Bridge is the most prevalent place in the USA to commit suicide.)


January 5, 1941 -
Amy Johnson CBE, pioneering English aviatrix, drowned after bailing out into the Thames Estuary on this date. Although she was seen alive in the water, a rescue attempt failed and her body was never recovered.



In 1999, it was reported that she was accidentally shot down by British forces when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight.

Oops.


January 5, 1995 -
On Eye to Eye, Connie Chung's interview with House Speaker Newt Gingrich's mother, Kathleen, aired on CBS, complete with the whispered comment from Kathleen that Newt thought first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was a 'bitch' .



Once again we have the example of the pot calling the kettle black.


January 5, 1998 -
Congressman Sonny Bono finally meets something that ends his bizarrely successful career - a pine tree at Heavenly Valley Ski Area.



I guess the beat doesn't go on for him.



And so it goes.

Scofflaw violators beware

I thought this was a joke, at first, but it really happened



Next on the list - pepper spraying jaywalkers or tasering litter bugs.


January 4, 1643 –
...There is no disputin', we're all indebted to Sir Isaac Newton ...



Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian was born on this date (or on Christmas day 1642 Old Style)



And imagine, he still had time to invent Fig Cookies.


January 4, 1960 -
John Michael Stipe, the lead mumbler for R.E.M. was born on this date.



Poor Michael, what will he do with himself now that REM has broken up?


January 4, 1963 -
Dave Foley, Actor/Comedian (The Kids In The Hall, News Radio) and Canadian was born on this date.



I want to see the documentary he directed, Same Guys, New Dresses. I should have asked for the DVD for Christmas.


(Sorry for the delay in posting, I'm still trying to get used to a new schedule.)
Today in History:
January 4, 1903 -
Topsy was a domesticated elephant with the Forepaugh Circus at Coney Island's Luna Park. Because she had killed three men in three years (including a severely abusive trainer who attempted to feed her a lit cigarette), Topsy was deemed a threat to people by her owners and killed by electrocution on this date (Inventor Thomas Edison facilitates the entire affair.)



In an attempt to discredit Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla by showing how dangerous Alternating Current electricity was, Thomas Edison captured the event on film.

He would release it later that year under the title Electrocuting an Elephant (but that is another story.)


Raise your frozen Margaritas and toast dear old Stephen J. Poplawski. Mr. Poplawski was born in Poland on August 14, 1885, which was a fine place to be born if your wanted to be a farmer or fodder for the cannons of the next Austro-Hungarian Geopoliticial machination. He would have none of that and emigrated at age 9 with his parents to Racine, Wis (most children were usually beaten soundly when they suggested emigrating in the 1880's.) In 1918 he founded Stephens Tool Co. and in 1919 was hired by Arnold Electric Co. to develop an automatic malted milk mixer for use in restaurants (Racine being home of Horlick Malted Milk.)

On January 4, 1922 he filed a patent "for the first mixer of my design having an agitating element mounted in a base and adapted to be drivingly connected with the agitator in the cup when the cup was placed in a recess in the top of the base."



Well, you don't think they give you a patent for a machine that makes frosty, delicious alcoholic drinks, do you?


January 4, 1941 -
The animated short Elmer's Pet Rabbit was released on this date: it marks the second appearance of Bugs Bunny and the first to have his name on a title card.



It was directed by the legendary Chuck Jones. (Note that Bugs hasn't developed his characteristic buck teeth yet.)


January 4, 1943 -
Josef Stalin, evil bastard and abused child, appears as Time's 1942 Man of the Year.

Circulation for the magazine would have increased dramatically, if Stalin hadn't purged millions of Russian citizens.


January 4, 1960 -
Albert Camus, French writer, died in an automobile accident at age 46 on this date. In his coat pocket lay an unused train ticket.

He had planned to travel by train with his wife and children, but at the last minute accepted his publisher's proposal to travel with him.

If that isn't absurd, I don't know what is.


January 4, 1965 -
Thomas Stearns Eliot, (American-born) English poet, playwright, literary critic and noted Anti-Semitism, died in London, on this date.



I guess he finished measured out his life with coffee spoons?


January 4, 1984 -
Night Court starring Harry Anderson premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Harry was 34 when he was appointed to the bench. He was appointed because he was the only candidate on the list to have answered their phone on the Mayor's last Sunday in office. He was the last name on the list. As he says, he got to be a judge, "because I was home."



And so it goes.

Today's gift count: you currently have 11 piper's piping, 20 hyperactive effete British gentlemen, knocking furniture over, 27 Pole dancers (draw the shades, the neighborhood kids are staring into your windows) , 32 organized dairy workers striking for better working conditions, 35 Swans making a racket, befouling your second bathroom (I hope you have a second bathroom), 36 geese a' laying, 35 golden rings, 32 calling birds, 27 French hens, 20 turtledoves and 11 partridges in their respective pear trees.



Why are you still signing for any packages delivered at your home?


Oh before I forget - Are you having trouble staying awake? Are you always nodding off in the middle of the day. Here's a sure cure for those pesky afternoon naps. Watch this video and you may not fall asleep again.



You can thank me later.

We've had too many days off

To explain Rupert Murdoch's epic fail of a tweet is Brak from Cartoon Planet



I'm sure this is what he meant.


Today in History:
January 3, 1521 -
Pope Leo X still angry about the defacing of Castle Church of Wittenberg, released his papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem and excommunicated Martin Luther for challenging church doctrine on this date.

A little known fact but Luther was an excellent matador and waived his 95 theses in front of the bull


January 3, 1870 -
the grandest physical habitat and surroundings of land and water the globe affords ...

The construction of the Brooklyn-side wooden caisson of the Brooklyn Bridge began on this date.


January 3, 1952 -
The ominous, four-note introduction to the brass and tympani theme music, then the staccato voice over intones, Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true.



The first regularly scheduled episode of Dragnet premiered on this date.


January 3, 1953 -
Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.

I wonder if she kept telling him to sit up straight and stop talking to his neighbor while they were at work?


January 3, 1959 -
Alaska became the 49th state in the United States on this date.



I wonder if Putin tells people on the campaign stump that he can see Sarah Palin.


January 3, 1962 -
Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro on this date.

I'm sure Fidel is still having a good laugh over that one.


January 3, 1967 -
Jack Ruby died of natural causes at Parkland Hospital, where Lee Harvey Oswald had died and President Kennedy had been pronounced dead after his assassination, on this date.

He could possibly be one of the only people involved in this sordid affair that did.


January 3, 1969 -
In New Jersey, 30,000 copies of John and Yoko's album Two Virgins are confiscated because the cover is deemed obscene. There is nothing more shocking than two naked multimillionaires on the cover of your Rock and Roll Album.

Kids, go ask your parents what albums were.



And so it goes


Today's gift count: you currently have 10 Leaping Lords, 18 Rockettes, 24 young milkmaid, 28 Swans making a racket, 30 geese a' laying, 30 golden rings, 28 calling birds, 24 French hens, 18 turtledoves and 10 partridges in their respective pear trees.



Begin thinking about fleeing the country (with the gold rings) and living in Canada under an assumed name.

I'm still playing catch-up

I'm still trying to get yesterday's post in order and remembered that I have to post today's. Here's someone who obvious has a basketful more time then I do - here is a shot by shot comparison of Raiders of the Lost Ark and 30 different films made between 1919 - 1973



I have old chemistry homework that I've never handed in, perhaps if they have all this extra time ....


January 2, 1882 -
The 28 year old Oscar Wilde arrived in New York City on this date to delver a series of lectures across the U.S.A.

When a customs inspector asked him if he had anything to declare he replied, "Nothing but my genius." A cursory look through the Oscar Wilde Collection does not say whether or not he would submit to a full body cavity search by the TSA.


Today in History:
January 2, 1492 -
After a siege that began in 1491, Abu 'abd-Allah Muhammad XII (also known as Boabdil) surrendered Granada (the last Moorish holdout in Spain) to Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Castile and Aragon, on this date. The incredibly elaborate ceremony, culminating with the handing over of the keys to the Alhambra, brought to an end over 700 years Muslim rule in Spain.

Legend has it that as the royal party moved south toward exile, they reached a rocky prominence which gave a last view of the city. Muhammad XII reined in his horse and, surveying for the last time the Alhambra and the green valley that spread below, burst into tears. When his mother approached him she said : "Weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man". The spot from which Muhammad XII looked for the last time on Granada is known as "the Moor's last sigh" (el último suspiro del Moro).


January 2, 1872 -
Brigham Young was arrested on charges of bigamy for having 25 wives on this date.

A cursory look through the Brigham Young Archives reveals that it's the first night he was able to sleep with both eyes closed in years.


January 2, 1935 -
Bruno Richard Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of aviator Charles A. and Anne Lindbergh on this date.



(He would later be found guilty and executed for that crime that he probably did not committed.)


January 2, 1942 -
33 members of a German spy ring headed by Frederick or Fritz Joubert Duquesne were sentenced to serve a total of over 300 years in prison. The Duquesne Spy Ring, as they were known, is the largest espionage case in United States history that ended in convictions.

The 1945 film The House on 92nd Street was also a thinly disguised version of the Duquesne Spy Ring saga of 1941, but differs from historical fact. It won screenwriter Charles G. Booth an Academy Award for the best original motion picture story.


January 2, 1939 -
Time Magazine published its annual Man of the Year issue on this date for the year 1938. Time had chosen Adolf Hitler as the man who "for better or worse" (as Time founder Henry Luce expressed it) had most influenced events of the preceding year. The cover picture featured Hitler playing "his hymn of hate in a desecrated cathedral while victims dangle on a St. Catherine's wheel and the Nazi hierarchy looks on." This picture was drawn by Baron Rudolph Charles von Ripper, a German Catholic who had fled Hitler's Germany.

Who came in second - Benito Mussolini .


January 2, 1974 -
President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.



Leadfoots everywhere cry out in pain.



And so it goes


Today's gift count: you currently have Nine ladies dancing, 16 young woman engaged in the dairy industry (and possibly their union rep. I've also never considered whether or not the cows come with them), 21 Swans making a racket, 24 geese a' laying (check to see if you can make omelets for all those people), 25 golden rings, 24 calling birds, 21 French hens, 16 turtledoves and 9 partridges in their respective pear trees.



With this many people in the house, I suggest that you invest in more toilet paper and a good plunger.

Happy Happy New Year

I'm traveling unexpectedly so I'll have to get my post together later.

Meanwhile, keep drinking fluids, take bed rest and aspirins (or whatever your religious affiliation believes in.)


Be back soon

Today's gift count: you currently have Eight young woman engaged in the daily industry, 14 Swans making a racket, 18 geese a' laying (I have no idea how much goose eggs are worth), 20 golden rings, 20 calling birds, 18 French hens, 14 turtledoves and 8 partridges in their respective pear trees.

Remember to think kindly of women who work in the dairy industry - if it weren't for the unnatural interest Edward Jenner took in milk maids, we would never have the smallpox vaccine.