Life is just a long succession of small epiphanies.

... 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



Today is the Feast of the Three Kings (Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar), Little Christmas, the Epiphany etc. This day actually marks the beginning of the season of Epiphanytide, known as the Octave of Epiphany, and runs from January 6-13.

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, or more obscurely, cigar box and soap dish would have been an acceptable answer.) But the fourth gift was, the gift of music,



Remember, if you find the coin (or baby Jesus) in the Three Kings Cake (Rosca de Reyes),



besides having good luck for the upcoming year, you have to buy next year's King's Cake and if you celebrate it, throws a party on Candlemas (or Mardi Gras) in February.



There are those who know and those who don't know. And for every ten thousand who don't know there's only one who knows. That's the miracle of all time--the fact that these millions know so much but don't know this. - Carson McCullers

In New York, in East Harlem, the annual parade celebrating the Three Kings' Day tradition for 46 years will be held today. The parade once again is in person and features camels, colorful puppets and floats. For those of you not fortunate enough to be able to attend, the Museum of El Barrio will hold their virtual celebrations, hosted by Miss YaYa Vargas. It will include musical performances, festive skits, cameos by their famous giant puppets, and saludos from this year’s honorees.



An artist's duty is rather to stay open-minded and in a state where he can receive information and inspiration. You always have to be ready for that little artistic Epiphany. - Nick Cave

After you finish celebrating, take the damn decorations down. (There are others, however, whose traditions stubbornly dictate keeping decorations up until Candlemas on February 2, which is the Feast of the Purification and the Feast of the Presentation. Avoid visiting them at all cost.)

If you haven't already, please start putting your Christmas trees curbside (remember that most of a pine tree is actually edible.)



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



This year, the Department of Sanitation's special collection period - the 2022 Christmas Tree Collection will run Friday, January 6 through Friday, January 14. Or, if you prefer to watch your tree get chopped up at one of the designated MulchFest chipping locations on Saturday, January 7 and Sunday January 8 (in NYC.)


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


(The cartoon is no longer embeddable. Please check out the linked posted above instead.)

This was Pepe LePew's debut. The only time we see that Pepe already has a wife and children.


January 6, 1957 -
Elvis Presley makes his third and final appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, where he performs seven songs in three segments, including Hound Dog, Don't Be Cruel and Heartbreak Hotel.



He is only seen from the waist up, leaving viewers to speculate as to what the screams in the audience are about.


January 6, 1963 -
See Jim try to swim to his dugout canoe through a lake of piranhas, while I watch safely from the studio, confirming the second pitcher of martinis is properly chilled.



Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins began on NBC on this date.


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



You have to love a children's cartoon that celebrates threesomes.


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.


January 6, 1979 -
The Village People appear on American Bandstand, where the crowd does the soon-to-be famous arm movements spelling out "Y.M.C.A."



Host Dick Clark makes sure they learn those moves, and they do.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
January 6, 1412 -
According to tradition, French heroine Joan of Arc was born Jeanette d'Arc in the French village of Domrémy. When she was 12 years old, she began hearing what she believed were voices of saints, sending her messages from God. When she was 17, the voices told her to leave her village and save Orléans.



Joan convinced the dauphin that she could lead French troops in resistance against their English invaders, and she was given a force of several hundred men to command, whom she led to victory at Orléans in 1429. Wearing her white enameled armor suit, she continued to fight against the English.



Joan was captured by Burgundians and then burned at the stake by the English on May 30, 1431, for the offenses of witchcraft, heresy and wearing male clothing. The Roman Catholic Church recognized Joan of Arc as a saint in 1920.



This is what comes from not buying your children mp3 players to drown the voices out in their heads.


January 6, 1856 -
Watson, the needle!

Sherlock Holmes, noted English apiarist, morphine and cocaine addict and sometimes detective, was born on this date.



The Guinness World Records has consistently listed Sherlock Holmes as the "most portrayed movie character" with more than 70 actors playing the part in over 200 films.


January 6, 1853 -
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, 1941 -
During Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address, he delivered his famous speech on the Four Freedoms on this date. Roosevelt insisted that all people should have the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear.



Though the speech was originally intended to move Americans towards involvement in World War II, the Four Freedoms played a large role in the subsequent creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


January 6, 1942 -
The Pan Am Pacific Clipper completed by a commercial airplane on this date. The flight began December 2, 1941 and the plane flew over 31,500 miles during it's convoluted flight.



It had to complete the end of the trip in secrecy, since the Pearl Harbor bombing occurred while they were en route, and the captain, Robert Ford, was not sure how friendly American airspace would be.


January 6, 1994 -
Why? Why?



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


January 6, 1996 -
One of the worst snow blizzards in US history started with up to 20 inches falling in a single day on the East Coast in some areas and heavy wind gusts causing travel to be nearly impossible in many areas.



The blizzard's effects lasted for over two weeks causing many schools and other businesses to be closed for up to two weeks and in some areas even the federal government offices were closed for one week.



And so it goes

You may breathe a sigh of relief - Christmas is nearly over.

The final gift tally (365 gifts): 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 children's eyes) , 42 geese a' laying, 40 golden rings, 36 calling birds, 30 French hens, 22 turtledoves and 12 partridges in their respective pear trees.



Free the birds, take the rings, set fire to the house and start a new life. And finally, the twelve drummers drumming represent the twelve points of belief in the Apostle’s Creed.



It is the eve of the Epiphany and the end of the Christmas season. Epiphany is the celebration of when the Three Wise Men arrived to visit the Christ child.





You still have to wait one more day before you can take down your Christmas decorations.

Did you come up with any New Year's Resolutions?:







The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.


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



Although Preston Sturges was working at an unusually frantic pace, he still kept tight reins on the production, ensuring that neither Eddie Bracken nor anyone else became the main attraction. Sturges favored ensemble pieces, and even the smallest parts were given some choice bits.


January 5, 1948 -
Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel on this date.



The footage was of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football classic.


January 5, 1961 -
Mister 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 horse wouldn't respond to any of his co-stars, just his trainer, Lester Hilton. This meant that Hilton had to be on the set at all times, calling out commands or giving them with hand signals.


January 5, 1973 -
Produced by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, Bruce Springsteen’s debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., was released on this date, but sold just 25,000 copies in its first year.



After eight years playing in bars where audiences usually didn't listen to or couldn't hear the words, Springsteen used his first album to unload a ton of lyrics. All these lyrics helped earn Springsteen the tag "The New Dylan." Singer-songwriters like James Taylor and Kris Kristofferson also shared the comparison, and Bruce went out of his way to shed the tag by making his next album a true rock record.


January 5, 1980 -
The Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight, was the first hip-hop song to made it to the Top 40 on this date.



This was the first rap song to enter the US Hot 100. Rap music had been around for about seven years, but it was usually heard at block parties and discos where DJs would loop breakbeats and MCs would add live vocals. Outside of the Bronx, rap was generally considered a fad, and record companies had no interest in financing it.


January 5, 1980 –
KC and the Sunshine Band song Please Don’t Go because their fifth and final No. 1 hit on the Billboard Charts on this date. Harry Wayne Casey parted ways with KC and The Sunshine Band soon after this was released.



Rick Finch, bass player/producer for the band, parted ways with KC and The Sunshine Band soon after this was released, and the split was far from amicable. He explains what led to it: "I remember being in Disney World in California, and there was a certain moment where everyone was just flipping out and we were almost fist-fighting. And I said, 'So this is what it's come to.' And I was like, 'Well, I don't want to be here anymore, and I quit.' As we grew, the differences got greater and the distractions got greater, and people were all over the place. So I'm like, Okay, this is not what I want. All the craziness on the road, and everything that was going on, I just didn't feel like I fit into that, I don't subscribe to that craziness."


Another ACME Safety Film


Today in History:
January 5, 1477 -
Swiss troops, led by René II, Duke of Lorraine, defeated the forces under Charles the Bold of Burgundy at the Battle of Nancy.

René's forces won the battle, and Charles' mutilated body was found three days later.

But what the hell do you care about European history.


January 5, 1757 -
Mad man Robert Damiens attempted to kill King Louis XV of France on this date. The king survived the attack.



Damiens did not survive his execution.


January 5, 1914 -
Henry Ford surprised the business world as he announced that he would limited the workday of his employees to 8 hours a day, and almost doubled their salary with a minimum wage of $5 dollars.



At the time, such measures were almost unheard of, and Ford's actions were one of the first to put the spotlight on the need for fair working conditions.


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, 1925 -
Nellie Tayloe Ross, became the first female governor in the US when she was elected the governor of Wyoming, after her husband William B. Ross, the previous governor, died in office on October 2, 1924.



Wyoming was also the first state to grant suffrage to women — nearly 40 years before the rest of the US.


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



People had 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, 1969 -
Brian Hugh Warner was born on this date.



He was always kind to his mother.


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



I wonder if Newt knows what people thinks of him?


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



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

Before I let you go:

What were the gifts of the Magi (what were the names of the Magi?) Bonus question: There was a fourth gift - what was it and who was it from?



And so it goes

People call it trivia because they know nothing and they are embarrassed about it.

Today is National Trivia Day. It is observed across the United States each year on January 4. We observe trivia day, everyday here.

Most Muppets are left-handed!



That's because the puppeteers who help the soft cloth heroes act in TV shows and films use their dominant hand, which is in most cases their right, to operate their head and mouths.


Jousting is the official sport in the state of Maryland.



Maryland became the first state to adopt an official sport, naming jousting as its official sport on June 1, 1962. Henry J. Fowler, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from St. Mary’s County, introduced a bill during a session of the Maryland General Assembly to establish jousting as the official state sport.


All porcupines float in water.



Porcupines are buoyant, in part due to the hollow structure of their quills. This helps porcupines float, but although North American, crested and brush-tailed porcupines are keen swimmers, not all porcupine species are fond of water.


Today's gift count (286): you currently have 11 pipers 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.

Today is also the feast day of St. Simeon the Stylite (he's the hermit who lived on a pillar,) and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who is considered to be the first American-born saint.



The eleven pipers piping are the first eleven faithful Apostles and why are you still signing for any packages delivered at your home?


January 4, 1941 -

The animated short Elmer's Pet Rabbit was released on this date: it marks the second 'official' 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, 1957 -
The sitcom based on the comic strip, Blondie, starring Arthur Lake and Pamela Britten premiered on NBC TV on this date.



The popular movie series (28 in all) seemed like a shoe-in for a TV series. Unfortunately, when they made the series about a decade later, it only lasted a single season.


January 4, 1958 –
The TV series, Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges premiered, in syndication on this date.



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


January 4, 1969 -
Jimi Hendrix was banned from the BBC after going off-script when he and his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, appear on the show Happening for Lulu, hosted by the singer Lulu.



Rather than sing a duet with Lulu, Hendrix and the band launched into an unplanned tribute to the recently disbanded Cream by playing Sunshine of Your Love. The show nearly ran over time and afterwards, the producers had Hendrix banned from ever appearing on the BBC again.


January 4, 1970 -
Chauffeur Neil Boland was accidentally killed on this date when The Who's drummer Keith Moon ran over him in his Bentley.



Apparently, Moon's car was under attack from some unruly teenagers, and when Boland jumped out to get them to move, Moon, in a panic, got behind the wheel to drive the car away himself. Unfortunately, the crowd had since pushed Boland under the car and the drummer had never passed his driving test.


January 4, 1975 –
Elton John cover of the Lennon - McCartney song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds reached the No. #1 spot on the Billboard Charts on this date.



The "Lucy" who inspired this song was Lucy O'Donnell (later Lucy Vodden), who was a classmate of John Lennon's son Julian when he was enrolled at the private Heath House School, in Weybridge, Surrey. It was in a 1975 interview that Lennon said, "Julian came in one day with a picture about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it Lucy In The Sky With Diamond ."


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



According to series creator Reinhold Weege, when it is mentioned in the first episode that Harry Stone is a Mel Tormé fan, friends and relatives of the famed jazz and pop singer called Tormé to tell him about the reference. Tormé was so flattered by the reference that when the series later contacted him about appearing on the show, he was more than happy to do so. Tormé has also stated that largely due to the Night Court references, he noticed that his audience at concerts started to get younger and younger and that his newfound resurgence was because of the show.


Another job posting from The ACME Employment Agency


Today in History:
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 Newton Cookies.


January 4, 1863 -
James L. Plimpton changed the skating world forever when he patented the forerunner of the modern roller skate with 4 wheels.



The skate accomplished what previous ones could not: it could maneuver in a smooth curve. Plimpton's skate was far superior to any other that had ever been invented.


January 4, 1885 -
A gravely ill 22-year-old named Mary Gartside was brought to Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa with a sharp pain in her side, Dr. William Grant, decided to try an untested surgery rather than allow the young woman to die.



After giving her anesthesia, he cut into her side and removed the infected appendix. Gartside recovered fully from the surgery and the medical community learned that the appendix was not necessary for living (except for removed organ collectors.)


January 4, 1903 -
(Bunkies, don't watch the following videos, if they're going to bother you.)
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 George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla by showing how dangerous Alternating Current electricity was, Thomas Edison had the whole proceedings filmed.



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 nine 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, 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 -
So, when you divide the world into music lovers, music fans, and then those people who are just very casual about their music, it’s wallpaper to them, it’s elevator music, it’s just the thing that’s playing in the background that helps them through their day.



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


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. Camus had intense motorphobia (fear of automobiles), and thus avoided riding in cars as much as possible. Instead, he took trains everywhere, as much as possible.



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, 1963 -
Stand-up comedy and poverty. Those were my two main endeavors..



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


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, 1965 -
During his State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his plans for the "Great Society" on this date. President Johnson had introduced his vision of a Great Society in a May 22, 1964 speech: “The great society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time.”



It outlined many social reform programs, including Medicare/Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, and the National Endowment for the Arts.


January 4, 1972 -
Hewlett-Packard (HP) introduces the HP-35, the first handheld scientific calculator.



The device takes its name from its thirty-five buttons. It’s release marks the beginning of the end of the widespread use of slide rules.


Before you go: Don't forget we're still in the middle of Mulchfest (more about it later.)


And so it goes

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.

Today is Memento Mori Day, a tradition started in ancient Rome that serves as a reminder that we will all die, one day soon.



It is said that in ancient Rome, when a victorious general would return to the city for his triumph (victory parade),

a slave would walk behind him, whispering in his ear: “Remember you are just a man. Remember you will die.”


Today's gift count (220): you currently have 10 Leaping Lords, (the ten lords represent the Ten Commandments,) 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.

Today is also the feast day of St. Genevieve. St. Genevieve is a French saint who lived from circa 419 to 512. At the young age of seven a prophecy was made by St. Germaine that through the example of her life many would be brought to faith. She is credited with saving the city of Paris from being attacked by Atilla the Hun when she implored the inhabitants of France to remain rather than flee and devote themselves to prayer and penance. The approaching army turned towards another city and left Paris untouched.



Do not take the example of St. Genevieve, seriously contemplate fleeing the country (with the gold rings) and living in Canada under an assumed name.


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



The first regularly scheduled episode of Dragnet premiered on this date (Badge 714 is the name of the syndication version of the series.)


January 3, 1964 -
A month before The Beatles make their iconic live debut in the US on the Ed Sullivan Show, Americans get their first look at the Fab Four when Jack Paar shows a film clip of the band performing She Loves You on his TV show.



In the fall of 1963, TV host Jack Paar was visiting England and witnessed the pandemonium surrounding the mop-headed lads from Liverpool. He wasn't terribly impressed by their performance, bringing back footage mostly for laughs. "I never knew that these boys would change the history of the world's music, which they did," recalls Paar. "I thought it was funny, and I had 'em filmed and brought it to America months before Sullivan."


January 3, 1970 –
B. J. Thomas mega hit song, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head went to the No. #1 spot on the Billboard charts on this date.



Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote this song for the film Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It was the first million-seller for the legendary songwriters.


January 3, 2000 -
The last daily Peanuts strip ran on this date. The comic strip, which centered around the iconic Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy, and their friends, had been running since 1950.

Almost 20,000 strips were published in total, not to mention the musicals, movies, and television specials that featured the Peanuts gang.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
January 3, 1496 -
Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine of his own design on this date. He designed many flying machines, some of which have actually tested successfully in modern times.



In the 2002 BBC television series Leonardo, it was theorized that da Vinci, who was a devout pacifist, purposefully designed the flying machine to fail, so that it could not be put to a military use.


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, 1543 -
Spanish (or Portuguese born) explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, best known for his exploration of the coast of California in 1542–1543, died of gangrene and was buried at San Miguel.



He was injured in December while helping defend his men fight off an indigenous tribe in the Channel Islands off California.


January 3, 1868 -
Emperor Meiji ascended the throne and assumed power, re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns.



The feudal clan system was abolished and industrialism was started. Japan opened itself up to the West, thereby obtaining the benefits of western technology.


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, 1871 –
Henry W. Bradley of Binghamton, New York was issued a patent (U.S. Patent #110,626) for an "improved compound for culinary use" called Oleomargarine on this date.



Faithful readers know that French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès invented a substance he called Oleomargarine in 1867, which he patented in England in 1869.


January 3, 1953 -
Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, became 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 -
A new U.S. flag of 13 stripes and 49 stars waved in the air, on this date.



Alaska, Seward's icebox, became the 49th state in the United States.


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

Pope John had the last laugh over that one.


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



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.


January 3, 1973 -
The Columbia Broadcasting System sold the New York Yankees to a 12-man syndicate headed by George Steinbrenner for $10 million.

As of May 2021, Forbes Magazine valued the team at $5.25 Billion dollars



And so it goes

There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind

If you've just sobered up from you party, here's a simple resolution for 2023:



You know you need to hydrate — drink more water.


Today's gift count (156): you currently have Nine ladies dancing, (the nine ladies dancing represent the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. These fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.) It's also the feast days of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, both known as defenders and advocates for the Nicene Creed.

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.


January 2, 1931 -
Rouben Mamoulian adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, starring Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Rose Hobart opened in NYC on this date.



Mr Hyde's appearance was based on the Neanderthal man. The heavy make up he wore as Hyde almost damaged Fredric March's face.


January 2, 1953 -
NBC-TV premiered The Life of Riley, starring William Bendix on this date.



The Life of Riley started as a radio program starring William Bendix on the Blue Network (ABC) from January 16, 1944 to June 8, 1945 later moving to NBC from September 8, 1945 to June 29, 1951.


January 2, 1971 -
George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, his first album released after the breakup of The Beatles, begins a seven-week run at the top of the US albums chart on this date.



Harrison had Phil Spector produce the album and brought in some outstanding musicians to play on it, including Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon. Those four formed Derek and the Dominos during the sessions. When they were done with All Things Must Pass, they went to England and started touring and working on their own album, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, which was released around the same time as All Things Must Pass.


January 2, 1978 -
The influential science fiction TV series Blake’s 7 premieres on BBC1 in the UK on this date.



Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon), Michael Keating (Vila Restal) and Jacqueline Pearce (Supreme Commander Servalan) are the only actors to have stayed with the series throughout its entire run.


January 2, 2010 –
Kesha's song Tik Tok hit #1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



When Kesha's producer Dr. Luke telephoned her after hearing a demo to say he'd like to hook up with the then-unknown singer-songwriter, Nicole Richie took the call and hung up on him. At the time, Kesha and her mom were filming an episode of the reality show The Simple Life as the host family to Paris Hilton and Richie. Fortunately, he eventually got Kesha on the phone and the rest was history.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
January 2, 1492 -
(Perhaps drink a Cervezas Alhambra while reading this) 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, 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.


January 2, 1890 -
Alice Sanger was hired as a stenographer for President Benjamin Harrison on this date.

Sanger was the first woman to work a non-domestic service job in the White House, and her appointment was thought to be an olive branch to the growing suffragist movement.


January 2, 1923 -
A Ku Klux Klan surprise attack on a black residential area of Rosewood, Florida, killed 8 people. A white woman fearful of being caught in an affair, falsely claimed that she was raped and beaten by a black man. Violence exploded as a white mob tried to string up a black man for information on an alleged rape



The all-black town of Rosewood, a north Florida community of 120 people, was burned to the ground. At least 6 blacks and 2 whites died and almost every building was burned.


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, 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, 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, 1959 -
The Soviet Union launched the satellite Luna 1 on this date, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. The plan for Luna 1, (containing two metallic pennants with the Soviet coat of arms to mark its presence there,) had been to conduct in-flight scientific measurements then crash into the moon.



A malfunction in the ground-based control system caused an error in the rocket's burn time and the spacecraft missed the target and flew by the Moon. It was the first man-made object to reach the escape velocity of the Earth.


January 2, 1960 -
U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.



I wonder how that turned out for him.


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

Leadfoots everywhere cried out in pain.


And so it goes

How did it get so late so soon.

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity. – Jean de La Bruyère



Bunkies, it's the 16th year of my rambling and somewhat mildly amusing observations. If you're new to the blog - hopefully you'll find it a tad more interesting than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. If you're a long time reader - hopefully you'll still stick around; as always, I'll keep trying to improve things around the blog this year.

Hopefully you didn't enjoy your New Year's Eve celebration too much (remember to drink plenty of fluids and have a banana.)

I don't want to overtax your brain this morning so, here's some stuff, you may not know -

Today's gift count (120 gifts): you currently have Eight young woman engaged in the dairy industry, 14 Swans making a racket, 18 geese a' laying (fertilized goose eggs are going for about $82 per dozen), 20 golden rings, 20 calling birds, 18 French hens, 14 turtledoves and 8 partridges in their respective pear trees. The Eight maids a milking symbolize the eight beatitudes (from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount).



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.


Today is The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ - a Christian celebration of the circumcision of Jesus, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days) after his birth,

the occasion went well, and the child was formally given his name, Jesus, a name derived from Hebrew meaning salvation or savior.


Tonight is the Seventh and last night of Kwanzaa.

Tonight celebrates Imani (Faith) - To believe with all of one's heart in one's people, one's parents, one's teachers, one's leaders and the righteousness and victory of one's struggle.


January 1, 1941 -
The first Chinese animated feature film, Princess Iron Fan, directed by Wan Guchan and Wan Laiming was released in China on this date.



It was directed in Shanghai under difficult conditions in the thick of World War II.


January 1, 1954 -
NBC made the first coast-to-coast NTSC color broadcast on this date when it telecast the Tournament of Roses Parade, with public demonstrations given across the United States on prototype color receivers.



The floats, with all colors supplied by flowers, contained humor, music and pretty girls. Parade riders included Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and William Boyd, as his "Hopalong Cassidy" character. The procession winds up at Pasadena's Rose Bowl stadium where the kick-off and part of the football game are also shown.


January 1, 1985 -
VH-1 (Video Hits One) premiered as an adult contemporary music video channel on this date.



The first video that they played was Marvin Gaye's Star Spangled Banner video.


January 1, 1993 -
Chen Kaige masterful adaptation of Lilian Lee's novel, Farewell My Concubine, starring Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, and Gong Li premieres in Hong Kong on this date.



Jackie Chan was originally offered the role of Duan Xiaolou due to his own childhood experience of training in the Peking Opera. But he turned it down, fearing that the film, which deals with themes of homosexuality, might tarnish his image.


January 1, 1995 -
The final syndicated Far Side cartoon appeared in newspapers 0n this date.

The popular one-panel comic, created by Gary Larson, ran for fourteen years. At the height of its popularity, it was published in 1,900 newspapers daily. Occasionally, Mr. Larson lets a new panel escape from his padded cell.


Before we kiss off another Annus Horribilis, check out the New York Times 2022 Year in Pictures.


And now a brief word from our home office


(Having some technical issues, hopefully this will post in a timely manner.)
Today in History:
January 1, 1876 -
The Bass Red Triangle was the first logo to be trademarked in the United Kingdom under the UK's Trade Mark Registration Act 1875, which came into effect on this date.

Legend has it that a Bass employee queued overnight outside the registrar's office on New Year's Eve in order to be the first in line to register a trademark the next morning. The logo became so popular that James Joyce explicitly mentioned it in his novel Ulysses.


January 1, 1892 -
Ellis Island opened as a new immigration depot in the New York City harbor on this date.



17 million immigrants took their first steps towards freedom and opportunity at the Ellis Island processing center. Over 40 percent of the U.S. population — 100 million Americans — can trace their roots back to this doorway.


January 1, 1898 -
New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York.

The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.


January 1, 1901 -
(This is for all our friends in Australia) The Commonwealth of Australia came into being on this date.



Australia had existed as six separate British colonies before, but came into its modern form of government on this day.


January 1, 1915 –
Just in time for New Years Day, Aspirin was made available for the first time in tablet form on this date.



The pills were manufactured by Bayer pharmaceuticals, and had been available in powder form before that.


January 1, 1985 -
Martin Cooper of Motorola publicly demonstrated the world's first handheld mobile phone in April, 1973. He made a call from a New York City street to a landline phone, which was answered by Joel Engel, the head of research at AT&T's Bell Labs.



The first British mobile phone call was made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone, on January 1, 1985. The first mobile phones are roughly the size of a briefcase, have a battery life of about twenty minutes, and cost £2,000.


If you didn't get your Farmer's Almanac this year or suffer from lycanthropy, here is your guide to the Full Moons of 2022:

January 6th -
The Full Wolf Moon. Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. In London, impeccably dressed werewolves are often seen on the prowl in search of a dish of beef chow mein.



It was also known as the Old Moon or the Moon After Yule. In some tribes this was the Full Snow Moon; most applied that name to the next Moon.


February 5th -
The second full moon of 2023 is known as The Full Snow Moon. Usually the heaviest snows fall in this month. Hunting becomes very difficult, and hence internet traffic increases threefold. To the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten Moon.



Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.


March 7th -
The Full Worm Moon. In this month the ground softens and the earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robins. Just what you want to think about in the morning - worm crap. It moon known as The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, this is another variation of the Full Worm Moon. it was considered to be the last full Moon of winter.



The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night.


April 6th -
The Full Pink Moon. The grass pink or wild ground phlox is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names were the Full Pink Floyd Moon because remember - there is no dark side of the moon - it's all dark.



This year, the full moon of the month is also designated as the Paschal Full Moon or the Paschal Term. Traditionally, Easter is observed on the Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. If the Paschal Moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter is the following Sunday. This was a long winded way of explaining that for Western Christianity, Easter occurs on April 9. (This year, for Eastern Christians, Easter occurs on April 16.) Be thankful that this is not on the test.



Hang tight folks, you'll be OK.


May 5th -
The Full Flower Moon. Flowers are abundant everywhere. Usually at your local Korean deli around the corner.



Other names include the Full Corn Planting Moon, or the Milk Moon (in a few months, the moon will be full of cheese.) This year’s Flower Moon will also feature a Total Lunar eclipse at 12:11 a.m. Eastern. The eclipse will last for 3 hours and 7 minutes total. The fully eclipsed portion should be visible (or invisible, to be precise) for 15 minutes. The eclipse will be visible from east Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Americas.


June 3rd -
The Full Strawberry Moon. This name was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. Also because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June . . . so the full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!



Best seen in Central Park, across from the Dakota.


July 3rd -
The Full Buck Moon, when the new antlers of buck deer push out from their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. Again another disgusting image - bone pushing through flesh - for your early morning.



It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent during this time. Another name for this month's Moon was the Full Hay Moon. (There will also be a Supermoon this month as well.)


August 1st -
The Full Sturgeon Moon, when this large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water like Lake Champlain is most readily caught. Sometimes, a sort of lunar madness occurs during this cycle, when people might chase the full moon with a little chopped egg and sour cream. Please direct these poor souls to Zabar's.



A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the Moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze. It was also called the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.


August 30, 2023 -
There is a Blue Moon in 2023. The second full Moon occurring within a calendar month is usually bestowed this title.



If you listen closely, you may hear somebody whisper "please adore me," and when you looked the moon may have turned to gold. Either that, or you need to seek medical attention immediately.



August’s Full Moon also coincides with a Supermoon. The Moon will be at one of its closest points to Earth all year at 7:21 p.m. Eastern.


September 29th -
The Full Harvest Moon, usually the full Moon occurring nearest to the Autumnal Equinox.



This is the time of year, aging Canadian Rock stars will sing full out with their once achingly beautiful harmonies.


October 28th -
The Full Hunter's Moon. With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt.



Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can ride over the stubble, and can more easily see the fox, also other animals that have come out to glean and can be caught for a thanksgiving banquet after the harvest.


November 27th -
The Full Beaver Moon (OK stop snickering.) Time to set beaver traps before the swamps freeze to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Beaver Full Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now active in their preparation for winter.



It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon. (Really stop laughing.)


December 26th -
The Full Cold Moon (or the Full Long Nights Moon.) In this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and the nights are at their longest and darkest. Also sometimes called the Moon before Yule.



The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time. The midwinter full Moon has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low Sun. Rudolph sometimes gets the night off because of the bright light.



And so it goes my friends.