Poecilonym, duplicate, carbon copy, counterpart, replica

Today is Thesaurus Day. It celebrates the birthday of Peter Mark Roget and his famous work, volume, tome, manual, opus.



You could spend all day perusing, studying, scanning, looking through, scuritying for fun.

Well some people could.


January 18, 1973 -
The third season finale of Monty Python, The British Showbiz Awards (aka Grandstand,), aired on the BBC on this date



Eric Idle portrays "Dickie Attenborough," a clear reference to Richard Attenborough, who also sometimes went by Dickie. His brother, David Attenborough, worked at the BBC and actually gave this series the green light.


January 18, 1974 -
The sci-fi series, The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors, premiered on the ABC-TV on this date.



The characters of Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) and Rudy Wells (Martin E. Brooks) appeared on this series and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman. When the spin-off moved to another network, this practice continued. This was the first time the same continuing characters appeared on two different television series broadcast on two different networks at the same time.


January 18, 1975 -
We all moved on up to the Eastside when The Jeffersons, a spin-off of All In The Family premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Isabel Sanford did not want to do a spin-off. She told producers that she was happy with her recurring role on All in the Family. When they told her that they were writing Louise Jefferson off of All in the Family, and moving the character to this show with or without her, she decided to stay in the role.


January 18, 1977 -
The last wet dream of the Nietzchian Uberman came to fruition when Arnold Schwarzenegger was introduced to America, when George Butler’s bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron hit the theaters on this date.



To put some Hollywood asset into the film, actor Bud Cort was offered to appear being trained by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Pieces of footage were actually filmed but removed from the final cut on demand of Cort who judged them too distracting from the main subject. He also asked for his salary to be injected into the rest of the production. Some of this footage eventually appeared in Raw Iron: The Making of 'Pumping Iron'.


January 18, 1980 -
Pink Floyd’s album, The Wall hit #1 on the Billboard Charts, on this day. It remained there for an astounding 15 weeks straight.



Despite Roger Waters' clear ambivalence towards his audience, new and old fans alike found the album appealing: The Wall sold 11 million copies stateside and 20 million copies worldwide.


January 18, 1984 -
The Coen Brothers made their directorial debut (as well as the first major cinematography work by Barry Sonnenfeld) with the release of Blood Simple, starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh, on this date.



On the advice of Sam Raimi, the Coens went door-to-door showing potential investors a two minute 'trailer' of the film they planned to make. They ultimately raised $750,000 in a little over a year, enough to begin production of the movie.


Another job posting from The ACME Employment Agency


Today in History:
January 18, 1836 -



Knife aficionado Jim Bowie arrived at the Alamo to assist its Texas defenders on this date.


On January 18, 1871, while Prussian guns blasted all hell out of Paris, William I was proclaimed Emperor of a united Germany in nearby Versailles.



For this reason, the Germans have always had a soft spot for France, and have returned often.


January 18, 1882 -
Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the thing you can't hear, and not bothering.



Alan Alexander Milne was born on this date.


January 18, 1892 -
That's another fine mess you've gotten me into.



Oliver Hardy, American comedian, actor and the other half the the world's greatest comedy duo, was born on this date.


January 18, 1903 -
President Theodore Roosevelt sent a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States.

Unfortunately, once again, the ill-chosen "Prince Albert in the can" joke is used - and 'Bertie', the King had already heard the joke ad nauseum (Prince Albert, penis ring wearing enthusiast, was his father ) and was not amused.


January 18, 1904 -
I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me.



Archibald Leach, noted actor, acrobat and over the top orgy participant, was born on this date.


January 18, 1911 -
The first landing of an aircraft onto a ship took place on this date. Pilot Eugene Ely was the first person to land a plane onto a ship, the USS Pennsylvania, in San Francisco Bay (less than ten years after the airplane was invented.)



Two months previously Ely had made the first successful take off from a warship. The technique would later become commonplace as aircraft carriers became major wartime assets.


January 18, 1912 -
Explorer Robert F. Scott reached the South Pole - only to discover that Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by almost a month.



The Norwegian Amundsen's expedition beat that of the British Scott's by a little more than a month, which Scott discovered upon reading a letter that Amundsen had left at the site.

As my girls would say (and I'm paraphrasing - it must have sucked to be him.)


January 18, 1913 (or 1911) -
I wasn't born a fool. It took work to get this way..



David Daniel Kaminsky, UNICEF ambassador, comedian, actor, was born in Brooklyn on this date.


January 16, 1955 -
Kevin Costner was born in Lynwood, California on this date. He is the youngest of three boys (the middle of whom died at birth) of Bill and Sharon Costner.



Before hitting it big in the acting business Kevin Costner worked as a skipper on the ride, the Jungle Cruise, at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. His first film role was in the 1981 low-budget softcore film Sizzle Beach.


January 18, 1958 -
Afro-Canadian Willie O'Ree was the very first black player in the NHL Signed by Boston Bruins he made his NHL debut with the Bruins on this date, against the Montreal Canadiens.



O'Ree appeared in two games that year playing as a winger, and came back in 1961 to play 43 games, scoring 4 goals and 10 assists. O'Ree is referred to as the "Jackie Robinson of ice hockey" due to breaking the black color barrier in the sport.


January 18, 1968 -
At a White House luncheon to discuss the rise in urban crime, Eartha Kitt gets into a notorious spat with First Lady Claudia Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson, declaring, "Vietnam is the main reason we are having trouble with the youth of America. It is a war without explanation or reason."



Although accounts of the entire argument differ, Kitt is subsequently blacklisted in America.


January 18, 1990 -
Rusty Hamer, the actor who played Danny Thomas' son on Make Room For Daddy, shot himself in the head with a .357 Magnum in DeRidder, Louisiana on this date. Rusty was 42 years old.

Uncle Tonoose made him do it.


January 18, 1990 -
Washington DC mayor Marion Barry was arrested on cocaine possession charges at the Vista International Hotel, as he tokes on a glass crack pipe while being videotaped with his mistress Rasheeda on this date.



Kids remember, say NO to drugs, especially while being videotaped.


Before you go: Once again, I just saw that David Elrich posted his 2022 film mash-up compilation about a week ago



I always enjoy his videos and look forward to them each year.



And so it goes

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions!

It's time to think about how you're doing two-and-a-half weeks into the new year, on your new year's resolutions. If your evaluation is less than positive, consider participating in today's made up holiday, Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day.



If you haven't broken or given up all of those New Year's resolutions, you're doing better than most of us (So maybe the rest of us can make those new good behaviors regular habits)


January 17, 1929 -

I yam what I yam



Popeye the Sailor Man, created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip on this date.


January 17, 1949 -
American audiences finally got to see family that lived in Apt. 3B of 1030 East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, after hearing them for years on the radio, when The Goldbergs premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Many episodes of The Goldbergs were recorded live, and others were only shown once and then destroyed. Today, only a handful of episodes survive. The epsiode shown above is one of the earliest surviving episodes.


January 17, 1969 -
The Star Trek episode The Mark of Gideon where, Kirk is abducted and held aboard an abandoned duplicated of the Enterprise, first aired on CBS TV on this date.



A strange hole in the plot of this episode: The Gideons were obviously prepared to take drastic action to solve their overpopulation problem. But since their planet was so incredibly crowded that inhabitants were willing to kill for a moment of privacy, where did Hodin and his council find the space to construct a duplicate of such a large vessel as the Enterprise.


January 17, 1975 -
The TV-series Baretta, starring Robert Blake and Tom Ewell, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



The series was originally intended as a continuation of the TV series Toma, with Robert Blake replacing Tony Musante as Det. David Toma. When Blake balked at taking over an established role, a new series was created for him instead.


January 17, 1976 -
Barry Manilow scored his second US No.1 single with I Write The Songs, which was written by The Beach Boys Bruce Johnson, on this date.



Manilow was originally reluctant to record this song, saying to Arista Records chief Clive Davis, "This 'I Write The Songs' thing Clive, I really don't want to do it." Manilow says his worry "was that the listeners would think I was singing about how "I" write the songs, when it was really about the inspiration of music. Clive understood, but didn't think it would be a problem. "Besides," he told me, "You DO write songs!" Manilow says he was concerned about coming off as a gigantic egomaniac, but that he liked the song so much he decided to record it. He adds, "Whenever I heard the song in public, I felt the need to run to everyone who was listening and say, 'You know, I'm really not singing about myself!'"


January 17, 1977 -
The short-lived sitcom Busting Loose, (the series ran for 21 episodes,) starring Adam Arkin, Pat Carroll, and Barbara Rhoades premiered on CBS TV on this date.



Busting Loose was broadcast over two seasons. Thirteen episodes aired during its first season in the winter and spring of 1977. Eight more were broadcast during its second season in the fall of 1977, and four other episodes produced for that season never aired.


January 17, 2015 –
The Mark Ronson single, Uptown Funk (featuring Bruno Mars,) goes to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date.



The Vance Joy song Riptide was on the charts when Uptown Funk was released. Both tracks mention Michelle Pfeiffer, which is a little odd considering the actress hadn't been in any blockbuster movies in a while.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
January 17, 1706 -
Benjamin Franklin was born on this date.



The inventor of spectacles and the hundred dollar bill, Franklin was one of Washington’s first celebrated womanizers to avoid conviction. One day Franklin tied a key to the string of a kite that he then flew in a thunderstorm, thus discovering Electrolysis.



Franklin also invented the Post Office and can be credited with the creation of the first fully functioning disgruntled postal worker.


On January 17, 1806, President Thomas Jefferson's grandson James Madison Randolph became the first child to be born in the White House - his mother was Martha Randolph, one of President Jefferson's two daughters. James was her eighth child.

Sadly, no official records have been kept on the more interesting statistics of children conceived in the White House.


January 17, 1860 O.S. - (which means Julian calendar. We celebrate his birthday on the 29th of January N.S. - which means Gregorian calendar. So it not really his birthday today but he's dead so I don't think he really cares.) -

Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, Russia.

Tragically, a bureaucratic snafu at the Kremlin resulted in Chekhov’s not being told he was one of the Great Russian Writers, so he practiced medicine well into middle life. By then, of course, he was almost good enough to quit practicing, but he’d also made a name for himself as a writer. As a doctor and writer of comedies, Chekhov originated the saying "laughter is the best medicine" (some of his tubercular patients disagreed, but they subsequently died, proving his point).



Chekhov’s greatest work is The Seagull, in which a young man with an odd haircut, kills a seagull, making his girlfriend cry and a lot of people with unpronounceable Russian names argue and wave pistols about.



Chekhov should not be confused with Pavel Chekov, who was the security officer of the USS Enterprise,



and neither of them should be confused with Charo.


January 17, 1871 -
Andrew Smith Hallidie received the patent (U.S. patent #110,971) for an "improvement in endless wire ropeways" which would be the basis for his cable car system, on this date.

He was inspired to work on the cable car system after seeing horses having a difficult time trying to pull cars up Jackson Street in San Francisco.


January 17, 1893 -
Another proud moment in America history - a group of American businessmen stole Hawaii on this date.

Queen Liliuokalani, the monarch of Hawaii,

was overthrown by a group of sugar plantation owners who wanted a more pro-American government.



The coup took place with the tacit approval of the United States, though the new leader of Hawaii, Sanford Dole, refused to step down when asked to do so by President Cleveland. Hawaii and the US finally resumed full diplomatic relations in 1897, under President McKinley. Hawaii was annexed by the U.S. in 1898.


January 17, 1899 -
Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born on this date. Chronic self-esteem problems in his early adolescence resulted in his turning to a life of crime in Chicago (where crime had by now trickled down from elected officials to the lower classes).



The United States wanted to help this poor unfortunate individual, so that gave him an early birthday present. The day before his 21st birthday, Prohibition went into effect.



Capone was such a successful gangster that eventually Robert DeNiro had to play him.



In the end, Capone was captured by Eliot Ness and his Unmentionables, who got their name from the fact that their busy schedules prevented them from changing their underwear


January 17, 1922 -
I like bawdy humor. I love bawdy humor, but not dirty humor.



Take a moment out of your day to remember - Betty Marion White, who was one of the hardest working actress in Hollywood (she had been working almost continuously since 1949) was born on this date.


January 17, 1931 -
When I was in New York after I left the Army, I studied for two years at the American Theater Wing, studied acting, which involved dance and fencing and speech classes and history of theater, all that.



James Earl Jones, actor and (Darth Vader), was born on this date.


January 17, 1950 -
In Boston on this date, eleven thieves stole more than $2 million in cash and securities from the Brink's armored car company’s offices. They were all later caught.



The 1978 film The Brink’s Job starred Peter Falk and Peter Boyle was based on the nonfiction book about the crime, The Big Stick-Up at Brink’s by Noel Behn.


January 17, 1961 -
In his farewell address on this date, President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex."



And yet on the same date, Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo, was murdered after 67 days in office on this date. President Eisenhower allegedly approved the assassination of the prime minister by the CIA.


January 17, 1962 -
Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating sandwiches.



James Eugene Carrey, Canadian-American actor and rubber-faced comedian, was born on this date.


January 17, 1964 -
Just try new things. Don't be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar, all right?



Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, the first African-American First Lady of the United States, was born on this date.


January 17, 1966 –
A B-52 bomber collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker during a mid-air refueling maneuver over Spain, killing seven airmen, on this date.



The accident caused the dropping of three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea (each of the bombs were equal to 70 thousand tons of TNT) but none of them exploded.

Oops


January 17, 1977 -
Let's do it



Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.



And so it goes

True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.

Again, I'll remind you, there's a reason we have a three day weekend; it's Martin Luther King Day.



To celebrate the day and the man, I'd like you to once again opine these words:



Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.


It's National Fig Newton Day, (named not after Sir Isaac Newton but the town of Newton in Massachusetts, near the Kennedy Biscuit Works, which first made the cookie back in 1891.)



Please celebrate responsibly


It's also National Nothing Day, set aside each year for people to sit around for the entire day and just hang out. No celebrating, observing or honoring anything.



It was created by newspaperman, Harold Pullman Coffin in 1972 and first celebrated in 1973. While you celebrate (or not), please continue to read today's postings though


January 16, 1932 -
Funny and definitely risque, Paramount released the Betty Boop animated short, Boop-Oop-A-Doop, on this date.



Please - don't take her boop-oop-a-doop away - Betty is supposed to be just 16.


January 16, 1938 -
Clarinetist Benny Goodman, breaks through cultural barriers to play the first-ever jazz concert at Carnegie Hall. It was considered instrumental in establishing jazz as a legitimate form of music.



The LP, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert by Benny Goodman, issued in 1950, was the first ever double album, and one of the first records on the new long-playing format to sell over a million copies.


January 16, 1965 -
You finally get control back of the vertical and horizontal of your television set - ABC-TV aired the final episode of The Outer Limits on this date.



When this episode, the series' last show, was originally aired, a live announcer spoke over the Control Voice's closing statement about returning "next week at this same time." The live announcer stated that The King Family Show would be seen "next week in this time period." The regular Control Voice closing for The Probe was heard only in re-runs.


January 16, 1973 -
NBC-TV presented the 440th, and final episode of Bonanza (which began airing on NBC on September 12, 1959) on this date.



This is the second-longest-running Western television series, behind Gunsmoke. It continues to air in syndication.


January 16, 1976 -
Peter Frampton's platinum live album, Frampton Comes Alive, was released by A & M Records on this date.



Frampton used a talkbox, a device hooked up to his guitar amp that allowed him to make distorted vocal sounds through a tube in his mouth. Other groups had success with the device around that time (Aerosmith used it on Sweet Emotion the year before), but Frampton became known for it because he played a talkbox solo on this. Every time he formed words, the crowd went nuts, especially when he sounded out "I want to thank you," which came out sounding like "I want to f*ck you."


January 16, 1988 -
George Harrison hits #1 with Got My Mind Set On You, becoming the act with the longest time between #1 hits - it was 24 years since Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth).



When George Harrison conceived the Cloud Nine album, he looked for a producer who could carry some of the load and not be intimidated by working with a former Beatle. He sought out Jeff Lynne of ELO for the role even though he had never met him - he connected with Lynne by having their mutual friend, Dave Edmunds, get him the message. It ended up being a great fit. Lynne brought his distinctive production sheen to the tracks and helped out writing some of the songs. Lynne's influence can be heard in the backing vocals of the Got My Mind Set On You chorus. Along with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty, Harrison and Lynne formed The Traveling Wilburys in 1988.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
January 16, 1547 -
Ivan IV was crowned Tsar of Russia. He is better known by his nickname: Ivan the Terrible. He was the first king of Russia to call himself a Caesar, probably in the hopes that Shakespeare would write a play about him.



He couldn’t pronounce Caesar, however, so he simply called himself "zar," and subsequent arguments over whether that should be spelled czar, tsar, zar, or tzar became so heated that they eventually resulted in Russian History.


January 16, 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 16, 1908 -
Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own..







Ethel Merman, actress, singer and the woman who learned love at the hands of Ernest Borgnine, was born on this date.


January 16, 1920 -
Please save some of your brain cells for another weekend of binge drinking,



and remember that Prohibition went into effect in the U.S. on this date.


January 16, 1939 –
The Superman newspaper comic strip debuted on this date.

Printed daily, they were the first stories to go into detail about the planet Krypton, exploring the story of Superman's parents, Jor-El and Lara.


January 16, 1942 -
Raising money for the war, actress Carole Lombard, her mother, 18 passengers and three crew, were killed when their plane crashed into Mount Potosi, 32 miles southwest of Las Vegas on this date.



Lombard was much loved for her unpretentious personality and well known for her earthy sense of humor and blue language.


January 16, 1959 -
Once a song's out there, it's no longer mine. And that's the whole purpose of music: to belong to people.







Helen Folasade Adu, OBE, singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer, was born on this date.


January 16, 1969 -
Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first docking of manned spacecraft in orbit as well as the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another.



Yevgeny Khrunov became the first astronaut to transfer between linked capsules. It is the only time such a transfer will ever be accomplished with a space walk.


January 16, 1991 -
Operation Desert Storm commenced as Baghdad was pummeled live on TV, on this date. Targeted with smartbombs were "command and control facilities" and Saddam Hussein himself.



We seem to miss both, but did manage to kill about 100,000 Iraqi soldiers in the surreal bombardments that follow.


January 16, 2003 -
NASA launched the Space Shuttle Columbia on its 28th and final mission on this date.



The shuttle's mission ended in tragedy when, 16 days later, on February 1st, the Columbia disintegrated as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven of the shuttle’s crew members. The disaster shocked the nation, and set the space shuttle program back.


And so it goes


BTW - There are 349 days left until next year. Plan accordingly



Start thinking about all the great things you are going to do this year.



And so it goes

You can leave you hat on

As well as everything else - There is no celebration of No Pants Subway Ride Day once again this year, in NYC -



"The No Pants Subway Ride is not happening in New York in 2023," reads a message on the initiative's official website. "After 19 years of producing the event, we've decided to take a break (sadly the pandemic ruined our plans of making it 20 years in a row!)." Should you wish to ride the subway sans pants, you are on your own.


You can celebrate National Hat Day today though. John Etherington, a London haberdasher stepped out of his shop on the Strand, on this date in 1797, wearing a new hat of his own design. His black top hat was so startling that it drew a crowd - one man purported was shoved through a storefront window. Etherington was arrested for disturbing the peace, but within a month, he had more hat orders than he could handle.



Although more body heat is lost from your head than other parts of the body, in Fargo, North Dakota, there is a law that forbids dancing while wearing a hat under the penalty of jail. I hope someone informed Mr. Astaire of that fact.


January 15, 1967 -
Ed Sullivan, when he wasn't fall down drunk, swore a lot. He swore that his arch-rival, Walter Winchell was a goddamned bastard. He swore that his 'so called friend' J Edgar Hoover was a goddamned transvestite but surprising spry in his cha-cha heels. And he swore that those goddamned filthy limey boys, The Rolling Stones, would never return to his show.



Sullivan sobered up, looked at his rating when the Stones last appeared on his show and permitted that boys back on The Ed Sullivan Show, on this date.



They were forced to change the lyrics of to Let's Spend Some Time Together.


January 15, 1971 -
George Harrison unintentionally rewrites the song He's So Fine and releases it as My Sweet Lord on this date.



Bright Tunes Music, the owner of the publishing rights, sued Harrison because this sounded too much like the 1963 Chiffons hit He's So Fine. The trial took place February 23-25, with various expert witnesses testifying. The key to the case was the musical pattern of the two songs, which were both based on two musical motifs: "G-E-D" and "G-A-C-A-C." He's So Fine repeated both motifs four times, My Sweet Lord repeated the first motif four times and the second motif three times. Harrison couldn't identify any other songs that used this exact pattern, and the court ruled that "the two songs are virtually identical." And while the judge felt that Harrison did not intentionally copy My Sweet Lord, that was not a defense - thus Harrison was on the hook writing a similar song without knowing it. Harrison was found guilty of "subconscious plagiarism" in a verdict handed down on August 31, 1976.

Silly Beatle.


January 15, 1974 -
America once again, found it's thrill, on Blueberry Hill. The first episode of Happy Days (series) aired on this date. Potsie sets Richie up with that Mary Lou girl.



ABC at first feared Fonzie would be perceived as a hoodlum or criminal, and prohibited his wearing a leather jacket. In the first few episodes Henry Winkler wears a non-threatening gray windbreaker. The original windbreaker resembles the jacket wore by James Dean, the Fonz's idol, in Rebel Without a Cause. The leather jacket was introduced later and helped to make Fonzie a TV icon.


January 15, 1977 -
The Coneheads at Home, featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin, debuted on Saturday Night Live on this date. For those of you too young to remember, The Coneheads at Home, was a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live featuring a family of extraterrestrials with cone-shaped heads, from the planet Remulak, posing in the suburban United States as immigrants from France.


(Hey, why not stay for the whole episode.)

The inspiration for the Coneheads came from a proposal by Dan Aykroyd about pin-headed lawyers. This idea was shot down by the producers, fearing it might be offensive. A later trip to the Easter Islands in the South Pacific and the haunting images of stone head monoliths inspired Aykroyd to pen the series drawings that evolved into the Coneheads.


January 15, 1981 -
Let's Be Careful Out There

Hill Street Blues premiered on NBC on this date.



The series is regarded as a hallmark in American dramatic television. It was the first dramatic series to incorporate long shots, hand-held shots and continuous story lines. It was nominated for a record 21 Emmys for its first season in spite of low ratings.


Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library


Today in History:
January 15, 1759 -
The British Museum, one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world, opened to the public on this date.



I'm sure the Greek Prime Minister is patiently waiting by the phone for word that Elgin Marbles will be returned to Greece (but that's another story.)


January 15 , 1870 -
A Thomas Nast cartoon titled, A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion, was printed in Harper's Weekly on this date.

The cartoon symbolized the Democratic Party with a donkey, a concept still in use today.


January 15 , 1892 -
A little magazine in Springfield, Massachusetts, first published the rules for a brand new game that involved tossing a ball into a high-mounted peach basket.

This was, of course, the precursor of what is today known as "Peachbasket,"



still as popular as ever in Springfield, Massachusetts.


January 15, 1919 -
In Boston an explosion opened a tank of molasses and the cylindrical sides toppled outward knocking down 10 nearby buildings. 2 million gallons of molasses oozed onto the streets and killed 21 people. Another 50 were injured.



So yes, apparently, there are people slower than molasses in Boston.


January 15, 1929 -
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.



Martin Luther King, Jr., pastor, political activist and Nobel Prize winner was born on this date.


January 15, 1943 -
Just outside of Washington, DC in Arlington , VA, The Pentagon was dedicated as the world's largest office building on this date.



It covers 34 acres of land and has 17 miles of corridors.

Once again I ask: what would happen to the DC sewer system if you could have a co-ordinated flush of all the toilets in the building?


January 15, 1947 -
A passerby spotted the nude body of Elizabeth Short, a 22 year old actress in a vacant lot near Hollywood. Her body, cut in half, was bruised and beaten. Grass had reportedly been forced into her vagina, and she had reportedly been sodomized after death. The case was dubbed The Black Dahlia murder and over the years as many as 50 men and women have confessed to this gruesome crime yet it has never been solve.

For those of you with stronger constitutions than mine, you may go on the internet to view truly horrifying actual crime scene photos (you sick puppies.)


January 15, 1953 -
An out-of- control, 16-car train, Train #173, the Federal-Express train, suffers a near-catastrophic brake failure and crashed through the railroad terminal at Union Station in Washington, DC on this date.



Thanks to the quick thinking and action of the engineers, there were only 87 injuries and zero fatalities.



Coincidentally this is the 14th anniversary of airline pilot Sully Sullenberger and his crew 's miraculous ditching into the Hudson River.


January 15, 1967 -
The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Superbowl I on this date.



It was generally agreed upon by most television historians that all known broadcast tapes which recorded the game in its entirety were subsequently destroyed in the the process of recycling videotape by re-recording over previous content. NFL films has been able to recreate a version of the game from various sources.


January 15, 1983 -
Meyer Lansky, retired Jewish organized crime genius, (rumored to have photographic proof that J. Edgar Hoover was a homosexual; conspiracy theorists believed this was the reason Hoover wasn't aggressive in pursuing organized crime), died of a fatal nosebleed at Mount Sinai Hospital on this date.



It is not clear where Lansky's estimated $300 million fortune went.

Once again, what a way to go!


January 15, 2001 -
Happy Birthday Wikipedia.



Wikipedia was formally launched on this date, as a single English-language edition at www.wikipedia.com (now found here.)


January 15, 2013 -
Horse DNA was found in beef burgers being sold in supermarkets in Ireland and the United Kingdom on this date.



Health officials stated there was no risk to public health and that the contaminated batches were being recalled from retailers.


Before you go - O Rapturous joy!



A late Christmas gift. 42 years after History of the World: Part I was released, Mel Brooks has made a sequel. The eight-episode TV series, History of the World PART II, will be streamed as a four-night event starting March 6, on Hulu.



And so it goes

I'll be quiet, in case you're sleeping in

For those of you not following that new fangled Gregorian Calendar (and still keep stock with the Julian Calendar), it's January First. Happy New Year

Please feel free to call in sick today and explain to them that it's Orthodox New Years Day in your religion (but remember that you used this excuse when March rolls around and you try to mention that it's New Year's Day again.)


January 14, 1952 -
On a cold East Coast morning at 7 a.m., NBC-TV opened the the first Today show broadcast with a shot of Dave Garroway looking outside through the 'Window on the World' in New York City. The broadcast also featured Jack Lescoulie as co-host.



The show would be a radical departure from the TV industry's accepted programming; a news, features, special events program that would run in the early morning. In pre-production, the show's proposed title was The Rise and Shine Revue.


January 14, 1967 -
Sonny and Cher, one of the big musical duos of the mid '60s released one of their biggest hits, The Beat Goes On, on this date.



In 1968, Chrysler Corporation paid a large sum of money to use parts of the song in an ad campaign for the Plymouth line.


January 14, 1972 -

Sanford and Son, featuring comedian Redd Foxx (whose last name was really Sanford) and Demond Wilson, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Throughout the series, whenever Lamont threatened to move out, or things did not go Fred's way, he would clutch his chest and fake a heart attack, shouting variations of "Hear that Elizabeth? I'm coming to join you!" That running gag was blamed for Redd Foxx's death, from a heart attack, while filming The Royal Family. When he complained of chest pains, no one believed him until it was too late.


January 14, 1973 -
Touch but the hem of his raiment and be saved!

Elvis Presley made TV history with a live concert, Aloha from Hawaii, televised via satellite on this date. It has been estimated that over one billion people saw the concert.



Aloha From Hawaii made history as the first televised event to be simulcast live to 40 countries world wide. It's still today most watched entertain show with only one performer.


January 14, 1980 -
The Blues Brothers movie with Dan Akroyd and John Belushi opened on this date.



John Belushi was nicknamed 'The Black Hole' onset, as he went through hundreds of pairs of sunglasses during production. He would do a scene and then lose the pair before filming the next one.


January 14, 1981 -
This was the date television died.



The FCC freed stations to air as many commercials an hour as they wish, and removed any obligation to allocate time for news or public affairs programming.


January 14, 1990 -
The Simpsons episodes, Bart the Genius, premiered on Fox television on this date. This episode was considered the first official episode of The Simpsons, and FOX advertised it as such. The Christmas episode was considered as a special.



Although this episode aired after Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, it was written prior. This is why Santa's Little Helper does not appear in the episode.


January 14, 1993 -
Talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving his late-night show after 11 years on NBC to sign a $16 million deal with CBS.



Coincidentally, seven years later, on January 14, 2000, he had quintuple bypass surgery. Co-incidence, you decide.

Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


Today in History:
January 14, 1690 -



The Clarinet was invented in Nurnberg, Germany on this date.



Any time you watch John Candy, your life is better.


January 14, 1858 -
Emperor Napoleon III (having the unusual distinction of being both the first titular president and the last monarch of France) and Empress Eugenie escape unhurt after an Italian assassin threw a bomb at their carriage as they travel to the Paris Opera to see Rossini's William Tell, on this date. Felice Orsini and his accomplices threw three bombs at the imperial carriage.

The first bomb landed among the horsemen in front of the carriage. The second bomb wounded the animals and smashed the carriage glass. The third bomb landed under the carriage and seriously wounded a policeman who was hurrying to protect the occupants. Eight people were killed and 142 wounded, though the emperor and empress were unhurt. Napoleon, ever the politician, realized that he and Eugenie had to proceed to the performance and appear in their box.

They really wanted to see the opera.


January 14, 1900 -
Speaking of opera, Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca premiered in Rome, to mixed reviews on this date.



This is considered one of the more extreme operas as all of the four main characters die violently.


January 14, 1954 -
Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio on this date. Though the marriage between the iconic actress and the baseball star only lasted 274 days, they remained friends over the years.



After Monroe's death in 1962, DiMaggio sent flowers to her grave every week until his own death in 1999.


January 14, 1956 -
Little Richard released Tutti Frutti on this date, (to fully take advantage of the healing powers of Little Richard, much like Elvis - you must remove all your clothing (underwears optional) and dance around the house, continually touching your afflicted regions.)



This song introduced Little Richard's famous "Whooooo," and also a big "Aaaaaaahhh" scream which he sings just before the tenor sax solo performed by Lee Allen. Richard's scream had a practical purpose: to let Allen know when to start playing. They were recording on just three tracks, so overdubbing the horns wasn't a practical option.



And yet Pat Boone's cover of the song rose higher in the charts on it's initial release. Many listeners at the time only knew the song through Boone, so Little Richard's promotional materials often labeled him "Original 'Tutti Frutti' Man."

Stupid record buying public.


January 14, 1957 -
I should never have switched from scotch to martinis



Humphrey Bogart, the Greatest Male Star of All Time, model for the Gerber baby and founding member of the Hollywood Rat Pack (a phrase coined by Lauren Bacall) finally decided to let the world catch up with his three drink lead and succumbs to cancer of the esophagus on this date.



And so it goes

If you're concerned, just stay indoors today

To start 2023 off right, it's Friday the 13th.



In most large cities in the United States, many building don't have 13th floors. In Japan, they don't have 4th floors, because the word for four sounds similar to the word for DEATH! Some say that the modern basis for Friday the 13th phobia dates back to Friday, October 13, 1307.



On this date, 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 with extreme prejudice (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.

Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, author of 13: The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition, suggests in his book that references to Friday the 13th were practically nonexistent before 1907; the popularity of the superstition must come from the publication of Thomas W. Lawson's successful novel (of it's day,) Friday, the Thirteenth. In the novel, a stock broker takes advantage of the superstition to create a Wall Street panic on Friday the 13th.

Sorry to break it to you, if you're superstitious but, there is another Friday the 13th in October.


The Asian Lunar New Years is 9 days away. Valentine's Day is 33 days away. Mardi Gras is 41 days away. And today is Old New Years Eve (Old Style Calendar.)



Feel free to forget it's 'Dry January'


According to the American Dialect Society - the suffix “-ussy” was chosen as Word of the Year (2022)  in its annual vote. It was the 33rd anniversary of the society’s original Word of the Year vote in December 1990. The term, “The selection of the suffix -ussy highlights how creativity in new word formation has been embraced online in venues like TikTok.”

Bunkies, the folks at ADS are going to use a vulgarity and I am merely going to quote them:
In a press release issued after the ADS vote on January 6, 2023, Ben Zimmer, chair of the society's New Words Committee and language columnist for the Wall Street Journal (and former executive producer of the Visual Thesaurus) provided additional context. “The playful suffix builds off the word pussy to generate new slang terms. The process has been so productive lately on social media sites and elsewhere that it has been dubbed -ussification..” Remember, they said it, I'm merely quoting.

Oh those cunning linguists.


Today is National Rubber Ducky Day. You may ask why? … because that’s what Ernie says!



While scrubbing himself clean at bath time and singing that song we all know from Sesame Street, Ernie said January 13th is his favorite bath time toy’s birthday. 


January 13, 1945 -
One of the 'banned' World War II Looney Tunes cartoons, Herr meets Hare, premiered on this date. This cartoon marks the first appearance of Bugs' classic "left turn at Albuquerque" joke.



The cartoon was finally broadcast in its entirety in July, 2001, on a special episode of the Cartoon Network's program Toonheads focusing on World War II cartoons.


January 13, 1966 –
Samantha gave birth to a baby girl, Tabitha on the ABC-TV program Bewitched (entitled, And Then There Were Three,) on this date.



This is the first appearance of Cousin Serena, who would be a recurring character for the remainder of the series.


January 13, 1968 -
Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, and Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers, performed for a second time at Folsom Prison in the prison cafeteria on this date.



Cash released the concert as an album, At Folsom Prison, a few months later. The album was a hit and it transformed Cash into a nationally popular musician. At Folsom Prison stayed in country music charts for 90 weeks and in the Billboard Top 200 for 122 weeks.


January 13, 1989 -
British comedy sketch show series A Bit of Fry and Laurie starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie debuts on BBC1 on this date.



Stephen Fry was never able to convincingly fake hitting someone, so often he genuinely hit Hugh Laurie while filming the sketches.


Another unimportant moment in history


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



Some novels, uncompleted at Alger's death, include The Fortune Made Upon My Knees, Nelson, the Randy Pegboy, Impudent Dick and the Lonely Sea Men, Lance, the Brawny Farmhand Boy (who wore no undergarments under his britches), From the Gutter to Fortune (with nothing but bacon grease and a toothless smile) and Jack, the Ruggedly Handsome Raw Meat Delivery Boy (who wore a posing strap under his britches).

(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 voted to ratify the prohibition amendment on this date.

Much heavy drinking ensued.


January 13, 1957 -
Back in the 1920s, 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.)


January 13, 1962 -
Television: A medium. So called because it's neither rare nor well done.

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.)

Bunkies - Smoking Kills.



And so it goes