I know I going to still keep writing 4715 on my checks for weeks

The Lunar New Year starts today, and it's the Year of the Dog, but which one?



In Chinese astrology, each year is associated with a Chinese zodiac animal sign and one the Five Elements: Gold (Metal), Water, Wood, Fire, or Earth. Both the sign and element of your birth year are said to affect your personality and destiny. This year’s elemental sign is earth - so we are celebrating Earth Dog.

(Please be aware that once again, Mr. Teeny and  I will be celebrating Chinese New Year recklessly this Year of the Dog, by shooting firecrackers in public locations for the next two weeks. Please also remember that people in China don't call it Chinese New Year, it's Lunar New Year; other countries celebrate Lunar New Year as well.)



Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on the Lunar Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.

People born under the ‘earth dog’ are said to be communicative, serious, and responsible in the workplace. They are also faithful, loyal, smart, straightforward and with a strong sense of responsibility, but on the negative side are likely to be self-righteous, cold, terribly stubborn, slippery, and critical of others. Chinese horoscopes say that the year of your birth sign is actually the most unlucky, so famous people born in the year of dog, such as Prince William, Kate Middleton, Madonna, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump need to watch out and avoid red and the numbers one, three and nine.



According to superstition, those born in the Year of the Dog tend to be loyal and honest, amiable and kind, cautious and prudent. Due to having a strong sense of loyalty and sincerity, Dogs will do everything for the person who they think is most important. As Dogs are not good at communication, it is difficult for them to convey their thoughts to others. Therefore, Dogs tend to leave others with the impression that they have a stubborn personality. 



It is also believed that the Dog is most compatible with the Rabbit, but least compatible with the  Dragon, Goat, Rooster.



The world’s largest annual human migration is now well underway as 2.8 billion trips are made across China in what is known as chunyun, when students, migrant workers and office employees living away from home will make the journey back to celebrate with their families.


And let's not forget that today is also the Feast of Saint Juliana of Nicomedia. She refused to marry a Roman official, so he had her roasted in flames, then dipped into boiling oil before finally being beheaded, which seems rather harsh even for Roman times.

Once again, Springsteen was right - it's hard being a saint (in the city.)


February 16, 1940 -
A truncated version of A Chump at Oxford (the second to last Laurel and Hardy feature) was released on this date



The short version of the film was originally in four reels, a "streamliner" designed to compete with theaters' new double feature concept. Roach produced only a few of these hybrids, and added the dinner party sequence later to bring it up to it's feature length.


February 16, 1956 -
The film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Carousel, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, premiered on this date.



At the time that this film was released, it was not successful at the box office, but the film's soundtrack album did become a national best seller.


February 16, 1964 -
The Beatles appeared for the second time on the Ed Sullivan Show on this date.



The Beatles performed six songs: She Loves You, This Boy, All My Loving, I Saw Her Standing There, From Me To You and I Want To Hold Your Hand. The Beatles received $25,000 for their appearance; half of what Elvis got for his.


February 16, 1975 -
The music variety series Cher premiered on CBS-TV on this date.

How did this get on the air?


Remember, it's bad luck to sweep up today.


Today in History:
February 16, 1899 -
Félix François Faure, President of France and the owner of the most audacious mustache in the late 19th century, died suddenly from a massive heart attack in his private offices while in the act of some sort of sexual congress with the notable courtesan, Marguerite Steinheil on this date.

Apparently when Faure reached his petit mort, he had his grand mort. A probably apocryphal story, listed as fact by many sources, is that M. Le President died with his hands gripping Miss Steinheil's head and an anxious government official nearly 'brained' her trying to remove the hysterical lady from the vise-like grip of his 'cold dead hands.'

The French statesmen and future president, George Clemenceau famously said, after hearing of Faure's death, "...il voulait être César, il ne fut que Pompée," which is incredibly witty and very filthy for a family newspaper (go look it up yourself.)


February 16, 1918 -
Lithuania declared its independence from Russia on this date. Independence lasted until World War II.

It was such a successful declaration that they declared their independence again in 1990.

February 16, 1921 -
Vera-Ellen, actress and possible anorexia nervosa sufferer (there is a raging debate on the internet about whether or not she was - and I am still legally obligated to state this,) was born on this date.



Vera went to the same Cincinnati ballroom dance studio as a child as Doris Day. Their parents used to carpool together to the dance studio.


February 16, 1923 -
Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter opened King Tut's tomb, revealing one of the most well-preserved treasures from the ancient world on this date.



While it has been frequently reported that a curse killed 13 of the 20 people present at the opening of the tomb, there was no curse and no unusual death patterns occurred.  
Wait a minute, what's that lurking in the shadows?


February 16, 1935 -
Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono, politician, musical artist and producer was born on this date.  -



Little known facts about Salvatore - Bono was the godfather of Anthony Kiedis and in later years dabbled with Scientology, although his last wife (of whom he had four including Cher,) said that he was trying to distance himself from the religion at the time of his death.

Kids, once again we have to repeat - do not mess around with Scientology.


February 16, 1935 -
The Phantom, created by Lee Falk (also creator of Mandrake the Magician), makes his first appearance in a comic strip on this date.

The Phantom is credited as being the first "costumed superhero", i.e. the first crimefighter to wear the skintight costume attributed to comic book superheroes,


February 16, 1937 -
Nylon material was patented by Wallace H. Carothers, a researcher for DuPont on this date. He also helped to produce the first synthetic rubber, Neoprene, and was instrumental in the development of synthetic silks.

Sadly, Carothers committed suicide after a long battle with depression by drinking lemon juice laced with cyanide (not a cocktail that I would recommend.)


February 16, 1959 -
Failed baseball player Fidel Castro was sworn in as President For Life of Cuba after having led the revolution that removed Fulgenico Batista. At the time, Cuba was a nation plagued by poverty, racked by corruption, and held in thrall by the military force of its leader.

During his first year of rule, 500 were put to the firing squad, an RBI record any dictator would be proud of.


February 16, 1990 -
I didn't start doing graffiti until two years after I got to New York. Jean Michel Basquiat was one of my main inspirations for doing graffiti. For a year I didn't know who Jean Michel was, but I knew his work.



Keith Haring, artist/cartoonist, died of AIDS-related complications at 31 on this date.



And so it goes


1071

Out with the old

Hey it's Lunar New Year's Eve in many parts of the world tonight:



It's a busy night, in between hanging red lanterns, the New Year reunion dinners, setting off firecrackers, giving red envelopes to kids (I will never be too old to accept a red envelope,) staying up late  - Enjoy!

Today is also the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalia.

This was a fertility festival in honor of the pastoral god Lupercus.


It's also Nirvana Day (for some people),

no, it's not the day you wear your flannel shirts and listen to grunge music; it's the day Buddha died and achieved bliss (Parinirvana.)


Hopefully you had a very nice time yesterday.



in case you didn't get your sweetie something nice, here's hoping they're not from the South.



OK, swipe you nose, wash you face and get back out there.


February 15, 1950 -
Walt Disney's 12th animated feature, Cinderella was premiered in Boston, Massachusetts on this date.



Walt Disney had not had a huge hit since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 13 years previously. The production of this film was regarded as a major gamble on his part. At a cost of nearly $3,000,000, Disney insiders claimed that if this movie had failed at the box office, it would have been the end of the Disney studio. The film was a big hit.


February 15, 1985 -
Don't you forget about me -

Universal Pictures released John Hughes' film (and introduced the Brat Pack to an unsuspecting world), The Breakfast Club, starring, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy on this date.



The film was shot entirely in sequence.


February 15, 1987 -
Broadcast over the course of seven nights, Amerika, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



This was developed in direct response to The Day After, which many right-wing conservatives claimed was left-wing propaganda.


Today's moment of zen


Today in History -
Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564. He invented a telescope with which he later discovered craters on the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, and every luscious detail of the girl next door's nubile young form. Galileo's astronomical observations seemed to confirm Copernicus' theory that the Earth went around the Sun rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, Copernicus' theory was heresy and therefore not supposed to be confirmed.



The church was in a tough spot. Galileo was every bit as Bad and Heretical as Copernicus had been, but they didn't want to inspire a bunch of angry Germans to start another church, as Martin Luther's followers had not long after the church's previous brush with Astronomy.

High-ranking church officials pleaded with the astronomer: "Come on, Galileo." "Please, Galileo." "Knock it off, Galileo."

But he wouldn't stop talking about the Earth spinning around the Sun. He couldn't even be persuaded to talk about something else, such as sports, the weather, or the girl next door's nubile young form. So they threatened to kill him.



At this point Galileo remembered that the Sun actually did revolve around the Earth, and the church rewarded his improved memory by giving him free room and board for the rest of his life (a level of hospitality sometimes referred to as "house arrest".)


February 15, 1758 -



Mustard was first advertised for sale in America on this date, by Benjamin Jackson who had set up business in Globe Mills, Germantown, Philadelphia, selling mustard packed in glass bottles with his label on them.



In the Philadelphia Chronicle, he claimed to be "the original establisher of the mustard manufactory in American, and ... at present, the only manufacturer on the continent," and that he had brought the art with him from London to America.


February 15, 1882 -
Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?



John Barrymore, noted thespian and alcoholic, was born into the bosom of his famous theatrical clan on this date.


February 15, 1898 –

http://www.historynet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Maine-960-.jpg
The battleship U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana Harbor on this date, commencing a splendid little war against Spain that ends with Cuba under martial law and the United States owning a colonial empire.



The situation is immortalized in the film Citizen Kane with the lines, "You supply the prose poetry. We'll supply the war."


The first teddy bear is introduced in America by two Russian immigrants, Morris and Rose Michtom, who own a toy and novelty store in Brooklyn, New York on this date in 1903.



While bear hunting in Mississippi in 1902, President Teddy Roosevelt decided to spare the life of a bear cub which had been orphaned during the hunt. The event was the subject of a cartoon in the Washington Post seen by the Michtoms. Inspired by the cartoon, Mrs. Michtom made a toy bear which became enormously popular with the public in short order.

Now you know.


February 15, 1933 -President-elect Franklin Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt in Miami on this date. Giuseppa Zangara, an unemployed New Jersey bricklayer from Italy, fired five pistol shots at the back of President-elect Roosevelt's head from only twenty-five feet away.



While all five rounds missed their target, each bullet found a separate victim. One of these was Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago. Gunman Giuseppe Zangara was executed a little more than four weeks later, on March 20, 1933.


February 15, 1936 -
At a speech in Berlin on this date, Hitler confronts German industry with the challenge of creating the Volkswagen.

Thus Ferdinand Porsche designed the Beetle which is now widely seen as the final solution to fahrvergnugen.


February 15, 1961 -
The U.S. figure skating team is obliterated when Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium on this date.



The crash was the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 707 in regular passenger service.


February 15, 1995 -
Kevin Mitnick, at the time the most wanted computer hacker in history, was arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina for various offenses, one of which was breaking into security specialist Tsutomu Shimomura's computer on this date.

Mitnick now runs Mitnick Security Consulting, a computer security consultancy.

Kids, sometimes, crimes does pay.


February 15, 2005 -
You Tube, the video-sharing website, was launched by three former PayPal employees on this date. The first video was uploaded on April 23, 2005.



I can't confirm that most videos posted on You Tube are any more interesting than the one posted above.


And so it goes.

Before you go - I just saw this wonderful supercut love letter to  the Film Noir genre by Serena Bramble (it's six years old but it's still marvelous.)



click over to the vimeo sight to see the titles of the films used.


1072

The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free.

Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.

For the first time in 73 years, Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day fall on the same day. Kids, Ash Wednesday is a Holy Day of Obligation. And that also means today and Good Friday are the only two days of the whole year on which fasting and abstinence are required.

Hey, I'm just saying, it's between you and God

Happy Valentine's Day folks





Remember to enjoy the day and don't eat too much chocolate


Hominem te esse memento! Memento mori! -



You're not being helpful - by trying to wipe the the smudge mark on your friend's forehead today



( Did you find the coin in the Kings cake? )



So begins forty days (remember that the six Sundays between today and Easter don't count as part of the 40 days) of prayer, fasting, contemplation and community service and not the Lentil season, which is marked by forty days of legume eating and gas passing (but that's another story.)


For those of you not in a romantic mood today:
February 14, 1931 -
Just in time for the Valentine's Day holiday, Universal Pictures released Tod Browning's horror classic, Dracula, on this date.



There was no real musical soundtrack in the film because it was believed that, with sound being such a recent innovation in films, the audience would not accept hearing music in a scene if there was no explanation for it being there (e.g., the orchestra playing off camera when Dracula meets Mina at the theatre).


February 14, 1970 –
Sly & the Family Stone's song Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and it's 'double A-side' Everybody Is a Star hit no. #1 on the Billboard charts at the same time on this date.





Sly Stone wrote this because he was upset that people were not listening to the messages in his songs even though the band was more popular then ever. They were an integrated band and tried to spread the message of racial harmony, but Stone thought that message was getting lost. The lyrics are scathing and mostly directed at Sly himself, but once again, many people lost the message in the powerful groove.


The reason behind the holiday.


Today in History:
February 14, 1400 -
... How some have been depos’d, some slain in war,   
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,   
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping kill’d,   
All murthered ...



King Richard II of England, who had been deposed in 1399, died mysteriously on this date.


February 14, 1779 -
English explorer Captain James Cook and some of his crew are slaughtered (and possibly eaten) by angry Hawaiian islanders, after he tried to take a Hawaiian chief hostage over a dispute regarding a stolen boat.



There was possibly a better way to get the deposit back on a boat.


February 14, 1929 -
The Capone gang killed six members of the Bugs Moran gang and one other person at the S.M.C. Cartage company in Chicago, in an event known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.



Bogus police officers were used so that it appeared to be a routine police bust. Except for all the bodies.


February 14, 1948 -
Raymond Joseph Teller (Teller) an illusionist, comedian and writer best known as the silent half of the comedy magic duo known as Penn and Teller, accomplished sleight of hand artist, painter, atheist, debunker, skeptic and Fellow of the Cato Institute was born on this date.



He legally changed his name to Teller and possesses one of the few United States passports issued in a single name.

Yeah, he can speak (you idiots.)


February 14, 1962 -
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, with her breathless voice, takes television viewers on a tour of the White House. (Haven't you always found it strange that Marylin Monroe and Jackie Kennedy basically have the same voice?)



It was estimated that hundreds of millions of people saw the program, making it the most widely viewed documentary during the genre's so-called golden age.


February 14 - 2016 -
Antonin Scalia has been dead for more than a year now;



his fellow judges are tenaciously clinging to life.



And so it goes.


1073

Lucky day they're standing where you are

Bon temps roulez, mes amis - It's Mardi Gras!









No one needs to disrobe, it's much too cold and we've got plenty of beads (unless you like to disrobe in public and then, it's between you and your maker.)


Today is also know as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, which heralds the beginning of fasting in Lent. On this day (so the historians say) there were feasts of pancakes to use up the supplies of fat, butter and eggs... foods that were forbidden during austere Lent.



In England there are several celebrations on this day but perhaps the best known one is the Pancake Day Race at Olney in Buckinghamshire which has been held since 1445. The race came about when a woman cooking pancakes heard the shriving bell summoning her to confession. She ran to church wearing her apron and still holding her frying pan, and thus without knowing it, started a tradition that has lasted for over five hundred years.

Keep flipping them pancakes


It's also National Tortellini Day



And it has something to do with Venus di Milo's belly button


February 13, 1932 -
The Our Gang short, Free Eats premiered on this date. This marked the introduction of George "Spanky" McFarland to the Our Gang comedies.



He and his brother Tommy auditioned for Our Gang in the Spring of 1931, with Spanky passing a screen test easily. Tommy also appeared in many Our Gang film in bit roles.


February 13th, 1966 -
The Rolling Stones returned for their third appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date.







Their performances had been taped the day before.


February 13, 1972 -
Bob Fosse's film version of the musical Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey premiered on this date.



Liza Minnelli designed all her own hair and make-up with the help of her father, famed musical director Vincente Minnelli.


Rules of the road


Today in History:
On February 13, 1542, Henry VIII of England's Vth wife, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery on this date.



Given the track record of Henry's other wives, one would have figured out marrying Henry was not a career with a lot of advancement possibilities.


On February 13, 1883, German composer and posthumous Hitler idol Richard Wagner, best known for writing the soundtrack to Apocalypse Now, died on this date.







Almost exactly eleven years later (February 12, 1894), Hans von Bulow, German pianist and composer, and the first husband of Wagner's wife Cosima, also died on this date.


February 13, 1945 -
An estimated 135,000 people, mostly women and children, died in the firebombing of the 13th-century city of Dresden, a revenge bombing that had no real military justification, which had begun on this date.





Kurt Vonnegut was one of just seven American prisoners of war in Dresden to survive, in an underground meatpacking cellar known as Slaughterhouse Five.


February 13, 1950 -
 ... Jacques the Monkey! Jacques the Monkey! ...





Peter Gabriel, singer, was born on this date.


February 13, 1953 -
Transsexual Christine (nee George) Jorgensen arrived in New York with much fanfare on this date.



She had had sex change operations performed in Denmark by Dr. Christian Hamburger, becoming the first successful surgical transgender. Upon return, she became a cabaret actress
.


The excess parts of George went on to become the other half of the famous East German TV Comedy Duo, Gunther and Smeckel.


February 13, 1959 -
Barbara Millicent Roberts, noted American Idol contestant, Ballerina, Fashion model, Movie producer, Movie star, Rock star, Radio City Music Hall Rockette, Aerobics instructor, Olympic gymnast, Olympic figure skater, Tennis star, WNBA basketball player, Dentist, Medical doctor, Nurse, Pediatrician, Surgeon, Veterinarian, United States Army officer, United States President, UNICEF Summit diplomat, Ambassador for world peace, Firefighter, Police officer, Canadian Mountie, Astronaut, Flight Attendant ( for both American Airlines & Pan Am ), NASCAR driver, Pilot, Cowgirl, Chef, Paleontologist, McDonald's Front Desk and Flight Attendant, etc. was introduced by Mattel in California on this date.



What have you done with your life? (There is some debate whether or not today or March 9th is actually her birthday.)


February 13, 1960-
France conducted its first nuclear test, code-named “Gerboise Bleue” (Blue Desert Rat). The day marked the beginning of a series of four atmospheric nuclear tests at the Reganne Oasis, in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.



The test also sets France on the path to building the country’s nuclear capacity, acquiring nuclear aircraft, missiles and submarines. France is happy to remind it's neighbor, Germany, that she has the bomb and Germany does not.


February 13, 1961 -
Henry Lawrence Garfield (Henry Rollins), singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, stand-up comedian, author, actor, activist and publisher, was born on this date.



And he will mess you up if you don't believe that he is a sensitive soul.


February 13, 2004 -
Astronomers announced the discovery of the largest "diamond" in the universe on this date.  The diamond was actually a white dwarf star which was found to be very similar in composition to a diamond.



It was nicknamed "Lucy" after the Beatles' hit Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.



And so it goes.

Before you go - I haven't posted a video from the folks at Burger Fiction in a while. Last week they posted a supercut of Every Best Visual Effects Oscar Winner. from 1929 to present.



Don't forget the Oscars will be broadcast of March 4th on ABC-TV.


1074

But what the hell do you care

February 12, 1294 -
... Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.


      
Kublai Khan, the conqueror of Asia, died at the age of 80.


February 12, 1924 -
George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York on this date.



It has become one of the most popular American concert works.


On this day in 1940, Superman appeared on a radio station (a Mutual Radio station WOR in New York City) for the first time, the first time in a non-print medium.  It was the debut of the radio show called The Adventures of Superman and the episode was called "The Baby From Krypton."



We don't get to hear Superman speak though until the second episode: "Clark Kent, Reporter" (February 14, 1940.)


February 12, 1943 -
Much of the cast of Citizen Kane/ The Magnificent Ambersons was reunited for the Action/ Thriller, Journey Into Fear, directed by Norman Foster and starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores del Rio, Ruth Warrick, Agnes Moorehead, and Orson Welles, opened in NYC on this date.



It is widely believed that Orson Welles directed this film, or at least large portions of it. However, in "This Is Orson Welles", he states he only acted in it and the directing credit should go to Norman Foster.


February 12, 1955 -
Another in the series of Westerns director Anthony Mann collaborated with Jimmy Stewart, The Far Country, opened in NYC on this date.



James Stewart often said that his horse, Pie, a sorrel stallion was, "One of the best co-stars I ever had." Pie appeared as Stewart's horse in seventeen Westerns, and James developed a strong personal bond with the horse.


February 12, 1972 -
The Rev. Al Green's song, Let's Stay Together, hit no. 1 on this date.



You do not have to place your hands upon the screen when listening to the good reverend; just hearing his voice will send the healing power directly to your nether regions.


Word of the Day


Today In History:
On February 12, 1554, The sixteen year old Lady Jane Grey, puppet Queen of England for nine days, was beheaded in the Tower of London, on this date.



Questions arose as to where to bury this semi-queen, until it was decided to place her among the beheaded former wives of Henry VIII.


Adolf Frederick was King of Sweden until he died of digestion problems on February 12, 1771 after having consumed a meal consisting of lobster, caviar, sour cabbage, smoked herring and champagne, which was topped off with 14 servings of his favorite dessert: semla (a hot cross bun filled with cream) served in a bowl of hot milk.



He is thus remembered by Swedish schoolchildren as the king who ate himself to death.

Kids remember -  push away from the dessert tray.


February 12, 1789 -
Ethan Allen died in a drunken sleigh accident while crossing the frozen Lake Champlain, reminiscing with friends and rye. Much of the circumstance remains a mystery.

The Spirit of Ethan Allen is Lake Champlain's largest cruise ship.

So kids remember, if you're lucky and you die while drunkenly crossing a frozen lake, you too can get a cruise ship or a line of furniture named after you.


Immanuel Kant, a real pissant, died on February 12, 1804. His last words were reportedly "It is good."



This is hard to believe, since Kant did not speak English.


It's the 209th birthday of both Abraham Lincoln, a man with only a years' worth of formal education and still became our 16th President



and Charles Darwin, the man who tried to ride a dog to the tropics and the uncle of most monkeys.



Go try preserving a union and question people's fundamental religious beliefs in their honor.


On February 12, 1894, Hans von Bulow died, (yes, Klaus is related to him).

He was a popular pianist and composer, and the husband of composer Franz Liszt's daughter, Cosima, who screwed around behind Hans' back and ultimately left him for Richard Wagner, (more about him tomorrow)


Emperor Pu Yi of China's Manchu dynasty abdicated on February 12, 1912, allowing the establishment of a provisional republic under Sun Yat-sen, eventually causing Red China.



And the making of a fine movie.


February 12, 1912 -
With pilot Frank Coffyn flying the plane, American Press Association photographer Adrien C. Duff, shot the first ever film of New York City from overhead on this date



By doing so, this made Duff the very first airplane passenger over New York Harbor. Mr Duff spent the next 10 years getting a full body cavity search from the TSA.


February 12, 1935 -
The 785-foot USS Macon, the last US Navy dirigible (ZRS-5), crashed on its 55th flight off the coast of California. After takeoff from Point Sur, California, a gust of wind tore off the ship's upper fin, deflating its gas cells and causing the ship to fall into the sea. Two of Macon 's 83 crewmen died in the accident.



The U.S. Navy lost the airships Shenandoah in 1925 and Akron in 1933. Some considered airships too dangerous for the program to continue at that point, and work on them in the United States was halted temporarily.


February 12, 1967 -
Police in London arrest Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull on this date, after they discover amphetamine pills, cannabis resin, and Marianne scandalously naked but for a fur rug. (There has been rumors for years that either Paul McCarthy or George Harrison were at the party and were allowed to leave before the arrest were made - they were MBE's and it would have been awkward to arrest them at the time.)

The two Rolling Stones received jail sentences which were successfully appealed.

Questions still persist - where exactly was that Mars Bar anyway?


February 12, 1976 -
Sal Mineo, film and theater actor, was stabbed to death in Los Angeles while coming home from a play rehearsal on this date.



A pizza deliveryman, Lionel Ray Williams, was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 57 years in prison for killing Mineo and for committing 10 robberies in the same area.


February 12, 2004 -
After 43 years together, Barbie and Ken, shocked the nation when they announced that they were breaking up on this date.



The couple had met on the set of their first television commercial together in 1961.

Don't worry, those crazy kids have patched things up and they're still going strong.



And so it goes.



1075

Huh

It's Peppermint Patty Day - No, not this one

This one



It's minty chocolatey goodness.


We should wish George Washington, a very happy birthday,

but they've moved his birthday a couple of times and he's quite dead -  so why bother


February 11, 1962 -
Sheryl Suzanne Crow, singer-songwriter, musician and Michael Jackson backup singer survivor, was born on this date.





When sending birthday wishes, don' t bring up any of her exes.


February 11, 1969 -
The former lady of the perpetual bad relationship, Jennifer Aniston, now happily wed, was born on this date.





Jennifer deserves to be well and happy (Greek girls always have a special place in my heart.)


February 11, 1975 -
One of the most iconic films of the 70s, Shampoo, directed by Hal Ashby, written by Robert Towne and starring Warren Beatty was released on this date.



The lead character was based on actual hairdresser Jay Sebring and Jon Peters.


I don't think I read this one


Today in History:
On February 11, 1573, Francis Drake saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time on this date, and this is noteworthy, since 100's of thousands of West Coast living indigenous Native Americans saw it before they went to bed the night before.

And he still had time to create those delicious little cakes.


February 11, 1650 -
Rene Descartes, mathematician, drunken fart and philosopher best known for his statement "I think therefore I am", stops thinking on this date.



Queen Christina of Sweden (remember - the boy queen - see December 18 ) persuaded Descartes to come to Stockholm. On this date, after only a few months in that cold climate, he died of pneumonia.

Kids let this be a lesson to you - never accept an invitation from transvestite royalty.


Friedrich Ebert was elected the first president of the German Republic on February 11, 1919.

President Ebert brought about the Weimar constitution that eventually resulted in Adolf Hitler's rise to power.

I bet he didn't see that coming.


February 11, 1929 -
The Lateran Treaty was signed on this date - Mussolini granted recognition to the Vatican in return for their support of his fascist dictatorship.

Kids, here's another lesson for you - entering a treaty with balding dictators can never lead to anything good.


February 11, 1936 -
It's Burt Reynolds' birthday. He's not the one who squealed like a pig in Deliverance (what he does in his private life is none of my concern.)



Burt should have charged for all those mustache rides; he wouldn't have been in such financial straits.


February 11, 1938 -
BBC Television produced the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R., which coined the term robot.

The show was a thirty-five-minute adaptation of a section of the play, performed live from the BBC's Alexandra Palace studios. The BBC had no professional facility for recording programs in those pre-war days, so save a few on-set publicity photographs and reviews in the press, all records of this production are lost.


February 11, 1960 -
Jack Paar, temperament host of the Tonight Show, in a fit of pique, walks off his TV show when he is not allowed to tell a very lame joke about W.C. 's on this date.



Yes Jack, there is a better way to make a living than this, nowadays, you would be allowed to broadcast live while you are getting a colonoscopy.


February 11, 1963 -
American writer Sylvia Plath, committed suicide by asphyxiation from a gas stove (sticking her head in the oven) in London after her husband, English poet Ted Hughes, left her for another woman.



Assia Wevill, the woman for whom Hughes left Plath committed suicide 6 years later.


February 11, 1979 -
Followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, nine days after the religious leader returned to his home country following 15 years of exile on this date.



But 43 million people in the US try to seek salvation by watching Elvis! on ABC-TV on this date.



Most do not find it because they forgot to place one hand on the TV screen and the other hand upon their damp nether regions.

When will the damned ever learn!


February 11, 1986 -
Frank Herbert, author of Dune, died from pancreatic cancer on this date.



If only he had access to the spice Melange.


February 11, 1990 -
Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, was freed from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa on this date.



In April 1994, he was elected president in the first all-race elections.  If only he had access to the spice Melange years earlier.


February 11,  2006 -
Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington, a major Texas Republican insider, in the face while bird hunting on this date.



Almost immediately after being released from the hospital, a shaken Whittington, apologizes to the Vice President for getting in his line of fire. After this event, no one in Washington D.C. messed with Dick Cheney.



And so it goes.


Before you go - Puddles released a cover of the Flat Duo Jets song, Lonely Guy, this week -



I sensed that this could be his theme song


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BTW - her real name is Patricia Reichardt

Asked and answered

We enjoyed watching the opening ceremonies last not but wondered, as well as many other viewers, why were there so many empty seats.



The light show on the seats gave the impression that the athletes are walking into a completely empty stadium. The reason it looks empty is an optical illusion related to the bright light displays distributed at every seat and the wide camera angles necessary to capture the larger pictures composed by those lights. In fact, the stadium was actually 95% full in the areas that were not saved for the 2,952 athletes competing at the Games as they marched in, according to the Guardian.


February 10, 1940 -
Puss Gets the Boot, the cartoon short is released by MGM on this date. It's the first appearance of Tom and Jerry.



Yeah, yeah, I know that the cat is called Jasper in this cartoon. But dammit, it's Tom, none the less.


February 10, 1942 –
The first gold record was presented to Glenn Miller for Chattanooga Choo Choo for selling 1.2 million copies in just nine months. There was no official rule set at the time to qualify.

It was a framed, gold-lacquered stamper, which later became symbolic for a million-record sales.  Miller quipped, “Thanks a million, two-hundred-thousand!” 


February 10, 1945 -
The no. 1 song in America, on this date, was Rum and Coca Cola by Andrews Sisters. (The copyright holder of the song was Morey Amsterdam of The Dick Van Dyke Show fame, but that's another story.)



It's nice to think back in the more 'innocent' era of America, songs about when mother and daughter prostitute rings in the Caribbean were all the rage.


February 10, 1956 -
The series about a boy and his horse is set on the Goose Bar Ranch in Montana, My Friend Flicka premiered on CBS TV on this date.



Although short-lived, the series was broadcast on all three major networks at one time or another, as well as the Disney Channel.

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


Today in History:
February 10, 60 CE -
St. Paul was believed to have been shipwrecked near Malta while en route to Rome for trial for practicing Catholicism on this date. (It shouldn't have been a shock to the Romans that St. Paul was practicing Catholicism when his first name was St.)

The story is told in the Bible’s New Testament Acts of the Apostles, chapter 27. Since the shipwreck involves the lead-cup drinking, orgy-mongering Romans (who obviously were otherwise occupied when it came to accurately recording dates in history,) the Maltese commemorate the event every February 10.


February 10, 1535 -
12 Anabaptists ran nude through the cold and snowy streets of Amsterdam on this date. (Once again, I'm sure there's an explanation but why ask me?)

Soon the seven men and five women were apprehended. The women were executed on May 15, the men on February 25, 1535, all by beheading.

And you wonder why Anabaptism didn't catch on big in the US - I just wanted to put that little thought in you mind today


February 10, 1840 -
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, (whose first language was German, was taught English and French, and became virtually trilingual, though her mastery of the conjugation of the past-participles irregular verbs in English remained incomplete which was luckily not on the English Monarchy exam), married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (proving she also failed biology,) on this date.



She arranged marriages for her nine children (mostly to their first cousins) and forty-two grandchildren (mostly to their own first cousins - they needed charts and grafts to make sure they didn't marry their own brothers and sisters) across the continent, tying Europe together; this earned her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe".



Oh those wacky inbred royals.


February 10, 1855 -
US citizenship laws were amended to include all children of US parents born abroad on this date.

I would remind Sen. Ted Cruz that he may want to remind someone of this (but he seems not to want to be bothered by facts.)


February 10, 1863 -
Little people Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren married in a ceremony at New York's Grace Episcopal Church. P. T. Barnum footed the bill for the wedding, and generated tremendous publicity (and revenue - reception tickets $75, adjusted for inflation, $1250 in today's dollars) in the weeks prior to and
following the nuptials.

Commodore Nutt and Lavinia's shorter and younger sister Minnie acted as attendants. The Thumbs afterwards honeymooned in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC. In Washington they were invited by President Lincoln to be the guests of honor at a special White House reception.


February 10, 1920 -
Polish general and politician Józef Haller, performed a symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.

Happy anniversary (no comment.).


February 10, 1967 -
The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on this date.



The 25th Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which doesn't explicitly state whether the Vice President becomes the President if the President died, resigned, was removed from office or was unable to discharge the Presidential powers.

Mike Pence eagerly waits by the phone for the call he knows will come.


February 10, 1968 -
Peggy Fleming won the gold medal in women's figure skating for the US at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France, on this date.



In 1994, Sports Illustrated named her one of the 40 individuals who most significantly altered or elevated sports in the previous 40 years.



And so it goes


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Citius, Altius, Fortius

The opening ceremonies for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games starts today -




(I haven't posted anything from Mental Floss in a while; they've changed their name to Scatterbrained.)

We're getting ready to watch - are you?


It is Toothache Day,



Bathtub Day and



Bagels and Lox Day today.



I'm not quite sure why?


February 9, 1933 -
Based on the Mae West play Diamond Lil, the film She Done Him Wrong, opened in general release on this date. This was one of the last films to be made before the introduction of the Production Code.



Mae West was signed by Paramount in 1931 to make a film adaptation of her stage play. They then spent the next two years trying to figure out a way of getting the material past the censors. The battle over Diamond Lil led to the head of the Production Board, James Wingate, quitting and being replaced by the much more hardline Joseph Breen who was prompted to set up a fairly stringent and moral Production Code.


February 9, 1971 -
All in the Family aired what TV scholars believe to be the first positive portrayal of a gay issue on American television on this date.



Guest stars Anthony Geary and Philip Carey both went on to play long running roles on popular ABC Soap Operas. Geary as Luke Spencer on General Hospital, and Carey as Asa Buchannan on One Life to Live.


February 9, 1976 -
Paul Simon's song, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, hits number 1 on this date.



Paul Simon has never gotten around to listing the other ways to leave but poking around the internet, I have discovered the other 45 ways:

6. Post her nude pics, Dick.
7. Delete him from your phone, Simone.
8. Block his digits, Bridget.
9. Keep him in the dark, Mark.
10. Keep blowing her off, Kristoph.
11. Just have the chat, Pat.
12. Make her break up with you, Stu.
13. Stop having sex with her, Jessic… er.
14. Give him an ultimatum, Tatum.
15. Change your address, Jess.
16. Tell the whole truth, Ruth.
17. Just get up and leave, Steve.
18. Tell her you’ve “grown apart,” Bart.
19. Tell him “It’s not you, it’s me,” Bree.
20. Don’t give him a second chance, Lance.
21. In a public place, Chase.
22. Tell her “we’re turning into our parents,” Clarence.
23. Get back together with your ex, Lex.
24. Let yourself be the villain, Dylan.
25. Throw dishes and yell, Belle.
26. Start being mean, Gene.
27. Get really quiet, Wyatt.
28. Give up the fight, Dwight.
29. Get caught in the act, Jack.
30. Forget her birthday again, Glenn.
31. Just cut him loose, Bruce.
32. Pretend you didn’t know you were supposed to be “together,” Heather.
33. Tell her you’re married, Larry.
34. Say “It’s moving too fast,” Cass.
35. Tell him you “don’t like rules,” Jules.
36. Tell her you “don’t like labels,” Mabel.
37. Just disappear, Greer.
38. “Lose your phone,” Joan.
39. Text “We need to talk,” Brock.
40. Just be too busy, Lizzy.
41. Say you “need space,” Grace.
42. Say, “we’re just taking a break,” Jake.
43. Say, “I think I might be gay,” Ray.
44. Say, “I think I might be straight,” Nate.
45. Admit to your affair, Blair.
46. Get a restraining order, Porter.
47. Tell her “It’s me or the drinkin,” Lincoln.
48. Fly off the handle, Randall.
49. Blame everything on him, Tim.
50. Say “I don’t deserve you,” Drew

Next up - 50 ways to Delouse your Liver or 50 ways to lose your luggage


February 9, 1997 -
The Fox cartoon series The Simpsons became the longest-running animated series in cartoon history when it aired it's 167th episode on this date.



"I can't believe we've been annoying people for this long," executive producer and show creator Matt Groening told the Associated Press. The show is still going 21 years later



It's been 5PM for ages in South Korea



Today in History -
On February 9, 772, Adrian I was elected pope. His election was won largely due to strong Frank support. (This Gaelic support system was the precursor to French support, which remains anything but Frank.)

Adrian worked closely with Charlemagne, also known as Carolus Magnus (Big Chuck), the inventor of France.

So now you know.


William Henry Harrison was born on February 9, 1773. Mr. Harrison was the Ninth president of the United States.



He died after 32 days in office, although historians are quick to point out that it has never been adequately proven that he was alive prior to his inauguration.


February 9, 1825 -
John Quincy Adams became the Sixth U.S. President, despite losing the popular vote.  Adams was elected by the House of Representatives on this date after the Electoral College could not arrive at a majority.



His appointment was largely due to the influence of Henry Clay (then Speaker of the House and also a candidate for the presidency in 1824), whom Adams later appointed as his Secretary of State.


The Great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky died on February 9, 1881.



He died of natural causes in Moscow, and over 40,000 mourners turned out for his funeral but what the hell do you care, you didn't read him anyway.


February 9, 1894 -
Chocoholics everywhere rejoice!



Milton Hershey founded the Hershey Chocolate Company (just in time for Valentine's Day) and began experimenting with a process mastered by the Swiss - mixing milk with chocolate on this date.


February 9, 1909 -
The first federal law prohibiting the importation of opium was enacted, The Opium Exclusion Act of 1909 on this date.

It is aimed not particularly at the ravages the drug was having on American society but as a discriminatory act against  the Chinese

(note: white people weren't using opium in large quantities at the time.)


February 9, 1942 -
The former French cruise ship Normandie, launched in 1935, burned in New York Harbor during its conversion to an Allied trip transport ship on this date.



It was once regarded as most elegant ocean liner ever built. In 1947, the remaining wreckage was cut up for scrap.


February 9, 1950 -
Senator Joseph McCarthy announced he has a list more than 200 State Department employees who were Communist Party members on this date.



He did not mention that J. Edgar Hoover liked to wear a bustier and leather pumps. (Perhap Mr. Nunes should study this episode in history and see where it ends up for Senator McCarthy.)


February 9, 1964 -
The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date. Approximately 74 million viewers (about half of the American population) watched the group perform on the show.



I wonder if late at night, they can still hear the ghost of those little girls screaming inside the Ed Sullivan Theatre.



And so it goes.



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