grilled Neanderthals make a damn fine meal.
We ate the Neanderthals?
(Metro NY) Scientists may have finally stumbled upon a plausible explanation for the disappearance of the Neanderthals some 30,000 years ago: We ate them, claims a leading fossil expert.
Fernando Rozzi, a research team leader at Paris’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, says markings on a Neanderthal jawbone found in the south of France are indicative of human interactions. The marks are similar, Rozzi says, to ones made on deer and other animals killed by Stone Age-era men.
Neanderthals, who lived all across Europe hundreds of thousands of years ago, conveniently disappeared just around the time human beings arrived on the scene.
“For years, people have tried to hide away from the evidence of cannibalism, but I think we have to accept it took place,” Rossi said. “Neanderthals met a violent end at our hands, and in some cases, we ate them.”
So remember kids, make sure the person rubbing sun tan lotion on your back isn't actually marinating you.
May 19 1536-
In the first public execution of an English queen, Anne Boleyn is beheaded. In her speech, Boleyn has nothing but good things to say about her husband, Henry VIII: "I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord."
Except of course for this whole beheading thing.
May 19 1890 -
Nguyen Tat Thanh is born in central Vietnam. After World War I he devotes his life to the Communist cause, adopting a series of pseudonyms along the way. Finally he settles on "The Enlightener," that being the English translation of Ho Chi Minh.
As a birthday present, the US decides to bomb Hanoi in 1967 on this date.
May 19 1928 -
Saloth Sar, one of the world's most successful mass murderers, is born in French Indochina.
He later adopts the name Pol Pot in 1976, a year after the Khmer Rouge seizes control of Cambodia.
May 19 1935 -
Thomas Edward Lawrence was killed in a motorcycle accident. Lawrence was a British officer who rose to prominence during the Arabian campaigns of the first World War. Clad in the magnificent white silk robes of an Arab prince ... he hoped to pass unnoticed through London. Alas he was mistaken.
He can also be seen in "The Lion in Winter," "Becket," "What New, Pussycat" and "My Favorite Year."
May 19 1945 -
Peter Townshend, Rock Singer/guitarist/vocalist/composer, was born on this date .
After he was rated as the 50th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone, Mr. Townshend fell into a deep depression and was reduced to appearing with another old time rocker, Roger Daltrey at benefit concerts.
How sad.
May 19, 1951 -
The first in the series of the transvestite Bugs Bunny, the ever clueless Daffy Duck, and bestiality minded Elmer Fudd "Hunting Trilogy", Rabbit Fire was released on this date.
Watch Rabbit Fire in Animation | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
You do and I'll give you such a pinch.
May 19, 1951 –
Joey Ramone, (Jeffrey Ross Hyman) punk rocker, songwriter and countercultural icon was born on this date.
Don't we all want to be sedated.
May 19, 1952 (1948 - it's not for us to question a woman about her real age) -
Grace Jones, singer, model, and actress was born on this date.
The amount of sex had while listening to Grace Jones songs that Dr. James Dobson would find sinful is incalculable.
May 19 1962 -
Democrats staged a fund-raiser in New York's Madison Square Garden that was billed as a birthday salute to President Kennedy.
Perhaps it takes a huge amount of hubris to have your mistress, Marilyn Monroe performed a sultry rendition of ``Happy Birthday to You'' in front of your wife and the nation.
Apparently, Kennedy had balls.
And so it goes
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
I heard it over the weekend and I can't stop humming it -
I wasn't even hanging out in a bar.
Today in History:
May 18 1843 -
On May 18, 1843, Joseph Smith made a specific prophecy -
"I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left." -- Joseph Smith, prophet of God and founder of the Mormon church .
Ominously, Smith's prophesy is proven true. By the Great depression of 1888, most potsherds are only found in museums and the value of broken pottery plummets to near valuelessness.
May 18 1936 -
Tokyo gangster Kichizo Ishida is accidentally strangled by his mistress during a session of rough sex. Ishida had been a "gasper," someone who enjoys the sexual effects of asphyxiation. The woman, Sada Abe, indulged him by wrapping her pink kimono belt around his neck. After her lover's death, Abe cuts off Ishida's penis and scrotum with a meat cleaver and carries them around until she is finally arrested, three days later. 40 years later, a taboo breaking film, In the Realm of the Senses, is released, retelling the events of the sordid tale.
Makes a great first date movie.
May 18, 1980 -
The Superstar Asian actor, Chow Yun-Fat, was born on this date.
He deserves to be much better known.
May 18, 1980 -
The body of Ian Curtis, lead singer of dirge band Joy Division, is discovered hanging in the kitchen by his wife. Curtis killed himself on the eve of Joy Division's U.S. tour.
His surviving bandmates go on to form New Order.
May 18 1980 -
After a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Washington state, 57 people are killed in an avalanche of volcanic mud in the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
The volcano spews out 200 million cubic yards of of pumice, ash, and debris which covers 24 square miles of the valley below.
And so it goes
Sunday, May 17, 2009
It's National Norway Day.
Please consider consuming a great deal of Fårikål (lamb and cabbage) and Hansa.
And remember, please don't pine for the fjords.
Here is your Today in History -
On May 17, 1673, Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette first set out to explore the course of the Mississippi, which they believed would lead them to paradise.
Unfortunately it only took them to New Orleans, and they weren’t even in time for Mardi Gras.
May 17, 1792 -
24 drunken stock brokers got together outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street which earlier was the site of a stockade fence and signed an agreement with two provisions: 1) the brokers were to deal only with each other. Thereby eliminating the auctioneers, and 2) the commissions were to be .25%.
Thus the New York Stock Exchange was born (and none of it involving the shadowy derivative market.)
May 17 1950 -
In a Lonely Place, an excellent film noir directed by Nicholas Ray was released on this date. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a big favor and go out and rent it right now.
"I was born when she kissed me, I died when she left me, I lived a few weeks while she loved me."
May 17, 1974 -
During a gun battle with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the LAPD fires tear gas into their Watts hideout. The canisters ignite a fire which soon consumes the house. Three other SLA members, including kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, watch the events unfold on TV in their motel room down the street from Disneyland.
Proving once again, it is the happiest place on earth.
May 17 1992 -
Bandleader, accordion player, and soap bubble aficionado Lawrence Welk dies of pneumonia in his beachfront condo in Santa Monica, California.
"Now for my accordion solo, Myron, will you join me?"
Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, and Jimmy Stewart was born on May 20, 1908. Without them we would not have had such American classics as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Mr. Smith Goes Back to Washington," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Again," "Mr. Smith Is Still in Washington," "Mr. Smith Feels Your Pain," "Mr. Smith is Really Very Serious about Term Limits," and, "Mr. Smith Drops Dead in Senate Chamber."
The duo also gave us "It's a Wonderful Life" with its own magnificent sequels: "It's a Really Wonderful Life," "It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than Life," and "Life Is Just So Damn Good I Don't Know Whether to Take a Dump or Go Blind."
And so it goes
And remember, please don't pine for the fjords.
Here is your Today in History -
On May 17, 1673, Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette first set out to explore the course of the Mississippi, which they believed would lead them to paradise.
Unfortunately it only took them to New Orleans, and they weren’t even in time for Mardi Gras.
May 17, 1792 -
24 drunken stock brokers got together outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street which earlier was the site of a stockade fence and signed an agreement with two provisions: 1) the brokers were to deal only with each other. Thereby eliminating the auctioneers, and 2) the commissions were to be .25%.
Thus the New York Stock Exchange was born (and none of it involving the shadowy derivative market.)
May 17 1950 -
In a Lonely Place, an excellent film noir directed by Nicholas Ray was released on this date. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a big favor and go out and rent it right now.
"I was born when she kissed me, I died when she left me, I lived a few weeks while she loved me."
May 17, 1974 -
During a gun battle with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the LAPD fires tear gas into their Watts hideout. The canisters ignite a fire which soon consumes the house. Three other SLA members, including kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, watch the events unfold on TV in their motel room down the street from Disneyland.
Proving once again, it is the happiest place on earth.
May 17 1992 -
Bandleader, accordion player, and soap bubble aficionado Lawrence Welk dies of pneumonia in his beachfront condo in Santa Monica, California.
"Now for my accordion solo, Myron, will you join me?"
Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, and Jimmy Stewart was born on May 20, 1908. Without them we would not have had such American classics as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Mr. Smith Goes Back to Washington," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Again," "Mr. Smith Is Still in Washington," "Mr. Smith Feels Your Pain," "Mr. Smith is Really Very Serious about Term Limits," and, "Mr. Smith Drops Dead in Senate Chamber."
The duo also gave us "It's a Wonderful Life" with its own magnificent sequels: "It's a Really Wonderful Life," "It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than Life," and "Life Is Just So Damn Good I Don't Know Whether to Take a Dump or Go Blind."
And so it goes
Saturday, May 16, 2009
No, they all don't have St. Vitus Disease.
It's the third annual dance parade in NYC
It's heading down Broadway to the village.
Here is your Today in History -
May 16, 1763 -
James Boswell first met Samuel Johnson in Tom Davie's London bookshop. Due to the lax stalking laws of the period, Mr. Boswell followed Mr. Johnson around for several decades. On May 19, 1795, Mr. Boswell died.
(This could not have come a relief to Mr. Johnson, who had already been dead for some time and was probably relishing the privacy.)
When the first Academy Awards were handed out on May 16, 1929, movies had just begun to talk. That first ceremony took place during an Academy banquet in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The attendance was 270 and guest tickets cost $5.
It was a long banquet, filled with speeches, but presentation of the statuettes was handled expeditiously by Academy President Douglas Fairbanks. Do you think they can dig up Mr. Fairbanks to speed up the next award show?
May 16, 1965 -
"Greatest invention since the spoon", Spaghetti-O's went on sale today, on this date.
Due the the overwhelming demand, now with more squirrel meat.
May 16 1984 -
Intergender wrestling champion and conceptual comic Andy Kaufman pretends to die of lung cancer. In order to make it really convincing, Andy underwent months of radiation therapy and six weeks of psychic surgery in the Philippines.
And he never made any more public appearances. You must admire someone who can stick with a joke for this long.
May 16 1986 -
In the most notorious cheats in the history of television, Pam Ewing wakes up to find her husband Bobby in the shower -- no small feat, considering he's been dead for a whole season.
In order to revivify Bobby's character, the Dallas writers resorted to dismissing the entire preceding year as nothing more than Pam's protracted dream.
May 16 1990 -
Sammy Davis, Jr. dies of throat cancer in Beverly Hills. After the legendary Rat pack singer/entertainer is buried with $70,000 in jewelry, the family discovers that Mr. Bojangles was broke and left millions of dollars in unpaid back taxes.
His widow then orders the body exhumed so they can repo the jewelry.
Imagine the look on Sammy's face went they opened the casket.
May 16 1990 -
Attached to a ventilator and swimming in antibiotics, Muppet creator Jim Henson dies of a severe case of pneumonia in a New York hospital.
In keeping with his express wishes, no one is permitted to wear black at Henson's funeral service, which features 5,000 fans waving painted butterflies and a live band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In."
The process of pickling was first practiced thousands of years ago by Mesopotamians. William Seward was born hundreds of years ago in New York.
Seward served as a Whig governor of New York, but later served as a Republican Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln. Compare this to the fact that refrigerated pickles account for about 20 percent of all pickle sales.
North Americans prefer pickles with warts. Europeans prefer wartless pickles. William Seward may have had warts.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that pickles are technically a fruit, not a vegetable. William Seward was not a vegetable and never served on the Supreme Court.
William Seward helped negotiate the deal that made Alaska an American territory. Americans consume about 2.5 billion pounds of pickles annually.
And so it goes
It's heading down Broadway to the village.
Here is your Today in History -
May 16, 1763 -
James Boswell first met Samuel Johnson in Tom Davie's London bookshop. Due to the lax stalking laws of the period, Mr. Boswell followed Mr. Johnson around for several decades. On May 19, 1795, Mr. Boswell died.
(This could not have come a relief to Mr. Johnson, who had already been dead for some time and was probably relishing the privacy.)
When the first Academy Awards were handed out on May 16, 1929, movies had just begun to talk. That first ceremony took place during an Academy banquet in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The attendance was 270 and guest tickets cost $5.
It was a long banquet, filled with speeches, but presentation of the statuettes was handled expeditiously by Academy President Douglas Fairbanks. Do you think they can dig up Mr. Fairbanks to speed up the next award show?
May 16, 1965 -
"Greatest invention since the spoon", Spaghetti-O's went on sale today, on this date.
Due the the overwhelming demand, now with more squirrel meat.
May 16 1984 -
Intergender wrestling champion and conceptual comic Andy Kaufman pretends to die of lung cancer. In order to make it really convincing, Andy underwent months of radiation therapy and six weeks of psychic surgery in the Philippines.
And he never made any more public appearances. You must admire someone who can stick with a joke for this long.
May 16 1986 -
In the most notorious cheats in the history of television, Pam Ewing wakes up to find her husband Bobby in the shower -- no small feat, considering he's been dead for a whole season.
In order to revivify Bobby's character, the Dallas writers resorted to dismissing the entire preceding year as nothing more than Pam's protracted dream.
May 16 1990 -
Sammy Davis, Jr. dies of throat cancer in Beverly Hills. After the legendary Rat pack singer/entertainer is buried with $70,000 in jewelry, the family discovers that Mr. Bojangles was broke and left millions of dollars in unpaid back taxes.
His widow then orders the body exhumed so they can repo the jewelry.
Imagine the look on Sammy's face went they opened the casket.
May 16 1990 -
Attached to a ventilator and swimming in antibiotics, Muppet creator Jim Henson dies of a severe case of pneumonia in a New York hospital.
In keeping with his express wishes, no one is permitted to wear black at Henson's funeral service, which features 5,000 fans waving painted butterflies and a live band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In."
The process of pickling was first practiced thousands of years ago by Mesopotamians. William Seward was born hundreds of years ago in New York.
Seward served as a Whig governor of New York, but later served as a Republican Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln. Compare this to the fact that refrigerated pickles account for about 20 percent of all pickle sales.
North Americans prefer pickles with warts. Europeans prefer wartless pickles. William Seward may have had warts.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that pickles are technically a fruit, not a vegetable. William Seward was not a vegetable and never served on the Supreme Court.
William Seward helped negotiate the deal that made Alaska an American territory. Americans consume about 2.5 billion pounds of pickles annually.
And so it goes
Friday, May 15, 2009
Please cut it out.
Queens School Official In Critical Condition From H1N1 - (NY1 News)
The city has closed three Queens schools over another flu outbreak that sent a staff member to the hospital in critical condition.
The New York City Health Department says the assistant principal at I.S. 238 in Jamaica is on a ventilator at Flushing Hospital. Assistant Principal Mitchell Wiener's case is the most severe illness in the city from the H1N1 virus.
But Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday Wiener may have had pre-existing health problems like many other H1N1 patients whose cases turned critical.
In addition to Wiener, four of the school's students have confirmed cases of H1N1. Dozens of other students were sent home in the past week with flu-like symptoms.
Whoever is still trying to put lipstick on a pig - stop it. We've had enough of the swine flu scares here in NYC
I strongly urge you to make your way down to a NYC subway and hunt down Prof. Edward Alvarado wherever he is playing.
It is a 'See Rome then die' moment.
Here is your Today in History -
May 15, 1886 -
Emily Dickenson finally heard the buzzing of that fly in her room on this date.
This day is little remembered and yet of great import. It was on May 15, 1916, that Sir Mark Sykes of Britain and Georges Picot of France, with Russia's assent, confirmed their agreement to carve up the tottering Ottoman Empire between them.
Most of the mess that was the 20th Century can be traced back to the accord. In brief, here are some of the some of the issues these knuckleheads were trying to sort out -
Russia vs Turkey vs Greece over Constantinople, the Straits and Thrace
France vs the Arabs vs Turkey over Syria
Britain vs France vs the Arabs vs the Zionists over Palestine
Greece vs Turkey vs Italy over Smyrna and southwest Asia Minor
Britain vs France vs the Arabs vs Turkey over Kurdish northern Iraq
France vs Turkey over southeastern Asia Minor and Alexandretta
Russia vs Turkey over Armenia and The southeast Black Sea coast
America, for once, wasn't in on the deal.
May 15, 1918 -
The US Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
Of course this new service was a rousing success - the plane got lost and the mail finally had to be sent via train days later. In honor of this special date the Postal Service raised the rate of First Class Postage on Monday.
Hooray!!!
May 15, 1928 -
Plane Crazy was the first animated cartoon to feature Mickey Mouse as well as Minnie Mouse (Mickey's girlfriend). The short was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks was also the main animator for this short and reportedly spent six weeks working on it. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were credited for assisting him; these two had already signed their contracts with Charles Mintz, but he was still in the process of forming his new studio and so for the time being they were still employed by Disney.
This short would be the last they animated under this somewhat awkward situation. In case you don't know it kids, these guys are the giants of animation and they all worked on this one cartoon.
May 15 1960 -
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik IV, a three-ton spacecraft containing a "dummy cosmonaut." The mission goes fine until they attempt to retrofire.
A bug in the guidance system had pointed the capsule in the wrong direction, so instead of dropping into the atmosphere the satellite moves into a higher orbit.
May 15 1970 -
The Beatles' the twelfth and final studio album, 'Let It Be,' is released in US on this date.
It's probably the most famous 'break-up of a band' album.
May 15 1972 -
On February 16, 1972, Arthur Bremer quit his job as a janitor. Two weeks later, he began his diary on March 1 with the words, "It is my personal plan to assassinate by pistol either Richard Nixon or George Wallace". His purpose was "to do SOMETHING BOLD AND DRAMATIC, FORCEFUL & DYNAMIC, A STATEMENT of my manhood for the world to see".
In his haste, the gunman forgets to yell his carefully-chosen catchphrase, "Penny for your thoughts!" And when Wallace survives the assassination attempt, albeit confined to a wheelchair, Bremer's name is soon forgotten.
Happy Birthday Michael.
And so it goes
The city has closed three Queens schools over another flu outbreak that sent a staff member to the hospital in critical condition.
The New York City Health Department says the assistant principal at I.S. 238 in Jamaica is on a ventilator at Flushing Hospital. Assistant Principal Mitchell Wiener's case is the most severe illness in the city from the H1N1 virus.
But Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday Wiener may have had pre-existing health problems like many other H1N1 patients whose cases turned critical.
In addition to Wiener, four of the school's students have confirmed cases of H1N1. Dozens of other students were sent home in the past week with flu-like symptoms.
Whoever is still trying to put lipstick on a pig - stop it. We've had enough of the swine flu scares here in NYC
I strongly urge you to make your way down to a NYC subway and hunt down Prof. Edward Alvarado wherever he is playing.
It is a 'See Rome then die' moment.
Here is your Today in History -
May 15, 1886 -
Emily Dickenson finally heard the buzzing of that fly in her room on this date.
This day is little remembered and yet of great import. It was on May 15, 1916, that Sir Mark Sykes of Britain and Georges Picot of France, with Russia's assent, confirmed their agreement to carve up the tottering Ottoman Empire between them.
Most of the mess that was the 20th Century can be traced back to the accord. In brief, here are some of the some of the issues these knuckleheads were trying to sort out -
Russia vs Turkey vs Greece over Constantinople, the Straits and Thrace
France vs the Arabs vs Turkey over Syria
Britain vs France vs the Arabs vs the Zionists over Palestine
Greece vs Turkey vs Italy over Smyrna and southwest Asia Minor
Britain vs France vs the Arabs vs Turkey over Kurdish northern Iraq
France vs Turkey over southeastern Asia Minor and Alexandretta
Russia vs Turkey over Armenia and The southeast Black Sea coast
America, for once, wasn't in on the deal.
May 15, 1918 -
The US Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
Of course this new service was a rousing success - the plane got lost and the mail finally had to be sent via train days later. In honor of this special date the Postal Service raised the rate of First Class Postage on Monday.
Hooray!!!
May 15, 1928 -
Plane Crazy was the first animated cartoon to feature Mickey Mouse as well as Minnie Mouse (Mickey's girlfriend). The short was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks was also the main animator for this short and reportedly spent six weeks working on it. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were credited for assisting him; these two had already signed their contracts with Charles Mintz, but he was still in the process of forming his new studio and so for the time being they were still employed by Disney.
This short would be the last they animated under this somewhat awkward situation. In case you don't know it kids, these guys are the giants of animation and they all worked on this one cartoon.
May 15 1960 -
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik IV, a three-ton spacecraft containing a "dummy cosmonaut." The mission goes fine until they attempt to retrofire.
A bug in the guidance system had pointed the capsule in the wrong direction, so instead of dropping into the atmosphere the satellite moves into a higher orbit.
May 15 1970 -
The Beatles' the twelfth and final studio album, 'Let It Be,' is released in US on this date.
It's probably the most famous 'break-up of a band' album.
May 15 1972 -
On February 16, 1972, Arthur Bremer quit his job as a janitor. Two weeks later, he began his diary on March 1 with the words, "It is my personal plan to assassinate by pistol either Richard Nixon or George Wallace". His purpose was "to do SOMETHING BOLD AND DRAMATIC, FORCEFUL & DYNAMIC, A STATEMENT of my manhood for the world to see".
In his haste, the gunman forgets to yell his carefully-chosen catchphrase, "Penny for your thoughts!" And when Wallace survives the assassination attempt, albeit confined to a wheelchair, Bremer's name is soon forgotten.
Happy Birthday Michael.
And so it goes
Thursday, May 14, 2009
So who do we sue for peace if the war is over?
White House Czar Calls for End to 'War on Drugs' (WSJ)
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting "a war on drugs," a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use.
In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation's drug issues.
"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."
Ok, everybody spark 'em up.
It's Israel's 61th anniversary.
Maybe we could all chip in and buy them some peace for their birthday.
Today in History:
May 14, 964 -
Pope John XII dies of injuries inflicted eight days prior by a jealous husband who caught him in flagrante delicto with his wife.
The 26-year-old pontiff had received a blow to the temple, causing immediate paralysis. Critics had accused John of converting the Lateran Palace into a whorehouse.
Give me that old time religion.
The first inoculation against smallpox was administered on May 14, 1796, by Edward Jenner, when Jenner took fluid from a cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy
(a brief aside - how much do you trust your kid's doctor -
"Good Afternoon Mr & Mrs. Phipps. Little Jimmy seems fine, nothing out of the ordinary. I'll see him next year for his check up. Oh by the way, I'd like to smear some pus from a cow sore into a small open wound I've just inflicted upon Jimmy. It's no big deal.")
This medical wonder came only four days after Napoleon's army defeated the Austrians in the Battle of Lodi.
Exactly twenty-two years prior to that, King Louis XV had died of smallpox (on May 10, 1774).
When he died, Louis XVI became king, and only five years later (on La Quatorze Juillet, French for "the Fourth of July"), the Revolution began (mostly because Louis's wife kept telling everyone to eat cake), which resulted in the Rain of Terror, which resulted, eventually, in Napoleon.
Which practically brings it all full circle, if you're not a stickler for circularity.
May 14, 1878 -
Robert A. Chesebrough begins selling Vaseline (registered trademark for petroleum jelly (U.S. Patent 127,568)) .
The word is believed to come from German Wasser (=water) + Greek ??a??? (=oil).
Insert dirty joke here (of course liberally lubricated with Vaseline.)
May 14, 1951 -
The seminal Ernie Kovacs Show, debuts on NBC .
Show like as Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Uncle Floyd Show, Saturday Night Live, The David Letterman Show and even Captain Kangaroo and Sesame Street were influenced by Kovacs and his television work. TV has never been quite the same since.
May 14, 1989 -
Moonlighting, one of the better "boy/girl detective show" airs it's last episode on ABC on this date.
The series had long since 'jumped the shark' but wow, Bruce Willis' toup was fantastic.
May 14, 1998 -
The final episode of Seinfeld airs. Jerry Seinfeld holds both the record for the "most money refused" according to the Guinness Book of World Records by refusing an offer to continue the show for $5 million per episode, and another record for the Highest Ever Annual Earnings For A TV Actor, while the show itself held the record for the Highest Television Advertising Rates until 2004, when the final episode of Friends aired.
Not too shabby for a show about nothing.
May 14, 1998 -
"He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night...." F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Albert Sinatra, Ole' Blue Eyes, died on this date. Chairman of the Board of Show Business had an oddly appropriate personal motto: "You gotta love livin' baby, 'cause dyin's a pain in the ass."
After all is said and done, it the voice that matters. It triumphs over the banality of death.
And so it goes.
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting "a war on drugs," a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use.
In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation's drug issues.
"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."
Ok, everybody spark 'em up.
It's Israel's 61th anniversary.
Maybe we could all chip in and buy them some peace for their birthday.
Today in History:
May 14, 964 -
Pope John XII dies of injuries inflicted eight days prior by a jealous husband who caught him in flagrante delicto with his wife.
The 26-year-old pontiff had received a blow to the temple, causing immediate paralysis. Critics had accused John of converting the Lateran Palace into a whorehouse.
Give me that old time religion.
The first inoculation against smallpox was administered on May 14, 1796, by Edward Jenner, when Jenner took fluid from a cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy
(a brief aside - how much do you trust your kid's doctor -
"Good Afternoon Mr & Mrs. Phipps. Little Jimmy seems fine, nothing out of the ordinary. I'll see him next year for his check up. Oh by the way, I'd like to smear some pus from a cow sore into a small open wound I've just inflicted upon Jimmy. It's no big deal.")
This medical wonder came only four days after Napoleon's army defeated the Austrians in the Battle of Lodi.
Exactly twenty-two years prior to that, King Louis XV had died of smallpox (on May 10, 1774).
When he died, Louis XVI became king, and only five years later (on La Quatorze Juillet, French for "the Fourth of July"), the Revolution began (mostly because Louis's wife kept telling everyone to eat cake), which resulted in the Rain of Terror, which resulted, eventually, in Napoleon.
Which practically brings it all full circle, if you're not a stickler for circularity.
May 14, 1878 -
Robert A. Chesebrough begins selling Vaseline (registered trademark for petroleum jelly (U.S. Patent 127,568)) .
The word is believed to come from German Wasser (=water) + Greek ??a??? (=oil).
Insert dirty joke here (of course liberally lubricated with Vaseline.)
May 14, 1951 -
The seminal Ernie Kovacs Show, debuts on NBC .
Show like as Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Uncle Floyd Show, Saturday Night Live, The David Letterman Show and even Captain Kangaroo and Sesame Street were influenced by Kovacs and his television work. TV has never been quite the same since.
May 14, 1989 -
Moonlighting, one of the better "boy/girl detective show" airs it's last episode on ABC on this date.
The series had long since 'jumped the shark' but wow, Bruce Willis' toup was fantastic.
May 14, 1998 -
The final episode of Seinfeld airs. Jerry Seinfeld holds both the record for the "most money refused" according to the Guinness Book of World Records by refusing an offer to continue the show for $5 million per episode, and another record for the Highest Ever Annual Earnings For A TV Actor, while the show itself held the record for the Highest Television Advertising Rates until 2004, when the final episode of Friends aired.
Not too shabby for a show about nothing.
May 14, 1998 -
"He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night...." F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Albert Sinatra, Ole' Blue Eyes, died on this date. Chairman of the Board of Show Business had an oddly appropriate personal motto: "You gotta love livin' baby, 'cause dyin's a pain in the ass."
After all is said and done, it the voice that matters. It triumphs over the banality of death.
And so it goes.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Happy Birthday Stevie
May 13 1950 -
Steveland Morris Hardaway, musician was born prematurely, on this day. Too much oxygen in the incubator caused the baby to become permanently blind.
At the age of ten, Little Stevie Wonder, as he was called by Berry Gordy at Motown, was discovered singing and playing the harmonica. He had many hits during his teens including 'Fingertips' and as an adult he has earned an Oscar and at least sixteen Grammy Awards.
It's too bad the whole blindness thing has held him back.
Today in History:
May 13 1568 -
At the battle of Langside, Mary Queen of Scots was defeated by the English.
Her heroic stand is worthy of remembrance, but it's interesting to speculate how she might have fared if she had brought along some soldiers.
May 13, 1787 -
The first fleet of ships carrying convicted criminals left England en route to a new British prison called Australia.
You'd think that by sending their religious nuts to North America and their criminals to Australia, the British would have created a pleasant little island paradise for themselves. Instead their empire has dwindled away over the past 100 years, while the religious nuts and criminals of the U.S. and Australia have established themselves as major powers at Wimbledon.
May 13 1913 -
The latest brainchild of Russian aircraft design genius Igor Sikorsky embarks on its maiden flight.
The Grand, easily the world's most luxurious passenger plane, includes such innovations as upholstered seats, a balcony, and even a lavatory.
May 13 1917-
Three small children in Fatima, Portugal receive the first of six visitations from the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
Over the next five months she lays some pretty heavy crap on the kids, including a three-part secret: a vision of Hell, a prophecy of war with godless Russia, and a third secret which involved Y2K.
May 13 1940 -
Winston Churchill takes the helm as Great Britain's new prime minister, announcing: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
He assures Parliament that his new policy will consist of nothing less than "to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime."
May 13 1981 -
A delusional Turk guns down Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. Mehmet Ali Agca believes that the Vatican is an abomination before God and must be destroyed.
19 years later, the Church will disclose that the assassination attempt was foretold in 1917, as part of the third secret of Fatima.
May 13 1985 -
After attempting to serve arrest warrants, police in West Philadelphia are sucked into a 90-minute gunfight with members of the MOVE organization. Later, police drop a bomb on the house from a helicopter.
The bomb misses its target and ignites a fire which consumes the entire city block. 61 houses are destroyed in the conflagration, killing 11 MOVE members -- including five children -- and leaving hundreds of neighbors homeless.
And so it goes.
Steveland Morris Hardaway, musician was born prematurely, on this day. Too much oxygen in the incubator caused the baby to become permanently blind.
At the age of ten, Little Stevie Wonder, as he was called by Berry Gordy at Motown, was discovered singing and playing the harmonica. He had many hits during his teens including 'Fingertips' and as an adult he has earned an Oscar and at least sixteen Grammy Awards.
It's too bad the whole blindness thing has held him back.
Today in History:
May 13 1568 -
At the battle of Langside, Mary Queen of Scots was defeated by the English.
Her heroic stand is worthy of remembrance, but it's interesting to speculate how she might have fared if she had brought along some soldiers.
May 13, 1787 -
The first fleet of ships carrying convicted criminals left England en route to a new British prison called Australia.
You'd think that by sending their religious nuts to North America and their criminals to Australia, the British would have created a pleasant little island paradise for themselves. Instead their empire has dwindled away over the past 100 years, while the religious nuts and criminals of the U.S. and Australia have established themselves as major powers at Wimbledon.
May 13 1913 -
The latest brainchild of Russian aircraft design genius Igor Sikorsky embarks on its maiden flight.
The Grand, easily the world's most luxurious passenger plane, includes such innovations as upholstered seats, a balcony, and even a lavatory.
May 13 1917-
Three small children in Fatima, Portugal receive the first of six visitations from the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
Over the next five months she lays some pretty heavy crap on the kids, including a three-part secret: a vision of Hell, a prophecy of war with godless Russia, and a third secret which involved Y2K.
May 13 1940 -
Winston Churchill takes the helm as Great Britain's new prime minister, announcing: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
He assures Parliament that his new policy will consist of nothing less than "to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime."
May 13 1981 -
A delusional Turk guns down Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. Mehmet Ali Agca believes that the Vatican is an abomination before God and must be destroyed.
19 years later, the Church will disclose that the assassination attempt was foretold in 1917, as part of the third secret of Fatima.
May 13 1985 -
After attempting to serve arrest warrants, police in West Philadelphia are sucked into a 90-minute gunfight with members of the MOVE organization. Later, police drop a bomb on the house from a helicopter.
The bomb misses its target and ignites a fire which consumes the entire city block. 61 houses are destroyed in the conflagration, killing 11 MOVE members -- including five children -- and leaving hundreds of neighbors homeless.
And so it goes.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I can't get it out of my head
They've been playing the commercial featuring Biz Markie's song 'Just a friend' non-stop.
I can't for the life of me remember the product but I keep humming the song
Today in History:
While Limerick is the third largest city in Ireland, that has nothing to do with the fact that it's National Limerick Day which for some reason happens to coincide with Edward Lear's birthday.
Remember all those unfortunate folks from Nantucket.
May 12 1797 -
Following Napoleon's conquest of Venice, Ludovico Manin reluctantly steps down as its last Doge.
Thus ends the Most Serene Republic's 820-year history of national sovereignty.
May 12 1932 -
Delivery truck driver William Allen pulled his truck to the side of a road about 4.5 miles from the Lindbergh home. He went to a grove of trees to relieve himself, and there he discovered the badly decomposed body of the Lindbergh Baby. There were signs that the body had been chewed on by various animals as well as indications that someone had made an attempt to hastily bury the body.
These kinds of stories make you want to be a piss bottle man.
May 12 1932 -
Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, makes his first appears in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney .
Once again, yes he is a dog and yes Pluto is his pet dog, try understanding the time/ space continuum.
May 12, 1967 -
At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert. Included in their set was their first UK hit, "Arnold Layne"
Please kids, time your drugs correctly.
May 12 1971 -
Tor Johnson dies of congestive heart failure at the age of 67 in San Fernando, California.
The man who once wrestled under the name "The Super Swedish Angel" leaves behind a legacy of B-movie acting roles, most famously as the bald zombie in Ed Wood's masterpiece "Plan 9 from Outer Space."
May 12 1993 -
NBC broadcasts the last episode of 'Cheers' on this date.
I wonder if everybody still knows your name?
I'm not sure that you remember it but first class postage went up to 42 cents last year on this date (It's now 44 cents.)
And so it goes.
I can't for the life of me remember the product but I keep humming the song
Today in History:
While Limerick is the third largest city in Ireland, that has nothing to do with the fact that it's National Limerick Day which for some reason happens to coincide with Edward Lear's birthday.
Remember all those unfortunate folks from Nantucket.
May 12 1797 -
Following Napoleon's conquest of Venice, Ludovico Manin reluctantly steps down as its last Doge.
Thus ends the Most Serene Republic's 820-year history of national sovereignty.
May 12 1932 -
Delivery truck driver William Allen pulled his truck to the side of a road about 4.5 miles from the Lindbergh home. He went to a grove of trees to relieve himself, and there he discovered the badly decomposed body of the Lindbergh Baby. There were signs that the body had been chewed on by various animals as well as indications that someone had made an attempt to hastily bury the body.
These kinds of stories make you want to be a piss bottle man.
May 12 1932 -
Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, makes his first appears in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney .
Once again, yes he is a dog and yes Pluto is his pet dog, try understanding the time/ space continuum.
May 12, 1967 -
At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert. Included in their set was their first UK hit, "Arnold Layne"
Please kids, time your drugs correctly.
May 12 1971 -
Tor Johnson dies of congestive heart failure at the age of 67 in San Fernando, California.
The man who once wrestled under the name "The Super Swedish Angel" leaves behind a legacy of B-movie acting roles, most famously as the bald zombie in Ed Wood's masterpiece "Plan 9 from Outer Space."
May 12 1993 -
NBC broadcasts the last episode of 'Cheers' on this date.
I wonder if everybody still knows your name?
I'm not sure that you remember it but first class postage went up to 42 cents last year on this date (It's now 44 cents.)
And so it goes.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Hey, did you notice?
It hasn't rained in a couple of days.
Today in History:
May 11 1310 -
For you fans of the Da Vinci Code, 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics.
Established during the Crusades to protect pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, this military order came into increasing conflict with Rome until Clement V officially dissolves it at the Council of Vienna in 1312.
May 11, 1812
Spencer Perceval was a British statesman and Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. On May 11, 1812, Perceval was on his way to attend the inquiry when he was shot through the heart in the lobby of the House of Commons by a mentally unsound man called John Bellingham, who blamed his financial instability on a casual suggestion of Perceval.
He died almost instantly, uttering the words "I am murdered", and Bellingham gave himself up to officers. He was found guilty and hanged a week later. It is often thought to be illegal to die in the Palace of Westminster, and the place of his actual death and the place of his recorded death are unknown.
May 11, 1888
Israel Isidore Beilin was a Russian-born naturalized American composer and lyricist, and one of the most prolific American songwriters in history. Berlin was one of the few Tin Pan Alley/Broadway songwriters who wrote both lyrics and music for his songs.
Although he never learned to read music beyond a rudimentary level, with the help of various uncredited musical assistants or collaborators, he eventually composed over 3,000 songs, many of which (e.g. "God Bless America", "White Christmas", "Anything You Can Do", "There's No Business Like Show Business") left an indelible mark on American music and culture. He composed seventeen film scores and twenty-one Broadway scores.
May 11 1907 -
A derailment outside Lompoc, California kills 32 Shriners, when their chartered train jumps off the tracks at a switch near Surf Depot. Many of them were scalded to death when the steam boiler ruptured.
No word on the fate of their groovy fezzes.
May 11, 1949 -
Siam changed its name to Thailand, because everyone was getting tired of those jokes where one guy would say, "Are you familiar with this place?" and the other guy would go "Yeah, Siam," and the first guy would go, "You gonna tell me where we are?" and the other guy would be like, "Yes: Siam." and it would go on and on and they'd never give it a rest.
Had anyone foreseen the glut of restaurants trading on the new name, however—Beau Thai, Thai Me Up, Thai One On, etc—the nation might still be called Siam.
May 11 1960 -
Four Mossad agents abduct factory foreman, junior water engineer and professional rabbit farmer Ricardo Klement
(and, oh yeah fugitive Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann) from a bus stop in Buenos Aires.
May 11 1981 -
Jamaican music legend and U.N. Peace Medal recipient Bob Marley dies of brain cancer in a Miami hospital at the age of 36.
Marley had quietly begun a course of radiation therapy at Sloan-Kettering a few months prior, but abandoned it just two days later after word leaked out.
And so it goes
Today in History:
May 11 1310 -
For you fans of the Da Vinci Code, 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics.
Established during the Crusades to protect pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, this military order came into increasing conflict with Rome until Clement V officially dissolves it at the Council of Vienna in 1312.
May 11, 1812
Spencer Perceval was a British statesman and Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. On May 11, 1812, Perceval was on his way to attend the inquiry when he was shot through the heart in the lobby of the House of Commons by a mentally unsound man called John Bellingham, who blamed his financial instability on a casual suggestion of Perceval.
He died almost instantly, uttering the words "I am murdered", and Bellingham gave himself up to officers. He was found guilty and hanged a week later. It is often thought to be illegal to die in the Palace of Westminster, and the place of his actual death and the place of his recorded death are unknown.
May 11, 1888
Israel Isidore Beilin was a Russian-born naturalized American composer and lyricist, and one of the most prolific American songwriters in history. Berlin was one of the few Tin Pan Alley/Broadway songwriters who wrote both lyrics and music for his songs.
Although he never learned to read music beyond a rudimentary level, with the help of various uncredited musical assistants or collaborators, he eventually composed over 3,000 songs, many of which (e.g. "God Bless America", "White Christmas", "Anything You Can Do", "There's No Business Like Show Business") left an indelible mark on American music and culture. He composed seventeen film scores and twenty-one Broadway scores.
May 11 1907 -
A derailment outside Lompoc, California kills 32 Shriners, when their chartered train jumps off the tracks at a switch near Surf Depot. Many of them were scalded to death when the steam boiler ruptured.
No word on the fate of their groovy fezzes.
May 11, 1949 -
Siam changed its name to Thailand, because everyone was getting tired of those jokes where one guy would say, "Are you familiar with this place?" and the other guy would go "Yeah, Siam," and the first guy would go, "You gonna tell me where we are?" and the other guy would be like, "Yes: Siam." and it would go on and on and they'd never give it a rest.
Had anyone foreseen the glut of restaurants trading on the new name, however—Beau Thai, Thai Me Up, Thai One On, etc—the nation might still be called Siam.
May 11 1960 -
Four Mossad agents abduct factory foreman, junior water engineer and professional rabbit farmer Ricardo Klement
(and, oh yeah fugitive Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann) from a bus stop in Buenos Aires.
May 11 1981 -
Jamaican music legend and U.N. Peace Medal recipient Bob Marley dies of brain cancer in a Miami hospital at the age of 36.
Marley had quietly begun a course of radiation therapy at Sloan-Kettering a few months prior, but abandoned it just two days later after word leaked out.
And so it goes
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Did you call your mother?
The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war. In 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.
When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908, in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Originally the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.
So now you know.
May 10 1871 -
France and Germany signed a peace treaty in which France had to give up a lot of land (Alsace-Lorraine) to Germany.
They weren't happy about it, so after World War I they took it back. In the second World War the Germans reclaimed it. After the war the victorious allies held it briefly but decided not to get involved. They gave it back to France, where it remains to this day.
May 10, 1899 -
Balanchine and Nureyev rated him the greatest dancer of the twentieth century, and he is generally acknowledged to have been the most influential dancer in the history of filmed and televised musicals. Frederick Austerlitz was born on this date in Omaha, Nebraska.
He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Not bad for a guy who's comments concerning his first first screen were, in part, "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little."
May 10 1924 -
In perhaps the single worst mistake in the history of crime fighting, Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone selects J. Edgar Hoover to head the Bureau of Investigation, later known as the FBI.
Hoover, in his cha-cha heels, red lipstick and Raymond Burr Nipple Rouge will remain at the post until his death 48 years later. (Bet that's an image you won't be getting out of your head anytime soon.)
May 10 1933 -
Joseph Goebbels presides over a public book burning in Berlin, which destroys more than 20,000 volumes. The collection includes books by Einstein and Freud.
During the bibliocaust, Goebbels declares: "We have directed our dealings against the un-German spirit; consign everything un-German to the fire."
May 10 1940 -
Winston Churchill was sworn in as British Prime Minister. Three days after being sworn in, he told parliament that he could offer only "blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
This was grudgingly deemed satisfactory by a palpably disappointed parliament, but only after he agreed to be fitted with an IV.
May 10 1941 -
Running out of fuel and unable to find a suitable spot to land his Messerschmitt, Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess bails out over Scotland.
When Hess claims to have made the trip in order to negotiate a peace treaty with England, the Nazis declare that he was a psychotic ho "lived in a state of hallucination." After the war, Hess is confined to Spandau prison until his apparent suicide in 1987.
May 10 1969 -
The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937.
It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
May 10 1977 -
Joan Crawford succumbs to stomach cancer at the age of 73. In the early days of her career, Crawford had performed in several stag films, and later spent a considerable sum buying back the prints to destroy them.
Her final words were purportedly, "Damn it...Don't you dare ask God to help me," which were directed at her housekeeper, who had begun to pray out loud.
You can bet there are no wire coat hangers in Heaven.
May 10 1994 -
Former building contractor, children's party clown, and jail house artist John Wayne Gacy is executed by lethal injection. Police found 28 shallow graves in the crawlspace beneath Gacy's house in 1978.
After a dinner which included fried chicken, fried shrimp, and french fries, Gacy is strapped to a gurney. When asked if he has any last words, the serial killer obliges with: "Kiss my ass."
And so it goes.
When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908, in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Originally the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.
So now you know.
May 10 1871 -
France and Germany signed a peace treaty in which France had to give up a lot of land (Alsace-Lorraine) to Germany.
They weren't happy about it, so after World War I they took it back. In the second World War the Germans reclaimed it. After the war the victorious allies held it briefly but decided not to get involved. They gave it back to France, where it remains to this day.
May 10, 1899 -
Balanchine and Nureyev rated him the greatest dancer of the twentieth century, and he is generally acknowledged to have been the most influential dancer in the history of filmed and televised musicals. Frederick Austerlitz was born on this date in Omaha, Nebraska.
He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Not bad for a guy who's comments concerning his first first screen were, in part, "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little."
May 10 1924 -
In perhaps the single worst mistake in the history of crime fighting, Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone selects J. Edgar Hoover to head the Bureau of Investigation, later known as the FBI.
Hoover, in his cha-cha heels, red lipstick and Raymond Burr Nipple Rouge will remain at the post until his death 48 years later. (Bet that's an image you won't be getting out of your head anytime soon.)
May 10 1933 -
Joseph Goebbels presides over a public book burning in Berlin, which destroys more than 20,000 volumes. The collection includes books by Einstein and Freud.
During the bibliocaust, Goebbels declares: "We have directed our dealings against the un-German spirit; consign everything un-German to the fire."
May 10 1940 -
Winston Churchill was sworn in as British Prime Minister. Three days after being sworn in, he told parliament that he could offer only "blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
This was grudgingly deemed satisfactory by a palpably disappointed parliament, but only after he agreed to be fitted with an IV.
May 10 1941 -
Running out of fuel and unable to find a suitable spot to land his Messerschmitt, Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess bails out over Scotland.
When Hess claims to have made the trip in order to negotiate a peace treaty with England, the Nazis declare that he was a psychotic ho "lived in a state of hallucination." After the war, Hess is confined to Spandau prison until his apparent suicide in 1987.
May 10 1969 -
The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937.
It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
May 10 1977 -
Joan Crawford succumbs to stomach cancer at the age of 73. In the early days of her career, Crawford had performed in several stag films, and later spent a considerable sum buying back the prints to destroy them.
Her final words were purportedly, "Damn it...Don't you dare ask God to help me," which were directed at her housekeeper, who had begun to pray out loud.
You can bet there are no wire coat hangers in Heaven.
May 10 1994 -
Former building contractor, children's party clown, and jail house artist John Wayne Gacy is executed by lethal injection. Police found 28 shallow graves in the crawlspace beneath Gacy's house in 1978.
After a dinner which included fried chicken, fried shrimp, and french fries, Gacy is strapped to a gurney. When asked if he has any last words, the serial killer obliges with: "Kiss my ass."
And so it goes.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Happy Birthday Bill
May 9, 1949 -
William Martin Joel, Grammy Award-winning rock vocalist/singer was born on this date.
I'm old enough to remember when you used to eagerly await a new Billy Joel album as much as a Bruce Springsteen album (not that many people still eagerly await a Springsteen album anymore.)
May 9, 1950 -
L. Ron Hubbard publishes the first edition of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.
This follows on the heels of a feature article in the pulp sci-fi magazine Astounding Science Fiction.
A book review in the The New Republic describes the work as "a bold and immodest mixture of complete nonsense and perfectly reasonable common sense, taken from long-acknowledged findings and disguised and distorted by a crazy, newly invented terminology." The subsequent movement goes on to become one of the scariest, most powerful pseudoreligious cults in modern history.
But you didn't here this from me.
May 9, 1978 -
The body of former Italian premier Aldo Moro is discovered in the back seat of a Renault. He had been kidnapped 54 days prior by the Red Brigades, who demanded the release of their incarcerated comrades.
When Italian authorities refused to give in, Moro's captors killed him, but not before forcing the hostage to hold a newspaper announcing his own death.
May 9, 1980 -
35 people are killed in Tampa, Florida when the Liberian cargo ship Summit Venture smashes into a supporting pier of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Seven vehicles, including a Greyhound bus, topple into the water 150 feet below.
May 9, 1983 -
Pope John Paul II retracts the Catholic Church's condemnation of astronomer Galileo Galilei, issued in 1633 by Pope Urban VIII. The Church had convicted the scientist of heresy, sentenced him to house arrest, and forced him to recant central scientific truths.
In the end, this error only took 350 years to correct. A speedy correction by church standards.
May 9, 1989 -
VP Quayle say in United Negro College Fund speech: 'What a waste it is to lose one's mind' on this date.
Joe Biden will have to work very hard to meet this high bar indeed
May 9, 1992 -
Final episode of 'Golden Girls' airs on NBC-TV .
That must have been some after party.
And so it goes
William Martin Joel, Grammy Award-winning rock vocalist/singer was born on this date.
I'm old enough to remember when you used to eagerly await a new Billy Joel album as much as a Bruce Springsteen album (not that many people still eagerly await a Springsteen album anymore.)
May 9, 1950 -
L. Ron Hubbard publishes the first edition of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.
This follows on the heels of a feature article in the pulp sci-fi magazine Astounding Science Fiction.
A book review in the The New Republic describes the work as "a bold and immodest mixture of complete nonsense and perfectly reasonable common sense, taken from long-acknowledged findings and disguised and distorted by a crazy, newly invented terminology." The subsequent movement goes on to become one of the scariest, most powerful pseudoreligious cults in modern history.
But you didn't here this from me.
May 9, 1978 -
The body of former Italian premier Aldo Moro is discovered in the back seat of a Renault. He had been kidnapped 54 days prior by the Red Brigades, who demanded the release of their incarcerated comrades.
When Italian authorities refused to give in, Moro's captors killed him, but not before forcing the hostage to hold a newspaper announcing his own death.
May 9, 1980 -
35 people are killed in Tampa, Florida when the Liberian cargo ship Summit Venture smashes into a supporting pier of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Seven vehicles, including a Greyhound bus, topple into the water 150 feet below.
May 9, 1983 -
Pope John Paul II retracts the Catholic Church's condemnation of astronomer Galileo Galilei, issued in 1633 by Pope Urban VIII. The Church had convicted the scientist of heresy, sentenced him to house arrest, and forced him to recant central scientific truths.
In the end, this error only took 350 years to correct. A speedy correction by church standards.
May 9, 1989 -
VP Quayle say in United Negro College Fund speech: 'What a waste it is to lose one's mind' on this date.
Joe Biden will have to work very hard to meet this high bar indeed
May 9, 1992 -
Final episode of 'Golden Girls' airs on NBC-TV .
That must have been some after party.
And so it goes
Friday, May 8, 2009
Who knew the currency exchange could be so filthy?
Really, you'll never think of those dirty bills in you pocket the same way again.
You don't want to know what Andrew 'Old Hickory' Jackson did to the Canadian Loonie.
It's just so wrong.
May 8, 1943 -
Red Hot Riding Hood, another Tex Avery's masterpiece, is released on this date.
Please attempt to keep your eyes in your skull.
I've taken my bank stress test.
I could be very moist, I mean liquid for only $10 million dollars.
Here is your Today in History -
On May 6, 1758, Maximilien-Francois-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre was born (this is not a Today in History fact but follow along, we'll get to it). Even in the revolutionary context of his age, Mr. Robespierre stands out as one of the most revolting figures in history.
M. Robespierre fought valiantly to help revolutionary France achieve liberty, fraternity, and equality but inadvertently caused an unfortunate turn of weather known as the "rain of terror."
At first this rain caused only French loyalists to lose their heads, but M. Robespierre's egalitarian convictions led him to conclude that citoyens from all walks of life should lose theirs as well. The celebrated chemist Atoine-Laurent Lavoisier, for example, was beheaded on May 8, 1794 for having identified oxygen, which people mistakenly thought to be one of the noble gases.
M. Robespierre ended up losing his own head on the guillotine; this was called poetic justice by some Frenchmen and irony by others. This disagreement eventually produced the Napoleonic Age, in which soldiers had to crawl on their stomachs until Napoleon was disabled by the sight of Elba.
May 8, 1886
John Stith Pemberton was druggist and drug addict in North Carolina, plagued by his morphine addiction. Pemberton began work on a coca and cola (kola) nut beverage. It was intended to stop headaches and calm nervousness, but others insist he was attempting to create beverage to help control his addiction, also afflicting other wounded Confederate veterans (he was shot once and slashed with a saber). At that time, beverages containing coca leaf, which in turn contains cocaine were believed to be helpful in combating dependence on opiates. He began this process at his Columbus laboratory, but soon after the war, moved his entire operation to Atlanta.
He created the formula in a brass kettle in his backyard on May 8th 1886. He instructed his assistant, Venable, to mix it with ice water and chill it. They drank it, and both loved it (of course they did - it had cocaine in it). But then Venable accidentally mixed it with carbonated water. They decided to sell it as a fountain drink, as an alternative for root beer and ginger ale. Frank Mason Robertson suggested that they name it Coca Cola for the Coca leaves and Kola (cola) nuts in it. Indeed, Coca-Cola was originally advertised (in part) as a cure for morphine addiction. Oh, for the original formula.
May 8, 1945 -
Let's face it, Harry S. Truman was a shlub for most of his adult life. He was a failed businessman. He was a minor cog in a a political machine when he was picked to be Senator for his home state, Missouri. Roosevelt picked him to be his Vice President to spite his former Vice President, Henry Wallace, who was thought too liberal. Truman's vice-presidency was relatively uneventful, and contact with the White House was minimal; he was not asked for advice nor informed of major decisions. Truman might have slipped into historical obscurity had Roosevelt not to have a massive stroke and die on April 12.
Truman's birthday was coming up and Germany, well the part of it that didn't commit suicide in the bunker or fled to Argentina wanted to give the new President a special gift. So on May 7th, the Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, General Alfred Jodl, one of the only German's left standing, signed the unconditional surrender documents for all German forces to the Allies. All active operations were to cease at 23:01 Central European Time on May 8 1945, Truman's 61st birthday.
And what did Jodl get for this special gift - a necktie party at the end of his trial at Nuremberg. It was later learned that Jodl was neither guilty of crimes of war punishable by death under international law, nor of other crimes which would have made him a criminal or abuser of military power.
Oops, that what you get for trying to be nice!
May 8, 1963 -
'Dr No', the first James Bond film, and the first to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, premieres in US.
I guess we'll forgive the vodka (and not gin) martinis "shaken, not stirred".
May 8, 1984 -
Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) tied the knot (finally) on 'Happy Days'! The comedy series, starring Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley and Marion Ross (Ron Howard and Anson Williams had already left the show), was winding down in its final season on ABC-TV.
In the same episode, Fonzie, filed papers to adopt a son .
And so it goes
You don't want to know what Andrew 'Old Hickory' Jackson did to the Canadian Loonie.
It's just so wrong.
May 8, 1943 -
Red Hot Riding Hood, another Tex Avery's masterpiece, is released on this date.
Please attempt to keep your eyes in your skull.
I've taken my bank stress test.
I could be very moist, I mean liquid for only $10 million dollars.
Here is your Today in History -
On May 6, 1758, Maximilien-Francois-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre was born (this is not a Today in History fact but follow along, we'll get to it). Even in the revolutionary context of his age, Mr. Robespierre stands out as one of the most revolting figures in history.
M. Robespierre fought valiantly to help revolutionary France achieve liberty, fraternity, and equality but inadvertently caused an unfortunate turn of weather known as the "rain of terror."
At first this rain caused only French loyalists to lose their heads, but M. Robespierre's egalitarian convictions led him to conclude that citoyens from all walks of life should lose theirs as well. The celebrated chemist Atoine-Laurent Lavoisier, for example, was beheaded on May 8, 1794 for having identified oxygen, which people mistakenly thought to be one of the noble gases.
M. Robespierre ended up losing his own head on the guillotine; this was called poetic justice by some Frenchmen and irony by others. This disagreement eventually produced the Napoleonic Age, in which soldiers had to crawl on their stomachs until Napoleon was disabled by the sight of Elba.
May 8, 1886
John Stith Pemberton was druggist and drug addict in North Carolina, plagued by his morphine addiction. Pemberton began work on a coca and cola (kola) nut beverage. It was intended to stop headaches and calm nervousness, but others insist he was attempting to create beverage to help control his addiction, also afflicting other wounded Confederate veterans (he was shot once and slashed with a saber). At that time, beverages containing coca leaf, which in turn contains cocaine were believed to be helpful in combating dependence on opiates. He began this process at his Columbus laboratory, but soon after the war, moved his entire operation to Atlanta.
He created the formula in a brass kettle in his backyard on May 8th 1886. He instructed his assistant, Venable, to mix it with ice water and chill it. They drank it, and both loved it (of course they did - it had cocaine in it). But then Venable accidentally mixed it with carbonated water. They decided to sell it as a fountain drink, as an alternative for root beer and ginger ale. Frank Mason Robertson suggested that they name it Coca Cola for the Coca leaves and Kola (cola) nuts in it. Indeed, Coca-Cola was originally advertised (in part) as a cure for morphine addiction. Oh, for the original formula.
May 8, 1945 -
Let's face it, Harry S. Truman was a shlub for most of his adult life. He was a failed businessman. He was a minor cog in a a political machine when he was picked to be Senator for his home state, Missouri. Roosevelt picked him to be his Vice President to spite his former Vice President, Henry Wallace, who was thought too liberal. Truman's vice-presidency was relatively uneventful, and contact with the White House was minimal; he was not asked for advice nor informed of major decisions. Truman might have slipped into historical obscurity had Roosevelt not to have a massive stroke and die on April 12.
Truman's birthday was coming up and Germany, well the part of it that didn't commit suicide in the bunker or fled to Argentina wanted to give the new President a special gift. So on May 7th, the Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, General Alfred Jodl, one of the only German's left standing, signed the unconditional surrender documents for all German forces to the Allies. All active operations were to cease at 23:01 Central European Time on May 8 1945, Truman's 61st birthday.
And what did Jodl get for this special gift - a necktie party at the end of his trial at Nuremberg. It was later learned that Jodl was neither guilty of crimes of war punishable by death under international law, nor of other crimes which would have made him a criminal or abuser of military power.
Oops, that what you get for trying to be nice!
May 8, 1963 -
'Dr No', the first James Bond film, and the first to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, premieres in US.
I guess we'll forgive the vodka (and not gin) martinis "shaken, not stirred".
May 8, 1984 -
Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) tied the knot (finally) on 'Happy Days'! The comedy series, starring Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley and Marion Ross (Ron Howard and Anson Williams had already left the show), was winding down in its final season on ABC-TV.
In the same episode, Fonzie, filed papers to adopt a son .
And so it goes
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Alright, enough already.
I get it - cigarette smoking is bad. I don't smoke but I would quit if I did, just to stop the damn commercials.
May 7, 1901 -
Gary Cooper, original boytoy, iconic actor and womanizer, was born on this date.
Super-duper.
Here is your Today in History -
May 7, 1895 -
In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the first in the world radio receiver.
Unfortunately, since no one had invented regularly scheduled broadcasts, the demonstration was a confusing affair.
May 7, 1915 -
A very minor league Archduke and his wife got themselves killed in the Balkins. Before you you say confligration, half the world was at war. On February 4, 1915, Germany declared the seas around the British Isles a war zone and any Allied ships in the area would be sunk without warning. King George V's government chose to ignore the warnings, as they were written in German. This seems odd, as George spoke german, his grandfather was german (Prince Albert) and his first cousin was Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Anyway, a German submarine, U-20, sank the Lusitania, killing 1100. There were no star-crossed young lovers aboard, however, so instead of making a movie about it the U.S. had to enter World War I.
May 7, 1920 -
With much fanfare the Treaty of Moscow is signed. Soviet Russia recognizes independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
No one bothered to tell Lenin and the Soviets invade the country six months later.
May 7, 1937-
The Hindenberg wreckage still lies smoldering having crashed crashed and burned in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing thirty-six yesterday.
The good news was, it provided a really cool cover for Led Zeppelin's first album and a fairly good basis for a novel by E. L. Doctorow.
May 7, 1975 -
President Gerald R. Ford declared an end to the Vietnam War.
Almost 3 million Americans served in Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1975, the United States spent $111 billion on the war ($686 billion in 2008 dollars). This resulted in a large federal budget deficit. The war demonstrated that no power, not even a superpower, has unlimited strength and resources. But perhaps most significantly, the Vietnam War illustrated that political will, as much as material might, is a decisive factor in the outcome of conflicts.
It's National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day and I'm providing a free screening to all readers.
You can take this test right where you are.
Place the middle and index fingers of your right hand on your left wrist, applying just enough pressure to feel the gentle beating of your blood. That gentle beating is called your "pulse." This "pulse" proves you are alive, which is an indisputable symptom of anxiety disorders.
Medicate yourself as soon as possible and repeat until the world is bearable.
If you don't think you suffer from any anxiety disorders, and you think that the world is bearable just as it is, congratulations! You've already been lobotomized.
And so it goes
May 7, 1901 -
Gary Cooper, original boytoy, iconic actor and womanizer, was born on this date.
Super-duper.
Here is your Today in History -
May 7, 1895 -
In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the first in the world radio receiver.
Unfortunately, since no one had invented regularly scheduled broadcasts, the demonstration was a confusing affair.
May 7, 1915 -
A very minor league Archduke and his wife got themselves killed in the Balkins. Before you you say confligration, half the world was at war. On February 4, 1915, Germany declared the seas around the British Isles a war zone and any Allied ships in the area would be sunk without warning. King George V's government chose to ignore the warnings, as they were written in German. This seems odd, as George spoke german, his grandfather was german (Prince Albert) and his first cousin was Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Anyway, a German submarine, U-20, sank the Lusitania, killing 1100. There were no star-crossed young lovers aboard, however, so instead of making a movie about it the U.S. had to enter World War I.
May 7, 1920 -
With much fanfare the Treaty of Moscow is signed. Soviet Russia recognizes independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
No one bothered to tell Lenin and the Soviets invade the country six months later.
May 7, 1937-
The Hindenberg wreckage still lies smoldering having crashed crashed and burned in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing thirty-six yesterday.
The good news was, it provided a really cool cover for Led Zeppelin's first album and a fairly good basis for a novel by E. L. Doctorow.
May 7, 1975 -
President Gerald R. Ford declared an end to the Vietnam War.
Almost 3 million Americans served in Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1975, the United States spent $111 billion on the war ($686 billion in 2008 dollars). This resulted in a large federal budget deficit. The war demonstrated that no power, not even a superpower, has unlimited strength and resources. But perhaps most significantly, the Vietnam War illustrated that political will, as much as material might, is a decisive factor in the outcome of conflicts.
It's National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day and I'm providing a free screening to all readers.
You can take this test right where you are.
Place the middle and index fingers of your right hand on your left wrist, applying just enough pressure to feel the gentle beating of your blood. That gentle beating is called your "pulse." This "pulse" proves you are alive, which is an indisputable symptom of anxiety disorders.
Medicate yourself as soon as possible and repeat until the world is bearable.
If you don't think you suffer from any anxiety disorders, and you think that the world is bearable just as it is, congratulations! You've already been lobotomized.
And so it goes
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
No Diet Day
Today, May 6, is International No Diet Day (INDD). It's set aside as a day of relief from the stress of dieting. Instead, there is an opportunity for purposeful body image acceptance.
Kids, it fun to go off your diet now and then but for heaven sakes don't be like Mr. Creosote.
Say no to the last thin mint.
Funny man, Dom DeLuise died Monday night, passing away in his sleep after a long illness. He was 75.
R.I.P. Dom
Today in History
May 6, 1915 -
Orson Welles, Orson Welles, magician, director, writer, actor and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television, and radio, was born on this date.
Considered washed up by age 28, Welles had to struggle the rest of his life to complete some of film history's most complex films.
It must have sucked to be Orson Welles.
May 6, 1937 -
At 7:25 pm, the German dirigible The Hindenburg (Pride of the Nazi Zeppelin fleet) burned while landing at the naval air station at Lakehurst, NJ. On board were 6l crew and 36 passengers. The landing approach seemed normal, when suddenly a tongue of flame appeared near the stern. Fire spread rapidly through the 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen that filled the balloon.
Within a few seconds the zeppelin exploded in a huge ball of fire. The ship fell tail first with flames shooting out the nose. It crashed into the ground 32 seconds after the flame was first spotted; 36 people died. Captain Ernst Lehmann survived the crash but died the next day. He muttered 'I can't understand it,' The cause remains the subject of debate even today.
May 6, 1961 -
George Clooney, award-winning actor, director, producer, screenwriter and humanitarian, was born on this date.
He was also named People's 2006 Sexiest Man.
It must totally suck to be George Clooney
May 6, 1962 -
The first US nuclear warhead fired from a Polaris submarine was launched. The submerged USS Ethan Allen (SSBN-608) test-fired a Polaris A-2 missile with a live nuclear warhead across the Pacific Ocean toward Christmas Island, 1,700 miles (2,700 km) away.
The test, code-named Frigate Bird, was the only one the US ever conducted of any nuclear ballistic missile from launch through detonation. After a 12.5-minute, 1,200-mile (1,900 km) flight, the warhead exploded in the air between 10,000 and 15,000-ft (3,000 and 4,600-m) high with a yield of 600 kilotons.
Karl Marx (the unknown Marx Brother)
It's the birthday of Karl Marx, born in Trier, Prussia (1818). He went to school at a time of severe repression. Pianos had to have skirts on for fear young men would become aroused by the sight of their bare legs. The Prussian government kept the teachers under police surveillance to make sure they wouldn't teach anything too radical like 2 + 2= 4 and so the students, including Marx, became extremely radical.
As a result of his beliefs, Marx was not able to get a job as a chicken inspector after he got his doctorate in philosophy. And without a job, he spent his time analyzing history and stealing tips left for waiters at the coffeehouses he frequented and came to the conclusion that all historical events were caused by economic forces.
He got involved in communism, the belief that all private property should be abolished, men and women should not bathe or shave and pickled herring should be used as a cologne, moved around Europe, writing for newspapers and pornographic pamphets, studying, wanting to write a book about his economic ideas. But Marx was an obsessive researcher, and never knew when to stop reading and start writing. He only became productive after he met Friedrich Engels, a socialist who was also wealthy—the heir to a textile business and primative whoopee cushion novelty item.
Their main theory was that the economic system was a perpetual conflict between those who controlled the capital and those who provided the labor, that the conflict would never be resolved peacefully, that in a free market, workers would continue periodically to lose their jobs, their standard of living would fall, and this would inevitably lead to violent revolution. He believed that giant corporations would dominate the world's industries, that globalism in trade would make markets even more unstable. He also believed that you could hard boil an egg by holding it under one's armpit for a week thus saving money by not paying the gas bill.
Marx and Engels published their Communist Manifesto and Mr. Peepers and the Amorous French Maid in 1848, and revolution did break out afterward in France, Italy, and Austria. Marx's newspaper was shut down. He had to flee the country. He moved to London, worked for years on his last book, Das Kapital. His family in poverty, Marx said, "I don't suppose anyone has ever written about 'money' when so short of the stuff." A spy from Prussia was keeping tabs on him and wrote, "Washing, grooming and changing his clothes are things he does rarely. He does not shave at all. But he does have an unnatural obsession watching Amenian women clip their toenails!"
He fed his family on bread and potatoes, and when one of his children died, his wife had to borrow money from a neighbor to buy a coffin.
When Marx died in 1883, only 11 persons came to his funeral. And they were all charged a mourners tax!
And so it goes.
Kids, it fun to go off your diet now and then but for heaven sakes don't be like Mr. Creosote.
Say no to the last thin mint.
Funny man, Dom DeLuise died Monday night, passing away in his sleep after a long illness. He was 75.
R.I.P. Dom
Today in History
May 6, 1915 -
Orson Welles, Orson Welles, magician, director, writer, actor and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television, and radio, was born on this date.
Considered washed up by age 28, Welles had to struggle the rest of his life to complete some of film history's most complex films.
It must have sucked to be Orson Welles.
May 6, 1937 -
At 7:25 pm, the German dirigible The Hindenburg (Pride of the Nazi Zeppelin fleet) burned while landing at the naval air station at Lakehurst, NJ. On board were 6l crew and 36 passengers. The landing approach seemed normal, when suddenly a tongue of flame appeared near the stern. Fire spread rapidly through the 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen that filled the balloon.
Within a few seconds the zeppelin exploded in a huge ball of fire. The ship fell tail first with flames shooting out the nose. It crashed into the ground 32 seconds after the flame was first spotted; 36 people died. Captain Ernst Lehmann survived the crash but died the next day. He muttered 'I can't understand it,' The cause remains the subject of debate even today.
May 6, 1961 -
George Clooney, award-winning actor, director, producer, screenwriter and humanitarian, was born on this date.
He was also named People's 2006 Sexiest Man.
It must totally suck to be George Clooney
May 6, 1962 -
The first US nuclear warhead fired from a Polaris submarine was launched. The submerged USS Ethan Allen (SSBN-608) test-fired a Polaris A-2 missile with a live nuclear warhead across the Pacific Ocean toward Christmas Island, 1,700 miles (2,700 km) away.
The test, code-named Frigate Bird, was the only one the US ever conducted of any nuclear ballistic missile from launch through detonation. After a 12.5-minute, 1,200-mile (1,900 km) flight, the warhead exploded in the air between 10,000 and 15,000-ft (3,000 and 4,600-m) high with a yield of 600 kilotons.
Karl Marx (the unknown Marx Brother)
It's the birthday of Karl Marx, born in Trier, Prussia (1818). He went to school at a time of severe repression. Pianos had to have skirts on for fear young men would become aroused by the sight of their bare legs. The Prussian government kept the teachers under police surveillance to make sure they wouldn't teach anything too radical like 2 + 2= 4 and so the students, including Marx, became extremely radical.
As a result of his beliefs, Marx was not able to get a job as a chicken inspector after he got his doctorate in philosophy. And without a job, he spent his time analyzing history and stealing tips left for waiters at the coffeehouses he frequented and came to the conclusion that all historical events were caused by economic forces.
He got involved in communism, the belief that all private property should be abolished, men and women should not bathe or shave and pickled herring should be used as a cologne, moved around Europe, writing for newspapers and pornographic pamphets, studying, wanting to write a book about his economic ideas. But Marx was an obsessive researcher, and never knew when to stop reading and start writing. He only became productive after he met Friedrich Engels, a socialist who was also wealthy—the heir to a textile business and primative whoopee cushion novelty item.
Their main theory was that the economic system was a perpetual conflict between those who controlled the capital and those who provided the labor, that the conflict would never be resolved peacefully, that in a free market, workers would continue periodically to lose their jobs, their standard of living would fall, and this would inevitably lead to violent revolution. He believed that giant corporations would dominate the world's industries, that globalism in trade would make markets even more unstable. He also believed that you could hard boil an egg by holding it under one's armpit for a week thus saving money by not paying the gas bill.
Marx and Engels published their Communist Manifesto and Mr. Peepers and the Amorous French Maid in 1848, and revolution did break out afterward in France, Italy, and Austria. Marx's newspaper was shut down. He had to flee the country. He moved to London, worked for years on his last book, Das Kapital. His family in poverty, Marx said, "I don't suppose anyone has ever written about 'money' when so short of the stuff." A spy from Prussia was keeping tabs on him and wrote, "Washing, grooming and changing his clothes are things he does rarely. He does not shave at all. But he does have an unnatural obsession watching Amenian women clip their toenails!"
He fed his family on bread and potatoes, and when one of his children died, his wife had to borrow money from a neighbor to buy a coffin.
When Marx died in 1883, only 11 persons came to his funeral. And they were all charged a mourners tax!
And so it goes.
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