Read the ramblings of Dr. Caligari. Hopefully you will find that Time does wound all heels.
You no longer need to be sad that nowadays there is so little useless information.
Beppe Bigazzi, who stars on Italy TV chef, said cat meat was a delicacy and was tastier than other animals he had eaten.
Shock of shocks, the chef of La Prova Del Cuoco (The Cooks’ Challenge) was suspended from his show when the TV station was bombarded with negative calls.
February 18, 1938 - Bringing Up Baby, a screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant was released on this date.
The film was a box office disaster upon it's initial release, causing Hawks to be fired from his next RKO film (Gunga Din, also starring Cary Grant) and forcing Hepburn to buy out her contract. As time went on, however, the movie gained more and more attention and is now revered as a sophisticated classic decades ahead of its time. If only he had his intercostal clavicle ...
Today in History: Timur Lenk (also known as Timur the Lame, Tamerlane, Tamberlaine, and Mr Tambourine Man) died mysteriously during an expedition to China on February 18, 1405.
George, the English Duke of Clarence, was convicted of treason against his brother King Edward IV and murdered in the Tower of London on February 18, 1478.
The legend arose that he had been drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine.
What a way to go.
February 18, 1564 - Michelangelo (Buonarotti), Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer died on this date.
Elm Farm Ollie (known as "Nellie Jay" and post-flight as "Sky Queen") was the first cow to fly in an airplane, doing so on February 18, 1930, as part of the International Air Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. On the same trip, which covered 72 miles from Bismarck, Missouri, to St. Louis, she also became the first cow milked in flight. This was done ostensibly to allow scientists to observe midair effects on animals, as well as for publicity purposes. A St. Louis newspaper trumpeted her mission as being "to blaze a trail for the transportation of livestock by air."
Your life is better for knowing this.
February 18, 1933 - Yoko Ono is born.
What else is there to say?
February 18, 1967 - J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, dies.
His children never even send him flowers.
February 18, 2001 - Race car driver Dale Earnhardt crashes into the wall at the Daytona 500, killing him instantly. His widow files a lawsuit to force the autopsy photos to be sealed, and a Florida law is subsequently passed to prevent them from ever being released.
Earnhardt was the most well known and most successful driver in the history of the sport.
Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris (Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.)
So begins forty 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.)
Tip of the day - don't embarrass yourself by calling attention to the smudge mark on your friend's forehead today
February 17, 1958 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi (1193~1253) the patron saint of television.
Given all the meager pittance I call a salary has come from my work in TV, having a saint you can pray to comes in handy.
February 17, 1967 - Beatles released Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields on this date.
Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys said that Strawberry Fields Forever was partially responsible for the shelving of his group's legendary unfinished album, SMiLE.
Today in History: February 17, 1600 - Roman philosopher and mathematician Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake at Campo di Fiore in Rome, likely because ecclesiastical authorities were alarmed at his rambling and somewhat insane ideas, coupled with rejection of accepted authority.
Exactly what the charges against him were are lost to history, but likely involve theological heresies rather than astronomical (just in case it comes up in conversation today.)
Celebrated French dramatist and comedian Moliere collapsed on stage and died on February 17, 1673. It is said that he was wearing green, and because of that, there is a superstition that green brings bad luck to actors. As an actor, he was not allowed by the laws of the time to be buried in the sacred ground of a cemetery. His wife Armande asked the king Louis XIV to allow a "normal" funeral celebrated at night. The king agreed, and Molière was buried in a part of the cemetery reserved for unbaptized infants.
In some accounts of his death, it is said that over 800 people attended his "secret" funeral.
A bomb exploded in the dining room of St. Petersburg's Winter Palace on February 17, 1880. Tsar Alexander II survived. Being late for supper, the Tsar was not harmed, although 67 other people were killed or wounded. The dining room floor was also heavily damaged.
While it is often said that promptness is the politeness of kings, sometimes being late can save you.
February 17, 1989 - The cinematic masterpiece Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter opened in theaters.
We are getting old folks - Keanu is 45.
February 17, 1994 - The decomposing corpse of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, first president of the Republic of Georgia, is exhumed from a temporary grave in Djikhaskari. His wife refuses an autopsy, but western journalists note a bullet wound in the side of Zviad's head. Officially listed as suicide, the wife also claims he was murdered. Another government minister oddly states the death was by cancer with the head shot administered post-mortem.
Note to self: don't seek cancer treatment in the Republic of Georgia or the state of Georgia, for that matter.
Bon temps roulez mes amis. It's Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) folks. So everybody shake your groove thing.
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 arc 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.
February 16, 1975 - The music variety series Cher premiered on CBS television .
How did this get on the air?
Syfy Channel (the dumbest name for a cable network)has just greenlighted the long-awaited Sharktopus movie, to be directed by cult monster auteur Roger Corman.
I must have one for my secret lair!
Today in History: February 16, 1921 - Vera-Ellen, actress and anorexia nervosa sufferer, was born on this date.
By the time she appeared in White Christmas, all of her costumes had to be redesigned to cover her neck which appeared horribly aged from the eating disorder.
February 16, 1923 - Lord Carnarvon opens King Tut's tomb, revealing one of the most well-preserved treasures from the ancient world.
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.
February 16, 1959 - Failed baseball player Fidel Castro is 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 are put to the firing squad, an RBI record any dictator would be proud of.
February 16, 1918 - Lithuania declared its independence from Russia.
It was such a successful declaration that they didn't have to repeat it for more than seventy years.
February 16, 1990 - Keith Haring, artist/cartoonist, died of AIDS at 31 on this date.
Celebrate anyone of them in style - John Quincy Adams for example. Let's celebrate the fact that he like to take a nude morning swim in the Potomac daily (that must have been a sight.) Or Jimmy Carter, the first U.S. president to have been born in a hospital. Or my personal favorite, Warren G. Harding.
Besides being the only President probably murdered by his wife because of his philandering ways (he actually did have sex will someone in a White House broom closet), Warren was such a lousy poker player that he once lost a complete set of china that had been in the White House dating back to President Benjamin Harrison's years.
So let's hear it for all the generic Presidents.
I'm sure you're exhausted from all that running around eating chocolate and being struck by naked youths flicking you with strips of bloody goat flesh.
Hopefully your day was better.
February 15, 1931 - Tod Browning's legendary bloodsucker, Dracula was released on this date (yeah, yeah, so reference book say that the film opened on the 14th - sue me.)
A Spanish-language version, Drácula, was filmed at night on the same set at the same time, with Spanish-speaking actors.
February 15, 1950 - Walt Disney'sCinderella was released on this date.
Not only is the name of the Prince never revealed, he is nowhere in the film mentioned as Prince Charming.
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's theory that the Earth went around the sun rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, Copernicus's 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").
On February 15, 1763, Austria and Prussia signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg. This ended the Seven Years War, and just in time: the war had lasted almost exactly seven years!
February 15, 1898 - The battleship U.S.S. Maine blows up in Havana Harbor, commencing a splendid little war against Spain that ends with the United States owning a colonial empire and Cuba under martial law.
The situation is immortalized in the film Citizen Kane with the lines, "You supply the prose poetry. We'll supply the war."
February 15, 1933 - An unsuccessful attempt on FDR's life by Joseph Zangara in Miami leaves Chicago mayor Anton Czermak dead.
Zangara is electrocuted the following month.
February 15, 1936 - At a speech in Berlin, Hitler confronts German industry with the challenge of creating the Volkswagen.
Thus Ferdinand Porsche designs 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.
The crash was the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 707 in regular passenger service.
February 15, 1995 - The most wanted computer hacker in history, Kevin Mitnick, is arrested in Raleigh North Carolina for various offenses, one of which was breaking into security specialist Tsutomu Shimomura's computer.
Mitnick now runs Mitnick Security Consulting, a computer security consultancy.
Happy Chinese New Years Day - It's the Year of the Tiger. Like the tiger, you are one of the most caring and thoughtful signs in the Chinese zodiac. You have a lot to say on the best way to right society's wrongs, and quite capable of defending children, friends, and loved ones against all enemies. Anyone that is born in the Year of the Tiger is usually straightforward and outgoing by nature. They will never give up no matter how aggravated they may become. But, they are also full of suspicion and at times will take hasty action. Never lose sight of the fact that Tigers are smart and instinctive.
The first day of the New Year is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth. Many people, especially Buddhists, abstain from meat consumption on the first day because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them. Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day, so all food to be consumed is cooked the day before. Also, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.
While you're opening your Valentine Day Cards and eating your special candy, opine on this -
When Rome was first founded, wild and bloodthirsty wolves roamed the woods around the city. They often attacked and mauled and even devoured Roman citizens—which, incidentally, is why the city took more than a day to build.
With characteristic ingenuity, the Romans begged the god Lupercus to keep the wolves away. Lupercus was the god of the wolves, so he was expected to have some influence on their behavior.
He didn't.
Wolves kept attacking and Romans kept dying.
This led the Romans to the obvious conclusion that Lupercus was either angry or away on business. It was a serious problem either way. Now, to this point in their history, the Romans had addressed all of their problems with one of two solutions: the first was to pray to their gods. Okay, they'd tried that. It didn't always work.
The second solution was to get drunk out of their minds and have an orgy.
So, in an effort to get their slacker god's attention, they had a huge party in his honor. They called it Lupercalia. It was an early April holiday celebrated on February 15 because, in spite of their classical educations, the Romans were as bad at reckoning months as they were at building roads—it was impossible to leave the city, for example, because all their roads led right back to Rome.
Because it was a spring holiday, and because Lupercus either didn't know or didn't care how many Romans were devoured by wolves, and because the Romans weren't wearing anything under their togas, Lupercalia gradually became a kind of swingers' holiday.
On Lupercalia Eve, Roman girls would write their names on slips of paper that were placed into a big jar. The next day, every eligible young man in Rome withdrew a slip of paper from the jar, and the girl whose name he had withdrawn became his lover for the year. Also on the eve of the Roman feast, naked youths would run through Rome, anointed with the blood of sacrificed dogs and goats, waving thongs cut from the goats. If a young woman was struck by the thong, fertility was assured.
Marc Anthony, naked and gore drenched, after a crazed run through the Roman Forum on the feast of Lupercalia, offered Julius Caesar the imperial crown of Rome. Caesar demurred and told Marc Anthony to go home, take a shower and get dressed.
As an interesting aside, they would often sew their lovers' names on their sleeves, from which we get the expression, who the hell taught you how to sew? Also, this must have been one hell of a party.
Romans were still attacked and killed by wolves, but no one really gave a damn now that they were all getting laid.
The festival endured.
Hundreds of years went by.
In the early years of Christianity, the Roman Emperor Claudius II was having problems with his army. Many of his soldiers were married men, and they couldn't be convinced that marching off to god forsaken barbarian backwaters to kill disgusting savages was more important than staying home and having sex with their wives.
Claudius ordered his soldiers not to get married. To be absolutely safe, he ordered priests not to marry soldiers. Not many soldiers wanted to marry priests, so this wasn't a big problem (some of the soldiers would have been happy to marry other soldier but that's another story.)
Now, there was one old priest who thought the emperor's policy was unfair. It wasn't so much that he wanted to marry any soldiers—he enjoyed playing the field—but he felt that he ought to be able to perform the holy rite of matrimony for soldiers who wanted to marry women (and be tipped accordingly - remember this is the Catholic Church - nothing happened unless you remember to tip your priest.) He began conducting secret Christian marriages.
The old priest was quickly arrested and imprisoned. On Lupercalia Eve of 270 AD—that's February 14, remember—he was decapitated.
That priest's name was, of course, Marius.
Arrested, imprisoned, and beheaded right alongside him, however, was another priest who'd been performing secret marriages—a handsome young priest named Valentine.
We don't know much about ole Valentine, but there are a lot of apocryphal stories. There's one about how, while he was in prison, Valentine fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer and eventually taught her to see. There's another one about Claudius being so moved by Valentine's eloquent defense speech that he offered to call off the execution if the priest would abandon Christianity. But there's also a story about an old lady putting her dog in the microwave, and you don't see me going off on that tangent. As time went on, people forgot about old Marius, who hadn't been very photogenic. People remembered the handsome Valentine, and eventually he was canonized.
There was a new saint in town—St. Valentine.
And, like most saints, he'd been dead for years. But for all the fuss over what he did while he was alive, he has been absolutely spectacular in death.
His relics are on display today at St Francis's Church in Glasgow, Scotland. They can also be seen at the Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin, Ireland. They're also at the Church of Saint Praxedes in Rome and the Collegiate church of Saint Jean-Baptiste and Saint Jean l'Evangéliste in Roquemaure, France, as well as eight other churches, two cathedrals, and all over Ebay. The Raelians could learn a thing or two from this dead saint.
If you do the math and were to gather all of St. Valentine's remains from all these churches, you'd have enough raw material for three new bishops, two deacons, and a linebacker. Giving eyesight to the blind is impressive, but as saints go it's the equivalent of a card trick. Multiplying your remains after you're dead, though. . . there's a miracle.
But, as the French say, let us return to our sheep.
(And let's not ask what the French intend to do with their sheep.)
One day the Christian Church took control of the calendar, which the Romans had reduced to one long series of overlapping holidays. The Christians moved Lupercalia back a day and renamed it St. Valentine's Day. No one objected to this change, since Lupercus still hadn't saved a single freaking soul from the wolves and the Romans still weren't wearing anything under their tunics.
And so St. Valentine's Day came to be celebrated as a harbinger of spring, a glorious tribute to the romantic splendor of Christian marriage, and a time for some good old-fashioned pagan fornication.
More centuries passed.
Christianity became more widespread, the calendar was finally perfected, and the holiday evolved into what it is today: a glorious midwinter celebration of passion, romance, and toe-curling sex. In some countries it's also celebrated by married couples.
(It should be noted that St. Valentine was removed from the Christian Calendar in 1969 because the church could not abide one of its sacred holidays being so flagrantly commercialized.)
Valentine's Day Cards
Let's go back for a moment to another apocryphal story about Marius's good friend Valentine.
On the day he was finally led to his execution, the jailer's daughter - the blind girl he'd taught to see--couldn't bear to say goodbye. Valentine understood, naturally—he had the patience of a saint—so he said goodbye in a letter. He signed it, "From your Valentine."
"The phrase," one source informs us, "has been used on his day ever since."
But that's not true. I should have known it wasn't true, since the source happened to be the guy sitting next to me in a bar where I did all my research.
The first true Valentine Card—and by that I mean the first such card signed by anyone whose name wasn't actually Valentine—was sent in 1415 by Charles, the Duke of Orleans, to his wife.
The Duke had been captured at the battle of Agincourt and was locked up in the Tower of London, and probably wasn't trying to be romantic so much as clever. Signing a love-letter "Your Valentine" didn't mean "your adoring spouse" or "your loving boo-boo." It meant, "your husband, still in jail, probably about to have his head chopped off."
Two-hundred-and-fifty years later, Samuel Pepys, who was probably familiar with the whole Duke of Orleans thing, wrote romantic poems to his wife on Valentine's Day and signed them "Your Valentine." Since he was neither in jail nor about to have his head chopped off, this was probably the first real Valentine.
Today, of course, billions of Valentines are exchanged each year, many of them from people not in jail or facing decapitation.
Today in History: "For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground / And tell sad stories of the death of kings."
King Richard II of England, who had been deposed in 1399, died mysteriously on February 14, 1400.
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.
A rather extreme way to get the deposit back on a boat.
February 14, 1929 - The Capone gang kills 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 & 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.
Unfortunately, the Canadians, unerringly polite, forgot to ask how their crazy Olympic cauldron actually worked and left speedskater Catriona Lemay Doan holding a big burning stick from Greece.
Never mind, it was a nice opening ceremony
Silly Star Trek Mash Up
Today in History - On February 13, 1542,Henry VIII of England's Vth wife, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery.
You would have thought, people 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.
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.
February 13, 1945 - An estimated 135,000 people, mostly women and children, die in the firebombing of the 13th-century city of Dresden, a revenge bombing that had no real military justification.
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 - Peter Gabriel, singer, was born on this date
-Whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle
February 13, 1953 - Transsexual Christine (formerly George) Jorgenson arrives in New York with much fanfare.
She had had sex change operations performed in Denmark by Dr. Christian Hamburger, becoming the first successful surgical transgender. Upon return, she becomes a cabaret actress.
The excess parts of George goes on to become the other half of the famous East Germany 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 Attendent, etc. is introduced by Mattel in California.
What have you done with your life? (There is some debate whether or not today or March 9th is actual her birthday.)
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 kick your fucking ass if you don't believe he is a sensitive soul.
And I'm sure he won't mind the lovely Diana Krall singing to him.
It's the 201th 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.
February 12, 1924 - George Gershwin'sRhapsody In Blue premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York .
It has become one of the most popular American concert works.
Here's your Today In History:
On February 12, 1554, The sixteen year old Lady Jane Grey, puppet Queen of England for nine days, beheaded in the Tower of London.
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.
So remember - push away from the dessert tray, folks.
February 12, 1789 - Ethan Allen dies 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 Great 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.
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 making a fine movie.
February 12,1967 - Police in London arrest Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Marianne Faithful after they discover amphetamine pills, cannabis resin, and Marianne scandalously naked but for a fur rug. The two Rolling Stones received jail sentences which were successfully appealed.
Questions still persist - where exactly was that Mars Bar anyway?
February 11, 1969 - Our lady of the perpetual bad relationship, Jennifer Aniston, was born on this date.
You have to know your priorities
February 11, 1962 - Sheryl Suzanne Crow, singer-songwriter, musician and Michael Jackson backup singer survivor, was born on this date.
Good to know that she's still in good health
Today in History: On February 11, 1573, Francis Drake discovered the Pacific Ocean,
which had been missing since being misplaced during the Roman Empire. 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 is signed -- 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.)
But his hairpiece is much younger than he is.
February 11, 1938 - BBC Television produces 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.
Yes Jack, there is a better way to make a living than this, nowadays, you would be allowed to broadcast live from your toilet while using it (although Conan O'Brien could not prove this to be true.)
February 11, 1963 - Julia Child's show The French Chef premieres.
Save the chicken livers!
February 11, 1979 - 43 million people try to seek salvation by watching Elvis! on ABC.
Most do not find it because they forgot to place one hand on the TV screen and the other hand upon their pelvic area.
When will the damned ever learn.
February 11, 1986 - Frank Herbert, author of Dune, dies from pancreatic cancer.
If only he had access to the spice Melange.
February 11, 1990 - Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.
There's not that much snow out there (in NYC) now but it should be snowing heavier as the day progresses. Luckily, I have the huskies with me this morning for that mush back home.
(Not my dog but damn cute)
It's a rare appearance of Sade on US TV
Run out and buy the album (good Valentine's gift)
I guess these fall up the category; I feel funny in my pants
Once again, I guess I missed these on the bookshelves.
A great montage the films of the 2000s
Wonderfully edited
Today in History 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 English grammar remained incomplete), marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (her first cousin).
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, 1863 - Midgets Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren married in a ceremony promoted and orchestrated by P.T. Barnum, reception tickets $75 (adjusted for inflation, $1250 in today's dollars).
Commodore Nutt served as best man.
February 10, 1920 - Happy anniversary (no comment.)
Jozef Haller de Hallenburg, Polish general and politician, performs a symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
February 10, 1967 - The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified on this date.
The Twenty-fifth 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.
Not that Joe Biden wishes anything bad should happen.
February 10, 1940 - Puss Gets the Boot, the cartoon short is released by MGM. 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, 1945 - The no. 1 in America, on this date, was Rum & Coca Cola by Andrews Sisters.
It's nice to think back in the more 'innocent' era of America, songs about mother and daughter prostitute rings in the Caribbean were all the rage.
Shock of shocks, the chef of La Prova Del Cuoco (The Cooks’ Challenge) was suspended from his show when the TV station was bombarded with negative calls.
Your life is better for knowing this.
