Today in History...

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 23, 1927—91 years ago today—four men, Marshall Ratliff, Henry Helms, Robert Hill and Louis Davis, entered the First National Bank of Cisco with guns drawn. Ratliff, who was wearing a borrowed Santa Claus suit, entered the vault and came out with a sack full of money. But in the meantime, some of the bank’s customers escaped and alerted police and town residents. As Ratliff emerged from the vault, a gun battle erupted. Two officers were killed and Ratliff and Davis were wounded.

The robbers forced all of the employees and customers out the door of the bank and toward their getaway car, but most of the hostages escaped. Two small girls, however, did not and the robbers forced them into the car as they tried to escape, although the vehicle was almost out of gas and one of the tires had been shot out. At the edge of town, with a mob in pursuit, the robbers hijacked another car from a 14-year-old boy. They transferred loot and moved the severely injured Davis into the second vehicle, only to discover that the teenager had kept the keys. Hill was wounded by gunfire in the midst of the transfer, but he, Ratliff and Helms got back in the first car, leaving the unconscious Davis behind. They also left the bag full of money. The more than $12,000 in cash they took, along with a batch of nonnegotiable securities, was returned to the bank. Davis was taken to a Fort Worth Hospital where he died that night.

The other three were finally captured in Graham after a series of car thefts and gunfights. The search for the trio was the largest manhunt ever staged in the state at that time. Hill pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He was paroled in the mid-1940s. Helm, who was identified as the one who killed the two lawmen, was executed in September 1929. Ratliff was first sentenced to 99 years, but later received a death sentence. He appealed unsuccessfully, and then tried to mount an insanity defense. He was returned to Eastland County on a bench warrant and attempted to escape from the county jail, killing a jailer in the process. The next day a mob of 1,000 residents rushed the jail, dragged him outside and tried to hang him from a phone pole, but the knot came loose and he fell to the ground. The second time they succeeded.

[Stoogey 219]

2005. The Hubble telescope discovers rings around Uranus.

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

27 minutes ago, Stoogey said:

2005. The Hubble telescope discovers rings around Uranus.

[El Diablo 4,232]

Grownup Lisa bears a resemblance to Moe Szyslak that I'd never noticed before. 

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

40 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

Grownup Lisa bears a resemblance to Moe Szyslak that I'd never noticed before. 

 

...Perhaps you've said too much....

[ztejas 44,114]

22 minutes ago, Doc Reeves said:

 

...Perhaps you've said too much....

I don't think he's said enough?

I thought that I heeeeeard you laughing

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 24th (Christmas Eve) throughout the predominantly Christian West is observed with roughly as many traditional variations as there are households. One of the more unique is the "Festa dei sette pesci" (Feast of the Seven Fishes), a tradition originating in Southern Italy, and having been transplanted by Italian immigrants to the United States.

Though nominally a feast consisting of seven different seafood dishes, the actual number of dishes varies from family-to-family, sometimes with as few as five, sometimes with as many as eleven. In addition to various combinations of seafood (most frequently some combination of anchovies, whiting, lobster, sardines, dried salt cod, smelts, eels, squid, octopus, shrimp, mussels and clams), the menu more often than not will also include pasta, vegetables, baked or fried kale patties, bread, and (of course) homemade wine.

Interestingly, this particular feast is not usually called "Festa dei sette pesci" in Italy -- it is typically not called anything at all there, actually, other than the "Vigilia di Natale" or "The Wait" which in most Catholic churches (Italian or otherwise) revolves around first a feast and then a midnight mass, marking the traditionally accepted midnight birth of the baby Jesus.

[RamjetFDO 10,642]

50 years ago today:

 

[Armybrat 41,320]

That was extremely moving to hear it live.

thanks for posting.

[Brisketexan 106,625]

December 24th (Christmas Eve) throughout the predominantly Christian West is observed with roughly as many traditional variations as there are households. One of the more unique is the "Festa dei sette pesci" (Feast of the Seven Fishes), a tradition originating in Southern Italy, and having been transplanted by Italian immigrants to the United States.
Though nominally a feast consisting of seven different seafood dishes, the actual number of dishes varies from family-to-family, sometimes with as few as five, sometimes with as many as eleven. In addition to various combinations of seafood (most frequently some combination of anchovies, whiting, lobster, sardines, dried salt cod, smelts, eels, squid, octopus, shrimp, mussels and clams), the menu more often than not will also include pasta, vegetables, baked or fried kale patties, bread, and (of course) homemade wine.
Interestingly, this particular feast is not usually called "Festa dei sette pesci" in Italy -- it is typically not called anything at all there, actually, other than the "Vigilia di Natale" or "The Wait" which in most Catholic churches (Italian or otherwise) revolves around first a feast and then a midnight mass, marking the traditionally accepted midnight birth of the baby Jesus.

Wait...the eye-talians don’t eat tamales on Christmas Eve? Commies.

[bolverk 30,231]

1 hour ago, RamjetFDO said:

50 years ago today:

 

And here's the amazing shot they took that same day:

 

[RamjetFDO 10,642]

1 hour ago, bolverk said:

And here's the amazing shot they took that same day:

... and a cool little remembrance from one of the Mission Control Flight Controllers in The Trench that night... with the actual Maneuver PAD used for the TEI (Trans-Earth Injection) burn to return the Apollo 8 crew back to Earth:

 

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 25th is the traditional birthday for a lot of religious figures -- Mithra is the one best known to students of theological history, dating to the earliest days of Zoroastrianism in Persia in roughly 650 B.C.E., and having been worshiped in Rome in the first two centuries C.E. There is strong circumstantial evidence that the early Catholic Church gave Jesus this date as a likely birthday in order to coopt Mithra's celebrations, in fact, which is of an accord with their assimilation of numerous other pagan celebrations. It's a nice day for a party, though, so why quibble?

One of the lesser known deities with a December 25th birthday is the ancient Chechen (actually Vainakh at the time, but Chechnya is already obscure enough for the casual reader, so again why quibble?) Deela-Malkh (who may or may not have been either male or female), and who might actually have gone by the name Bolam-Deela as well.

Why is so little known of this particular pre-modern god/goddess? For one thing, Vainakh mythology was practiced in a manner nearly identical to that of Druidic and Celtic religions, with no holy books, only a set of traditions and rituals handed down orally and practiced in secluded forests, where trees (in the case of the Vainakh, the pear tree in particular) were held to be vessels of divine spirits, perhaps animistic, perhaps ancestral... who knows?

Modern Chechens are predominantly Muslim, so one would think none of the traditions would survive, but there you'd be wrong. While December 25th is not in and of itself significant in Chechnya any longer, the ancient Malkh Festival marks a significant part of why it was relatively easy for the Chechens to convert to Islam; this festival was the birthday and celebration of the sun, during which the suppliants turned to the East; all Nakh architecture faced East, where the sun (and her mother Aza) resided at the solstices. The symbolic transition from the observing of the rising and setting of the sun to facing the Qibla (facing Mecca) and honoring the focal point of the new monotheistic religion was as natural for the ancient Chechens as it was for the Celtic Irish to transition from annual voluntary human sacrifices for the good of all to acceptance of the Christian concept of the sacrifice of one man (Jesus) for the good of all.

Regardless of which religious tradition one follows (or whether one follows any tradition at all), it is important to understand these ancient origins -- we are evolutionary infants in the animal kingdom, but even those things people do which make no sense whatsoever... frequently really do actually make a good deal of sense. So, happy birthday to all those deities who may or may not get their recognition today.

[BillyGoatHill 4,420]

 

OK, ok....started crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night with the battle starting around 8 am on December 26th, but still pretty badass of George and his 2400 troops that were able to make it across. 1400 Hessians were beaten, including almost 900 captured with very small losses to American troops.  More importantly,.... food, stores, ammunition and clothing were obtained for an army that was literally falling apart a week prior, and in danger of complete collapse.

Much like Travis at the Alamo 60 years later, Washington had supposedly written a note or letter with the words "Victory or Death" prior to the crossing. The victory was a very pivotal point in the Revolution. Morale and enlistments were raised after the battle to continue the long struggle ahead......

[Stoogey 219]

December 26th is the traditional Boxing Day in some countries. The United Kingdom is the best known to students of this holiday's history, the earliest mention being Samuel Pepy's diary entry for December 19,1663, that very same diary in which he described fondling a maid's breasts, acting like a seventeenth century Harvey Weinstein with another and keeping track of his masturbating. 

Boxing Day has nothing to do with boxing, the manly art of self-defense, or assembling corrugated cartons. In a couple of African countries and in Italy there are boxing matches but why quibble?

One of the lesser known figures of Boxing Day is from the tenth century: Good King Wenceslas. The Feast of Stephen, or St Stephen's Day,  is on December 26. The lyrics to the carol as published by John Mason Neale in 1853:

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gathering winter fuel

Hither, page, and stand by me,
If thou knowst it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?
Sire, he lives a good league hence,
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes fountain.

Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I shall see him dine
When we bear them thither.
Page and monarch, forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude winds wild lament
And the bitter weather

Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how
I can go no longer.
Mark my footsteps, good my page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shall find the winters rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.

In his masters step he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye, who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.

Good King Wenceslas assisted the poor. Although Wenceslas was, during his lifetime, only a duke, Holy Roman Emperor Otto (which is "toot" inside out) posthumously elevated him to king which is which is why e refer to him as a king to this day. But why quibble?

The practice evolved to giving to the poor, then to servants a box containing gifts and food as a reward for faithful service and then into giving tradesmen a box as a tip.  

Former British colonies often celebrate Boxing Day as a national holiday. In Bermuda, Gombeys dance in a 18th century tradition of slaves being permitted to gather to celebrate Christmas. It is also a sporting day for soccer and a shopping day similar to our Black Friday ... but who knows?

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 26th is an important liturgical date for the world's roughly 2.6 million Zoroastrians. The anniversary of the death of the prophet Zoroaster (from Greek Ζωροάστρης Zōroastrēs), also known as Zarathustra (Persian: زرتشت Zartosht, زردشت Zardosht), or as Zarathushtra Spitama, murdered at the altar by soldiers from Turan, the Persian state which stormed the city-state of Balkh (on the Northern border of modern Afghanistan) some time in the 7th century B.C.E.

Though the primary Zoroastrian holy text, the Avesta, does not mention Zoroaster's death, the Persian epic poem Shahnameh ("The Book of Kings") cites December 26th, and thus we get Zartosht no-diso (sometimes Zarthost no deeso), the day of mourning. 

Lectures and discussions on the life and works of the prophet mark the day, along with special prayers and recitations, with the highest attendance at the fire temple of all the Zoroastrian liturgical events. Sort of like "Christmas and Easter Christians" -- even in a faith community as small as that of modern Zoroastrianism, there are more than a handful of folk who'd rather get a little extra sleep or maybe do the New York Times crossword than go to temple, it seems. On this day, however, they place special emphasis on honoring the founder of their religion.

[Stoogey 219]

1922. Imperial Navy commissions Hosho, the first aircraft carrier to be commissioned which was built as a carrier — not a converted bulk cargo ship.  

Keel laid (work began) on the Royal Navy HMS Hermes on January 15, 1918 but the Hosho was commisioned earlier.

December 16, 1920. Asano Shipbuilding of Yokohama lays the keel.
November 13, 1921. Launched and towed to Yokosuka Naval Arsenal for completion.
January 10, 1922. Completed after many delays caused by design changes.
December 27, 1922. Commissioned.
February 22, 1923. Landing sea trials begin.  

Displacement: 9645 tons.
Length: 552' 0".
Beam: 59' 0".
Draught: 20' 3".
Speed: 25 knots.
Range: 8680 nautical miles at 12 knots.

As she appeared sailing out of Tokyo Bay in 1922: 



Reverse view as she appeared in 1924 after removal of the island (superstructure) and relocation of bridge. 

 

[El Diablo 4,232]

Well I hope we sunk the son of a bitch.

[PatrickMcHorn 376]

Haha, I had the same thought and looked it up. It didn't see much action in the war and was scrapped in '46.

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 27, 1836—182 years ago today—Stephen F. Austin died at the age of 43. Shortly before his death he wrote: “The prosperity of Texas has been the object of my labors, the idol of my existence--it has assumed the character of a religion, for the guidance of my thoughts and actions, for fifteen years." Austin took over the colonization scheme of his father, Moses Austin, on the elder Austin’s death and guided the transformation of a rugged wilderness. He was a reluctant supporter of Texas independence, although on October 10, 1835 Austin was appointed temporary commander-in-chief of the volunteer army during the Texas Revolution. He led volunteers gathered at Gonzales against the Mexican Army at San Antonio and the next month the provisional government elected him to serve with two others as a commissioner to the United States. In January 1836 he arrived in New Orleans and then returned to Texas in June. Austin ran for the presidency after his return, was defeated and accepted the post of secretary of state from the winner, Sam Houston, who later deliver Austin’s eulogy, calling him “The Father of Texas.”

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 27th is the date on which the Catholic Church officially celebrates Blessed Sára Salkaházi, a Hungarian Sister who was responsible for smuggling more than a hundred Jewish Hungarians out of Nazi controlled territories. Beatified in 2006, her story serves as modest redemption for what many historians agree was a dark era for the Catholic Church, with much of the Catholic hierarchy at the time turning a blind eye towards genocidal Nazism throughout central Europe.

She was born to German parents in Kassa (now Kosice, Slovakia) on May 11, 1899. Her father died when she was only two. Showing her nonconformist streak from this early age, her brother described her as "a tomboy with a strong will and a mind of her own." Her first professional ambition was as an elementary school teacher, but her idealism and independence quickly led her to become a journalist with a particularly socialist bent to her writing. Something of a smart-aleck, she was the Dorothy Parker of Hungarian politics during her heyday, but at some point she decided to take up the habit and sought entrance to the Sisters of Social Service (founded in 1912 by Margit Slachta). The sisters were skeptical of the chain-smoking, high spirited girl who always spoke her mind, but they took her in.

Denounced by many of her fellow nuns for her outspokenness, at one point she was actually denied the right to wear the habit for a year, and she considered leaving. In spite of being denied the right to take her vows, however, she continued to serve with the Sisters, and eventually founded a national Catholic Working Girls movement, building the first Hungarian college for working women, near Lake Balaton, and opened numerous homes for working women in Budapest.

At the outset of World War II, all of this organizational groundwork served her well, providing Sára plenty of resources and hidey-holes for her new ministry, helping as many Jewish Hungarians as possible to escape from the Nazis. At least 100 different refugees later reported on the numerous ploys Sára used to help them escape, many having been disguised as nuns to avoid detection by the Gestapo.

Her exploits finally came to a tragic end when, while Sára was away, a woman working in one of her safe houses informed the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party of the presence of numerous Jewish refugees. Sára heard of their immediate arrest while she was still away from the house; she could have fled, but she chose to return and confront the betrayer and ask her to repent. Nazis being the reasonable, fair minded people they were, she immediately found herself also under arrest. On December 27, 1944, she was lined up with the Jewish prisoners she had been hiding, along with a sympathetic sister from a different convent, and summarily executed. Her body was never recovered.

At the time of her beatification by the Church, guest speaker Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, said of her "The honor bestowed by Pope Benedict XVI on Sister Sara Salkahazi for risking and eventually giving her life to save Jews in peril is an important statement by the church. It is unfortunate that there were not more individuals like Sister Sara, but her example must be held up to demonstrate how lives can be saved when good people take action to confront evil." Foxman, a Holocaust survivor, had been saved by his Polish Catholic nanny.

[Stoogey 219]

4 hours ago, El Diablo said:

Well I hope we sunk the son of a bitch.

 

4 hours ago, PatrickMcHorn said:

Haha, I had the same thought and looked it up. It didn't see much action in the war and was scrapped in '46.

No. Ha ha ha. We didn't sink the son of a bitch.

This was a new technology. Aircraft carriers, which had primarily been relatively clumsy converted bulk cargo freighters, were replaced by faster purpose-built carriers which were succeeded by much larger, faster ships. The dreadnought was obsolete.

It was soon realized the fleet carrier had to be much larger, armored, fast and agile. Agile to rapidly turn into the wind to launch fighter aircraft and fast to catch up with her escorts. 

Then there was the Washington Naval Treaty Of 1922 signed by the naval powers of the time, Japan, France, UK, Italy and USA, limiting construction of the number of battleships and aircraft carriers. Cruisers, destroyers and submarines were limited to 10,000 tons displacement. 

Hosho sailed a few sorties as fleet escort in the supporting role of "jeep" carrier during the early stages of WWII. Because of her size, she could only launch obsolete warplanes. Her flight deck was lengthened at both ends but the additional weigh high above the waterline caused instability in rough seas. Hosho was relegated to training ship status.   

She served as a transport to bring troops home after the war and was scrapped at Kyowa Shipbuilding in Osaka in 1946.

Very unfortunate. I would have loved to tour that ship to experience all the changes she endured and compare the differences between her and later carriers such as USS Intrepid and USS Midway. 

[El Diablo 4,232]

9 minutes ago, Stoogey said:

 

No. Ha ha ha. We didn't sink the son of a bitch.

This was a new technology. Aircraft carriers, which had primarily been relatively clumsy converted bulk cargo freighters, were replaced by faster purpose-built carriers which were succeeded by much larger, faster ships. The dreadnought was obsolete.

It was soon realized the fleet carrier had to be much larger, armored, fast and agile. Agile to rapidly turn into the wind to launch fighter aircraft and fast to catch up with her escorts. 

Then there was the Washington Naval Treaty Of 1922 signed by the naval powers of the time, Japan, France, UK, Italy and USA, limiting construction of the number of battleships and aircraft carriers. Cruisers, destroyers and submarines were limited to 10,000 tons displacement. 

Hosho sailed a few sorties as fleet escort in the supporting role of "jeep" carrier during the early stages of WWII. Because of her size, she could only launch obsolete warplanes. Her flight deck was lengthened at both ends but the additional weigh high above the waterline caused instability in rough seas. Hosho was relegated to training ship status.   

She served as a transport to bring troops home after the war and was scrapped at Kyowa Shipbuilding in Osaka in 1946.

Very unfortunate. I would have loved to tour that ship to experience all the changes she endured and compare the differences between her and later carriers such as USS Intrepid and USS Midway. 

Years ago there was a converted aircraft carrier at the Spanish naval base in Rota, Spain. It had originally been a US cruiser iirc. I can't remember if it was sold to the Spanish as a cruiser and they did the conversion or if we did it before the sale. Anyway, it was tied to the pier there as a training ship for their cadets. /csb

[El Diablo 4,232]

December 28, 1976—42 years ago today—blues musician Freddie King died in Dallas. King, a native of Gilmer, was just 16 when he moved to Chicago and developed his distinctive guitar style, influenced by such blues legends as Lightnin’ Hopkins, T-Bone Walker and B. B. King (to whom he was not related). He returned to Texas in 1963 and in 1971, at Armadillo World Headquarters, recorded the first live album ever made in Austin.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 28, 1846, Iowa was admitted as the 29th U.S. state. Iowa inspires a bundle of contradictory images, most of which are only partially representative, and some of which are just plain wrong.

In many ways, Iowa is as “middle of the road” as a state can be, sitting as it does right in the center of the continental United States. It is the 26th largest of the 50 states; it is the 30th most populous; in Presidential elections, it is firmly “purple” – often being one of those swing states that political junkies stay up late hoping to see the voting returns go their way.

And yet, in spite of being an “average” state in most senses of the word, it was among the first states to legalize same-sex marriages, it was firmly anti-slavery and pro-Union in the Civil War, and it has been home to numerous social and political progressive movements over the last 150 years, in spite of also being safe ground for traditionalist conservatives during political primaries.

Planted squarely in the “Corn Belt” Iowa’s primary economic income, obviously, is agriculture, but there is a growing tech sector, as well. Often associated with the rural simplicity of fundamentalist Christian farm folk (think of a bible-thumping Radar O’Reilly), the reality is that there is a huge sociopolitical diversity in this state, ranging from sparsely populated agrarian communities dotting the entire state, to the surprisingly cosmopolitan outlook of Des Moines, which could easily pass as a suburb of Chicago.

Unlike its neighbors Nebraska and South Dakota, Iowa is also surprisingly (to people who have never been there, at least) hilly. Competitive cyclists frequently train in Iowa, owing to its excellence at providing a wide range of types of terrain within relatively short distances in any direction.

Originally coming into the U.S. as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the colonial history of Iowa includes having been nominally controlled at one point by the Spanish, the French, and the English, none of whom ever bothered to attempt populating the region. Even the aboriginal peoples did not have a lot of settlements there, at least once the advent of horses allowed the more aggressive tribes to make life difficult on settled farming communities in the region.

Only when the growing cities of the Eastern seaboard began to require more foodstuffs than could be grown locally did pioneering farmers finally convert Iowa into the lush farmland it is today.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

5 hours ago, El Diablo said:

December 28, 1976—42 years ago today—blues musician Freddie King died in Dallas. King, a native of Gilmer, was just 16 when he moved to Chicago and developed his distinctive guitar style, influenced by such blues legends as Lightnin’ Hopkins, T-Bone Walker and B. B. King (to whom he was not related). He returned to Texas in 1963 and in 1971, at Armadillo World Headquarters, recorded the first live album ever made in Austin.

Okay, dude, you've got this bug stuck firmly in my ear. Since I'm gonna be humming it all day long, I may as well play the real thing:

 

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

2000- Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.

2008- Detroit Lions go 0-16. First time ever a professional NFL football team goes winless.

1958- “greatest game ever played” 1958 NFL Championship Game which was also the NFLs first sudden death OT in its playoffs where the Baltimore Colts defeated the NY Giants at Yankee Stadium 23-17.

1948- The disappearance of flight NC16002 from Puerto Rico to Miami. No cause was ever determined and the case reamains unsolved.

1945-  Even though it had beef taught in NY schools since the 1892, US Congress recognizes the ‘pledge of Allegiance” by name, officially. 

1895- The Lumière brother preform for their first paying audience at du Grand Café in Paris with a showing of 10 films approximately 50 sec Lind each, marking the beginning of cinema.

1892- The Pledge of Allegiance is recited for the first time by students in public schools as a 400 yr celebration of Colombus discovering America

1918- Constance Markievicz is the first woman to be elected MP to the British House of Commons. At the time she was being detained in Holloway Prison. 

1912- First municipal streetcars begin operations in San Francisco

1908- Messina Italy is rocked by a 7.2 rather quake killing 75,000

1981- Elizabeth Jordon Carr, the worlds first “test tube” baby, is born in Virginia.

1973- Endangered Species Act is passed, setting an international standard for the recognition of nature and mans impact on it. 

1867- US claims midway atoll. It’s the first piece of land claimed outside of the continental United States

1836- Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico

1835- In FL, the second seminol war begins against the us army

1832- Vice President Calhoun resigns. His wife’s instigation of the ‘petty coat affair’ which socially shunned the low class wife of the Sec. of War Peggy Eaton ended friendly relations between he and the lunatic president Jackson. Later, after his support of Nullification the political backlash was too severe, Calhoun was pushed out of the Vice Presidency.

1308- the resignation of Emperor Hanazono of Japan begins.

1066- Westminster Abby is consecrated

 

 

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 29, 1916 marked the publication date of James Joyce’s first novel, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” – it had previously been published in serialized form, and had, in fact, originally been a series of short stories which only resembled the final product in that the characters were the same.

Before even reading the opening words of the novel, the epigraphical quotation tells you everything you need to know:

“Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes.”
("And he turned his mind to unknown arts.")
— Ovid

“Portrait” was, in essence, the peak of modernism in 20th Century literature, so much so that unless one has a bent of mind to appreciate not merely literature, but also literary criticism, it is almost unreadable. Nevertheless, those who like the work don’t just like it, they love it.

Basically, Joyce wrote an exposition of his own philosophical development through the point of view of a character, but not in the 1st person form with which most are familiar. Rather than narrating a story, the main figure Stephen Dedalus (a tip of the hat to Daedalus, the tragic Greek figure whose own stretching of the philosophical envelope inspired Joyce) was “painted” in words. This was not Stephen telling a story, it was a story happening from Stephen’s point of view. The language alters as he ages and experiences transformations, whether physical, emotional, spiritual, philosophical, ecumenical, or dietary.

As an example of literary skill and artistry, it is unquestionably a masterpiece. Of course, I also consider it schlock, because I’m just not into that kind of thing. All the same, “Portrait” represents one of those giants on whose shoulders many of the writers who have followed (and whom many, myself included, find more accessible, and prefer) have stood.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein was hanged after having been found guilty and convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal. In retaliation for an attempted assassination attempt, Hussein had allegedly ordered the murder of 148 Iraqi Shi’ites in the town of Dujail in 1982; the evidence was relatively strong, all things considered, but the trial was not especially a case study in efficiency and fairness (though, admittedly, it was somewhat more democratic than any trial conducted by Hussein’s own government).

Controversy surrounded the execution (and, really, what action taken in Iraq over the last 50 years has not been surrounded by controversy?) as both opponents and proponents of the death penalty were appalled by the video footage of the hanging, where a large contingent of his countrymen surrounded the gallows and taunted him in Arabic – whether the execution was just or not, it was definitely neither respectful nor solemn.

Technically only having been President of Iraq since 1979, his dictatorial career had in reality begun with his rise through the ranks of the Iraqi military beginning in the late 60s and early 70s, culminating in his push from 1973 through 1976 to weaken nominal ruler Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr by playing off the U.S.S.R. and the United States against one another.

While Iraq was still technically a Soviet “preferred trading partner” in the early 1970s, then-director of the Central Intelligence Agency George Herbert Walker Bush made several back-channel deals with Hussein (whose stabs-in-the-back of Al-Bakr were soon to meet final success in 1976), and while the Bush-Hussein collaborative efforts are certainly ironic, given events of the last few decades, they are probably not quite so damning as Bush’s detractors make them out to be. Sure, he was wrong, but not much more so than any other American intelligence official at the time – the U.S. has a fairly long track record of betting on the wrong horse when we meddle in other countries’ internal politics.

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

1853- Gadson Purchase. Land is purchased from Mexico south of NM and AZ to facilitate railroads.

2009- A suicide bomber kills 9 CIA operatives at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Afghanistan.

1977- In CO, serial killer Ted Bundy escapes from his cell for a second time. He goes on to FL to attack the Chi Omega Sorority house and rape/murder 12 y/o Kimberly Leach who he abducted while she was waking in the hall of her middle school.

1953- The first color television set goes on sale for a whopping $1175.00 or $11,000.00 in today’s money. 

1940- LA opens the first freeway, Arroyo Seco Parkway

1924- Edwin Hubble announces that there are other galaxies 

1922- The U.S.S.R. is formed.

1903- a fire at the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago kills 605. It is said to be the imputes to the common sense rule: ‘Never Yell “Fire!” In a Crowded Theatre’

1897- Britain annexes Zululand. It was not fun for the Zulus.

1896- Ernie McLea scores the first Hat Trick in Stanley Cup play which is also the Cup winning score as Montreal beat Winnipeg 6-5.

1862- Iron Clad USS Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, NC

1813- British Troops burn Buffalo NY

 

 

 

 

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

December 31st (New Year's Eve) has as many permutations around the world as there are cultures. One of my favorites is the Scottish observance of "Hogmanay" -- among many other reasons to like this holiday is the fact that no one is entirely certain what its etymology entails, what it literally is supposed to mean, or why most Scots celebrate it the way they do (there is a considerable amount of local variation to their traditions).

There are a few common themes throughout the country -- usually there is gift-giving and the visiting of friends and neighbors, and special emphasis is placed on the "first-foot" (that is, the first person to visit).

Then come the local variations... In Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire (north-east Scotland), folk fashion cages out of chicken wire filled up with any sort of flammable material (up to two feet in diameter) and attach a three foot long chain; as the town bell rings, the fireballs are lit, and a parade begins through downtown, with folk swinging fireballs over their heads in a manner of which Smokey the Bear would definitely not approve. Once they reach the harbour, any fireballs still burning are flung into the harbour, to the drunken glee of surprisingly large crowds of onlookers.

Lots of historical traditions have gone by the wayside, but they've always been interesting. In Dundee, there was an old ceremony where first-footers used to bring herring all dolled-up in decorative accoutrement that would make Martha Stewart proud; in Falkland, a torchlight parade to the top of the Lomond Hills at midnight used to be the norm. St. Andrews called Hogmanay "Cake Day" with a special concoction only baked for this one holiday.

Returning to modern times, Glasgow and central Scotland see parties that more closely resemble what we have here in the U.S., though some of the delectables differ significantly -- Hogmanay parties involving singing, dancing, eating of steak pie or stew, storytelling, and consumption of vast quantities of ale and whisky, and usually extend into the daylight hours of January first.

And, of course, worldwide, the Scottish tradition of singing "Auld Lang Syne" (originally a Scots poem by Robert Burns, based on traditional sources) has taken wide hold, though it is always difficult for me to quite understand... "Should auld acquaintance be forgot..." Is that *if* we forget them, or that we *ought* to forget them? Either way, Happy New Year!

[Bull Horn 118]

I always figured New Year’s Eve was created specifically to land a week after Christmas for folks to blow off steam/get loaded after spending the holidays with their families (see thread in this forum for Exhibit A).

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

January 1, 1804, Haiti became the 2nd independent nation in the Americas, as the culmination of the Haitian Revolution, when slaves and free people of color rebelled against their French masters.

The timing of this revolution, which lasted from 1791-1804, was fortuitous. It began shortly after the French Revolution (1789-1799), and thus the full might of the French military was never able to come to bear on the far outgunned rebels.

The Battle of Vertières, on November 18, 1803, was the decisive confrontation, when Napoleon's expeditionary forces were soundly defeated. Napoleon's energies were understandably being exerted in Europe, and so the French commander, Donatien de Rochambeau, was only able to bring 2,000 soldiers to the field against the 27,000 Haitians, under the joint command of  Jean-Jacques Dessalines and François Capois. 

The French gave as good as they got, having superior firepower, but there just weren't enough of them. French dead and wounded numbered 1,200. Haitian casualties were just over 3,000. C'est la guerre.

Haiti has, of course, suffered greatly over the years from corruption, famine, hurricanes, pandemics, regrettable cuisine, poor taste in fashion, and a preference for soccer, but all the same, their legacy as the only nation ever founded by a slave revolt is certainly noteworthy. Happy Birthday, Haiti.

Edited January 1, 2019 by Walden Ponderer
Typos? In a history post? What would my sophomore English teacher think?!?!

[Parliament 14,560]

And AIDS.  They have a lot of AIDS.

[HornsOverIthaca 2,339]

Someone should curate a version of this thread based entirely on insane things posted by members of this community(?) over the past decade or so. 

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

28 minutes ago, HornsOverIthaca said:

Someone should curate a version of this thread based entirely on insane things posted by members of this community(?) over the past decade or so. 

That is an insanely good idea.

"Crazy shit Shagsters/Surly Bastards posted on this date in history".

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

Done.

Crazy shit Shagsters/Surly Bastards posted on this date in history

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

January 3, 1999, “Operation Walk on Water” culminated in the arrest and deportation of 14 members of the American cult known as “Concerned Christians”. The group was founded by Monte Kim Miller in Colorado during the 1980s, nominally to save the world from New Age anti-Christian activism (whatever that means – most New Agers I’ve ever met aren’t against much of anything other than sentences which don’t include hard-to-decipher neologisms).

In October of 1998, somewhere between 60 and 80 members of the group walked away from their jobs and homes (and sometimes families) in Colorado, and while numerous missing persons investigations were performed, none of them turned up… until the Israelis (with assistance from the FBI) managed to track down several of them who had entered Israel with the express purpose of destroying the Al-Aqsa mosque (Arabic: المسجد الاقصى al-Masjid al-Aqṣā) , the third holiest site in Islam, located in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Evidently, according to the Concerned Christians, Jesus won't return until several conditions are met, one of them being the expulsion of Muslims from Jerusalem. Odd, that, given that Islam as an organized religion did not exist when Jesus was gallivanting around the Levant, but, hey, even crazy folk have to have goals, right?

The remaining members of this cult/terror group/self-help seminar for loonies are said to be in either Greece or Pennsylvania, presumably because those two locations have so much in common. When dealing with crazy, make no assumptions.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

January 4, 1854, Australian Captain William McDonald, aboard the Samarang, discovered the McDonald Islands. 

Unlike numerous explorers credited with "discovering" lands populated by the ancestors of the actual discoverers of those lands, McDonald's claim might be considered legitimate, given that the McDonald Islands, coupled with nearby Heard Island, are, in addition to being entirely uninhabited, the most remote islands on Earth, located approximately 2,547 miles southwest of Perth, 2,389 miles southwest of Cape Leeuwin, Australia, 2,600 miles southeast of South Africa, 2,380 miles southeast of Madagascar, 1,010 miles north of Antarctica, and 280 miles southeast of the Kerguelen Islands (themselves also being uninhabited).

Fossil records indicate that during the Tertiary period (roughly 65 million to 2.58 million years ago) woody plants and shrubs grew there... but ever since, plant growth has been limited to scant grasses, mosses, lichens and such. Currently, there are visiting birds and seals, but the only permanent residents are insects, most of which are only active during the summer months.

Still, for a subarctic climate (actually antarctic, but let's not pick nits), the weather is relatively mild in the entire chain, owing to happy placement at the warmest part of the deep-ocean current cycles in the Indian Ocean. If you don't mind daily snow and isolation, and if you'd be happy living off of only those things you could grow in a wind-turbine powered greenhouse, it sounds like a dream home for a hermit.

[HouTex 1,912]

1642 King Charles I with 400 soldiers attacks the English parliament

1847 Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government

1896 Following Mormon abandonment of polygamy, Utah admitted as 45th state

1939 Hermann Goering appoints Reinhard Heydrich head of Jewish Emigration

1942 Churchill & General Marshall fly to Florida

1945 Germans execute resistance fighters in Amsterdam

1951 Korean War: Chinese forces recapture Seoul

1958 Sir Edmund Hillary reaches the South Pole

1970 Beatles last recording session at EMI studios

1989 US F-14s shoot down 2 Libyan jet fighters over Mediterranean

2001 Rapper Vanilla Ice spends night in jail after allegedly ripping out some of his wife's hair during a row

 

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

January 5, 1527, Anabaptist Felix Manz was executed in Zurich, Switzerland. Allied with numerous fellow dissenters comprising the Radical Reformation, Manz was the first martyr of the movement to oppose corruption in both the Roman Catholic Church and the opposing Protestant denominations springing from the schism caused by Martin Luther's protests.

Among his other crimes against conformity, Manz differed with many facets of the performance of mass, the nature of church and state connections, and worst of all according to the officials of Zurich, infant baptism. After the Second Disputation of Zürich in 1523, Manz felt that his efforts at reform from within the official state-sanctioned church structures were doomed, and he took his case directly to his congregation.

When several of his flock refused to have their children baptised, he was castigated. When he performed re-baptisms for adults... well, on March 7, 1526, the city council had made such an action punishable by drowning. On January 5, 1527, Manz became the first person convicted of the new crime. For having a different interpretation of scripture, his fellow Protestants bound his hands and legs, attached him to a long pole, and shoved him beneath the waters of Lake Zürich on the Limmat River until he was dead. Because, you know, God and stuff.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

January 6th is the anniversary of one of the most important cultural events in history. No, I’m not talking about the 1066 ascension to the throne of England by Harold II, nor the completion of the Reconquista in 1492 by Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, nor even the admission of New Mexico to the U.S. as the 47th state in 1912.

No, I am remembering something much more important.

On this date in 1994, after a practice session at the U.S. figure skating championships in Detroit, at the behest of Tonya Harding, one Shane Stant clubbed odds-on favorite to win the gold, Nancy Kerrigan, in the right knee with a police baton. The assault had been planned by rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and co-conspirator Shawn Eckardt.

While it defies logic to believe that Harding herself was not somehow involved in the planning of the attack, she was actually only convicted of having assisted the conspirators in hindering the investigation. Harding pled guilty on March 16 and received three years probation, 500 hours of community service, and a $160,000 fine. As part of the plea bargain, she was also forced to withdraw from the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships and resign from the United States Figure Skating Association. The USFSA concluded that she knew about the attack before it happened and displayed "a clear disregard for fairness, good sportsmanship and ethical behavior".

Those findings may not have had weight in the criminal courts, but they did effectively end Harding’s skating career, and launched her career as a B-list “famous for being famous” celebrity.

[DaysOff 8,157]

Whhhhhhyyyyy?

Whhhhhhyyyyy?

[Wally Fairway 5,664]

5 hours ago, DaysOff said:

Whhhhhhyyyyy?

Whhhhhhyyyyy?

 

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

would club

 

 

...with my dick...

Edited January 6, 2019 by Doc Reeves

[Stoogey 219]

Art Clokey. October 12, 1921 – January 8, 2010.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

On January 8, 1697, Thomas Aikenhead was executed for blasphemy, making him the last person in Great Britain to be murdered by the state for the crime of having his own opinion about religion. 

Before his death, he wrote that "it is a principle innate and co-natural to every man to have an insatiable inclination to the truth, and to seek for it as for hid treasure... So I proceeded until the more I thought thereon, the further I was from finding the verity I desired..." 

The indictment against him reads like a litany of every fearful and nonsensical piece of schizophrenic reasoning conceived by theological tyrants anywhere... essentially he was somehow both an atheist and also a worshipper of the wrong gods. How one pulls off that particular feat of faith is hard to imagine.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

January 8, 1835, the national debt of the United States reached zero. This is the only time since the U.S. Constitution went into effect on March 4, 1789 that we did not owe a single penny.

Historically, national debt (as a percentage of gross domestic product) has increased during wartime and recession, and declined in times of prosperity.

In spite of rhetoric suggesting our national debt is higher than ever, the reality is that debt was at its peak during Harry Truman’s term at the end of World War II. Debt as a share of GDP then declined, reaching a low point during Richard Nixon’s first term, only to rise during his truncated second term, and continuing through Gerald Ford’s brief Presidency. Since then, it has risen under Presidents Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and Obama. It has somewhat accelerated during the first two years of Trump, but not anywhere close to as much as the Chicken Littles of "debt will kill us all" would have you believe.

In the modern era, only under Presidents Carter and Clinton has debt declined.

The national debt (as a percentage of GDP) currently sits at roughly half of WWII levels, with the majority of that debt representing financing of military expenditures, as our military has been on a global wartime footing since the early 1980s, with military spending measured as a percentage of GDP coming surprisingly close to WWII levels.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Walden Ponderer

[Beveaux 6]

Battle of New Orleans.  The Battle of New Orleans was fought on Sunday, January 8, 1815,^[1] between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham, and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson.^[2] It took place approximately 5 miles (8.0 kilometres) east-southeast of the city of New Orleans,^[3] close to the present-day town of Chalmette, Louisiana, and was an American victory.^[2] The battle effectively marked the end of the War of 1812.

[Beveaux 6]

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi.