Crabs and Beer!

Thoughts from the depths of the Eastern Shore

TUESDAY for us!

Today is Garifuna Settlement Day, a national holiday in Belize observed on November 19th each year. This holiday celebrates the settlement of the Garifuna (plural – Garinagu) people in Belize after being exiled from St. Vincent. This day highlights the rich cultural heritage of the Garinagu people — an ethnic group that emerged from the intermarriage of West Africans and the indigenous Arawak people.

In 1675, a cargo ship containing slaves from modern-day Nigeria was wrecked on a Caribbean island in the Grenadines. The local Carib took the survivors to the main island of St. Vincent where they established a community that would develop a unique afro-indigenous culture and group that became the Garifuna people. Known as the ‘Black Caribs’ they posed a formidable obstacle to the British or French taking control of the island group.

Chief Joseph Chatoyer was a Garifuna chief in St. Vincent. He forced the British to sign a peace treaty that set out the boundaries between British and Carib areas of the island. After the superior weaponry of the British finally subdued the Caribs and Garifuna, the British decide to exile the Garifuna as prisoners of war. In April 1797, over 5,000 Garifuna were transported on British ships and abandoned on the deserted Honduran Bay Island of Roatan.

The Garifuna people then travelled to the shores of Belize, mainland Honduras and Guatemala establishing permanent settlements. The first Garifuna arrived in Belize at Dangriga on November 19th 1832, which is still home to the largest Garifuna population in the country.

Today the Garifuna now account for about 7% of the population of Belize. They live mainly in the South of Belize in Garifuna villages like Seine Bight, Hopkins, Barranco and larger towns like Punta Gorda and Dangriga. The black, white and yellow Garifuna Flag was implemented by Thomas Vincent Ramos. The flag is accepted internationally as the flag of the Garifuna Nation and the colors have been used in any forum where Garifuna people assert their Garifuna identity.


BADA BINGLE!!

You know you’re old when you don’t recognize the host or the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

Two deaf men were in a coffee shop discussing their wives. One signs to the other, “Boy was my wife mad at me last night. She went on and on and wouldn’t stop!” The other one says, “When my wife goes like that I just don’t listen.” “How do you manage that?” “It’s easy! I turn off the light!”

Oh great, Daylight Saving Time is over. Now we can all enjoy the sunset while we’re eating lunch.

Stop blaming everyone for all of your problems. Pick one person you don’t like and blame them for everything.

So just to be clear, Dems rigged the election against tRUMP in 2020 but then just forgot to do it this time around?

I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but you don’t need anything from Amazon today. HA!

We aren’t ending friendships over politics, we’re ending friendships over morals. There is a huge difference.

The only thing you can do about awful people is not be one of them.


You donate a kidney and you’re a hero.You donate five kidneys and suddenly the police are involved.

How long before Hannibal Lecter is nominated for Surgeon General?

A distraught senior citizen phoned her doctor’s office. She asked, “Is it true that the medicine you prescribed has to be taken for the rest of my life?” “Yes, I’m afraid so,” the doctor told her. She replies, “It has me concerned that the bottle says ‘no refills’.”

After watching his picks, I’m starting to understand how he bankrupted those casinos.

A funeral was held today for the inventor of the air conditioner. Thousands of fans attended.

The patron saint of copying people on email is St. Francis of a CC.

My wife asked me if I could clear the kitchen table. I had to go and get me a running start, but I made it!

My email password has been hacked again. That’s the 3rd time I’ve had to rename the cat.

If we remove all the margarine on Earth, the world would be a butter place.

Just saw a girl with six lip piercings at Target. It took all my power not to attach a shower curtain.

A 3 foot, 3 inch tall man knocked at my door this morning. I said: “Who are you?” He said: “I’m the meter man”.

When tall people go to bed they sleep longer.

I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.


Today is the birthday, in 1938, of Hank Medress, from American male doo-wop-style vocal group The Tokens who had the 1961 US No.1 & UK No.11 single with its cover of Solomon Linda’s ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. He died from lung cancer on 25th June 2007 aged 68. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M40mBIKkc4

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Happy MONDAY?

Today is Revolution Day in Mexico, a public holiday observed on the third Monday of November. This holiday celebrates the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1910.

For most of Mexico’s developing history, a small minority of the people were in control of most of the country’s power and wealth, while the majority of the population worked in poverty. As the rift between the poor and rich grew under the leadership of General Díaz, the political voice of the lower classes was also declining. Opposition of Díaz did surface when Francisco I. Madero, educated in Europe and at the University of California, led a series of strikes throughout the country.

Although Díaz was at one time a strong supporter of the one-term limit, he seemed to have changed his mind and had Madero imprisoned, feeling that the people of Mexico just weren’t ready for democracy.

Once Madero was released from prison, he continued his battle against Díaz in an attempt to have him overthrown. During this time, several other Mexican folk heroes began to emerge, including the well-known Pancho Villa in the north, and the peasant Emiliano Zapata in the south, who were able to harass the Mexican army and wrest control of their respective regions. Díaz was unable to control the spread of the insurgence and resigned in May 1911, with the signing of the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez, after which he fled to France.

Madero was elected president but received opposition from Emiliano Zapata who didn’t wish to wait for the orderly implementation of Madero’s desired land reforms. In November of the same year, Zapata denounced Madero as president and took the position for himself. He controlled the state of Morelos, where he chased out the estate owners and divided their lands to the peasants. Later, in 1919, Zapata was assassinated by Jesus Guajardo acting under orders from General Pablo Gonzalez.

It was during this time that the country broke into many different factions, and guerilla units roamed across the country destroying and burning down many large haciendas and ranchos. Madero was later taken prisoner and executed and the entire country existed in a state of disorder for several years, while Pancho Villa rampaged through the north, and different factions fought for presidential control.

Eventually, Venustiano Carranza rose to the presidency and organized an important convention whose outcome was the Constitution of 1917, which is still in effect today. Carranza made land reform an important part of that constitution. This resulted in the ejido, or farm cooperative program that redistributed much of the country’s land from the wealthy landholders to the peasants. The ejidos are still in place today and comprise nearly half of all the farmland in Mexico.


Crush…

Nominative Determinism…


Today is the birthday, in 1958, of Laura Lynch, American country musician and songwriter, a founding member of the all-woman country music band the Dixie Chicks. They scored the 1999 US No.1 album Wide Open Space. By July 2020, with 33 million certified albums sold and sales of 27.9 million albums in the US, the Chicks had become the best-selling all-woman band and best-selling country group. Lynch died in a traffic collision on 22 December 2023 near El Paso, Texas, at the age of 65. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7gNf_9njs

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THURRRRRRRRSDAY

Today the Falkland Islands celebrates the King’s Birthday. King Charles III was born on November 14th 1948 in Buckingham Palace. He ascended to the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday September 8th 2022.

While King Charles will celebrate his birthday in November, now that he has taken the throne he receives the privilege of celebrating his birthday not once, but twice every year. It was the same with Queen Elizabeth. Queen’s Birthday was celebrated in June each year, even though the Queen’s birthday was on April 21st.

The idea behind the double birthday is that having a summer birthday means a higher chance of good weather during the Trooping the Color parade, which marks the official celebration of the monarch’s birthday in the UK. Trooping the Color is held outside Buckingham Palace on a Saturday in early June and has marked the celebration for over 270 years.

The King is the monarch of 15 countries, the United Kingdom and 14 commonwealth realms.


SIGNZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Today is the birthday, in 1936, of Freddie Garrity, singer and actor who was the frontman and comical element in the 1960s pop band Freddie and the Dreamers. They scored the 1963 UK No.3 single ‘You Were made For Me’, and the 1965 US No.1 single ‘I’m Telling You Now’. Garrity died on 19th May 2006 aged 69. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALR13MJLAs4

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WEDNESDAY DAY

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Cambodian Water Festival. It’s a three-day festival during the full moon. The festival marks a reversal of the flow between the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers. Due to the amount of water deposited during the rainy season, the Tonle Sap river becomes so swollen with water that it reverses the direction of its flow and flows upstream to Tonle Sap lake.

The festival marks the switching of the flow back to its normal direction, signifying the end of the rainy season. Essentially, the festival is a time to give thanks to the rivers as they provide the region with fertile farming land and plenty of fish.

The festival is focused on boat races and concerts. The roots of the boat races can be traced back to the times of the Angkorian kings who would train and evaluate the fighting skills of their water based warriors by holding competitions on the river. These trials in turn honored the naval victories of the Khmer empire under the leadership of Jayavarman VII in the twelfth century.


Sheet metal…

available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bernard-Industries-Dehydrated-Essential-Survival/dp/B08B6DFZS9?&linkCode=sl1&tag=funnpict00-20&linkId=9e4629021c5b9f139d3e27cfaac23b3f&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

An embroidery of the Wikipedia page on embroidery…


BADA BINGLE!

To anybody I offended in 2024, work on yourself so I don’t have to do it again in 2025.

A guy accidentally shot himself in the face after the bullet ricocheted off an armadillo. I guess that was called karmadillo.

“I’m voting for grocery prices” 

I’m voting for you to retake high school economics class.

I got confused by all the yard signs, and I think I may have voted for a realtor.

License plate on an Audi…OR INNY

If you do not have an emotional support Canadian, sign up now before they run out.

What borders on stupidity? Mexico and Canada.

My deep thought. If someone from Holland married a Filipino will their kids be called Holipinos?

I broke up with a girl once because she wouldn’t stop counting. I wonder what she’s up to now.

My transformation into a bitter angry old person is almost complete.


Today is the birthday, in 1953, of Andrew Ranken, drummer from Irish-British Celtic punk band The Pogues who scored the 1987 UK No.8 single ‘The Irish Rover’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=122isznJdto

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Welcome TUESDAY!

Today is National Youth Day, a public holiday in the Republic of Timor-Leste. This holiday honors the courage and determination of hundreds of young people killed in the Santa Cruz Massacre on this day in 1991.

After declaring independence from Portugal in 1975, the new-found sovereignty was short-lived when Indonesia annexed the nation. This led to the start of the war of independence that would last until 1999.

On November 12th 1991, thousands of young people attended the funeral of Sebastião Gomes, a supporter of the independence of East Timor who had been killed by the Indonesian army. After attending Mass at the Church in Motael, Dili they marched to the Santa Cruz cemetery. Their peaceful march gave rise to singing and the waving of banners expressing their deep yearning for justice and freedom.

“Chega!”, the report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor, records what happened next as Indonesian soldiers opened fire on the students as they arrived at the cemetery. “Soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons into the unarmed and peaceful crowd, many of whom fled into the grounds of the cemetery”, said the report. Independent estimates put the number killed as high as 271, with 250 listed as missing.

The Santa Cruz massacre was a turning point in Timor-Leste’s struggle for self-determination as footage of the event was smuggled out of the country by two American journalists and a British television presenter. It was later broadcast on British television and it caused the wave of outrage around the world.


maybe not that famous…

Today is the birthday, in 1945, of Neil Young, Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist who as a member of Buffalo Springfield had the 1967 US No.17 single ‘For What It’s Worth’. Joined Crosby, Stills Nash & Young who had the 1970 US No.1 and UK No.5 album DejVu. As a solo artist Young scored the 1972 US No.1 and UK No.10 single Heart Of Gold, and his 1972 UK No.7 album Harvest spent 66 weeks on the UK chart. In 2008 a newly discovered trapdoor spider Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi was named after the singer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZn9QZykx10

Posted by Tom, 0 comments