Today is Traditional Day, a public holiday in Benin. Also known as Traditional Religions Day or Voodoo Day, it is a day to celebrate the religion of Vodoun.
Vodoun (also spelled Vodon, Vodun, Vodou, Voudou, Voodoo) is an ancient religion that originated in the West African kingdoms of Fon and Kongo. The Fon kingdom was located in what is now southern Benin and the coastal city of Ouidah in Benin is regarded as the birthplace of Vodoun and remains a focal point for celebrations on Traditional Day.
Each year, on Traditional Day, thousands of followers from Benin and beyond will descend on the beach in Ouidah for the annual festival.
Attendees stay in tents with colourful flags representing different sects of the religion. Beginning with the slaughter of a goat in honour of the spirits, the festival is filled with prayers, libations, singing and dancing.
Vodoun is the source of the Voodoo religions practiced in Haiti and other parts of the Western hemisphere; its traditions travelled to the new world when many West Africans were displaced during the slave trade. Vodoun was officially declared a religion in Benin in 1996. About 17% of the population of Benin, some 1.6 million people, follow Vodoun.
Today is the birthday, in 1945, of British rock and pop singer and songwriter Rod Stewart. He was a member of The Hoochie Coochie Men, Steampacket, Shotgun Express, Jeff Beck Group, the Faces (UK No.6 & US No.17 single ‘Stay With Me’). As a solo artist he had the 1971 UK & US No.1 single ‘Maggie May’, plus five other UK No.1’s and over 35 Top 40 hits and 10 No.1 albums. His 1971 debut album Every Picture Tell’s A Story was the first album ever to simultaneously be No.1 in the UK and US. Stewart has eight children, by five mothers. In reference to his divorces, Stewart was once quoted as saying, “Instead of getting married again, I’m going to find a woman I don’t like and just give her a house.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbI_awR4CKE
Today is a Day of Mourning in the United States as a mark of respect for James Earl Carter, Jr., the thirty-ninth President of the United States. Carter, the 39th President of the United States and a tireless advocate for peace, human rights, and public service, passed away at the age of 100 on December 29th 2024.
Carter, whose presidency from 1977 to 1981 was marked by both significant achievements and formidable challenges, will be remembered as much for his post-presidential humanitarian efforts as for his time in the Oval Office.
Most Federal agencies will be closed. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will close on Jan. 9th in honor of Carter’s passing.
SIGNZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Today is the birthday, in 1941, of American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist Joan Baez. She scored the 1971 US No.3 & UK No.6 single ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ and was one of the first major artists to record the songs of Bob Dylan in the early 1960s. Baez also performed three songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYeXvG2ptwk
Yesterday was Orthodox Christmas. Orthodox Christians are estimated to number between 250 and 300 million people. The largest number of Orthodox Christians live in eastern and southeastern Europe, including Russia and Ukraine. There are also significant Orthodox Christian populations in the Middle East and in Ethiopia.
The difference in the timing of the Christmas celebrations stretches back to 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII, ruled that the Catholic Church should follow a new calendar – called the Gregorian calendar, as it was closer to the solar calendar than the Julian calendar.
The Julian calendar now runs 13 days behind, so Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7th—through 2099; in 2100, when the world next omits a leap year, it will move to January 8th.
Because it was the Catholic pope who ruled on the adoption of the new Gregorian calendar, many churches not aligned to the papacy ignored it, such as Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox church. Protestants accepted the new calendar in the early 1700s.
And you thought the Cybertruck was ugly…The Citroen Karin: Trevor Fiore’s vision for a futuristic concept in 1980’s Paris.
Phara, an immigrant from Bangkok, needed a job. Her pastor heard of an opening at a bookbinding operation and suggested that Phara apply for it. When the owner of the bindery interviewed Phara, he decided she was perfect for the job and hired her on the spot. When her pastor heard the good news, he sent Phara a bouquet of flowers accompanied by a card reading “Blest be the Thai that binds.”
‘Special Advisor’…
Today is the birthday, in 1947, of David Bowie English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, painter and actor. His first UK Top 40 single was the 1969 ‘Space Oddity’ which became a UK No.1 in 1975, plus over 50 other UK Top 40 hits including five No.1’s. Bowie has also scored two US No.1 singles, the 1975 ‘Fame’ and 1983 ‘Let’s Dance’. His music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music and during his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million worldwide, made him one of the world’s best-selling music artists. Bowie died from liver cancer at his New York home on 10 January 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYRH4apXDo
Today is Victory over Genocide Day, a public holiday in Cambodia. Also known as Cambodian Victory Day, it marks the end of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.
During the Vietnam war, Cambodia was a base for communist forces, and at the end of that conflict, an offshoot from the Vietnam People’s Army called the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. Mixing the ideology of communism and the Ankor Empire, they implemented extreme communist policies, enforcing strict self-sufficiency and taking children from parents, so they could be indoctrinated in communism.
An aim of the Khmer Rouge was to return Cambodia to a purely agricultural society. To implement this, many Cambodians were forced to leave the cities to work on labor camps.
It is estimated that around two million Cambodians (almost a quarter of the population) were killed in the four years of the Khmer Rouge regime from starvation, illness, overwork in the labour camps or execution for not embracing the ideals of the Khmer Rouge. This led to the reign of the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot being seen as effectively a campaign of genocide against the Cambodian people.
On January 7th 1979, Vietnamese troops entered Cambodia and began the assault to remove the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge surrendered on April 17th 1979. It is not a universally welcome holiday in Cambodia as many Cambodians feel uneasy about their dependence for liberation on Vietnam.
Photoshopping your kids!
Stephen Crowley has figured out the perfect way to give relatives a heart attack: “I’ve been photoshopping my kids into marginally dangerous situations. Nothing unbelievable, but enough to make people think: wait, did he just…?” Now we just have to wait until his kids are old enough to photoshop him into marginally negligent nursing home facilities.
BADA BING!!!!!
I wish I could drop my body off at the gym and pick it up when it’s ready.
I set out to lose 10 pounds this month. Only 15 to go!
Day 12 without chocolate…Lost hearing in my left eye.
Do weights for muscle, cardio for heart, ice cream for mental health.
Doctor: Looks like you’re pregnant. Me: But I’m a guy! Doctor: I said it LOOKS like you’re pregnant.
I’m not fat. I’m swollen from all the hard hits life has thrown at me.
Interviewer: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Me: Still trying to lose weight.
I was going to give up all my bad habits for the new year but then I remembered no one likes a quitter.
Whenever I try to eat healthy, a chocolate bar looks at me and Snickers.
That feeling you get when you want something to eat and all you have are ingredients.
A teenage boy walked into a bar and ordered a beer. “Honey, do you want to get me in trouble?” said the waitress. “Maybe later,” said the boy. “Right now I’d like a beer.”
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said “Stop! Don’t do it!” “Why shouldn’t I?” he said. “Well, there’s so much to live for!” “Like what?” “Well… are you religious?” He said yes. I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?” “Christian.” “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant? “Protestant.” “Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?” “Baptist” “Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?” “Baptist Church of God!” “Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?” “Reformed Baptist Church of God!” “Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?” He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!” I said, “Die, heretic scum”, and pushed him off.
OSHA Nightmares…
Today is the birthday, in 1959, of American musician Kathy Valentine who is the bassist for the rock band the Go-Go’s. They had the 1982 US No.2 single ‘We Got The Beat’ and the 1982 UK No.47 single ‘Our Lips Our Sealed’. The Go-Go’s supported the Specials on the latter’s 1980 Seaside tour of England. According to Jane Wiedlin, she and Terry Hall had a brief affair. After Wiedlin returned to the US, Hall mailed her some lyrics, and this led to their co-writing the song. The Go-Go’s version is significantly more upbeat than Fun Boy Three’s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3kQlzOi27M
My ‘thousands’ of followers are used to seeing humor on this blog, along with the occasional book review or maybe some art or music. But I think it’s time to add some posts focusing on the state of our country and government. Note that these will appear in a separate tab on the home page.
Today the Congress is ratifying the election of Donald J. Trump to another term as President. Many people, I know, are alarmed or terrified, given his various bloviations, grievances and threats during the campaign. Now I don’t like the man or his announced policies and it is certainly possible or even probable that he will make a mess of our government and our country.
But our government and our country have proved resilient and we can all help to ensure that any damage is limited. I’m going to explore several reasons why it might be difficult for him and his supporters to accomplish all that they hope.
First, let’s remember that our Federal government is designed to be slow. As our constitution was being framed, the Crown’s abuses of power were fresh in the framers’ memories. So they created checks and balances by establishing three independent government branches. Furthermore, they built inefficiencies into the legislative process. The powers of each branch, “would be the means of keeping each other in their proper places,” wrote James Madison.
There were concerns that a strong Federal government would destroy state legislative power. A ‘compromise committee’ among the framers proposed a a plan that became known as the Great Compromise. he plan provided for a bicameral legislature with proportional representation based on a state’s population for one chamber and equal state representation in the other.
The Framers recognized that the division of legislative power between two distinct chambers of elected members was needed to protect liberty and address the states’ fear of an imbalance of power in Congress. As later explained by Chief Justice Warren Burger, the Great Compromise, under which one House was viewed as representing the people and the other the states, allayed the fears of both the large and small states.
While acknowledging that the bicameral legislative process often produces conflict, inefficiency, and in some instances [can] be injurious as well as beneficial, the Framers believed that the intricate law-making process promotes open discussion and safeguards against against improper acts of legislation.
The result of this arrangement is that it can be very difficult to enact substantive legislation with broad agreement among the members of our legislature. Given the narrow divide between the parties in both the House and the Senate and a number of discrete factions in both houses, it will be very difficult to enact much of the new President’s agenda into law (except for some relatively narrow issues in the budget reconciliation bills).
In my next post on this topic, I’ll discuss some other features of our government that will slow things down.
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