Today is Eid al Fitr in most countries of the world. It marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan for observant Muslims. Eid al-Fitr begins at sunset on the night of the first sighting of the crescent moon.
In case you were wondering…
SIGNZZZ
Today is the birthday, in 1947, of Jamaican singer songwriter and percussionist Bunny Wailer, who was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he is considered one of the long-time standard-bearers of reggae music. He died on 2 March 2021 age 73. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB8EwEeOZ9U
Independence Restoration Day, also known as the Day of National Unity, is a public holiday observed annually on April 9th in the country of Georgia. It commemorates the Tbilisi Massacre—a day when an anti-Soviet demonstration on Rustaveli Avenue was violently dispersed by Soviet troops.
During the 1980s, the anti-Soviet movement in Georgia began to take off, with strikes and worker meetings occurring regularly in Tbilisi. On April 4, 1989, thousands of protesters gathered before the Government House on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi to protest Soviet rule. The Soviet authorities tried to gain control of the protests but were unable to, and so on April 8, 1989, the Soviet Army was mobilized to deal with the situation.
On April 9th at 4 am, the Soviet Army attempted to put down the protests. Sixteen protesters were killed at the scene, and four other protesters would die later from their injuries. Hundreds of other protesters were also injured and required medical care.
It was later proven that the Soviets used toxic chemical agents against the demonstrators, and that was the main cause of the deaths. Two years after this event, on April 9, 1991, the Georgian legislature passed a declaration of independence based on the March 31, 1991, referendum in which most Georgians voted to secede from the Soviet Union.
Bada Bingggggg!
Would everyone here for yodeling lessons please form an orderly orderly orderly line?
Our cat knocked over the laundry basket full of freshly ironed clothes. I watched it all unfold.
I remember the first time I made love to my wife and I asked her: “Am I the first one?” She said: “Why does everyone always ask me that?”
I hate when I wake up in the middle of the night to get a quick drink of water and then accidentally eat a whole pizza.
What was it like before the crowbar was invented? Crows drank at home.
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the hell happened. (This gets truer and truer as time goes on.)
My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.
April 8th, the Sun is getting Mooned.
I started jogging today. I didn’t want to, but the ice cream truck didn’t stop.
SPOILER ALERT: Rice cakes do not contain any actual cake.
April Fools Day is over! Everything on the internet is true again!
Today is the birthday, in 1999, of American rapper, singer and songwriter Lil Nas X, (born Montero Lamar Hill). He came to international attention for his 2019 country rap single ‘Old Town Road’, which reached No.1 on the US Billboard chart and remained there for nineteen weeks, the only song to do so since the chart started in 1958. In June 2019, Nas X came out as gay, the only artist ever to have done so while having a No.1 record. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7qovpFAGrQ
Today Thailand observes Chakri Memorial Day. Officially known as ‘King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke the Great Day and Chakri Dynasty Memorial Day’, Chakri Day commemorates the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty by Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke ( Rama I) in 1782. One of King Rama’s first acts was to make Krung Thep (modern-day Bangkok) the capital of Siam.
Chakri day commemorates the coronation of Rama I but it is also a day for the people of Thailand to recognise the contributions of all the kings in the dynasty.
The current and tenth King (Rama X) of the dynasty is King Vajiralongkorn, who succeeded his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej who died in October 2016.
Today is the birthday, in 1929, of Jacques Brel, Belgian singer, songwriter. Marc Almond, Alex Harvey, David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, The Kingston Trio, Gavin Friday, Joan Baez, Shirley Bassey, Judy Collins, Beach Boys and many, many others have all covered his songs. Brel has sold over 25 million records worldwide, including over 12 million albums and singles in France and Belgium. He died of cancer 9th October 1978. Here’s a cover of one of his songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWdQbxNEFEs
Today is Jumutal Bidah Day. It is a public holiday in Bangladesh and a regional holiday in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, where it is known as ‘Jumat-ul-Wida’.
Jumatul Bidah translates as ‘Friday of farewell’ and marks the last Friday prayers in the holy month of Ramadan. Some Muslims regard this day as the second holiest of Ramadan and spend a large part of the day in worship.
In Bangladesh, large numbers will attend prayers and the largest takes place at the National Mosque of Bangladesh in Dhaka known as Baitul Mokarram Mosque.
Today is the birthday, in 1950, of Swedish musician, singer, songwriter Agnetha Faltskog from ABBA. Their first UK hit was the 1974 No.1 ‘Waterloo’, followed by eight other UK No.1 singles and 9 UK No.1 albums as well as the 1977 US No.1 single ‘Dancing Queen’. Her self-penned debut single ‘Jag var så kär’ was released in 1967, and topped the Swedish Chart in 1968 which led to a successful solo career before joining ABBA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFk6-Mn-8yg
Today is Peace Day in Angola. Día da Paz, the Day of Peace and Reconciliation commemorates the end of the Angolan Civil War on this day in 2002.
Independence from Portugal came to Angola in 1975. Two guerrilla groups had been instrumental in the armed struggle against the Portuguese colonisation – the communist People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Almost immediately after independence, a power struggle between the two groups led to the Angolan Civil War. The MPLA seized power in the capital Luanda.
With only a few interludes in the fighting, the war was to last 27 years. The conflict is estimated to have cost the lives of more than 500,000 civilians with over a million being displaced and the damage to the country’s infrastructure suppressing economic growth for decades.
The war was seen as a proxy conflict for the Cold War, with MPLA being supported by the Soviet Union, with UNITA siding with the USA. Though while the thawing of the Cold War in the early 1990s saw MPLA reject some of its Communist ideology, the war was to continue for another decade.
In February 2002, government troops killed the leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi. This prompted the government to stop its military operations. This brought the combatants to the negotiating table. The war finally came to an end with the signing of a peace agreement between the armed forces of Angola and the armed faction of the UNITA party on April 4th 2002.
I’M NOT NOSY!!! (PET VERSION)
Yesterday was the birthday, in 1833, of Johannes Brahms, German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the “Three Bs” of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzo3atXtm54
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