Month: August 2024

Finally…it’s FRIDAY everyone!!

Today is Victory Day (Zafer Bayramı), a national holiday in Turkey. Victory Day commemorates the victory in the Battle of Dumlupınar which was the decisive battle in the Turkish War of Independence in 1922.

Türkiye was occupied by Allied forces after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War (1914-1918). This led to the start of the Turkish War of Independence in 1919, with the Turkish forces led by General Mustafa Kemal.

By 1922, through adroit diplomatic maneuvering, the Allies were split with French and Italian sympathies lying with the Turks rather than the Greeks who were the occupying army at the time.

Greek forces were routed during the battle and the remains of the Greek army fled being pursued by the Turks. The Greeks suffered more than 100,000 casualties out of an army of about 250,000. By September 18, the last Greek soldiers were forced out of Anatolia and, on October 11 an armistice was signed by Turkey, Italy, France and Britain which Greece was forced to accede to.


Enjoy the Labor Day weekend! Here’s some fun music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuapCENFM2U

Posted by Tom, 0 comments

THURRRSSSDAY

Today is Slovak National Uprising Day (Výročie Slovenského národného povstania), a public holiday in Slovakia. This public holiday commemorates August 29th 1944, which marked the start of an uprising against the pro-Nazi government of the time. In 1938, the Munich agreement established the independent Slovak state, led by Jozef Tiso. In June 1944 Tiso declared martial law allowing the German army to occupy the country on August 29th.

Up to that point, there had been limited and sporadic guerrilla resistance operations across Slovakia. To counteract the planned occupation, a formal military plan was put in action by the exiled Czechoslovak government, Slovak partisans and deserters from the Slovak army. Headquartered in central Slovakia, the forces of the uprising consisted of several armoured units as well as part of the Slovak Air Force. Along with the Warsaw Uprising, it was the largest uprising against Nazism and its allies in Europe.


cookie-flavored cookies

SIGNZZZ


Today is the birthday, in 1958, of Michael Jackson singer, songwriter, Jackson 5, The Jacksons, and solo. Jackson is recognised as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. The music videos for ‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’, and ‘Thriller’ are credited with breaking down racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. His 1982 album Thriller, is the best-selling studio album of all time. Jackson died on 25th June 2009 at the age of 50, after suffering heart failure at his home in Beverly Hills. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsUXAEzaC3Q

Posted by Tom in eighties music, Humor, Music, 0 comments

WEDNESDAY already

Ayyankali Jayanthi is a regional Indian public holiday observed in Kerala on August 28th. The day commemorates the birth of a notable social reformer in Kerala who was born on this day in 1863.

AyyanKali was born on August 28th 1963 in a small village in the princely state of Travancore, now in the south of the modern-day state of Kerala. He was born into the Pulayar, the lowest social class in the caste system.

Growing up illiterate and seeing that many Pulayars were effectively rural slaves, he resolved to do what he could to remove limitations of the caste system. Ayyankali became a noted protestor for Pulayar rights gaining rights for the community by highlighting the injustices of the caste system.

Ayyankali sought to improve access to education, and as a result of the protests led by Ayyankali, in 1907 a decree was issued to admit students from the untouchable community to government schools. When a school was burned down because a Puluyar girl had tried to enrol, Ayyankali organised a strike by the agricultural workers in the region.

As well as addressing the lower levels of education level, he pushed for jobs for Dalits in government departments such as public works, police and excise. His aim was to provide better living amenities and dignity to the Dalits. Ayyankali worked tirelessly to make the Dalits a part of modern and civilized society.


BADA BINGGGGGGGGGG

The homeless always find markers to write signs. I can never find one in my house.

Using Fox News to support your arguments is like saying you’re a marine biologist because you watch Sponge Bob Squarepants.

I’m trying to figure out how to tell my boss I don’t want to work anymore but I still want the money.

The Roomba vacuum cleaner just beat me to a piece of popcorn I dropped on the floor and this is how the war against the machines begins.

Walmart is giving out free school supplies to anyone who can outrun security.

Fox News did to our parents what our parents were afraid video games would do to us. – Steven King

How is a $7,500 tax credit for buying a Tesla capitalism, but the $25,000 tax credit for buying a house is communism?

Believing that your behavior is affected by the phases of the moon is lunacy.

Gynecologist: What are you using for birth control? Patient: My personality.

My wife just completed a 40-week bodybuilding program this morning. It’s a girl and weighs 7lbs 12 oz.

I made a huge to-do list for today. I just can’t figure out who’s going to do it.

Interviewer: Do you have any accomplishments at your last job? Me: I’m personally responsible for several new rules in the employee handbook. Interviewer: Impressive. You wrote them? Me: That’s not what I said.

If I was a plastic surgeon I would 100% put a squeaky toy in every breast implant.

Living with a dog is mostly following each other around, watching each other go potty, and wondering what the other has in their mouth.

Somedays, the supply of available swear words are insufficient to meet my demands.


Today is the birthday, in 1965, of Shania Twain, Canadian singer, (Eilleen Regina Edwards). Her 1997 album ‘Come On Over’, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time selling more than 40 million copies worldwide. Twain has won 5 Grammy Awards and 27 BMI Songwriter awards and is sometimes referred to as “The Queen of Country Pop”, she is one of the most commercially successful artists of all time, having sold over 80 million albums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJL4UGSbeFg

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, 0 comments

TUESDAY is back!

Today is Independence Day in Moldova. This public holiday is always celebrated on August 27th. In Romanian, it is called ‘Ziua Independenței’. This is Moldova’s National Day. The day marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union on August 27th 1991.

Moldavia became a principality in 1359 when Bogdan I crossed the Carpathians and took control from the Hungarians. In the middle of the sixteenth century, it came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire becoming a vassal state, though Moldova retained control of its own affairs.

Following the end of the Russo-Turkish War, the 1812 Treaty of Bucharest ceded the eastern half of Moldavia to the Russian Empire, which was named the region Bessarabia. In 1918, after the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Russian Empire, Bessarabia united with Romania.

This unity lasted until 1940 when Romania was compelled to cede the country to the Soviet Union as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact when Romania was carved up between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s USSR. 

Like other Soviet regions, the movement for independence gathered pace in the late 1980s with the change in the political situation created by glasnost and perestroika. The first democratic elections were held in early 1990. After the failure of the 1991 Soviet coup attempt to remove President Gorbachev, Moldova declared declared itself an independent and sovereign state on August 27th 1991.


I WILL HELP!!!

Today is the birthday, in 1942, of American musician and songwriter Daryl Dragon, from husband-and-wife duo The Captain and Tennille. They scored numerous hits on the US singles charts, the most enduring of which included ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’, ‘Do That to Me One More Time’, and ‘Muskrat Love’. They hosted their own television variety series on ABC in 1976–77. Dragon also worked on The Beach Boys’ 1972 release Carl and the Passions – ‘So Tough’. Dragon died on 2 January 2019 from kidney failure aged 76. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s3kN-YzKxQ

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies, 0 comments

fridayfridayfridayFRIDAY

Today the Philippines celebrate Ninoy Aquino Day. In Filipino, it is known as ‘Araw ng Kabayanihan ni Ninoy Aquino’. The holiday commemorates the assassination of former Senator Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino, Jr. on this day in 1983.

His wife was Corazon Aquino, who later became President of the Philippines, and as a couple, they are seen as two heroes of democracy in the Philippines.

In the early 1970s, Aquino was a prominent critic of the President of the Philippines at that time – Ferdinand Marcos. Martial law was declared in September 1972 and Aquino was imprisoned. While in prison, Aquino continued to campaign for democracy and even stood for election.

In 1980, he suffered two heart attacks and rather than treat him and have something go wrong and get accused of intentionally treating him badly, the Filipino authorities allowed him to leave to go to the United States for medical treatment, where he remained in exile for about three years.

His intention was to return to the Philippines to challenge Marcos in the parliamentary elections of 1984. On August 21st 1983, while he was being escorted off the plane at Manila International airport, he was shot and killed.


Edmund Burke (or somebody) Runs For Re-election

Today is the birthday, in 1942, of Roger Greenaway, singer, songwriter, member of David & Jonathan and the Kestrels. Best known for his songwriting collaborations with Roger Cook: ‘My Baby Loves Lovin’, (White Plains); ‘Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress’, ‘Gasoline Alley Bred’, (The Hollies); ‘You’ve Got Your Troubles’, (The Fortunes); ‘Melting Pot, Good Morning Freedom’ (Blue Mink); and ‘Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart’ (Gene Pitney). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwO0lNfc_h8

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies, 1 comment