On this day in 1606, King James I issued a charter to The Virginia Company with the objective of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day Maine to the Carolinas. The company’s shareholders were Londoners, and it was distinguished from the Plymouth Company, which was chartered at the same time and composed largely of gentlemen from Plymouth, England.
John Rolfe had introduced new and better strains of tobacco from the Caribbean. Cultivation of Rolfe’s new tobacco strains produced a strong commodity crop for export for the London Company and other early English colonies and helped to balance a national trade deficit with Spain. The company failed in 1624, following the widespread destruction of the Great Massacre of 1622 by indigenous peoples in the colony, which decimated the English population. On 24 May, James dissolved the company and made Virginia a royal colony from England with propertied male colonists retaining some representative-government through the lower house, the House of Burgesses.
Irony alert!
Signses…
April 9, 2025
Today is the birthday, in 1959, of American guitarist, singer, and songwriter Brian Setzer, guitar, vocals, The Stray Cats who spearheaded the neo-rockabilly movement of the early 1980s. They scored the 1980 UK No.9 single ‘Runaway Boys’, and the 1983 US No.3 single ‘Stray Cat Strut’. He later worked with his swing revival band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEtbfzMLVWU
Today is the anniversary of the discovery of the statue Aphrodite of Melos, better known as Venus de Milo. The statue is an ancient Greek marble sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period. Its exact dating is uncertain, but the modern consensus places it in the 2nd century BC, perhaps between 160 and 110 BC. It was rediscovered in 1820 on the island of Milos, Greece, and has been displayed at the Louvre Museum since 1821. Since the statue’s discovery, it has become one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture in the world.
The Venus de Milo is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, whose Roman counterpart was Venus. The statue is missing both arms, the left foot, and the earlobes. There is a filled hole below her right breast that originally contained a metal tenon that would have supported the right arm. The sculpture was originally identified as depicting Aphrodite holding the apple of discord as a marble hand holding an apple was found alongside it; recent scientific analysis supports the identification of this hand as part of the sculpture.
I’ll stick with the cow…
Sue and Rick
chat + eau = chateau
Health nut??
BADA BING!!!
Imagine telling Denmark they don’t do enough for people in Greenland when Greenland has universal healthcare and you don’t.
So after arguing for an hour with a man who said I was in his seat, he finally said, “OK, YOU fly the plane!”
Canada elected a guy with a PhD in economics from Oxford. Mexico elected a woman with a degree in physics and a PhD in energy engineering. America elected a geriatric orange conman who talks like a carnie and went bankrupt six times.
Until the day I die, I will never understand how they were more upset about a Super Bowl halftime show than Elon Musk stealing our social security numbers.
Could we just commission artists to paint unflattering portraits of him every day to keep him occupied?
I was watching a TV show for about 10 minutes and this lady was listing all of these great things to do for fun. Then I realized that it was one of the religious channels and she was reading a list of sins.
Don’t worry Greenland. One more bottle of whiskey and Pete Hegseth will text you the complete invasion plans.
It’s disgusting that we live in a country where a homeless veteran who served his country can sleep in a cardboard box, while a draft dodger who works tirelessly to tear his country down can sleep in the White House.
Shout out to everyone who got through the day without taking a nap. Pulled an all-dayer today.
How would someone cancel an appointment at a sperm bank? Do you just call them and say you can’t come?
I think it’s disgraceful that after 50 years, people don’t know who Neil Armstrong was … or even the type of trumpet he played!
I went for a run but came back home after 2 minutes because I forgot something. I forgot that I’m fat and can’t run for more than 2 minutes.
Must be miserable to go about life thinking scientists, historians and journalists spent their entire lives lying to you, but a reality TV celebrity with decades of documented fraud is telling you the truth.
Remember when I asked for your opinion? Neither do I.
Happy B-day to all celebrating it this month! I hope you’re celebrating the way you came into this world. Naked and screaming.
Subway sign… Our footlong subs are 12 inches even when it’s cold.
I would rather the USA not be Trump’s 7th bankruptcy.
If one of my jokes offended you, it’ll probably happen again. I’m a repeat offender.
If you find a snakeskin, it means the snake shed it so it could grow bigger. Same thing if you find my clothes at Goodwill.
Even on Gilligan’s island, they listened to the professor, not the millionaire.
Today, Rwanda memorializes victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Also known as Kwibuka (‘To Remember’), this day marks the beginning of the national mourning period.
The Rwandan genocide was a mass slaughter of Tutsi in Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War, which had started in 1990. It was directed by members of the Hutu majority government during the 100-day period from April 7th to mid-July 1994.
It is estimated that up to 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed, constituting an estimated 70% of the Tutsi population. Additionally, 30% of the Pygmy Batwa were killed. The genocide and widespread slaughter of Rwandans ended after the Tutsi-backed and heavily armed Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by Paul Kagame, took control of the capital and the country.
Ching Ming, Qingming, the Remembrance of Ancestors Day or Grave-Sweeping Day takes place on the 15th day after the Spring Equinox. This means it usually takes place on April 4th or April 5th in the western calendar. The date of the festival is indicated on the Chinese calendar by the two characters: ching, meaning pure or clean, and ming, meaning brightness. Combined together, Ching Ming means clean and just.
Ching Ming rituals not only include weeding of the area, cleaning of the headstone, and replacing the wilted flowers with fresh ones, but also the lighting of incense and burning of imitation paper money. The burning of the imitation money is for the deceased to use in the afterlife.
The imitations burnt are no longer limited to just money. In recent years, the burning of paper imitations of a wide variety of consumer goods has become popular. This includes all manner of objects, such as iPhones, designer handbags, houses and sports cars. In addition, food is laid out in front of the headstone as an offering to the spirits of the deceased.
Today, the responsibility to hang san or ’walk the mountain’ as visiting the cemetery is commonly known, still falls to the eldest son. Today families may be more likely to prefer simplified offerings of only the incense, paper money and flowers.
Irony…
From a Dutch newspaper…
On the left – “Man inserts large eggplant into anus to cure his constipation”
Today is Malvinas Day, a public holiday in Argentina. It is officially called Day of the War Veterans and the Fallen in the Malvinas Islands (Día del Veterano de Guerra y los Caídos en las Islas Malvinas).
The Malvinas Islands are probably better known in the English-speaking world by their British name, the Falklands. The holiday is a tribute to Argentina’s fallen soldiers in the Falklands War, which began with the Argentine occupation of the Islands on April 2nd 1982.
Some April 1 ads…
Thanks B&P!
Today is the birthday, in 1947, of American singer, songwriter and musician Emmylou Harris. She has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honours, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She has worked with numerous leading artists, including Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, John Denver, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, The Band, Mark Knopfler, Albert Lee, Delbert McClinton, Guy Clark, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Steve Earle and Ryan Adams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1lQOnqIECI
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