Today is the first day of the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Tournament. It is held annually, usually in late June, near Edirne, Turkey since 1360. In the finals held on the last day, the first, second and third winners of each category are determined. The Guinness Book of World Records accepts this as the world’s oldest continually sanctioned sporting competition.
The contestants wear only leather knee-length shorts called kıspets. Before each bout, the wrestlers pour olive oil over their entire bodies. Oil wrestling is a sport at the forefront of traditional Turkish sports. Wrestling was held in all of the fairs organized all over the Ottoman Empire, but the wrestler who won the “chief” title only in Kırkpınar was known as the “chief wrestler” until the next year’s Kırkpınar wrestling. This idea continues to this day.
Ancient Greek Meme…
Headline Writer’s Dream…
it’s the last day of Pride Month. Persist.
Today is the birthday, in 1943, of American vocalist Florence Ballard, The Supremes (1964 US & UK No.1 single ‘Baby Love’ plus 11 other US No.1 singles). Ballard sang on 16 top forty singles with the group, including ten No.1 hits. She died February 21st 1976. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_y6nFjoVp4
Today is Independence Day in Djibouti. It is the National Day of Djibouti and marks the country’s declaration of independence in 1977, ending nearly a century of French rule.
In antiquity, the territory, together with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somaliland, was part of the Land of Punt. Nearby Zeila, now in Somaliland, was the seat of the medieval Adal and Ifat Sultanates. In the late 19th century, the colony of French Somaliland was established after the ruling Dir, Somali, and Afar sultans signed treaties with the French.
In 1958, as independence for Somalia neared, a referendum was held to decide whether the territory should remain with France or join the Somali Republic. The outcome was a vote in favour of staying as part of France.
In 1967, a second referendum was held and again results indicated that the majority wanted to continue with ties to France. In both the 1958 and 1967 referendums there have been accusations that the outcome of the voting was rigged in favour of remaining with France.
On May 8th 1977, a third referendum took place. This time, an overwhelming 98.8% of the electorate voted for independence from France and thus, on June 27th 1977, Djibouti became the last of France’s African colonies to gain independence.
Today marks 10 years…
Combination Business…
Nice…
It’s been HOT
Good marketing…
SIGNZ
On this day in 1987, Whitney Houston became the first women in US history to enter the album chart at No.1 with ‘Whitney’ she also became the first woman to top the singles chart with four consecutive releases when ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ hit No.1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3giaIzONA
On this day in 1284, The Pied Piper led away 130 children from the village of Hamelin in Germany. n 1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation, a piper dressed in multicoloured (“pied”) clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat-catcher. He promised the mayor a solution to their problem with the rats. The mayor, in turn, promised to pay him 1,000 guilders for the removal of the rats. The piper accepted and played his pipe to lure the rats into the Weser River, where all the rats drowned.
Despite the piper’s success, the mayor reneged on his promise and refused to pay him the full sum (reputedly reduced to 50 guilders) even going so far as to blame the piper for bringing the rats himself in an extortion attempt. Enraged, the piper stormed out of the town, vowing to return later to take revenge. On Saint John and Paul’s day, while the adults were in church, the piper returned, dressed in green like a hunter and playing his pipe. In so doing, he attracted the town’s children. One hundred and thirty children followed him out of town and into a mountains’ cave, after which they were never seen again.
There is some documentary evidence that a number of children did disappear around the time. There are a variety of theories about what actually happened. My favorite is the emigration theory. At the time there was a german drive to expand to the east. There were characters known as lokators who roamed northern Germany trying to recruit settlers for the East.” Some of them were brightly dressed, and all were silver-tongued. Family names from Hamelin appear frequently in the regions of Prignitz and Uckermark, both north of Berlin. He also found the same surnames in the former Pomeranian region, which is now a part of Poland.
On this day in 1947, Contact Publishing in Amsterdam published Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 14 Juni 1942 – 1 Augustus 1944 (The Annex: Diary Notes 14 June 1942 – 1 August 1944), better known in English as The Diary of a Young Girl or The Diary of Anne Frank.
During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Anne Frank received a blank diary as one of her presents on 12 June 1942, her 13th birthday. On 5 July 1942, Anne’s then-16-year-old sister, Margot, received an official summons to report to a Nazi work camp in Germany, and on 6 July, Margot and Anne went into hiding with their parents Otto and Edith. They were later joined by Hermann van Pels, Otto’s business partner, his wife Auguste and their teenage son Peter. Their hiding place was in the sealed-off upper rooms of the annex at the back of Otto’s company building in Amsterdam.
On 6 June 1944, the Allied forces commenced the Normandy landings, in France; the group was aware of this development, and hopeful for eventual liberation. On 4 August 1944, six weeks before the Allies breached the Belgian-Dutch border, the group was discovered and deported to Nazi concentration camps. Of the eight people, only Otto Frank survived the war. Anne was 15 years old when she died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, in Nazi Germany.
Movie Posters from Ghana…they have imagination!
Let’s hear it for people who are just nice.
Thanks, Debra…
Hello Summer!
Today is the birthday, in 1943, of Carly Simon, US singer, songwriter, (1973 UK No.3 and US No.1 single ‘You’re So Vain’, 1974 US No.5 single with James Taylor ‘Mockingbird’). In 2015, after keeping quiet for more than 40 years, Carly Simon admitted that ‘You’re So Vain’ was about Warren Beatty, but only one verse of it. Simon said the other verses were about two other men. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaV-6qerkqI
According to legend, today is the birthday of St. John the Baptist. The feast day of Saint John the Baptist was a popular feast day in many European countries. One reason for this was that its timing coincided nicely with much older pagan holidays that celebrated the summer solstice. It is still celebrated as a religious feast day in several countries, such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and has echos in other holidays such as the Swiss National Day – a central theme in the celebrations is the lighting of bonfires.
It was thought that the Summer solstice was a time when spirits roamed freely, so bonfires were lit to ward off and protect from the evil spirits. Later on, the solstice was seen as a time when witches or even dragons needed to be kept at bay with a bonfire. For example, Jónsmessa — Iceland (feast of St. John the Baptist, is considered a magical night when cows can speak, seals take on human form, finding magical stones and herbs is propitious, and rolling naked in the dew is healing.) Icelandic folklore also states that if you sit at a crossroads where all four roads lead to separate churches all night, elves will attempt to seduce you with food and gifts.
How to do afternoon tea:
News Flash!!!
TRANS??
BADA BING!!!!
tRUMP protest sign: Can we skip to when he shoots himself in the bunker?
Hey Donald: No one was paid to protest against you on your birthday. We hate you FOR FREE.
tRUMP protest sign: This is nothing compared to the party we’ll have when you die.
And then a squeaky tank came by and woke him up.
Imagine how shitty of a person you have to be to get millions of people to use their day off to protest you.
Florida MAGA voter tears up after ICE detains a third of his workers. And now he can’t find new ones.
The doctor said to me this morning, “I’d like to talk to you about your weight.” I said, ”Well, it was about 25 minutes, but at least the chairs were comfy.”
A real smart TV would increase the volume when you start eating chips.
Tulsi Gabbard announced Trump’s DOJ is looking into who is funding the anti-ICE and No Kings protests. Let me save you some time DOJ. We’re doing it for free.
Have any of you been in so much trouble you had to win the presidency?
Steven Cheung: Amazing. Despite the threat of rain, over 250,000 patriots showed up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Army. Sundae Girl: 200,000 people were dressed as empty aluminum benches.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, age 91, held a hearing on Biden’s cognitive decline. Senator Durbin walked in, played a video of Trump’s crazy statements, told them they’re wasting everyone’s time, called the hearing a distraction, and left.
Them: So, are you seeing anyone right now? Me: Like dating, a therapist, or hallucinations? Them: Never mind…
Just emerged from my Y2K bunker. Everybody okay?
Her to cop: How dare you pull me over. Do you know who my father is?! Cop: No, I’m just like your mom, I have no idea.
Housework…
Today is the birthday, in 1949, of John Illsley, English musician, best known as bass guitarist of the rock band Dire Straits who had the 1985 US No.1 single ‘Money For Nothing’ the 1986 UK No.2 single ‘Walk Of Life’ and the 1985 world wide No.1 album Brothers In Arms. Illsley owns a local pub, the ‘East End Arms’, between Lymington and Beaulieu, which has been listed by critics as one of the “Fifty Best Pubs Around Britain”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd9TlGDZGkI
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