Today is the birthday of Matthew Henson, an African-American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic over a period of nearly 23 years. They spent a total of 18 years on expeditions together. He is best known for his participation in the 1908–1909 expedition that claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole on April 6, 1909.
Henson was born in Nanjemoy, Maryland, to sharecropper parents who were free Black Americans before the Civil War. He spent most of his early life in Washington, D.C. At the age of 12, the youth made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, a busy port. He went to sea as a cabin boy on the merchant ship Katie Hines, traveling to ports in China, Japan, Africa, and the Russian Arctic seas. The ship’s leader, Captain Childs, took Henson under his wing and taught him to read and write. He later worked as a salesclerk at a department store. One of his customers was Robert Peary. Learning of Henson’s sea experience, Peary recruited him as an aide for his planned voyage and surveying expedition to Nicaragua, with four other men. Peary supervised 45 engineers on the canal survey in Nicaragua. Impressed with Henson’s seamanship on that voyage, Peary recruited him as a colleague and he became “first man” in his expeditions.
Their first Arctic expedition together was in 1891–92. Henson served as a navigator and craftsman, and was known as Peary’s “first man”. Like Peary, he studied Inuit survival techniques. Henson traded with the Inuit and mastered the Inuit language. In 1908–09, Peary mounted his eighth attempt to reach the North Pole.
Peary selected Henson and four Inuit as part of the team of six men who would make the final run to the Pole. Before the goal was reached, Peary could no longer continue on foot and rode in a dog sled. Various accounts say he was ill, was exhausted, or had frozen toes. He sent Henson ahead as a scout.
In a newspaper interview, Henson later said:
‘I was in the lead that had overshot the mark a couple of miles. We went back then and I could see that my footprints were the first at the spot.’ Henson proceeded to plant the American flag.
Matthew Henson in arctic gear
This is very strong paint!
A tuter…
Today is the birthday, in 1950, of American rock drummer Liberty DeVitto, best known for his work as a drummer for Billy Joel’s recording and touring band as well as Carly Simon, Phoebe Snow, Karen Carpenter, Stevie Nicks, Rick Wakeman, Bob James and Meat Loaf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g
Today is the birthday, in 1876, of Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, Indonesian for ‘sun’. She was a Dutch dancer and supposed courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I, and executed by a firing squad. It has been said that she was convicted and condemned because the French Army needed a scapegoat for their failures and that the files used to secure her conviction contained falsifications.
After a failed marriage to a Dutch colonial officer, Rudolf MacLeod, she moved to Paris, where she performed as a circus horse rider using the name Lady MacLeod, much to the disapproval of the Dutch MacLeods. Struggling to earn a living, she also posed as an artist’s model.
By 1904, Mata Hari rose to prominence as an . She was a contemporary of dancers Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis. Promiscuous, flirtatious, and openly flaunting her body, Mata Hari captivated her audiences and was an overnight success from the debut of her act on 13 March 1905.
Before the war, Zelle had performed as Mata Hari several times before the Crown Prince Wilhelm, eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II and nominally a senior German general on the Western Front. The Deuxième Bureau believed she could obtain information by seducing the Crown Prince for military secrets and offered her 1 million francs if she could seduce him.
In late 1916, she traveled to Madrid, where she met the German military attaché Major Arnold Kalle and asked if he could arrange a meeting with the Crown Prince.[32] During this period, she apparently offered to share French secrets with Germany in exchange for money, though whether this was because of greed or an attempt to set up a meeting with Crown Prince Wilhelm remains unclear.
On 13 February 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in her room at the Hotel Elysée Palace on the Champs Elysées in Paris. She was tried on 24 July, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. Although the French and British intelligence suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her.
In 1917, France had been badly shaken by the Great Mutinies of the French Army in the spring of 1917 following the failure of the Nivelle Offensive and massive strikes. France might have collapsed from war exhaustion. Having one German spy on whom everything that went wrong with the war could be blamed was convenient for the French government. Mata Hari seemed the perfect scapegoat. The case against her received maximum publicity in the French press and led to her importance being greatly exaggerated.
She was executed by a firing squad consisting of 12 French soldiers just before dawn on 15 October 1917. She was 41. According to an eyewitness account by British reporter Henry Wales, she was not bound and refused a blindfold. She defiantly blew a kiss to the firing squad.
Certainly not the only one…
‘Sheik’
What could be better than a CORNDOG????
Some Signs….
Today is the birthday, in 1960, of Jacqui O’Sullivan, singer who joined British female pop group Bananarama in 1988. She sang on the hits ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘Nathan Jones’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-1ASpdT1Y
On this day in 1661, the Treaty of the Hague (one of at least ten ‘Treaties of the Hague that I could find) was signed between Holland and Portugal with Holland ceding ‘New Holland’ (now Brazil) to the Portuguese in exchange for 8 million Guilders and ceding the colonies of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the Maluku Islands (part of present-day Indonesia) to the Dutch.
Between 1657 and 1661, Dutch fleets, besides operating in the Second Northern War, regularly cruised before the Portuguese coast. Portuguese privateers also did considerable harm to Dutch West African and American shipping, but the blockades of the Portuguese coast crippled Portuguese maritime trade, while the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, which translates to United East India Company in English) finished its conquest of Ceylon and the Malabar Coast in India at the same time.
slightly edited and redacted…
Today is the birthday, in 1972, of Geri Halliwell, (Ginger Spice), vocals, the Spice Girls who scored the 1996 UK No.1 & 1997 US No.1 single ‘Wannabe’, plus seven other No.1 singles. She left the group on 7th June 1998 and her first UK solo No.1 single was 1999 ‘Mi Chico Latino’. Halliwell has scored more UK No.1’s than any other female artist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgoKfHg1JsU
On this day in 1888, Bertha Benz drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim with her sons Richard and Eugen, thirteen and fifteen years old respectively, in a Model III Patent-Motorwagen, without telling her husband (Carl Benz His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automobile and first car put into series production.) and without permission of the authorities, thus becoming the first person to drive an automobile a significant distance.
She left Mannheim around dawn, solving numerous problems along the way. Bertha demonstrated her significant technical capabilities on this journey. With no fuel tank and only a 4.5-litre supply of petrol in the carburetor, she had to find ligroin, the petroleum solvent needed for the car to run. The solvent was only available at apothecary shops, so she stopped in Wiesloch at the city pharmacy, Stadt-Apotheke, to purchase the fuel. At the time, petrol and other fuels could only be bought from chemists [pharmacists in US English], and so this is how the chemist in Wiesloch became the first fuel station in the world.
She cleaned a blocked fuel line with her hat pin and used her garter as insulation material. A blacksmith had to help mend a chain at one point. When the wooden brakes began to fail, Benz visited a cobbler to install leather, making the world’s first pair of brake linings. An evaporative cooling system was employed to cool the engine, making water supply a big worry along the trip. The trio added water to their supply every time they stopped. The car’s two gears were not enough to surmount uphill inclines and Eugen and Richard often had to push the vehicle up steep roads. Benz reached Pforzheim somewhat after dusk, notifying her husband of her successful journey by telegram. She drove back to Mannheim several days later.
Bertha Benz – Bühler, Mannheim – Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz, Ladenburg
After reading the newspaper…
Quality!!
Hmmm….pork…
BADA BING!
At this age, I’ve come to accept that I will never be old enough to know better.
An Irishman walks into a bar in Toronto and orders a drink. The bartender asks him “What brings you to Canada?” The Irishman says “Well, I was in a pub in Dublin and the coaster under my glass said ‘Drink Canada Dry’, so I thought I’d give it a shot”. (John)
Survival Tip:
If zombies attack, go to Costco. There are cement walls, years worth of food, and tons of supplies. Plus, zombies can’t get in without a membership.
I need to start paying closer attention to stuff. Found out today my wife and I have separate names for the cat.
I think I’m worth every headache I give my girl.
I asked my dad what his favorite joke was. He said, “I can’t pick a favorite. I love you kids equally!”
Why tell me to press 1 for English, then transfer me to someone who barely speaks it?
Do not unfriend people because they have different views than you. Annoy them until they unfriend you. Be the adult here.
Sometimes I talk to myself and we both laugh.
Don’t put your drama on social media and then tell us to mind our business. Listen, I’m on season 3, episode 4 of your nonsense.
Her: What was that noise? Me: My shirt fell. Her: It sounded louder than that. Me: I was in it.
The best way to get back on your feet is to miss a couple of car payments!
This bill collector called me saying, “Your bill is now a year old.” I said, “Tell it Happy Birthday,” and hung up.
My fitness goal is to get down to what I told the DMV I weigh.
I DID A PUSH-UP TODAY. WELL, ACTUALLY I FELL DOWN. BUT I HAD TO USE MY ARMS TO GET BACK UP SO… YOU KNOW, CLOSE ENOUGH.
If you feel lonely, forgotten, or just need someone to cheer you up remember, you can always change your birthday on Facebook.
Fifty Shades of Grey is only romantic because the guy is a billionaire. If he was living in a trailer, it would be a Criminal Minds episode.
After dinner, my wife asked if I could clear the table. I needed a running start, but I made it.
Thinking back to when a new hip joint meant someplace I wanted to go on Friday night.
Well, it’s August and over 100 degrees. Walmart should be putting the Christmas stuff out any day now.
Wife: “I’m pissed”. Husband: “Again or still?”
I used all my sick days. Now I gotta call in dead.
I went for a job interview at UPS. I said, “Sorry I’m late, I went to the wrong address” – and they made me regional manager.
Kid *watching someone ride an elephant*: “How do you get down from an elephant?” Dad: “You don’t. You get down from a Goose!”
My post about rice cakes was removed for being tasteless.
What disease did cured ham actually have?
My bank has informed me that Facebook friends cannot be used as references for a car loan. You guys are useless.
I showed my Facebook page to my psychiatrist, and now she wants to talk to all of you.
If you feel lonely, dim all of your lights and watch a horror movie. After a while, it won’t feel like you’re alone anymore.
I was supposed to get older and wiser, but I’m just getting older and wider.
England sent their religious nuts to America and their criminals to Australia. Aussies got the better deal.
The difference between millennials and boomers? Taylor Swift writes songs about all her ex’s. Stevie Nicks made her ex play guitar while she sang songs about what an asshole he was.
Today is the birthday, in 1942, of Rick Huxley guitarist from English pop rock band, Dave Clark Five, who scored the 1964 UK No.1 single ‘Glad All Over’, and the 1965 US No.1 single ‘Over And Over’ , plus over 15 other UK top 40 singles. He died on 11 February 2013 aged 72. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHtNFaa2ne0
Today is the traditional date for the invention of champagne by Dom Perignon in 1693. He was a French Benedictine monk who made important contributions to the production and quality of Champagne wine in an era when the region’s wines were predominantly still red. Popular myths frequently, but erroneously, credit him with the invention of sparkling Champagne, which did not become the dominant style of Champagne until the mid-19th century.
The famous Champagne Dom Pérignon, the prestige cuvée of winery Moët & Chandon, is named after him. The remains of the monastery where he spent his adult life is now the property of that winery.
n Pérignon’s era, the in-bottle refermentation (now used to give sparkling wine its sparkle) was an enormous problem for winemakers. When the weather cooled off in the autumn, fermentation would sometimes stop before all the fermentable sugars had been converted to alcohol. If the wine was bottled in this state, it became a literal time bomb. When the weather warmed in the spring, dormant yeast roused themselves and began generating carbon dioxide that would at best push the cork out of the bottle, and at worst explode, starting a chain reaction.
In 1718, the Canon Godinot published a set of wine-making rules that were said to be established by Dom Pérignon. Among these rules was the detail that fine wine should only be made from Pinot noir. Pérignon was not fond of white grapes because of their tendency to enter re-fermentation. Prior to blending he would taste the grapes without knowing the source vineyard to avoid influencing his perceptions. References to his “blind tasting of wine” have led to the common misconception that Dom Pérignon was blind. Contrary to popular belief, Dom Pérignon did not introduce blending to Champagne wines but rather the method of blending the grapes prior to sending them to press.
The quote attributed to Pérignon—”Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!”—is supposedly what he said when tasting the first sparkling champagne. However, the first appearance of that quote appears to have been in a print advertisement in the late 19th century.
A major proponent of the misconceptions surrounding Dom Pérignon came from one of his successors at the Abbey of Hautvillers, Dom Groussard, who in 1821 gave an account of Dom Pérignon “inventing” Champagne among other exaggerated tales about the Abbey in order to garner historical importance and prestige for the church.
Groussard’s myth achieved more than prestige for the church, it helped commercialize champagne at the turn of the twentieth century. The Syndicat du Commerce used the myth to promote Champagne and the Champagne region, producing a pamphlet called Le Vin de Champagne in 1896 that celebrated Perignon as the inventor of Champagne by following “ancient traditions”. The myth served to protect Champagne made in Marne as the original sparkling wine and dismiss other wines as imitators.
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