Month: October 2025

Today is the birthday, in 1859, of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army officer best known for his central role in the Dreyfus affair. In 1894, Dreyfus fell victim to a judicial conspiracy that eventually sparked a major political crisis in the French Third Republic when he was wrongfully accused and convicted of being a German spy due to antisemitism. Dreyfus was arrested, cashiered from the French army and imprisoned on Devil’s Island in French Guiana. Eventually, evidence emerged showing that Dreyfus was innocent and the true culprit was fellow officer Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy.

The internal investigation conducted by the French army was biased; Dreyfus was an ideal scapegoat due to being a Jew, and military authorities were aware of his innocence but chose to cover up the affair and leave him imprisoned rather than lose face. A political scandal subsequently erupted, shaking French political life and highlighting antisemitism in the French army and government. After numerous judicial and political developments, the publication of Émile Zola‘s manifesto J’Accuse…! in 1898 brought new momentum to Dreyfus’ cause. Zola accused French military and political leadership of covering up the affair. Dreyfus was eventually exonerated, rehabilitated and reinstated in the French army, although at a lower rank than his seniority would have warranted.

Dreyfus later fought in World War I, before retiring and leading a quiet life. He died in 1935. Dreyfus’ life and the antisemitic persecutions he endured left a significant mark on French political consciousness, while Esterhazy remained unpunished until his death.

There are a number of well-known descendants and relatives. Jack Dreyfus is a financier and founder of the ‘Dreyfus Funds’. Gérard C. Louis-Dreyfus (21 June 1932 – 16 September 2016), also known as William Louis-Dreyfus, was a French-American businessman. His net worth was estimated at $3.4 billion by Forbes in 2006. His daughter, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is a well-known American actress. Julie Dreyfus is a dscendent and French actress.

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When delivering packages, correct placement is critical.

Actually, lots more!

Many ways to die back then…

Today is the birthday, in 1954, of English musician James Fearnley, accordion, guitar, and foot-operated snare drum from Irish-British Celtic punk band The Pogues, who scored the 1987 UK No.8 single ‘The Irish Rover’. Fearnley became the guitarist in the last iteration of Shane MacGowan’s band The Nipple Erectors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s11BuatTuXk

Today is the birthday, in 1930, of Faith Ringgold, American painter, author, mixed media sculptor, performance artist, and intersectional activist, perhaps best known for her narrative quilts.

Ringgold was born in Harlem, New York City, and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the City College of New York. She was an art teacher in the New York City public school system. As a multimedia artist, her works explored themes of family, race, class, and gender. Her series of story quilts, designed from the 1980s on, captured the experiences of Black Americans and became her signature art form. During her career, she promoted the work of Black artists and rallied against their marginalization by the art museums. She wrote and illustrated over a dozen children’s books. Ringgold’s art has been exhibited throughout the world and is in the permanent collections of The Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

‘I will always remember when the stars fell down around me and lifted me up above the George Washington bridge.’ Faith Ringgold, 1988

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Halloween makeover

DOG SIGNS!

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Today is the birthday, in 1985, of American singer, songwriter, musician Bruno Mars, (Peter Gene Hernandez). He scored the 2010 worldwide No.1 ‘Just The Way You Are’ and the 2011 hit ‘The Lazy Song’. He also featured on Mark Ronson’s 2014 single ‘Uptown Funk’, which became Billboard’s best-performing song of the 2010s. His debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans received five nominations for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year for the single ‘Grenade’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0

On this day in 1763, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation which forbade all new settlements west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains, which was delineated as an Indian Reserve. Exclusion from the vast region of Trans-Appalachia created discontent between Britain and colonial land speculators and potential settlers. The proclamation and access to western lands was one of the first significant areas of dispute between Britain and the Thirteen Colonies and became a contributing factor leading to the American Revolution.

The Proclamation of 1763 dealt with managing former French territories in North America that Britain acquired following its victory over France in the French and Indian War and regulating colonial settlers’ expansion. The proclamation outlawed the private purchase of Native American land, which had often created problems. Instead, all future land purchases were to be made by Crown officials “at some public Meeting or Assembly of the said Indians”. British colonials were forbidden to settle on native lands, and colonial officials were forbidden to grant ground or lands without royal approval. Organized land companies asked for land grants, but were denied by King George III.

In the United States, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 ended with the American Revolutionary War because Great Britain ceded the land in question to the United States in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Afterward, the U.S. government faced difficulties preventing frontier violence and eventually adopted policies similar to the Royal Proclamation. The first in a series of Indian Intercourse Acts was passed in 1790, prohibiting unregulated trade and travel in Native American lands. In 1823, the U.S. Supreme Court case Johnson v. McIntosh established that only the U.S. government, and not private individuals, could purchase land from Native Americans.

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When Cerberus needs to go to the vet…

BADA BING!

Home schooling update: My child just said, “I hope I don’t have the same teacher next year.”

Donald Trump’s approval ratings have fallen so hard, it’s like they were pushed down the stairs and buried at a golf course.

Dog: We were wolves once, wild and wary, stealthy and cunning. Then we noticed you have couches.

I hope Elon Musk never gets into a scandal because ElonGate would be really drawn out.

Just read that 4,153,237 people got married last year, not to cause any trouble but shouldn’t that be an even number?

Someone just called, sneezed, and hung up. I’m getting sick and tired of these cold calls.

95% of the things I worry about never happen. Worrying works!

Welcome to fall where no matter what you pick to wear, you’re wrong.

In my next life I’m coming back with money and looks instead of all this sparkling personality BS.

Wanted: Someone to brush their teeth with me because 9/10 dentists say brushing alone won’t help tooth decay. No weirdos please.

I think ghosts are just people who died trying to fold a fitted sheet.

In my experience, adulthood is mostly piling stuff up on flat surfaces and then eventually having to clean off those surfaces. (or not)

I don’t care about men transitioning to women. I’m much more concerned about republicans transitioning to nazis.

Two men wearing more makeup than their wives just stood on stage and lectured 800+ military generals on how to be “real men.”

Generals and Flag Officers sat there thinking, “This is the DUMBEST son of a bitch on the planet.” Which one were they talking about? Take your pick.

Best moment of Hegseth’s speech was when he became emotional talking about the warrior ethos and his mascara ran.

I wonder how Pete Hegseth feels about fat presidents?

Trump Orders Bondi to Prosecute UN Escalator.

Christian nationalism is the American Taliban.

“How about we all come together and say, ‘Let’s stop attacking pedophiles.’” — Sen. Ted Cruz (R- TX). And if THAT isn’t the Freudian slip of the century; idk what is.

Some days you eat salads and go to the gym, some days you eat cupcakes and refuse to put on pants. Its called balance.

You really want to piss off all your friends at the end? Have a destination funeral.

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Today is the birthday, in 1951, of American singer and songwriter, John ‘Cougar’ Mellencamp, who had the 1982 US No.1 and UK No.25 single ‘Jack And Diane’, and the 1982 US No.1 album American Fool. He has had fourteen top 20 hits in the United States and holds the record for the most tracks by a solo artist to hit No.1 on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart, and has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning one, as Best Male Rock Performer for ‘Hurts So Good’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h04CH9YZcpI

On this day, in 52 BCE, The siege and battle of Alesia is ended by the surrender of Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls, to Julius Caesar. Vercingetorix was a Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars.

As leader of the Arverni, he established an alliance with other Gallic tribes, took command, combined all forces, and led them in the Celts’ most significant revolt against Roman power. He won the Battle of Gergovia against Julius Caesar in which several thousand Romans and their allies were killed, and the Roman legions withdrew.

Caesar had been able to exploit Gaulish internal divisions to easily subjugate the country, since Vercingetorix’s attempt to unite the Gauls against Roman invasion came too late. At the Battle of Alesia in 52 BC the Romans besieged and defeated his forces. To spare as many of his men as possible, he gave himself to the Romans. He was held prisoner for five years. In 46 BC as part of Caesar’s triumph, he was paraded through the streets of Rome and then executed by garrote. He is considered a folk hero in France, and especially in Auvergne, his native region.

Poster for the French silent film Vercingétorix (1909) directed by Cândido de Faria for Pathé.

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Used to be cheaper to have babies…

Yarpy Birthdap!!

Merely Canadian…

Participant Andreas Pelowski from Germany poses during the European Beard Championship in Leogang, Austria, on September 20, 2025

Feels like Autumn

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SIGNS and Signs

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The Ndlovu Youth Choir was formed in 2009 at a childcare facility in Elandsdoorn, Limpopo, South Africa. They are all grown up now, but are not about to change the name. The Ndlovu Youth Choir got authorization from Queen to cover “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the isiZulu language of the Zulu people of South Africa. Or partially, because some of the song is in English. It is also partially a cappella, with a band joining in halfway through. The singing is sublime, the staging is sumptuous, and the video is pure eye candy. You can see more from the Ndlovu Youth Choir at their YouTube channel.

On this day in 1187, Crusader forces in Jerusalem surrendered to Saladin – a Kurdish commander and political leader. He was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty and the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. He spearheaded the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states in the Levant.

After a truce between the Muslims and the Crusader states was repeatedly broken by Raynald of Châtillon, prince of the Crusader state of Antioch, Saladin vowed that he would personally slay Raynald for breaking the truce, a vow he would keep. The outrage also led Saladin to resolve to dispense with half-measures to rein in Raynald, and to instead topple the entire edifice of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, thus precipitating the invasion of the summer of 1187.

On 4 July 1187, Saladin faced the combined forces of Guy of Lusignan, King Consort of Jerusalem, and Raymond III of Tripoli at the Battle of Hattin. In this battle alone the Crusader force was largely annihilated by Saladin’s determined army. It was a major disaster for the Crusaders and a turning point in the history of the Crusades. Saladin captured Raynald and was personally responsible for his execution in retaliation for his attacks against Muslim caravans.

Saladin had captured almost every Crusader city. Saladin preferred to take Jerusalem without bloodshed and offered generous terms, but those inside refused to leave their holy city, vowing to destroy it in a fight to the death rather than see it handed over peacefully. Jerusalem capitulated to his forces on Friday, 2 October 1187, after a siege.

Saladin, against the wishes of his treasurers, allowed many families who could not afford the ransom to leave. Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem organized and contributed to a collection that paid the ransoms for about 18,000 of the poorer citizens, leaving another 15,000 to be enslaved. Saladin’s brother al-Adil “asked Saladin for a thousand of them for his own use and then released them on the spot.” Most of the foot soldiers were sold into slavery. Upon the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin summoned the Jews and permitted them to resettle in the city. In particular, the residents of Ascalon, a large Jewish settlement, responded to his request.

Saladin and Christians of Jerusalem, illustration by François Guizot (1883)

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leftover Halloween candy

Nice windows!

My thoughts exactly…

Today is the birthday, in 1955, of Phil Oakey singer, songwriter with The Human League. Formed in Sheffield, England in 1977 the group attained widespread commercial success with their third album Dare in 1981. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US No.1 hit ‘Don’t You Want Me’. The Human League has sold more than 20 million records worldwide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPudE8nDog0