Tom

MONDAY, monday…

Today is International Students Day, an international observance of the student community, held annually on 17 November. Originally commemorating the Czech universities which were stormed by Nazis in 1939 and the students who were subsequently killed and sent to concentration camps, it is now marked by a number of universities, sometimes on a day other than 17 November, as a nonpolitical celebration of the multiculturalism of their international students.

The date commemorates the anniversary of the 1939 Nazi storming of the University of Prague after demonstrations against the German occupation of Czechoslovakia and the killings of Jan Opletal and worker Václav Sedláček. The Nazis rounded up the students, murdered nine student leaders and sent over 1,200 students to concentration camps, mainly Sachsenhausen. They subsequently closed all Czech universities and colleges.

There is something about fascism that seems to inspire hate for educated people and education.

The nine students and professors executed on 17 November in Prague. From top left: Josef Adamec, Jan Černý, Marek Frauwirth, Jaroslav Klíma, Bedřich Koula, Josef Matoušek, František Skorkovský, Václav Šaffránek, Jan Weinert.


You will take a trip…

Trying to hold shit together…

Some signs….


Today is the birthday, in 1942, of American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer Bob Gaudio. He rose to musical fame at the age of 15 as a member of The Royal Teens, who had the 1958 US No.3 single ‘Short Shorts. As a member of The Four Seasons, he wrote the 1960s hits ‘Sherry’, ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’, ‘Walk Like a Man’, and the 1976 UK & US No.1 single ‘December 1963, (Oh What A Night’). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOfFB5QF4iQ

Posted by Tom

Happy FRIDAY everyone!!

Today is the birthday, in 1840, of Claude Monet. He was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of Impressionism’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions of nature, especially as applied to plein air landscape painting. The term “Impressionism” is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), which was exhibited in 1874 at the First Impressionist Exhibition, initiated by Monet and a number of like-minded artists as an alternative to the Salon.

Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), 1872; the painting that gave its name to the style and artistic movement. Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris


Got this from Minnesota…

NOT THE BEST OR SMARTEST DRIVERS…


Today is the birthday, in 1966, of Joseph ‘Run’ Simmons, one of the founding members of the influential hip hop group Run–D.M.C. who had the 1986 UK No.8 single with Aerosmith ‘Walk This Way’ and the 1998 UK No.1 single ‘It’s Like That’. He is also a practicing minister, known as Reverend Run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk

Posted by Tom

THURSDAY is just once a week

On this day in 1922, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that public schools could constitutionally exclude unvaccinated students from attending, even if there was not an ongoing outbreak. In the case, the school district of San Antonio, Texas enacted an ordinance that prohibited any child from attending a school within the district unless they had been vaccinated against smallpox. One parent of a student who had been excluded, Rosalyn Zucht, sued on the basis that there was not a public health emergency. Justice Louis Brandeis wrote for the unanimous court that requiring students to be vaccinated was a justified use of “police power” to maintain public health and safety.

Smallpox killed up to 500 million people before it was declared globally eradicated in 1980.


Shade…

First day back at school was rough…

How??

Yesterday was the birthday, in 1833, of composer Alexander Borodin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiexn6O9To4

Posted by Tom

WEDNESDAY – another day

On this day in 1859, the first ‘trapeze routine’ was performed at the Cirque Napoleon in Paris by Jules Léotard.

Léotard was born in Toulouse, France, the son of a gymnastics instructor who ran a swimming pool in Toulouse. Léotard would practice his routines over the pool. He went on to study law, but at age 18 he began to experiment with trapeze bars, ropes, and rings suspended over a swimming pool.

In addition to his trapeze artistry, he also created and popularized the one-piece gym wear that now bears his name and inspired the 1867 song “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze”.

Jules Léotard died in 1870 from an infectious disease (possibly smallpox).

Jules Léotard


Who ya gonna call??

And one more thing…(before the drugs wear off)

mating dance…

BADA BING!

A girl once told me, “If you lost 45 pounds, you’d be cute”. I told her, “If I lost 45 pounds, I’d be talking to your friends.”

If you want flowers on February 14th, plant them now.

Some people call them swear words. I call them sentence enhancers.

Classy toilet paper is called butt napkins.

I think cheating should affect your credit score. If she can’t trust you, why should Capital One?

A teacher at a Jr. High and was walking behind two 7th graders in the hall… Boy 1: You’re a moron Boy 2: No I’m not, I’m a Baptist.

My female Dr. was looking at me without my shirt off. I figured she was looking at my muscles and she said, “You’re an old beast’. I said, ‘thank you’. But then my wife said, “Turn up your hearing aids. She said, ‘You’re Obese’.

Calling Donald Trump a sociopath feels like stating water is wet.

A guy walks into a bar and orders a round. He hears a small voice say, “You look nice today.” A few minutes later, it’s that voice again, “That’s a nice shirt.” The guy asks the bartender, “Who is that?” The bartender says, “It’s the peanuts. They’re complimentary!”

When I buy a pack of a dozen ribs, I only eat ribs 2, 3, 5, 7 and 11. I prefer prime ribs.

Republicans are so upset you’d think NYC elected a rapist with 34 felonies.

Q: Why would the Grim Reaper need a scythe if he can kill people just by touching them? A: Because he’s the Grim Reaper and he needs a scythe to reap. Otherwise, he would be known as the Grim Toucher and that might get him on a list.

It has begun! After only 2 days of Mamdani becoming the new NYC mayor, they’re teaching Arabic Numerals in NYC schools!

Me: “Change is inedible” Wife: “You mean inevitable” Me: *spitting out several nickels* “I do not”

Vegan food isn’t that bad once you add meat and cheese to it.

When I dunk my cookies in milk I think of you. I hold them under until the bubbles stop.

We live in a society where pizza gets to your house before the police.

I just heard Walmart is giving free turkeys to anyone who can outrun security.

If Wal-Mart is lowering prices every day, why isn’t anything in the store is free yet?

When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.

It matters not whether you win or lose: what matters is whether I win or lose.

I get confused by all the yard signs. I think I may have voted for a realtor.

I don’t understand why it isn’t socially acceptable to choose to be nocturnal. The angry hot sky ball is gone, my internet is fast, and everyone finally shut up. What’s not to like?!


Lot of them here right now!

Today is the birthday, in 1945, of Neil Young, Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist who as a member of Buffalo Springfield had the 1967 US No.17 single ‘For What It’s Worth’. Joined Crosby, Stills Nash & Young who had the 1970 US No.1 and UK No.5 album DejVu. As a solo artist Young scored the 1972 US No.1 and UK No.10 single Heart Of Gold, and his 1972 UK No.7 album Harvest spent 66 weeks on the UK chart. In 2008 a newly discovered trapdoor spider Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi was named after the singer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZn9QZykx10

Posted by Tom

Happy MONDAY, boys and girls!

This day in 1951 marked the start of the North American Numbering Plan which we now refer to as ‘Area Codes’.

From the Bell System’s beginnings in 1876 and throughout the first part of the 20th century, telephone networks grew from essentially local or regional telephone systems. These systems expanded by growing their subscriber bases, as well as enlarging their service areas by implementing additional local exchanges that were interconnected with tie trunks. It was the responsibility of each local administration to devise telephone numbering plans that accommodated the local requirements and growth. As a result, the North American telephone service industry developed into an unorganized set of many differing local numbering systems. The diversity impeded the efficient operation and interconnection of exchanges into a nationwide system for long-distance telephone communication.

In October 1947, AT&T published the first nationwide numbering plan in coordination with the independent telephone operators. The plan divided most of North America into eighty-six numbering plan areas (NPAs). Each NPA was assigned a unique three-digit code, or simply area code. The goal of automatic service required additional technical advances in the latest generation of toll-switching systems, completed by the early 1950s, and installation of new toll-switching systems in most numbering plan areas. The first customer-dialed direct call using an area code was made on November 10, 1951, from Englewood, New Jersey, to Alameda, California. Direct distance dialing (DDD) was introduced subsequently across the country.

The North American Numbering Plan now covers twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Numbering Zone 1 and has the country code 1. Some North American countries, most notably Mexico, do not participate in the NANP.

Face of a 1939 rotary telephone dial with the telephone number LA-2697. The dial plate shows the mapping of the alphabet to digits. The telephone number includes the first two letters of Lakewood, New Jersey, as the central office prefix, later converted to LA6 in the new numbering plan.


This is one of the wurst refrigerators…

Quiz…

FABRIC ART!!!!!

But first, a nice crocheted

BAGEL SMORG lunch!

Look how the quilt stitching incorporates the symbols of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, etc. Now THAT’S attention to detail!

AND FOR ALL YOU QUILTERS OUT THERE, THIS IS FOR YOU!!!!!!!

Thanks, Debra!!!


Today is the birthday, in 1973, of British singer Jacqui Abbott, with The Beautiful South. Amongst their most successful hits during her stint with the group from 1994 to 2000, following the departure of Briana Corrigan were: ‘Rotterdam’, ‘Perfect 10’, ‘Don’t Marry Her’ and ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1s8vfihMbA

Posted by Tom