Tom

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.

(Lokator, in hat)

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Material shortage – made it work anyway!

Grass is greener….

Wedding Invitations are getting weird…

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For you burger eaters…

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Some days we all need to forget the world and visit a caberet. Here’s the amazing Joel Gray with Liza Minnelli to welcome you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_n4GK7PawQ

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.

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Movie Posters from Ghana…they have imagination!

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Let’s hear it for people who are just nice.

Thanks, Debra…

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Hello Summer!

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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.

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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.

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Housework…

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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

On this day in 930, the world’s oldest parliament, the Icelandic Althing was established at Þingvellir (‘thing fields’ or ‘assembly fields’), about 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of what later became the country’s capital, Reykjavík.

After Iceland’s union with Norway in 1262, the Althing lost its legislative power, which was not restored until 1904 when Iceland gained home rule from Denmark. For 641 years, the Althing did not serve as the parliament of Iceland; ultimate power rested with the Norwegian, and subsequently the Danish throne. Even after Iceland’s union with Norway in 1262, the Althing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1800, when it was discontinued. It was restored in 1844 by royal decree and moved to Reykjavík.

A view of Þingvellir National Park, Iceland By Ivan Sabljak

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Uh oh…

Marriage…

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When traditional relationships don’t work…

Grocery Store Math…

Still Pride Month…

On this day in 1965, The Miracles released ‘The Tracks of My Tears’ on Motown’s Tamla label. Written by Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin, the song became a US Top 20 hit and peaked at No.2 on Billboard’s R&B chart. The broadly acclaimed song was reissued in the UK in 1969, where became a Top Ten hit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCwkZrj2VT4

Today is Juneteenth – a federal holiday in the United States and a state holiday in 28 states. Officially known as Emancipation Day and also called Juneteenth Independence Day and Freedom Day, Juneteenth is a portmanteau word for June and nineteenth and commemorates the June 19th 1865 announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas and the emancipation of African-American slaves throughout the Confederate South.

On January 1st 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared the end of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation. Two and half years later, and two months after the end of the Civil War, Union troops arrived in Galveston on June 19th 1865 to find that news of the proclamation had not yet reached Galveston and that people were still being held as slaves in Texas.

The leader of the Union Troops, General Gordon Granger then formally announced the emancipation from the balcony of the former Confederate Army headquarters.

Granger’s order was based loosely on Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. (The Thirteenth Amendment, which made slavery unconstitutional, wasn’t ratified until December 6, 1865.) The order first declared that the formerly enslaved were free based on “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property” between Black people and those who had presumed legal ownership of them. 

Although the news of the emancipation reached towns at different times across the South, there was a collective decision to recognize 19th June as the date of the emancipation. The date of the proclamation itself (January 1st) wasn’t considered as the people wanted to mark the date when the slaves’ lives were actually affected by the new freedom.

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Still Pride Month!

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EDITORS NEEDED!

Thanks, Bob!

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Today is the birthday, in 1950, of American singer and songwriter Ann Wilson, from American rock band Heart. They has sold over 35 million records worldwide, placed 29 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and have scored top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2010s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeMvMNpvB5M