Today is, of course, the ‘Day that shall live in infamy’, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in the United States, commemorating the surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the United States naval fleet in Pearl Harbor which began, for the USA, World War II.
Today is also Spitak Remembrance Day in Armenia commemorating the devastating earthquake of December 7, 1988 in Armenia which killed more than 25,000 and left more than half a million homeless.
Inexpensive Gift Ideas by John Atkinson!
Odd juxtaposition…
Today is the birthday, in 1942, of Harry Chapin, US singer, songwriter, (1974 UK No.34 single ‘W.O.L.D. & 1974 US No.1 single ‘Cat’s In The Cradle’). Killed on 16th July 1981, when a tractor-trailer crashed into the car he was driving. This video has some interesting commentary in addition to his hit song. To ignore the commentary skip to 1:05 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etundhQa724
Today is Laos National Day. This day marks the establishment of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 1975.
By the twentieth century, Lao had become a French protectorate. Following the end of World War II, resistance to French control grew and the Pathet Lao resistance organization was formed by the Indochinese Communist Party. The armed struggle against occupation was known as the First Indochina War, and it resulted in Lao gaining independence as a constitutional monarchy under King Sisavang Phoulivong in October 1953.
The opposing views of the Pathet La and the royalist forces led to a long civil war in Lao. In 1975, with the support of North Vietnam and the Soviet Union, the Pathet Lao gained the upper hand in the conflict, and on December 2nd 1975, they overthrew the royalist Lao government and forced King Savang Vatthana to abdicate. On the same day, the Pathet Lao government under Kaysone Phomvihane renamed the country as the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
The last supper…
Columbia Record Club…
Nostalgia
Today is the birthday, in 1944, of American musician, singer, and songwriter Dennis Wilson who co-founded The Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. (1966 UK & US No.1 single ‘Good Vibrations’, plus over 25 other UK Top 40 singles). Wilson drowned while swimming from his boat moored in Marina Del Rey, California on 28th December 1983 after a heavy day’s drinking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcrbDYe4qL4
Today is William Tubman’s Day, a public holiday in Liberia. This holiday honors William Tubman, the longest-serving President in Liberia’s history on the anniversary of his birthday.
William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman was born on November 29th 1895, in the coastal town of Harper. At birth he was one of 5 children who had grown up poor. He was also a descendant of early American slaves. Tubman’s grandfather, Alexander Tubman, was a stonemason, general in the Liberian army, and a former Speaker of the Liberian House of Representatives, as well as a Methodist preacher. Alexander’s parents, Sylvia and William Shadrach Tubman, were freedmen, part of a group of 69 freed slaves whose transportation to Liberia in 1844 was paid by their former mistress Emily Thomas Tubman, a widow and philanthropist in Augusta, Georgia. She was instrumental in the manumission of enslaved African Americans and paying for their transportation to Liberia for “repatriation”.
William Tubman joined the True Whig party and in 1923, aged 28, he became the youngest senator in the history of Liberia. He became the 17th different President of Liberia in January 1944, aged 48, and went to on to serve for 27 years until his death on July 23rd 1971.
Regarded as the “father of modern Liberia”, he was responsible for enacting many reforms and social policies such as the enactment of suffrage and property rights for all adult females and the establishment of a nationwide public school system. Tubman also pushed a policy of national unification by improving the rights of all tribesmen and contributed to the emancipation of African colonial territories into statehood.
Tubman’s legacy also includes his economic “Open Door” policy which increased foreign investment in Liberia. By the time of his death, Liberia could boast the largest mercantile fleet in the world and the world’s largest rubber industry, making the country the envy of many other African nations.
Today is the birthday, in 1941, of Denny Doherty, from American folk rock vocal group The Mamas & the Papas who had the 1965 hit ‘California Dreamin”, the 1966 US No.1 single ‘Monday Monday’ and the 1967 hit ‘Dedicated to the One I Love’. Doherty died on 19th Jan 2007 at the age of 66 after a short illness. Doherty started his musical career in 1956 with a band called the Hepsters and in 1963, established a friendship with Cass Elliot when she was with a band called The Big 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUr5_QVPCAI
Today is Independence Day in Albania. Independence Day (Albanian: Dita e Pavarësisë) is an annual public holiday in Albania on November 28th each year. This is Albania’s National Day and commemorates the date when Albania proclaimed its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
At the start of the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was expanding into South-Eastern Europe, invading and controlling numerous lands ruled by local kingdoms. By 1431, the Ottomans ruled most of modern-day Albania.
In 1443, a local revolt was led by a deserter from the Ottomans called Skanderbeg. His heroic military campaigns to defend Albania against the might of the Ottoman Empire meant that he became a national hero to the Albanians. It is often said that Skandberg’s stand against the Ottomans may have prevented further expansion by the empire into more western regions of Europe.
Following Skanderbeg’s death, Albania fell back under Ottoman control in 1479 and it remained a part of the Ottoman Empire until just before the start of the first world war.
In the late nineteenth century, a wave of desire for nationhood had been sweeping across Eastern Europe and while Albania enjoyed a privileged position within the empire, it too was stirred into the various uprising against Ottoman rule. With the Ottomans having been weakened by the defeat in the Balkan Wars, an Albanian uprising of 1912 led to the proclamation of independence by Ismail Qemali, the leader of the Albanian national movement, on November 28th 1912.
octopus onesie…
Bada BING!!!
I’ve done some terrible things for money. Like getting up early to go to work.
If you think you love freedom but don’t care if it applies to everyone, then what you actually love is “Privilege.”
Whatever you do today, do it with the confidence of a 4-year-old in a Batman t-shirt.
Nothing refreshes my memory of what I need at the grocery store like coming home from the grocery store.
Golf – The adult version of an easter egg hunt.
Never in the history of calm down has anyone calmed down by being told to calm down.
I told my girlfriend she should embrace her mistakes. She gave me a hug.
Great minds think alike. Unfortunately, so do stupid ones.
IN CASE OF FIRE Please leave the building before posting it on social media.
Red States… Where you can live ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, but you can’t read it.
That look you make when you’re the tech person in the family and you hear someone say Grandma got a new phone.
I once lived a stone’s throw away from a family who all died of mysterious head injuries.
I don’t like making plans for the day because then the word “premeditated” gets thrown around in the courtroom.
Shame on you people making fun of George Santos, a man whose mother died not once but twice and possibly even three times!
Please help my wife and I decide on dinner. We’ve narrowed it down to “It doesn’t matter” and “It’s your turn to choose”.
Today is the birthday, in 1943, of Randy Newman, singer, songwriter, Composer of ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’, ‘Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear’, 1977 US No.2 single ‘Short People.’ Film soundtracks including ‘Ragtime.’ Once hailed as the greatest songwriter alive by Paul McCartney. Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer, his film scores include Ragtime, Toy Story; A Bug’s Life; Toy Story 2; Monsters, Inc.; Cars; Toy Story 3; and Monsters University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bfyS-S-IJs
Today, Monaco celebrates its national day (it fell on Sunday but is celebrated today). Also known as ‘H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince’s Day’ or ‘La Fête du Prince’ in French, this holiday is the National Day of Monaco and marks the official ascension of Prince Albert II to the throne on this day in 2005.
The tradition of a Monégasque National Day began during the reign of Prince Charles III in the second half of the nineteenth century. The date for National Day could change depending on the reigning Prince, and the day of the saint they were named after was the usual custom. The Journal de Monaco coined the term “National Day” in 1923.
On November 19th 1949 Prince Rainier III acceded to the throne, and Rainier of Arezzo was recognized as the Patron Saint of the Principality by Prince Rainier III.
During his 56-year reign, Prince Rainier III profoundly shaped Monaco, particularly from the point of view of urban development: he initiated numerous building programmes and extended the territory by a fifth by extension on the sea, which earned him the nickname of “the builder Prince”.
When Prince Albert II succeeded his father in 2005, he decided to honor his father and maintain the National Day on November 19th, St. Rainier of Arezzo’s day. November 19th is a fitting date as it is also the same day of Albert II’s official ascension to the throne in 2005. Prince Albert II is a member of the House of Grimaldi, which has ruled Monaco since 1297.
On this day, the tradition is that Prince Albert II carries out a presentation of medals in the Courtyard of the Palace. Then, in ceremonial costume, he attends a Mass in memory of his mother, Princess Grace, at the cathedral.
Today is the birthday, in 1946, of Duane Allman, guitarist, and co-founder and leader of The Allman Brothers Band who released the classic album Eat a Peach in 1972 and had the 1973 US No.12 single ‘Ramblin Man’. Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident on 29th October 1971 in Macon, Georgia, when he collided with the rear of a flatbed truck that had turned in front of him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa4DCp6cl2U
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