Crabs and Beer!

Thoughts from the depths of the Eastern Shore

and…TUESDAY is back!!!

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

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies

something something MONDAY

Today if Full Moon Day of Tazaungmone, the eighth month in the Burmese calendar. It usually falls in November in the Western calendar. The full moon of Tazaungmone marks the end of the rainy season in Myanmar as well as the end of the Kathina festival during which monks are offered alms including new robes.

The number nine is a lucky and auspicious number in Myanmar and 9,999 candles are lit up as offerings to Buddha in the Chaukhtatgyi Paya Pagoda on the night of the full moon day of Tazaungmone.

Following on from Thadingyut, celebrated on the previous full moon, Tazaungmone is another festival of lights as the festival of Tazaungdaing is also held at this time. Across Myanmar, hot-air balloons are lit with candles and released into the night sky. The balloons are released as an offering to the home of the devas in Buddhist cosmology and as a way to drive away evil spirits.


Today was the premier, in 1896, of Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra), Op. 30 by Richard Strauss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szdziw4tI9o

Posted by Tom in classical, Humor, Music

It’s WEDNESDAY – the day before America’s biggest Food Feast!

Today is Independence Day in Lebanon.

Lebanon was a part of the Ottoman Empire for many years. After World War I, despite the promises that had been made, the Middle East was partitioned into British and French sectors with Lebanon going to the French. During World War II, the Vichy government troops in Lebanon were defeated by the Free French and British troops in the area and on November 26, 1941, a representative of the Free French Government under de Gaulle proclaimed Lebanese independence.

The French didn’t leave, however, and continued exercising authority under their ‘mandate’. On 8 November, 1943, newly-elected local ministers announced that the ‘mandate’ was ended. The French promptly threw them in jail. The incident united the Christians and Muslims against the mandate, led to international pressure on France and massive street protests.

Finally France yielded and released the prisoners on November 23, 1943 and since then this date has been celebrated as Lebanon Independence Day.


Today is the birthday, in 1950, of American musician and actor Steven Van Zandt, (Little Steven or Miami Steve), guitarist with South Side Johnny, then Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul. Created music-industry activist group Artists United Against Apartheid as an action against the Sun City resort in South Africa, Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan and Run DMC, collaborated on ‘Sun City’. He starred as Silvio Dante in the TV Series The Sopranos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBTL4IwOTaU

Posted by Tom

TUESDAY is here already

Today is Armed Forces Day in Greece, honoring the Hellenic National Defense General staff, the Hellenic Navy, the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Air Force.

This day coincides with another religious feast of a great importance in Greece, the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. The feast is known for the Western Christians as the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast is associated with an event recounted not in the New Testament, but in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James. According to that text, Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, who had been childless, received a heavenly message that they would have a child. In thanksgiving for the gift of their daughter, they brought her, when still a child, to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God.


Bob has limits…

No good birthdays today, but tomorrow is the anniversary of the first performance of Ravel’s Bolero in 1928. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrEk06XXaAw

Posted by Tom in classical, Humor, Music

MONDAY before Thanksgiving

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

 

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies