Today is 1956 Revolution Memorial Day, a public holiday in Hungary. It commemorates the attempt by Hungarians to end Soviet Occupation and overthrow the Stalinist government imposed by the Soviet occupiers.
The revolution was briefly successful but ended when Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest and forced the reinstatement of the Moscow-controlled government. Thousands were killed and more than 200,000 fled Hungary.
The event remains a tragic part of Hungarian history, symbolized by Hungarian flags with holes cut in them, just as Hungarians in 1956 cut out the hammer and sickle imposed by the Soviets on the Hungarian flag at the time.
Today is the birthday, in 1943, of Barbara Ann Hawkins from American pop music girl group The Dixie Cups, best known for a string of hits including their 1964 million-selling record ‘Chapel of Love’, ‘People Say’, and ‘Iko Iko’. It’s also the birthday, in 1945, of Rosa Lee Hawkins, also a member of the Dixie Cups. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iURSBf5X0nM
Today is Mashujaa Day, a public holiday in Kenya. Mashujaa is Swahili for ‘Heroes’ and as such Mashujaa Day is also known as Heroes’ Day. It is a public holiday to honor all Kenyans who have contributed towards the struggle for Kenya’s independence.
This holiday used to be known as Kenyatta Day, named after Jomo Kenyatta, who was first Prime Minister and then President of Kenya. Kenyatta was a prominent campaigner for the independence of Kenya from British rule. He was arrested in October 1952 along with five others (Achieng’ Oneko, Bildad Kaggia, Fred Kubai, Kung’u Karumba and Paul Ngei) on charges of being members of the Mau Mau Society, a movement engaged in rebellion against Kenya’s British rulers. The accused were known as the ‘Kapenguria Six’.
When Kenya adopted a new constitution in August 2010, several changes were made to the public holidays observed in Kenya and Kenyatta Day was renamed to Mashujaa Day and the focus of the day was widened to include all those who contributed to the independence of Kenya.
Star Trek
Today is the birthday, in 1951, of Alan Greenwood, keyboards, with English-American rock band Foreigner, who scored the 1985 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’. They are one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySb1f9zWJkQ
Today is National Heroes Day, a public holiday in Grenada commemorating the killings of former prime minister Maurice Bishop and several members of his cabinet in 1983.
Maurice Bishop took power in 1979 following the ousting of Prime Minister Eric Gairy and held office until his death in 1983. After a palace coup organized by his deputy, Bernard Coard, he was held under house arrest at his residence. Thousands of his supporters marched to his house and freed him from arrest. He then led them to Fort Rupert, military headquarters, where he was taken prisoner and shot to death.
His execution was used by the United States as an excuse for the invasion of Grenada in an operation called ‘Urgent Fury’. A heavily-armed force of more than 7600 soldiers supported by a fleet led by an aircraft carrier and air force fighter-bombers was able to subdue the 1300 lightly-armed Granadian soldiers after a few days.
Maps used by the American military were tourist maps of Grenada overwritten by hand with coordinates. Navy ships providing naval gunfire and Marine, Air Force, and Navy fighter-bomber support aircraft providing close air support mistakenly killed American ground forces due to differences in charts and location coordinates, data, and methods of calling for fire support. A squadron of Rangers were left behind during an evacuation of a school campus and there were many other mishaps. The invasion was condemned by the UN General Assembly as a violation of international law.
SIGNZ
Today is the birthday, in 1944, of Peter Tosh, guitar, vocals, The Wailers, left in 1974, (1978 UK No.43 single ‘You Gotta Walk, Don’t Look Back’). Tosh was murdered by burglars at his home on 11th September 1987. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf8GjhXvOjU
Today is Alaska Day. Alaska day commemorates the anniversary of the formal transfer of the Territory of Alaska from Russia to the United States, which took place on October 18th 1867.
After suffering defeat in the Crimean War, Russia was on its knees economically and saw selling its expensive-to-maintain territory in North America as a way of raising some much-needed funds.
On March 30th 1867, the Russian Empire concluded a treaty with U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, wherein the United States purchased Alaska for $7.2 million dollars (about $129 million in today’s money.) That worked out to roughly 10 cents per square mile back then, ( just under $2 per square mile today.)
On October 18th 1867, the Russian Empire lowered its flag in Alaska and the United States raised its, marking the formal transfer.
Today is the birthday, in 1952, of American rock drummer, vocalist, and songwriter Keith Knudson from with The Doobie Brothers who scored the 1979 US No.1 single ‘What A Fool Believes’ and the 1993 UK No.7 single ‘Long Train Runnin.’ He founded the band Southern Pacific with fellow Doobie Brother John McFee. He died of pneumonia on 8 Feb 2005 aged 56. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4oZCtfmh44
Today is the Day of Dignity, a public holiday in Bolivia. This day commemorates those who died on this day in 2003 protesting the exploitation of Bolivia’s oil and gas reserves by a US-based company.
Oil had become an important export for Bolivia, a land-locked country. However under the agreement with the company exploiting the resources and under a trade agreement with the United States, only 18% of the price of the oil would come to Bolivia. In 2002, the government proposed building a pipeline through Chile to export the oil. This decision exacerbated the unrest of the Bolivians as Chile had an antagonistic relationship with Bolivia.
The conflict escalated into confrontations with the Bolivian military until October 17, 2003 when more than 60 were killed and more than 400 injured. The President fled to the United States. In 2006, Evo Morales was elected and he nationalized the gas reserves and declared this Day of Dignity.
Ummm…okay…
Bada Bing!!!
When I say “the other day” it could be any time between yesterday and my birth.
I assume that a Columbus Day sale means I can just walk into a store and take whatever I want.
How many times do I have to click ‘I accept cookies’ before they send me the COOKIES!
Walmart will be closed on Thanksgiving so self-checkout cashiers can be with their families.
Turns out I’m “woke.” All along, I thought I was just compassionate, kind, and good at history.
So, do you wash your clothes before you drop them off at a Goodwill donation center mostly to make sure your DNA won’t show up at a crime scene someday or do I overthink things?
I was in the half of the class that made the top half possible.
Welcome to old age. All the foods you ever loved are now trying to kill you.
Facebook has taught me a couple of things. First, there are some incredibly brilliant people in the world. Second, they are vastly outnumbered.
Today marks the death, in 1849, of Frédéric Chopin, Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose “poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation” Here is the amazing Yuja Wang playing is beautiful Waltz in C sharp minor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_E51SV0Zus
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