Jan. 5, 2024 January 5th, 2024 |
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QUIZ: What was The Borscht Belt?
Yesterday’s Quiz answered below: What does it mean when people write, “We’ll take care of it all in one fell-swoop”? Where did that come from?
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History for 1/5/2024. Birthdays: Zebulon Pike, Stephen Decatur, Alven Ailey, James Stuart Blackton (the first American animator, born in Lincolnshire, England ), W.D. Snodgrass, Jack Norworth who wrote " Take Me out to the Ballgame' , Konrad Adenauer, Astrologist Jean Dixon, Umberto Ecco, Yves Tanguy, Walter Mondale, George Reeves, Roger Spottiswoode, Tissa David, Hayao Miyazaki is 83, Robert Duval is 93, Dianne Keaton is 78, Spanish King Juan Carlos, Marilyn Manson is 56, January Jones is 43, Bradley Cooper is 49.
1463- French poet Francois Villon was kicked out of Paris.
1477- THE BATTLE OF NANCY- The Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Rash, dreamed of turning his duchy between France and Germany into one of the great powers of Europe. In the process he managed to annoy just about all his neighbors with his constant wars. This day Charles found out why the Swiss are left alone by everybody. Upon invading Switzerland, his army was cut to pieces. His body was found naked in a ditch with his head stuck fast in a puddle of ice. Two battle axes were rammed up his butt.
The King of France as his feudal suzerain annexed Burgundy to France, but just before his last battle Charles engaged his only daughter to the German Emperor. So, the only thing Charles left to history was the ancient feud between Germany and France over who owned Alsace-Lorraine, which raged until 1945.
1643- The first divorce granted in North America. Pilgrim Anne Clarke was granted a divorce by the Massachusetts Bay Colony from her deadbeat husband Dennis.
1757- A man named Robert Damiens attacked French King Louis XV and stabbed him. It was a flesh wound that Voltaire described as a pin-prick. The king survived and the court sentenced Damiens to the most horrible death they could think of, the medieval punishment for regicides.
Nobody had done it for generations so the court executioner, Charles Samson, had to consult the library. Hmm...Drawing and quartering....cut off assailants hands and stick his bleeding wrist-stumps into a pan of burning sulfur...uh-huh..got it! The execution was so ghastly that eyewitnesses vomited and fled, Samson passed out from exhaustion, so his assistants had to finish the job. Robert Damiens believed he was doing it for the people, but unfortunately he was 32 years too early for the French Revolution.
1762- The Seven Years War in Europe was a war of three powerful women against one gay man. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Madame la Pompadour the favorite of Louis XV of France and Czarina Elizabeth of Russia. They all waged war on King Frederick the Great of Prussia, the country that eventually became Germany. Frederick called them the Three Petticoats. But after 6 years of war with his country overrun with foreign armies, and his treasury bankrupt, Frederick needed a miracle to survive.
His miracle came this day, when Czarina Elizabeth died. She was succeeded by her eccentric son Peter III. The new Czar idolized Frederick. He immediately changed sides and donned a Prussian uniform to serve “My Master”. Frederick thought Czar Peter a bit odd, but he welcomed his help, nonetheless. He was later assassinated by his wife, who then ruled as Catherine the Great.
1825- Writer Alexander Dumas fought a duel with the Chevalier Saint George, a black duelist from Martinique, who played violin so well he was called Le Mozart Noir. Neither man was seriously hurt and Dumas went on to write The Three Musketeers. Saint George also once fought a duel with Monsieur d¹Eon, a crossdresser who fought his/her duels in a ball gown. The English Prince of Wales was a spectator.
1836- Davy Crocket crossed into Texas.
1895- Today was the famous scene of after Captain Albert Dreyfus was framed for espionage he was publicly humiliated in the courtyard of the Ecole Militaire in Paris. He was stripped of his insignia and his sword broken. As he was marched off to prison he continually shouted aloud “Citizens of France, I am Innocent!”
1896- A Vienna newspaper announced the invention by Dr. Wilhelm Roentgen of Wurzburg, of a machine that produces "X-Rays" to painlessly see inside the body. In England, Lord Kelvin, who invented the Celsius temperature scales, declared x-rays a "ridiculous hoax "
1896- Josef Pulitzers’ New York World began printing the Sunday Yellow Kid comic strip with a yellow color on his shirt. The strip gave the name to the sensationalist tabloid press 'Yellow Journalism".
1914- The Ford Motor Company shocked the leaders of American Industry by raising it¹s wage rates for work shift from $2.40 a day to $5.00 a day and voluntarily adopting the new 8 hour work day. Henry Ford’s idea was “When workers have more money, they buy cars”. The idea worked, and sales of cars quadrupled, and the economic climate of Detroit boomed.
1921- Famous Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was preparing one more expedition to the South Pole. This day on his ship anchored in South Georgian Island Bay, he complained he felt ill. He said to his doctor “Oh, what do you want me to give up now?” then fell over dead of a heart attack. He was 47.
1924- William Chrysler introduced his first automobile featuring an all steel chassis frame instead of wood. He created it for the failing Maxwell Car Company and in 1925 changed the name to the Chrysler Car Company.
1925- Nellie Taylor Ross was inaugurated as the Governor of Wyoming, the first woman to hold such an office.
1933- First day of construction on San Francisco¹s Golden Gate Bridge.
1933- Former Pres. Calvin Coolidge died peacefully. Silent Cal’ Coolidge was so low key that he was a favorite target for political writers. H.L. Mencken said "Being fanatical for Coolidge is like being fanatical for double entry bookkeeping" Dorothy Parker had the final word. When told that Coolidge had died, she replied:" How could you tell?"
1934- Both the American and National Baseball Leagues agreed upon a standard size for a baseball.
1953- Samuel Beckett¹s play Waiting for Godot (En attendant Godot) first premiered in Paris.
1959- Buddy Holly released his last single, It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.
1959- The first Bozo the Clown TV show premiered on TV. Larry Harmon played the famous children’s clown.
1961- “Hello Wilbur” Mr Ed the Talking Horse appeared on TV for the first time.
1962- After a holiday break, shooting resumed on Cleopatra. This was the first time stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton worked together, and the first signs of their love affair. Their tempestuous relationship was one of the great affairs of 1960s Hollywood.
1968- A Boston grand jury indicted famous baby doctor Benjamin Spock for conspiring to abet violation of draft laws. The great scientist had come out as a vocal opponent of U.S. participation in the Vietnam War. "I helped them be born. I'm not going to abandon them now."
1970- Soap opera “All My Children” premiered.
1979- EMI Records ended their contracts with the punk band the Sex Pistols. They felt their outrageous behavior had gone just too far.
1980- The first Hewlett Packard Personal Computer, or PC, goes on the market.
1998-At the Heavenly Valley Ski Resort, former pop singer turned Republican Congressman Sonny Bono died when he skied headlong into a tree.
2017- Outgoing President Obama was briefed by the FBI about proof they had that the Russian hackers had interfered in the 2016 election to ensure Donald Trump would win. After Pres. Trump was inaugurated, the Justice Dept was told not to pursue the investigation any further.
2021- The night before their planned coup to stop President Biden’s election victory, outgoing President Trump, Rudy Giuliani and their cronies worked into the night making arrangements to pressure Vice President Mike Pence from certifying the election. They hoped that Pence could with a bang of his gavel stop the certification and throw the election to the House. Mike Pence called former Bush VP Dan Quayle, who told him, “You do not have that power. Your purpose is to do nothing. You preside, like a TV emcee.”
That night after all their meetings wrapped, Trump left open the door to the Oval Office, so he could hear the hateful shouts and chants of the mob outside. When aides asked that he close the door from the January cold, Trump said,” Nah. I love listening to them. They are my people.”
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Yesterday’s Question: What does it mean when people write, “ We’ll take care of it all in one fell-swoop”? Where did that come from?
Answer: In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macduff describes how his family was murdered all at once. Like when a hawk swoops down and scoops up several animals at once.
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