January 11, 2020
Day 11 of 366

 

January 11th is the eleventh day of the year.

It is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the United States. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide – targets are subject to force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor, including prostitution – regardless of age, race, gender, and nationality. Language barriers, fear of law enforcement, and fear reprisal from the traffickers keep victims silent and the crime hidden. Developing awareness and understanding of key indicators can help identify victims and save lives.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Arkansas Day, National Milk Day, National Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day, and National Vision Board Day. The last one typically occurs on the second Saturday in January.

 

Historical items of note:

• In 1569, the first recorded lottery in England occurred.
• In 1755, Founding Father, Federalist Papers author, and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was born in Charlestown, Nevis, British Leeward Isles.
• In 1759, the first American life insurance company was incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• In 1787, William Herschel discovered Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
• In 1805, the Michigan Territory was created.
• In 1908, the Grand Canyon National Monument was created.
• In 1922, the first recorded use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient occurred.
• In 1935, Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
• In 1949, KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania went on the air. The signal connected east coast and midwest television programming, creating the first networked television broadcasts.
• In 1964, the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States was published by Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, MD. This was the report declaring that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.
• In 1986, the Gateway Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia was officially opened.

 

In 1923, Jerome Bixby was born. He was the editor at Fiction House for Planet Stories, Jungle Stories, Action Stories, Two Western Romances, and Two Complete Science-Adventure Books in the early 1950s. His 1953 short story “It’s a Good Life” was adapted as a teleplay for The Twilight Zone, was revisited in the 1983 Twilight Zone film, and was parodied by The Simpsons in their 1991 Halloween episode.

His best-known television works are for the original Star Trek series. In particular, he introduced the mirror universe with “Mirror, Mirror”. He also wrote “Requiem for Methuselah”, “Day of the Dove”, and “By Any Other Name”.

He conceived the idea behind 1966’s Fantastic Voyage. He wrote the original screenplay for 1958’s It! The Terror from Beyond Space, which was the inspiration for the 1979 classic Alien. His final work, a screenplay called The Man from Earth, was started in the early 1960s and completed on his deathbed in 1998. It was filmed in 2007.

“The Emperor’s New Cloak”, the seventh season mirror universe episode for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was dedicated to his memory.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.