Month: July 2020

The Thing About Today – July 7

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 7, 2020
Day 189 of 366

 

July 7th is the 189th day of the year. It is World Chocolate Day.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Dive Bar Day, National Father-Daughter Take a Walk Day, National Strawberry Sundae Day, and National Macaroni Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1456, a retrial verdict acquitted Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death.
  • In 1863, the United States began its first military draft. Exemptions cost $300.
  • In 1865, Four conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln were hanged.
  • In 1907, science fiction writer and screenwriter Robert A. Heinlein was born.
  • In 1911, the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Russia signed the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911. It banned open-water seal hunting and was the first international treaty to address wildlife preservation issues.
  • In 1915, Colombo Town Guard officer Henry Pedris was executed in British Ceylon for allegedly inciting the persecution of Muslims.
  • In 1919, actor Jon Pertwee was born. He portrayed the Third Doctor on Doctor Who.
  • In 1928, sliced bread was sold for the first time (on the inventor’s 48th birthday) by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri. It is still unknown what was the best thing before sliced bread.
  • In 1930, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser began construction of Boulder Dam, which is now known as Hoover Dam.
  • In 1940, singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor Ringo Starr was born.
  • In 1949, actress, writer, and producer Shelley Duvall was born.
  • Also in 1949, Dragnet premiered on NBC radio. It would later become a television series in 1951 and 1967.
  • In 1958, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
  • In 1981, United States President Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.
  • In 1992, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that women have the same right as men to go topless in public.

 

July 7th is Saba Saba Day.

Saba Saba Day means many things, including the 1954 founding of the Tanzanian political party, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). It means “seven seven” in Swahili, the national language of Tanzania, as well as Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the two countries whose union created the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964.

In Kenya, Saba Saba is remembered as the day when nationwide protests took place in 1990 to demand free elections. The politicians who had called for the protests, Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia, were beaten and detained by the then tyrannical dictator President Moi.

In present-day Kenya, Saba Saba has taken on a new meaning, with civil societies and Social Justice Working Groups asking for respect of the constitution, an end to police brutality and killings.

 

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.

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 6

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 6, 2020
Day 188 of 366

 

July 6th is the 188th day of the year. It is International Kissing Day, a practice that originated in the United Kingdom and was adopted worldwide in the 2000s. Who knew that they loved kissing so much?

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Hand Roll Day and National Fried Chicken Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1348, Pope Clement VI issued a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death.
  • In 1560, the Treaty of Edinburgh was signed by Scotland and England.
  • In 1885, Louis Pasteur successfully tested his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
  • In 1887, David Kalākaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution. This act transferred much of the king’s authority to the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
  • In 1892, three thousand eight hundred striking steelworkers engaged in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead and dozens wounded.
  • In 1919, the British dirigible R34 landed in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.
  • In 1925, actor, singer, and producer Merv Griffin was born. He created Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!.
  • In 1927, actress and author Janet Leigh was born.
  • In 1937, actor Ned Beatty was born.
  • In 1944, Jackie Robinson refused to move to the back of a bus, eventually leading to a court-martial. It was one of several racist attacks levied against him during his time in the Army. He was acquitted and later honorably discharged.
  • In 1945, actor Burt Ward was born. He portrayed Robin in the 1960s Batman series.
  • In 1951, actor and producer Geoffrey Rush was born.
  • In 1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.
  • In 1978, actresses, producers, and twins Tia and Tamera Mowry were born.
  • In 1979, actor and comedian Kevin Hart was born.
  • In 1980, actress Eva Green was born.
  • In 1990, the Electronic Frontier Foundation was founded.
  • In 1994, Forrest Gump premiered.

 

July 6th is Kupala Night, a traditional eastern Slavic holiday that is celebrated in Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, and Russia.

The name of the holiday was originally Kupala, a pagan fertility rite later adapted into the Orthodox Christian calendar by connecting it with St. John’s Day. The Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian name of this holiday combines “Ivan” (John, which in this case is John the Baptist) and Kupala which was thought to be derived from the Slavic word for bathing.

The tradition of Kupala predates Christianity. The pagan celebration was adapted and reestablished as one of the native Christian traditions intertwined with local folklore.

The holiday is still enthusiastically celebrated by the younger people of Eastern Europe. The night preceding the holiday (Tvorila night) is considered the night for “good humor” mischiefs (which sometimes would raise the concern of law enforcement agencies). On Ivan Kupala day itself, children engage in water fights and perform pranks, mostly involving pouring water over people.

 

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.

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 5

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 5, 2020
Day 187 of 366

 

July 5th is the 187th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Algeria (which separated from France in 1962), Cape Verde (which broke from Portugal in 1975), and Venezuela (which left Spain in 1811).

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Apple Turnover Day, National Graham Cracker Day, National Hawaii Day, National Workaholics Day, and National Bikini Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1687, Isaac Newton published Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
  • In 1841, Thomas Cook organized the first package excursion, traveling from Leicester to Loughborough.
  • In 1915, the Liberty Bell left Philadelphia by special train on its way to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. This is the last trip outside Philadelphia that the custodians of the bell intend to permit.
  • In 1935, the National Labor Relations Act, which governs labor relations in the United States, was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  • In 1937, the luncheon meat Spam was introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation.
  • In 1946, the bikini first went on sale after debuting during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris, France.
  • In 1954, the BBC broadcasted its first television news bulletin.
  • In 1958, author and illustrator Bill Watterson was born.
  • In 1964, screenwriter and producer Ronald D. Moore was born.
  • In 1996, Dolly the sheep became the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.
  • In 2016, the Juno space probe arrived at Jupiter and began a 20-month survey of the planet.

 

In 1934, “Bloody Thursday” occurred as police opened fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco.

The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike started on May 9, 1934, and lasted eighty-three days as longshoremen in every US West Coast port walked out from their jobs. The longshoremen had either been unorganized or represented by company unions since the years immediately after World War I, when the shipping companies and stevedoring firms had imposed the open shop after a series of failed strikes. Attempts had been made to organize and unionize longshoremen but had made little progress.

Communists had infiltrated the community, but the group that published The Waterfront Worker, a newspaper that focused on longshoremen’s most pressing demands – more men on each gang, lighter loads, and an independent union – operated independently from the party. Tensions rose until the strike began in May 1934, sparking daily clashes as employers hired strikebreakers who operated under police protection, leading to further altercations as strikers struck back.

“Bloody Thursday” was an attempt to reopen San Francisco. As spectators watched from Rincon Hill, the police shot tear gas canisters into the crowd, then followed with a charge by mounted police. Picketers threw the canisters and rocks back at the police, who charged again, sending the picketers into retreat. Tensions rose until policemen fired a shotgun into the crowd, striking three men in the intersection of Steuart and Mission streets. Two of them later died from their wounds.

The result of the strike was the unionization of all of the West Coast ports of the United States. The San Francisco General Strike of 1934, along with the Toledo Auto-Lite Strike of 1934 led by the American Workers Party and the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 led by the Communist League of America, were catalysts for the rise of industrial unionism in the 1930s, much of which was organized through the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

The “Bloody Thursday” anniversary is marked by shutting down the West Coast ports every July 5th in honor of those who were killed by police during the lengthy strike.

 

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.

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 4

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 4, 2020
Day 186 of 366

 

July 4th is the 186th day of the year. It is the first evening of Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7th by the Apatani people in Arunachal Pradesh, India.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Barbecued Spareribs Day, National Caesar Salad Day, and Hop-a-Park Day (which is typically observed on the first Saturday in July).

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1054, a supernova called SN 1054 was seen by the Chinese Song dynasty, Arabian, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remained bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants formed the Crab Nebula.
  • In 1744, the Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois ceded lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
  • In 1802, at West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opened.
  • In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was announced to the people of the United States.
  • In 1817, in Rome, New York, construction began on the Erie Canal.
  • In 1826, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, respectively the second and third presidents of the United States, died on the same day. Coincidentally, it was the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence. Adams’ last words were, “Thomas Jefferson survives.”
  • In 1827, slavery was abolished in the State of New York.
  • In 1831, Samuel Francis Smith wrote “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4th festivities.
  • In 1837, Grand Junction Railway, the world’s first long-distance railway, opened between Birmingham and Liverpool.
  • In 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. His account of his two years there, titled Walden, would become a touchstone of the environmental movement.
  • In 1855, the first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, Leaves of Grass, was published in Brooklyn.
  • In 1862, Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell a story. It would grow into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
  • In 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia withdrew after losing the Battle of Gettysburg. This signaled an end to the Confederate invasion of United States territory.
  • In 1872, thirtieth President of the United States Calvin Coolidge was born.
  • In 1881, the Tuskegee Institute opened in Alabama.
  • In 1892, the first double-decked streetcar service was inaugurated in San Diego, California.
  • In 1903, the Philippine-American War was officially concluded.
  • In 1910, African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocked out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match, sparking race riots across the United States. Johnson’s victory over Jeffries had dashed white dreams of finding a “great white hope” to defeat him.
  • In 1924, actress Eva Marie Saint was born.
  • In 1927, playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon was born.
  • In 1939, Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), informed a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth”. He then announced his retirement from major league baseball.
  • In 1943, the Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world’s largest tank battle, began in the village of Prokhorovka.
  • In 1946, after 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attained full independence from the United States.
  • In 1950, Radio Free Europe first broadcast.
  • In 1951, William Shockley announced the invention of the junction transistor.
  • In 1960, due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuted in Philadelphia.
  • In 1966, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act into law. The act went into effect the next year.
  • In 1976, the United States celebrated its Bicentennial.
  • In 1997, NASA’s Pathfinder space probe landed on the surface of Mars.
  • In 2005, the Deep Impact collider hit the comet Tempel 1.
  • In 2006, Space Shuttle Discovery launched mission STS-121 to the International Space Station. It was the only shuttle launch in the program’s history to occur on the United States’ Independence Day.
  • In 2012, the discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider was announced at CERN.

 

In 1776, the United States Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

The Lee Resolution for independence was passed on July 2 with no opposing votes. The Committee of Five – John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston – had drafted the Declaration to be ready when Congress voted on independence. John Adams, a leader in pushing for independence, had persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress edited to produce the final version.

The Declaration explained why the Thirteen Colonies at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. With the Declaration, these new states took a collective first step toward forming the United States of America.

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The first and most famous signature on the engrossed copy was that of John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. Two future presidents (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams) and a father and great-grandfather of two other presidents (Benjamin Harrison V) were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (at age 26) was the youngest signer, and Benjamin Franklin (at age 70) was the oldest signer. The fifty-six signers of the Declaration represented the new states.

  • New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
  • Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
  • Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
  • Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
  • New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
  • New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
  • Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
  • Delaware: George Read, Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean
  • Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
  • Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
  • North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
  • South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr., Arthur Middleton
  • Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

 

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.

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 3

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 3, 2020
Day 185 of 366

 

July 3rd is the 185th day of the year. It is Emancipation Day in the United States Virgin Islands. It commemorates the Danish Governor Peter von Scholten’s 1848 proclamation that “all unfree in the Danish West Indies are from today emancipated,” following a slave rebellion led by John Gottlieb (General Buddhoe) in Frederiksted, Saint Croix.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Fried Clam Day, National Eat Your Beans Day, and National Chocolate Wafer Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1608, Québec City was founded by Samuel de Champlain.
  • In 1738, painter John Singleton Copley was born.
  • In 1844, the last pair of great auks were killed.
  • In 1852, the United States Congress established the country’s second mint in San Francisco.
  • In 1884, Dow Jones & Company published its first stock average.
  • In 1927, actor Tim O’Connor was born. You know him as that guy in ’70s and ’80s television.
  • In 1928, John Logie Baird demonstrated the first color television transmission in London.
  • In 1938, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lit the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.
  • In 1941, lawyer and activist Gloria Allred was born.
  • In 1943, actor Kurtwood Smith was born.
  • In 1947, journalist and author Dave Barry was born. I was introduced to his work through Harry Anderson and Dave’s World in the mid-1990s.
  • In 1952, the Constitution of Puerto Rico was approved by the United States Congress.
  • In 1962, actor and producer Tom Cruise was born.
  • In 1964, actress, voice actress, comedian, and writer Yeardley Smith was born.
  • In 1965, actress Connie Nielsen was born.
  • In 1969, the biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurred when the Soviet N-1 rocket exploded and subsequently destroyed its launchpad.
  • In 1976, actress Andrea Barber was born.
  • In 1980, actress Olivia Munn was born.
  • In 1985, Back to the Future premiered. Great Scott!
  • In 1996, British Prime Minister John Major announced the Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland.

 

In 1944, Minsk, the capital of Belarus, was liberated from the Wehrmacht during the Minsk Offensive in World War II.

The offensive was part of the second phase of the Belorussian Strategic Offensive of the Red Army in the summer of 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration. The Red Army encircled the German Fourth Army in Minsk, and Hitler ordered his troops to hold fast and declared the city to be a fortified place. The Soviet army attacked from the north-east, the east, and the south, killing 40,000 of the 100,000 Axis soldiers in Minsk. The result was a complete victory for the Red Army, the liberation of Minsk, and the rapid destruction of much of the German Army Group Centre.

As a result, the day is celebrated as Independence Day in Belarus, also known as Republic Day or Liberation Day.

 

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.

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 2

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 2, 2020
Day 184 of 366

 

July 2nd is the 184th day of the year. Today begins the second half of the year.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Anisette Day. Basically, if you like alcohol and the flavors of black licorice or black jelly beans, this is your day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1698, Thomas Savery patented the first steam engine.
  • In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain, although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence was not published until July 4th.
  • In 1839, twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 kidnapped Africans led by Joseph Cinqué mutinied and took over the slave ship Amistad.
  • In 1853, the Russian Army crossed the Pruth river into the Danubian Principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia. This provided the spark that set off the Crimean War.
  • In 1881, Charles J. Guiteau shot and fatally wounded United States President James Garfield. The president would die of complications from his wounds on September 19th.
  • In 1908, lawyer and jurist Thurgood Marshall was born. He was the 32nd Solicitor General of the United States and the first African-American justice of the United States Supreme Court.
  • In 1927, actor and singer Brock Peters was born.
  • In 1934, the Night of the Long Knives ended with the death of Ernst Röhm.
  • In 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.
  • In 1948, actor Saul Rubinek was born.
  • In 1962, the first Walmart store, then known as Wal-Mart, opened for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
  • In 1964, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was meant to prohibit segregation in public places.
  • In 1983, singer-songwriter and guitarist Michelle Branch was born.
  • In 1985, actress and singer Ashley Tisdale was born.
  • In 1986, actress and singer Lindsay Lohan was born.
  • In 1990, actress and producer Margot Robbie was born.
  • In 2013, the International Astronomical Union named Pluto’s fourth and fifth moons, Kerberos and Styx.

 

In 2013, the International Astronomical Union named Pluto’s fourth and fifth moons, Kerberos and Styx. This happened after Pluto was redesignated as a dwarf planet in 2006.

Kerberos was discovered on June 28, 2011, by researchers of the Pluto Companion Search Team using the Hubble Space Telescope. It has a double-lobed shape and is approximately 12 miles across its longest dimension and 5.6 miles across its shortest dimension. It was named after Cerberus, the mythical dog that guards Pluto’s underworld, but since an asteroid was already named 1865 Cerberus, the moon was named Kerberos, using the Greek form of the name.

Styx was discovered at about the same time as Kerberos. It is thought to have formed from the debris lofted by a collision and has measurements ranging from 5 to 10 miles across. Following the convention for naming Plutonian moons with association with the mythological god Pluto, it was named after the goddess of the river of the same name in the underworld.

 

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.

 

 

Timestamp #SJA11: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith

Michael Falkner4 Comments

Sarah Jane Adventures: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
(2 episodes, s02e05, 2008)

 

Sarah Jane Smith meets Sarah Jane Smith.

Courtesy of a mysterious fissure, a young boy materializes in a shopping center. Rani and Clyde give chase as he runs away while Sarah Jane and Luke investigate the time fissure. Sarah Jane plans to send the boy home and seal the rift, but young Oscar is afraid. So, Sarah Jane escorts him through the fissure.

Just as she’s about to leave, she sees a road marker: She’s near Foxgrove in the year 1951. She avoids the temptation and leaves, and the boy asks the Trickster if he did okay.

The Trickster vows that Sarah Jane will return.

With the job done, the Bannerman Road Gang returns home, but Sarah Jane is obviously haunted. She asks Mr. Smith about the history of Foxgrove, then looks at the photograph in her desk drawer. Luke interrupts her reflections and she explains that the photo is of her parents, Eddie and Barbara Smith. They died in a traffic accident, leaving Sarah Jane in her pram on the side of the road at only three months old. She was adopted by her aunt Lavinia, but the mystery of their death has haunted her throughout her life.

The time fissure leads to Foxgrove, one month before her parents died. Luke suggests going to see them, but Sarah Jane thinks that it’s a trap. She refuses the bait.

Or so she says.

She sneaks out of the house later that night, all dressed up for a trip to the 1950s. Luke catches her before she leaves, and she promises that it will be a quick trip. She opens the fissure, considers the ramifications one last time, and walks through to her own past. The fissure was supposed to remain open for an hour, but it fluctuates so Luke dives in after her. Together, they walk to Foxgrove, not noticing a triumphant Oscar hiding nearby.

Rani and Clyde take notice of their absence and consult Mr. Smith, but the supercomputer has no knowledge of their whereabouts. He theorizes that they used the fissure. They find the Verron Soothsayer box, which is now flashing, and they decide to investigate.

Sarah Jane and Luke end up at a town festival. Sarah Jane spots her mother and her infant self, and she decides to talk to her mother to determine why her parents would abandon her. The time travelers introduce themselves as Victoria and David Beckham, and Sarah Jane ventures off to help her mother out serving tea. Meanwhile, Luke spots Oscar and investigates the boy’s odd behavior.

Eddie and Barbara talk to Sarah Jane about their baby and her future. Sarah Jane’s emotions swell and she decides to leave. Luke follows with a newspaper, but Sarah Jane realizes that it is the day that her parents died. The temptation is strong to disable the Smith car with her sonic lipstick, and Luke lobbies her to avoid altering a fixed point in time.

Her emotions overrule her logic and she disables the car’s engine. They rush back to the fissure to see if anything significant changed as the world begins to crumble around them.

Clyde and Rani arrive at the site of the fissure. The box changes color as they try to open the rift. Oscar returns through the fissure and morphs into a Graske before chasing after them. The world changes as they take shelter.

Sarah Jane and Luke return home to find the world transformed into a complete wasteland. The Trickster reveals himself, gleeful that Sarah Jane has given the world over to him. Foxgrove rested on a weak point in the fabric of time and Sarah Jane’s actions smashed a fault line and allowed the Trickster to manifest and ravage the Earth.

Luke and Sarah Jane return to 1951 to set things straight. The storm is already in progress at Foxgrove, prompting the villagers to take their festival indoors. Sarah Jane wishes that the Doctor was there to help them, and her hopes are buoyed up by the sight of a police box. Unfortunately, the box is not the TARDIS and only contains a police officer. Sarah Jane and Luke find Eddie and Barbara. Barbara offers to help them look for anything odd.

Rani and Clyde, protected from the alternate timeline by the puzzle box, wander the wasteland. They spot the Graske and decide to follow it. They spot Rani’s mother in a group of slaves, and Rani tries to make contact. The Graske, who is the slavemaster, is apprehensive around the duo. Rani’s mother explains that they are forced to mine every resource from the planet, and she shares the legend of Sarah Jane Smith and how she gave the world to the Trickster. They also learn about the Abbot’s Gateway and decide to somehow get that information to Sarah Jane and Luke.

Rani and Clyde demand an audience with the Graske and learn about his history and how he was tricked by the Trickster. He was saved from death but became a slave as a result. Clyde offers to exchange the puzzle box – a way to free the Graske – for a way back to the past. The arrangement means that Rani can go to 1951 but Clyde must remain behind with the box.

Sarah Jane and Luke track the source of the disturbance while Rani hunts them down, sticking out like a sore thumb as a woman of color in the village. Rani delivers her message, confusing Barbara with information from the future. The Trickster begins to manifest as Eddie arrives to take Barbara away.

The elder Smiths return to the village hall. Everything they touch ages rapidly, from fruit to flowers, and Barbara realizes that the problem revolves around them. She knows that Sarah Jane Smith is the adult version of their own baby.

At the Abbot’s Gate, Luke tries to convince Sarah Jane to repair the car, even though it means that her parents will die. Sarah Jane fixes the car as her parents arrive. They leave their baby with Luke and Rani as Sarah Jane says her goodbyes. The family shares an embrace as they mend their bridges. Sarah Jane now understands why her parents had to die and why they left her behind.

Her parents bid both Sarah Janes farewell as they drive away. The future is safe as the Trickster writhes in pain and vaporizes in the restored timeline. Sarah Jane, Luke, and Rani take the infant to her rightful place.

With the timeline restored, Clyde gives the puzzle box to the Graske and frees him from his servitude. The time travelers return home and Sarah Jane smashes the device used to open the fissure. Rani finds her parents alive and well, and Sarah Jane reminisces over her parents.

Although she could not save them, she finally knows why they left. She is proud of them. She shares a hug with Luke over the photo of Eddie and Barbara.

On the back of the photo lies one last remnant of the whimsical love notes they used to share: “Mr. Smith, I need you”.

 

On its face, this is a very basic story about the circular paradox. In fact, it is almost a complete rehash of Father’s Day, from a child saving a parent from a fixed point death, the resulting fractures and destruction in the timeline, and a noble sacrifice to set things right. It also bears striking similarities to The Curse of Fenric.

But it has the benefit of being about one of the most beloved characters in Doctor Who history, and that emotional investment makes a considerable difference between a standard plotline and a great story in this universe. Sarah Jane thinks like the Doctor, rationalizing every break of the rules to satiate just one more piece of her curiosity, while Luke, Rani, and Clyde act as her anchors to help save the world.

That twist on the story, including Sarah Jane realizing that she doesn’t need the Doctor to save her – that she literally has all of the tools that she needs to fix her mistake – is amazing, and it serves to empower both her and her young companions, making them stronger both as characters and as a cohesive family in the end.

Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”

 

 

UP NEXT – Sarah Jane Adventures: Enemy of the Bane

 

The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 1

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 1, 2020
Day 183 of 366

 

July 1st is the 183rd day of the year. It is Independence Day in Burundi, Rwanda, and Somalia. The first two left Belgian control in 1962, and Somalia’s independence came from the unification of the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somalia) and the State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland) in 1960.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Postal Worker Day, National U.S. Postage Stamp Day, National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day, and National Gingersnap Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1766, young French nobleman François-Jean de la Barre was tortured and beheaded. Before his body was burnt on a pyre, a copy of Voltaire’s Dictionnaire philosophique was nailed to his torso. His crime was not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France.
  • In 1858, a joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’s papers on evolution was conducted before the Linnean Society of London.
  • In 1870, the United States Department of Justice formally came into existence.
  • In 1878, Canada joined the Universal Postal Union.
  • In 1881, the world’s first international telephone call was made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States.
  • In 1890, Canada and Bermuda were linked by telegraph cable.
  • In 1908, SOS was adopted as the international distress signal.
  • In 1916, actress Olivia de Havilland was born.
  • In 1932, Australia’s national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was formed.
  • In 1934, actor Jamie Farr was born.
  • In 1935, actor David Prowse was born.
  • In 1942, actress Geneviève Bujold was born.
  • In 1945, singer-songwriter and actress Debbie Harry was born.
  • In 1952, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter Dan Aykroyd was born.
  • In 1956, actor Alan Ruck was born.
  • In 1961, Diana, Princess of Wales was born.
  • In 1962, actor and producer Andre Braugher was born.
  • In 1963, ZIP codes were introduced for the United States mail service.
  • In 1966, the first color television transmission in Canada took place from Toronto.
  • In 1968, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was signed in Washington, D.C., London, and Moscow by sixty-two countries.
  • In 1972, the first Pride march in England took place.
  • In 1977, actress Liv Tyler was born.
  • In 1979, Sony introduced the Walkman.
  • In 1980, “O Canada” officially became the national anthem of Canada.
  • In 1984, the PG-13 rating was introduced by the Motion Picture Association of America.
  • In 1990, East Germany accepted the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany.
  • In 1991, the Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.
  • Also in 1991, Terminator 2: Judgement Day opened.
  • In 1997, China resumed sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule.
  • In 1999, the Scottish Parliament was officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers were officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh. In Wales, the powers of the Welsh Secretary were transferred to the National Assembly.
  • In 2007, smoking in England was banned in all public indoor spaces.

 

July 1st is Canada Day.

A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of the Constitution Act, 1867 (then called the British North America Act, 1867), which united the three separate colonies of the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single Dominion within the British Empire called Canada.

It was originally called Dominion Day – Le Jour de la Confédération in French – but was renamed in 1982, the same year in which the Canadian Constitution was patriated by the Canada Act 1982.

Most communities in Canada celebrate with parades, festivals, fireworks, concerts, and citizenship ceremonies. Given the federal nature of the anniversary, celebrating Canada Day can be a cause of friction in the province of Quebec, where the holiday is overshadowed by Quebec’s National Holiday on June 24th. Canada Day also coincides with Quebec’s Moving Day, when many fixed-lease apartment rental terms expire.

 

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.