Month: November 2020

The Thing About Today – November 4

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 4, 2020
Day 309 of 366

November 4th is the 309th day of the year. It is Flag Day in Panama.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Chicken Lady Day, National Candy Day, and National Stress Awareness Day (which is typically observed on the first Wednesday in November).

Historical items of note:

  • In 1783, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 was performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.
  • In 1847, Sir James Young Simpson, a Scottish physician, discovered the anesthetic properties of chloroform.
  • In 1879, actor and screenwriter Will Rogers was born.
  • In 1916, journalist, voice actor, and producer Walter Cronkite was born.
  • Also in 1916, businesswoman Ruth Handler was born. She created the iconic Barbie fashion doll.
  • In 1924, Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first woman elected as governor in the United States.
  • In 1937, actress and singer Loretta Swit was born.
  • In 1950, actress Markie Post was born.
  • In 1952, the United States government established the National Security Agency, also known as the NSA.
  • In 1953, English animator, director, and producer Peter Lord was born. He co-founded Aardman Animations.
  • In 1961, actor Ralph Macchio was born.
  • In 1969, actor and producer Matthew McConaughey was born.
  • In 1973, the Netherlands experienced the first Car-Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways were used only by cyclists and roller skaters.
  • In 2001, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone premiered. I really enjoy the books and movies, but their creator… not at all.
  • In 2008, Barack Obama became the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected President of the United States.

November 4th is Community Service Day in Dominica.

Community Service Day, also known as National Day of Community Service or Community Day of Service, is a public holiday focused on a nationwide clean-up that follows Independence Day celebrations.

On November 4th, or the following Monday or Tuesday if Community Service Day falls on a weekend, Dominicans from all around the island participate in community projects. Notably, the government of Dominica provides assistance to communities, encouraging them to undertake specific projects. Ultimately, communities are free to choose any project to engage in.

The day has also focused on beautification initiatives, including through improvement committees and village councils. National Day of Community Service aims to promote volunteering, especially among young people, and the building of stronger communities.

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 – November 3

Michael Falkner1 Comment

November 3, 2020
Day 308 of 366

November 3rd is the 308th day of the year. It is Independence Day in several locations, including Panama (celebrating Separation Day from from Colombia in 1903), Dominica (from the United Kingdom in 1978), and the Federated States of Micronesia (from the United States in 1986).

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Housewife’s Day and National Sandwich Day.

Historical items of note:

  • In 1749, Daniel Rutherford was born. He was the Scottish chemist and physician who isolated nitrogen in 1772.
  • In 1783, the American Continental Army was disbanded.
  • In 1793, French playwright, journalist, and feminist Olympe de Gouges was guillotined.
  • In 1817, the Bank of Montreal, Canada’s oldest chartered bank, opened in Montreal.
  • In 1838, The Times of India, the world’s largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper, was founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
  • In 1868, John Willis Menard (a Republican from Louisiana) became the first African American elected to the United States Congress. Because of an electoral challenge, he was never seated.
  • In 1910, actor Richard Hurndall was born. He was the second actor to officially portray the First Doctor on Doctor Who.
  • In 1911, Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T.
  • In 1921, soldier and actor Charles Bronson was born.
  • In 1933, English-American composer and conductor John Barry was born.
  • In 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected President of the United States.
  • In 1948, Scottish singer-songwriter and actress Lulu was born.
  • In 1952, voice actor Jim Cummings was born.
  • In 1953, actress and producer Kate Capshaw was born.
  • In 1956, The Wizard of Oz was first televised on CBS.
  • In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2. On board was the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.
  • Also in 1957, Swedish actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and martial artist Dolph Lundgren was born.
  • In 1973, NASA launched the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it became the first space probe to reach that planet.
  • In 2014, One World Trade Center officially opened. It is the replacement for the World Trade Center Twin Towers, in New York City, after the towers were each destroyed by airplanes during the attacks of September 11, 2001.

November 3rd is Culture Day (文化の日) in Japan, a national holiday held for the purpose of promoting culture, the arts, and academic endeavor.

Culture Day was first held in 1948 to commemorate the announcement of the post-war Japanese constitution on November 3, 1946. The date of November 3rd was first celebrated as a national holiday in 1868, when it was called Tenchō-setsu (天長節), a holiday held in honor of the birthday of the reigning Emperor (Emperor Meiji), and following his death in 1912, the date ceased to be a holiday until 1927. At that point, Emperor Meiji’s birthday was given its own specific holiday (Meiji-setsu, or 明治節) which was subsequently discontinued with the announcement of Culture Day in 1948.

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 – November 2

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 2, 2020
Day 307 of 366

November 2nd is the 307th day of the year. It is Dziady in Belarus.  Дзяды in Belarusian, Деды in Russian, and Діди in Ukrainian, it is an ancient Slavic feast that commemorates dead ancestors. The Polish, Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian word means “grandfathers”, leading to the English translation as Forefathers’ Eve.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Deviled Egg Day, National Ohio Day, Color the World Orange Day (typically observed on the first Monday in November), Job Action Day (typically observed on the first Monday in November), and Traffic Directors Day (typically observed on November 2nd unless the day is on a weekend, in which case it moves to the following Monday).

Historical items of note:

  • In 1734, American hunter and explorer Daniel Boone was born.
  • In 1755, Marie Antoinette was born. She was the Austrian-French queen consort of Louis XVI of France.
  • In 1868, New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally.
  • In 1912, Bulgaria defeated the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lule Burgas, the bloodiest battle of the First Balkan War, which opened the way to Constantinople.
  • In 1913, actor Burt Lancaster was born.
  • In 1914, actor Ray Walston was born.
  • In 1920, KDKA of Pittsburgh started broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the 1920 United States presidential election.
  • In 1927, author and illustrator Steve Ditko was born.
  • In 1936, the British Broadcasting Corporation initiated the BBC Television Service, the world’s first regular, “high-definition” service. High definition at that point was defined as at least 200 lines. The service was renamed as BBC1 in 1964 and the channel still runs to this day.
  • Also in 1936, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was established.
  • In 1942, actress Stefanie Powers was born.
  • In 1947, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the “Spruce Goose”) in California. It was the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.
  • In 1949, author Lois McMaster Bujold was born.
  • In 1959, as part of the quiz show scandals, Twenty-One game show contestant Charles Van Doren admitted to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
  • Also in 1959, the first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, was opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway.
  • In 1960, Penguin Books was found not guilty of obscenity in the trial R v Penguin Books Ltd, also known as the Lady Chatterley’s Lover case.
  • In 1961, Canadian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress k.d. lang was born.
  • In 1965, Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, set himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.
  • In 1966, actor David Schwimmer was born.
  • In 1983, United States President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
  • In 1984, Velma Barfield became the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.
  • In 1988, the Morris worm, the first Internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, was launched from MIT.
  • In 1992, actress Naomi Ackie was born.

November 2nd is the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

The day draws attention to the low global conviction rate for violent crimes against journalists and media workers, estimated at only one in every ten cases. As these individuals play a critical role in informing and influencing the public about important social issues, impunity for attacks against them has a particularly damaging impact, limiting public awareness and constructive debate.

To commemorate the day, organizations and individuals worldwide are encouraged to talk about the unresolved cases in their countries, and write to government and intra-governmental officials to demand action and justice. UNESCO organizes an awareness-raising campaign on the findings of the UNESCO Director-General’s biennial Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, which catalogues the responses of states to UNESCO’s formal request for updates on progress in cases of killings of journalists and media workers.

UNESCO and civil society groups throughout the world use the day as a launch date for other reports, events, and other advocacy initiatives relating to the problem of impunity for crimes against freedom of expression.

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 – November 1

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 1, 2020
Day 306 of 366

November 1st is the 306th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Antigua and Barbuda, celebrating their separation from the United Kingdom in 1981.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Authors’ Day, National Brush Day, National Calzone Day, National Cinnamon Day, National Deep Fried Clams Day, National  Cook For Your Pets Day, National Family Literacy Day, and National Vinegar Day.

Also, remember to set your clocks back an hour unless you live in one of those lucky places that doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time. It ends for another season at 2:00am today.

Historical items of note:

  • In 1512, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, was exhibited to the public for the first time.
  • In 1520, the Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, was first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage.
  • In 1585, Jan Brożek was born. A Polish polymath, he was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, poet, writer, musician, and rector of the Kraków Academy.
  • In 1604, William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello was performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.
  • In 1611, Shakespeare’s play The Tempest was performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.
  • In 1800, John Adams became the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion. It was later renamed as the White House.
  • In 1848, Boston Female Medical School opened in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the first medical school for women, and later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine.
  • In 1870, the Weather Bureau made its first official meteorological forecast in the United States. It was later renamed as the National Weather Service.
  • In 1894, Nicholas II became the new (and last) Tsar of Russia after his father, Alexander III, died.
  • In 1896, a picture showing the bare breasts of a woman appeared in National Geographic magazine for the first time.
  • In 1897, the first Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public. The library had previously been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the United States Capitol.
  • In 1922, the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicated.
  • In 1926, actress Betsy Palmer was born.
  • In 1928, the Law on the Adoption and Implementation of the Turkish Alphabet replaced the Arabic alphabet with the Latin alphabet.
  • In 1938, Seabiscuit defeated War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed “the match of the century” in horse racing.
  • In 1946, special effects artist Dennis Muren was born.
  • In 1949, actress and acting coach Belita Moreno was born.
  • In 1953, astronaut Jan Davis was born.
  • In 1955, the Vietnam War began.
  • In 1957, The Mackinac Bridge opened. It was the world’s longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, and it opened to traffic connecting Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas.
  • In 1960, while campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announced his idea of the Peace Corps.
  • In 1963, the Arecibo Observatory officially opened in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. It housed the largest radio telescope ever constructed.
  • In 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America’s film rating system was officially introduced. The original ratings were G, M, R, and X.
  • In 1972, actress Toni Collette was born.
  • In 1982, Honda became the first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the United States with the opening of its factory in Marysville, Ohio. The first car produced there was a Honda Accord.
  • In 1984, English actress Natalia Tena was born.
  • In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty took effect, formally establishing the European Union.
  • In 1997, Titanic premiered.

November 1st is International Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome Awareness Day.

Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is a complex, rare, and severe childhood-onset epilepsy. It is characterized by multiple and concurrent seizure types, cognitive dysfunction, and slow spike waves on an electroencephalogram (EEG).

Typically, it presents in children between 3 to 5 years of age and can persist into adulthood. It has been associated with several gene mutations, perinatal insults, congenital infections, brain tumors and malformations, and genetic disorders such as tuberous sclerosis and West syndrome. The prognosis for the condition is poor with a five percent mortality in childhood and persistent seizures into adulthood.

LGS was named for neurologists William G. Lennox (from Boston, Massachusetts) and Henri Gastaut (from Marseille, France), both of who, independently described the condition.

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.