Author: Michael Falkner

The Thing About Today – August 20

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August 20, 2020
Day 233 of 366

 

August 20th is the 233rd day of the year. It is World Mosquito Day, which is a commemoration of British doctor Sir Ronald Ross’s discovery in 1897 that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Radio Day and National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1775, the Spanish established the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
  • In 1858, Charles Darwin first published his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace’s same theory.
  • In 1866, United States President Andrew Johnson formally declared the American Civil War over.
  • In 1882, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuted in Moscow, Russia.
  • In 1890, short story writer, editor, novelist H. P. Lovecraft was born. His work was revolutionary in science fiction and horror, but his personal beliefs contained significant amounts of racism, homophobia, misogyny, and general parochialism.
  • In 1920, the first commercial radio station, 8MK (now known as WWJ), began operations in Detroit, Michigan.
  • In 1926, Japan’s public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) was established.
  • In 1932, actor Anthony Ainley was born. He was the second actor to portray the Master in a recurring role on Doctor Who.
  • In 1943, Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy was born. He portrayed the Seventh Doctor on Doctor Who.
  • In 1946, journalist Connie Chung was born.
  • In 1948, Australian actor John Noble was born.
  • In 1962, The NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarked on its maiden voyage. Savannah was deactivated in 1971 and has been moored at Pier 13 of the Canton Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland, since 2008.
  • Also in 1962, actor and singer James Marsters was born.
  • In 1974, actress and singer Amy Adams was born.
  • In 1975, NASA launched the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
  • In 1977, NASA launched the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
  • In 1983, actor Andrew Garfield was born.
  • In 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.

 

August 20th is Akshay Urja Diwas (Akshay Urja Day), an awareness campaign about the developments in renewable energy in India.

The Indian Ministry for New & Renewable Energy Sources began Akshay Urja Day to commemorate the birthday of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Ministry promotes innovation to adopt renewable energy sources to produce power for the electricity grid, and for several standalone applications, as well as decentralized power production.

 

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 #TW28: Children of Earth – Day Two

Michael Falkner4 Comments

Torchwood: Children of Earth – Day Two
(1 episode, s03e02, 2009)

 

The band is on the run and the Hub has been destroyed.

All that’s left is a giant crater in Roald Dahl Plass. As Gwen stumbles to her feet, an emergency response team pulls her away from the flames and loads her into an ambulance. This team is not your standard emergency response but rather an assassination squad. Gwen bites and shoots her way free before hijacking the ambulance.

Meanwhile, Ianto pulls himself out of the rubble and runs from a sniper as the police arrive, complete with Andy Davidson and a defense of Gwen’s character. Agent Johnson calls Frobisher and reports that the job is one-third of the way done, then takes Davidson to raid Gwen’s home. Frobisher also receives some information about a mysterious device and the 456.

Gwen stops the ambulance and interrogates one of the surviving assassins, learning that the government as ordered the destruction of Torchwood. Gwen rushes home, wakes up Rhys, and unceremoniously tries to usher him to safety. Ianto makes contact while Rhys gets dressed, and Gwen rushes away, shooting out Johnson’s tires before escaping.

Government forces also storm the Davies household in a search for Ianto, but he’s one the streets elsewhere. Gwen and Rhys end up dumping their car since the license plates are trackable.

As morning dawns, Frobisher tries to patch up relations with his family before heading to work. At Home Office, Lois Habiba does some more digging while Frobisher briefs the Prime Minister about Jack and the 456 device. The 456 have only directly contacted Britain. Lois tries to ask Frobisher if Jack can help, but she’s chided for her efforts.

Jack’s daughter tries contacting him without success. We also discover that Timothy White has survived and is on the run.

At what’s left of the Hub, recovery teams find an arm, a shoulder, and a head. They take to a warehouse in London while Ianto watches from a nearby rooftop. In the warehouse, the remaining pieces of Jack’s body start a gruesome and extreme resurrection sequence. He goes from a skeleton to a blind, screaming burn victim. Johnson reports this to Frobisher as gets ready to check on Mr. Dekker’s progress with the 456 device.

Gwen and Rhys find that their accounts have been frozen, so they take their fight to London by stowing away on a food delivery lorry. During the trip, Gwen finds the right way to tell Rhys about their pregnancy, leading to mixed emotions of joy and anxiety given their current situation.

Meanwhile, Ianto’s family receives a card in their newspaper, which is a covert request for Rhiannon to bring him supplies. Johnny runs a distraction while Rhiannon sneaks away, and when she makes contact, she’s happy to see him but upset about his condition. During this meeting, the children stop again.

In unison: “We are coming tomorrow.”

Timothy White is particularly upset about this revelation.

Ianto takes the laptop and Rhiannon’s car in his pursuit of the ambulance that took Jack. At Home Office, Gwen Cooper tries to make contact with Frobisher but ends up finding an ally in Lois. The women covertly set up a meeting, though Gwen was clearly expecting Frobisher instead of the new hire. Luckily, Lois is a much friendlier face, and she bears news of the kill order. Lois doesn’t like covering up murders.

Jack has finished his resurrection. He demands to see the man in charge but instead meets Agent Johnson before being sealed in concrete while Ianto watches from afar. Meanwhile, Gwen and Rhys use the information provided by Lois to sneak into a secure compound as funeral directors to retrieve Rupesh Patanjali’s body. This takes them into the lion’s den, and Rhys almost blows their cover when their contact, Corporal “Kodak” Camara, flirts with Gwen. Luckily, Camara’s a bit thick. He also hits the deck nicely when Gwen sucker punches him.

Unfortunately, as Gwen disables the cameras, the alarms are sounded and the couple is surrounded by Johnson’s forces just as they discover the concrete cell. They find an escape route when Ianto uses heavy machinery to rip the makeshift sarcophagus from the building. Gwen provides an explosive exit and Johnson reports her failure to Frobisher. The man is not pleased.

Ianto stops the machine at the edge of a large quarry and drops the sarcophagus over the edge. The concrete shatters and frees Jack’s body. He comes back to life once again and is reunited with his Torchwood family.

Frobisher, Spears, and the Prime Minister observe the device’s construction. It ends up being a tank of some sort. Later that night, the tank is flooded with a gas mixture that is poisonous to humans. Bridget wants to investigate the 456, but Frobisher tells her that they don’t have time. The 456 will be arriving tomorrow.

Frobisher and Spears leave as Dekker embraces the tank with an unnatural sense of welcoming anticipation.

 

It’s under extreme pressure where Torchwood works best, and this is no exception. Watching the team play to their strengths without the guidance of Jack Harkness behind them says a lot about how well they have adapted to their roles over the last two years. The endgame, of course, was the rescue of their team’s leader in a tense action sequence that left me cheering multiple times.

I do feel bad for Jack’s daughter, Alice, who is left wondering throughout the entire episode.

This episode brings some further Torchwood mythology to bear, including snippets of how Queen Victoria created other institutions (of which the current government is unaware) and the official stance that Torchwood Two has been disbanded (but that the current government is unsure).

Finally, we get another tease of Gwen Cooper’s linage with the funeral director sequence. Gwyneth, her ancestor from The Unquiet Dead, was the servant to an undertaker.

The team dynamic and resourcefulness make this an amazing chase episode as the mysterious threat bears down on the planet Earth. They arrive next week.

 

Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”

 

UP NEXT – Torchwood: Children of Earth – Day Three

 

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 – August 19

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August 19, 2020
Day 232 of 366

 

August 19th is the 232nd day of the year. It is Afghan Independence Day, commemorating the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919 which granted Afghanistan independence from Britain.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as International Bow Day, National Aviation Day, and National Soft Ice Cream Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1570, Italian Jewish violinist and composer Salamone Rossi was born.
  • In 1612, the “Samlesbury witches” were put on trial. The three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury, England were accused of practicing witchcraft, and the trial was one of the most famous witch trials in British history.
  • In 1812, the American frigate USS Constitution defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. This engagement during the War of 1812 is what earned her the nickname “Old Ironsides”.
  • In 1839, the French government announced that Louis Daguerre’s photographic process was a gift “free to the world”.
  • In 1854, the First Sioux War began when United States Army soldiers killed Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return were massacred.
  • In 1871, engineer and pilot Orville Wright was born.
  • In 1906, inventor Philo Farnsworth was born. He invented the Fusor, made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television.
  • In 1921, screenwriter and producer Gene Roddenberry was born. He is best known for developing the worlds of Star Trek.
  • In 1938, actress Diana Muldaur was born. She played multiple roles in the Star Trek universe, and inspired a catchphrase for Women at Warp: A Star Trek Roddenberry Podcast – “Never forget: Pulaski banged Riker’s dad.”
  • In 1940, model, actress, and Bond Girl Jill St. John was born.
  • In 1947, actor Gerald McRaney was born.
  • In 1952, actor and director Jonathan Frakes was born.
  • In 1960, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in Moscow, Russia by the Soviet Union for espionage.
  • In 1964, Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, was launched.
  • In 1965, actress and producer Kyra Sedgwick was born.

 

August 19th is World Humanitarian Day.

It is an international day dedicated to recognizing humanitarian personnel and those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly as part of a Swedish-sponsored resolution, honoring the day on which the then Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Iraq, Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 of his colleagues were killed in the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad in 2003.

A Brazilian national, Sérgio Vieira de Mello dedicated a lifetime spanning over thirty years in the United Nations, serving in some of the most challenging humanitarian situations in the world to reach the voiceless victims of armed conflict, alleviate their suffering and draw, attention to their plight. His death together with 21 colleagues shocked the humanitarian community and robbed them of one of their most outstanding humanitarian leaders and intellectuals.

 

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 – August 18

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

August 18, 2020
Day 231 of 366

 

August 18th is the 231st day of the year. It is Long Tan Day, also known as Vietnam Veterans’ Day, in Australia. The Battle of Long Tan took place on August 18th, 1966 in a rubber plantation near Long Tân, in Phước Tuy Province, South Vietnam, and is the best known of the Australian Army’s actions in the Vietnam War.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Fajita Day, National Mail Order Catalog Day, and National Ice Cream Pie Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returned from a supply trip to England and found his settlement deserted. Roanoake became known as the Lost Colony since the fate of the missing colonists has never been discovered.
  • In 1826, Major Gordon Laing became the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu. He was killed shortly after he departed Timbuktu, some five weeks later.
  • In 1868, French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovered helium.
  • In 1914, psychiatrist Lucy Ozarin was born. She was one of the first women psychiatrists commissioned in the Navy, and she was one of seven female Navy psychiatrists who served during World War II. She earned the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy Reserve Medical Corps.
  • In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women’s suffrage.
  • In 1926, a weather map was televised for the first time.
  • In 1927, former First Lady of the United States Rosalynn Carter was born.
  • In 1952, actor and dancer Patrick Swayze was born.
  • In 1956, composer and conductor John Debney was born.
  • In 1958, investigations began into the television game show scandals. Two years later, the United States Congress amended the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the fixing of quiz shows.
  • In 1961, journalist and author Bob Woodruff was born.
  • In 1963, James Meredith became the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
  • In 1967, author and illustrator Brian Michael Bendis was born.

 

In 1587, Virginia Dare was born.

The granddaughter of the aforementioned Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, she was the first child born to English parents in the Americas. She disappeared with the rest of the colony, but during the past four hundred years, Virginia Dare has become a prominent figure in American myth and folklore, symbolizing different things to different groups of people.

She has been featured as the main character in books, poems, songs, comic books, television programs, and films. Her name has been used to sell different types of goods, from vanilla products to soft drinks, as well as wine and spirits. Many places in North Carolina and elsewhere in the Southern United States have been named in her honor.

 

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 – August 17

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August 17, 2020
Day 230 of 366

 

August 17th is the 230th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Indonesia (which left Japan in 1945) and Gabon (which separated from France in 1960).

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Nonprofit Day, National Massachusetts Day, National I LOVE My Feet Day!, National Thrift Shop Day, and Black Cat Appreciation Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1560, the Catholic Church was overthrown and Protestantism was established as the national religion in Scotland.
  • In 1863, author and photographer Gene Stratton-Porter was born.
  • In 1882, Jewish Polish American movie producer Samuel Goldwyn was born.
  • In 1883, the first public performance was conducted of the Dominican Republic’s national anthem, Himno Nacional.
  • In 1893,  actress, playwright, and screenwriter Mae West was born.
  • In 1896, Bridget Driscoll became the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.
  • In 1920, Irish-American actress and singer Maureen O’Hara was born.
  • In 1943, actor, entrepreneur, director, and producer Robert De Niro was born.
  • In 1945, the novella Animal Farm by George Orwell was first published.
  • In 1946, director, producer, and screenwriter Martha Coolidge was born.
  • In 1949, English actor, director, screenwriter, and politician Julian Fellowes was born.
  • In 1953, the first meeting of Narcotics Anonymous took place in Southern California.
  • In 1958, Pioneer 0 was launched using the first Thor-Able rocket. It was America’s first attempt at lunar orbit and it failed, but it was notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.
  • In 1970, Venera 7 was launched. It would later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet. In this case, it was from Venus.
  • In 1977, the Soviet icebreaker Arktika became the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
  • In 1998, United States President Bill Clinton admitted in taped testimony that he had an “improper physical relationship” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Later that same day, he admitted before the nation that he “misled people” about the relationship.

 

In 1930, screenwriter and producer Harve Bennett was born.

As a young boy, Bennett appeared on the radio program Quiz Kids, which introduced him to show business, but by the time he had reached college, the radio business was in decline. As a result, he cast his eyes on the world of film and attended the film school at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Following his graduation, he joined the United States Army in 1953 and served in the Military Police Corps. He was honorably discharged two years later and began his career as a production executive at CBS and later ABC, becoming Vice President of Daytime Programming.

His first project was to develop a television series with producer Aaron Spelling called The Mod Squad. After that, he joined Universal Studios where he produced a variety of television series and miniseries. The best known of these series are probably The Six Million Dollar Man (1973–78) and The Bionic Woman (1976-78). He moved from Universal to Columbia to Paramount.

It was at Paramount where he was called to a meeting with then top executives Barry Diller and Michael Eisner, along with Charles Bluhdorn (head of Paramount’s parent Gulf+Western) to discuss the future of Star Trek after the lower than expected results of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He agreed to produce the next film in the series, subsequently screening all 79 episodes of the original television series before settling on a sequel to the episode Space Seed.

Following the success of The Wrath of Khan, Bennett remained to produce the next three films, as well as assist on the sixth film in the series. He declined the opportunity to direct Star Trek VI, and left Paramount shortly thereafter.

Harve Bennett died on February 25, 2015, in Medford, Oregon. His death preceded Leonard Nimoy’s by two days.

 

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 – August 16

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August 16, 2020
Day 229 of 366

 

August 16th is the 229th day of the year. It is National Airborne Day in the United States, a day designated to honor the airborne forces of the United States military.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Tell a Joke Day, National Roller Coaster Day, and National Rum Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1858, United States President James Buchanan inaugurated the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. A weak signal forced a shutdown of the service after a few weeks.
  • In 1888, British colonel, diplomat, writer, and archaeologist T. E. Lawrence was born.
  • In 1891, the Basilica of San Sebastian, Manila was officially inaugurated and blessed. It was the first all-steel church in Asia.
  • In 1896, Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack, and Dawson Charlie discovered gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
  • In 1913, Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan became the first university in Japan to admit female students. The school is known today as Tohoku University.
  • In 1930, the first color sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks, was released by Ub Iwerks.
  • In 1933, actress Julie Newmar was born.
  • In 1937, actress Lorraine Gary was born.
  • In 1946, actress Lesley Ann Warren was born.
  • In 1952, actor Reginald VelJohnson was born.
  • In 1954, the first issue of Sports Illustrated was published.
  • Also in 1954, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter James Cameron was born.
  • In 1957, actress and director Laura Innes was born.
  • In 1958, actress Angela Bassett was born.
  • In 1960, Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom.
  • In 1975, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam symbolically handed over land to the Gurindji people after the 8-year Wave Hill walk-off, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia. The event was, commemorated in a 1991 song by Paul Kelly and an annual celebration.
  • Also in 1975, New Zealand director, screenwriter, and actor Taika Waititi was born.

 

August 16th is the festival of Xicolatada, a tradition in the village of Palau-de-Cerdagne in Languedoc-Roussillon, France for more than 300 years.

In Catalonia, August 15th was once a festival day, during which the locals would drink quite heavily and were hungover the next morning. To help them feel better, the village chocolatier would offer them a hot chocolate, which he claimed was an excellent remedy.

Over the years, this habit grew into a custom, and a municipal association was eventually formed to remember the tradition. This association organizes the distribution of hot chocolate every year on August 16th at precisely 11:00 am.

Today, the chocolate is brewed in large cauldrons over a wood fire. The festival draws many tourists to the village every year, and to preserve the tradition, festival organizers have created a confraternity of master chocolatiers to keep the recipe safe and secret.

 

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 – August 15

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August 15, 2020
Day 228 of 366

 

August 15th is the 228th day of the year. It is Independence Day in several countries today: South Korea celebrates Gwangbokjeol (“Independence Day”) and North Korea celebrates Jogukhaebangui nal (“Fatherland Liberation Day”) as they both commemorate their 1945 separation from Japan; India celebrates their 1947 independence from the United Kingdom; the Republic of the Congo celebrates their 1960 separation from France; Bahrain celebrates their 1971 independence from the United Kingdom.

Victory over Japan Day anniversaries also continue, commemorating the day in 1945 when Japan accepted the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor recorded the Imperial Rescript on Surrender. The United Kingdom observes the anniversary today, while Japan commemorates End-of-war Memorial Day (Shūsen-kinenbi, 終戦記念日) with the National Memorial Service for War Dead.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Leathercraft Day, National Relaxation Day, National Lemon Meringue Pie Day, and World Honey Bee Day (typically the third Saturday in August).

Honeybees are vitally important in keeping our world alive. Treat them with respect.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1483, Pope Sixtus IV consecrated the Sistine Chapel.
  • In 1771, Scottish novelist, playwright, and poet Sir Walter Scott was born.
  • In 1843, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii was dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
  • Also in 1843, Tivoli Gardens opened in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world.
  • In 1914, the Panama Canal opened to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon.
  • In 1939, The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California. Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, and the most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the film itself was a remake of two previous adaptation attempts in 1925 and 1910.
  • In 1941, Corporal Josef Jakobs was executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 7:12 am, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for espionage.
  • In 1948, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was established south of the 38th parallel north.
  • In 1964, businesswoman and philanthropist Melinda Gates was born.
  • In 1965, The Beatles played to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.
  • In 1968, actress Debra Messing was born.
  • In 1969, the legendary Woodstock Music & Art Fair opened in upstate New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era. The festival has become widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history as well as a defining event for the counterculture generation.
  • In 1970, Patricia Palinkas became the first woman to play professionally in an American football game.
  • In 1971, President Richard Nixon completed the break from the gold standard by ending the convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors.
  • In 1972, actor and sound editor Matthew Wood was born.
  • In 1974, Canadian model and actress Natasha Henstridge was born.
  • In 1977, The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, received a radio signal from deep space. The event was named the “Wow! signal” from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.
  • In 1979, Apocalypse Now was released.
  • In 1990, actress Jennifer Lawrence was born.
  • In 1995, Shannon Faulkner (no relation) became the first female cadet matriculated at The Citadel in South Carolina. In the years leading to the event, she attended day classes but was not allowed to live on campus or wear the school uniform, and she suffered constant harassment, taunts, and death threats. In 1995, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that she must be admitted to the school, however suffered heat stress, physical exhaustion, emotional and psychological abuse, and death threats against her family before leaving after one week. After her departure, the male cadets openly celebrated on the campus.

 

August 15th begins an annual Egyptian holiday named Wafaa El-Nil, a two-week celebration commemorating the annual flooding of the Nile.

The flooding of the Nile has been an important natural cycle in Egypt since ancient times. It is also celebrated in the Coptic Church by ceremonially throwing a martyr’s relic into the river, thus giving it the name The Martyr’s Finger.

Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile flooded every year because of Isis’s tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris. The flooding is the result of the yearly monsoon between May and August that delivers enormous precipitations on the Ethiopian Highlands at summits of nearly 15,000 feet. Most of this rainwater is taken by the Blue Nile and by the Atbarah River into the Nile, while a less important amount flows through the Sobat and the White Nile into the Nile.

During this short period, those rivers contribute up to ninety percent of the water of the Nile, and most of the sedimentation carried by it, but after the rainy season, dwindle to minor rivers.

The Egyptian year was divided into the three seasons of Akhet (Inundation), Peret (Growth), and Shemu (Harvest). Akhet covered the Egyptian flood cycle, and this cycle was so consistent that the Egyptians timed its onset using the heliacal rising of Sirius, the key event used to set their calendar.

 

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 – August 14

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August 14, 2020
Day 227 of 366

 

August 14th is the 227th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Pakistan, celebrating the day when the country was declared as a sovereign nation following the end of the British Raj in 1947.

It is also V-J Day, commemorating the day in 1945 when Japan accepted the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor recorded the Imperial Rescript on Surrender. This date is calculated based on the home countries of the Allied forces, and took place on August 15th by Japan Standard Time.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Creamsicle Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1040, King Duncan I was killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeded him as King of Scotland. William Shakespeare later wrote about Macbeth in the play of the same name, but based his work on Holinshed’s Chronicles (1577) and is not historically accurate.
  • In 1720, the Spanish military Villasur expedition was defeated by Pawnee and Otoe warriors near present-day Columbus, Nebraska.
  • In 1851, dentist, gunfighter, and gambler John Henry “Doc” Holliday was born.
  • In 1885, Japan’s first patent was issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
  • In 1888, an audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord” was played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison’s phonograph in London, England. It was one of the first recordings of music ever made.
  • In 1893, France became the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.
  • In 1901, the first claimed powered flight occurred. It was by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
  • In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired.
  • In 1945, actor, comedian, musician, producer, and screenwriter Steve Martin was born.
  • In 1946, actress Susan Saint James was born.
  • In 1950, cartoonist Gary Larson was born.
  • In 1953, composer and conductor James Horner was born.
  • In 1963, French actress Emmanuelle Béart was born.
  • In 1965, producer, director, and screenwriter Brannon Braga was born.
  • In 1966, model, actress, and producer Halle Berry was born. She was Miss World United States 1986.
  • In 1968, actress and producer Catherine Bell was born.
  • In 2015, the United States Embassy in Havana, Cuba was re-opened after 54 years of being closed when Cuba–United States relations were broken off.

 

In 1592, the first sighting of the Falkland Islands occurred by English explorer John Davis.

His sighting was part of the 1591 voyage with Thomas Cavendish (which was Cavendish’s last voyage) intending to discover the Northwest Passage. After the rest of Cavendish’s expedition returned without reaching their goal, Davis continued on his own to attempt the passage of the Strait of Magellan. He was defeated by the weather but spotted the Falklands along the way. His crew was forced to kill hundreds of penguins for food on the islands, but the stored meat spoiled in the tropics and only fourteen of his 76 men made it home alive.

The name “Falkland Islands” comes from Falkland Sound, the strait that separates the two main islands. The name “Falkland” was applied to the channel by John Strong, the captain of an English expedition that landed on the islands in 1690. He named the strait in honor of Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland, the Treasurer of the Navy who sponsored his journey. The Viscount’s title originates from the town of Falkland, Scotland. That town’s name derives from a Gaelic term referring to an “enclosure” (lann).

The name “Falklands” was not applied to the islands until 1765 when British captain John Byron of the Royal Navy claimed them for King George III as “Falkland’s Islands”.

So, no relation to your humble author.

Falklands Day was the celebration to commemorate this event but was replaced by Liberation Day, which commemorates the end of the Falklands War on June 14, 1982.

Falkland Day ceased to be a public holiday in 2002 when the Executive Council moved the holiday to provide for the re-introduction of Peat Cutting Monday, on the first Monday in October.

 

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 – August 13

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

August 13, 2020
Day 226 of 366

 

August 13th is the 226th day of the year. It is Independence Day in the Central African Republic as they celebrate their separation from France in 1960.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Prosecco Day and National Filet Mignon Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1532, the Duchy of Brittany was absorbed into the Kingdom of France.
  • In 1650, Colonel George Monck of the English Army formed Monck’s Regiment of Foot, which would later become the Coldstream Guards.
  • In 1860, sharpshooter Annie Oakley was born.
  • In 1898, Carl Gustav Witt discovered 433 Eros, the first near-Earth asteroid to be found.
  • In 1899, English-American director and producer Alfred Hitchcock was born.
  • In 1906, the all-black infantrymen of the United States Army’s 25th Infantry Regiment were accused of killing a white bartender and wounding a white police officer in Brownsville, Texas. Despite exculpatory evidence, all of them were later dishonorably discharged. Their records were later restored to reflect honorable discharges but there were no financial settlements.
  • In 1918, women enlisted in the United States Marine Corps for the first time. Opha May Johnson was the first woman to enlist.
  • Also in 1918, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG was established as a public company in Germany. It’s better known as BMW.
  • In 1930, singer and ukulele player Don Ho was born.
  • In 1942, Major General Eugene Reybold of the United States Army Corps of Engineers authorized the construction of facilities that would house the “Development of Substitute Materials” project, better known as the Manhattan Project.
  • In 1954, Radio Pakistan broadcasted the “Qaumī Tarāna”, the national anthem of Pakistan, for the first time.
  • In 1961, East Germany closed the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants’ attempts to escape to the West. Construction of the Berlin Wall was started.
  • Also in 1961, Japanese composer and sound director Koji Kondo was born.
  • In 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts enjoyed a ticker-tape parade in New York City. That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by United States President Richard Nixon.
  • In 1983, actor Sebastian Stan was born. So, I’m also older than the Winter Soldier…

 

August 13th is International Left-Handers Day, a day that (as it says on the tin) celebrates the uniqueness and differences of the left-handers.

The day was first observed in 1976 by Dean R. Campbell, founder of the Lefthanders International, Inc. International Left Hander’s Day was created to celebrate sinistrality and raise awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of being left-handed in a predominantly right-handed world.

It celebrates left-handed people’s uniqueness and differences, a subset of humanity estimated at seven to ten percent of the world’s population. The day also spread awareness on issues faced by left-handers, such as the importance of the special needs for left-handed children, and the likelihood for left-handers to develop schizophrenia. Left-handers also used to be persecuted since the direction of the left is associated with evil by some people.

There are approximately 708 million left-handed people in the world, and men are more likely to be left-handed than women.

 

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 #TW27: Children of Earth – Day One

Michael Falkner4 Comments

Torchwood: Children of Earth – Day One
(1 episode, s03e01, 2009)

 

The Home Office gets explosive results.

Scotland, 1965: A bus full of children stops at an undisclosed location. When they stop, the children disembark and are walked toward a bright light. All of them but one walk into the light. The lone child flees as the light flares.

Cardiff, 2009: Gwen is withdrawing money from an ATM when she notices that the children around her have frozen in place, totally catatonic. The same is happening all around the area. As suddenly as it began, the phenomenon ends and the children start moving again as if nothing happened.

Gwen heads to Torchwood and begins to investigate the oddity. We’re reminded that Jack, Ianto, and Gwen are all that remains of Torchwood Three.

In a nearby hospital, a patient dies on the table. The doctor, Rupesh Patanjali, informs Ianto and Jack, believing that they are the patient’s neighbors. Jack and Ianto ask for a moment with the body, which they then open with a laser saw and withdraw an alien organ. They’re discovered by the doctor and leave with the organ, but before they leave Patanjali informs them of several more missing bodies. Jack and Ianto refuse to help due to all of the red tape involved in the investigation.

We are next introduced to a new set of players. Lois Habiba is starting a job working for Bridget Spears, who is the assistant to the Permanent Secretary to the Home Office, John Frobisher. Secretary Frobisher (who looks very familiar) is visited by UNIT Colonel Oduya who informs him that the phenomenon with the children happened all around the world.

Torchwood discovers this at the same time. They’re naturally concerned, and so is UNIT, the latter going to yellow alert while they investigate if the incident was extraterrestrial or not. Obviously, everyone wants to keep it quiet.

Jack is perturbed that Martha Jones chose now to go on her honeymoon – to whom, we do not yet know – but luckily Dr. Patanjali arrives at Roald Dahl Plass just as Torchwood needs a doctor. Jack and Ianto lured him in just like they did with Gwen. Naturally, Gwen goes above to serve as a recruitment officer and review the files that Patanjali brought. While they talk, the children all stop again.

But this time, they scream. Then they chant, in unison, “We are coming.”

It happened worldwide. It also happened with one adult, Timothy White, a patient in a mental institution in East Grinstead.

Patanjali is paged back to the hospital as the Home Office is flooded with calls. Frobisher gets a visit from Mr. Dekker, the head of MI5’s technology division and alien monitoring, who tells him that “the 456” have re-established contact for the first time since 1965. At the same time, Lois takes a call from Torchwood, which the system flags as classified. Using her supervisor’s credentials, she learns more than she bargained for.

Frobisher meets with Prime Minister Brian Green, a man who is a bit overwhelmed with the various alien threats looming over them. Frobisher suggests keeping certain historical events off the record, and Green wants to keep his name out of it. Frobisher gets the privilege of a “blank page”.

Gwen discovers that every child worldwide was speaking English, and Jack and Ianto agree that they need to interview one of them. Gwen drives to meet Timothy while Jack visits his daughter, Alice Carter, and her son Steven, his grandson.

Wait… what?

They catch up for a few minutes and muse about Jack’s immortality, but in the end, Alice refuses to let Jack use Steven for Torchwood experimentation. So, Jack turns to Patanjali instead.

Ianto visits his sister, Rhiannon Davies, but she also refuses to let him take one of the kids out. She’s also nervous about Ianto’s relationship with Jack. Her husband Johnny is quite a bit more homophobic about it. Ianto is humiliated but tries to save face. The moment is interrupted by someone stealing the Torchwood SUV. Ianto is exasperated.

Gwen’s interview with Timothy reveals that he was the child who ran away in 1965. His real name is Clement McDonald, and he’s developed an unusually heightened sense of smell. He’s been smelling the aliens coming back for months, and he also can tell that Gwen is three weeks pregnant.

Surprise! Although, it works out well with Rhys shopping for a house.

Gwen calls Ianto, who has made it back to the Hub, and asks him to search for information about MacDonald, missing children, and Scotland. Unbeknownst to him, Ianto triggers an alarm at an unidentified military monitoring station.

At Home Office, Frobisher orders the blank page, which is code for a kill order. There are four targets on the list: Captain Jack Harkness, retired Colonel Michael Sanders, Ellen Hunt, and Captain Andrew Staines. Lois sees Bridget is distressed, and when she looks at Bridget’s e-mail, she recognizes Jack’s name from the earlier call.

Jack arrives at the hospital and receives word that another man has died. When Jack examines the body, Patanjali shoots him. As Jack dies, a military force arrives as a woman named Johnson waits until Jack revives. Johnson also discovers the link between Clement and Timothy. She sends officers to retrieve him, so he runs.

Patanjali reveals that he was a spy for this group, attempting to infiltrate Torchwood. Jack revives and Johnson kills him again, issuing orders for her men to implant a bomb in his body. Johnson covers her operation by killing Patanjali, stopping him from revealing the truth to Jack.

Jack, meanwhile, revives after the soldiers depart. He returns to the Hub.

At the Hub, Gwen verifies Clement’s claim with a scanner. Jack congratulates her and inadvertently uses the scanner, thus discovering the bomb. He orders Gwen and Ianto to evacuate. He kisses Ianto, watches him rise on the elevator, and promises that he’ll come back. He always does.

The bomb has a blast radius of one mile. The Hub is completely destroyed in a massive explosion that knocks Gwen to the ground.

Meanwhile, the children chant: “We are coming, we are coming, we are coming… back.”

 

Day One is tense and engaging, leading us into the first season-long arc in the Doctor Who universe since The Trial of a Time Lord. The show picks up the pieces left behind from the previous season and lays down several threads to pursue in the process. We meet Jack’s family and Ianto’s family – two families that we had not previously met – and learn that Gwen and Rhys are expecting a baby.

Torchwood has apparently lost its secrecy, including the general location of Torchwood Three’s headquarters. It’s no wonder since the world has been time and again been exposed to aliens, but perhaps the destruction of the Hub will reset that norm. At this point, half the world knows of or believes in alien life, and the other half is in denial.

Unfortunately, this brings into question the fate of the various beings and relics housed in the Hub, including the Weevils, Gray, and Myfanwy.

We get a nod to Martha Jones, which is a bit meta since she was expected to appear in this set of stories until Law & Order: UK picked up Freema Agyeman. We also meet the fourth Prime Minister in the revival era – Brian Green picks up where Harold Saxon, Harriet Jones, and the unknown politician in Aliens of London left off – which is something that the classic era didn’t play with much.

Finally, after reading Children of Time from kOZMIC Press, I can’t help but think of a penguin when I hear the name Frobisher.

 

 

Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”

 

UP NEXT – Torchwood: Children of Earth – Day Two

 

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.