The Thing About Today – May 2

May 2, 2020May 1, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 2, 2020
Day 123 of 366

May 2nd is the 123rd day of the year. It is the anniversary of the Dos de Mayo Uprising, celebrated by the community of Madrid, Spain. The uprising was a rebellion in 1808 by the people of Madrid against the occupation of the city by the French troops of Napoleon Bonaparte, provoking repression by the French Imperial forces.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Truffle Day and National Life Insurance Day. It is also the first Saturday of May, which means that it is Kentucky Derby Day, National Fitness Day, National Scrapbook Day, National Homebrew Day, Join Hands Day, National Bombshells’ Day, and National Start Seeing Monarchs Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason, and witchcraft. The true reasoning was that she had not produced a male heir for King Henry VIII and the king wanted to move on to his next wife. Her execution weeks later would make her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.
In 1559, John Knox returned from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.
In 1611, the King James Version of the Bible was published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.
In 1918, General Motors acquired the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
In 1935, actor Lance LeGault was born. If he was on television in the 1980s, odds were that he was the bad guy.
In 1936, English singer and pianist Engelbert Humperdinck was born.
In 1937, actor, producer, and screenwriter Lorenzo Music was born.
In 1952, the world’s first-ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1, made its maiden flight from London to Johannesburg.
In 1954, composer and conductor Elliot Goldenthal was born.
In 1969, the British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departed on her maiden voyage to New York City.
In 1972, wrestler, actor, and producer Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was born.
In 2000, United States President Bill Clinton announced that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
In 2008, Iron Man premiered. Starring Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, it was the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In 2011, Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI’s most wanted man, was killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

This year, May 2 was supposed to be Free Comic Book Day.

Taking place on the first Saturday of May, Free Comic Book Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores.

Joe Field, a retailer from Flying Colors Comics in Concord, California brainstormed the event in his “Big Picture” column in the August 2001 issue of Comics & Games Retailer magazine. Free Comic Book Day started in 2002 and is coordinated by the industry’s single large distributor, Diamond Comic Distributors.

Image Comics publisher Jim Valentino suggested having the first Free Comic Book Day on the same weekend as the theatrical premiere of Spider-Man in 2002. The event was shifted to July in 2004 to correspond to the opening weekend for Spider-Man 2, but it was moved back to May the following year.

During the event, participating comic book store retailers give away specially printed copies of free comic books, and some offer special deals and creator signings to those visiting their establishments. Retailers don’t receive those issues for free, instead having to pay between twelve to fifty cents an issue. In addition to comic books, some stores also give away other merchandise, such as mini-posters and other movie tie-in memorabilia.

The 2020 event was initially changed to be a month-long event before it was indefinitely postponed due of the COVID-19. More information can be found on the official website.

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.

Culture on My Mind – Quarantine Con, Episode II

May 1, 2020September 26, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Quarantine Con, Episode II
May 1, 2020

This week’s “can’t let it go” is a second verse, but not the same as the first.

What’s the same is the number of Dragon Con American Sci-Fi Classics Track members. What’s also the same is that they’re broadcasting from their individual COVID-19 quarantine bunkers.

What’s different? Justice.

Classics Track co-directors Joe Crowe and Gary Mitchel are joined by Kevin Eldridge as they host another edition of Classic Sci-Fi Court. The honorable(?) Judge Crowe presides as Kevin defends Spacehunter, Adventures in the Forbidden Zone and Gary tackles the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

As before, Joe and Gary will be hosting more of these, so stay tuned to the YouTube channel and the group on Facebook. If you join in live, you can also leave comments and participate in the discussion using StreamYard connected through Facebook.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

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

The Thing About Today – May 1

May 1, 2020April 29, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 1, 2020
Day 122 of 366

May 1st is the 122nd day of the year. It is May Day, an ancient festival of Spring celebrated in many European cultures, stemming from the Roman festival of Flora (Floralia) which was in honor of the goddess of flowers. Germanic cultures celebrate Walpurgis Night, Gaelic cultures celebrate Beltane, and European and North American cultures crown the Queen of May with a dance around the maypole.

It is unrelated to mayday, the codeword used to signal a life-threatening emergency.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Loyalty Day, National Mother Goose Day, National Chocolate Parfait Day, Law Day, School Principals’ Day, Silver Star Service Banner Day, National Space Day, and School Lunch Hero Day. The last two are typically observed on the first Friday in May.

Historical items of note:

In 1328, the Wars of Scottish Independence came to an end as the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, England recognized Scotland as an independent state.
In 1759, Josiah Wedgwood founded the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.
In 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro was performed for the first time in Vienna, Austria.
In 1840, the Penny Black was issued in the United Kingdom. It was the first official adhesive postage stamp.
In 1852, frontierswoman and professional scout Calamity Jane was born.
In 1866, the Memphis Race Riots began. Over the next three days, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions demanded the eight-hour workday in the United States.
In 1886, rallies were held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour workday, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago. In commemoration of this event, May 1 is celebrated as International Workers’ Day in many countries.
In 1894, Coxey’s Army arrived in Washington, D.C. It was the first significant American protest march, held to protest the unemployment caused by the Panic of 1893, to lobby for the government to create jobs which would involve building roads and other public works improvements, and to have workers paid in paper currency (which would expand the currency in circulation).
In 1915, the RMS Lusitania departed from New York City on her 202nd and final crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives.
In 1916, actor and producer Glenn Ford was born.
In 1919, actor Dan O’Herlihy was born.
In 1930, “Pluto” was officially proposed by the for the name of the newly-discovered dwarf planet. Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh and the name was suggested by Vesto Slipher.
In 1931, the Empire State Building was dedicated in New York City. It was the tallest building in the world until the North Tower of the former World Trade Center was completed in 1970.
In 1939, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27.
Also in 1939, Max Robinson was born. He was the first African-American network television anchor.
In 1945, singer-songwriter Rita Coolidge was born.
In 1946, actress, voice-over artist, author, and activist Joanna Lumley was born.
In 1954, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Ray Parker, Jr. was born.
In 1956, the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was made available to the public.
In 1971, Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) took over operation of United States passenger rail service.
In 1972, actress Julie Benz was born.
In 2009, same-sex marriage was legalized in Sweden.

May 1 is Today is Lei Day in Hawaii, a statewide celebration that was established in 1929.

Lei Day is a celebration of Hawaiian culture, also known as the aloha spirit. People commonly celebrate by giving gifts of leis to one another. Schools also put on plays and elect a Lei Day court of Kings and Queens to represent the different islands. Each island has a different lei made from their respective special flower: Each island in Hawaii has a special flower that represents that island.

The island of Hawaiʻi (more commonly known as The Big Island) has the red ʻōhiʻa lehua blossom.
The island of Maui (The Valley Isle) has the Lokelani flower, also known as the Damask rose, which is pink and sweet-scented. The associated lei is very fragile.
The island of Oʻahu (The Gathering Place) is associated with the ʻilima flower. The lei made from this yellow flower is very thin and even more fragile than Maui’s. It is often called the “Royal lei” because of its past association with high chieftains.
The island of Kauaʻi (The Garden Isle) has Mokihana kukae moa fruit. The purple berries are strung around and leave a blossoming smell that can only be found on this island.
The island of Molokaʻi (The Friendly Isle) uses the silver-green leaves of the kukui tree, which is also the state tree of Hawaii.
The island of Lānaʻi (The Pineapple Isle) has a grassy orange flower called kaunaʻoa, which are gathered in groups and twisted together to create the lei.
The island of Niʻihau (The Forbidden Isle) offers the Pūpū keʻokeʻo, which are white shells that are plentiful on the small island. The shells have to be pierced with small holes to be strung.
The island of Kahoʻolawe (The Target Isle) houses the Hinahina kū kahakai, a silver-gray flower found on the beaches. The stems and flowers of this plant are twisted together to be formed the lei.

The importance of the lei to the Hawaiian culture is that it is meant to represent the unspoken expression of aloha. On the surface, it’s a word for love, affection, peace, compassion, and mercy that is commonly used as a simple greeting. Going deeper, however, there’s a cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians that defines a force that holds existence together. In fact, the state introduced the Aloha Spirit law in 1986 to mandate that state officials and judges treat the public with the proper spirit.

For Lei Day, the idea is that although the lei lasts only a while, the thought and spirit lasts forever. Other than the use of leis on Lei Day, they are incorporated into special occasions such as graduations, weddings, and birthdays. They originate from Polynesian voyagers sailing from Tahiti, and have been used in peace agreements.

The lei comes with a set of unspoken rules such as wearing it over your shoulders and not removing it while around the person that gave you the lei. Refusing a lei is seen as disrespectful.

Lei Day also incorporates various ethnic traditions, balancing the celebration of diversity with the struggle of preserving native Hawaiian culture.

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 – April 30

April 30, 2020April 28, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

April 30, 2020
Day 121 of 366

April 30th is the 121st day of the year. It is Honesty Day in the United States, a day to encourage honesty and straightforward communication in politics, relationships, consumer relations, and historical education. M. Hirsh Goldberg chose the last day of April for two reasons: First, since the first day of that month, which is April Fools’ Day, celebrates falsehoods; and second, it is the anniversary of the first inauguration of George Washington as President of the United States.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, National Bubble Tea Day, National Bugs Bunny Day, National Oatmeal Cookie Day, National PrepareAthon! Day, National Raisin Day, National Sarcoidosis Day, National Military Brats Day, and National Hairstylist Appreciation Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington took the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
In 1812, the Territory of Orleans became Louisiana, the 18th state to join the United States.
In 1885, New York State Governor David B. Hill signed legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York’s first state park, thus ensuring that Niagara Falls would not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.
In 1897, J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announced his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton, at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.
In 1900, Hawaii became a territory of the United States with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
In 1905, Albert Einstein completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.
In 1926, actress and comedian Cloris Leachman was born.
In 1938, the animated short Porky’s Hare Hunt debuted in movie theaters. This story introduced Happy Rabbit, an early version of Bugs Bunny.
In 1945, Adolf Hitler and his newlywed wife Eva Braun committed suicide in the Führerbunker. Soviet soldiers raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.
In 1947, Boulder Dam in Nevada was renamed Hoover Dam.
In 1965, actor Adrian Pasdar was born.
In 1980, actor Sam Heughan was born.
In 1982, actress Kirsten Dunst was born.
In 1985, actress Gal Gadot was born.

April 30 is International Jazz Day.

International Jazz Day was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2011 “to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe.” The idea came from jazz pianist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock.

Jazz originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. It is known as “America’s classical music”.

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, an American non-governmental organization (NGO) also chaired by Hancock, is the lead organizational partner for Jazz Day. The Institute coordinates activities in the UNESCO member states as well as the Global Host Celebration, where events culminate in an All-Star Global Concert. That concert involves over two-dozen jazz musicians from around the world performing in or around a historical landmark in the host city.

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 – April 29

April 29, 2020April 28, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

April 29, 2020
Day 120 of 366

April 29th is the 120th day of the year. It is International Dance Day, which is a global celebration of dance, created by the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), the main partner for the performing arts of UNESCO. The event commemorates the birth of Jean-Georges Noverre, the creator of modern ballet, and strives to encourage participation and education in dance through events and festivals held on the date all over the world.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Peace Rose Day, National Shrimp Scampi Day, National Zipper Day, and Denim Day. The last one changes annually.

Historical items of note:

In 1429, Joan of Arc arrived to relieve the Siege of Orléans during the Hundred Years’ War.
In 1770, James Cook arrived in Australia. He named his landing site Botany Bay.
In 1899, pianist, composer, and bandleader Duke Ellington was born.
In 1916, The Easter Rising came to an end after six days of fighting when Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin.
In 1923, actor, director, and producer Irvin Kershner was born.
In 1933, singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor Willie Nelson was born.
In 1936, actor Lane Smith was born.
In 1953, the first experimental 3D television broadcast in the United States showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
In 1955, actress Kate Mulgrew was born.
In 1957, actor Daniel Day-Lewis was born.
In 1958, actress Michelle Pfeiffer was born.
In 1960, author and academic Robert J. Sawyer was born.
In 1968, the controversial musical Hair opened at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. The musical was a product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, with some of its songs becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
In 1992, the Los Angeles Riots began following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days, 63 people were killed and hundreds of buildings were destroyed.
In 2019, Sports Illustrated featured Halima Aden, a Muslim model Halima Aden in a burkini, for the first time in their swimsuit edition. I can only ask, “what took you so long?”

In 1944, British agent Nancy Wake parachuted back into France to be a liaison between London and the local Maquis group. She was a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo’s most wanted person during World War II.

Nancy Wake, AC, GM was a New Zealand-born nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. She also briefly pursued a post-war career as an intelligence officer in the Air Ministry.

She was living in Marseille with her French industrialist husband, Henri Fiocca, when the war began. After France fell to the Nazis in 1940, she became a courier for the Pat O’Leary escape network under Ian Garrow and Albert Guérisse. She helped Allied airmen evade capture by the Germans and escape to sanctuary in Spain. In 1943, when the Germans became aware of her, she escaped to Spain and continued on to the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, her husband was captured and executed. She was unaware of her husband’s death until the war was over, and she subsequently blamed herself for the tragedy.

In Britain, she joined the SOE under the code name “Hélène”. As part of the three-person SOE team code-named “Freelance”, she parachuted into the Allier department of occupied France to liaise between the SOE and several Maquis groups in the Auvergne region. She was in a battle between the Maquis and a large German force in June 1944, after which she claimed to have bicycled 500 kilometers to send a situation report to SOE in London.

For her bravery and valor, she received the George Medal from the United Kingdom, the Medal of Freedom from the United States, the Legion of Honor from France, and medals from Australia and New Zealand. She published her autobiography in 1985, which was titled The White Mouse after the nickname the Germans gave her during the war.

Nancy Wake died at the age of 98 on August 7, 2011.

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 – April 28

April 28, 2020April 26, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

April 28, 2020
Day 119 of 366

April 28th is the 119th day of the year. It is Workers’ Memorial Day and World Day for Safety and Health at Work, an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured, or made unwell by their work. In Canada, it is commemorated as the National Day of Mourning.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Blueberry Pie Day, National BraveHearts Day, National Great Poetry Reading Day, and National Superhero Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1253, a Japanese Buddhist monk named Nichiren put forward Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the very first time. He declared it to be the essence of Buddhism, effectively Nichiren Buddhism.
In 1503, the Battle of Cerignola was fought, noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.
In 1900, Dutch astronomer and academic Jan Oort was born.
In 1908, Oskar Schindler was born. He was the German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunition factories in occupied Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
In 1926, novelist Harper Lee was born.
In 1934, novelist and journalist Lois Duncan was born.
In 1938, actress Madge Sinclair was born.
In 1941, actress, singer, and dancer Ann-Margret was born.
In 1945, Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were killed by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.
In 1948, Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his ballet Orpheus at the New York City Center.
Also in 1948, journalist, author, and screenwriter Terry Pratchett was born.
In 1952, actress Mary McDonnell was born.
In 1965, voice actor Steve Blum was born.
In 1971, actress Bridget Moynahan was born.
In 1973, The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd (recorded in Abbey Road Studios) hit number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.
Also in 1973, actress Elisabeth Röhm was born.
Also in 1973, actor Jorge Garcia was born.
In 1974, actress and producer Penélope Cruz was born.
In 1981, actress Jessica Alba was born.
In 1986, the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) became the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal. It navigated from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea (CV-43).
Also in 1986, the Soviet Union finally revealed the Chernobyl nuclear accident, two days after the event.

This year, National Superhero Day is observed on April 28th.

The unofficial holiday was created by a group at Marvel Comics in 1995. They reportedly celebrated by putting on capes and sending interns on a mission to find out what the public thought about superheroes, and what kind superhero they’d be if they had powers.

Despite the commercial origins, the day also provides an opportunity to discuss the popularity of superheroes, a set of modern myths, and how they impact people through pop culture.

I’ll recommend the 2012 short documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, now available for free on Tubi. If you already know the history of Wonder Woman and other superheroines through recent history, this won’t be anything new, but the personal stories make the presentation worth the time.

Consider talking to the fans in your life about why they love these superheroes and what they mean in their lives.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that one of my favorites is Captain America, primarily from his portrayal in the Marvel films, but also from his ethos of favoring freedom over blind loyalty.

One of my favorite quotes from the character comes from the pen of J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5. It was in The Amazing Spider-Man, Issue #537, which took place during the Marvel universe’s Civil War arc. Spider-Man denounced the Superhero Registration Act, an act that puts him in the crosshairs. He and Captain America, who is currently being seen as a national traitor for his stance on the act, cross paths. This provides Cap a moment to share some philosophy with Peter Parker.

Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — “No, you move.”

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 – April 27

April 27, 2020April 26, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

April 27, 2020
Day 118 of 366

April 27th is the 118th day of the year. It is National Veterans’ Day in Finland.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Babe Ruth Day, National Devil Dog Day, National Prime Rib Day, and National Tell a Story Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1667, John Milton was blind and impoverished, so he sold the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.
In 1805, the United States Marines and Berbers attacked the Tripolitan city of Derna during the First Barbary War. This was where the “shores of Tripoli” part of the Marines’ Hymn came from.
In 1865, the New York State Senate created Cornell University as the state’s land grant institution.
In 1891, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor Sergei Prokofiev was born.
In 1922, actor Jack Klugman was born.
In 1927, activist and author Coretta Scott King was born. She was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1959, singer, songwriter, and actress Sheena Easton was born.
In 1963, screenwriter and producer Russell T. Davies was born.
In 1974, ten thousand citizens marched in Washington, D.C., calling for the impeachment of United States President Richard Nixon.
In 1976, actress Sally Hawkins was born.
In 1981, Xerox PARC introduced the computer mouse.
In 1986, actress Jenna Coleman was born.
In 1992, Betty Boothroyd became the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.

In 1791, painter, co-inventor of the telegraph, and co-inventor the Morse code Samuel Morse was born.

Following the discovery of electromagnetism by Hans Christian Ørsted in 1820 and the invention of the electromagnet by William Sturgeon in 1824, the technology of electromagnetic telegraphy developed in Europe and the United States. Pulses of electric current were sent along wires to control an electromagnet on the other end. The early instruments used a single-needle system, but an operator had to alternate between watching the needle and transcribing the message.

The advent of Morse code allowed for a system with varying deflections. A deflection to the left corresponded to a dot and a deflection to the right to a dash, and with different stops, the device became audible.

The electrical telegraph was developed by Morse, physicist Joseph Henry, and machinist Alfred Vail. Alongside the invention, they also developed a forerunner to the Morse code. Meanwhile, William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented the first commercial electrical telegraph in Britain, and Carl Friedrich Gauss, Wilhelm Eduard Weber, and Carl August von Steinheil developed codes with varying word lengths.

The code used from 1844 was the Morse landline code or American Morse code. The international Morse code was refined using a proposal from German writer Friedrich Clemens Gerke. The code uses an audible series of dots and dashes, representing letters and numbers, to transmit messages.

Used extensively from its conception in wartime and peacetime, Morse code was used as an international standard for maritime distress until 1999 when it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.

Despite his contributions to the world, it should also be noted that Samuel F. B. Morse was anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant, and pro-slavery. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York under the anti-immigrant Nativist Party’s banner, and he allegedly refused to take his hat off in the presence of the Pope while visiting Rome.

He worked to unite Protestants against Catholic institutions (including schools), wanted to forbid Catholics from holding public office, and promoted changing immigration laws to limit immigration from Catholic countries. He was also well known as a defender of slavery, considering it to be sanctioned by God. He considered it a social condition “ordained from the beginning of the world for the wisest purposes, benevolent and disciplinary, by Divine Wisdom,” considering the owning of slaves to be on the same level as being a parent or an employer.

He died in New York City on April 2, 1872.

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 – April 26

April 26, 2020April 24, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

April 26, 2020
Day 117 of 366

April 26th is the 117th day of the year. It is World Intellectual Property Day, established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to “raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life” and “to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe.”

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Audubon Day, National Dissertation Day, National Help a Horse Day, National Kids and Pets Day, National Pretzel Day, National Richter Scale Day, National South Dakota Day, and National Pet Parents Day. That last one is typically observed on the last Sunday in April.

Historical items of note:

In 1564, playwright William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. His actual date of birth is unknown.
In 1803, thousands of meteor fragments fell from the skies of L’Aigle, France. The event convinced European scientists that meteors exist.
In 1865, Union cavalry troopers cornered and killed assassin John Wilkes Booth in Virginia.
In 1933, actress, singer, and producer Carol Burnett was born.
In 1954, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai was released.
In 1958, actor Giancarlo Esposito was born.
In 1962, NASA’s Ranger 4 spacecraft crasheed into the Moon.
In 1977, actor Tom Welling was born.
In 1979, actress Stana Katic was born.
In 1981, Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performed the world’s first human open fetal surgery.

In 1986, a nuclear reactor accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, Ukraine in the Soviet Union, creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

The accident started during a safety test on an RBMK-type nuclear reactor, which was commonly used throughout the Soviet Union. If you recall the discussion of the SL-1 accident on January 3rd, the common reactor type in the United States uses pressurized water as the moderator to help control neutron production, and as a result, power and heat generation. The RBMK-type reactor uses graphite as a moderator with moving water to cool the core, which was a contributing factor to the accident.

Other contributing factors included active removal of decay heat (the heat generated from the decay of fission products), positive void coefficient properties (an estimate of how much reactivity is added to the core when voids appear in the system), and instability at low power levels.

The test was a simulation of an electrical power outage. This test was being used to help develop a safety procedure to maintain reactor cooling water circulation until back-up electrical generators could provide power to the complex. The blackout duration was about one minute and had been identified as a potential safety problem that could cause the reactor core to overheat. The hope was that residual rotational energy in a turbine generator could provide enough power to last for that minute, but while three tests had been conducted, no solution had been found.

On the fourth attempt, there was an unexpected delay of ten hours. Unfortunately, that pushed the test to a later shift, and the oncoming operators were not prepared for the experiment.

During the planned decrease of reactor power in preparation for the electrical test, the power unexpectedly dropped to a near-zero level. In a pressurized water reactor like those operating in the United States, this would likely result in the reactor shutting itself down due to the inherent negative coefficient of reactivity. But the RBMK’s low-power imbalances limited the ability of the reactor to burn off xenon-135, a fission product that hinders the rise of reactor power.

To overcome the xenon, operators raised power by disconnecting most of the control rods from their automatic control systems. Even worse, they manually extracted most of the rods to their upper limits to maximize positive reactivity and overcome the xenon to increase power.

The operators were able to only partially restore the specified test power, but the instability risk was not evident in the operating instructions, so the operators proceeded with the test. The operation of the reactor at the low power level and high poisoning level was accompanied by unstable core temperatures and coolant flow. Several alarms were triggered, but they were ignored to preserve testing power levels.

The combined effect of actions to this point was an extremely unstable reactor configuration. Nearly all of the 211 control rods had been extracted manually, including all but 18 of the “fail-safe” manually operated rods of the minimum 28 that were supposed to remain fully inserted to control the reactor even in the event of a loss of coolant.

Upon test completion, the operators triggered a reactor shutdown, but circumstances caused an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction. A large amount of energy was suddenly released, vaporizing superheated cooling water and rupturing the reactor core in a highly destructive steam explosion. The result was an open-air reactor core fire that released radioactive contamination in a large plume for about nine days. The fire gradually released about the same amount of contamination as the initial explosion, resulting in a 10-kilometer exclusion zone around Pripyat and the evacuation of 49,000 people. The exclusion zone was later expanded to 30 kilometers when an additional 68,000 people were evacuated.

The explosion killed two of the operating staff. During the emergency response that followed, 134 station staff and firemen were hospitalized for acute radiation exposure. Twenty-eight of them died in the days to months following the accident, and an estimated fourteen cancer deaths were related to the event.

To reduce the spread of radioactive contamination from the wreckage and protect it from weathering, a protective sarcophagus was built by December 1986. This also provided radiological protection for the remaining operational reactors at the site. The sarcophagus was further enclosed in 2017.

Site clean-up is scheduled for completion in 2065.

The Chernobyl disaster is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, both in terms of cost and casualties. The combination of the initial emergency response and later environmental decontamination have involved half a million personnel and approximately $68 billion. The accident resulted in safety upgrades on all remaining Soviet-designed RBMK reactors – as of 2019, ten of them remained operational – and continues to be an in-depth training topic for operators in the United States to this 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.

Culture on My Mind – Quarantine Con

April 25, 2020September 26, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Quarantine Con
April 25, 2020

It’s been a while since time’s been slipping away during shelter-in-place, but some friends are finding ways to help fellow geeks pass the time. This week’s “can’t let it go” is a virtual convention panel.

Live from quarantine in their individual bunkers, three regulars from the Dragon Con American Sci-Fi Classics Track discussed movies from the year 2000! This time around, Classics Track co-directors Joe Crowe and Gary Mitchel are joined by author Michael G. Williams. They chatted about The Cell, X-Men, Mission to Mars, and haircuts.

Joe and Gary will be hosting more of these, so stay tuned to the YouTube channel and the group on Facebook. If you join in live, you can also leave comments and participate in the discussion using StreamYard connected through Facebook.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

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

The Thing About Today – April 25

April 25, 2020April 24, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

April 25, 2020
Day 116 of 366

April 25th is the 116th day of the year. It is Parental Alienation Awareness Day, which brings awareness to the process of a child becoming estranged from a parent as the result of the psychological manipulation of another parent.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Hug a Plumber Day, National Telephone Day, National Zucchini Bread Day, National Kiss of Hope Day, National Pool Opening Day, National Rebuilding Day, and National Sense of Smell Day. The last four are all typically observed on the last Saturday in April.

Historical items of note:

In 1792, highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier became the first person executed by guillotine.
Also in 1792, “La Marseillaise” was composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. It is the national anthem of France, and was composed after the declaration of war by France against Austria. The original title was “Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin” (“War Song for the Army of the Rhine”).
In 1859, British and French engineers broke ground for the Suez Canal.
In 1900, Austrian-Swiss-American physicist, academic, and Nobel Prize laureate Wolfgang Pauli was born.
In 1901, New York became the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
In 1908, journalist Edward R. Murrow was born.
In 1917, singer Ella Fitzgerald was born.
In 1945, the last German troops retreated from Finland’s soil in Lapland, thus ending the Lapland War and all military acts of World War II in Finland.
In 1946, actress Talia Shire was born.
In 1954, the first practical solar cell was publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
In 1959, the Saint Lawrence Seaway officially opened to shipping traffic, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1960, the United States Navy submarine USS Triton (SSRN-586) completed the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
In 1961, Robert Noyce was granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
In 1964, actor, voice artist, comedian, and producer Hank Azaria was born.
In 1965, puppeteer and voice actor John Henson was born.
In 1969, actress and producer Renée Zellweger was born.
Also in 1969, actress Gina Torres was born.
In 1983, Pioneer 10 traveled beyond Pluto’s orbit.

Today was a big day in history, so I’m highlighting two events that I found interesting.

In 1945, United States and Soviet troops met in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two.

The first contact between American and Soviet patrols occurred near Strehla, after First Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue, an American soldier, crossed the River Elbe in a boat with three men of an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon. On the east bank, they met forward elements of a Soviet Guards rifle regiment of the First Ukrainian Front, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gardiev.

The same day, another patrol under Second Lieutenant William Robertson with Frank Huff, James McDonnell and Paul Staub met a Soviet patrol commanded by Lieutenant Alexander Silvashko on the destroyed Elbe bridge of Torgau. The commanders of the 69th Infantry Division of the First Army and the 58th Guards Rifle Division of the 5th Guards Army met at Torgau, southwest of Berlin. They celebrated with the formal “Handshake of Torgau” between Robertson and Silvashko in front of photographers the following day.

The Soviet, American, and British governments released simultaneous statements that evening in London, Moscow, and Washington, reaffirming the determination of the three Allied powers to complete the destruction of the Third Reich. Known as Elbe Day and East Meets West Day, this event marked an important step toward the end of World War II. Elbe Day has never been an official holiday in any country, but in the years since 1945 the memory of this friendly encounter gained new significance in the context of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1953, James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues published “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” describing the double helix structure of DNA.

In the United States, DNA Day was first celebrated on April 25, 2003. The proclamation of both the Senate and the House of Representatives only declared a one-time celebration, so for every year going forward, annual DNA Day celebrations were organized by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).

April 25 has since been declared “International DNA Day” and “World DNA Day” by several groups.

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.

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