The Thing About Today – February 3

February 3, 2020January 21, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 3, 2020
Day 34 of 366

February 3rd is the thirty-fourth day of the year. It is Setsubun in Japan, the day before the beginning of spring.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Carrot Cake Day, National Missing Persons Day, National Women Physicians Day, and National Football Hangover Day. That last one is typically commemorated on the day after the “Big Game”. You know, the “Superb Owl.” The football championship event that was held yesterday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Don’t sue me, National Football League. </sarcasm>

Historical items of note:

In 1690, the colony of Massachusetts issued the first paper money in the Americas.
In 1783, Spain recognized the independence of the United States during the American Revolutionary War.
In 1809, German pianist, composer, and conductor Felix Mendelssohn was born.
In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
In 1894, American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell was born.
In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
In 1917, during World War I, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany. This was two days after Germany declared a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
In 1938, actor Victor Buono was born. He played King Tut on the 1966 Batman television series.
In 1956, actor and comedian Nathan Lane was born.
In 1961, the United States Air Force began Operation Looking Glass. For the next thirty years, a “Doomsday Plane” was always in the air with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers and missiles if the Strategic Air Command command post was lost.
In 1965, actress and producer Maura Tierney was born.
In 1966, the Soviet Union’s unmanned Luna 9 vehicle became the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon. It was also the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.
In 1970, actor and screenwriter Warwick Davis was born. He’s appeared in Willow and pretty much every Star Wars film since 1983.
In 1994, Sergei Krikalev became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Space Shuttle as mission STS-60 (Discovery) was launched.
In 1995, Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 (Discovery) was launched.

Today is commemorated as The Day the Music Died.

In 1959, Buddy Holly and his band – consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch – were on the “Winter Dance Party” tour in the American Midwest. They were joined by rising stars Ritchie Valens, J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Dion and the Belmonts.

The long travel stretches between venues was a killer for the artists, including cases of flu and frostbite on the cold and uncomfortable tour buses. After their performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly decided to charter a plane for the next leg of their journey. As fate played out, Richardson (afflicted with the flu) took Jennings’s seat on the plane and Valens won his seat after beating Allsup in a coin toss.

Soon after takeoff, radio contact was lost with the plane. When the plane did not reach Moorhead, Minnesota, it was reported missing. It was eventually found in a cornfield six miles northwest of the departure airport. The investigation revealed that poor weather conditions and pilot error contributed to the accident.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson were killed in the crash.

Buddy Holly’s wife, María Elena, learned of her husband’s death via a television news report. They had been married for only six months, and she suffered a miscarriage shortly afterward. This led to the policy of not disclosing victims’ names until family members had been notified.

Fans make pilgrimages to Clear Lake, Iowa every year to pay their respects. An annual memorial concert is also held at the Surf Ballroom.

In 1971, Don McLean released his hit single “American Pie”, which was written in the late 1960s. It paid tribute to the artists and pilot, commemorated the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation, and served to exorcise his long-running grief over the accident.

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 – February 2

February 2, 2020January 21, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 2, 2020
Day 33 of 366

February 2nd is the thirty-third day of the year. It is Inventor’s Day in Thailand and World Wetlands Day.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Heavenly Hash Day and National Tater Tot Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1645, the combined army of Scottish Royalist Highlanders and Confederate Irish troops under James Graham, Lord Montrose destroyed the pursuing forces of Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll during the Scottish Civil War. This would become known as the Battle of Inverlochy.
In 1653, New Amsterdam was incorporated. It would later become the City of New York.
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the two-year-long Mexican-American War.
In 1850, Brigham Young declared war on the Timpanogos Tribe at the Battle of Fort Utah. The Timpanogos people had initially tolerated the settlers, the remnants of the Nauvoo Legion, but after three Mormons murdered a Timpanogos man known as Old Bishop followed by a hard winter where the tribe took 50 cattle from the Mormons, the war was declared. The Mormons killed 100 Timpanogos people, including Chief Old Elk’s tribe and other tribes that had no hostile history with the Mormons.
In 1901, the funeral for Queen Victoria was held.
In 1913, Grand Central Station was opened in New York City.
In 1922, Ulysses by James Joyce was published.
In 1925, dog sleds transporting a much-needed diphtheria serum reached Nome, Alaska. The serum was transported 674 miles across the Alaska Territory by 20 mushers and 150 sled dogs in five and a half days. The lead dog on the final sled was the famous Balto, but the true hero was lead dog Togo who covered 260 miles. The serum run inspired the Iditarod race.
In 1940, Frank Sinatra made his first public appearance with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in Indianapolis.
In 1942, the Osvald Group organized the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway. It was a protest against the inauguration of the traitor Vidkun Quisling.
In 1943, during World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad came to a close as Soviet troops accepted the surrender of German troops in the city.
In 1947, actress and producer Farrah Fawcett was born.
In 1949, actor and singer Brent Spiner was born.
In 1954, actress and businesswoman Christie Brinkley was born.
In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower hosted the first presidential new conference on network television. It aired on ABC.
In 2005, the Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. When this legislation became law on July 20, 2005, it legalized same-sex marriage in the country.

In 1887, Groundhog Day was first observed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

The tradition derives from a Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog or woodchuck emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow due to clear weather, the animal will retreat to its den to weather six more weeks of winter. Conversely, if it doesn’t see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early. The lore was brought from a German-speaking heritage where a badger is the prognosticator and may spring from a tradition where clear weather on the Christian holy day of Candlemas forbodes a prolonged winter.

There is no scientific basis for this superstition.

Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania houses the most famous weather-rodent in the world, named Punxsutawney Phil. Every year, top hat and tuxedo-clad members of the Inner Circle awaken Phil from his burrow on Gobbler’s Knob and “speak” to the groundhog through a “mystical” ancient acacia wood cane. The entire show depends on a light-hearted suspension of disbelief, including the mythology that Phil has lived to make these predictions since 1886, sustained by drinks of “groundhog punch” and “elixir of life”. In reality, groundhogs only live for about six years.

Other locations have similar celebrations and observations:

Quarryville, PA: The Slumbering Groundhog Lodge, which was formed in 1907, uses a stuffed woodchuck in their observation. It used to be a contending rival to Punxsutawney’s event.
Southeastern Pennsylvania: Several Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday with fersommlinge, Pennsylvania Dutch social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g’spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. Only the Pennsylvania German dialect is spoken at the event and those who speak English pay a small penalty per word spoken.
Sun Prairie, WI: The self-proclaimed “Groundhog Capital of the World” in response to a slight in a 1952 Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper article that described the location as a “remote two cow village buried somewhere in the wilderness.”
New York: Staten Island Chuck is the official weather-forecasting woodchuck for New York City, and Dunkirk Dave is the local groundhog for Western New York. Dunkirk Dave is handled by Bob Will, a typewriter repairman who runs a rescue shelter for groundhogs.
Raleigh, NC: Sir Walter Wally headlines the annual event at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Washington, D.C.: Potomac Phil, another stuffed critter, is the focus of the Dupont Circle Groundhog Day event.
Liliburn, GA: General Beauregard Lee makes predictions for Butts County.
Irving, TX: The University of Dallas has boasted of hosting the second largest Groundhog celebration in the world.
Alaska: Groundhog Day has been replaced by Marmot Day, a celebration of the creature and Alaskan culture.
Wiarton, Ontario has Wiarton Willie, Nova Scotia has Shubenacadie Sam (the first Groundhog Day prediction in North America), and Quebec has Fred la marmotte of Val-d’Espoir.
Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Samara, Russia all got in on the celebration as well in 2017.

Of course, the most popular representation of the celebration is 1993’s Groundhog Day, in which Bill Murray portrays a weatherman who visits Punxsutawney and ends up trapped in a time loop. The town was portrayed by Woodstock, Illinois in the film.

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 – February 1

February 1, 2020January 21, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 1, 2020
Day 32 of 366

February 1st is the thirty-second day of the year. It is celebrated as Imbolc, Imbolg, and Saint Brigid’s Day in Ireland and Scotland, as well as among certain neopagan groups. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals – joined with Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain – and marks the beginning of spring between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Baked Alaska Day, National Get Up Day, National Serpent Day, and National Texas Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1884, the first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary was published. It covered topics from A to Ant.
In 1893, Thomas Edison finished construction of the first motion picture studio. It was the Black Maria, located in West Orange, New Jersey.
In 1896, Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème premiered in Turin at the Teatro Regio.
In 1918, Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar.
In 1924, the United Kingdom recognized the USSR.
In 1942, Voice of America began broadcasting. It was the official external radio and television service of the United States government and broadcasted programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.
Also in 1942, actress Bibi Besch was born.
In 1946, Elisabeth Sladen was born. She portrayed the iconic Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who.
In 1954, actor Billy Mumy was born.
In 1960, four black students staged the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 1964, The Beatles had their first number one hit in the United States: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
In 1968, Canada’s three military services – the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army, and the Royal Canadian Air Force – were unified into the Canadian Forces.
In 1998, Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne became the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral in the United States Navy.
In 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during atmospheric reentry during mission STS-107, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It was not ratified by the states until later, but at this point, the signed resolution passed by Congress made slavery illegal within the United States.

Section 1
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Major Richard Robert Wright Sr, a former slave and the first African American to serve as a U.S. Army paymaster, believed that there should be a day to celebrate the freedoms of all Americans. He began to formulate this plan and in 1947, one year after his death, Congress passed a bill to make National Freedom Day on February 1st. The official holiday proclamation was signed into law on June 30, 1948, by President Harry Truman.

National Freedom Day was the forerunner to Black History Month.

A precursor to Black History Month was celebrated as early as 1926 when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History proclaimed the second week of February to be “Negro History Week”. This was chosen since it coincided with Abraham Lincoln’s and Frederick Douglass’s birthdays. The thought process boiled down to the concepts of recognition and importance, and while the first celebration was met with a lukewarm response, future celebrations generated a great deal of enthusiasm.

It prompted the creation of black history clubs, an increase in interest among teachers, and interest from progressive whites. It grew in popularity throughout the following decades, with mayors across the United States endorsing it as a holiday.

Black History Month was first proposed by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969, with the first celebration in the following year. Six years later, Black History Month was being celebrated all across the country in educational institutions, centers of Black culture and community centers. President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial in 1976.

In the Bicentennial year of our Independence, we can review with admiration the impressive contributions of black Americans to our national life and culture.

One hundred years ago, to help highlight these achievements, Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. We are grateful to him today for his initiative, and we are richer for the work of his organization.

Freedom and the recognition of individual rights are what our Revolution was all about. They were ideals that inspired our fight for Independence: ideals that we have been striving to live up to ever since. Yet it took many years before ideals became a reality for black citizens.

The last quarter-century has finally witnessed significant strides in the full integration of black people into every area of national life. In celebrating Black History Month, we can take satisfaction from this recent progress in the realization of the ideals envisioned by our Founding Fathers. But, even more than this, we can seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.

I urge my fellow citizens to join me in tribute to Black History Month and the message of courage and perseverance it brings to all of us.

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 – Star Wars: The Clone Wars

January 31, 2020September 26, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
January 31, 2020

This week, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is on my mind.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars fills in the gap between the last two installments of the prequel trilogy. I had a few issues with both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, but this series helped to smooth things a bit. It doesn’t make those two films perfect by any means, but it helps. It also gave me Ahsoka Tano, one of my favorite complex characters in the Star Wars mythos.

The show started with a theatrical release of the first few episodes in August 2008. On its own, that movie isn’t particularly good, but the series was phenomenal. It ran from 2008 to 2013 on Cartoon Network, then had a limited revival in 2014 on Netflix. Series supervising director Dave Filoni worked with George Lucas to understand the heart and soul of Star Wars, making this series one of the purest expressions of the franchise in the period between the prequel and sequel trilogies.

If you haven’t had the chance yet, I wholeheartedly recommend the series. If anything, start with the first season, then watch the theatrical movie before proceeding into the rest.

The show finally wraps up with the seventh season, which premieres on Disney+ on February 21, 2020.

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 – January 31

January 31, 2020January 17, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

January 31, 2020
Day 31 of 366

January 31st is the thirty-first day of the year. It is Independence Day in the Republic of Nauru, the island nation in Micronesia that gained independence from Australia in 1968.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Backward Day, National Hot Chocolate Day, Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, and National Big Wig Day. The last one is typically observed on the last Friday in January.

Historical items of note:

In 1846, after the Milwaukee Bridge War, the towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified to create the City of Milwaukee in Wisconsin.
In 1862, Alvan Graham Clark discovered the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius.
In 1865, the United States Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish slavery. It was ratified by the states that December.
In 1872, Western novelist Zane Grey was born.
In 1902, actress Tallulah Bankhead was born.
In 1919, Jackie Robinson was born. He was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball during the modern era.
In 1930, 3M began marketing Scotch Tape.
In 1934, writer Gene DeWeese was born.
In 1950, President Harry Truman announced plans to develop the hydrogen bomb.
In 1958, Explorer I, the first successful American satellite, detected the Van Allen radiation belt.
In 1960, comics writer and screenwriter Grant Morrison was born.
In 1971, the Apollo 14 mission launched. Over nine days, astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell successfully conducted scientific experiments and landed on the lunar surface.

In 1961, Ham the Chimp traveled into outer space on MR-2, part of Project Mercury. He was the first hominid to travel into space.

Ham’s name was an acronym for the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, the laboratory that prepped him for the mission, located at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. He was also named in honor of the laboratory commander, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton “Ham” Blackshear.

Ham was born in Cameroon (then known as French Cameroons) in 1957. He was trapped and sent to Florida where he was purchased by the United States Air Force. He ended up at Holloman in 1959. He was selected for the space mission out of a pool of 40 chimpanzees, and he was only known as “No. 65” until he successfully returned to Earth.

The big difference between Ham’s flight and other primate flights to that point was that Ham was not merely a passenger. His solo flight led directly to the Freedom 7 mission by Alan Shepard in 1961. Ham was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on January 31, 1961 and flew for 16 minutes and 39 seconds. The capsule experienced a partial loss of pressure, but Ham’s flight suit protected him. The only injury was a bruised nose.

Ham transitioned to the National Zoo in Washington, DC where he lived for 17 years. He then retired to the North Carolina Zoo where he died on January 19, 1983.

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 – January 30

January 30, 2020January 12, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

January 30, 2020
Day 30 of 366

January 30th is the thirtieth day of the year. It begins the commemoration of the Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi. Related observances include Martyrs’ Day in India, the School Day of Non-violence and Peace in Spain, and the start of the Season for Nonviolence which runs from January 30th to April 4th.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Croissant Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1648, the Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück was signed, ending the Eighty Years’ War between the Netherlands and Spain.
In 1703, the Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenged the death of their master by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
In 1835, the first assassination against a President of the United States was attempted. Richard Lawrence failed in his attempt to shoot President Andrew Jackson and was subdued by a crowd including several congressmen and the president himself. Lawrence was later found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the rest of his days in asylums.
In 1847, Yerba Buena, California was renamed San Francisco, California.
In 1862, the first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor was launched.
In 1882, Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and thirty-second President of the United States, was born.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
In 1937, actress Vanessa Redgrave was born.
In 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse.
In 1951, musician and Miami Vice staple Phil Collins was born.
In 1966, actress Daphne Ashbrook was born. She was a guest star on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and a Doctor Who companion.
In 1968, the Tet Offensive (The General Offensive and Uprising of Tet Mau Than 1968) was launched by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam and served to demoralize the United States forces and public.
In 1969, the Beatles staged their last public performance. It was held on the roof of Apple Records in London and was broken up by the police.
In 1972, British paratroopers opened fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland. Thirteen people died during the Bloody Sunday event, and another person died later from injuries sustained.
In 1974, actress Olivia Colman was born.
In 1975, the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary was established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.

In 1982, the first personal computer virus code was written. It was authored by Richard Skrenta, was 400 lines long, and was disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.

Elk Cloner spread using the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system using what is now known as a boot sector virus attack. It was attached to a game that, after the 50th time it was started, would blank out the screen and display a simple poem.

Elk Cloner: The program with a personality

It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes, it’s Cloner!

It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too

Send in the Cloner!

If the computer was booted from an infected floppy disk, the virus would be copied to the computer’s memory. When an uninfected disk was inserted into the drive, the entire operating system was cloned to the disk, ready for transmittal to the next unsuspecting victim.

Richard Skrenta was a known prankster and wrote the virus as a joke. The virus did not cause deliberate harm, but it did overwrite the reserved tracks of disks without standard images.

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 – January 29

January 29, 2020January 12, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

January 29, 2020
Day 29 of 366

January 29th is the twenty-ninth day of the year. It is locally celebrated as Kansas Day, commemorating the admission of the state to the country in 1861.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Puzzle Day and National Corn Chip Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1737, Thomas Paine was born. He was the author of Common Sense and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
In 1834, President Andrew Jackson ordered the first use of federal soldiers to suppress a labor dispute.
In 1845, “The Raven” was published in The Evening Mirror in New York. This marked the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe.
In 1860, Anton Chekhov was born. The Russian playwright and short story writer is known for Chekhov’s Gun, the dramatic principle that requires that every element in a narrative be necessary and irreplaceable and that everything else be removed.
In 1863, a detachment of California Volunteers led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor engaged the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory. The altercation resulted in the deaths of hundreds of men, women, and children. It would become known as the Bear River Massacre.
In 1886, Karl Benz patented the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
In 1907, Charles Curtis of Kansas became the first Native American U.S. Senator.
In 1940, actress and author Katharine Ross was born.
In 1945, Tom Selleck was born.
In 1959, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty premiered.
In 1964, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb premiered.
In 2006, a 39-cent stamp is released in the United States featuring Hattie McDaniel. She was depicted in the dress she wore in 1940 when she became the first African-American actress to accept an Academy Award.
In 2018, Black Panther premiered. Among several other accolades and records, it was the first superhero film to receive a Best Picture nomination and the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to win an Academy Award.

In 1980, the Rubik’s Cube made its international debut at the Ideal Toy Company in Earl’s Court, London.

The cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. After the 1980 sale to the Ideal Toy Company, it won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle.

The original cube had six faces, each covered by nine stickers. The stickers represented six solid colors – white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow – and early cubes didn’t have an established pattern so the position of each color varied from cube to cube. Modern versions have a standardized pattern – white is opposite yellow, blue is opposite green, and orange is opposite red, with the red, white, and blue arranged in that order in a clockwise arrangement – and have evolved from stickers to colored plastic panels to prevent peeling and fading.

In order to solve the puzzle, each of the cube faces must be a solid color. There are competitions and world records for various methods of solving the Rubik’s Cube, including speed-solving.

The cube was a cultural icon of the 1980s and still is popular to this day. It is the world’s top-selling puzzle game and best-selling toy.

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 – January 28

January 28, 2020January 12, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

January 28, 2020
Day 28 of 366

January 28th is the twenty-eighth day of the year. It is Data Privacy Day worldwide, an observation designed to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Blueberry Pancake Day, National Fun at Work Day, National Kazoo Day, and National Plan for Vacation Day. That last one is typically observed on the last Tuesday in January.

Historical items of note:

In 1573, the Articles of the Warsaw Confederation were signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
In 1813, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom. Zombies would be added 196 years later.
In 1855, a locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway ran from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
In 1878, the Yale Daily News was published, becoming the first daily college newspaper in the United States.
In 1922, the Knickerbocker Storm occurred in Washington, DC. It was so named when the immense snowfall caused the roof of the Knickerbocker Theater collapsed and caused the city’s largest loss of life.
In 1936, actor, writer, and director Alan Alda was born.
In 1956, Elvis Presley made his first nationally televised appearance.
In 1965, the current design of the Flag of Canada was chosen by an act of Parliament.
In 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger (mission STS-51-L) broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff. All seven astronauts on board were lost. I commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the disaster in this post.

In 1958, The Lego company patented the design of its famous bricks.

Lego was born in 1932 when Ole Kirk Christiansen of Billund, Denmark started making toys in his workshop. The company was named in 1934 based on the Danish phrase leg godt, which means “play well”. The company started making plastic toys in 1947 and two years later started into the interlocking bricks game with their Automatic Binding Bricks.

The interlocking bricks were based on the Self-Locking Bricks line from Kiddicraft, which had been patented in the United Kingdom in 1939 and released eight years later. Lego received a Kiddicraft sample from their injection-molding machine supplier.

By 1951, the plastic toys were around half of Lego’s output. By 1954, they were on the way to becoming a toy system after Christiansen’s son, Godtfred, talked to an overseas buyer in his role as junior managing director. The big catch was the fact that the bricks were limited in locking ability and versatility, so over the modern brick design was developed over the next five years. The ABS polymer design was patented in 1958 and is still compatible with bricks released today.

From there, the company continued innovating. They made the Duplo line in 1969, a design for younger children that basically doubled the dimensions of the standard Lego bricks. Minifigures were introduced in 1978 and became a highly-collectible staple of the toyline.

Lego’s popularity has reached many forms of popular culture including books, films, video games, and art. The system has also been used as a teaching tool for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. It also reached a major milestone in 1998 when it was one of the original inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York.

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 – January 27

January 27, 2020January 12, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

January 27, 2020
Day 27 of 366

January 27th is the twenty-seventh day of the year. It is the anniversary of the liberation of the remaining inmates at Auschwitz, including related commemorations.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Chocolate Cake Day and National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. The latter is typically observed on the last Monday of January.

Historical items of note:

In 1302, Dante Alighieri was exiled from Florence.
In 1606, the trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators began. It ended with their execution on January 31st.
In 1785, the University of Georgia was founded, becoming the first public university in the United States.
In 1820, the Antarctic continent was discovered by a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev.
In 1825, the path for the forced relocation of Native American tribes was cleared by the approval of the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. The relocation route became known as the “Trail of Tears”.
In 1832, English novelist, poet, and mathematician Lewis Carroll was born.
In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his incandescent lamp.
In 1900, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the Father of the Nuclear Navy, was born.
In 1908, American journalist and publisher William Randolph Hearst, Jr. was born.
In 1921, actress Donna Reed was born.
In 1939, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning took flight for the first time.
In 1940, actor James Cromwell was born.
In 1943, the Eighth Air Force sortied ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-boat construction yards at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. This marked the first American bombing attack on Germany.
In 1944, the 900-day Siege of Leningrad was lifted.
In 1956, actress Mimi Rogers was born.
In 1957, illustrator, director, producer, and screenwriter Frank Miller was born.
In 1965, actor Alan Cumming was born.
In 1967, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in the Apollo 1 fire at Kennedy Space Center. I commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of this tragedy in this post.
Also in 1967, the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom signed the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C. This banned deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limited use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.
In 1970, the American movie rating system modified the “M” rating to “PG”.
In 1973, the Paris Peace Accords officially ended the Vietnam War.
In 1976, Laverne and Shirley premiered on ABC.
In 1979, actress Rosamund Pike was born.
In 2003, the first selections for the National Recording Registry were announced by the Library of Congress.

In 1945, the Soviet 322nd Rifle Division liberated the remaining inmates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Auschwitz-Birkenau was a component of the larger Auschwitz complex that contained over 40 concentration and extermination camps during World War II. During the Nazi regime, the Auschwitz complex housed 1.3 million prisoners and murdered 1.1 million of them in the Holocaust.

At the time of the 1945 liberation, 7,500 prisoners and over 600 corpses we found. A collection of items were also found, including 837,000 women’s garments, 370,000 men’s suits, 44,000 pairs of shoes, and 7,000 kg of human hair. The Soviet war crimes commission estimated that these items belonged to 140,000 people.

Primo Levi, an Italian Jewish chemist who was in captivity during the liberation, noted the mood:

They did not greet us, nor did they smile; they seemed oppressed not only by compassion but by a confused restraint, which sealed their lips and bound their eyes to the funereal scene. It was that shame we knew so well, the shame that drowned us after the selections, and every time we had to watch, or submit to, some outrage: the shame the Germans did not know, that the just man experiences at another man’s crime; the feeling of guilt that such a crime should exist, that it should have been introduced irrevocably into the world of things that exist, and that his will for good should have proved too weak or null, and should not have availed in defence.

During the four years of the Holocaust (1941-1945), 6 million Jews and 11 million other victims of persecution were murdered by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

To commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the tragedy of the Holocaust, the day was designated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on November 1, 2005 during the 42nd plenary session. The resolution came after a special session was held on January 24th to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation.

Countries around the world also observe Holocaust memorial days on different days.

The intent is to both remember those who were massacred as well as educating future generations of the horrors of the Holocaust.

To reject, in whole or in part, any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event.

To condemn religious intolerance, incitement, harassment, or violence based on ethnicity or religious belief no matter where they occur.

To paraphrase Resolution 60/7: To honor the courage and dedication shown by the soldiers who liberated the concentration camps and reaffirm that the murder of one-third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice.

In two words: Never again.

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 – January 26

January 26, 2020January 7, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

January 26, 2020
Day 26 of 366

January 26th is the twenty-sixth day of the year. It is Australia Day in Australia, marking the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the British First Fleet Port Jackson, New South Wales. It also commemorates the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove by Governor Arthur Phillip.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Peanut Brittle Day, National Green Juice Day, and National Spouses Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1564, the Council of Trent established an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
In 1837, Michigan was admitted as the twenty-sixth U.S. state.
In 1880, American general and Medal of Honor recipient Douglas MacArthur was born.
In 1911, Glenn Curtiss flew the first successful American seaplane.
In 1915, the Rocky Mountain National Park was established by the United States Congress.
In 1918, science fiction author Philip José Farmer was born.
In 1946, film critic and journalist Gene Siskel was born.
In 1954, groundbreaking commenced at the Disneyland park.
In 1955, guitarist and songwriter Eddie Van Halen was born.
In 1958, comedian and actress Ellen DeGeneres was born.
In 1961, John F. Kennedy appointed Janet G. Travell as Physician to the President, the first woman to hold the position.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton, on American television, denied having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In 1979, The Dukes of Hazzard premiered on CBS. Running for seven seasons from 1979 to 1985, the show was inspired by (and mostly lifted from) the 1975 action comedy Moonrunners.

Both the film and television series were narrated by The Balladeer, played by Waylon Jennings. They focused on the antics and adventures of two cousins – Bo and Luke Duke in the series, Bobby Lee and Grady in the film – who are being raised by their Uncle Jesse, the widowed, overall-clad moonshiner patriarch of the backwoods Southern family.

The county boss – Hogg in the series, Jake Rainey in the film – maintains a stranglehold on the area and bribes local sheriff Roscoe Coltrane. Duke cousin Daisy, whose trademark shorts became an icon of the decade, was unique to the series.

The big icon from the series was The General Lee, an orange 1969 Dodge Charger with the Confederate Battle Flag painted on the roof, which the Duke boys used to run moonshine and escape the reach of the law. An estimated 309 Chargers were used during the course of the show.

In Moonrunners, the car was named Traveller after General Lee’s horse. The car became a major source of controversy due to the Confederate flag, resulting in the series being pulled from syndication in 2015. Merchandise based on the series was also frozen as a result.

(I considered this a bit of an overreach given how the series, more often than not, innocently parodied the stereotypes of the deep American South rather than celebrated the culture’s legacy.)

The big controversy in the show was the introduction of Coy and Vance Duke in the fifth season. The show was consistently among the top-rated shows on the air, second only to the Dallas juggernaut at one point. With that success came huge profits in merchandising, prompting stars Tom Wopat and John Schneider to be concerned over royalties and their salaries. In the spring of 1982, with no resolution in sight, Wopat and Schneider refused to report to work. After significant delays, their positions were hastily replaced by Coy and Vance with the excuse that Bo and Luke had joined the NASCAR circuit. Ratings plummeted, Warner Bros. renegotiated, and the original Duke boys returned at the end of the season.

Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke) considered leaving the show in solidarity, but Wopat and Schneider convinced her to stay in order to keep the show alive in their absence.

The show had two made-for-TV reunion movies (1997’s The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! and 2000’s The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood), two spinoff series (Enos and The Dukes), and at least four video games.

An attempt was made to revive the franchise in the early 2000s with a theatrical film starring Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, and Jessica Simpson. A direct-to-video prequel followed but flopped, killing the revival.

This show was a large part of my childhood, standing alongside car-centric series like Knight Rider, The A-Team, and The Fall Guy. Despite the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag, the series maintains a cult following among fans.

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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