Category: Criticality

The Thing About Today – July 13

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 13, 2020
Day 195 of 366

 

July 13th is the 195th day of the year. It is Statehood Day in Montenegro, commemorating the day in 1878 on which the Berlin Congress recognized Montenegro as the twenty-seventh independent state in the world.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National French Fry Day, National Beans ‘N’ Franks Day, and National Delaware Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1793, journalist and French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat was assassinated in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, a member of the opposing political faction.
  • In 1814, the Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie of Italy, was established.
  • In 1863, The New York City draft riots began. Opponents of conscription began three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.
  • In 1919, the British airship R34 landed in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.
  • In 1923, the Hollywood Sign was officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It originally read “Hollywoodland” but the four last letters were dropped after renovation in 1949.
  • In 1926, director, producer, and production manager Robert H. Justman was born. He worked on many American TV series including Lassie, The Life of Riley, Adventures of Superman, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Then Came Bronson.
  • In 1940, English actor, director, activist, and producer Patrick Stewart was born.
  • In 1942, actor and producer Harrison Ford was born.
  • In 1951, actress and singer Didi Conn was born.
  • In 1956, the Dartmouth workshop commenced, being the first conference on artificial intelligence.
  • In 1977, New York City, amidst a period of financial and social turmoil, experienced an electrical blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that led to widespread fires and looting.
  • Also in 1977, actress Ashley Scott was born.

 

In 1985, the Live Aid benefit concert took place.

Live Aid was a benefit concert that became an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for the relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. This “global jukebox” event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, England (attended by about 72,000 people) and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (attended by exactly 89,484 people).

On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative were held in other countries, such as the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Yugoslavia, Austria, Australia, and West Germany. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time, with an estimated audience of 1.9 billion across 150 nations who watched the live broadcast.

When organizer Bob Geldof was persuading artists to take part in the concert, he promised them that it would be a one-off event and would never be seen again. Therefore, the concert was never recorded in its complete original form and only secondary television broadcasts were recorded. ABC erased its own broadcast tapes, but copies were donated to the Smithsonian Institution before being presumed lost. MTV decided to keep recordings of its broadcast, but many songs in these tapes were cut short by MTV’s ad breaks and presenters.

An official four-disc DVD set of the Live Aid concerts was released in November 2004, using BBC video sources. Videos from the 1985 event can be found on the YouTube Live Aid channel.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 12

Michael Falkner1 Comment

July 12, 2020
Day 194 of 366

 

July 12th is the 194th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Kiribati (which separated from the United Kingdom in 1979) and São Tomé and Príncipe (which separated from Portugal in 1975).

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Simplicity Day, National Different Colored Eyes Day National Pecan Pie Day, Paper Bag Day, and Eat Your Jello Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 100 BC, Roman politician and general Julius Caesar was born.
  • In 1493, Hartmann Schedel’s Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the best-documented early printed books, was published.
  • In 1817, essayist, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau was born.
  • In 1854, George Eastman was born. He founded the Eastman Kodak company.
  • In 1862, the Medal of Honor was authorized by the United States Congress.
  • In 1895, architect and engineer Buckminster Fuller was born. He designed the Montreal Biosphère and published more than 30 books, coining or popularizing terms such as “Spaceship Earth”, “Dymaxion” (applied to a house, car, and map), ephemeralization, synergetic, and “tensegrity”. Since he popularized the widely known geodesic dome, the carbon molecules known as fullerenes were named in his honor for their structural and mathematical resemblance to geodesic spheres.
  • Also in 1895, director, producer, and songwriter Oscar Hammerstein II was born.
  • In 1943, German Wehrmacht and Soviet forces engaged in one of the largest armored engagements of all time, known as the Battle of Prokhorovka.
  • In 1951, actress Cheryl Ladd was born.
  • In 1957, astronaut Rick Husband was born. He was the commander of Space Shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated upon re-entry during mission STS-107.
  • In 1971, the Australian Aboriginal Flag was flown for the first time.

 

July 12th is The Twelfth, also known as the Glorious Twelfth or Orangemen’s Day, an Ulster Protestant celebration that celebrates the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. As noted yesterday, this began the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland.

The event is celebrated with large parades held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands, and streets are bedecked with British flags and bunting while large towering bonfires are lit. The Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Ulster and is a public holiday in Northern Ireland. The Twelfth involves thousands of participants and spectators.

In Ulster, where about half the population is from a Protestant background and half from a Catholic background, the Twelfth has been accompanied by violence since its inception. Many see the Orange Order and its marches as sectarian, triumphalist, and supremacist, as well as a politically unionist and loyalist organization. This violence related to The Twelfth in Northern Ireland worsened during the 30-year ethno-political conflict known as the Troubles.

This violence is often downplayed as the event is presented as a family-friendly cultural event open to tourists, though small factions still tend to stir up trouble.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 11

Michael Falkner1 Comment

July 11, 2020
Day 193 of 366

 

July 11th is the 193rd day of the year. It is Eleventh Night in Northern Ireland, the night before the Twelfth of July, a yearly Ulster Protestant celebration. Large bonfires are lit to celebrate the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, which began the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland.

It’s also Free Slurpee Day and National 7-Eleven Day at participating 7-Eleven stores in North America. Get yourself some free frozen sugar water!

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Cheer Up The Lonely Day, National Rainier Cherry Day, National Blueberry Muffin Day, All American Pet Photo Day, and National Mojito Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1274, Scottish king Robert the Bruce was born.
  • In 1302, the Battle of the Golden Spurs – Guldensporenslag in Dutch – in which a coalition around the Flemish cities defeated King Philip IV of France’s royal army. It is commemorated annually as Feestdag van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, or the Day of the Flemish Community of Belgium.
  • In 1405, Ming admiral Zheng He set sail to explore the world for the first time. His seven maritime expeditions, the Ming treasure voyages, took place between 1405 and 1433.
  • In 1798, the United States Marine Corps was re-established after having been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.
  • In 1801, French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons made his first comet discovery. Over the next 27 years, he discovered another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
  • In 1804, Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
  • In 1893, the first cultured pearl was obtained by Japanese entrepreneur Kōkichi Mikimoto.
  • In 1895, brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrated movie film technology to scientists.
  • In 1899, essayist and journalist E. B. White was born. He was the author of several highly popular books for children, including Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte’s Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970), as well as a co-author of The Elements of Style, an English language style guide.
  • In 1919, the eight-hour day and free Sunday became law for workers in the Netherlands.
  • In 1920, Russian actor and dancer Yul Brynner was born.
  • In 1921, former President of the United States William Howard Taft was sworn in as 10th chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.
  • In 1950, actor Bruce McGill was born.
  • In 1956, actress Sela Ward was born.
  • In 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was first published in the United States.
  • In 1962, the first transatlantic satellite television transmission took place.
  • In 1966, actor Greg Grunberg was born.
  • In 1973, Varig Flight 820 crashed near Paris, France on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 of the 134 onboard. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration banned smoking in airplane lavatories.
  • In 1977, Martin Luther King, Jr. was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  • In 1979, America’s first space station, Skylab, was destroyed as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.

 

July 11th is World Population Day. Established by the United Nations, it’s a day that seeks to raise awareness of population issues, such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, and human rights.

It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, the approximate date on which the world’s population reached five billion people. While press interest and general awareness in the global population surges only at the increments of whole billions of people, the world population increases annually by 100 million approximately every 14 months.

On January 1st, it was estimated at 7,621,019,000 people. Today it is approximately 7,797,200,000. It is estimated that the world population reached one billion for the first time in 1804. 123 years later, in 1927, it reached two billion, but it took only 33 years to reach three billion in 1960. Thereafter, it reached four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, six billion in 1999, and, according to the United States Census Bureau, seven billion in March 2012.

The United Nations, however, estimated that the world population reached seven billion in October 2011.

According to current projections, the global population will reach eight billion by 2024, and is likely to reach around nine billion by 2042.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 10

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 10, 2020
Day 192 of 366

 

July 10th is the 192nd day of the year. It is Independence Day in the Bahamas, commemorating their separation from the United Kingdom in 1973.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Clerihew Day, National Kitten Day, National Piña Colada Day, and Collector Car Appreciation Day (which changes annually).

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 988, the Norse King Glúniairn recognized Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, High King of Ireland, and agreed to pay taxes and accept Brehon Law. This is considered to be the founding of the city of Dublin.
  • In 1553, Lady Jane Grey took the throne of England.
  • In 1895, German composer and educator Carl Orff was born.
  • In 1913, the temperature in Death Valley, California, hit 134 °F (57 °C). It is the highest verified temperature ever to be recorded on Earth.
  • In 1920, journalist David Brinkley was born.
  • In 1925, the so-called “Monkey Trial” began in Dayton, Tennessee against John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
  • In 1926, actor Fred Gwynne was born.
  • In 1943, tennis player and journalist Arthur Ashe was born. In the early 1980s, he is believed to have contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery. He worked to educate the public about HIV and AIDS, and he founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health before his death from AIDS-related pneumonia at the age of 49 on February 6, 1993.
  • In 1945, actor Ron Glass was born.
  • In 1962, Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, was launched into orbit.
  • In 1966, the Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., held a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago. As many as 60,000 people attended.
  • In 1970, actor John Simm was born.
  • In 1977, actor Chiwetel Ejiofor was born.
  • In 1978, ABC World News Tonight premiered on ABC in the United States. Anchor Max Robinson was the first black anchorman on a network newscast in the country.
  • In 1980, singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer Jessica Simpson was born.

 

In 1856, Nikola Tesla was born.

The Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. He’s also a fixture in science fiction, both in the historical and alternate history subgenres.

There is so much to talk about in Nikola Tesla’s life and it’s impossible to cover it all here. I wholeheartedly recommend doing some reading about his life and accomplishments.

His birthday is unofficially celebrated as Tesla Day.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 9

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 9, 2020
Day 191 of 366

 

July 9th is the 191st day of the year. It is Constitution Day in both Australia and Palau, and it is Independence Day in both Argentina (from Spain as the United Provinces of South America by the Congress of Tucumán in 1816) and South Sudan (from Sudan in 2011).

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Sugar Cookie Day. My “cyber-mom” Janis is going to love this one.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1609, Bohemia was granted freedom of religion through the Letter of Majesty by the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II.
  • In 1755, the Braddock Expedition was soundly defeated in the Battle of the Monongahela by a smaller French and Native American force. This was in Braddock’s attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh.
  • In 1762, Catherine the Great became Empress of Russia following the coup against her husband, Peter III.
  • In 1776, General George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepared for the Battle of Long Island.
  • In 1793, the Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada banned the importation of slaves. It also freed those who are born into slavery after the passage of the Act at 25 years of age.
  • In 1850, United States President Zachary Taylor died after eating raw fruit and iced milk. Having served only sixteen months as the twelfth President of the United States, he was succeeded in office by Vice President Millard Fillmore.
  • In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing African Americans (on paper, at any rate) full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.
  • In 1937, the silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation were destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.
  • In 1938, actor Brian Dennehy was born.
  • In 1945, author and screenwriter Dean Koontz was born.
  • In 1955, actor and producer Jimmy Smits was born.
  • In 1956, Dick Clark made his first appearance as host of American Bandstand.
  • Also in 1956, actor Tom Hanks was born.
  • In 1957, actress Kelly McGillis was born.
  • In 1976, actor, director, and producer Fred Savage was born.
  • In 1978, actress Linda Park was born.

 

In 1993, the Parliament of Canada passed the Nunavut Act. This led to the creation of Nunavut in 1999, which divided the Northwest Territories into arctic (Inuit) and sub-arctic (Dene) lands based on a plebiscite (essentially, a referendum).

In 2000, “Nunavut Day” was celebrated on April 1, the day that Nunavut became a legally distinct territory. However, the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement had greater significance to the people of Nunavut, so the holiday was moved to July 9 the following year.

Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada and most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world, as well as North America’s second-largest after Greenland. The capital Iqaluit (formerly “Frobisher Bay”), on Baffin Island in the east, was chosen by the 1995 capital plebiscite. Other major communities include the regional centers of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay.

Nunavut also includes Ellesmere Island to the far north, as well as the eastern and southern portions of Victoria Island in the west, and all islands in Hudson, James, and Ungava Bays, including Akimiski Island far to the southeast of the rest of the territory. It is Canada’s only geo-political region that is not connected to the rest of North America by a highway.

Nunavut is the second-least populous of Canada’s provinces and territories and is home to the world’s northernmost permanently inhabited place, Alert.

 

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 #SJA12: Enemy of the Bane

Michael Falkner13 Comments

Sarah Jane Adventures: Enemy of the Bane
(2 episodes, s02e06, 2008)

 

Double the trouble.

Rani’s mother Gita is working late on a special floral commission. Her mysterious client turns out to be Mrs. Wormwood, who ends up paralyzing Gita in an attempt to draw out Sarah Jane Smith. On Bannerman Road, Luke has been having nightmares about Mrs. Wormwood and his origins.

Sarah Jane consoles Luke about his nightmares, though he counters that he’s never dreamed before. They’re interrupted by Rani and news of Gita’s disappearance, which Sarah Jane decides to investigate despite zero evidence of alien interference. Luke, Clyde, and Sarah Jane visit the flower store and find Mrs. Wormwood’s check, an intentional clue that they take for Mr. Smith to analyze.

The supercomputer unravels an address masked in the check’s account and routing numbers. Sarah Jane leaves to investigate, reluctantly taking Rani with her and providing a history lesson for the teenager. Once they arrive, they find Gita and Mrs. Wormwood. The former Bane operative has extensive knowledge of the Bannerman Road adventures, and she asks for Sarah Jane’s help. Mrs. Wormwood took responsibility for the Bane’s previous failure and they’re hunting her.

The Bane attack and the group runs away, Mrs. Wormwood defending them with her phonic disruptor. Sarah Jane is briefly captured, but Mrs. Wormwood saves her life before they all escape to Bannerman Road. Gita recovers and Rani takes her home. Sarah Jane brings Mrs. Wormwood to her home, shocking Luke and Clyde.

In the attic, Sarah Jane asks Mr. Smith to watch the Bane operative while she explains herself. Mrs. Wormwood tells a tale of an ancient immortal, Horath, that tried to take over the galaxy but was defeated three thousand years ago. Unable to destroy him, Horath’s captors separated his body and consciousness and placed them at opposite ends of the galaxy. The Bane have located Horath’s consciousness, but to find the body, the team needs to find the Tunguska Scroll.

That artifact is located in UNIT’s Black Archive, a secure storehouse of dangerous alien artifacts.

Sarah Jane confines Mrs. Wormwood to a containment field before making contact with an old friend: Retired Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Sarah Jane and Rani ask the Brig if he can help them break into the Black Archive. He drives the women to the Black Archive and is intercepted by his UNIT liaison. Once he ditches the major, he gives Rani and Sarah Jane access while he stands watch. In short order, they make a Tooth and Claw joke, steal the scroll, and make a hasty escape despite tripping the alarms.

Clyde remains behind to keep Luke away from Mrs. Wormwood, but Luke’s temptation is too strong. He talks to her about his origins and his social isolation. The Bane attack the house and Luke sets Mrs. Wormwood free so they can escape. The boys are separated from Mrs. Wormwood, and she makes contact with Commander Kaagh. The Sontaran has Horath’s consciousness, and Mrs. Wormwood is overjoyed that her revenge against Sarah Jane Smith is at hand.

Luke and Clyde are surrounded by Bane. To Kaagh’s surprise, Mrs. Wormwood recharges her disruptor and blows the two attackers into goo just as Sarah Jane, Rani, and the Brig arrive. The entire lot takes refuge from UNIT in Gita’s flower shop and Luke’s two mother figures have a small heart-to-heart before tensions rise again.

Mrs. Wormwood summons Kaagh. The Sontaran destroys the sonic lipstick and Sarah Jane deduces that he is holding the consciousness. Mrs. Wormwood takes the scroll, threatening to kill all of them to get it. She also coerces Luke into joining them, using him as leverage to prevent Sarah Jane from interfering. Mrs. Wormwood knocks all of them out with her disruptor before leaving.

Mrs. Wormwood, Kaagh, and Luke arrive at yet another factory – this one shelters the Sontaran’s space pod – and activate the scroll with the consciousness. Mrs. Wormwood reveals that Horath is a cybernetic intelligence instead of a biological being, and suggests that Luke’s intelligence could make him a superior leader of the galaxy. Luke ignores the offer and swipes the scroll, getting only a short distance before being stopped. Kaagh nearly shoots him, but Mrs. Wormwood assumes her Bane form and steps in front of the Sontaran’s gun and stuns the soldier into submission.

Meanwhile, Major Kilburne snoops around Bannerman Road, posing as Sarah Jane’s nephew. The Bannerman Road gang arrives home and attempt to locate Luke and the villains, only to be ambushed by the major. The Brig uses a weapon in his cane to stun the officer, who is now revealed as a Bane agent. Sarah Jane and Clyde use Mr. Smith to track the Bane to a stone circle in Whitebarrow, and they borrow Gita’s van to drive there.

When Mrs. Wormwood and Kaagh arrive at the stone circle, they find it guarded by a force field that blocks offworlders from crossing into it. Mrs. Wormwood uses Luke to breach the perimeter and place the scroll at the heart of the circle. The portal to Horath begins to open, and Mrs. Wormwood attacks Kaagh before offering Luke unlimited power at her side.

The Bannerman Road Gang arrives as the portal opens. Clyde tends to Kaagh as Luke rejects Mrs. Wormwood. As Mrs. Wormwood turns on Sarah Jane and her friends, Kaagh asks Clyde for help to regain his honor. The Sontaran rushes the Bane, plunging them both into the portal as it closes, trapping them. Sarah Jane pulls her spare sonic lipstick and destroys the scroll, ending the threat.

Back at Bannerman Road, the team reflects on how amazing the universe can be as they bid farewell to the Brigadier, once again united as a family.

 

In one fell swoop, this finale knocks out two major SJA villains, reinforces the major theme of the show, and swings around mythology by bringing back a long-time favorite and adding a major component that will come back in a few years time.

The return of Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was beautiful and is a great capstone to his forty-year legacy in Doctor Who, from The Web of Fear to Battlefield. Before this episode, it had been nineteen years since his last appearance, and this one is special because it is Nicholas Courtney’s final televised appearance in the role. He died in 2011, roughly two years after this story.

His views on UNIT say a lot about the evolution of the organization, as well as the views on the military and human rights between the 1970s and the early 2000s. Remember, good science fiction serves as a lens on the human condition, and Doctor Who is one of the best in that regard.

 

Rating: 4/5 – “Would you care for a jelly baby?”

 

Keeping in mind that the Timestamps Project is following the franchise chronologically at this point…

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Next Doctor

 

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 8

Michael Falkner1 Comment

July 8, 2020
Day 190 of 366

 

July 8th is the 190th day of the year. It is Air Force and Air Defense Forces Day in Ukraine.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Freezer Pop Day and National Chocolate with Almonds Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1776, church bells (and possibly the Liberty Bell) were rung after John Nixon delivered the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
  • In 1831, John Pemberton, the chemist and pharmacist who invented Coca-Cola, was born.
  • In 1889, the first issue of The Wall Street Journal was published.
  • In 1932, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.
  • In 1947, reports were broadcast that a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico. This would become known as the Roswell UFO incident.
  • In 1948, the United States Air Force accepted its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).
  • In 1951, actress and director Anjelica Houston was born.
  • In 1958, actor and musician Kevin Bacon was born. Everyone’s connected to him somehow.
  • In 1959, actor Robert Knepper was born. He’s been in everything.
  • In 1970, Richard Nixon delivered a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official United States Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
  • In 2010, Inception premiered.

 

In 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched in STS-135, the final mission of the United States Space Shuttle program.

The mission’s primary cargo was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello and a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC), which were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight of Raffaello marked the only time that Atlantis carried an MPLM. The four-person crew, consisting of Christopher Ferguson, Douglas G. Hurley, Sandra Magnus, and Rex J. Walheim, was the smallest of any shuttle mission since STS-6 in April 1983.

The shuttle returned to Earth on July 21, 2011, marking the end of the Space Shuttle program.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 7

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 7, 2020
Day 189 of 366

 

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

 

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

 

Historical items of note:

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

 

July 7th is Saba Saba Day.

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

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

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

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 6

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 6, 2020
Day 188 of 366

 

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

 

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

 

Historical items of note:

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – July 5

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

July 5, 2020
Day 187 of 366

 

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

 

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

 

Historical items of note:

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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