The Thing About Today – November 14

November 14, 2020November 7, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 14, 2020
Day 319 of 366

November 14th is the 319th day of the year. In Colombia, it is the Day of the Colombian Woman in honor of the anniversary of the death of national heroine Policarpa Salavarrieta. Also known as “La Pola”, she was a Neogranadine seamstress who spied for the Revolutionary Forces during the Spanish Reconquista of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. She was captured by Spanish Royalists and ultimately executed for high treason, but is considered a hero of Colombian independence.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Seat Belt Day, National Family PJ Day, National Pickle Day, and National Spicy Guacamole Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1770, James Bruce discovered what he believed to be the source of the Nile.
In 1840, French painter Claude Monet was born.
In 1851, Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, was published in the United States.
In 1886, Friedrich Soennecken first developed the hole puncher, a type of office tool capable of punching small holes in paper.
In 1889, pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (the nom de plume of Elizabeth Cochrane) began a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completed the trip in 72 days.
In 1900, composer, conductor, and educator Aaron Copeland was born.
In 1907, author, illustrator, and sculptor William Stieg was born. He created Shrek!, which inspired the film series of the same name.
In 1910, aviator Eugene Burton Ely performed the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia, taking off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham (CS-2/CL-2) in a Curtiss pusher.
In 1920, Mary Greyeyes was born. She was the first First Nations woman to join the Canadian Armed Forces.
In 1922, the British Broadcasting Company began radio service in the United Kingdom.
In 1927, actor and screenwriter McLean Stevenson was born.
In 1933, astronaut Fred Haise was born.
In 1954, Greek-American pianist, composer, and producer Yanni was born.
In 1959, actor Paul McGann was born. He portrayed the Eighth Doctor on Doctor Who.
In 1960, Ruby Bridges became the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana.
In 1962, actress Laura San Giacomo was born.
In 1967, physicist Theodore Maiman was given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world’s first laser.
In 1969, NASA launched Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon. It was crewed by astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr., and Alan L. Bean.
In 1971, Mariner 9 entered orbit around Mars.
In 1979, Ukrainian-French model and actress Olga Kurylenko was born.
In 1988, Murphy Brown premiered on television.
In 1997, Disney’s Lion King set a Broadway record of $2,700,000 in daily sales.
In 2003, astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz discovered 90377 Sedna, a Trans-Neptunian object.
In 2006, the twenty-first James Bond film, Casino Royale, premiered in London.
In 2016, Disney’s Moana premiered.

November 14th is World Diabetes Day, a global awareness campaign focusing on diabetes mellitus.

Led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), each World Diabetes Day focuses on a theme related to diabetes. Type-2 diabetes is a largely preventable and treatable non-communicable disease that is rapidly increasing in numbers worldwide. Type 1 diabetes is not preventable but can be managed with insulin injections.

While the campaigns last the whole year, the day itself marks the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best and John James Rickard Macleod, first conceived the idea which led to the discovery of insulin in 1922.

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

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

The Thing About Today – November 13

November 13, 2020November 7, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 13, 2020
Day 318 of 366

November 13th is the 318th day of the year. It is Sadie Hawkins Day in the United States, a folk event and pseudo-holiday originated by Al Capp’s classic hillbilly comic strip Li’l Abner. The comic strip inspired real-world Sadie Hawkins events, which are based on the premise that women ask men for a date or dancing.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Indian Pudding Day and World Kindness Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1841, James Braid first witnessed a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually called hypnotism.
In 1850, Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist Robert Lewis Stevenson was born.
In 1851, the Denny Party landed at Alki Point before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle.
In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.
In 1940, Walt Disney’s animated musical film Fantasia was first released on the first night of a roadshow at New York’s Broadway Theatre.
In 1948, actor John de Lancie was born.
In 1953, actress Tracy Scoggins was born.
In 1955, actress, comedian, and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg was born.
In 1956, the Supreme Court of the United States declared Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery bus boycott.
In 1969, Scottish actor Gerard Butler was born.
In 1971, actor Noah Hathaway was born.
In 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murdered his entire family in Amityville, Long Island in the house that would become known as The Amityville Horror.
In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans.
In 1995, the seventeenth James Bond film, Goldeneye, was released.
In 2013, Hawaii legalized same sex marriage.

November 13th is World Kindness Day.

World Kindness Day was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of nations’ kindness NGOs. It is observed in many countries, including Canada, Australia, Nigeria and United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Notably, Singapore, Italy, and India also observe the day.

The purpose of World Kindness Day is to highlight good deeds in the community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness which binds us. Kindness is a fundamental part of the human condition which bridges the divides of race, religion, politics, gender and zip codes.

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

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

The Thing About Today – November 12

November 12, 2020November 6, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 12, 2020
Day 317 of 366

November 12th is the 317th day of the year. It is both Father’s Day and National Health Day in Indonesia.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National French Dip Day, National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day, and National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1439, Plymouth became the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
In 1912, the frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
In 1918, Austria became a republic. After the proclamation, a coup attempt by the communist Red Guard was defeated by the social-democratic Volkswehr.
In 1929, actress Grace Kelly was born. She was later known Princess Grace of Monaco.
In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic in California.
In 1943, actor, comedian and playwright Wallace Shawn was born.
In 1946, Walt Disney’s Song of the South premiered at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. Actor James Baskett was unable to attend the film’s premiere because he would not have been allowed to participate in any of the festivities. At that time, Atlanta was still a racially segregated city.
In 1954, Ellis Island ceased operations.
In 1956, comedian Rhonda Shear was born.
In 1958, actress Megan Mullally was born.
In 1969, independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story of the My Lai Massacre.
In 1970, the Oregon Highway Division attempted to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous “exploding whale” incident.
In 1980, the NASA space probe Voyager I made its closest approach to Saturn and took the first images of its rings.
Also in 1980, Canadian actor, producer and singer Ryan Gosling was born.
In 1981, mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marked the first time a manned spacecraft was launched into space twice.
In 1982, actress Anne Hathaway was born.
In 2014, the Philae lander, deployed from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe, reached the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
In 2019, the Walt Disney Company launched Disney+, their exclusive streaming service.

November 12th is World Pneumonia Day.

World Pneumonia Day provides an annual forum for the world to stand together and demand action in the fight against pneumonia. Pneumonia is a preventable and treatable disease that sickens 155 million children under 5 and kills 1.6 million each year. It is the top killer of children under 5, claiming more lives in this age group than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. Yet most people are unaware of pneumonia’s overwhelming death toll. Because of this, pneumonia has been overshadowed as a priority on the global health agenda, and rarely receives coverage in the news media.

World Pneumonia Day helps to bring this health crisis to the public’s attention and encourages policy makers and grassroots organizers alike to combat the disease.

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: Sarah Jane Adventures Series Three Summary

November 11, 2020November 2, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Sarah Jane Adventures: Series Three Summary

Series Three slid down a notch.

The series started strong with Prisoner of the Judoon and had a high note with The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, but the rest of the series seemed to hit a middle of the road status quo in a year packed with Doctor Who universe productions.

It makes sense that something had to give. The main show was concerned with wrapping up David Tennant’s run as the Tenth Doctor and introducing his replacement. Meanwhile, Torchwood was running full steam with a well-received series in what might be considered the golden age of the modern era.

On the other hand, if something had to give in terms of quality, this show was a good choice. The core audience was children and the standards for that demographic are typically lower. It’s just a shame considering how high the quality had been for two series preceding.

Series Three comes in at an average of 3.3. That’s the lowest so far for The Sarah Jane Adventures. In comparison to Doctor Who, that’s on par with classic seasons Six, Fifteen, Seventeen, and Twenty, ranked in a four-way tie at twelfth overall.

Prisoner of the Judoon – 4
The Mad Woman in the Attic – 3
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith – 5
The Eternity Trap – 3
Mona Lisa’s Revenge – 2
The Gift – 3

Sarah Jane Adventures Series Three Average Rating: 3.3/5

The Timestamps Project is still proceeding in airdate order, so we’ll finish off the David Tennant era next with Dreamland and The End of Time, then move into the Eleventh Doctor’s era with Series Five, the fourth series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, and then the sixth series of Doctor Who.

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: Dreamland

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 – November 11

November 11, 2020November 5, 2020 Michael Falkner1 Comment

November 11, 2020
Day 316 of 366

November 11th is the 316th day of the year. It is Lāčplēsis Day, a memorial day for soldiers who fought for the independence of Latvia. It marks the victory over the West Russian Volunteer Army, a joint Russian-German volunteer force led by the warlord Pavel Bermondt-Avalov, at the 1919 Battle of Riga during the Latvian War of Independence.

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

Historical items of note:

In 1572, Tycho Brahe observed the supernova SN 1572.
In 1620, the Mayflower Compact was signed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod.
In 1675, Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = ƒ(x).
In 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman began burning Atlanta to the ground in preparation for his march to the sea.
In 1885, American general George S. Patton was born.
In 1889, the State of Washington was admitted as the 42nd state of the United States.
In 1921, the Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated by United States President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery.
In 1922, novelist, short story writer, and essayist Kurt Vonnegut was born.
In 1926, the United States Numbered Highway System was established.
In 1930, patent number US1781541 was awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator. The device is an absorption refrigerator which has no moving parts, operates at constant pressure, and requires only a heat source to operate.
In 1934, the Shrine of Remembrance in was opened in Melbourne, Australia.
In 1962, Kuwait’s National Assembly ratified the Constitution of Kuwait.
Also in 1962, actress, director, and producer Demi Moore was born.
In 1964, actress Calista Flockhart was born.
In 1965, Southern Rhodesia’s Prime Minister Ian Smith unilaterally declared the colony independent as the unrecognized state of Rhodesia.
In 1966, NASA launched Gemini 12.
Also in 1966, Irish model and actress Alison Doody was born.
In 1967, Northern Irish video game designer David Doak was born.
In 1974, actor and producer Leonardo DiCaprio was born.
In 1992, the General Synod of the Church of England voted to allow women to become priests.
In 1993, a sculpture honoring women who served in the Vietnam War was dedicated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 2004, the New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was dedicated at the National War Memorial, Wellington.
In 2006, Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the New Zealand War Memorial in London, United Kingdom, commemorating the loss of soldiers from the New Zealand Army and the British Army.

November 11th marks several observances tied to the end of World War I.

Fighting on land, sea and air was ended by the Armistice of Compiègne, also known as the Armistice of 11 November 1918, signed at Le Francport near Compiègne in France at 5:45am. The armistice was meant to take effect at “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” in 1918, but shelling continued until nightfall. The armistice initially expired after a period of 36 days and had to be extended several times, and a formal peace agreement was only reached when the Treaty of Versailles was signed the following year.

That event is commemorated in an annual event called Armistice Day. It is a national holiday in France, and was declared a national holiday in many Allied nations, however, many Western countries and associated nations have since changed the name of the holiday. After World War II, member states of the Commonwealth of Nations adopted Remembrance Day, while the United States government opted for Veterans Day.

Remembrance Day, sometimes known informally as Poppy Day due to the tradition of the remembrance poppy, is a memorial day for the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty, and following a tradition inaugurated by King George V in 1919, the day is also marked by war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries.

Veterans Day is a United States federal holiday that honors military veterans. Specifically, persons who have served in the United States Armed Forces and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. Veterans Day is distinct from Memorial Day, the public holiday in May that honors and mourns the military personnel who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is also different than Armed Forces Day, which honors those currently serving in the United States military, and Women Veterans Day, which specifically honors women who have served.

November 11th also marks National Independence Day in Poland, commemorating the anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s sovereignty as the Second Polish Republic in 1918 from the German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires. Following the partitions in the late 18th century, Poland ceased to exist for 123 years until the end of World War I, when the destruction of the neighboring powers allowed the country to reemerge.

One of the beautiful traditions related to Armistice Day and Remembrance Day (and, to a degree, both Veterans Day and Memorial Day) is Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields”. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres.

According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. “In Flanders Fields” was first published on December 8 of that year in the London magazine Punch.

It is one of the most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world’s most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict.

The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where “In Flanders Fields” is one of the nation’s best-known literary works.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
  That mark our place; and in the sky
  The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
  Loved and were loved, and now we lie
      In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
  The torch; be yours to hold it high.
  If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
      In Flanders fields.

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

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

The Thing About Today – November 10

November 10, 2020November 5, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 10, 2020
Day 315 of 366

November 10th is the 315th day of the year. It is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps, which was founded in 1775 as the Continental Marines.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Forget-Me-Not Day and National Vanilla Cupcake Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1483, German monk and priest Martin Luther was born. He was the leader of the Protestant Reformation.
In 1766, the last colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signed the charter of Queen’s College. It was later renamed Rutgers University.
In 1847, the passenger ship Stephen Whitney was wrecked in thick fog off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 92 of the 110 on board. The disaster resulted in the construction of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse.
In 1865, Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of a prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, was hanged. He was one of only three American Civil War soldiers executed for war crimes.
In 1871, Henry Morton Stanley located missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika. He famously greeted him with the words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”.
In 1889, English-American actor Claude Rains was born.
In 1925, Welsh actor and singer Richard Burton was born.
In 1928, Italian trumpet player, composer, and conductor Ennio Morricone was born.
In 1954, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the USMC War Memorial (also known as Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington Ridge Park in Arlington County, Virginia.
In 1955, German director, producer, and screenwriter Roland Emmerich was born.
In 1960, English author, illustrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman was born.
In 1963, English actor Hugh Bonneville was born.
In 1969, National Educational Television, the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service, debuted Sesame Street.
Also in 1969, actress and producer Ellen Pompeo was born.
In 1975, the 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.
In 1977, actress Brittany Murphy was born.
In 1983, Bill Gates introduced Windows 1.0.
In 1989, Germans began to tear down the Berlin Wall.
Also in 1989, Welsh actor Taron Egerton was born.
In 1990, Home Alone premiered.
In 1997, WorldCom and MCI Communications announced a $37 billion merger. It was the largest merger in US history at the time.
In 1998, Star Trek: Insurrection premiered.
In 2008, over five months after landing on Mars, NASA declared the Phoenix mission concluded after communications with the lander were lost.

November 10th is Martinisingen in Germany.

Martinisingen, literally “Martin singing” or “St. Martin’s Song”, is an old Protestant custom with a mix of several older elements. It takes place with groups of people carrying their lanterns from house to house and singing traditional songs.

Traditionally, November 10th was the day on which farmhands and ordinary workers were dismissed for the winter. Most of those workers had no property and had to survive the coldest time of the year without any income. However, their children were able to help by going from house to house on this day and begging for food and gifts, especially from the well-to-do farmers and citizens. They originally collected food that was then actually stored as part of their family’s winter stock and could be consumed gradually. Sometimes older singers disguised themselves or wore masks (sğabellenskoppen) and joined in the festivities.

As time went on, the gifts given out increasingly became a symbolic donation and, today, usually consist of sweets and fruit. The traditional gifts, by contrast, include gingerbread men (Stutenkerl), honey cakes (Moppen) and Pfeffernüsse (pēpernööten) as well as apples.

Part of the begging included reciting rhyming verses or singing suitable songs and the children carried lanterns (kipkapköögels) that used to be made from beets and small pumpkins. The lanterns were gradually replaced by colored paper lanterns. Various home-made instruments were also used such as rattles (Rasseln) and friction drums (Rummelpott).

With the outbreak of the Reformation, the original motive of supplementing winter food supplies became interwoven with religious aspects, particularly those honoring the reformer, Martin Luther, and the festival became the Protestant church’s version of the original Catholic tradition. In 1817, on the occasion of the tricentennial anniversary of the Reformation in 1517, Martinisingen was brought forward to the eve of St. Martin’s Day.

From that point forward, only Martin Luther continued to be celebrated as the “Friend of light and man of God” (Freund des Lichts und Mann Gottes) who “knocked the crown off the pope in Rome” (der dem Papst in Rom die Krone vom Haupt schlug). The custom of Martinisingen became a celebration of Martin Luther and the motive of begging for food was explained as a tradition of the monastic orders. The traditional songs were given a religious spin and new ones were written that celebrated the religious significance of the day or honored Martin Luther.

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

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

The Thing About Today – November 9

November 9, 2020November 4, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 9, 2020
Day 314 of 366

November 9th is the 314th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Cambodia, which separated from France in 1953.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Scrapple Day, Microtia Awareness Day, and National Louisiana Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1520, more than 50 people were sentenced and executed in the Stockholm Bloodbath.
In 1620, Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sighted land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
In 1801, surveyor and publisher Gail Borden was born. He invented condensed milk.
In 1867, the Tokugawa shogunate handed power back to the Emperor of Japan, starting the Meiji Restoration.
In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country. He did so to inspect progress on the Panama Canal.
In 1914, Austrian-American actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr was born. She co-invented an early version of frequency-hopping spread spectrum, a guidance system for Allied torpedoes.
In 1934, astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist Carl Sagan was born.
In 1951, bodybuilder and actor Lou Ferrigno was born.
In 1964, actor, director, and producer Robert Duncan McNeill was born.
In 1967, NASA launched the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft atop the first Saturn V rocket from Cape Kennedy, Florida.
Also in 1967, the first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was published.
In 1984, A Nightmare on Elm Street premiered.
In 2004, Firefox 1.0 was released.

November 9th is World Freedom Day.

This United States federal observance declared by President George W. Bush commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe. The date was selected due to its proximity to Veterans Day in the United States, effectively starting what some call “Freedom Week”.

I’m not one of them.

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

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

The Thing About Today – November 8

November 8, 2020November 4, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 8, 2020
Day 313 of 366

November 8th is the 313th day of the year. It is National Aboriginal Veterans Day in Canada, a memorial day observed in recognition of aboriginal contributions to military service, particularly in the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Cappuccino Day, National Harvey Wallbanger Day, National Parents as Teachers Day, and National STEM/STEAM Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1602, the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford was opened to the public.
In 1656, English astronomer and mathematician Edmond Halley was born. He used the laws of motion to compute the periodicity of Halley’s Comet in his 1705 Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets. It was named after him upon its predicted return in 1758, which he did not live to see.
In 1836, businessman Milton Bradley was born. He founded the Milton Bradley Company, known for its family board games.
In 1847, Irish novelist and critic Bram Stoker was born.
In 1895, while experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered the X-ray.
In 1900, journalist and author Margaret Mitchell was born. She wrote Gone with the Wind.
In 1923, physicist and engineer Jack Kilby was born. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit.
In 1935, Mutiny in the Bounty premiered.
In 1949, All the King’s Men premiered.
In 1952, actress Alfre Woodard was born.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected as the 35th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, who would later be elected President in 1968 and 1972.
In 1965, the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 was given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom. Exception included cases of high treason, “piracy with violence” (piracy with intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm), arson in royal dockyards and espionage, as well as other capital offences under military law. The death penalty would be abolished in all cases in 1998.
In 1966, former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke became the first African American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.
Also in 1966, British chef Gordon Ramsay was born.
In 1968, actress Parker Posey was born.
In 1972, the premium television network Home Box Office (HBO) launched, initially transmitting to 365 Teleservice Cable subscribers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. First operating as a Northeastern U.S.-based regional service, HBO was one of the first cable-originated television channels. HBO’s inaugural programming that evening consisted of its first event telecast (an NHL hockey game between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks) and its first movie presentation (Sometimes a Great Notion from 1971).
In 1985, actress Magda Apanowicz was born.
In 1999, the nineteenth James Bond film, The World is Not Enough premiered.
In 2011, the potentially hazardous asteroid 2005 YU55 passed 0.85 lunar distances from Earth, which is translated to 324,600 kilometers or 201,700 miles. This was the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 2010 XC₁₅ in 1976.

November 8th is the International Day of Radiology.

The International Day of Radiology promotes the role of medical imaging in modern healthcare. It is celebrated on November 8th coinciding with the anniversary of the discovery of x-rays.

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

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

The Thing About Today – November 7

November 7, 2020November 7, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 7, 2020
Day 312 of 366

November 7th is the 312nd day of the year. It is Hungarian Opera Day. A Magyar Opera Napja is a commemoration of the birth of Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel (this day in 1810) and the reopening of the Erkel Theatre in Budapest.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Bison Day (typically the first Saturday in November), National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day, National Canine Lymphoma Awareness Day, and National Play Outside Day (typically the first Saturday of every month).

Historical items of note:

In 921, the Treaty of Bonn was signed. Frankish kings Charles the Simple and Henry the Fowler agreed on this “pact of friendship” (amicitia) to recognize their borders along the Rhine.
In 1492, the Ensisheim meteorite struck Earth around noon in a wheat field outside the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France. It is the oldest meteorite with a known date of impact.
In 1665, The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, was first published.
In 1775, John Murray, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, started the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore’s Offer of Emancipation. The order offered freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters to fight with Murray and the British.
In 1786, the oldest musical organization in the United States was founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.
In 1837, abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot dead by a mob in Alton, Illinois, while attempting to protect his printing shop from being destroyed a third time.
In 1867, Polish chemist and physicist Marie Curie was born. As part of the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.
In 1874, a cartoon by Thomas Nast was published in Harper’s Weekly. It is considered the first important use of an elephant as a symbol for the United States Republican Party.
In 1885, the completion of Canada’s first transcontinental railway was symbolized by the Last Spike ceremony at Craigellachie, British Columbia.
In 1907, Jesús García saved the entire town of Nacozari de García by driving a burning train full of dynamite six kilometers (3.7 miles) away before it could explode.
In 1908, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were reportedly killed in San Vicente Canton, Bolivia.
In 1912, the Deutsche Opernhaus (now Deutsche Oper Berlin) opened in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg with a production of Beethoven’s Fidelio.
In 1916, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to the United States Congress.
In 1929, in New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opened to the public.
In 1932, the first broadcast of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century occurred on CBS Radio.
In 1940, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed in a windstorm. This occurred a mere four months after the bridge’s completion.
In 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for a record fourth term as President of the United States.
In 1950, Scottish actress Lindsay Duncan was born.
In 1954, Armistice Day became Veterans Day in the United States.
In 1967, Carl B. Stokes was elected as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major American city.
Also in 1967, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In 1989, Douglas Wilder won the governor’s seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States.
In 1990, Mary Robinson became the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland.
In 1991, Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV-positive and retired from the National Basketball Association.
In 1994, WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provided the world’s first internet radio broadcast.
In 1996, NASA launched the Mars Global Surveyor.

At 1:45pm on November 7, 2020, edited to add:

In 2020, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were elected as President and Vice President of the United States. Kamala Harris became the first woman and first person of color to be elected to the position.

November 7th is International Inuit Day, a day to honor the cultures and histories of Inuit communities around the world.

Approximately 155,000 Inuit live across Canada, Greenland, Alaska and Russia. Three-quarters of Inuit in Canada live in fifty-three communities in the northern regions of Canada called Inuit Nunangat, which is comprised of four regions.

The Greenlandic Inuit are descendants of Thule migrations from Canada by 1100 AD. Inuit of Greenland are Danish citizens, although not the citizens of the European Union. In the United States, the Alaskan Iñupiat are traditionally located in the Northwest Arctic Borough, on the Alaska North Slope, and on Little Diomede Island.

In Canada, the United States, and Denmark, the term “Eskimo” was once commonly used to describe Inuit and Siberia and Alaska’s Yupik, Iñupiat, and Chukchi peoples. “Inuit” is not accepted as a term for the Yupik and Chukchi and “Eskimo” is the only term that applies across the Yupik, Chukchi, Iñupiat, and Inuit peoples.

Since the late 20th century, indigenous people in Canada and Greenlandic Inuit have widely considered “Eskimo” to be an offensive term, and they more frequently identify as “Inuit” for an autonym.

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

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

The Thing About Today – November 6

November 6, 2020November 1, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

November 6, 2020
Day 311 of 366

November 6th is the 311th day of the year. It is National Saxophone Day in the United States, commemorating the birth of the instrument’s inventor, Adolphe Sax, on November 6th.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Jersey Friday (typically the first Friday in November) and National Nachos Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1814, Belgian-French instrument designer Adolphe Sax was born. He was the inventor of the saxophone.
In 1854, composer and bandleader John Philip Sousa was born.
In 1869, Rutgers College defeats Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey) by a score of 6-4 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was the first official intercollegiate American football game. It coordinates well with National Jersey Friday and National Nachos Day.
In 1880, Japanese businessman and politician Yoshisuke Aikawa was born. He founded the Nissan Motor Company.
In 1914, actor Jonathan Harris was born.
In 1946, actress Sally Field was born.
In 1947, Meet the Press, the longest continuously running television program in history, made its debut.
In 1957, actress Lori Singer was born.
In 1958, actor Trace Beaulieu was born.
In 1966, actor Peter DeLuise was born.
In 1972, model and actress Rebecca Romijn was born.
Also in 1972, actress Thandie Newton was born.
In 1986, a British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashed 2.5 miles east of Sumburgh Airport, killing 45 people. It is the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record.
In 1988, actress Emma Stone was born.
In 2001, the television series 24 premiered.
In 2012, Barack Obama was reelected as President of the United States.
Also in 2012, Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay politician to be elected to the United States Senate.

November 6th is the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.

This United Nations day was established on November 5, 2001 by the United Nations General Assembly. It’s focus is to prevent, by all of the tools from dialogue and mediation to preventive diplomacy, to keep the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources from fueling and financing armed conflict and destabilizing the fragile foundations of peace.

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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