The Thing About Today – March 26

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

March 26, 2020
Day 86 of 366

 

March 26th is the eighty-sixth day of the year. It is Purple Day, a day of awareness regarding epilepsy.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Nougat Day and National Spinach Day. I have never tried mixing the two, so it could be a total peanut butter and chocolate situation.

Or not.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1484, William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop’s Fables.
  • In 1773, Nathaniel Bowditch was born. A mathematician and navigator, he is often credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation. His book, The New American Practical Navigator, was first published in 1802 and is still carried on board every commissioned U.S. Naval vessel.
  • In 1812, a political cartoon in the Boston Gazette coined the term “gerrymander” to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection. The term was named after Elbridge Gerry, who, as Governor of Massachusetts, signed a bill that created a partisan district in the Boston area that was compared to the shape of a mythological salamander.
  • In 1830, the Book of Mormon was published for the first time in Palmyra, New York.
  • In 1904, author and mythologist Joseph Campbell was born.
  • In 1911, playwright and poet Tennessee Williams was born.
  • In 1930, Sandra Day O’Connor was born. She was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.
  • In 1931, the legendary Leonard Nimoy was born.
  • In 1944, Diana Ross was born. A singer-songwriter, producer, and actress, she was the lead singer for The Supremes.
  • In 1948, Steven Tyler was born. He is the lead singer for Aerosmith.
  • In 1950, composer Alan Silvestri was born.
  • In 1958, the United States Army successfully launched the Explorer 3 satellite.
  • In 1960, actress Jennifer Grey was born.
  • In 1972, actress Leslie Mann was born.
  • In 1985, actress Keira Knightley was born.
  • In 2005, Doctor Who returned to television after a 16-year hiatus with the episode “Rose“. Christopher Eccleston starred as the Ninth Doctor alongside Billie Piper as Rose Tyler.
  • In 2018, Black Panther became the highest-grossing superhero film in the United States with earnings of $630.9 million.

 

In 1871, Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, prince of the House of Kalākaua, and later a territorial delegate to the United States Congress, was born.

He was a prince of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi until Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown in a coup d’état by a coalition of American and European businessmen in 1893. He later went on to become a representative in the Territory of Hawaii as a delegate to the United States Congress, and as such is the only person ever elected to that body who had been born into royalty. As a delegate, he authored the first Hawaii Statehood bill in 1919. He also won passage of the Hawaiian Homes Act, creating the Hawaiian Homes Commission and setting aside 200,000 acres of land for Hawaiian homesteaders.

He died on January 7, 1922, and his life was honored by the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii with the establishment of Prince Kūhiō Day in 1949.

Prince Kūhiō Day is one of only two holidays in the United States dedicated to royalty, the other being Hawaiʻi’s King Kamehameha Day on June 11.

 

In 1874, poet and playwright Robert Frost was born.

Of his works, two of my favorites are Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and The Road Not Taken.

 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

 

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 

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 #196: The Fires of Pompeii

Michael Falkner14 Comments

Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii
(1 episode, s04e02, 2008)

 

Just one act of kindness can make all the difference.

The TARDIS door opens on what the Doctor calls ancient Rome. Donna is enamored, particularly by the translation capabilities of the time capsule. She tries a bit of Latin, but it comes out as Celtic with a Welsh flair. He also mentions that he had nothing to do with a certain great fire in Rome, but we all know that to be a lie.

They round a corner, muse about the missing landmarks, and glance to the horizon as the ground starts to shake. There’s a volcano ahead of them. It is Mount Vesuvius, which means that they are in Pompeii, and it is eruption day.

While the travelers run for the TARDIS, a red-hooded woman reports back to her fellow sisters and the High Priestess of the Sibylline Sisterhood that the “blue box” has arrived as written in prophecy. Speaking of the TARDIS, it has been sold by a local shopkeeper to a marble merchant named Caecilius. The merchant considers the box to be a lovely piece of modern art, and his family is very superstitious. His daughter, for instance, is training to be a seer in the Sisterhood, and spots an irregular being in the vent leading the magma below.

Donna wants to save everyone in Pompeii, but the Doctor tells her that it is an impossibility. The event is a fixed point in time and cannot be altered. The Doctor and Donna find Caecilius and pose as both Spartacus and marble inspectors. Donna tries to tell them about the volcano, but the locals don’t even have a word for it.

Lucius Petrus Dextrus, the chief augur of the town, arrives and gives the Doctor praise during a verbal sparring match. Caecilius has developed a piece of art for the augur, which looks just like a circuit board, and Caecilius’s daughter Evelina arrives to shed light on the travelers. Both Evelina and Lucius see though the travelers, prophesy her return, and speak of Donna’s future.

Later on, Donna visits with Metella as she cares for Evelina. The girl is sickly and her arm is turning to stone. Meanwhile, the Doctor consults with Caecilius about the creature in the vent and how the vapors from the geothermal exhaust have enabled the soothsayers to predict the future with uncanny accuracy.

The Doctor and Quintus make a midnight trek to Lucius’s home where they find a wall of the circuit engravings. Lucius declares that the gods are using them to gift him the future, but the Doctor decrypts them as an energy converter with an unknown purpose. Lucius declares that the Doctor should die, and the Doctor escapes with Quintus after revealing the augur’s stone arm.

Lucius responds by sending the creature underground in pursuit of the time lord.

Donna continues her visit with Evelina, revealing the future of Vesuvius, which is transmitted to the Sisterhood as a new prophecy. The High Priestess declares that Donna must die for her foresight.

As the Doctor and Quintus return to Caecilius’s home, the creature erupts from the vent. The family treats the being like a god, but turn on it when it kills a man by dousing it with water. In the commotion, the Sisterhood kidnaps Donna.

He tracks Donna to the Temple of Sibyl and rescues her just before she’s murdered. He tells the Sisterhood about Sibyl, noting that she would be ashamed of them. The High Priestess demands to speak to the Doctor and reveals herself as nearly changed to stone. The Doctor recognizes that the people are being seeded by an alien species and demands that they reveal themselves. The being declares itself as a Pyrovile, a species that arrived a millennia ago and were awakened by the 62 earthquakes. The Pyroviles are a psychic race that can see through time. The Doctor holds the High Priestess back with a water gun as Donna opens the hypocaust and they escape into the volcano.

As they walk on, Donna asks about the fixed points. The Doctor replies that he can see them because that’s how he views the universe as a Time Lord. She’s still aghast that he will not save the people of Pompeii, but he cannot break a fixed point.

They reach the heart of Vesuvius, which is inhabited by the Pyrovile in their adult form. They spot the circuitry of an escape pod and recognize it as the same pattern that the augur has been coveting. Speaking of, Lucius reveals their presence. During the standoff, Lucius reveals that the Pyrovile homeworld is missing, and the creatures want to take Earth for their own. Donna and the Doctor dive into the pod and figure out that the Pyrovile are using the energy of Vesuvius to advance their plan. To save the world, the Doctor must allow Pompeii to be destroyed. It’s a question of 20,000 people versus the entirety of Earth, and Donna helps the Doctor choose.

They choose to save Earth.

Pompeii erupts around the pod, destroying the Pyrovile and ejecting the pod into Pompeii. The travelers rush to the TARDIS as the villagers panic and the Sisterhood is lost. Donna tries to help the people, but it is no use. With a heavy heart, she begs the Doctor to save Caecilius and his family, but he starts the TARDIS dematerialization sequence.

As they take off, she levels her fury at the Time Lord. Her frustration gives way to sorrow, and the Doctor tells her that he cannot save the people of Pompeii anymore than he can save his own people. Donna reasons that he can save just one family.

So he does.

In a burst of light, the TARDIS rematerializes and the Doctor extends a hand of salvation.

They all watch from a nearby hilltop as the town is destroyed. Caecilius takes solace in the thought that Pompeii will be remembered, giving the name “volcano” to the carnage. Evelina has lost her power of sight, but the family is united in strength through sorrow.

Donna and the Doctor sneak away. She thanks him and he tells her that she was right: Sometimes he needs someone, and she’s welcome to be that companion.

Six months later in Rome, Caecilius’s family is happy and healthy. Quintus is studying to be a doctor, and before he leaves for the day, he gives thanks to the household gods. The relief reveals them to be the Doctor, Donna, and the TARDIS.

 

This story hits the mark on every level. The dialogue is quick and witty, but also serves to propel the plot forward instead of simply being clever. The setting is well crafted and makes Pompeii feel large even though it’s obviously the same street set redressed a few times over. Donna’s pleas and the Doctor’s internal battle tug at my emotions every time I see it.

The franchise mythology is on full display here, from the past (mentions of Gallifrey, identifying the Doctor as a Lord of Time, citing the Shadow Proclamation, nodding to the classic era while exploring the mysteries of the revival era’s Last Great Time War) to the future (the Doctor Who debuts of Peter Capaldi and Karen Gillan, laying some groundwork for the rest of this series as well as the future of the franchise, and beginning the lore of fixed points in time).

That “fixed point” business? It’s always been there, all the way back to The Aztecs when the First Doctor told Barbara that she could not change a single thing (“not one line”) in history without suffering dire consequences. The trick is making a difference in history without changing history. Thus, the blessing and curse of the Time Lord.

Some of the more obscure trivia about the episode includes the TARDIS as modern art, which is a nod to City of Death – one of writer James Moran’s favorite classic stories – when the Fourth Doctor parked the time machine in an art museum. The humor Mary Poppins gets a bit of screentime here with the “positions!” scramble to save breakables from the rumbling. We also get a nod back to Barcelona, which is where the Ninth and Tenth Doctors wanted to take Rose.

The Fires of Pompeii is a masterful episode of television.

 

Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”

 

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: Planet of the Ood

 

 

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 – March 25

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

March 25, 2020
Day 85 of 366

 

March 25th is the eighty-fifth day of the year. It is International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The United Nations international observance was established in 2007 and it honors and remembers those who suffered and died as a consequence of the transatlantic slave trade. Called “the worst violation of human rights in history”, over 400 years more than 15 million men, women and children were victims of the slave trade.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Lobster Newburg Day, National Tolkien Reading Day, National Little Red Wagon Day, Manatee Appreciation Day, and National Ag Day. National Little Red Wagon Day and Manatee Appreciation Day are both typically observed on the last Wednesday in March. National Ag Day’s observance changes annually.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1306, Robert the Bruce became the King of Scots.
  • In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a patent to colonize Virginia.
  • In 1655, Titan (Saturn’s largest moon) was discovered by Christiaan Huygens.
  • In 1745, John Barry was born. He was an American naval officer and is credited as the father of the American navy.
  • In 1807, the Slave Trade Act became law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.
  • In 1920, Patrick Troughton was born. He was the Second Doctor on Doctor Who.
  • In 1928, astronaut Jim Lovell was born.
  • In 1934, feminist and activist Gloria Steinem was born.
  • In 1939, screenwriter and producer Dorothy “D.C” Fontana was born. She was a major architect of Star Trek.
  • In 1942, singer-songwriter and pianist Aretha Franklin was born.
  • In 1947, Elton John was born.
  • In 1948, actress Bonnie Bedelia was born.
  • In 1965, civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully completed their four-day 50-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
  • In 1979, the first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter was delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch. It was named Columbia after three namesakes: The American sloop Columbia Rediviva which, from 1787 to 1793, under the command of Captain Robert Gray, explored the US Pacific Northwest and became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe; the command module of Apollo 11, the first crewed landing on another celestial body; and the female symbol of the United States.
  • In 1982, race car driver Danica Patrick was born.

 

In 1863, William Bensinger, Robert Buffum, Elihu H. Mason, Jacob Parrott, William Pittenger, and William H. H. Reddick were awarded the first six Medals of Honor in American history. They were awarded this distinction for their participation in the Great Locomotive Chase (also known as Andrews’ Raid) during the American Civil War. Nineteen of Andrews Raiders, named after plan architect and leader James Andrews, were awarded the Medal of Honor. Two participants did not receive the commendation since they were civilians.

The Great Locomotive Chase was a military raid that occurred April 12, 1862, in northern Georgia. Union Army volunteers commandeered a train called The General and took it north toward Chattanooga, Tennessee. During their mission, they did as much damage as possible to the vital Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&A) line from Atlanta to Chattanooga and were pursued by Confederate forces on foot by rail for 87 miles. One of the more famous pursuing Confederate trains was The Texas.

The Union forces cut the telegraph wires along the way, meaning that the Confederates could not send warnings ahead. Nevertheless, the Confederates eventually captured the raiders and quickly executed some as spies, including Andrews.

The Walt Disney Company dramatized the events in their 1956 film called The Great Locomotive Chase.

The Medal of Honor is the highest military award in the United States, presented to service members who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. It is presented in the name of Congress – a fact that has led to the popular misnomer “Congressional Medal of Honor” – by the President of the United States. The President typically presents the Medal at a formal ceremony intended to represent the gratitude of the U.S. people, with posthumous presentations made to the primary next of kin.

There are three versions of the medal, one each for the Army, Navy and Air Force. Marine Corps and Coast Guard awardees receive the Navy version, and members of the Space Force will receive the Air Force version. The Navy’s version of the Medal of Honor was introduced in 1861. The Army’s medal followed in 1862, while the Air Force’s medal was introduced in 1965.

Since 1944, the Medal of Honor has been attached to a light blue colored moiré silk neck ribbon, the center of which displays thirteen white stars in honor of the original colonies and states. The Medal of Honor is one of only two United States military awards suspended from a neck ribbon, the other being the Commander’s Degree of the Legion of Merit, which is usually awarded to individuals serving foreign governments.

Congress also authorized a service ribbon, which is light blue with five white stars and worn first in the order of precedence. There is also an authorized lapel button in the shape of a six-sided light blue bowknot rosette with thirteen white stars to be worn on appropriate civilian clothing on the left lapel.

Since 1948, the Medal of Honor and all service decorations awarded to members of the armed forces by any of the armed services have been afforded special protection under United States law against any unauthorized adornment, sale, or manufacture. That law includes any associated ribbon or badge.

The Medal of Honor has been awarded 3,525 times to 3,506 individuals, forty percent of which were for actions during the American Civil War. Although not required by law or military regulation, service members are encouraged to render salutes to recipients of the Medal of Honor as a matter of respect and courtesy regardless of rank or status, whether or not they are in uniform. This is one of the few instances where a living member of the military will receive salutes from members of a higher rank.

Medal of Honor recipients are also entitled to a long list of special privileges, which are established by law.

On November 15, 1990, President George H. W. Bush and the United States Congress established National Medal of Honor Day to honor the heroism and sacrifice of the Medal’s recipients.

 

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 – March 24

Michael Falkner1 Comment

March 24, 2020
Day 84 of 366

 

March 24th is the eighty-fourth day of the year. It is National Tree Planting Day in Uganda. It is also World Tuberculosis Day and American Diabetes Association Alert Day.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day and National Cheesesteak Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1199, King Richard I of England was wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France. He died from his wound on April 6th.
  • In 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051.
  • In 1765, Great Britain passed the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
  • In 1820, French physicist Edmond Becquerel was born.
  • In 1829, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.
  • In 1874, Hungarian-Jewish American magician and actor Harry Houdini was born.
  • In 1882, Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
  • In 1896, A. S. Popov made the first radio signal transmission in history.
  • In 1930, Steve McQueen was born.
  • In 1944, 76 Allied prisoners of war began breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III. The event was later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape.
  • In 1970, actress Lara Flynn Boyle was born.
  • In 1973, actor Jim Parsons was born.
  • In 1974, actress Alyson Hannigan was born.
  • In 1977, actress Jessica Chastain was born.
  • In 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels of crude oil after running aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska.
  • In 1999, The Matrix premiered.

 

In 1911, animator, director, and producer Joseph Barbera was born. Together with William Hanna, he co-founded Hanna-Barbera.

Joseph Barbera was born in the Little Italy area of Manhattan, New York, and lived in the city until after high school. He displayed a talent for drawing from childhood. He married his high school sweetheart and had four children together before they separated in 1963. He married his second wife and stayed with her until his death.

His work was published in Redbook, Saturday Evening Post, and Collier’s before joining Fleischer Studios. He moved to Van Beuren Studios and then Terrytoons before finally landing at MGM’s cartoon unit in 1937. There, he met William Hanna and developed a partnership that lasted for over sixty years.

By 1940, they started development on Tom and Jerry, their famous series about a cat chasing a mouse, after their success with Puss Gets the Boot. Over the next 17 years, Barbera and Hanna worked exclusively on Tom and Jerry, directing more than 114 popular cartoon shorts.

MGM closed their cartoon division in 1957, so Hanna and Barbera ventured out on their own. Together, they developed The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Yogi Bear Show, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons. By the late 1960s, Hanna-Barbera Productions was the most successful television animation studio in the business, producing over 3000 animated half-hour television shows.

Among the more than 100 cartoon series they produced were The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Top Cat, Jonny Quest, The Magilla Gorilla Show, The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, Scooby-Doo, Super Friends, and The Smurfs. The company also produced animated specials based on Alice in Wonderland, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as the feature-length films Charlotte’s Web and Heidi’s Song.

By December 1966, the company was sold to Taft Broadcasting (renamed Great American Communications in 1987), and the pair remained at the head of the company until 1991. The company was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, giving rise to Cartoon Network in 1992 and shows like Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls.

In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner and Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation.

Joseph Barbera died in Los Angeles, California on December 18, 2006, at the age of 95.

 

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 – March 23

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

March 23, 2020
Day 83 of 366

 

March 23rd is the eighty-third day of the year. It is World Meteorological Day, celebrating the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization on this day in 1950.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Chia Day, National Chip and Dip Day, National Near Miss Day, National Melba Toast Day, and National Puppy Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1775, during the American Revolutionary War, Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech – “Give me liberty, or give me death!” – at St. John’s Episcopal Church, in Richmond, Virginia.
  • In 1857, Elisha Otis’s first elevator was installed at 488 Broadway in New York City.
  • In 1889, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, British India.
  • In 1904, Joan Crawford was born.
  • In 1910, Japanese director and screenwriter Akira Kurosawa was born.
  • In 1956, Pakistan became the first Islamic republic in the world. This date is now celebrated as Republic Day in Pakistan.
  • In 1965, NASA launched Gemini 3. It was the United States’ first two-man space flight, crewed by Gus Grissom and John Young.
  • In 1976, Michelle Monaghan was born.
  • Also in 1976, Keri Russell was born.
  • In 1977, The first of The Nixon Interviews was videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes. It was the first of twelve to be recorded over four weeks.
  • In 2001, the Russian Mir space station was disposed of. It broke up in the atmosphere and fell into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

 

In 1940, Truth or Consequences was first broadcast on radio.

Truth or Consequences was a game show mixing the quiz show element with wacky stunts. It was originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards from 1940 to 1957. It later moved to television with Ralph Edwards (1950-1954), followed by hosts Jack Bailey (1954-1956), Bob Barker (1956-1975), Steve Dunne (1957-58), Bob Hilton (1977-1978), and Larry Anderson (1987–1988).

Contestants received roughly two seconds to answer a trivia question correctly. It was usually an off-the-wall question that no one was expected to answer. If the contestant could not complete the “Truth” portion, there would be “Consequences,” which usually meant a zany and embarrassing stunt. Strangely enough, most contestants preferred to answer the question wrong to perform the stunt.

One of the more popular segments involved an emotional surprise for a contestant, such as being reunited with a long-lost relative or with an enlisted son or daughter returning from military duty.

Ralph Edwards got the idea for a new radio program from a favorite childhood parlor game called “Forfeits”. Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on broadcast television, although it was initially a one-time experiment on July 1, 1941. When the television medium caught on nine years later, it returned to television.

Ralph Edwards also pioneered several technologies for recording live television programs. When Truth or Consequences established itself as a permanent television presence in 1950, he arranged to have it be recorded on 35mm film while using multiple cameras simultaneously, making it the first televised program recorded before a live audience to do so. Desilu would later use a similar process for I Love Lucy.

On January 22, 1957, the show became the first program to be broadcast in all time zones from a prerecorded videotape, a technology that was only a year old and used for time-delayed broadcasts to the West Coast. In 1966, it became the first successful daily game show in first-run syndication (as opposed to reruns) to not air on a network, having ended its NBC run one year earlier. This version continued through 1975.

The show and its concepts maintain a lasting presence in pop culture, especially in Hot Springs, New Mexico. The town agreed to host a radio episode in 1949 in exchange for changing its name to Truth or Consequences. It continues to use that name today and remains a tribute to the program’s impact on popular culture.

 

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

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

 

 

The Thing About Today – March 22

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

March 22, 2020
Day 82 of 366

 

March 22nd is the eighty-second day of the year. It is World Water Day, a United Nations observance that highlights the importance of freshwater and sustainable management of freshwater resources.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Bavarian Crepes Day, National Goof Off Day, and National West Virginia Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony outlawed the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables, even in private homes. Because… Puritan theology.
  • In 1638, Anne Hutchinson was expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent. She was a Puritan spiritual advisor and religious reformer whose convictions – she believed that the local ministers were focusing too much on a “covenant of works” rather than a “covenant of grace” – placed her at odds with the establishment clergy.
  • In 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies. This unpopular move gave rise to the slogan “No taxation without representation.”
  • In 1829, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia established the borders of Greece via the London Protocol.
  • In 1871, William Woods Holden became the first governor in the United States to be removed from office by impeachment. He was the governor of North Carolina.
  • In 1872, Illinois became the first state to require gender equality in employment.
  • In 1873, the Spanish National Assembly abolished slavery in Puerto Rico.
  • In 1908, novelist Louis L’Amour was born.
  • In 1930, composer and songwriter Stephen Sondheim was born.
  • In 1931, William Shatner was born.
  • In 1941, James Stewart was enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps, becoming the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform during World War II.
  • In 1948, composer and director Andrew Lloyd Webber was born.
  • In 1960, Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes received the first patent for a laser.
  • In 1972, the United States Congress sent the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification. It still hasn’t been ratified.
  • Also in 1972, the United States Supreme Court decided in Eisenstadt v. Baird that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives.
  • In 1976, Reese Witherspoon was born.
  • In 1993, the Intel Corporation shipped the first Pentium chips.
  • In 1995, Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returned to Earth after setting a record of 438 days in space.
  • In 1997, Tara Lipinski became becomes the youngest women’s World Figure Skating Champion. She was fourteen years old.
  • In 2019, Robert S. Mueller III delivers his report on the Russian government’s influence on the election of Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election.

 

In 1975, a fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama caused a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.

The fire started when a worker used a candle to search for air leaks, watching for the movement of smoke to determine airflow through seals. The candle’s flame was pulled into a temporary cable seal and ignited the foamed plastic that was covered on both sides with two coats of a flame retardant paint as a firestop. The fire spread and caused significant damage to the reactor control cabling in the station.

From the NRC bulletin concerning the event:

The fire started in the cable spreading room at a cable penetration through the wall between the cable spreading room and the reactor building for Unit 1. A slight differential pressure is maintained (by design) across this wall, with the higher pressure being on the cable spreading room side. The penetration seal originally present had been breached to install additional cables required by a design modification. Site personnel were resealing the penetration after cable installation and were checking the airflow through a temporary seal with a candle flame prior to installing the permanent sealing material. The temporary sealing material was highly combustible, and caught fire. Efforts were made by the workers to extinguish the fire at its origin, but they apparently did not recognize that the fire, under the influence of the draft through the penetration, was spreading on the reactor building side of the wall. The extent of the fire in the cable spreading room was limited to a few feet from the penetration; however, the presence of the fire on the other side of the wall from the point of ignition was not recognized until significant damage to cables related to the control of Units 1 and 2 had occurred.

This event later resulted in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission making significant additions to the standards for fire protection through the publication of 10CFR50.48 and Appendix R, and later the NFPA 805 fire protection standard. The event was pivotal in fire protection for the nuclear industry and beyond, including commercial and industrial construction.

 

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 – March 21

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

March 21, 2020
Day 81 of 366

 

March 21st is the eighty-first day of the year. It is a big day on the international stage, including World Down Syndrome Day, World Puppetry Day, and World Poetry Day.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National California Strawberry Day, National Common Courtesy Day, National Countdown Day, National Fragrance Day, National French Bread Day, National Single Parent Day, National Corn Dog Day, and National Quilting Day. National Quilting Day is typically observed on the third Saturday in March, and National Corn Dog Day is typically observed on the first Saturday of March Madness.

As a trivial aside, the NCAA has six annual basketball tournaments in March – one for each division, divided into men’s and women’s competitions – but only one is officially known as March Madness: The  NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. The term was popularized by CBS sportscaster Brent Musberger in the 1980s, and Bob Walsh of the Seattle Organizing Committee started the official March Madness celebration in 1984. Of course, the NCAA loves cold hard cash, so they trademarked the term in the 1990s.

Unfortunately for corn dog fans, March Madness has been canceled due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, but you can still enjoy them at home if you can find them in stores. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world right now, so good luck.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1685, German Baroque composer and musician Johann Sebastian Bach was born.
  • In 1768, French mathematician and physicist Joseph Fourier was born.
  • In 1800, Pius VII was crowned as Pope in Venice, Italy. The church’s leadership had been driven out of Rome during armed conflict, and the ceremony was conducted with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
  • In 1844, the Bahá’í calendar began, making this the first day of the calendar and an annual celebrated by members of the Bahá’í Faith as the Bahá’í New Year or Náw-Rúz.
  • In 1925, the Butler Act was made law, prohibiting the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee. It was challenged later that year in the famous Scopes Trial and was finally repealed in 1967.
  • In 1928, Charles Lindbergh was presented with the Medal of Honor for the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.
  • In 1935, Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call Persia by its native name: Iran.
  • In 1946, actor Timothy Dalton was born. He was one of my favorite James Bonds.
  • In 1952, Alan Freed presented the Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland, Ohio. It was the first rock and roll concert.
  • In 1958, actor, filmmaker, musician, and author Gary Oldman was born.
  • In 1962, Matthew Broderick was born.
  • In 1963, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, located in San Francisco, California, closed.
  • In 1965, NASA launched Ranger 9, the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
  • Also in 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
  • In 1970, the first Earth Day proclamation was issued by Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco.
  • Also in 1970, the first San Diego Comic-Con International opened at the U.S. Grant Hotel.
  • In 1980, United States President Jimmy Carter announced a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet-Afghan War.

 

In 2006, Twitter was founded with a missive from Jack Dorsey: “just setting up my twttr”.

 

Twitter is a microblogging and social networking service designed to mimic the Short Message Service (SMS) format. Each post is known as a tweet, following from the definitions of the word twitter as “a short burst of inconsequential information” and “chirps from birds”, and they were initially limited to 140 characters in length. The developers considered the platform to be more of an information network than a social one.

Twitter experienced explosive growth, credited to a presentation at 2007’s South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference, eventually reaching into the hundreds of millions of active users.

Users are known by their handles (usernames) and can mention one another by tweeting those names preceded by an @ sign. Twitter also gave birth to the idea of hashtags, which group discussions by user-defined topics that are flagged by using the # sign. A user’s tweets can be liked, replied to in threads (basically, a collected discussion), and retweeted (basically, shared or automatically copied and credited) to someone else’s audience.

Twitter users can also see trending discussions in local regions and across the globe. Certain users can be granted “verified” status, shown by a special blue checkmark next to their name, in order to limit impersonators.

In 2009, San Antonio-based market-research firm Pear Analytics analyzed 2,000 tweets for content over two weeks and determined that roughly 80% of content on the site was divided nearly equally into conversations and pointless babble. The rest of the tweets were spread across news, self-promotion, pass-along value, and spam.

In 2017, Twitter expanded the character limit to 280 and removed Twitter handles from the overall character count.

Twitter is pretty much the wild west of social media with few sheriffs to keep the peace. I often call it a larger hive of scum and villainy than the Mos Eisley Spaceport.

You can find me there, for better or worse, as @womprat99.

 

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 – Moving Pictures in Isolation

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
Moving Pictures in Isolation
March 20, 2020

This week’s “can’t let it go” is really just an update on the movie scene.

Box Office Mojo posted a quick note on Tuesday about the state of cinema during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the same day that AMC and Regal announced that all of their United States theaters would be closed for six to twelve weeks, encompassing over 1,200 locations overall. As a result, several films have been either postponed or removed from the upcoming slates. Today’s post is an attempt to capture some of those for you.

  • No Time to Die (James Bond #25) has been postponed to November 25, 2020.
  • My Spy has been postponed to April 17, 2020.
  • Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway has been postponed to August 7, 2020.
  • A Quiet Place Part II has been removed from the schedule.
  • F9 (Fast and Furious 9) has been postponed to April 2, 2021.
  • Mulan has been removed from the schedule.
  • The New Mutants has been removed from the schedule (which is the latest in a series of moves for this once-Fox-now-Disney Marvel film)
  • Antlers has been removed from the schedule.
  • Black Widow has been removed from the schedule.
  • The Personal History of David Copperfield has been removed from the schedule.
  • The Woman in the Window has been removed from the schedule.
  • Antebellum has been removed from the schedule.
  • Run has been removed from the schedule.
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru has been removed from the schedule.

Because of the theater closures, studios are trying to recoup some of their investments while stoking goodwill with audiences. To that end, Universal has announced that they are making recent releases like The Hunt, The Invisible Man, and Emma available On Demand.

Meanwhile, Disney has announced that Pixar’s Onward will be available for immediate digital download and for streaming on their Disney+ platform by April 3rd. This is in addition to the early digital release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the early streaming release of Frozen 2 on Disney+.

Universal’s Trolls World Tour is still scheduled for release on April 10th, but Universal has added an On Demand option for that film as well.

What will be particularly interesting is how these moves affect the film industry going forward, both in how the release schedule gets sorted out and how studios treat their titles with respect to digital availability.

It’s also interesting to me that drive-in theaters are increasing in popularity with the COVID-19 pandemic according to the Los Angeles Times, especially since they had recently been considered a dead cinema format. Social distancing has some benefits beyond killing off the virus.

As a special note, I hope you all stay safe and healthy out there. I know that physical isolation can take a toll, and I hope that you can take some time to touch base with loved ones through video, chat, email, or phone. I also hope you can find time to care for yourselves during these stressful times.
cc-break

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 – March 20

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

March 20, 2020
Day 80 of 366

 

March 20th is the eightieth day of the year. It is the International Day of Happiness, a United Nations-sponsored day to advance happiness as a fundamental human right. It is also National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in the United States, designed to increase knowledge and education about the one percent of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS who are among the American Indian and Alaska Native populations.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as World Flour Day, National Proposal Day, National Ravioli Day, and National Kick Butts Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was established.
  • In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published. This anti-slavery novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery, and it helped lay the groundwork for the American Civil War.
  • In 1915, Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity.
  • In 1922, the USS Langley (CV-1) was commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
  • In 1928, Fred Rogers was born. He was the creator, host, and producer of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood for its entire run from 1968 to 2001. If you have the chance, learn all about his extraordinary life in the 2018 documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
  • In 1937, author Lois Lowry was born. She won Newbery Medals for Number the Stars and The Giver.
  • In 1948, actor John de Lancie was born. Among other roles, he was Q in the Star Trek franchise.
  • In 1950, actor William Hurt was born.
  • In 1957, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Spike Lee was born.
  • In 1958, actress and producer Holly Hunter was born.
  • In 1963, actor David Thewlis was born.
  • In 1979, actress Freema Agyeman was born. She portrayed Martha Jones in Doctor Who.
  • In 1986, Ruby Rose was born. She portrays Batwoman on the CW show of the same name.
  • In 1987, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.
  • In 1999, Legoland California opened in Carlsbad, California. It was the first Legoland outside of Europe.
  • In 2015, a Solar eclipse, equinox, and a Supermoon all occurred on the same day.

 

 

In 2015, a solar eclipse, an equinox, and a supermoon all occurred on the same day.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, effectively obscuring the Sun from an Earth-bound observer’s point of view. Since the Moon is closer to the planet, it appears to be larger than the Sun. This solar eclipse’s totality – when the Moon appears to completely cover the Sun – lasted two minutes and forty-seven seconds, and the path of totality passed over the North Pole. It was the last total solar eclipse visible in Europe until the forecasted eclipse of August 12, 2026.

As mentioned on March 19’s post, the vernal equinox is the day when the duration of night and day are equal and the subsolar point appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equator. On the Gregorian calendar, this can occur between March 19th and March 21st, and it typically marks the transition of seasons from winter to spring in the Northern Hemisphere and summer to autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

A supermoon is a full or new moon that nearly coincides with the perigee – the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its orbit – so that it looks larger-than-normal to an Earth-bound observer. The proper (technical) name is perigee syzygy, but supermoon sounds cooler for the general populace. The term also comes from astrology. In 2015, the supermoon was a new moon, so it appeared dark in the night sky.

Personally, I think syzygy – pronounced ˈsizijē, meaning a conjuction or pair of connected things – is much more fun to say.

Witnessing all three events at the same time isn’t unusual in of itself, but the confluence of events is fun to talk and learn about, especially if you’re lucky enough to be in the path of solar eclipse totality.

 

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 – March 19

Michael Falkner1 Comment

March 19, 2020
Day 79 of 366

 

March 19th is the seventy-ninth day of the year. It is Kashubian Unity Day in Poland, a commemoration of the first written mention of Kashubians in Pope Gregory IX’s Bull of March 19, 1238. So, who are the Kashubians? They are a West Slavic ethnic group native to the historical region of Pomerelia in modern north-central Poland.

It’s also the vernal equinox, a day when the duration of night and day are equal and the subsolar point appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equator. All that science to say, “Welcome to Spring!” Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, then “Welcome to Autumn!”

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Certified Nurses Day, National Chocolate Caramel Day, National Let’s Laugh Day, National Poultry Day, and National Farm Rescuer Day. That last one is typically observed on the third Thursday in March.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1848, Wyatt Earp was born.
  • In 1918, the United States Congress established time zones and approved daylight saving time.
  • In 1928, Irish-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Patrick McGoohan was born.
  • In 1931, gambling was legalized in Nevada.
  • In 1936, actress and model Ursula Andress was born.
  • In 1947, actress and producer Glenn Close was born.
  • In 1955, actor and producer Bruce Willis was born.
  • In 1962, Bob Dylan released his first album, Bob Dylan, for Columbia Records.
  • In 1979, the United States House of Representatives began broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
  • In 2018, the last male northern white rhinoceros, named Sudan, died. Sudan lived at the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic from 1975 to 2009. After that, he lived at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia, Kenya. He was one of the last three white rhinoceroses in the world, and his death ensured a chance of extinction for the species.

 

In 1863, the SS Georgiana was destroyed on her maiden voyage. The wreckage was discovered exactly 102 years later, in 1965, by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence.

The Georgiana was reportedly the most powerful cruiser built for the Confederate States of America. She was a brig-rigged, iron-hulled, propeller steamer with room for fourteen guns and over four hundred tons of cargo. After being built in Scotland, she was en route to Charleston, South Carolina to be outfitted and crewed, carrying a cargo of munitions, medicines, and merchandise then valued at over $1 million. She was commanded by Captain A. B. Davidson, a retired British naval officer, and had 140 men on board for the transit.

On March 19, 1863, the Georgiana attempted to run past the Federal Blockading Squadron at Charleston. She was spotted by the yacht America, the first winner of the America’s Cup racing trophy, which alerted the blockade fleet with colored flares. After a desperate chase, Georgiana was sunk by the USS Wissahickon. Captain Davidson surrendered and scuttled the ship before escaping with all hands on land.

Lieutenant Commander John Davis, commanding the Wissahickon, set the wreck afire to prevent guerrillas from salvaging the valuable cargo.

In 1965, E. Lee Spence discovered the wreck only five feet under the surface of the water. She is currently home to various fauna and flora, including coral. Spence recovered sundries, munitions, and medicines valued at over $12 million, but did not locate the rumored 350 pounds of gold that the ship carried. If found, Georgiana‘s value could easily top $50 million.

 

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.