The Thing About Today – May 5

May 5, 2020May 4, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 5, 2020
Day 126 of 366

May 5th is the 126th day of the year. It is the approximate midpoint of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, starting from the equinox and headed toward the solstice.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Astronaut Day, National Cartoonists Day, National Silence the Shame Day, National Totally Chipotle Day, National Hoagie Day, National Foster Care Day (the first Tuesday in May), and National Teacher Appreciation Day (the Tuesday of the first full week in May).

Historical items of note:

In 1809, Mary Kies became the first woman awarded a United States patent. It was for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
In 1835, the first railway in continental Europe opened between Brussels and Mechelen.
In 1865, the Confederate government was declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia at the end of the American Civil War.
In 1866, Memorial Day was first celebrated in the United States at Waterloo, New York.
In 1891, the Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) had its grand opening and first public performance. The guest conductor was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
In 1905, the trial in the Stratton Brothers case began in London, England. It was notable for being the first time that fingerprint evidence was used to gain a conviction for murder.
In 1937, English musician, arranger, and composer Delia Derbyshire was born. She arranged the theme music for Doctor Who.
In 1940, actor Lance Henriksen was born.
In 1942, actor Marc Alaimo was born.
In 1943, actor and comedian Michael Palin was born.
In 1944, actor and screenwriter John Rhys-Davies was born.
In 1957, actor, director, and screenwriter Richard E. Grant was born.
In 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into outer space. Part of Project Mercury, the Freedom 7 mission was a sub-orbital flight.
In 1962, the West Side Story soundtrack album went to #1 on the music charts and stayed there for 54 weeks. That set a new record with more than 20 weeks longer than any other album.
In 1983, actor Henry Cavill was born.
In 1988, singer-songwriter Adele was born.

May 5th is known as Cinco de Mayo. In 1862, the Mexican Army defeated the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla.

Under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza, the victory of the smaller Mexican force against a larger French force was a boost to morale for the Mexicans. The victory was bittersweet since Zaragoza died months after the battle due to illness and a year after the battle, a larger French force defeated the Mexican army at the Second Battle of Puebla. Mexico City soon fell to the invaders.

In Mexico, the commemoration of the battle continues to be mostly ceremonial. The city of Puebla marks the event with an arts festival, a festival of local cuisine, and re-enactments of the battle.

In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has taken on a significance beyond that in Mexico. The day is far more popular in the United States and has become associated with a celebration of Mexican-American culture. These celebrations began in California, starting annually observations in 1863. The day gained nationwide popularity in the 1980s thanks especially to advertising campaigns by beer and wine companies, leading to beer sales now on par with the Super Bowl.

Cinco de Mayo is often mistaken for Mexico’s Independence Day. That being the most important national holiday in Mexico, it is celebrated on September 16 and commemorates the Cry of Dolores, which initiated the war of Mexican independence from Spain.

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 – May 4

May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 4, 2020
Day 125 of 366

May 4th is the 125th day of the year. It is Star Wars Day, a fan-created celebration of the Star Wars media franchise based around the popular phrase “May the Force be with you” (May the fourth be with you). The phrase first appeared in The Science of Star Wars by Jeanne Cavelos in 1999. It was picked up by Facebook fan groups in 2008 and gained popularity in 2011 with the first organized celebration of Star Wars Day in Toronto, Ontario. The event was repeated in 2012 and the day has been promoted worldwide by The Walt Disney Company since 2013.

Of course, this shouldn’t be confused with May 25th, the anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Weather Observers Day, National Renewal Day, National Orange Juice Day, National Candied Orange Peel Day, Bird Day, and Melanoma? Monday. That last one is typically observed on the first Monday in May.

Historical items of note:

In 1776, Rhode Island became the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
In 1904, the United States began construction of the Panama Canal. They took over for France, who had begun work in 1881 but stopped because of engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate.
In 1910, the Royal Canadian Navy was created.
In 1919, student demonstrations took place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The May Fourth Movement protested the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
In 1929, Belgian-British actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn was born.
In 1932, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence in Atlanta, Georgia for tax evasion.
In 1953, Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
In 1961, the Freedom Riders began a bus trip through the Southern United States.
In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

In 2012, the United Nations declared May 4th to be Anti-Bullying Day.

Anti-Bullying Day is an observance when people wear mainly a pink shirt to symbolize a stand against bullying. It is celebrated on various dates around the world, but the United Nations picked May 4th for their observance.

The United States Department of Justice showed that one out of four kids will be bullied during their adolescence. Most of the time it continues after the first incident as statistics show that 71 percent of students that are bullied, continue to be bullied, making it a problem with no end. According to the Yale School of Medicine, a study in 2010 discovered a connection between being bullied and suicide.

The original event was organized by David Shepherd and Travis Price of Berwick, Nova Scotia. In 2007, they bought and distributed fifty pink shirts after male ninth-grade classmate Chuck McNeill was bullied for wearing a pink shirt during the first day of school. Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald proclaimed the second Thursday of September as “Stand Up Against Bullying Day” in recognition of these events.

In 2008, the Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell proclaimed February 27 to be the provincial anti-bullying day. The last Wednesday each February is now the national anti-bullying day in Canada.

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 – May 3

May 3, 2020May 2, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 3, 2020
Day 124 of 366

May 3rd is the 124th day of the year. It is World Press Freedom Day, a United Nations-sponsored day designed to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also marks the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in Windhoek in 1991.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National SAN Architect Day, National Lumpy Rug Day, National Garden Meditation Day, National Specially-Able Pets Day, National Two Different Colored Shoes Day, National Paranormal Day, National Chocolate Custard Day, National Raspberry Pop Over Day, National Textiles Day, National Montana Day, National Infertility Survival Day (typically observed on the Sunday before Mother’s Day), and National Lemonade Day (typically observed on the first Sunday in May).

Historical items of note:

In 1715, a total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes of accuracy.
In 1802, Washington, D.C. was incorporated as a city after Congress abolished the Board of Commissioners, the District’s founding government. The “City of Washington” was given a mayor-council form of government.
In 1830, the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway was opened. It was the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
In 1903, actor and singer Bing Crosby was born.
In 1913, Raja Harishchandra was released in India. It was the first full-length Indian feature film, thus marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
In 1934, singer and actor Frankie Valli was born.
In 1935, businessman and founder of the Ronco Company, Ron Popeil, was born.
In 1948, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.
In 1952, the Kentucky Derby was televised nationally for the first time via the CBS network. The race was inaugurated 77 years earlier in 1875.
In 1973, the 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago became the world’s tallest building. It surpassed the World Trade Center in New York City and held the title for nearly 25 years.
In 1975, actor Dulé Hill was born.
In 1978, the first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) was sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
In 2000, the sport of geocaching began. The first cache’s coordinates from a GPS were posted on Usenet.
In 2001, the United States lost its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
In 2018, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences members voted to expel Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski.

In 1978, May 3rd designated as Sun Day.

The date was signed by United States President Jimmy Carter. It was specifically devoted to advocacy for solar power, following a joint resolution by Congress, H.J.Res. 715 becoming Pub.L. 95–253.

President Carter flew to Denver to visit a solar power research institute. Other officials gathered in Cadillac Mountain in Maine where the sun’s ray allegedly first touch the United States. Meanwhile, a crowd gathered at UN Plaza in New York City for speeches by people such as movie star Robert Redford, who reminded them that the sun “can’t be embargoed by any foreign nation”.

At the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, environmental activist Barry Commoner made a speech to a group of 500 people, claiming that solar power was an issue as pivotal as slavery and was the “one solution to the economic problems of the United States.”

Other events on the National Mall included a marathon, speeches by notable politicians, and a concert with Jackson Browne.

Events were planned in twenty-two countries around the world.

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 – May 2

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

May 2, 2020
Day 123 of 366

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

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

Historical items of note:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Thing About Today – May 1

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

May 1, 2020
Day 122 of 366

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

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

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

Historical items of note:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Thing About Today – April 30

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

April 30, 2020
Day 121 of 366

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

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

Historical items of note:

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

April 30 is International Jazz Day.

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

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

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

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

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

The Thing About Today – April 29

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

April 29, 2020
Day 120 of 366

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

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

Historical items of note:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Thing About Today – April 28

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

April 28, 2020
Day 119 of 366

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

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

Historical items of note:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Thing About Today – April 27

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

April 27, 2020
Day 118 of 366

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

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

Historical items of note:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Thing About Today – April 26

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

April 26, 2020
Day 117 of 366

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

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

Historical items of note:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Site clean-up is scheduled for completion in 2065.

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

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

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

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