The Thing About Today – February 25

February 25, 2020February 22, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 25, 2020
Day 56 of 366

February 25th is the fifty-sixth day of the year. It is Armed Forces Day in the Dominican Republic.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Chocolate Covered Nut Day, National Clam Chowder Day, and World Spay Day. The last one is typically observed on the last Tuesday in February.

Historical items of note:

In 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels was sworn into the United States Senate. He was a Republican from Mississippi and the first African American ever to sit in the United States Congress.
In 1901, J. P. Morgan incorporated the United States Steel Corporation.
In 1913, German actor Gert Fröbe was born. He played the titular character in 1964’s Goldfinger.
In 1919, Oregon became the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax with one cent per gallon of fuel dispensed.
In 1928, Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. became the first holder of a broadcast license for television from the Federal Radio Commission.
Also in 1928, Larry Gelbart was born. He created the television series M*A*S*H.
In 1933, The USS Ranger (CV-4) was launched. It was the first US Navy ship to be designed from the start of construction as an aircraft carrier.
In 1943, George Harrison of The Beatles was born.
In 1949, wrestler Ric Flair was born. Wooooo!
In 1966, Téa Leoni was born.
In 1971, Sean Astin was born.
In 1973, Anson Mount was born.
In 1986, Jameela Jamil was born.
Also in 1986, James and Oliver Phelps were born. They were the Weasley Twins in the Harry Potter film franchise.

This year, February 25th is Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Pączki Day, and Fastnacht Day, all of which immediately precede Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season in the liturgical year.

It is the last day of Carnival, a period of celebration during the Shrovetide. Shrove Tuesday takes its name from the term shrive, which means “to absolve”. The day is one of “fat eating” and gorging before the 40-day fast of Lent, and offers a last chance for self-examination before beginning the period of spiritual growth and sacrifice.

Mardi Gras (literally translated to Fat Tuesday), Pączki Day, and Fastnacht Day all focus on this last day of consumption, through pancakes and doughnuts (designed to empty the larder before the fast) for the latter two and general revelry and partying for well-known celebration in New Orleans.

If you’re celebrating today, have fun, party hard, and be safe.

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

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

The Thing About Today – February 24

February 24, 2020February 21, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 24, 2020
Day 55 of 366

February 24th is the fifty-fifth day of the year. It is Flag Day in Mexico.

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

Historical items of note:

In 1582, with the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announced the Gregorian calendar.
In 1711, Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel premiered in London. It was the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
In 1786, Wilhelm Grimm was born. A German anthropologist, author, and academic, he was the younger of the Brothers Grimm.
In 1803, the Supreme Court of the United States established the principle of judicial review through the Marbury v. Madison decision.
In 1822, The first Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, was inaugurated.
In 1831, The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was proclaimed. It was the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act. The Choctaws in Mississippi ceded land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
In 1868, Andrew Johnson became the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He was later acquitted in the Senate.
In 1885, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was born. He was one of the few United States fleet admirals and was the leading naval authority on submarines.
In 1920, Nancy Astor became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. She was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier.
In 1921, actor Abe Vigoda was born.
In 1947, actor and director Edward James Olmos was born.
In 1954, Sid Meier was born. He was the game designer who created the Civilization series.
In 1955, Steve Jobs was born. He co-founded both Apple Inc. and Pixar.
In 1980, the United States Olympic hockey team completed the “Miracle on Ice” by defeating Finland to win the gold medal.

February 24th is a wacky day with respect to calendars.

For superstitious reasons, when the Romans began to insert time into their calendar to align with the solar year, they decided not to place their extra month of Mercedonius after February but instead within it. That’s right, they put a whole month inside another one.

February 24th, which is known in the Roman calendar as “the sixth day before the Kalends [the root of calendar, meaning the first of the month] of March”, was replaced by the first day Mercedonius since it followed Terminalia, the festival of the Roman god of boundaries. After the end of Mercedonius, the rest of the days of February were observed and the new year began with the first day of March.

This process was complicated, to say the least. In fact, the overlaid religious festivals of February were so complicated that Julius Caesar chose not to change it at all during his 46 BC calendar reform. The extra day of his system’s leap years was the same as the old system, but he decided to ignore it. Instead, the sixth day before the Kalends of March was made to last for 48 hours and all the other days kept their original names.

When the extra hours were finally separated into two separate days, the leap day was still taken to be the one following the February 23rd Terminalia. Somewhere along the line, February 29th became the official Leap Day, but the Terminalia custom still exists in places around the world.

Confused yet? I know that I am. Thanks, Julius Caesar.

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

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

The Thing About Today – February 23

February 23, 2020November 10, 2021 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 23, 2020
Day 54 of 366

February 23rd is the fifty-fourth day of the year. In Japan, today is The Emperor’s Birthday, a celebration of the reigning emperor’s birthday. Emperor Naruhito as born on this date in 1960.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Banana Bread Day, National Dog Biscuit Day, and National Tile Day.

My favorite banana bread recipe is very simple.

Start with 3 or 4 bananas. The best bananas for this recipe are overripe and soft. Peel them and mash them up in a mixing bowl.
Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda and mix thoroughly.
Mix in 3 eggs, 1/2 cup softened butter, and 2 cups of flour.
Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes.

The bread is good cold, but it’s even better warm with a pat of butter, a dab of honey, or (even better) homemade honey butter.

Historical items of note:

In 1455, the Gutenberg Bible was reportedly first published. This was the first Western book printed with movable type.
In 1820, a plot to murder all of the British cabinet ministers was exposed. It became known as the Cato Street Conspiracy.
In 1836, the Siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas. After thirteen days of minor skirmishes, the siege would give way to the Battle of the Alamo.
In 1886, Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of aluminum from the electrolysis of aluminum oxide. He was assisted by his older sister, Julia Brainerd Hall. The element was named aluminium, based on the mineral alum, and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted the name as the international standard in 1990. In 1993, they recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant.
In 1889, Victor Fleming was born. He directed 1939 films The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind.
In 1903, Cuba leased Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.
In 1905, Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen met for lunch. While there, they formed the Rotary Club, the world’s first service club.
In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge signed the bill that established the Federal Radio Commission. Later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission, the organization was created to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
Also in 1927, German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg wrote to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli to describe his now-famous uncertainty principle for the first time. Related to quantum systems, the uncertainty principle states that the more precisely the position of some particle is determined, the less precisely its momentum can be predicted from initial conditions, and vice versa.
In 1930, Gerry Davis was born. He was a script editor on Doctor Who, co-creator of the Cybermen with Kit Pedler, and reportedly originated the idea of the title character changing faces to accommodate replacement of the lead actor.
In 1940, Walt Disney’s Pinocchio was released.
In 1941, Plutonium was first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
In 1945, during the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman from the 5th Marine Division reached the top of Mount Suribachi. Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press captured the iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning image of the group raising the American flag.
In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio using the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In 1981, actor, producer, and screenwriter Josh Gad was born.
In 1983, actress Emily Blunt was born.
In 1997, the NBC network aired an uncensored presentation of Schindler’s List. The film was watched by 65 million viewers.
In 2008, a United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashed on Guam. This was the first operational loss of a B-2 since the aircraft’s maiden flight in 1989.

In 1932, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was born.

Before she began her quintessential run in the Star Trek franchise, she had some success with stage, film, and television, including comedy training from Lucille Ball. She started with Star Trek with The Cage, the rejected first pilot in which she played first officer Number One. She was romantically involved with series creator Gene Roddenberry and made the transition to the series as Nurse Christine Chapel, a role that carried into the motion pictures as well.

She provided several voices for Star Trek: The Animated Series and breathed life into the outrageous and iconoclastic Lwaxana Troi. She was also the regular voice for computers on Federation starships for every live-action series through Star Trek: Enterprise and most of the films through 2009’s reboot, a role that inspired the Amazon Alexa.

She appeared in several other non-Trek acting roles, but her status as First Lady of Star Trek was the backbone of her legacy. After Gene Roddenberry’s death, she brought two of his ideas to life with Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda. She was also the creative director for the Gene Roddenberry’s Lost Universe comic book series.

Her final role was as the Enterprise computer in 2009’s Star Trek. She died from leukemia at the age of 76 on December 18, 2008.

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

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

The Thing About Today – February 22

February 22, 2020February 18, 2020 Michael Falkner1 Comment

February 22, 2020
Day 53 of 366

February 22nd is the fifty-third day of the year. It marks Independence Day in Saint Lucia after separating from the United Kingdom in 1979.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National California Day, National Cook a Sweet Potato Day, and National Margarita Day. Get all three by cooking a sweet potato while drinking a margarita in California.

Historical items of note:

In 1632, Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, received the first printed copy of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. The Grand Duke was the dedicatee of the book that compared the Copernican system (the orbital model that shows the Sun as the center of the solar system) with the more traditional Ptolemaic system (the orbital model in which everything revolves around the Earth).
In 1732, George Washington was born. He was a general in the American Revolution and the first President of the United States.
In 1819, Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars under the Adams–Onís Treaty.
In 1862, Jefferson Davis was officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
In 1878, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores. The first store was located in Utica, New York.
In 1889, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington as U.S. states.
In 1909, the sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, returned to the United States after a voyage around the world.
In 1915, the Imperial German Navy instituted unrestricted submarine warfare.
In 1924, United States President Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President to deliver a radio address from the White House.
In 1950, basketball star and sportscaster Julius “Dr. J” Erving was born.
In 1959, Kyle MacLachlan was born.
In 1962, zoologist and television host Steve Irwin was born.
In 1968, actress Jeri Ryan was born.
In 1975, Drew Barrymore was born.
In 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” occurred at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York when the United States hockey team defeated the Soviet Union hockey team by a 4-3 score.

In 1857, Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, was born. In 1889, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, GBE was born. Together, along with Robert’s sister Agnes, they founded the Scouting and Guiding movements.

Robert Baden-Powell was a British Army officer who wrote several military books. Using them as a guide, he wrote Scouting for Boys in 1908 and formed The Boy Scouts Association in 1910 after retiring from the army as a lieutenant general. In 1909, Baden-Powell attended a rally of Scouts, many of whom had joined and spontaneously formed troops, at Crystal Palace in London. There he met with some of the first Girl Scouts, and his sister Agnes Baden-Powell formed the Girl Guides soon after.

The movement soon became an international phenomenon, leading the formation of the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the USA.

In 1912, Robert Baden-Powell met Olave St Clair Soames while en route to New York on a Scouting World Tour. They were married later that same year, and she became the first Chief Guide for Britain and World Chief Guide in 1930 for her major contributions to the development of the movement.

Robert Baden-Powell died on January 8, 1941, and was buried at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Nyeri, Kenya. Olave Baden-Powell, who was 32 years younger than her husband, died on June 25, 1977. Her ashes were taken to the same gravesite, which has now become a national monument.

The legacy of the Baden-Powell family is honored on February 22nd with Founder’s Day (for the World Organization of the Scout Movement) and World Thinking Day (for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts).

Despite all of the turmoil within the Boy Scouts of America, the Baden-Powells still hold a special place in my heart for the years of my childhood that I spent in the Scouting program. I earned my Eagle Scout award at the age of 15 and look back fondly on the experiences and friendships developed on that path.

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

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

The Thing About Today – February 21

February 21, 2020February 18, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 21, 2020
Day 52 of 366

February 21st is the fifty-second day of the year. It marks the ancient Roman festival of Ferālia, a celebration of the Manes (Roman spirits of the dead, particularly the souls of deceased individuals), which fell on 21 February as recorded by Ovid in Book II of his Fasti. It’s the end of Parentalia, a nine-day festival honoring the dead ancestors.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Grain-Free Day, National Sticky Bun Day, and National Caregivers Day. That last one is typically observed on the third Friday in February.

Historical items of note:

In 1804, the first self-propelling steam locomotive debuted at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
In 1808, Russian troops crossed the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, without a previous declaration of war, thus beginning the Finnish War. In the end, Sweden lost the eastern half of the country to Russia.
In 1828, the initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix was published. It was the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.
In 1842, John Greenough was granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto.
In 1866, Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first American woman to graduate from dental school.
In 1885, the newly completed Washington Monument was dedicated.
In 1916, the Battle of Verdun began. The longest confrontation of World War I, the battle was fought from February to mid-December on the Western Front in France. It was the most costly battle in human history, totaling over 714,000 casualties in 302 days.
In 1925, The New Yorker published its first issue.
In 1927, American journalist and author Erma Bombeck was born.
In 1933, singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone was born.
In 1937, actor Gary Lockwood was born.
In 1946, actor and producer Anthony Daniels was born. He portrayed C-3PO in loads of Star Wars media.
Also in 1946, actor and director Alan Rickman was born.
Also in 1946, actress Tyne Daly was born.
In 1947, Edwin Land demonstrated the first “instant camera”, the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America in New York City.
In 1955, Kelsey Grammer was born.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon went to the People’s Republic of China to normalize relations between the two countries.
In 1987, actress Ellen Page was born.
In 1996, actress Sophie Turner was born.

In 1964, Mark and Scott Kelly were born. The twin brother shared similar career trajectories: They were both United States Navy captains, pilots, and astronauts.

Sons of two retired police officers, the brothers were both inspired to join the military. Mark graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy with a bachelor of science degree in marine engineering and nautical science. Scott attended the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at State University of New York Maritime College (SUNY Maritime) and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering.

Both brothers became naval aviators – Mark flew with Attack Squadron 115 (VA-115) in Atsugi, Japan while Scott was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 143 (VFA-143) in NAS Oceana, Virginia – before reuniting at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. Their classmates included future astronauts Alvin Drew, Lisa Nowak, and Stephen Frick.

After being selected for the NASA Astronaut Corps, both brothers worked on the Space Shuttle program. Mark started with STS-108 (Endeavour) and Scott with STS-103 (Discovery).

Mark Kelly’s final mission was STS-134 (Endeavour), after which he retired from NASA and the Navy. His wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, survived an assassination attempt and he retired in order to help with her recovery. In February 2019, he launched his campaign for election to the Senate.

Scott Kelly’s final mission was a year-long study on the International Space Station to better understand the effects of spaceflight on the human body. His brother was used as an Earth-bound control. He retired from NASA after returning home, having retired from the Navy four years earlier.

The Kelly brothers are the only known siblings to have both traveled in space.

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

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

The Thing About Today – February 20

February 20, 2020February 17, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 20, 2020
Day 51 of 366

February 20th is the fifty-first day of the year. It is the World Day of Social Justice, also known as Social Justice Equality Day, which recognizes the need to promote social justice. That includes efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, gender equality, unemployment, human rights, and social protections.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Cherry Pie Day and National Love Your Pet Day. Not that we need a special day for that in our household…

Historical items of note:

In 1792, the Postal Service Act was signed by President George Washington, thus establishing the United States Post Office Department.
In 1816, Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville premiered at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
In 1872, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City.
In 1877, Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
In 1925, director and screenwriter Robert Altman was born.
In 1927, actor Sidney Poitier was born. He was the first black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 1931, the United States Congress approved the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.
In 1933, the United States Congress approved the Blaine Act to repeal federal Prohibition in the United States. This sent the Twenty-First Amendment to the United States Constitution (which would repeal the Eighteenth Amendment) to state ratifying conventions for approval.
In 1935, Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
In 1944, the Batman & Robin comic strip premiered in newspapers.
In 1954, actor and musician Anthony Stewart Head was born.
In 1956, the United States Merchant Marine Academy became a permanent Service Academy.
In 1962, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes while aboard Friendship 7.
In 1984, comedian and actor Trevor Noah was born.
In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the Mir spacecraft. It remained in orbit for fifteen years and was occupied for ten.

In 1962, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes while aboard Friendship 7.

Formally known as the Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6), it was the fifth human spaceflight after Vostoks 1 and 2 (both orbital flights by the Soviets) and Mercury-Redstones 3 and 4 (both sub-orbital flights by the Americans). After Mercury-Atlas 5 successfully took Enos the Chimp to orbit and back, Marine Corps aviator John Glenn was chosen to pilot Friendship 7. Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II, China, and Korea. He shot down three MiG-15s and was awarded six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen Air Medals. In 1957, he made the first supersonic transcontinental flight across the United States, during which the first continuous, panoramic photograph of the country was taken.

The mission was first announced for a January 16 launch but was postponed for over a month due to various issues. Once the capsule was launched, Glenn witnessed dust storms on the planet below, twilight and sunset over the Indian Ocean, and the “fireflies” of ice crystals venting from spacecraft systems.

Friendship 7 splashed down in the North Atlantic and was retrieved by the destroyer USS Noa. The spacecraft was preserved and is currently displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The mission is portrayed from different points of view in the films The Right Stuff and Hidden Figures.

John Glenn went on to receive the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1962, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990. After leaving NASA in January 1964, he served in the United States Senate from 1974 to 1999, returning to space in 1998 on the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-95). At the age of 77, he was the oldest person to fly into space.

John Glenn was the oldest and last surviving member of the Mercury Seven. He died in 2016 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 – February 19

February 19, 2020February 17, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 19, 2020
Day 50 of 366

February 19th is the fiftieth day of the year. It is Armed Forces Day in Mexico.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Chocolate Mint Day, National Lash Day, and National Vet Girls RISE Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1473, Nicolaus Copernicus, the Polish mathematician and astronomer, was born.
In 1674, England and the Netherlands ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War by signing the Treaty of Westminster. One provision of that agreement transferred the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England. The British renamed it New York.
In 1878, Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.
In 1940, singer-songwriter and producer Smokey Robinson was born.
In 1953, the State of Georgia became the first to approve a literature censorship board in the United States.
In 1960, Bill Keane’s Family Circus premiered.
In 1963, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique was published. It reawakened the feminist movement in the United States.
In 1967, Benicio del Toro was born.
In 2004, Millie Bobbie Brown was born.

In 1946, Karen Silkwood was born.

Karen Silkwood was a chemical technician and labor union activist who worked at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site in Oklahoma. After being hired at the site, she joined the local Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union and took part in a strike at the plant. Afterward, she was elected to the union’s bargaining committee, becoming the first woman to achieve that position at the plant.

During her assignment to investigate health and safety issues, she discovered what appeared to be numerous violations of health regulations, including exposure of workers to contamination, faulty respiratory equipment and improper storage of samples. Additionally, she believed that the lack of sufficient shower facilities could increase the risk of employee contamination. She eventually testified to the Atomic Energy Commission about her concerns.

Months after her testimony, she performed a routine self-check and found that her body contained nearly 400 times the legal limit for plutonium contamination. She was decontaminated on-site and sent home with a kit to collect bodily samples for later analysis. The odd part was that plutonium was discovered inside her gloves, but the gloves were intact, suggesting that the contamination had come from somewhere else.

The next morning, she tested positive again despite having only done administrative paperwork in the interim and was more vigorously decontaminated in what has become colloquially known as the “Silkwood shower”. The next day, she was tested positive again, and a health physics team followed her home and found plutonium on several surfaces. Her home was intensively decontaminated and Silkwood, her boyfriend, and her roommate were sent to Los Alamos National Laboratory for in-depth testing.

Questions arose about the incident and Silkwood eventually decided to go public with her claims against the site, including extensive documentation. While driving to meet with New York Times journalist David Burnham, she died in a car crash under unclear circumstances. The documents were missing from her car and the police report stated that she fell asleep at the wheel. Rumors suggested that drugs were involved, though forensic evidence at the scene pointed toward foul play.

Her family sued Kerr-McGee for the plutonium contamination, and the company settled out of court for $1.38 million while not admitting liability.

Karen Silkwood’s story was told in the Academy Award-nominated film Silkwood from 1983, in which she was portrayed by Meryl Streep.

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

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

The Thing About Today – February 18

February 18, 2020February 17, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 18, 2020
Day 49 of 366

February 18th is the forty-ninth day of the year. It is Wife’s Day (Konudagur) in Iceland, which traditionally falls on the first day of Góa according to the old Icelandic calendar.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Battery Day (honoring the storage device, not beating on someone), National Crab Stuffed Flounder Day, and National Drink Wine Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1791, Congress passed a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective on March 4th. Of course, the state had already existed for fourteen years as a de facto independent largely unrecognized state.
In 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.
In 1878, the Lincoln County War began in Lincoln County, New Mexico after John Tunstall was murdered by the outlaw Jesse Evans.
In 1885, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was published.
In 1930, Elm Farm Ollie became both the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
In 1931, Toni Morrison was born. She was an American novelist, editor, and Nobel Prize laureate.
In 1950, Cybill Shepherd was born.
In 1954, John Travolta was born.
In 1968, Molly Ringwald was born.
In 1977, the Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle was ferried on its maiden “flight” on top of a Boeing 747.

In 1950, filmmaker John Hughes was born.

John Hughes began his career by selling jokes to performers like Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. After several copywriting jobs, he landed as an author of satirical essays for National Lampoon magazine. His first story was “Vacation ’58”, which was inspired by his family trips as a child and became the basis for the film National Lampoon’s Vacation.

His first credited screenplay, National Lampoon’s Class Reunion, was written while he was at the magazine, and it became the second major flop that tried to duplicate the success of National Lampoon’s Animal House. Undaunted, Hughes wrote Vacation and Mr. Mom, earning him a three-film deal with Universal Pictures.

His directorial debut was Sixteen Candles in 1984 and was considered a refreshing look at adolescence and high school life in comparison to raunchier Porky’s-inspired films. He continued his “teen movie” style with The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Some Kind of Wonderful. All of these films became iconic of the early to mid-1980s.

He branched out in 1987 with a wider style, including Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and Curly Sue. That last film was his final directorial effort, capping an era of filmmaking that wasn’t nearly as popular as his teen films. I’m in the minority in that regard.

He also served as writer and/or producer on a long list of films, including The Great Outdoors, the first three Home Alone films, Career Opportunities, the first two Beethoven films, Miracle on 34th Street, Maid in Manhattan, 101 Dalmatians, and Flubber.

John Hughes retired in 1994. He died of a heart attack on August 5, 2009, at the age of 59.

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

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

The Thing About Today – February 17

February 17, 2020February 11, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 17, 2020
Day 48 of 366

February 17th is the forty-eighth day of the year. It is Presidents Day in the United States.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Random Acts of Kindness and National Cabbage Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1753, February 17th was followed by March 1st in Sweden when the country moved from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar.
In 1801, an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was resolved when Jefferson was elected President of the United States by the House of Representatives. Burr became Vice President due to the convention of the time.
In 1819, the United States House of Representatives passed the Missouri Compromise for the first time. The Missouri Compromise provided for the admission of Maine to the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state, thus maintaining the balance of power between North and South in the United States Senate.
In 1864, during the American Civil War, the Confederate H. L. Hunley became the first submarine to engage and sink a warship. Its target was the Union’s USS Housatonic.
In 1881, Mary Carson Breckinridge was born. An American nurse-midwife, she founded the Frontier Nursing Service.
In 1904, Madama Butterfly premiered at La Scala in Milan.
In 1925, actor Hal Holbrook was born.
In 1936, the world’s first superhero made his first appearance in comics as Lee Falk’s The Phantom debuted.
In 1963, American basketball legend Michael Jordan was born.
In 1964, a decision in Wesberry v. Sanders by the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
In 1965, The Ranger 8 probe launched on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon. The Sea of Tranquility would later be chosen as the site for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
In 1991, actress, director, and screenwriter Bonnie Wright was born.

It is Presidents Day in the United States.

The federal holiday was originally called Washington’s Birthday, observed on the third Monday of February in honor of George Washington. Washington was the first President of the United States and was born on February 22, 1732 by the Gregorian Calendar. When he was born, his Virginia home was still under British rule, and thus under the Julian calendar, so his “old style” birthdate was February 11, 1731. In 1752, the British Empire converted to the Gregorian Calendar and subjects born before then had their birthdates converted to the “new style” dates.

The holiday coincides with state holidays across the country that celebrate George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other United States Presidents. The observation as it stands today honors all who have served as President of the United States.

The federal holiday honoring Washington was originally implemented by an Act of Congress in 1879 for government offices and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices. It was originally celebrated Washington’s birthday, but was shifted to the third Monday in February in 1971.

The first attempt to create a Presidents Day occurred in 1951. Harold Stonebridge Fischer founded the “President’s Day National Committee” with the purpose of honoring the office of the presidency. It was first thought that March 4, the original inauguration day, should be deemed Presidents Day, but the bill recognizing March 4 stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. While the Senate stalled out, a majority of state governors issued proclamations declaring the March date as Presidents’ Day in their respective jurisdictions.

While an early draft of the 1971 Uniform Monday Holiday Act contained the name “Presidents’ Day” for the February celebration, it didn’t stick when the bill was signed into law. The term finally surfaced in the mid-1980s with a push from advertisers.

The traditional food of the holiday is cherry pie, based around the legend surrounding Washington and the cherry tree. The holiday is also a tribute to the first military badge of merit for the common soldier, the Purple Heart, which bears Washington’s image and is awarded to soldiers wounded in battle.

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

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

The Thing About Today – February 16

February 16, 2020February 11, 2020 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

February 16, 2020
Day 47 of 366

February 16th is the forty-seventh day of the year. It is Restoration of Lithuania’s Statehood Day, celebrating the independence of Lithuania from Russia and Germany in 1918.

In the United States, it is “celebrated” as National Almond Day and National Do A Grouch a Favor Day.

Historical items of note:

In 1646, the Battle of Torrington occurred in Devon. It was the last major battle of the first English Civil War.
In 1881, the Canadian Pacific Railway was incorporated by an Act of Parliament at Ottawa.
In 1937, Wallace H. Carothers received a United States patent for nylon.
In 1948, the first newsreel telecast was shown on NBC.
In 1952, William Katt was born. He was The Greatest American Hero.
In 1957, actor, director, producer, and educator LeVar Burton was born.
In 1964, Christopher Eccleston was born. He was the Ninth Doctor and a Marvel Cinematic Universe villain.
In 1974, actor Mahershala Ali was born.
In 1978, the first computer bulletin board system was created. It was called CBBS.
In 1989, actress Elizabeth Olson was born.
In 2006, the last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) was decommissioned by the United States Army.

In 1960, the U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton (SSRN/SSN-586) began Operation Sandblast.

The Triton was a United States Navy radar picket submarine, designed to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from a surprise attack. Triton was the only ship of its class and was commissioned on November 10, 1959. It was the second submarine and the fourth ship in the U.S. Navy to be named for that particular Greek god, which was unique for an era when submarines were named for types of fish.

Under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach Jr., a World War II veteran submariner, the Triton completed the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe during Operation Sandblast. Spanning 60 days and 21 hours, a 26,723 nautical mile route was followed that began and ended at the St. Peter and Paul Rocks in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean near the Equator. The track was similar to the route followed by Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world from 1519 to 1522.

The intent was to increase American technological and scientific prestige before the 1960 Paris Summit between President Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, as well as demonstrating the longevity of the nuclear submarine platform. Triton earned the Presidential Unit Citation for the operation, and Captain Beach was awarded the Legion of Merit.

The radar picket mission was made obsolete when the carrier-based WF-2 Tracer early warning aircraft was introduced, at which time the Triton was converted to standard attack submarine service (changing the ship from an SSRN to an SSN) in 1962. She was decommissioned in 1969, becoming the first United States nuclear submarine to be taken out of service.

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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