Today in History

[Harp]

I'd like to close this out by pointing to the fact that the U.S. Constitution itself was primarily sourced from the understanding between the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca Nations, aka the Iroquois Confederacy.
There are many different ways of life, religious doctrines and beliefs, races, and lifestyles, and to compare everything to the modern standards of Western living is a false comparison, since an amalgamation of those created what we all have today.

The U.S. Constitution derived a western philosophic harvest; not to demean indigenous peoples or traditions.

 

[Fading Fast]

On this day in 2009, captain chesley Burnett Sullenberger ("Sully") executed an emergency landing on the Hudson River, after a bird strike destroyed both engines soon after take off. All passengers & crew survived....

My very teeny tiny connect to this is that from our offices on the 31st floor at 42nd Street, we could see the rescue boats heading out to the plane (it had a faint echo of the Dunkirk scene in "Mrs. Miniver").

 

[3fingers]

In spite of not really wanting to be famous, If Sully ever buys his own drinks again there is no justice in the world.

 

[GHT]

On this day in:
1535 Henry VIII denounces Catholicism and declares himself head of English Prodestant Church.
1759 British Museum opens.
1943 The world's largest office building, the Pentagon, was completed.
1973 Happy Days premiers. (hand on heart, I've never seen it.)

 

[hatsRme]

Better almost late, but we can’t miss noting the 100th anniversary of The Great Boston Molasses Flood! 2.3 million gallons of the brown stuff in a tsunami down Commercial Street!

 

[LizzieMaine]

This date in 1938 marked the peak of the Swing Era, with Benny Goodman and his orchestra headlining a full-scale concert at Carnegie Hall. Presented by classical impresario Sol Hurok, the event raised eyebrows among the penguin-suited regulars at Carnegie -- while it wasn't the first performance of popular music at the venue (Fred Waring was broadcasting his radio show from the venue as far back as 1933), it was expected to attract an audience not accustomed to the decorum of such an august facility. Those expectations were correct, as the sellout crowd -- at a $2.75 top -- contained a strong turnout of alligators, many of whom took to trucking, shagging and pecking in the aisles during the performance of "Sing Sing Sing" that climaxed the show.

The show was recorded over a direct line from the hall to CBS and from there to two independent recording studios at the instance of Albert Marx, the husband of former Goodman vocalist Helen Ward. One set of discs was presented to Goodman as a souvenir of the evening, and he stuck them in a closet and forgot about them until 1950, when he unearthed them and lent them to Columbia Records, which used them as the basis for what became the biggest-selling jazz LP set of its time. The concert has been reissued several times since then, with increasingly better sound as audio-restoration technology has advanced.

Among the guest stars joining in for an on-stage jam session were Count Basie, Lester Young, Cootie Williams, Buck Clayton, and Johnny Hodges. Goodman trumpeter Harry James looked around at the opulent surroundings and the white-tie front row, and spoke for pretty much the entire band when he said "I feel like a whore in church."

 

[hatsRme]

An important date indeed, @LizzieMaine! I ordered from an in-store catalogue and bought the three Columbia LPs in 1971. Not sold as a set at the time, they were individual albums. I always (and still!) enjoyed Gene Krupa’s first breakaway, lighting up the audience for the rest of the concert.

 

[EngProf]

The U.S. Constitution derived a western philosophic harvest; not to demean indigenous peoples or traditions.

Harp is an attorney and may be interested in this Law Review article on this topic:
The Imaginary Connection between the Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution: A Reply to Professor Schaaf
American Indian Law Review, Vol. 15, p. 25, 1991

16 Pages Posted: 10 Aug 2009
Erik M. Jensen
Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Abstract
This article challenges the politically correct theory advanced in a 1989 article by Gregory Schaaf, “From the Great Law of Peace to the Constitution of the United States: A Revision of America’s Democratic Roots.” Professor Schaaf argued that large parts of the U.S. Constitution were based on the Great Law of Peace, the founding document of the Iroquois Confederacy. This article points to the lack of primary authority supporting such a counterintuitive proposition and questions the likelihood that Iroquois principles could have silently influenced American founders. Finally, the article questions whether it is desirable to try to further the status of American Indian nations by promulgating a theory that is appealing, but ultimately easily refuted.



Keywords: Gregory Schaaf, From the Great Law of Peace to the Constitution of the United States: A Revision of America’s Democratic Roots, Great Law of Peace, Constitution, Iroquois Confederacy

 

[vitanola]

This date in 1938 marked the peak of the Swing Era, with Benny Goodman and his orchestra headlining a full-scale concert at Carnegie Hall. Presented by classical impresario Sol Hurok, the event raised eyebrows among the penguin-suited regulars at Carnegie -- while it wasn't the first performance of popular music at the venue (Fred Waring was broadcasting his radio show from the venue as far back as 1933), it was expected to attract an audience not accustomed to the decorum of such an august facility. Those expectations were correct, as the sellout crowd -- at a $2.75 top -- contained a strong turnout of alligators, many of whom took to trucking, shagging and pecking in the aisles during the performance of "Sing Sing Sing" that climaxed the show.

The show was recorded over a direct line from the hall to CBS and from there to two independent recording studios at the instance of Albert Marx, the husband of former Goodman vocalist Helen Ward. One set of discs was presented to Goodman as a souvenir of the evening, and he stuck them in a closet and forgot about them until 1950, when he unearthed them and lent them to Columbia Records, which used them as the basis for what became the biggest-selling jazz LP set of its time. The concert has been reissued several times since then, with increasingly better sound as audio-restoration technology has advanced.

Among the guest stars joining in for an on-stage jam session were Count Basie, Lester Young, Cootie Williams, Buck Clayton, and Johnny Hodges. Goodman trumpeter Harry James looked around at the opulent surroundings and the white-tie front row, and spoke for pretty much the entire band when he said "I feel like a whore in church."

I'd posit that, musically speaking, it's been all downhill since the evening of 1/16/38, most particularly since the moment when Jess Stacy ended his unexpected solo.

 

[LizzieMaine]

On this date in 1929, a hustling little con man named Castor Oyl, planning for a trip to the notorious gambling haven Dice Island, off the coast of Africa, where he planned to break the bank with the aid of the mysterious luck-bringing Whiffle Hen, headed down to the docks to hire a crew for the voyage. "Hey there," he called out to the first stringy-looking one-eyed character he saw. "Are you a sailor?" And said personality replied:

And so it began.

 

[ChiTownScion]

On this date in 1929, a hustling little con man named Castor Oyl, planning for a trip to the notorious gambling haven Dice Island, off the coast of Africa, where he planned to break the bank with the aid of the mysterious luck-bringing Whiffle Hen, headed down to the docks to hire a crew for the voyage. "Hey there," he called out to the first stringy-looking one-eyed character he saw. "Are you a sailor?" And said personality replied:

And so it began.

Segar supposedly based Popeye the Sailor upon a fellow resident of his hometown, Chester Illinois.

 

[GHT]

On this day in 1991 The Gulf War in Iraq begins: “Operation Desert Storm”, launched in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, resulted in about 100,000 civilian deaths.

 

[3fingers]

^^^ Listening to Baghdad Bob on the radio during that week was as close to radio comedy that we had heard in a generation.

 

[Harp]

Harp is an attorney and may be interested in this Law Review article on this topic:
The Imaginary Connection between the Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution: A Reply to Professor Schaaf
American Indian Law Review, Vol. 15, p. 25, 1991

16 Pages Posted: 10 Aug 2009
Erik M. Jensen
Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Thank you, I will zerox this tomorrow.

 

[Peacoat]

51 years ago today the Battle of Khe Sanh was launched. It became a 5 month long siege of the Marine base. A friend of mine was shot down and killed early in the battle. Even though it has been over 1/2 of a century, I have thought of him every day since then. RIP Gerald McKinsey. We all miss you.

Although General Westmoreland thought differently, most observers at the time, and historians today, agree that the battle of Khe Sanh was designed to distract attention from the buildup of forces in other areas of Vietnam culminating in the Tet Offensive 10 days later. What a tumultous time that was.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

On this day in 1901, Queen Victoria died aged 81.

On this day in 1840, the first British colonists arrive in New Zealand.

On this day in 2008, actor Heath Ledger, died from an overdose of prescription drugs.He was 28.

 

[GHT]

On this day in 1840, the first British colonists arrive in New Zealand.

They were a bit late, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, thinking that it was connected to a landmass of the same name at the southern tip of South America. In 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland.

Note the name, Abel Tasman, ring any bells? Tasmania.

 

[MisterCairo]

23 January:

1922: First successful Insulin administered to a diabetic patient





14-year-old Canadian Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to ever receive an insulin injection for diabetes, which proved to be successful without any obvious side effects, eliminating the glycosuria sign of diabetes. Dr. J.J.R. MacLeod (seen in pic), his partner Dr. F.G. Banting, Charles H Best discovered insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921

1937: Stalin's 'Great Purge'





17 people go on trial in Moscow during Soviet Joseph Stalin's "Great Purge." The Great Purge, also known as the “Great Terror,” was a brutal political campaign led by Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and anyone else he considered a threat.

1968: North Korea captures the USS Pueblo





North Korea seizes the Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission. (The crew was released 11 months later.)


1973: Peace agreement to end Vietnam war is annouced





President Richard Nixon announces a peace agreement to end the Vietnam War. In a televised speech, Nixon said the accord would “end the war and bring peace with honor.”

1989: Salvador Dali dies at 84





Surrealist artist Salvador Dali dies in his native Figueres, Spain, at age 84.

2002: Daniel Pearl abducted by terrorists





Four months after the 9/11 attacks, The Wall Street Journal reporter went to Karachi to research a story about Pakistani militants and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. While doing so, he was kidnapped by a group of militants who demanded the release of all Muslim prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. Later, Pearl was beheaded, and the video of his killing was sent to U.S. officials.

2005: Johnny Carson dies of emphysema





John William "Johnny" Carson, who hosted the “Tonight” show from 1962 to 1992, dies in Los Angeles of respiratory failure arising from emphysema at the age of 79.

 

[MisterCairo]

On this day in 1991 The Gulf War in Iraq begins: “Operation Desert Storm”, launched in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, resulted in about 100,000 civilian deaths.

Some would argue it was Iraq's unlawful invasion of Kuwait that was responsible for the civilian deaths, ultimately. As Hitler's invasion of Poland triggered a certain war, and all resulting deaths.

 

[GHT]

Some would argue it was Iraq's unlawful invasion of Kuwait that was responsible for the civilian deaths, ultimately. As Hitler's invasion of Poland triggered a certain war, and all resulting deaths.

I wouldn't argue that, the civilian deaths are what they are. The cause of their demise is for others to debate.