It is 11/23 & I have seen the fnords (but tell nobody)
23 is:
The 9th prime and the sum of 3 consecutive primes; 5, 7 and 11
The atomic number of Vanadium
The number of chromosomes in a human sperm or ova (haploid)
The number of times that Julius Caesar was stabbed.
The 23 enigma is the belief that most incidents and accidents, events and happenstances, and stuff, are somehow directly connected to the number 23. Robert Anton Wilson, William S. Burroughs, The Illuminatus! Trilogy (fnord), Principia discordia, etc. Like this open thread, for example.
23 BCE:
Was the "Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Varro".
Was allegedly when Herod the Great built a palace in Jerusalem.
Had the usual problems with a plethora of gods, goddesses, demigods, prophets, seers, priests, priestesses and suchwhat running around loose; along with all of the concomitant auguries, sacrifices, soothsaying, prophecy and other nuisances that we find throughout antiquity.
23 CE:
Was the "Year of the Consulship of Pollio and Vetus"
This was the year in which the Greek geographer Strabo finally published his "Geography", a work describing the world known to the Romans and Greeks in Emperor Augustus' day. No similar works of similar antiquity exist.
Pliny the Elder, a Roman scientist and writer, was born.
Liu Xuan, a descendant of the Han Dynasty overthrew Wang Mang and ended the Xin Dynasty. Restored the Han Dynasty, he did.
Same old gods and shit.
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11/23 sometimes generates links to the following pointless digression from anything and everything
Mark 11:23
"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them."
This has only happened once - Krakatoa - in August of 1883. It is alleged than a drunken sea capitan was the one to curse the mountain island. Nobody knows which Kahuna he called upon.
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Using 11/23 as a date and not a sermon or prophecy, on that date in
534 BCE Thespis of Icaria became the first known actor to portray a character onstage. Hence thespian.
1644 John Milton published his Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship. A famous and seminal but ineffectual nice try.
1889 The first jukebox went operational in the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. It contained mostly stuff for dancing "that old grizzly bear" and some Vince Guaraldi
1910 Johan Alfred Ander was the last person executed in Sweden. Waaaay ahead of the curve, those Swedes.
1924 Edwin Hubble's discovery that Andromeda was another galaxy was published in a newspaper
1946 The French naval bombardment of Hai Phong, Vietnam, killed thousands of civilians. This led to the First Indochina War.
1963 The BBC broadcast the first episode of Doctor Who.
1981 Ronald Reagan signed the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Can you say "Iran-Contra affair"?
2003 In the so-called Rose Revolution, Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze was forced to resign due to weeks of mass protests financed and instigated from the US as a result of his choosing Russia for a pipeline terminus.
2011 President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen signed a deal to transfer power to the vice president in exchange for legal immunity.
People Born on 11/23 in
1837: Johannes Diderik van der Waals, a Dutch physicist and thermodynamicist. He was a Nobel Prize laureate known for van der Waals' force
1859: Billy the Kid, a U.S. criminal known for lethal force.
1888: Harpo Marx, a U.S. actor and singer. BINGO A star is born
1949: Alan Paul, a U.S. singer,songwriter, and actor (think The Manhattan Transfer)
1949: Sandra Stevens, an English songstress. (think Brotherhood of Man)
1950: Chuck Schumer, a U.S. lawyer and politician
1962: Nicolás Maduro, a Venezuelan union leader and politician. Would you believe President of Venezuela?
Those who died on 11/23
1457: Ladislaus the Posthumous, a Hungarian king.) The Posthumous?? WTF?
1992: Roy Acuff, a U.S. singer, songwriter, and fiddler
1995: Louis Malle, a French-American director, producer, and screenwriter
1995: Junior Walker, a U.S. singer and saxophonist
2007: Robert Vesco, a Cuban-American financier. A major crook and a major Nixon (not a crook) backer.
2014: Clive Palmer, an English banjo player (Incredibly enough,The Incredible String Band) Who?
11/23 is a Christian feast day of (for?):
Alexander Nevsky (in the Russian Orthodox Church) Perhaps the greatest figure in the Kievan Rus' history; Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev and Grand Prince of Vladimir. He laid a crushing defeat on the invading Teutonic Knights (Crusaders) with just the usual country rabble at Lake Peipus. Sergei Eisenstein says it far better than I ever could in his 1938 historical movie "Alexander Nevsky". If you have never seen it, go do so. Afterward, for grins, go see "The Billion Dollar Brain" starring Michael Caine. Compare and contrast. A little Prokofiev anyone?
St. George. Yes, it is once again St George's Day (in Georgia or Giorgoba (Georgia), this time). Same shit, different day. Pointless slaughter of endangered lizard by faceless hired killer (see illustration below).
See also http://www.caucus99percent.com/content/saint-georges-day-april-23
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Now, about dancin' that ol' Grizzly Bear ---
When I Woke Up This Morning, She Was Gone (Jim Jackson)
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Roy Acuff - The Wabash Cannonball (Live)
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The Manhattan Transfer - Java Jive Hey, it's a morning open thread, right?
The Manhattan Transfer - Birdland
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Brotherhood Of Man - United We Stand (The original group from 1970)
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The Incredible String Band - Empty Pocket Blues (Note how the incredible string flute dominates)
Seems to call for a seque to Jethro Tull, dontcha think? Sure you do
Ye olde segue 1958 HITS ARCHIVE: The Swingin' Shepherd Blues - Moe Koffman Quartette (single version)
Jethro Tull - Bungle in the jungle
Which brings us to - Jethro Tull-Too old to rock'n' roll, Supersonic TV 1976 UPGRADE
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And now, the star of our show:
HARPO
Harpo Marx playing classics
Harpo Marx in Horse Feathers [1932]
Ah, Yes, our other main attraction:
Jr. Walker & The All-Stars - Shotgun
JUNIOR WALKER and the ALLSTARS - "WHAT DOES IT TAKE" (to win your love) 1969
Jr. Walker & The All Stars - "These Eyes"
It's a very convoluted linkage, but I always associate "The Swingin' Shepherd Blues" (supra) with Chris Barber's Jazz Band's "Petite Fleur":
Now go strut your stuff---
Soulful Strut/Young-Holt Unlimited
Comments
Interesting post ...
Tipped, recc'd and commented, over there.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Thanks for reading. So, Jesse Colin Young, eh? I first
heard a cover by an unknown in a coffee house in '66.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning, el and 99%'ers
We had our first temps of the year. It dropped down into the low twenties last night. But even with the cold weather, we have beautiful blue Carolina skies without a cloud today.
It is hard to believe that it is already the 23rd of November. We are doing the Thanksgiving thing solo this year and honestly, I am glad to have a break from company.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Good morning, gg, thanks for stopping in.
Colder here, but still moderate. We'll do the usual big friends & family thing, we can't get out of it.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I guess you're calling Vince Guaraldi old-fashioned
thanks for the chuckle. We like him. He pops up regularly on our Pandora station, the one we started using Dave Brubeck as the seed.
Good morning, Shahryar. Guaraldi has some sort of SF or
Bay Area link and following that I can't recall at the moment. Not sure how Pandora could link him to Brubeck, a major innovator, but that is a different matter.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
well, we added Bud Shank, Stan Getz...
maybe that made the station more pop jazz.
thanks for mentioning Roy Acuff
I got to see him live in Northern Minnesota long ago. One of the best dates I was ever on. We flew up in a small airplane from Minneapolis, I think we landed at Eveleth (the same airport where Senator Wellstone died) or maybe it was Virginia, I don't remember. But anyway the concert was in a school gym and we sat on the bleachers.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
Good afternoon, JR, thanks for stopping in.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Thanks EL
for the interesting OT and the great music. I loved the Incredible String Band and haven't heard them in years. I used to listen to The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter while I drew elaborate pen and ink pictures. I liked 'A Very Cellular Song' and just went to you tube to listen and post it. It's freaking 14 minutes long! I must have been on acid to listen to this song over and over. The part of song I remembered was this at 8 min. and 40 seconds into the song
Oh, here we go slithering, here we go
Slithering and squelching on
Oh, here we go slithering, here we go
Slithering and squelching on
Oh ah ee oo
There's absolutely no strife
Living the timeless life
Black hair, brown hair feather and scale
Seed and stamen and all unnamed lives that live
Turn your quivering nerves in my direction
Turn your quivering nerves in my direction
Feel the energy projection of my cells wishes you well
May the long time sun shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure light within you
Guide you all the way on
Instead I posted a shorter song I liked from this trippy album..
Portland's demise
made The Guardians front page today. the comment section was depressing as hell. All the hipster yuppies from hell saying, so what this is just econ 101. Bejeezuz, Portland's city government is Democratic. A Republican couldn't get elected so all the bent pols switched party's and became Democratic 'progressives'. The good news is that now that they have managed to change the demographics and have pushed out everybody but the freaking obnoxious yuppie so called hipsters they can all switch back to being what they really are Republican greed heads who are inevitable,pragmatic and corrupt..
I hate the stupid nasty TV show that helped make this a magnet for assholes 'Portlandia'. I've been checking out small towns near the coast and hopefully we can get out of dodge next spring. I look at this as a microcosm of what is happening globally. These people moving here are not 1% but they sure as hell aren't democratic, liberal, hip, or green. They really remind me of the Hillary fan base at dkos. Growth and greed is inevitable and two legs are better as long as you own a bicycle along with your honking huge earth destroying SUV. Why wreck a affordable, green, liberal great city to live in by demolishing what made it 'desirable' in the first place. Time to move on I guess. Part of me want's to stay and fight 'city hall' but like the saying goes...I'm lucky I bought a house here in the 90's so my rent is controlled other them my soaring property taxes.
However it's more then the housing cost that are making people leave. This used to be a diverse demographic community that was tolerant, affordable,green and extremely livable. So if I do stay the question becomes do I want to live in a city that's just like San Fransisco where losers like me and other members of the community are considered, philistine losers and undesirable riff raff? This may seem like a 'white privileged' issue but if you ask me it is what allows and keeps in power the global neoliberal assholes who own the place. Screw or get screwed and where's my squash ice cream and 2,000$ bike. By what definition is it hip to have a 'manly' steam punk barber shop with a whiskey bar and a black shoe shine guy on your corner which once housed a small green building supply store. ... Meanwhile this article irritated the shit out of me as it was all about how inevitable this unrestrained growth and greed is.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/23/portland-housing-rent-inc...
hip Portland over? How the rent crisis is displacing the city's creative soul
I hear it's the syme the whole world over
We have a corrupt, crooked city council member who ran as a true progressive. He's clearly in the pocket of the developers. We hate him, frankly. Anyway, his campaign team is taking the approach that no one will notice, running Facebook ads calling him "Our Champion". I just hope enough people will look at this race and get rid of him but I fear not enough will take the time to learn anything and simply consider him to be the image he projected in his last campaign.
Good Morning, 99ers, and thanks, el,
all I know is that my former husband was born on a 23rd... now I have to figure out in what kind of category I should put that "arrival", may be into the 23 enigma scheme of things.
Lord, what an OT. So excellent. I am overloaded with excellency, so I go to sleep again. My brain is on strike - no more reading til it can clean out all the trashy stuff. oh ...
Antiquity? We are in antiquity now? Sounds and looks so familiar.
Have a good one. Stay warm.
Thanks, mimi, stay warm yourself.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
This was a very fun read.
It's like the I Ching of Open Threads.
Which would, in fact, suggest that today's gestalt begins in Peace and Prosperity in the early hours, Deteriorating in the late afternoon, and Breaking Apart by nightfall.
Thanks, EL.
On an unrelated note: Has anyone else noticed that, these days, a can of cat food is generally more expensive than a can of tuna, per oz? Especially so when you compare Fancy Feast to chunk light tuna. So, I switched my feral cat, Hello Kitty, over to people food.
At least, I hope it's a cat.
And, is chunk light tuna still people food? It looks different than it used to.
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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Thanks, Pluto & thanks for reading.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --