Monday Open Thread; Mole Day starts at 6:02 am


October 23 is the 296th day of the year, there are 69 days left
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Today's number is 23

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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.

The exponent in 6.02 x 10^23

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Title 23 of the US Code is Highways. Coincidence?

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23 BCE
was the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Varro
Herod the Great allegedly built a palace in Jerusalem.

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23 CE
was the Year of the Consulship of Pollio and Vetus
Tthe 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.
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Today's Number is also Avagadro's, at 6:02 it will be 6:02 10-23, and thus it is mole day (6.02x10**23 particles per mole, ya know)

OK, moving on

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On this day in:

1707 -- The first meeting of Great Britain's Parliament
1739 -- The War of Jenkins' Ear began.
1850 -- The US' first National Women's Rights Convention began
1861 -- Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, today it is merely ignored
1906 -- Alberto Santos-Dumont achieved the first heavier than air flight in Europe
1915 -- 25,000 - 33,000 women marched on NYC's Fifth Avenue demanding suffrage ***
1917 -- Lenin called for the October Revolution.
1929 -- The New York Stock Exchange began to crash.
1935 -- Dutch Schultz and others were gunned down in a bar in Newark, New Jersey
1942 -- The Second Battle of El Alamein took place
1942 -- The Battle for Henderson Field on Guadalcanal began
1944 -- Battle of Leyte Gulf began
1946 -- The UN General Assembly convened for the first time
1955 -- Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem took control of "South Vietnam"
1956 -- The Hungarian revolution began
1972 -- A 5 month US bombing campaign against North Vietnam ended
1973 -- Nixon agreed to turn over the tapes
1983 -- The Marines barracks in Beirut was hit by a truck bomb
1989 -- The Hungarian Republic was declared
1998 -- "Land for peace" between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat

*** Note that they didn't waste time with DC or other socio-political backwaters, but went straight to the seat of power.

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Born this day in:

1927 -- Sonny Criss, saxophonist and composer
1933 -- Carol Fran, singer, songwriter and pianist
1940 -- Ellie Greenwich, singer, songwriter and producer
1943 -- Alida Chelli, actress and singer
1944 -- Mike Harding, singer, songwriter and comedian
1945 -- Kim Larsen, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1947 -- Greg Ridley, bass player, Humble Pie co-founder
1949 -- Wurzel, singer and guitarist
1951 -- Charly Garcia, singer, songwriter and keyboard player
1952 -- Pierre Moerlen, drummer (Gong, tubular bells,)
1956 -- Dianne Reeves, singer
1956 -- Dwight Yoakam, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1958 -- Rose Nabinger, singer
1959 -- "Weird Al" Yankovic, singer, songwriter, comedian, actor
1960 -- Mirwais Ahmadzai, keyboard player and songwriter
1964 -- Robert Trujillo, bass player and songwriter
1967 -- Dale Crover, singer, songwriter, and drummer
1972 -- Jimmy Wayne, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1974 -- Christine Yoshikawa, pianist
1975 -- Jessicka, American singer and songwriter
1990 -- Paradise Oskar, singer, songwriter and guitarist

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Died this day in:

1939 -- Zane Grey, dentist and author
1950 -- Al Jolson, actor and singer
1978 -- Maybelle Carter, singer and autoharp player
2004 -- Robert Merrill, singer and actor
2012 -- Michael Marra, singer and songwriter
2013 -- Gypie Mayo, guitarist and songwriter
2014 -- Joan Quigley, Whitehouse astrologer under Reagan
2014 -- Alvin Stardust, singer and actor
2015 -- Leon Bibb, singer
2016 -- Pete Burns, singer and songwriter

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Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days and such:
Mole Day (International observance)

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So, for music,
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Parliament

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October Revolution

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Sonny Criss

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Carol Fran

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Ellie Greenwich

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Alida Chelli

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Mike Harding

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Greg Ridley

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Wurzel

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Charley Garcia

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Pierre Moerlen

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Dianne Reeves

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Dwight Yoakam

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Rose Nabinger

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Wierd Al Yankovic

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Mirwais Ahmadzai

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Robert Trujillo

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Dale Crover

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Jimmy Wayne

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Christine Yoshikawa

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Jessicka

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Paradise Oskar (Look Ma, no effing truetone!)

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Zane Grey

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Al Jolsen

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Maybelle Carter

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Robert Merrill

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Michael Mara

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Gypie Mayo

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Alvin Stardust

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Leon Bibb

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Pete Burns

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Bonus:

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Parliament

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Dianne Reeves

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Sonny Criss

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picture is a US Government work credited to Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation

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Lookout's picture

A mole or ...
"Avogadro's number was initially defined by Jean Baptiste Perrin as the number of atoms in one gram-molecule of atomic hydrogen, meaning one gram of hydrogen." So they defined the weight of H as one and the atomic weight/mass of all other elements is relative.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICXYMjgmG88]

I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground (Basom Lamar Lunsford 1928) - 3.5 min

Analysis of song:

In order to understand the famous first lines of this song, it is necessary to look at the whole song first. The singer has recently been released from the pen(itentiary), and was for a long time in the brutalizing company of rough and rowdy men. How did he wind up there? He possibly had an altercation, possibly a dispute over wages, with a railroad man, possibly a foreman or owner. He does not like a railroad man, possibly because they exploit their workers by putting them in life-threatening work situations and by cheating them out of their wages.

He has left prison with some money he managed to put aside--possibly the wages from his railroad work. Money is an important aspect of his relationship with his girlfriend or wife, Tempy (Temperance). She wants him to buy her things--a nine-dollar shawl. She is happy to see him return with a forty-dollar bill. Bascom Lamar Lundsford, who recorded the most famous version of this song in 1928, said he learned it in 1901. Given that the average salary in 1901 was $450 a year, the singer would have had to spend a week's wages to buy Tempy her nine-dollar shawl; a forty-dollar bill was about a month's wages. The work week was six days, nine hours a day. The singer stresses that Tempy's happiness upon seeing him returning to her coming over the hill is to some extent dependent on her knowledge that he has a forty-dollar bill in his pocket.

The singer recalls his time in prison, when he was like a lizard in winter, lethargic and stone-like, and he wished to be like a lizard in the spring, warmed by the sun and delighted by the melodious voice of his beloved Tempy. There follows a description of Tempy's beautiful curly hair. It is a folkloristic version of a Botticelli painting of curly-haired angels. Tempy's hair, which the singer contemplates in ecstasy, has a redeeming and purifying significance for him. The mountain that the singer wants to root down symbolizes the massive social and economic impediments that prevent him from achieving happiness. He wants to destroy its foundations, as a determined mole might miraculously be able to, and see it collapse and his days of humiliation to come to an end. So on the one hand, the song is a lamentation about the series of humiliations the singer has had to suffer: being exploited at work, imprisoned; knowing that his beloved sees him as a source of income. At the same time, it is a song of joy and thanksgiving--thanks for the joys he experiences with his beloved, and hope that he might someday be able to change his situation and no longer live a life of humiliation.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout

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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 --

riverlover's picture

(blood and gore saturated), blood on my white comforter, blood on my face and hands. My nascent trust in my body dribbled out and has exited the premises. Now a raging thirst. Too much blood loss? A blood hair helmet this morning. No ability to look in a mirror. But I think I reopened a back-of-skull wound. And hit a new spot as well. I seem to be a woe-magnet. I had not finished cleaning up the entire previous bleed out...

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

@riverlover hopefully your head is not still bleeding, because that sounds like needing stitches to me. Dangerous.

I know people have numbers and stuff, say if you want more. Take care and keep posting when you can.

thanks

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riverlover's picture

@eyo I just spoke with a friend. He encouraged me to GOOD. Get out of Dodge, goal by end of 2017.

Still feeling faint after standing for some seconds. My goal is to rehydrate.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

enhydra lutris's picture

@riverlover
with respect to those latest injuries, and take care of yourself.

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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 --

How highly paid bureaucrats are blocking a massive plan to help Sacramento’s homeless

Quote below is The End of a lot more words written there, please read it in all its glory. Outrage meter already pegged, I'll just ask "Fire them? How about put them in prison? Or take their homes away?" Sheesh. Yeah okay, I don't know anything. What would I do with 98 million dollars? duh

Whether heads roll or not at the county is interesting but far less relevant than the crisis at hand. Sacramento is crying out for a real organized effort to combat its massive homeless problem.

If elected officials ultimately decide they can’t craft a solution, then voters can hold them accountable if voters so choose. But I didn’t elect the people holding up this process and neither did you.

Serna, Kennedy, Nottoli and their supervisor colleagues should either make them do their jobs, or fire them and find people who can.

good luck

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enhydra lutris's picture

@eyo
is opposed to spending "their" tax money on those lazy bums, which makes it hard to find a real solution, though said populace would, no doubt, rail about and object to the "waste" of spending or appropriating the money to no effect.

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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 --

EyeRound's picture

@enhydra lutris + to your quotation marks!

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ggersh's picture

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

enhydra lutris's picture

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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 --

gulfgal98's picture

going on here today. We get a lot of rain here anyway, but usually it is not in buckets and buckets like today. The good news is that it is predicted for us to have beautiful fall days for the rest of this week. This coming Friday is the fourth Friday gallery walk and Saturday is the annual Halloween celebration downtown. Halloween is a huge holiday here with whole families showing up downtown in costume.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

enhydra lutris's picture

@gulfgal98 @gulfgal98
significant. Hope yours doesn't interfere with things too much.

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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 --

Arrow's picture

I don't know...those consulships leave me a little Meah,

I'm kinda late today but here goes...

'The Peruvian Beach Shack Report' (TM no rights reserved):

Whale Fight!
Lots of carrying on. About a 1/4 mile off shore two Humpbacks were engaged in what must have been a test of male domination or something. Both whales where breaching and slapping their tails in absolutely impressive huge splashes. It went on for five minutes or so. I didn't have to book a whale watching trip just stand there and marvel.

The 'Beach Shack' (TM) is expecting!
Last full moon a sea turtle hauled up and made a nest 2 feet from the entrance. she laid about 80 eggs covered them over and went back to the ocean. The shack marked it off and placed a piece of black plastic over the nest to keep the temperature up and constant.

It Rained!
Well to be fair, it sorta drizzled for about 5 minutes this morning. Just a case of land/ocean interaction. The rainy season starts later.

That's all for this 'Peruvian Beack Shack Report' (TM no rights reserved)

Have a great day all!

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I want a Pony!

enhydra lutris's picture

@Arrow
Thanks for the Peruvian beach shack report and thanks to the personnell there for helping Ms. Turtle.

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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 --

U.S. can piss off

“Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fight against Daesh and ISIS is coming to a close, those militias need to go home," Tillerson said on Sunday in Saudi Arabia.

Abadi's office responded sharply.

"No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters," a statement from his office read. It did not cite the prime minister himself but a "source" close to him. It referred to the mainly Shi'ite paramilitaries, known as "Popular Mobilisation", as "patriots".

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enhydra lutris's picture

@gjohnsit

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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 --