Sunday Open Thread: May 20 is Emancipation Day in Fla and Independence Day in Cuba

The NAACP has declared this to be Josephine Baker Day


JosephineBaker1.jpg


and it is also Setting Orange, Discord 67, 3184 YOLD
(for you Discordians out there)

World History this day

1497 – John Cabot sailed west out of Bristol looking sharp as a pistol
1498 – Vasco da Gama arrived at Kozhikode, India and exclaimed Oh Calcutta!
1520 – Cortes' troops trecherously committed the massacre at the festival of Toxcatl
1570 – Abraham Ortelius issued the first "modern" atlas.
1631 – The Holy Roman Empire's troops slaughtered almost the entire population of Magdeburg
1802 – Napoleon reinstated slavery in the French colonies shouting Liberte' and all that
1883 – Krakatoa began to erupt, but Jimmy Buffet wasn't born yet
1902 – Cuba gained independence from the US
1927 – The UK recognized the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud via the Treaty of Jeddah
2002 – Portugal recognized The independence of East Timor

US History this day

1862 – Lincoln signed the Homestead Act
1902 – Cuba gained independence from the US
1949 – The predecessor to the National Security Agency was created, freedom wept
1985 – Radio Marti began bombarding Cuba with political propaganda
1996 – The Supremes Court slapped down a Colorado law prohibiting laws protecting the rights of GLBT persons (Romer v. Evans)

Science & Technology this day

1875 – 17 countries signed the Metre Convention creating the International System of Units.
1891 – The first public display of Edison's kinetoscope.
1956 – The US detonated an H-Bomb over Bikini Atoll
1964 – Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation
1983 – First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus

The Arts this day

1609 – Thomas Thorpe was the first to publish Shakespeare's sonnets

Misc. this day

0325 – The First Council of Nicaea was opened
1932 – Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland for Ireland.

Birthdays of Note this day

1537 – Hieronymus Fabricius, anatomist
1743 – Toussaint Louverture, revolutionary
1759 – William Thornton, architect who designed the US Capitol
1772 – Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet, inventor **
1799 – Honore' de Balzac, novelist and playwright
1806 – John Stuart Mill, economist, civil servant, and philosopher
1825 – Antoinette Brown Blackwell, a protestant minister
1830 – Hector Malot, author
1882 – Sigrid Undset, author
1883 – Faisal I of Iraq, leader of the Arab Revolt, used and shafted by the British
1895 – R. J. Mitchell, engineer who designed the Supermarine Spitfire
1931 – Louis Smith, trumpeter
1940 – Shorty Long, singer, songwriter and producer
1944 – Joe Cocker, singer and songwriter
1946 – Cher, singer, songwriter, producer, and actress
1958 – Jane Wiedlin, A singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1959 – Susan Cowsill, ya think maybe a Cowsill?

** He "invented" the Congreve Rocket, based directly on pre-existing Mysore weaponry

Deaths of Note this day

1506 -- Christopher Columbus, explorer, colonizer, slaver, tyrant
1896 -- Clara Schumann, pianist and composer
1909 -- Ernest Hogan, actor and composer
1956 -- Max Beerbohm, essayist, parodist, and caricaturist
1964 -- Rudy Lewis, singer
1998 -- Robert Normann, guitarist, does a cool flat foot floogie
2000 -- Jean-Pierre Rampal, flautist
2012 -- Robin Gibb, singer, songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
2013 -- Ray Manzarek, singer, songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
2015 -- Bob Belden, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and producer

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So now some music


Josephine Baker

John Cabot

Krakatoa

Shorty Long

Joe Cocker

Cher

Clara Schumann

Ernest Hogan

Rudy Lewis

Robert Normann

Jean-Pierre Rampal

Robin Gibb

Ray Manzarek

Bob Belden

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Photo: Thad Zajdowicz's photo of Aztec Josephine Baker by Alexander Calder ca. 1929 from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Now I don't know how many here remember the Ink Spots. Hell, I don't know how many here remember ink. But the Ink Spots famously started one song - "I put a nickel in the slot and all I ever got was Five Salt PeaNuts". Here, you don't even get that, nor even One Meatball(tm). However you do get access to all of this fantabulous content, the brilliant commentary, the scintillating repartee worthy of the Algonquin Round Table and, most of all, the opportunity to cast scorn and snark upon the authors thereof. So you might consider throwing a few coins into the tip jar up there in the upper left corner, it's how Johnny keeps the damn place running. Thanks.

It's an open thread, so do your thing

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The Aspie Corner's picture

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

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 --

The Aspie Corner's picture

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

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 --

Lookout's picture

happy day josephine! (4.5 min song in french with subtitles--and sailing scene)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S5CVEUYnj8

hope you all have a good one!

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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 --

Lily O Lady's picture

exist. Just go buy some for your printer and you’ll see what I mean.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lily O Lady

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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 --

Lily O Lady's picture

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Lily O Lady

Ink? It’s the most expensive substance known to exist. Just go buy some for your printer and you’ll see what I mean.

It's not the most expensive, but it's up there, at $2700 per gallon.

It's still beaten by:

Mercury $3400/gallon
Biosynthetic Insulin $9400/gallon
Chanel No. 5 $26,000/gallon
Horseshoe Crab (Trilobite) blood $60,000/gallon
LSD $123,000/gallon
King Cobra venom $153,000/gallon
Scorpion venom $39,000,000/gallon

source

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides @thanatokephaloides

...Scorpion venom $39,000,000/gallon ...

Edit: and scorpions are about the only thing I can think of that factory farming would be suitable for! Not looking forward to the morning and evening milkings, though...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Mark from Queens's picture

From Atlas Obscura:
John Lennon Statue
His music once banned in Communist Cuba, John Lennon is now imortalized in bronze by Castro, who considers Lennon a "fellow dreamer."

Young Cubans intrigued by the cultural revolution happening in the US and Europe could sense what they were being denied access, but could get only a small taste of the 60s by quietly listening to smuggled Beatles tapes in dark rooms.

20 years after John Lennon’s death, Castro made a complete 180; no longer was his music banned, instead Lennon was to be celebrated as a hero. Castro unveiled a shiny new bronze statue of Lennon in the new John Lennon Park, screened a documentary on Lennon shot by his personal cinematographer, and organized a Lennon tribute concert in 2000.

The reason for honoring this musical icon? “I share his dreams completely. I too am a dreamer who has seen his dreams turn into reality.” Lennon was also harassed by the US government in the later years of his life, and Cuba considers him a rebel and a victim; a kindred spirit to Cuba’s relationship with the US.

Castro's change of tune resulted from re-imagining Lennon as political dissident hounded by the U.S. government. In the dictator's eyes, Lennon was no longer a symbol of the decadent West, but a revolutionary dedicated to emancipating the working class. That conveniently made him a posthumous ally of Cuba — hence the need for a life-sized bronze statue and an accompanying open-air concert of Lennon's music.

The statue, which captures Lennon in his long-haired, anti-war activism years, sits on a bench in John Lennon Park. Its iconic circular-rimmed glasses have been stolen so often that a guard now stands nearby holding them, poised to place them on the statue's face when visitors approach.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

enhydra lutris's picture

@Mark from Queens

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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 --

Wink's picture

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

@Wink

..."We stand for truth for evidence and facts,” Clinton said during her speech. “What an incredible thing…We have kind of an affection for evidence.” ...

..."We stomp on truth, evidence and facts,” Clinton said during her speech. “What an incredible thing…We have kind of an affection for evidence; we'll kill to try to keep it to ourselves, so the public ever even sees it.” ...

up
0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.