Television is one of those inventions that initially showed great promise of being of potential benefit to humankind but, in the end, did nothing of the kind.

Television is a medium because anything well done is rare.

Fred Allen

Television is chewing gum for the eyes.

Frank Lloyd Wright

KILL YOUR TV

Or blow it up

On this day in history:

0164 BC -- Judas Maccabeus restored the Temple in Jerusalem.
1386 -- Timur of Samarkand sacked Tbilisi
1676 – Astronomer Ole Rømer presented the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.
1783 – The first untethered hot air balloon flight.
1877 -- Thomas Edison announced the creation of the phonograph
1894 -- The Japanese captured Port Arthur. The lessons to be learned weren't until during WWI.
1905 -- Albert Einstein's paper on the relationship between energy content and inertia was published.
1910 -- Brazilian Sailors rebelled (The Revolt of the Lash).
1918 -- The Lwow pogrom took place.
1920 -- "Bloody Sunday" in Dublin.
1922 -- Rebecca Latimer Felton became the first female US Senator
1927 -- Striking coal miners were slaughtered with machine guns by state police in the Columbine Mine massacre.
1953 -- The "Piltdown Man" skull was revealed to be a hoax.
1959 – Alan Freed was fired from WABC radio over allegations concerening payola.

1964 -- The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened. (Giovanni da Verrazzano beat Hudson and all those folks, but ...)
1967 – General William Westmoreland said: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."
1969 -- The first permanent ARPANET link was set up between UCLA and SRI
1983 -- The US criminal war against Grenada ended.
1986 -- Oliver North fired up the shredder
2002 -- NATO invited Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to join & help restart the cold war.
2013 -- The Euromaidan began in Ukraine.

Some people who were born on this day:

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere

~~ Voltaire

1694 -- Voltaire, historian, playwright, and philosopher, friend of Frederick the Great.
1852 -- Francisco Tarrega, guitarist and composer
1861 -- Tom Horn, police officer and murderer, not a prototype, but an exemplar for sure.
1902 -- Isaac Bashevis Singer, author and playwright
1904 -- Coleman Hawkins, saxophonist and clarinet player
1940 -- Dr. John, singer, songwriter and pianist; gris-gris man as well
1948 -- Lonnie Jordan, singer, songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist (War)
1965 -- Bjork, bjork

Some people who died on this day:

The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him.

~~ Robert Benchley

1695 -- Henry Purcell, organist and composer
1938 -- Leopold Godowsky, pianist and composerv
1945 -- Robert Benchley, humorist, newspaper columnist, and actor
1953 -- Larry Shields, clarinet player and composer (Original Dixieland Jass Band)
1970 -- C. V. Raman, physicist and academic, Raman effect, Raman scattering
1986 -- Jerry Colonna, singer, songwriter, comedian, trombonist and actor; ya gotta be kidding
1999 -- Quentin Crisp, actor, author, and illustrator
2002 -- Hadda Brooks, singer, songwriter, and pianist
2006 -- Robert Lockwood, Jr., guitarist
2010 -- Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, painter and author, co-founded the DuSable Museum of African American History
2011 -- Anne McCaffrey, author, dragon rider
2012 – Austin Peralta, pianist
2013 – Bernard Parmegiani, composer
2017 – David Cassidy, TV actor, pop singer, songwriter, and guitarist

Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

National Adoption Day (US)
World Television Day

So, like, adopt a TV ?

Today's Tunes

Francisco Tarrega

Coleman Hawkins

Doctor John

Lonnie Jordan

Bjork

Henry Purcell

Leopold Godowsky

Larry Shields

Jerry Colonna

Hadda Brooks

Robert Lockwood, Jr.

just for grins: (This ought to eat up the whole morning)

Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com

Open Thread, Henry Purcell, Bjork, Jerry Colonna, Hadda Brooks, Coleman Hawkins, Doctor John, Rebecca Latimer Felton, Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders