9/2 Open Thread - Liliuokalani's Birthday!

The US recognizes but no longer really celebrates VJ Day, and recognizes National Blueberry Popsicle Day, but not the queen we overthrew in order to seize Hawai'i.

Some of Today's Holidays
Pierce Your Ears Day
National Grits for Breakfast Day
Victory over Japan Day (one of 4; the day the news of Japan's surrender broke to those west of the International date line, ditto east of said line, the arbitrary Monday holiday that replaced both of the above, and the day that the official instrument of surrender was signed, 9/2)
World Coconut Day
Spalding Baseball Day (I don't get it. There is a different brand of beisbol, but it is older and best known as cricket)
Mouthguard Day
Calendar Adjustment Day (This celebrates, or commemorates, the synchronization changes the British went through when they switched from a Caesar's calendar to a pope's calendar. They really should've done it on March 15 if you ask me.)

Since I post these on Monday, if I have posted this it is certain to be the first Monday in September. That means it is also LABOR DAY in the US. This may also be called Don't Think of the Haymarket Affair Day, Anything but May First Day, and Down With Socialism, Communism and Anarchism Day and is essentially a big FU to Europe and all of those other places. Whatever, a lot of USians get the day off, which is what really matters.

So, all that aside, official or not, it is Queen Liliuokalani Day, it's really that easy!

On this day in history:

31 BCE – The Battle of Actium, Rome's final war as a "Republic."

1752 – Great Britain belatedly adopted the Gregorian calendar. It didn't seem to make matters any better, but it didn't make them any worse either.

1789 – The United States Department of the Treasury was founded. The Treasury is named in Article 1 Section 9 of the US Constitution, and was in charge of US money until December 23, 1913 when control over US money was given to a group of private banks as an xmas present. Nowdays the US has no money, just debt.

1807 – The British Royal Navy bombarded Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets. Over a thousand buildings were destroyed and the Daish fleet was partially destroyed, and partially captured and added to the British fleet. The point of the operation was to prevent neutral Denmark from changing its mind and joining the French during the Napoleonic wars. (The US isn't the only nation that refuses to allow countries to be neutral, isn't that comforting.)

1856 – The Tianjing incident took place in Nanjing, China.

1864 – US troops entered Atlanta which had been abandoned by the Confederates on September first. True southrons are still bitter about this for some reason.

1885 – In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners attacked their Chinese fellow workers killing 28, wounding 15, burning 78 homes, and forcing several hundred more out of town.No one was arrested or tried because why bother.

1898 – The Battle of Omdurman where British and Egyptian troops simply slaughtered Sudanese tribesmen established British control of Sudan. The British were unaware that there was oil in Sudan and wouldn't have cared if they knew, so it is unclear why they wanted to own and run it, except that empire is habit forming.

1923 – In the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, lynch mobs of Japanese begin massacring thousands of civilians over the course of several weeks, mainly ethnic minorities such as Koreans and Chinese. This was done with government approval.

1945 – Vietnam declared its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. It would then take it 9 years to decisively defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu. Sadly, the US objected to Vietnam's freedom, and waged war upon it for decades.

1945 – The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and accepted aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. This ended combat operations in the Pacific Theater and, hence, WWII. It used to be celebrated in many countries, but now that unending war is humdrum and habitual, the celebration of peace accords has fallen off as being quaint or something.

1958 – A USAF RC-130 was shot down over Armenia when it entered Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. The US claims that the crew got lost and wandered into Soviet territory by accident. The US military is shockingly prone to such "accidents", like when it bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade by mistake. A case could be made that since US forces can't navigate, identify landmarks and structures or commercial airliners (Iran air 655), maybe they should stay home. Just sayin'

2008 – Google launched its Google Chrome web browser. I'm not impressed. If you want to see chrome, check out a '56 Buick sometime.

2013 – The replacement Eastern span of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge opened, just under 24 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake broke the old span. For reference, they built the entire Golden Gate in 4 years back in the thirties.

Some people who were born on this day:

He who sees the truth, let him proclaim it, without asking who is for it or who is against it.

~~ Henry George

1810 – Lysander Button, engineer, made many improvements in fire engines
1838 – Liliuokalani, the first queen regnant and last sovereign monarch of the Kingdom of Hawai'i.
1839 – Henry George, political economist
1877 – Frederick Soddy, radiochemist and academic
1910 – Donald Watson, vegan activist, founded the Vegan Society
1917 – Laurindo Almeida, composer and guitarist
1917 – Cleveland Amory, author, reporter, activist, and critic

1925 – Hugo Montenegro, composer and conductor
1928 – Horace Silver, pianist, arranger, and composer. Hard bop pioneer
1931 – Clifford Jordan, saxophonist
1932 – Walter Davis, Jr., pianist
1934 – Sam Gooden, singer, rooster, impression
1938 – Jimmy Clanton, singer and songwriter
1943 – Rosalind Ashford, singer
1943 – Joe Simon, singer and songwriter
1946 – Marty Grebb, keyboardist, guitarist, and saxophonist
1946 – Billy Preston, singer, songwriter, pianist, and actor
1946 – Dan White, twinkie aficionado, cop, assassin
1948 – Christa McAuliffe, educator and astronaut
1950 – Michael Rother, guitarist, keyboard player, and songwriter
1951 – Mik Kaminski, rock violinist
1953 – John Zorn, multi-instrumentalist composer.
1957 – Steve Porcaro, keyboardist and songwriter

Some people who died on this day:

Nothing is more precious than independence and liberty.

~~ Ho Chi Minh

1910 – Henri Rousseau, painter
1934 – Russ Columbo, singer, violinist, and actor
1948 – Sylvanus Morley, archaeologist and spy
1969 – Ho Chi Minh, civil rights activist and freedom fighter
1973 – J. R. R. Tolkien, writer
1975 – Mabel Vernon, suffragist and pacifist
1992 – Barbara McClintock, geneticist and botanicist
2006 – Dewey Redman, saxophonist
2012 – Mark Abrahamian, guitarist (Starship)
2012 – John C. Marshall, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2013 – Frederik Pohl, author and publisher
2018 – Claire Wineland, activist and author

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

Liliuokalani's Birthday, etc.

Today's Tunes

Liliuokalani

Laurindo Almeida

Hugo Montenegro

Horace Silver

Clifford Jordan

Walter Davis, Jr

Sam Gooden

Jimmy Clanton

Rosalind Ashford

Joe Simon

Marty Grebb

Billy Preston

John Zorn

Mik Kaminsky

Steve Porcaro

Dewey Redman

Mark Abrahamian

John C. Marshall

Photo:
Internet Archive Book Images: Image from page 138 of "History of the United States from the earliest discovery of America to the present time" (1912)

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, Liliuokalani, VJ Day, Copenhagen, Omdurman, Uncle Ho, Laurindo Almeida, Billy Preston