On this day in 1600 Giordana Bruno was burned at the stake for the unforgivable sin of thinking for himself. On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, the philosopher Giordano Bruno had a spike put through his tongue to prevent him from continuing to speak. The spike in question was driven upward through the lower jaw and was only one of the last of the many tortures to which he was subjected. He was tortured and executed for having the audacity to think for himself and to hold views not in accord with those of the superstitious theofascists who ran Europe at the time. He has become, over time, a martyr of both science and free thought (also known as heresy). His sentence was pronounced by Pope Clement XVIII (obviously misnamed) and his inquisitors, a slew of Cardinals, included the future Pope Paul V and Cardinal Bellarmino , who compelled Gallileo to recant and prohibited the reading of Copernicus' works. All of Bruno's works were ordered destroyed. The church subsequently found cause to justify and support its actions against him, including his torture, in 1942 and again in 2000.

On this day in 1859 the French Navy captured the Citadel of Saigon, a fortress that was manned by 1,000 Nguyen dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering Saigon and other regions of southern Viet Nam. The Vietnamese weren't able to free themselves from the French colonialists until the Batle of Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954 drove them to sign the Geneva accords in July of '54 and leave. Even though the Geneva accords mandated free elections, the Vietnamese were not yet allowed to be free. The US stepped in specifically to prevent any free elections out of a certainty that Uncle Ho would win in a landslide. Since he was to the left of Benito Mussolini, such a government would violate the fledgling Eisenhower Doctrine which, as a practical matter, without the propaganda and obfuscation, required that the US not willingly tolerate the creation or continuation of any government to the left of Benito Mussolini with the exception of a few established European allies. The US was to stay there waging an illegal war on civilians and military alike until the Paris Peace Accords of January 27, 1973 officially ended the war. Even then, the war wasn't really over, and the US was still actively occupying Vietnamese territory for over two more years until Saigon fell on April 30, 1975.

On This Day in 1893, Wally Pipp was born. Wally Pipp, first base, is one of the most famous ballplayers of all time and an important lesson about many things among certain baseball aficionados,. He was a power hitting first baseman who was good enough to bat cleanup behind Ruth in the Yankee lineup. (Please don't ask "Ruth who?") For whatever, disputed, reason, headache, temporary double vision, a day at the track, or what, he didn't start on June 2, 1925. The Yankees brought in a young rookie named Lou Gehrig to replace him for that day. Gehrig went on to play for 2,130 consecutive games over the next 14 years. Pipp wound up in Cincy.

On this day in history:

1801 – An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was resolved when Jefferson was elected President of the United States and Burr, Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.

1819 – The United States House of Representatives passed the Missouri Compromise for the first time.

1859 - The fall of the Citadel of Saigon to imperialist French forces. (Is imperialist French redundant?)

1863 – A group of citizens of Geneva founded an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross.

1864 – The H. L. Hunley became the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, sinking itself in the process
.

1867 – The first ship to transit the Suez Canal transited the Suez Canal.

1904 – Madama Butterfly premiered.

1909 - Goyaale' died a US prisoner at Fort Sill regretting his surrender

1913 – The Armory Show opened in New York City, displaying works of artists who were to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.

1959 – The first weather satellite was launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.

1964 – In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.

1996 – Garry Kasparov beat the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.

2008 – Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.

Some people who were born on this day:

The walls, the bars, the guns and the guards can never encircle or hold down the idea of the people.

~~ Huey P. Newton

1653 – Arcangelo Corelli, violinist and composer
1723 – Tobias Mayer, astronomer and academic
1740 – Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, physicist and meteorologist
1781 – René Laennec, physician, invented the stethoscope
1796 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, physician and botanist
1893 – Wally Pipp, first base,
1904 – Hans Morgenthau, political scientist, philosopher, and academic
1912 – Andre Norton, Author
1922 – Tommy Edwards, singer and songwriter
1923 – Buddy DeFranco, clarinet player and bandleader
1929 – Chaim Potok, rabbi and author
1940 – Vicente Fernández, singer, songwriter, actor, and producer
1940 – Gene Pitney, singer-songwriter
1942 – Huey P. Newton, activist, co-founded the Black Panther Party, a public service organization for a persecuted and harassed populace that became, as a result, a persecuted and harassed organization.
1944 – Karl Jenkins, saxophonist, keyboard player, and composer (Soft Machine)
1948 – José José, singer, songwriter, producer, and actor
1949 – Fred Frith, guitarist and songwriter
1950 – Rickey Medlocke, guitarist
1954 – Lou Ann Barton, singer and songwriter
1957 – Loreena McKennitt, singer, songwriter, accordion player, and pianist
1966 – Michael Lepond, bass player
1966 – Quorthon, guitarist and songwriter
1972 – Billie Joe Armstrong, singer,songwriter, guitarist, actor, and producer
1972 – Taylor Hawkins, singer, songwriter and drummer
1972 – Lars Göran Petrov, singer and drummer
1982 – Daniel Merriweather, singer, songwriter
1983 – Kevin Rudolf, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Some people who died on this day:

“Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”

~~ Giordano Bruno

1600 – Giordano Bruno, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher
1673 – Molière, French actor and playwright
1715 – Antoine Galland, orientalist and archaeologist
1909 – Goyaalé aka Geronimo, tribal leader
1982 – Thelonious Monk, pianist and composer
1986 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, philosopher and author
1994 – Randy Shilts, journalist and author
2006 – Ray Barretto, drummer
2006 – Bill Cowsill, singer,songwriter and guitarist
2014 – Wayne Smith, singer

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

Presidents' Day
Giordano Bruno Day (Unofficial), and, Ironically enough:
Random Acts of Kindness Day
National Public Science Day
World Human Spirit Day

Today's Tunes

Arcangelo Corelli

Wally Pipp

Tommy Edwards

Buddy DeFranco

Gene Pitney

Karl Jenkins

Fred Frith

Rickey Medlocke

Lou Ann Barton

Taylor Hawkins

Giordano Bruno

Thelonious Monk

Mulligan and Monk

Ms. Barton redux

Image is Giordano Bruno's Statue in Campo Fiori, by enhydra lutris

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

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com

Open Thread, Giordano Bruno, Vietnam, Wally Pipp, Huey Newton, Archangelo Corelli, Gene Pitney, Lou Ann Barton, Thelonious Monk, Goyaale'