Today is Presidential Joke Day and I think that speaks for itself.

The Mesoamerican/Mayan Calendar began on this day in 3114 BCE. That wouldn't be such a big deal except that it tracks and predicts celestial events with great accuracy still today. It is a system of interlocking and interrelated cyclical calendars which tracked the moon, the sun, venus, mercury, mars, jupiter and saturn. There are both astronomical cycles and some non-rudimentary math and arithmetic involved as well as a good deal of relatively meticulous celestial observations all carried out in a base 20 arithmetical system. Included, fwiw, is "the long count" which, being cyclical, can never really end. This calendar is still in use in parts of Guatemala, Chiapas, Oxaca, and Veracrus and, I suspect, more, like maybe parts of Belize.

On August 11, 1898, US troops entered Mayagüez, Puerto Rico during the US conquest of that island. This was during the so-called "Spanish-American War", a name which has always bugged me, since the US started that war, I mean, shouldn't it be "The US war on Spain"?. For grins I googled said war and it's AI feature spewed forth the following:

The Spanish-American War was a conflict between Spain and the United States in 1898. The war began after the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor, with the U.S. siding with Cuban rebels fighting for independence from Spain.
The war resulted in the U.S. acquiring several Spanish territories and emerging as a world power.

That's just too typical of how we in this country represent stuff. The war began after the US declared war on Spain, full stop. Yes, the Maine did blow up and yes, there is no evidence that Spain had anything to do with it. Yellow journalists clamored for war on Spain, but not because of the Spain and also not out any concern for or sympathy with the populace of Cuba. By attacking Spain, we , of course were siding with the Cubans, but the obnly reason we didn't make them a US territory is becasue of the optics. Yes, we gained a ton of Spanish holdings and yes that was the principal motive for attacking Spain, to capture all that stuff. We got Guam, the Phillippines, Puerto Rico and control over Cuba plus a nifty perpetual Naval Base in Cuba called Guantanamo.

August 11, 1992, brought forth the acme of US culture and coture, The Mall of America; at the time, the biggest and bestest Mall in the entire USofA, W00t!

On this day in history:

3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Maya, began.

1315 – The Great Famine of Europe became so dire that the king of England had difficulties buying bread for himself and his entourage. Marie Antoinette wouldn't be born for another 440 years.

1786 – Captain Francis Light established the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.

1804 – Francis II assumed the title of first Emperor of Austria. after quitting as Holy Roman Emperor

1813 – In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia.

1858 – First ascent of the Eiger, by Charles Barrington, Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.

1898 – US troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico during the US conquest of Puerto Rico in its war on Spain
.

1920 – The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which endied the Latvian War of Independence was signed.

1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrived at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.

1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil received a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi.

1960 – Chad declared independence from France.

1962 – Vostok 3 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev became the first person to float in microgravity.

1965 – The Watts Riots began in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.

1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts were released from a three-week quarantine after their liftoff from the Moon.

1972 – The last United States ground combat unit left South Vietnam.

1973 – At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosted a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip hop culture and music where he demonstrated beat juggling and Coke La Rock performed rapping.

1988 – A meeting between Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan culminated in the formation of Al-Qaeda.

1992 – The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, opened; this was a big deal at the time

2003 – NATO took over command of the "peacekeeping" force in Afghanistan in support of mujahadeen warlord Hamid Karzai, marking its first major operation outside of Europe

Some people who were born on this day:

“There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences.”

~~ Robert G. Ingersoll

1673 – Richard Mead, physician and astrologer
1833 – Robert G. Ingersoll, soldier, lawyer, and politician
1837 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, engineer and politician
1858 – Christiaan Eijkman, physician and academic
1860 – Ottó Bláthy, engineer and chess player
1885 – Stephen Butterworth, physicist and engineer
1891 – Edgar Zilsel, historian and philosopher of science, linked to the Vienna Circle
1897 – Louise Bogan, poet and critic
1905 – Erwin Chargaff, biochemist and academic
1912 – Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, astronomer and academic
1920 – Mike Douglas, singer and talk show host
1921 – Alex Haley, historian and author
1926 – Aaron Klug, chemist and biophysicist,
1927 – Raymond Leppard, harpsichord player and conductor
1933 – Tamás Vásáry, pianist and conductor
1939 – Ronnie Dawson, singer and guitarist
1941 – John Ellison, musician and songwriter
1942 – Mike Hugg, drummer and keyboard player
1943 – Jim Kale, bass player
1943 – Denis Payton, saxophonist
1946 – John Conlee, singer and songwriter
1949 – Eric Carmen, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1950 – Erik Brann, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1950 – Steve Wozniak, computer scientist and programmer, co-founded Apple Inc.
1952 – Reid Blackburn, photographer
1952 – Bob Mothersbaugh, singer, guitarist, and producer
1954 – Bryan Bassett, guitarist
1954 – Joe Jackson, singer, songwriter, and musician
1956 – Pierre-Louis Lions, mathematician and academic
1957 – Ian Stuart Donaldson, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1958 – Jah Wobble, singer, songwriter and bass player
1959 – Gustavo Cerati, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1966 – Juan María Solare, pianist and composer
1967 – Enrique Bunbury, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Petter Wettre, saxophonist and composer
1968 – Charlie Sexton, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1974 – Hadiqa Kiani, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist
1976 – Ben Gibbard, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1977 – Gemma Hayes, singer, songwriter
1983 – Pavel 183, painter

Some people who died on this day:

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.

~~ Edith Wharton

1494 – Hans Memling, painter
1563 – Bartolomé de Escobedo, composer and educator
1578 – Pedro Nunes, mathematician and academic
1614 – Lavinia Fontana, painter
1774 – Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche, physician and author
1851 – Lorenz Oken, botanist, biologist, and ornithologist
1854 – Macedonio Melloni, physicist and academic
1868 – Halfdan Kjerulf, pianist and composer
1892 – Enrico Betti, mathematician and academic
1903 – Eugenio María de Hostos, sociologist, philosopher, and lawyer
1908 – Khudiram Bose, revolutionary
1936 – Blas Infante, historian and politician
1937 – Edith Wharton, novelist and short story writer
1956 – Jackson Pollock, painter
1969 – Miriam Licette, soprano and educator
1972 – Max Theiler, virologist and academic,
1974 – Vicente Emilio Sojo, conductor and composer
1977 – Frederic Calland Williams, co-inventor of the Williams-Kilborn tube,
1979 – J. G. Farrell, author
1980 – Paul Robert, lexicographer and publisher
1984 – Alfred A. Knopf Sr., publisher, founded Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
1995 – Phil Harris, singer, songwriter, and actor
1996 – Rafael Kubelík, conductor and composer
2000 – Jean Papineau-Couture, composer and academic
2003 – Armand Borel, mathematician and academic
2009 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, activist, founded the Special Olympics
2010 – James Mourilyan Tanner,paediatric endocrinologist
2013 – Zafar Futehally, ornithologist and author
2015 – Serge Collot, viola player and educator
2015 – Richard Oriani, metallurgist and engineer
2017 – Segun Bucknor, musician and journalist
2018 – V S Naipaul, writer, Nobel Prize laureate
2020 – Trini Lopez, singer and guitarist

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

Mountain Day (Japan)
Ingersoll Day
National Panini Day
Presidential Joke Day
VJ Day

Today's Tunes

Alex Haley

Raymond Leppard

Tamás Vásáry

Ronnie Dawson

John Ellison

Mike Hugg

Jim Kale

Denis Payton,

John Conlee

Eric Carmen

Erik Brann

Bob Mothersbaugh

Bryan Bassett

Joe Jackson

Jah Wobble

Halfdan Kjerulf

Jackson Pollock

Phil Harris

Trini Lopez,

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, Presidential Joke Day, Mayan Calendar, Taking Mayaquez, Mall of America, Ingersoll, Alex Haley, Jackson Pollock, Panini Day