On this day in 1587, Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, was born. She is a highhly celebrated big deal to a particular group of folks who celebrate her as the first white child born in Amereica. Another group considers her to be a bit deal for being the first child born to English parents in the Americas . Personally, its not a big deal. Beyond that, on this day in 1590, 3 years to the day later, her granddad returned to the colony from a supply run to England and found the colony deserted. No trace of the settlers was ever found, so it would seem likely, barring a mass kidnapping by space aliens, that they were slaughtered in his absence by members of the existing local population. The famous "lost colony" was known to have had a serious lack of supplies, hence the supply run, and bad relations with some of the locals. So the much vaunted first white child born here lived less than 3 years

On this date in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, purportedly guaranteeing women's suffrage. A close reading of the Fourteenth Amendment, however, shows that this is not an unconditional right to vote [see my 07/28/2025 OT], insofar as any state can disenfranchise any group of people if it is willing to pay the price in the form of a decrease in the number of Congressional representatives it is entitled to. It isn't like this is such a substantive privilege anyway. Women in the US aren't equal nor are they given equal protection of the law, because they are not really free. Unlike US males, they have no ownership of their own persons, and have no dominion and control over their own bodies, lives, medical decisions and the like. Ultimate control over their bodies is vested in the leaders and members of certain sects of religionistas who they aren't allowed to vote for..

On this day in history:

1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) was presented to Queen Isabella I

1590 – Roanoke Colony's governor, John White, returned from a supply trip to find his settlement deserted.

1612 – The trial of the Pendle witches began at Lancaster Assizes. [see my 08/192019 OT]

1634 – Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, was burned alive in Loudun, France.

1783 – A huge fireball meteor was seen across Great Britain as it passed over the east coast.

1826 – Major Gordon Laing became the first European to enter Timbuktu.

1838 – The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighed anchor at Hampton Roads.

1848 – Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez were executed for hanky panky by Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.

1868 – Astronomer Pierre Janssen discovered helium.

1877 – Astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, one of Mars' moons.

1917 – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece, destroyed 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
(The US economy has left all of NYC standing but nonetheless left 350,000 homeless there)

1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage but still not anything like equality or equal protection of the law

1933 – The Volksempfänger (cheap radio) was first presented to the German public at a radio exhibition where Joseph Goebbels delivered an accompanying speech heralding the radio as the 'eighth great power'.

1937 – A lightning strike started the Blackwater Fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest, killing 15 firefighters within three days and prompting the US Forest Service to develop their smoke-jumper program.

1938 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States, with Ontario, Canada, was dedicated

1945 – Soviet forces landed at Takeda Beach on Shumshu Island starting the Battle of Shumshu during WWII

1950 – Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, was assassinated.

1958 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita was published in the United States.

1963 – James Meredith became the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

1971 – Australia and New Zealand decided to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.

1976 – The Soviet Union's robotic probe Luna 24 successfully landed on the Moon.

1977 – Steve Biko was arrested at a police roadblock in King William's Town, South Africa. He later died from injuries sustained during this arrest

2005 – A massive power blackout hit the Indonesian island of Java; affecting almost 100 million people

2019 – One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland held a funeral for Okjökull glacier

Some people who were born on this day:

Wilderness itself is the basis of all our civilization. I wonder if we have enough reverence for life to concede to wilderness the right to live on?

~~ Margaret Murie

1450 – Marko Marulić, poet and author
1497 – Francesco Canova da Milano, composer
1587 – Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, was the first child born to English parents in the Americas
1629 – Agneta Horn, writer
1685 – Brook Taylor, mathematician and theorist
1750 – Antonio Salieri, composer and conductor
1774 – Meriwether Lewis, soldier, explorer, and politician
1855 – Alfred Wallis, painter and illustrator
1885 – Nettie Palmer, poet and critic
1893 – Ernest MacMillan, conductor and composer
1902 – Margaret Murie, environmentalist and author, grandmother of the conservation movement
1903 – Lucienne Boyer, French singer
1905 – Enoch Light, bandleader, violinist, and recording engineer
1906 – Curtis Jones, blues pianist and singer
1908 – Edgar Faure, historian and politician,
1910 – Herman Berlinski, pianist, composer, and conductor
1911 – Amelia Boynton Robinson, activist
1911 – Klara Dan von Neumann, computer scientist and programmer
1911 – Maria Ulfah Santoso, politician and women's rights activist
1914 – Lucy Ozarin, psychiatrist, physician, WAVE and more
1916 – Moura Lympany, pianist
1918 – Cisco Houston, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1921 – Lydia Litvyak, lieutenant and pilot
1921 – Zdzisław Żygulski, historian and academic
1925 – Brian Aldiss, author and critic
1928 – Sonny Til, R&B singer, Oriole
1929 – Hugues Aufray, singer and songwriter
1932 – Luc Montagnier, virologist and academic
1937 – Sheila Cassidy, physician and author
1939 – Maxine Brown, soul/R&B singer and songwriter
1939 – Johnny Preston, pop singer
1940 – Adam Makowicz, pianist and composer
1943 – Carl Wayne, singer and actor
1945 – Sarah Dash, singer, songwriter, and actress
1949 – Nigel Griggs, bass player, songwriter, and producer
1950 – Dennis Elliott, drummer and sculptor
1953 – Marvin Isley, R&B bass player and songwriter
1956 – Jon Schwartz, drummer and producer
1956 – Kelly Willard, singer and songwriter
1957 – Ron Strykert, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1964 – Andi Deris, singer and songwriter
1971 – Richard David James, musician and record producer
1977 – Even Kruse Skatrud, musician and educator
1983 – Mika, recording artist, singer, and songwriter
1998 – Clairo, singer and songwriter

Some people who died on this day:

Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.

~~ Honoré de Balzac

1823 – André-Jacques Garnerin, balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute
1842 – Louis de Freycinet, explorer and navigator
1850 – Honoré de Balzac, novelist and playwright
1886 – Eli Whitney Blake, inventor, invented the Mortise lock
1919 – Joseph E. Seagram, businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company
1949 – Paul Mares, trumpet player and bandleader
1961 – Learned Hand, lawyer, jurist, and philosopher
1968 – Arthur Marshall, pianist and composer
1981 – Anita Loos, author and screenwriter
2003 – Tony Jackson, singer and bassist
2012 – Scott McKenzie, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2015 – Roger Smalley, pianist, composer, and conductor
2023 – Lolita, the second-oldest orca in captivity

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

Helium Discovery Day
Pinot Noir Day
Serendipity Day

Today's Tunes

Virginia Dare

Lolita

Steve Biko

Pinot Noir Day

Francesco Canova da Milano

Antonio Salieri

Lucienne Boyer

Enoch Light

Cisco Houston

Sonny Til

Hugues Aufray

Maxine Brown

Johnny Preston

Adam Makowicz

Carl Wayne - first singer heard on BBC Radio 1

Sarah Dash

Dennis Elliott

Marvin Isley

Mika

Paul Mares

Arthur Marshall

Scott McKenzie

Roger Smalley

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

DUNNO WTF happened, this was scheduled long ago and vanished from the queue, my drafts but did publish elsewhere, where I cross post it AFTER queuing it up here. Sorry I'm late

Open Thread, Virginia Dare, 19th Amendment, Lolita, Steve Biko, Pinot Noir, Cisco Houston, Sonny Til, Sarah Dash, Marvin Isley