04/06 Open Thread - Waltzing Matilda Day
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~~ Aussie_Flag
Today is Waltzing Matilda Day in Australia, celebrating the song Waltzing Matilda, the unofficial national anthem of Australia. Australia gave us Koalas, Kangaroos, The Seekers, Vegemite, Tim Tams, and Fosters. They have a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. which means that they have a constitution, a parliament, a prime minister and a king. The King of Australia is currently His Majesty King Charles III. On the plus side, they have some very good beer. Swan's extra double stout comes to mind
Today is also New Beers Eve. New Beers Eve is celebrated (or not) in the USofA in commemoration of the fact that the Cullen–Harrison Act, permitting the sale of so-called "beer" with an alcohol content of 3.2% or less took effect on April 7. This law somehow overrode the 18th Amendment prohibiting sale, consumption, and possession of alcohol in the USofA which had been enacted because the USofA has been, since its inception, an essentially bluenosed Puritan country. Big whoop! 3.2% "beer" has been called many things, few of them polite.
On this day in history:
1320 – The Scots reaffirmed their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1453 – Mehmed II began his siege of Constantinople. When the city fell, it was renamed
1652 – Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply camp at the Cape of Good Hope that eventually became Cape Town.
1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 began near Broadway.
1793 – The Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic of France
1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporated the American Fur Company
1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This was the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
1814 – Napoleon abdicated for the first time
1896 – The opening of the first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens
1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson became the first people to reach the North Pole; thisaclaim has been disputed because of failings in his Peary's navigational ability.
1917 – The United States declared war on Germany.
1930 – At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt and declared, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire."
1945 – Sarajevo was liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
1948 – The Finno-Soviet Treaty was signed in Moscow.
1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
1972 – North Vietnam's Spring-Summer Offensive, aka "The Easter Offensive"
1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
1974 – ABBA won the 1974 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo"
1974 – The first California Jam festival took place at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, set a lot of records at the time
1992 – The Bosnian War began
1994 – The Rwandan genocide began when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down.
1998 – Pakistan tested medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani became Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari was named premier the next day.
2008 – The 2008 Egyptian general strike started
2017 – The U.S. attacked a Syrian air base with 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles
Some people who were born on this day:
It cannot be precisely known how any thing is good or bad, till it is precisely known what it is.
~~ James Mill
1135 – Maimonides, philosopher, Torah scholar, physician and astronomer
1660 – Johann Kuhnau, organist and composer
1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, poet and playwright
1672 – André Cardinal Destouches, composer
1708 – Johann Georg Reutter, organist and composer
1773 – James Mill, historian, economist, and philosopher
1812 – Alexander Herzen, philosopher and author
1815 – Robert Volkmann, organist, composer, and conductor
1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan,astronomer and academic
1852 – Will Crooks, trade unionist and politician
1892 – Lowell Thomas,journalist and author
1900 – Leo Robin, composer and songwriter
1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, biochemist and academic
1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, biochemist and academic
1926 – Sergio Franchi, singer and actor
1926 – Randy Weston, jazz pianist and composer
1927 – Gerry Mulligan, saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer
1928 – James Watson, biologist, geneticist, and zoologist
1929 – André Previn, pianist, composer, and conductor
1931 – Ram Dass, author and educator, "Be here now"
1937 – Merle Haggard, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1941 – Gheorghe Zamfir, flute player and composer
1945 – Rodney Bickerstaffe, trade union leader
1947 – Mike Worboys, mathematician and computer scientist
1949 – Patrick Hernandez, singer and songwriter
1952 – Udo Dirkschneider, singer and songwriter
1953 – Christopher Franke, drummer and songwriter
1960 – Warren Haynes, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1960 – John Pizzarelli, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1965 – Black Francis, singer, songwriter ,and guitarist
1970 – Roy Mayorga, drummer, songwriter, and producer
1976 – James Fox, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1976 – Georg Hólm, bass player
1978 – Imani Coppola, singer, songwriter, and violinist
1978 – Robert Glasper, singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer
1978 – Myleene Klass, singer, pianist, and model
1978 – Martín Méndez, bass player and songwriter
1983 – Remi Nicole, singer, songwriter ,and actress
1984 – Max Bemis, singer and songwriter
1992 – Ken, singer
1992 – Huh Chan-mi, singer
Some people who died on this day:
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
~~ Isaac Asimov
1174 – Umara al-Yamani, poet and historian
1520 – Raphael, painter and architect
1528 – Albrecht Dürer, painter, engraver, and mathematician
1670 – Leonora Baroni, composer
1707 – Willem van de Velde the Younger, painter
1829 – Niels Henrik Abel, mathematician and theorist
1935 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, poet and playwright
1944 – Rose O'Neill, cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer
1961 – Jules Bordet, microbiologist and immunologist
1963 – Otto Struve, astronomer and academic
1971 – Igor Stravinsky, pianist, composer, and conductor
1992 – Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer
1998 – Tammy Wynette, singer and songwriter
1999 – Red Norvo, vibraphone player and composer
2001 – Charles Pettigrew, singer and songwriter
2003 – Anita Borg, computer scientist and educator; founded Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
2003 – Babatunde Olatunji, drummer, educator, and activist
2010 – Wilma Mankiller, activist, Cherokee principal chief
2012 – Fang Lizhi, astrophysicist and academic
2014 – Jacques Castérède, pianist and composer
2015 – Ray Charles, singer, songwriter, and conductor
2016 – Merle Haggard, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2025 – Clem Burke, drummer
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Waltzing Matilda Day (Australia)
International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
World Table Tennis Day
National Fisherman Day (Indonesia)
New Beer's Eve (United States)
Tartan Day (United States & Canada)
International Asexuality Day
Fresh Tomato Day
Carbonara Day
Today's Tunes
Waltzing Matilda Day
converseley -
1974 Eurovision Contest
1974 California Jam
Leo Robin
Randy Weston
Gerry Mulligan
Andre Previn
Merle Haggard
Patrick Hernandez
Christopher Franke
Warren Haynes
John Pizzarelli
Igor Stravinsky
Tammy Wynette
Red Norvo
Babatunde Olatunji
Jacques Castérède
Ray Charles
Merle Haggard
OOPS! Wrong Dude
Clem Burke
More Babatunde
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, Waltzing Matilda, Eurovision, California Jam, Gerry Mulligan, Andre Previn, Merle Haggard, Warren Haynes, Igor Stravinsky, Tammy Wynette, Babatunde Olatunji, Ray Charles
Comments
The California Jam was an amazing concert
Was fortunate to attend.
So many souls in one place.
Weaving to incredible music.
Thanks for your snapshot in time.
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning Cap'n Q, lucky you. I missed it, though I
have since seen film of some parts of it. Thanks for reading.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning, el!
Mondays re getting harder to get through now that I have changed my office hours to close on Fridays. 3 days of having no worries or concerns, then abruptly switching gears to deal with one problem after another is pretty drastic.
Meanwhile, I read an assessment of the pilot rescue in Iran, and it sure seems we were lied to by our government. This is by Simplicious the Thinker, and it points out all the oddities of what evidence we have, and what we were told. Last I read, over 70% of Americans do not want to go to war with Iran, and that is a conservative estimate done by conservative pollsters. Yet, here we are. As usual, this is a long article, but that is what it takes to examine what went down.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/
Thanks for the OT, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Whenever one party is losing in a conflict
clear facts fall by the wayside for the purpose
of maintaining an illusion that we are 'winning'.
Failures are spun into success for media consumption.
Don't buy it. A given is that we are being lied to ala
Israeli clamp downs on exposure of actual losses.
Let's just pretend things are not as they seem.
Zionism is a social disease
Gradual retirement
For what it is worth, I did gradual retirement 7 years ago now. I found that when I went to 3 days of office from 4, it was much easier on me. I did the whole process over a year.
I like it because I stay busier
crunching 5 work days into 4, and the time at work flies by.
Besides, long weekends are such a pleasure.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hola, WRG. Sounds like a great way to ease out of work.
to bad I never thought of it when my time came.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning otc, you'll very likely get used to the 4 day week
I, for a while, worked an 80 hour 2 week period of 5 days on, 2 off, 4 on and 3 off at 9 hours per day m-th, 8 on one friday and the other friday off. That friday off is great for doing stuff while others work, and can also combine with legal holidays (mostly mondays) for a 4 day minication.
Thanks for the simplicious line.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
You are right about
various holidays occurring on Mondays that give it a stretch to a 4 day holiday.
Only on rare occasions do the courts around here schedule any hearings on Fridays.
So far, this is working well.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
8 days a week
is not enough to settle losses incurred as
free time is not so much free as borrowed
Zionism is a social disease