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Towel_Day

This is something of a Red-Letter day for Christians. Toledo fell to Alfonso VI of Castile on this day in 1085. The reconquista paved the way for Toledo's infamous inquisition as well as the multiple persecutions, stake burnings, forced conversions, expulsions and mass murders of Jews which preceded it. Then, on this day in 1521, Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Fifth closed out the Diet of Worms by issuing the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther to be an outlaw for wrong thinking and criticising some church practices. Lastly, on 5/25/1895, Oscar Wilde was thrown in the slammer for two years for having a relationship that was frowned upon by the religionistas.

On this day in history:

240 BCE – Was the first known recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.

1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors.

1521 – The Diet of Worms ended when Charles V declared Martin Luther to be an outlaw. This specific instance of religion's war on free thought was called the Edict of Worms.

1659 – Richard Cromwell resigned as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, but see below.

1660 – Charles II landed at Dover with the blessings of the Convention Parliament marking the end of Cromwell's Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland This is considered to be the beginning of the Restoration.

1787 – The United States Constitutional Convention formally convened in Philadelphia

1809 – A revolt in Chuquisaca against the Spanish Empire, sparked the Latin American wars of independence.

1810 – Citizens of Buenos Aires expelled the Spanish Viceroy during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence.

1819 – The Argentine Constitution of 1819 wa promulgated.

1833 – The Chilean Constitution of 1833 was promulgated.

1878 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opened

1895 – Oscar Wilde was convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison. AS a result, Wilde wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

1914 – The "Liberal" UK House of Commons passed the Home Rule Bill for Ireland, to replace direct rule with some sort of satellite rule. It never came into force because of WW I. That was probably just as well.

1925 – John T. Scopes was indicted for teaching evolution in Tennessee, perhaps appropriately.

1938 – The bombing of Alicante during the Spanish Civil War killed 313 people.

1953 – The first public TV station in the US officially began broadcasting as KUHT

1961 – JFK announced his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade to a special joint session of Congress

1963 – The Organisation of African Unity was established Addis Ababa

1968 – Saint Louis' Gateway Arch was dedicated, half of a Mickey D's logo supersized

1977 – Star Wars was released in theaters.

2000 –Israel withdrew its army from Lebanese territory after 22 years of occupation

2018 – The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became enforceable.

2018 – Ireland voted to repeal the Irish Constitutional Amendment prohibiting abortion.

Born this day in:

1803 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author, playwright, and politician,

1803 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher

1818 – Louise de Broglie, Countess d'Haussonville, essayist and biographer

1865 – Pieter Zeeman, physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

1889 – Igor Sikorsky, aircraft designer,

1893 – Ernest "Pop" Stoneman, musician

1898 – Bennett Cerf, publisher and television game show panelist; co-founded Random House

1908 – Theodore Roethke, poet

1921 – Hal David, songwriter and composer (

1921 – Kitty Kallen, singer

1921 – Jack Steinberger, physicist and academic,

1927 – Norman Petty, singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer, also rip-off artist

1929 – Beverly Sills, soprano and actress

1935 – W. P. Kinsella, novelist and short story writer

1936 – Tom T. Hall, singer, songwriter, and guitarist

1939 – Dixie Carter, actress and singer

1943 – Jessi Colter, singer, songwriter, and pianist

1943 – John Palmer, keyboard player

1943 – Leslie Uggams, actress and singer

1944 – Pierre Bachelet, singer, songwriter

1944 – Charlie Harper, singer, songwriter and producer

1950 – Robby Steinhardt, rock violinist and singer

1951 – Bob Gale, director, producer, and screenwriter

1958 – Paul Weller, singer, songwriter, and musician

1974 – Frank Klepacki, drummer and composer

1978 – Adam Gontier, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Luciana Abreu, Portuguese singer and actress

Died this day in:

Art has no boundaries. It is a universal language.

~~ Rosa Bonheur

1555 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch physician, mathematician, and cartographer

1899 – Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor

1939 – Frank Watson Dyson, English astronomer and academic

2004 – Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishing Company

2014 – Herb Jeffries, American singer and actor

2024 – Richard M. Sherman, American songwriter (born 1928)

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Africa Day (African Union)

African Liberation Day (African Union, Rastafari)

First National Government / National Day (Argentina)

Geek Pride Day (OTOH, beware of Geeks bearing Grifts)

Independence Day, (Jordan)

Liberation Day (Lebanon) Heh

International Missing Children's Day and its related observances:

National Missing Children's Day (United States),

National Tap Dance Day (United States, probably in honor of its politicians)

Towel Day

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Image is Towel_Day

It's an open thread, so do your thing

open thread, towel day, Halley's Comet, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Africa Day, music, Rosa Bonheur
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