Open Thread for May 30, Happy Memorial Day
May 30 is the 150th day of the year. There are 215 days left this year.
30 is --
30 is the sum of the first four square numbers: 1+4+9+16
5 x 6; half of the base for the decimal system x half of the base for the duodecimal system = half of the base for the Sexagesimal system (Sumeria, Babylonia). Distributive law at work. There is a lot here but I won't get into it.
30 is zinc
30 is reporter and editor code for end of story
30 is the minimum age to be a US Sentor
30 seconds over Tokyo was a book about the World War II "Doolittle Raid" written by Major Ted William Lawson which was also made into a movie
M30 is a globular cluster in the constellation Capricorn
There were 30 uprights in Stonhenge's Sarsen Circle
There are 30 variations in Bach's Goldgerg Variations
.30 caliber was both a machine gun and a carabine used by the US military
.30-30 and .30-06 were historically significant weapons (a carabine & a rifle)
Title 30 of the US Code is MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
30 BCE
Was the Year of the Consulship of Octavian and Crassus
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian, aka Augustus, became Roman Consul for the fourth time, captured Alexandria and annexed Ancient Egypt to the Roman Republic.
Cleopatra comitted suicide and Ptolemy XV Caesarion was executed, which ended the Ptolemaic dynasty, the last dynasty of Ancient Egypt.
Mark Antony, Cleopatra VII, Ptolemy Caesar, Marcus Antonius Antyllus, and Hyrcanus II, king of Judea all died. Eventual king of the Marcomanni, Maroboduus, was born.
30 CE
Was the Year of the Consulship of Vinicius and Longinus
Phaedrus translated Aesop's fables
Nerva, an eventual Roman Emperor and Poppaea Sabina were born
Regardless of the date, the Last Monday in May is Memorial Day, a United States federal holiday dedicated to remembering the people who died while serving in the United States's military.
On this day in:
On this day in:
1431 -- Joan of Arc was burned at the stake In Rouen
1539 -- Hernando de Soto landed at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers he found no gold, but a make of car was named after him.
1814 -- The Treaty of Paris (1814) was signed & Napoleon was exiled to Elba.
1854 -- The Kansas--Nebraska Act became law quickly creating Bleeding Kansas
1868 -- Decoration Day was observed in the United States for the first time
1911 -- Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 ends with in his Marmon Wasp
1922 -- The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C..
1925 -- Shanghai Municipal Police Force shot and killed 13 protesting workers.
1937 -- The Chicago police shot and killed ten labor demonstrators.
1948 -- A dike along the Columbia River broke, obliterating Vanport, Oregon.
1958 -- The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, were buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
1961 -- Rafael Trujillo was assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
1966 -- Surveyor 1was launched
1967 -- Biafra declared independence, sparking a civil war.
1968 -- Charles de Gaulle dissolved the French National Assembly.
1971 -- Mariner 9 was launched to study Mars.
1972 -- Members of the Japanese Red Army carried out the Lod Airport massacre.
1989 -- The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" was unveiled in Tiananmen Square.
2003 -- A government-sponsored mob massacred at least 70 people in Burma.
2012 -- Charles Taylor, was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
2013 -- Nigeria passed a law banning same-sex marriage.
Born this day in:
1814 -- Mikhail Bakunin, philosopher
1846 -- Peter Carl Fabergé, goldsmith and jeweler
1896 -- Howard Hawks, director, producer, and screenwriter
1899 -- Irving Thalberg, American screenwriter and producer
1901 -- Cornelia Otis Skinner, actress and author
1902 -- Stepin Fetchit, actor, singer, and dancer
1909 -- Benny Goodman, clarinet player, songwriter, and bandleader
1924 -- Armando Peraza, drummer (Santana)
1926 -- Johnny Gimble, singer, songwriter and fiddler. Texas playboy.
1926 -- Christine Jorgensen, trans woman
1932 -- Pauline Oliveros,accordion player and composer (Deep Listening Band)
1944 -- Lenny Davidson, guitarist and songwriter (The Dave Clark Five)
1949 -- Klaus Flouride, bass player, songwriter, and producer (Dead Kennedys)
1955 -- Topper Headon, drummer and songwriter (The Clash, Mirkwood, and The Moors Murderers)
1960 -- Stephen Duffy, singer, songwriter and guitarist (Duran Duran, The Lilac Time, The Devils, and Me Me Me)
1964 -- Wynonna Judd, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress (The Judds)
1964 -- Tom Morello, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Axis of Justice, and Street Sweeper Social Club)
1966 -- Stephen Malkmus, singer, songwriter and guitarist (Pavement, Silver Jews, and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks)
1967 -- Tim Burgess, singer, songwriter (The Charlatans and The Chavs)
1967 -- Sven Pipien, bass player (The Black Crowes)
1974 -- CeeLo Green, singer, songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor (Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley)
Died this day in:
1252 -- Ferdinand III of Castile
1431 -- Joan of Arc, heretic, martyr and saint
1593 -- Christopher Marlowe, poet and playwright
1640 -- Peter Paul Rubens, painter
1744 -- Alexander Pope, poet, essayist, and translator
1778 -- Voltaire, philosopher and authorthe Wright Company (b. 1867)
1953 -- Dooley Wilson, actor and singer. Played it again.
1960 -- Boris Pasternak, poet, novelist, and literary translator, Nobel Prize laureate
1961 -- Rafael Trujillo, no good SOB, but not that SOB, who was Somza
1980 -- Carl Radle, bass player and producer (Delaney & Bonnie, Derek and the Dominos)
1993 -- Sun Ra, pianist, composer, bandleader, legend
1994 -- Ezra Taft Benson, Ag Secretary, religious leader, and whackdoodle
2000 -- Tex Beneke, saxophonist, singer, and bandleader (Glenn Miller Orchestra)
2012 -- Pete Cosey, guitarist. Played with Miles.
Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days and such:
This May 30th is Memorial Day in the U.S.
It is Anguilla Day, commemorating the beginning of the Anguillian Revolution in 1967.
It is the feast of:
Joan of Arc, both a Saint and a Heretic burnt at the stake
Ferdinand III of Castile after whom San Fernando Valley was named. Well gag me with a spoon.
So, for music we gots --
Benny Goodman
Armando Peraza
Johnny Gimble
Pauline Oliveros
Lenny Davidson
Klaus Flouride
Topper Headon
Stephen Duffy
Wynona Judd
Tom Morello
Stephen Malkmus
Tim Burgess
Sven Pipien
Ceelo Green
Dooley Wilson
Carl Radle
Sun Ra
Tex Beneke
Pete Cosey
Benny Goodman
Armando Peraza
Johnny Gimble
Pauline Oliveros
Lenny Davidson
Klaus Flouride
Topper Headon
Stephen Duffy
Wynona Judd
Tom Morello
Stephen Malkmus
Tim Burgess
Sven Pipien
Ceelo Green
Dooley Wilson
Carl Radle
Sun Ra
Tex Beneke
Pete Cosey
OK, it's open thread time, so go for it
Comments
Morning EL and all. TY, eh! More music: OMD Maid of Orleans
Hang in there with the first 40 seconds of atmospherics, ok :=)
If joan of arc
Had a heart
Would she give it as a gift
To such as me
Who longs to see
How an angel ought to be
Her dream's to give
Her heart away
Like an orphan on a wave
She cared so much
She offered up
Her body to the grave
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
heraclitus
said of Jeannette: "Things keep their secrets."
Jeannette herself said: "Believe me if you will."
Her visions were engendered by psilocybin mushrooms furnished her by Tom O'Bedlam.
Heraclitus also said "you can't tell a secret twice"
I need to know more about him and the connection between Greek eggheads of the time and Indian thinking. There's lots of stuff I want to know and am having a hard time finding. Besides that, I also want a good book on heresies. Our local store, Powell's, is supposed to be pretty good but even that store doesn't have what I need. Perhaps the downtown library or maybe a college library...
All of the pre-socratics are worth a good look.
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 --
Joan of Arc -- coindidentally, discovered this yesterday --
has been the subject of a pervasive rumor that her death was faked and she went on to live a respectable, and respectively long, life:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/22/france.angeliquechrisafis
Also, coincidentally, the same kind of rumor has surrounded the death on the same date of Christopher Marlowe (separate comment about him below). Didn't even realize till now that the death dates were the same.
Guess the world is large and complicated enough that all kinds of coincidences are to be expected.
Euterpe2
I have seen the square in Rouen
Surrounded by the half-timber, leaning buildings. And the cathedral and the remnants of the mass graveyard next-door for victims of the Black Death, which may have been near-concurrent. Still wood carvings of faces there. It was a very chillling town. Steeped in death, as are they all.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Coincidentally, Marlowe spent time in Rouen,
where he probably saw that too; and after the inquest on the murdered Marlowe, his body was buried without honor, in a common grave that was also a plague pit.
Sometimes the universe seems fractal.
Back in the 1950s US, when I was growing up, there were not too many known inspirational figures for a little girl unthrilled with the stereotypes of Mommy, secretary, teacher, waitress or nurse. For me -- until horizons broadened in the 60s -- there were Annie Oakley, Maid Marian and Joan of Arc.
Euterpe2
Marie Curie was mine. In the 60's. n/t
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
crassus
invented insurance. There was no fire department in Rome, but Crassus had his own private fire brigade. When a fire would break out, his men would rush to the scene, and then proceed to negotiate a price for fighting the fire. If the owner balked at the outrageous sum, Crassus & Co. would just let the thing burn, then offer to buy the cindered property for a fraction of its former value. Eventually people started paying Crassus ahead of time, in return for him coming with the water if they started burning. He was a right rat bastard, and was known as Hairballicus. He may be seen in the true-life documentary film Spartacus, where he evinces a great Hate for Spartacus, because Crassus had a lust for both Tony Curtis and Jean Simmons, but they both would have only Spartacus. Crassus wanted to become dictator of Rome, preceding Caesar, but it didn't work out, because he blew badly a battle in Syria, and there died, when his captors, it is said, poured molten gold down his throat. He really liked money, liked gold, did Crassus, so they figured, that he should have some.
Strange as this sounds, it is essentially true
What it leaves out, though, is that Crassus was the third man in a triumvirate that also included Caesar and Pompey. They were both successful generals. Crassus wanted to be as successful as they. So he picked a fight with the Parthians and...it didn't work out so well for him.
Crassus' elimination upset the balance of power, and Caesar and Pompey turned on each other, each wanting to be top dog. We all know where that went.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
dooley wilson
was a drummer. He couldn't play the piano. His Casablanca pianoing was performed by Elliot Carpenter. Who was placed out of frame, where Wilson could see and imitate his hand movements.
Things are not often what they seem.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAlzmRjixr0]
Good Morning, another memorial moment on Memorial Day
...Just stumbled over these news:
Chad ex-dictator Habre sentenced to life in prison for war crimes
and I tried to compare the different coverage of Habre's crimes and peaceful life in Senegal for more than twenty years in one of Senegal's nicest neighborhoods. Another example of how a man's denial of his crimes can be kept up, even with an elegant dismissal by ignoring the whole trial and accusations as even valid to grant his own participation or communication to the accusers in court, can last a life-time without ever be challenged.
Why the population is capable to "endure" the lies and even go so far to excuse the torturer? I think it has to have to do with fear and fear for harming loved ones, if you would not play the game of denial with the "governmental powers". There is a general pattern.
Al Jazeera: Chad's Hissene Habre jailed for crimes against humanity
France24:
A Senegalese court on Monday sentenced Chad's former dictator Hissène Habré to life in prison for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during his brutal 1982-1990 rule.
A documentary film about Habre at Cannes:
Cannes review: 'Hissein Habre: A Chadian Tragedy'
How many people may be grateful on this Memorial Day to be able to put their memories to rest and slowly forget about them ?
https://www.euronews.com/
I saw that this morning, just a headling and summary
paragraph. Thanks for posting it.
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 --
Coincidence? I think NOT!
Raw Story has reported on probably the most lame and laughable effort by Christians to reverse the loss of the hearts, minds, and soles of the fastest growing segment of America's population - the "Nones."
The Emoji Bible.
I wonder how emojis will deal with all that begetting and cleaving. How would Lot's sex acts with his daughters be portrayed?
The mind reels, so to speak.
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 --
So many Memorial Days in one spot.
I don't know if that makes me a homebody or an observer, or both. Nice day, today. Others, much cooler, grey and foggy. For a decade we would sail Cayuga Lake with the friend boat-owners. Some perilous sails, some glorious sails. She is now dead, boat sold, he is off to brighter and my husband died and he was the connector.
I think I have finished replenishing new plantoids, herb and flower. Now to get them settled in, for the summer and bye or for the long haul. My rosemary made it through winter indoors and promptly died, along with my dog. Like.right.together.
I have tufts of grass now in seed, lazy seeding method. I can't whack off the volunteer oaks and maples and hickories until the grass ripens. I do not own a mower. All human-powered. But calculating timing...
I write while new pup sleeps. She is 4 months old now, an exuberant mouther with puppy teeth. New ones should be arriving shortly. She does lick my face, quite earnestly. Somewhere I have 2 giant US flags, one flown after 9/11, one not. I want to burn the flown one, dirty, because it seems more disrespectful to dump it in a washing machine. It is properly folded, the Girl Scout way.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Thank you for recognizing Christopher Marlowe in the death dates
If Will Shakespeare is the Jesus Christ of English theater ("Blasphemy! Off to the Tower with you!"), Kit Marlowe was John the Baptist.
Yet the other day, I was talking to a young Elizabethan-period historical re-enactor who, it turned out, had never even heard of Marlowe.
Anyone who knows the movie "Shakespeare In Love" is apt to recall how in Tom Stoppard's plot, young Shakespeare -- a rival of Marlowe, and just then, in a bit of a tight spot over a girl -- gives his own name as "Christopher Marlowe." (A multivalent twist, since certain fanatics think that Marlowe's death at age 29 was faked, and that Marlowe went on to write under the name of Shakespeare.) Afterwards, in the Stoppard romp, hearing of Marlowe's murder, Shakespeare has a bad fit of guilt, until...if you haven't seen the movie, recommended!
Marlowe was the first English playwright to make brilliant use of blank verse in iambic pentameter, which became Shakespeare's metier, and standard for so much English verse after. I'm no scholar, but also find in Marlowe a foreshadowing of the complex, indeed unsettling, character studies Shakespeare achieved in plays like "Hamlet" and "Coriolanus." Marlowe's "Edward II" prefigured Shakespeare's "Richard II"; his "Rich Jew of Malta" prefigured "The Merchant of Venice." Marlowe's seven surviving plays, unlike Shakespeare's, have mostly come down to us in mutilated forms, and most would be unplayable today for various reasons, but I think in spite of this, "Docor Faustus" is utterly brilliant and could still stand up on stage. (I also suspect a good bit of his work may be lost to us; his contemporaries recognized Marlowe as a virtuoso -- "the Muses' darling" -- yet all we have is those plays, a few translations, an unfinished epillion -- or brief semi-comic epic -- and one little lyric, "The Passionate Shepherd To His Love." BTW, I am dead sure Marlowe did not write Shakespeare.)
After Marlowe's murder his name became a hissing and a byword, cursed by Puritans, Papists and Establishmentarians alike, joked about in taverns, by pamphleteers and deplored in university theatricals. Drunkard, blasphemer, heretic, counterfeiter, atheist, sodomite, crypto-Catholic, quarrelsome hothead, debtor, scofflaw, spy, magician, traitor...all we can be sure about is that not all of the imputations could possibly be true at once. (And that apparently no one tried to attack his reputation as a brilliant writer.)
But one old friend, Tom Nashe, dared to write this in Marlowe's memory:
I'm not sure why all this matters so much to me in particular. There are thousands of historical tragedies, lives lost too young, and more of the same still going on today. Yet have you ever caught a historical bee in your bonnet, where some past thing carries an incalculable resonance and won't let go? Or as the Bard was to put it, in another setting:
I only find myself thinking back on this every May 30 and feeling that Marlowe's name deserves to be spoken from time to time and not forgotten. Thanks for the opportunity.
So let this be a virtual laurel wreath.
Euterpe2
When I think of Faust, I think of Marlowe, and
vice-versa.
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 --
30 was the age
after which you could not trust anyone. That just might be right.
Some better valley girls who liked the Ptolemy's
A better Monday song ....
What are words worth
OMD and a great haircut
I have a dog of nightmare or blessing.
I can't tell yet. She has a NOSE. A terrier, earth-dog, that is allowable. She is an escaper, and did it again today after I sewed up what I thought was the weak link. And tracked neighbors who had traversed my property earlier.
Intrepid, wearing sandals, armed with leash lure, I spotted her, headed downhill, but towards a road. I walked/stumbled after and discovered 15' of slotted pipe, likely mine, that I used as a lure back. Then she ran again, uphill, wallowing in seep spots. I abandoned chase. Deer- and horse-flies were biting me.
She did appear, back INSIDE my fence. So she can track her way home. Small comfort, but some. She's a mudder. I use water as a lure. Fun afternoon.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
I just saw the coolest thing
I was looking out my back window when three pileated woodpeckers landed on the railing of our back deck. One of the woodpeckers pecked at one of the support pieces and must have gotten a bug off it it because it fed the smaller of the three woodpeckers. Yes, they were two adults and one juvenile, all together. Magnificient birds.
I just went out and checked the railing and they did some damage. Wow!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thanks EL!
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -