10/14 Open Thread - World Standards Day (International)
Today is World Standards Day. Standards are very important. Take for example NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter, intended to also serve as a communications relay for the Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space probes,. Like most modern science, it was designed and built using the near universal metric system. One team, however, chose to work in the Imperial System of Units because, like everything else US, it was “exceptional”. Nobody converted their final product into metric units and the “orbiter” navigated into the Martian atmosphere where it burned up. Even Jazz, freewheeling though it may be, has standards. There are, of course, some among us, and even some whole nations that have no standards whatsoever, but that is another topic for another day.
On October 14 1066, William The Bastard, aka William, Duke of Normandy, aka William The Conqueror, began his conquest of England with his victory over the forces of the Anglo-Saxon English King, Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. Much of what we know about the specifics of this event comes to us by way of the Bayeux Tapestry, which is unfortunate in that it was done in needle and thread in a style reminiscent of Grandma Moses crossed with Pablo Picasso. Godwinson kicked it and Willie took over.
This was more or less the last round in a quasi-legitimate multi party war of succession, so I'll try to toss out the general particulars in case there is a test or something later (hint). Please take notes, I will only cover this once.
Dramatis Personae, more or less:
Charles the Simple of the Carolingen Dynasty and King of West Francia (think France) let some Vikings under some guy named Rollo settle in Normandy (Hence Normans, as in Norman Conquest) if they would agree to stop all that damn raiding and raping and looting. Rollo's descendants became the House of Normandy, eventually leading to Robert I, Duke of Normandy, whose mistress, Herleva (Arlette), gave birth to the bastard, William the Bastard. Robert's aunt, Emma of Normandy had married the English King Ethelred the Illiterate, traditionally Æthelred the Unready, from "unrede" (without letters). She gave birth to King Edward the Confessor, Alfred Ætheling, and King Harthacnut (aka King Canute III). (As Ælfgifu, Aethelred's spouse, Emma give birth to Edward the Confessor and Alfred Ætheling, (supra) and a daughter, Goda of England (or Godgifu). King Canute (Canute the Great), conquered England after Aethelred died, married Emma, and sired Harthacnut, (supra) who became a short lived king of England, Canute III, and a daughter, Gunhilda.. King Edward the Confessor (supra) died childless and left Merrie Engelonde with The Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson (supra) as presumptive heir for no particular reason, much to the dismay of Godwinson's brother Tostig, who had been outlawed and exiled upon the testimony of Harold and assorted thegns (heh). Godwinson was the richest and most powerful Noble in England, and his dad had contested for the throne quite vigorously. Tostig probably felt that if Harold was qualified to be king on that basis, then so was he. Whatever.
So, Tostig Godwinson, lacking sufficient troops and stuff to invade England from exile teamed up with King Harald Sigurdsson (Hadrata) of Norway, who had a most interesting claim on the throne. Hadrata claimed that his predecessor as King of Norway, Magnus the Good, had cut a deal with Emma's son by King Canute III of Engelonde, King Harthacanute (CanuteIII), quasi hereditary King of England, to the effect that if either died without an heir, then the combined thrones of England and Norway would be ruled by the other. Canute III had died childless and Eddie the Confessor presumably grabbed the throne as heir to Aethelred (with Emma). If Hadrata's claim were true, Magnus should've followed Canute III as king of both England and Norway, and Hadrata, being King of Norway would have been king of both. Zo, Tostig and Hadrata teamed up and invaded England and got their asses totally handed to them by King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. (This battle is often seen as marking the end of the Viking Era, fwiw.) Whilst Godwinson was away up north, Willie the Bastard, whose claim to the English throne presumably somehow boils down to being to being Auntie Emma's grandnephew, had an easy time getting ashore and setting up an encampment. Alerted to these particulars, team Harold did a forced march down to Hastings whereupon he lost the battle, his life, and England itself.
On this day in history:
On October 14, 1066 The Battle of Hastings took place.
On October 14, 1656 Massachusetts enacted the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends
On October 14 1884 George Eastman received a U.S. patent on his paper-strip photographic film.
On October 14, 1888, Louis Le Prince (real name) filmed the first moving picture
On October 14, 1926, Winnie the Pooh was published *
On October 14, 1943 prisoners at Sobibor extermination camp staged a mass breakout.
On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager became toe first person to exceed the speed of sound in one piece.
On October 14, 1962, The Cuban Missile Crises began.
On October 14, 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize
The National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was on October 14, 1979.
On October 14, 1982, Ronnie Raygun, announced the war on Blacks & Hippies drugs
Some people who were born on this day:
May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.
~~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
1563 – Jodocus Hondius, engraver and cartographer
1644 – William Penn, businessman, founded Pennsylvania
1867 – Masaoka Shiki, poet, author, and critic
1801 – Joseph Plateau, physicist and academic, created the Phenakistoscope
1867 – Masaoka Shiki, Japanese poet, author, and critic
1882 – Éamon de Valera,rebel and politician
1890 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, soldier and politician who gave us "Under God", "In God we Trust", Viet Nam, the highway system, The Eisenhower Doctrine, and Consumerism.
1894 – E. E. Cummings, poet and playwright
1900 – W. Edwards Deming, statistician, author, consultant, and academic
1906 – Hannah Arendt, philosopher and theorist
1928 – Joyce Bryant, actress and singer
1930 – Robert Parker, singer and saxophonist
1938 – Melba Montgomery, country singer
1940 – Cliff Richard, singer and songwriter
1945 – Colin Hodgkinson, bass player
1946 – Justin Hayward, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1947 – Norman Harris, guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1948 – Marcia Barrett, singer. This woman is almost universally referred to as "Marcia Barrett of Boney M." Odd, that.
1958 – Thomas Dolby, singer, songwriter and producer
1965 – Karyn White, singer and songwriter
1968 – Johnny Goudie, singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1974 – Natalie Maines, singer and songwriter
Some people who died on this day:
The benefits of medical research are real - but so are the potential horrors of genetic engineering and embryo manipulation. We devise heart transplants, but do little for the 15 million who die annually of malnutrition and related diseases. Our cleverness has grown prodigiously - but not our wisdom.
~~ Martin Ryle
What this world needs is a new kind of army - the army of the kind.
~~ Cleveland Amory
1831 – Jean-Louis Pons, astronomer and comet hunter
1977 – Bing Crosby, singer, songwriter, and actor
1984 – Martin Ryle, astronomer
1990 – Leonard Bernstein, pianist, composer, and conductor
1997 – Harold Robbins, author
1998 – Cleveland Amory, author and activist
1998 – Frankie Yankovic, accordionist
2006 – Freddy Fender, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2010 – Benoit Mandelbrot, mathematician and economist.
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
World Standards Day (International)
(Cue Michael Buble', heh)
Today's Tunes
A Jazz Standard
Norman Conquest
Joyce Bryant
Robert Parker
Cliff Richard
Coln Hodgkinson
Justin Hayward
Norman Harris
Marcia Barret (of Boney M.)
Thomas Dolby
Chris Thomas King
Karyn White
Natalie Maines
Bing Crosby
Leonard Bernstein
Frankie Yankovic
Freddy Fender
Ok, it's an open thread, it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com
Open Thread, Standards Day, Norman Conquest, Battle of Hastings, William the Bastard, Emma, Ike, Cuban Missile Crises, Winnie the Pooh, e e cummings, Hannah Arendt, Freddy Fender
Comments
Good morning...
The metric system is the standard for scientific research. In the US we often use imperial units and convert them to metric.
Thanks for the OT and all the music!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
there is a non-standard comet showing up
Comet A3 will be visible low in the west after sunset beginning around October 14.
Only comes around every 80,000 years or so.
Hope you have clears skies this week.
question everything
Good morning, el, et al!
Monarchies have had difficulties with the passage of time, encumbered by the past, rejection of the reality of the now, for a long time!
King Louis and Antoinette, the Romanovs, etc...had the reality check that their shit does, in fact, stink. Seems the Saudi Prince and king of Jordan might get their reality check soon.
As for measures, what is the measure of a man? Courage? A legacy of honor?
I am at work on a holiday because of a heavy trial schedule this week. Attorney's rarely reach agreements. Too much money to make for sitting in a courtroom for hours to await your 30 minute hearing.
Have a great vacay, el!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hi there good people
you know whtat, I am waiting for the nobel price for people with natural intelligence.
i could be a camdidate for that price... ahem, for sure
Be well, all. It is too cold my fingers get stiff/
https://www.euronews.com/live
I'd settle for a peace pipe
.
.
good to hear from you.
question everything
I would like to see standards
I would like to see standards re-enforced. Standards of the quality of things. The FDA/USDA(?) keeps our foods mostly safe, which is good. Dept. of Weights and Measures nominally insures the quantities of our purchases- am I really buying x gallons of fuel, etc.
But there seems to be little that guarantees the quality of anything. From semi complex hard goods like ovens or washers and dryers to hand tools, it is a complete crap shoot.
For instance, once about 20 years ago, I needed another pick-axe. I went to the Home Despot and bought one. At the job site, literally first swing, I hit a rock, and shattered the pick. I look at the grain, it is cast iron, a very brittle metal. WTF. I spent the rest of the afternoon returning that and finding a more specialized supplier getting a proper pick-axe.
This kind of thing is everywhere, like is this can opener going to actually work, or bend over backwards when it gets looked at funny. You can never find out what materials the products are actually made from anymore.
Especially with foods sold at the market
.
.
You can get California warning labels and vaguely defined list of ingredients
but the food processor lobbies have many states tied up in court to prevent
exposure of what is in their products.
Cheaper is not usually better in the retail business. China has gotten better than
Japan 20 years ago. Some products will list country of origin, but aside from
'Made in the USA' banners, it becomes a multinational conglomerate. 30% of x
was sourced thru India, assembled in Mexico and marketed by US.
question everything
Have you seen what’s allowed in baby food?
From high levels of lead to broken glass and it’s not the only food that is contaminated with who knows what? Look at how many foods get recalled because of bacteria or other crap in food.
I believe every regulatory agency has been captured by the industry it’s supposed to be regulating.