President's Day Open Thread: Monday, February 15, 2016

It's Presidents' Day Woo Hoo! Celebrate one, or two, or 5, or something

Today's number is Fifteen

15 is the product of 2 primes, 3 and 5

15 is the magic number for a 3 by 3 magic square

15 is phosphorus

15 balls are used in eight ball and rotation pocket billiards

There are 15 tokens on each side at the start of backgammon

15 is the age when a hispanic girl has a quinceanera

A 15 puzzle has 15 blocks numbered 1 through 15 in a 4 by 4 box

15 BCE was the Year of the consulship of Drusus and Piso

Drusus built the via Claudia Augustus through Italy

Vienna became a Roman frontier city

Future Roman general Germanicus was born

Future Roman poet Phaedrus was born

15 CE was the Year of the consulship of Caesar and Flaccus

Germanicus launched a two-pronged attack from Vetera and Moguntiacum. On his return journey, he recaptured the Eagle of Legion XIX, visited the battlefield of the Teutoburg Wald, and then arranged for the burial of the remains of Varus' army. (Yes, that damn Varus!)

Nicolaus of Damascus wrote a biography of the Emperor Augustus

The Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana was born

On this date in
1764	The city of St. Louis was established in the part of Spanish Louisiana that became Missouri
1879	Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court
1898	The battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbor, The U. S. used this to justify declaring war on Spain, eventually winning much territory therefrom.
1942	Singapore fell to the Japanese in WWII
1944	The assault on Monte Cassino began with the allies dropping shitloads of bombs on the ancient monastery, killing some monks as well as many Italian women and children who were taking refuge with them because the allies and axis had promised to leave the place alone. The axis kept its word.
1945	This was the third day of fire bombing of Dresden by the allies
1946	ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, was dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
1954	Canada and the US agreed to build the DEW line
1952	Elizabeth II was proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom
1965	Canada got a new flag
1971	British coinage went decimal. Britannia wept.
1972	Jose' Maria Velasco Ibarra, President of Ecuador for the fifth time, was ousted by a military coup for the fourth time.
1989	The USSR announced that all of its troops were out of Afghanistan. Afghanistan was now free to regress a few centuries culturally
2001	Nature published the first draft of the human genome
2003	Anti-war protests occurred in over 600 cities worldwide. This, the largest anti-war demonstration in history was completely ignored by the US government even though estimates of participant numbers ran from eight million to 30 million.

Born this day in
1471	Piero the Unfortunate, the eldest son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. His 2 year reign as heriditary ruler of Florence got the whole Medici clan formally exiled, their palazzo looted and the Republic of Florence reinstated. He later drowned trying to flee the aftermath of a battle between the French and Spanish over Naples, leaving the family under the control of Giovanni, who later became a Pope, which is where the real money and power was anyway.
1564	Galileo Galilei, an Italian heretic and scientist, but I repeat myself
1710	Louis XV of France, oft criticized for shit like losing the 7 years war, as if he could have beaten Friedrich der Grosse. Nobody else did.
1748	Jeremy Bentham, a radical leftist British jurist, social reformer and philosopher. Founder of utilitarianism and well to the left of most modern politicians and probably well over 70% of the US citizenry..
1809	Cyrus McCormick, who didn't completely invent but did patent the mechanical reaper, changing agriculture, and who co-founded International Harvester.
1820	Susan B. Anthony, a reformer, suffragette, and anti-slavery activist
1861	Alfred North Whitehead, a mathematician and philosopher who collaborated with Bertrand Russell on Principia Mathematica
1874	Ernest Shackleton, an Irish Rover explorer
1883	Sax Rohmer, born Arthur Henry Ward and famous for Fu Manchu.
1909	Miep Gies, a Dutch humanitarian who helped hide the Frank family
1944	Mick Avory a British drummer (The Kinks)
1948	Ron Cey, The Penguin
1954	Matt Groening, a cartoonist, animator and producer
1959	Ali Campbell, British singer-songwriter and guitarist (UB40)
1960	Mikey Craig, a British bassist (The Culture Club)

Died this day in
1400	The 10th Earl of Oxford
1417	The 11th Earl of Oxford
1965	Nat King Cole, an American singer and pianist
1984	Ethel Merman, an American singer & actress
1988	Richard Feynman, an American genius, physicist, safe cracker, bongo drummer and nobel prize laureate
20095	Joe Cuba, an American singer and drummer

Holidays, Holy Days, Feasts, Observances and such

The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Candlemas

The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates February 15. This appears to be a thing with them - pick a date and they celebrate it. Keeps their hand in, I guess.

Philly celebrates ENIAC Day, and why not.

Canada celebrates National Flag of Canada Day, and well they should

Susan B. Anthony Day

The Kinks

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