09/13 is Fortune Cookie Day

Today is day 256 of the Gregorian Calendar year, Sweetmorn, Bureaucracy 37, 3187 YOLD And let us not forget 13.0.8.15.8 mlc (the Mayan Long Count) *****

Today is Fortune Cookie Day celebrating that quintessential "American" food, the Fortune Cookie, widely served in Chinese restaurants throughout the country. It is not nearly so common in China because it isn't remotely Chinese, but is strictly an "American" thing. It is disputed whether it was invented in San Francisco, California, or Los Angeles, California, but it is definitely not Chinese.  With the strong California connection, it arguably might possibly be Mexican, but nope. It seems to be vaguely based on an old Japanese cookie, and the "fortunes" seemingly derive from an unrelated old Japanese practice of selling slips of paper with fortunes on them at temples and shrines. Post invention, they were initially made by hand in various California locations until eventually a fortune cookie machine to mass produce them was invented by Shuck Yee of Oakland, California.  By then, however, they had long been associated with Chinese restaurants. The marketing spiel, tactics and such that led to their successful introduction into the Chinese restaurantafter dinner niche isn't at all known.  Possibly they might also once have been routine fare at Japanese restaurants too.  Whatever the case they eventually became particularly the provenance of "American" Chinese restaurants, very likely in part because of the unconscionable and unwarranted internment imprisonment of persons with Japanese ancestry living in the west during WWII.  Perhaps we should really think of them as "misfortune cookies"? The little slips of paper in fortune cookies often contain mere aphorisms, but often instead have statements which purport to fortell, to some degree, one's future.  In some traditions, these are read aloud, followed by the phrase "in bed".  (Try it some time).  They also often contain some "lucky numbers."  Were one to take that at all seriously, it would arguably constitute a type of superstition, or at least divination.  In keeping with that possible helping of woo, it is also Supernatural Day as well as Positive Thinking Day.   In order to counter balance that, and keep the universe humming along on an even keel, it is also Defy Superstition Day  Since fortune cookies are an "American" thing, it is only proper to to invoke one of "America's" greatest sages to address all the woo and counter-woo.  

Today is also Programmer's Day which is celebrated either by writing a searchable personal address book in C++ or

On this day in history:

379 – Yax Nuun Ahiin I was crowned as 15th Ajaw of Tikal 1501 – Michelangelo started work on his statue of David. 1541 – John Calvin returned to Geneva to reform the church 1609 – Henry Hudson reached the Hudson River. 1743 – Great Britain, Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia signed the Treaty of Worms. 1788 – The Philadelphia Convention set the date for the first presidential election in the United States 1814 – The British failed to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composed his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", 1847 – Six teenage military cadets known as Niños Héroes died defending Chapultepec Castle in the Battle of Chapultepec. 1848 – Phineas Gage survived an iron rod 1+1/4 inches in diameter being driven through his brain 1898 – Hannibal Goodwin patented celluloid photographic film. 1899 – Henry Bliss became the first person in the US to die in an auto accident. 1906 – The Santos-Dumont 14-bis made the first flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe. 1923 – After a military coup in Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera became dictator 1933 – Elizabeth McCombs became the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. 1948 – Margaret Chase Smith was elected United States senator, becoming the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House and Senate 1956 – The IBM 305 RAMAC, the first commercial computer to use disk storage came out 1962 – The 5th Circuit ordered  the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith 1971 – State police and National Guardsmen stormed Attica Prison 1985 – Super Mario Bros. was released in Japan for the NES 1987 – A radioactive object was stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many and causing some deaths 1989 – Desmond Tutu led the largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa 1993 – Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with  Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords 2007 – The UN adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Born this day in: 

“There is still plenty of good music to be written in C major.”

~~     Arnold Schoenberg

1502 – John Leland, poet and historian 1583 – Girolamo Frescobaldi, pianist and composer 1594 – Francesco Manelli, theorbo player and composer 1755 – Oliver Evans, inventor, engineer and businessman 1818 – Lucy Goode Brooks, founder of Friends' Asylum for Colored Orphans 1819 – Clara Schumann, pianist and composer 1830 – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, author 1851 – Walter Reed, physician and biologist 1873 – Constantin Carathéodory, mathematician and author 1874 – Arnold Schoenberg, composer and painter 1876 – Sherwood Anderson, novelist and short story writer 1885 – Wilhelm Blaschke, mathematician and academic 1886 – Amelie Beese, pilot and sculptor 1886 – Robert Robinson, chemist and academic 1887 – Leopold Ružicka, biochemist and academic 1893 – Larry Shields, clarinet player 1894 – J. B. Priestley, novelist and playwright 1904 – Alberta Williams King, civil rights organizer 1908 – Chu Berry, saxophonist 1911 – Bill Monroe, singer, songwriter, and mandolin player 1914 – Leonard Feather, pianist, composer, producer, and journalist 1916 – Roald Dahl, novelist, poet, and screenwriter 1917 – Carol Kendall, historian and author 1919 – Mary Midgley, philosopher and author 1922 – Charles Brown, singer and pianist 1925 – Mel Tormé,  singer, songwriter,and actor  1928 – Robert Indiana, painter and sculptor 1933 – Lewie Steinberg,  bass player  1941 – David Clayton-Thomas, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1943 – Mildred D. Taylor, author 1944 – Peter Cetera, singer, songwriter, bass player, and producer 1948 – Nell Carter, actress and singer 1952 – Randy Jones, singer 1952 – Don Was, bass player and producer 1954 – Steve Kilbey, singer, songwriter, and bass player 1955 – Joe Morris, guitarist and composer 1956 – Joni Sledge, singer and songwriter 1957 – Vinny Appice, drummer 1961 – Dave Mustaine, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1965 – Zak Starkey, drummer 1967 – Tim "Ripper" Owens, singer, songwriter ,and guitarist 1967 – Stephen Perkins, drummer and songwriter 1970 – Lee Abramson, bass player and composer 1975 – Joe Don Rooney, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1977 – Fiona Apple, singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist 1982 – Colin Marston,  guitarist, bassist, and producer/engineer 1983 – James Bourne, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1983 – Molly Crabapple, illustrator and journalist 1985 – David Jordan, singer and songwriter

Died this day in:

Saying is one thing and doing is another.

Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.

~~~      Michel de Montaigne

1506 – Andrea Mantegna, painter and engraver 1592 – Michel de Montaigne, philosopher and author 1872 – Ludwig Feuerbach, anthropologist and philosopher 1929 – Jatindra Nath Das, activist 1931 – Lili Elbe, model and painter 1949 – August Krogh, physiologist and academic 1953 – Mary Brewster Hazelton, painter 2004 – Luis E. Miramontes, chemist, co-invented the birth-control pill  2019 – Eddie Money, singer and songwriter

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Day of the Programmer, during a non-leap year. (International) Día de los Niños Héroes (Mexico) Roald Dahl Day (Africa, United Kingdom, Latin America) Fortune Cookie Day I'm on Top of it Day International Chocolate Day National Peanut Day Programmers' Day National Defy Superstition Day; including       Positive Thinking Day       Supernatural Day  

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies ;-) 

Defy Superstition Day

Battle of Baltimore

Arnold Schoenberg

Larry Shields

Chu Berry

Bill Monroe

Leonard Feather

Charles Brown

Lewie Steinberg

David-Clayton Thomas

Don Was

Joni Sledge

Zak Starkey

Eddie Money

Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com