10/04 is "Child Health Day" (huh?)

Today is day 277 of the Gregorian Calendar year, Boomtime, Bureaucracy 58, 3187 YOLD And let us not forget 13.0.8.16.9 mlc (the Mayan Long Count) *****

Child Health Day is one of those misdirection holidays, sort of like sending thoughts and prayers. We don't have good numbers regarding child health, we don't give a shit about child health, we don't do shit about it and we don't intend to do shit about it, BUT, here's a nice happy holiday named Child Health Day. Somewhere there's even a picture of a woman in a military uniform playing with some kid to further brighten your day.

Infant mortality in the US is 5.69 per 1,000 live births, ranking us 33rd out of the 36 OECD countries. As to those who live: Roughly 43.3 million US kids lack health Insurance and access to health care Roughly 11.6 million US kids live in poverty Roughly 10.7 millions live in households which are "food insecure" Roughly 2.5 million are "homeless"

Sort of like "Peace Day", we celebrate that which we do not do or even try to do; a sleazy attempt to fool ourselves. I hope it isn't working, that we are becoming more and more aware of reality and maybe starting to think about trying to find a way to maybe figure out a way to get something done about these problems, but the process in this country is broken. There is no way to make massive profits from solving any of those problems, let alone doing in such a way that all the profits and benefits flow to a very few obscenely rich corporations and individuals. That being the case, we can be certain that, as a country, we will do zip shit. I mean, really absolute nada

On 11 baktun, 18 katun, 3 tun, 9 uinal, 17 k'in, (11.18.3.9.17 mlc), some dude using the alias "Gregory" introduced a new European calendar, now known as the Gregorian calendar. It seems that the duration of one orbit of the sun around the earth had either changed or else was misrepresented by the calculations used in creating the Julian calendar. This caused the computed date upon which the Christians celebrated their version of the pagan Eostre holiday to drift significantly with respect to the authentic original date, causing untold consternation requiring remedy. Da kine mo bettah now, I guess.

On 10/04/ 1853, The Ottoman Empire declared war on The Russian Empire, officially starting the Crimean War. I tend to think of this as The Haberdasher's War because it featured generals Raglan and Cardigan as well as the Battle of Balaclava. In reality it is best known for The Charge of The Light Brigade, a militarily stupid exercise memorialized in poem and summed up by French General Pierre Bosquet with his famous declaration c'est magnifique mais ce n'est pas la guerre

On this day in history:

- 1582 – The Gregorian Calendar was introduced by Pope "Gregory" XIII 1597 – Governor Gonzalo Méndez de Canço began suppressing a native uprising against his rule in what is now the US state of Georgia. 1824 – Mexico adopted a new constitution and became a federal republic. 1830 – The Belgian Revolutionary provisional government seceded from the Netherlands. 1853 – The Crimean War begins when the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire. 1883 – First run of the Orient Express. (why is it called a run, insofar as they roll?) 1927 – Gutzon Borglum began carving Mount Rushmore.violating the Treaty of Fort Laramie 1957 – Sputnik 1 became the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. 1958 – The current constitution of France was adopted. 1983 – Richard Noble set a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour 1985 – The Free Software Foundation was, founded, pissing off a lot of people 1991 – The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was opened for signature. 1993 – The Battle of Mogadishu occurred, one of the earlier US attacks in the ongoing undeclared war on Somalia. 1993 – Tanks bombarded the Russian parliament during a demonstrators against President Yeltsin 2004 – SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight. 2006 – WikiLeaks was launched, triggering the global war on Julian Assange.

Born this day in:

-“If a cat spoke, it would say things like 'Hey, I don’t see the problem here.”

~~ Roy Blount Jr.

1515 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, painter 1524 – Francisco Vallés, physician 1657 – Francesco Solimena, painter and illustrator 1720 – Giovanni Battista Piranesi, sculptor and illustrator 1723 – Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, entomologist and author 1759 – Louis François Antoine Arbogast, mathematician and academic 1768 – Francisco José de Caldas, naturalist, executed by royalists in the war of independence 1787 – François Guizot, historian and politician 1814 – Jean-François Millet, painter and educator 1861 – Frederic Remington, painter, sculptor, and illustrator 1876 – Florence Eliza Allen, mathematician and suffrage activist 1879 – Robert Edwards, artist, musician, and writer 1888 – Lucy Tayiah Eads, tribal chief (Kaw) 1890 – Alan L. Hart, physician and author 1896 – Dorothy Lawrence, reporter, 1903 – John Vincent Atanasoff, physicist and academic, invented the Atanasoff–Berry computer 1906 – Mary Celine Fasenmyer, mathematician 1911 – Mary Two-Axe Earley, indigenous women's rights activist 1914 – Brendan Gill, journalist and essayist 1916 – Vitaly Ginzburg, physicist and academic 1917 – Violeta Parra, singer, songwriter, and guitarist (d. 1967) 1918 – Kenichi Fukui, chemist and academic, 1921 – Stella Pevsner, children's author 1929 – Leroy Van Dyke, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1937 – Jackie Collins, author and actress 1937 – Lloyd Green, steel guitar player 1938 – Kurt Wüthrich, chemist and biophysicist 1940 – Steve Swallow, bass player and composer 1941 – Roy Blount, Jr., humorist and journalist 1941 – Anne Rice, author 1942 – Bernice Johnson Reagon, singer and songwriter 1943 – H. Rap Brown, activist 1945 – Clifton Davis, singer, songwriter, actor, and minister 1946 – Susan Sarandon, actress and activist 1947 – Julien Clerc, singer, songwriter, and pianist 1947 – Jim Fielder, bass player 1948 – Duke Robillard, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1952 – Jody Stephens, rock drummer 1953 – Gil Moore, singer, songwriter, drummer, and producer 1957 – Yngve Moe, bass player and songwriter 1958 – Barbara Kooyman, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1959 – Chris Lowe, singer and keyboard player 1961 – Kazuki Takahashi, author and illustrator, created Yu-Gi-Oh! 1961 – Jon Secada, singer and songwriter 1965 – Skip Heller, singer, songwriter, guitarist,, and producer 1971 – Darren Middleton, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1977 – Richard Reed Parry, guitarist, songwriter, and producer

Died this day in:

“Tomorrow never happens. It’s all the same fucking day, man.”

~~ Janis Joplin

1660 – Francesco Albani, painter 1669 – Rembrandt, painter and illustrator 1680 – Pierre-Paul Riquet, engineer, designed the Canal du Midi 1747 – Amaro Pargo, corsair 1859 – Karl Baedeker, publisher, founded Baedeker 1890 – Catherine Booth, co-founded The Salvation Army 1904 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty 1904 – Carl Josef Bayer, chemist and academic 1935 – Jean Béraud, painter and academic 1947 – Max Planck, physicist and academic, 1951 – Henrietta Lacks, medical patient 1970 – Janis Joplin, singer and songwriter 1974 – Anne Sexton, poet and author 1982 – Glenn Gould, pianist and conductor 1994 – Danny Gatton, guitarist 1999 – Erik Brødreskift, drummer 1999 – Art Farmer, trumpet player and composer 2000 – Michael Smith, biochemist and geneticist 2001 – John Collins, guitarist 2013 – Võ Nguyên Giáp, general and politician, 2014 – Jean-Claude Duvalier, dictator, liked by Nixon and Reagan, and possibly nobody else 2015 – Dave Pike, vibraphone player and songwriter

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Chile Health Day World Animal Day National Taco Day National Vodka Day World Architecture Day

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

Violeta Parra

Leroy Van Dyke

Lloyd Green

Steve Swallow

Bernice Reagon

Jim Fielder