Pictured above is the HMS Bounty monument at Point Venus, Tahiti. Tahiti was an approved stop for the bounty, but it was the best illustration I could come up with for Bounty Day which is celebrated on this day in the Pitcairn Islands, the HMS Bounty's very much unauthorized final stop. The mutineers and the tahitians who accompanied them settled and populated the uninhabited island and their descendents also helped populate Norfolk Island as well. I know it is a foreign holiday, but hell, it is a fascinating tale (read the history) and much more interesting than measuring your feet.
Its National Pie Day. December first is also National Pie Day, but January 23 is the first National Pie Day of the year and, added Bonus, it is also National Rhubarb Pie Day. That's Rhubarb Pie not Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie, Banana-Rhubarb Pie, Peach-Rhubarb Pie or any other hybrid, thank you.
Heh, National Handwriting Day too, yeah, right. Who else still uses a fountain pen? Hands? How many can do at least 15 wpm with their thumbs on a cellphone's virtual keypad? Uh huh. Q.E.D.
Its National Measure Your Feet Day, but don't waste your time. For many ages now they have have always been 12 inches. Feet are, in fact, so defined. Inches, of course, are 3 Barleycorns laid end to end, somewhere around 2.54 centimeters and a waste of good Barleycorns, which are better used in malted form, unless you are a member of Traffic.
On this day in history:
1368 -- The Ming dynasty began with the coronation of Zhu Yuanzhang
1546 – François Rabelais published his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.
1556 -- The Shaanxi earthquake may have may have killed as many as 830,000.
1795 -- French cavalry forces captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns by attacking across a frozen bay.
1846 -- Slavery was abolished in Tunisia
1849 -- Elizabeth Blackwell received her MD and became the first female doctor in the US
1870 -- In the Marias Massacre (in Montana), U.S. cavalry killed 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children
1879 -- The Battle of Rorke's Drift ended
1912 -- The International Opium Convention was signed
1950 -- The Knesset illegally declared that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel
1960 -- The bathyscaphe Trieste set a new depth record of 10,911 metres
1964 -- The 24th Amendment outlawed poll taxes
1968 – The spy ship USS Pueblo was captured by the Korean People's Navy.
1973 -- Nixon announced peace in Vietnam.
1986 -- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its first members
1997 -- Madeleine Albright became the US' first female Secretary of State.
1998 -- Netscape announced Mozilla
2003 -- The last signal was received from Pioneer 10 (but Pioneer Chicken keeps going)
2018 – Trump arbitrarily placed tariffs on Chinese solar panels and washing machines kicking off a trade war.
Some people who were born on this day:
Mathematics knows no races or geographical boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country.
~~ David Hilbert
1622 – Abraham Diepraam, painter 1752 -- Muzio Clementi, pianist, composer, and conductor 1783 -- Stendhal, author who saw life in terms of red and black 1813 – Camilla Collett, novelist and activist 1832 -- Edouard Manet, painter 1840 -- Ernst Abbe, physicist and engineer 1862 -- David Hilbert, mathematician and academic 1872 -- Paul Langevin, physicist and academic antifascist, commie and Marie Curie's lover 1897 -- Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky, architect, communist, & kitchen designer 1898 -- Randolph Scott, Ahhhhh ... 1907 -- Hideki Yukawa, physicist, Japan's first Nobel laureate 1910 -- Django Reinhardt, guitarist and composer 1918 -- Gertrude B. Elion, biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize winner 1918 -- Florence Rush, social worker and theorist, attacked some wrongheaded Freudian victim blaming. 1925 -- Marty Paich, pianist, composer, producer, and conductor 1933 -- Chita Rivera, actress, singer, and dancer 1943 -- Gary Burton, vibraphone player and composer 1948 – Anita Pointer, singer and songwriter 1950 -- Bill Cunningham, bass player and keyboard player 1950 -- John Greaves, bass player and songwriter 1950 -- Luis Alberto Spinetta, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and poet 1953 – Robin Zander, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1964 -- Jonatha Brooke, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1968 -- Taro Hakase, violinist and composer
Some people who died on this day:
The answer to injustice is not to silence the critic, but to end the injustice.
~~ Paul Robeson
1622 – William Baffin, explorer and navigator 1803 -- Arthur Guinness, brewer, founded Guinness. Truly a stout fellow. 1837 – John Field, pianist and composer 1883 -- Gustave Dore, engraver and illustrator 1931 -- Anna Pavlova, ballerina 1944 – Edvard Munch, painter and illustrator 1973 -- Kid Ory, trombonist, composer, and bandleader 1976 -- Paul Robeson, actor, singer, and activist 1978 -- Terry Kath, guitarist and songwriter 1989 -- Salvador Dali, painter and sculptor 1990 -- Allen Collins, guitarist and songwriter, southren man 1993 -- Thomas A. Dorsey, singer, songwriter and pianist 1993 -- Keith Laumer, author, flyboy, and diplomat 1997 -- Richard Berry, singer & songwriter 1999 -- Lincoln Thompson, singer & songwriter 2007 -- E. Howard Hunt, professional low-life SOB, spook 2010 – Earl Wild, pianist and composer 2017 – Bobby Freeman, singer, songwriter and record producer 2018 – Hugh Masekela, trumpeter, composer, and singer 2019 – Oliver Mtukudzi, Afro Jazz musician
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Fixed Date Holidays:
Bounty Day (Pitcairn Islands) First National Pie Day of the Year (There's another on December 1) National Rhubarb Pie Day National Handwriting Day (soon to be replaced by thumb typing day) National Measure Your Feet Day
Today's Tunes
Muzio Clementi
Django Reinhardt
Marty Paich
Gary Burton
Anita Pointer
Bill Cunningham
John Greaves
Luis Alberto Spinetta
Robin Zander
Jonatha Brooke
Taro Hakase
Kid Ory
Paul Robeson
Terry Kath
. Allen Collins
Thomas A. Dorsey
Richard Berry
Lincoln Thompson
Bobby Freeman
Hugh Masekela
Oliver Mtukudzi
Bonus:
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