12/09 Open Thread - It's Anna's Day

Anna's Day is the day to start the preparation process of the lutefisk to be consumed on Christmas Eve. You have been notified, so get on it.

For what its worth, according to Wikipedia, on this day in 1822 Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in a memoir read to the Academy of Sciences, coined the terms linear polarization, circular polarization, and elliptical polarization, and reported a direct refraction experiment verifying his theory that optical rotation is a form of birefringence.

In the early nineteen-sixties, both Somalia and Kenya threw off their colonial yokes to become free. This was like music to the ears of the USA'a political classes. Better yet, turmoil and civil war broke out in Somalia, affording a potential excuse and justification for a "peacekeeping mission" and long term base from which to exert "influence" in that part of Africa and the adjacent waters. Having finagled control command of a UN operation consisting largely of US troops and personnel, on December 9, 1992, the US Central Command literally invaded Somalia using multiple simultaneous amphibious assaults and a helicopter assault on the Mogadishu airport. Though our fondness for Somalia has waxed and waned, we still have troops there, though we never did acquire a permanent base.

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On this day in history:

1636 – The Qing dynasty of China, led by Emperor Hong Taiji, invaded Joseon. 1793 – New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, was established by Noah Webster. 1824 – Patriot forces defeated a Royalist army in the Battle of Ayacucho, ending the Peruvian War of Independence. 1897 – Marguerite Durand founded the feminist daily newspaper La Fronde in Paris.. 1905 – France passed the law separating church and state. I wonder if it works any better than ours has?. 1917 – British Field Marshal Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire. I'll say no more 1948 – The Genocide Convention was adopted. Really? Yes, really 1953 – General Electric announced that all communist employees would be fired 1958 – The John Birch Society was founded 1962 – The Petrified Forest National Park was created. 1968 – Douglas Engelbart gave "The Mother of All Demos" 1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus was certified. This is the only known extinction that TPTB gave a shit about 1992 – American troops landed in Somalia. We still don't have a base there, just troops. 1996 – Gwen Jacob was acquitted of committing an indecent act, effectively legalizing female toplessness in Ontario, Canada.. 2017 – Australia legalized same-sex marriage.

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Some people who were born on this day:

When one man says, “No, I won’t,” Rome begins to fear.

~~ Dalton Trumbo

1608 – John Milton, poet 1617 – Richard Lovelace, ditto 1748 – Claude Louis Berthollet, chemist 1779 – Tabitha Babbitt, tool maker and inventor 1813 – Thomas Andrews, chemist 1842 – Peter Kropotkin, zoologist, economist, geographer, and philosopher 1868 – Fritz Haber, chemist 1883 – Nikolai Luzin, mathematician 1900 – Albert Weisbord, activist 1905 – Dalton Trumbo, author, screenwriter, and blacklistee 1906 – Grace Hopper, computer scientist, invented COBOL, for better or worse 1906 – Freddy Martin, bandleader and saxophonist 1932 – Donald Byrd, trumpet player 1932 – Billy Edd Wheeler, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and playwright 1934 – Junior Wells, singer, songwriter, and harmonica player. 1940 – Clancy Eccles, singer, songwriter, and producer 1941 – Dan Hicks, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1943 – Kenny Vance, singer, songwriter, and producer 1944 – Neil Innes, singer and songwriter 1946 – Dennis Dunaway, bass player and songwriter 1957 – Donny Osmond, singer, songwriter, dancer, actor, Osmond 1958 – Nick Seymour, bass player, songwriter, and producer 1968 – Brian Bell, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1969 – Jakob Dylan, ditto 1972 – Tré Cool, drummer and songwriter

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Some people who died on this day:

You only find what you are looking for, really, if the truth be known.

~~ Mary Leakey

1996 – Patty Donahue, singer and songwriter 1996 – Mary Leakey, archaeologist and anthropologist 2002 – Mary Hansen, singer and guitarist 2006 – Georgia Gibbs, singer 2010 – James Moody, saxophonist, flautist, and composer 2012 – Jenni Rivera, singer, songwriter, producer, and actress

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Anna's day International Anti-Corruption Day (United Nations) snerk, anti-corruption day, heh, hee,hee,hee. Oh, I needed a good laugh.

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Today's Tunes

John Milton

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