What is and isn't special
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmwqnqL3Hbg
Just what is it that makes something "special"?
When I was in the military we had lots and lots of different types of orders. TDY orders were those that sent you on a temporary duty assignment somewhere other than your "permanent" base. PCS (Permanent Change of Station) orders sent you from one permanent base to another. General orders applied to everyone. One of my old Army buddies used to crack himself up by translating the Army's first general order. Officially it read:
"I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when relieved."
His version was:
"I will walk my post from flank to flank and salute all bastards above my rank."
Anyway, I digress. Then there were special orders. Special orders do things to an individual or a group of individuals. Changes of command are promulgated by a special order. My Meritorious Service Medal and my two Air Force Commendation Medals were each awarded by a citation, but what made the citation official was a special order. Such orders are "special."
In the days when I was a minimum-wage slave at a McDonald's, anytime someone wanted something "different", it was a special order. No pickles, extra onions, whatever. We did them, but some of the people working at the various fast food chains apparently let their negative attitude toward those who wanted something special be known. That led to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJXzkUH72cY
Bowling a 300 game means you have achieved perfection. 12 shots, 12 strikes. In 1952 the American Bowling Congress had 1.6 million members and there were 198 of these 300 games bowled that year. In 1980, membership had grown to nearly 5 million members and there were 5,373 300 games. Back then you would be rewarded with a gold 300 game ring by the ABC.
Not in recent times. In 2001, membership was back down to 1.7 million. But there were 42,163 perfect games that year. As membership numbers stay relatively stagnant or show minor decreases, the number of perfect games per year continue to rise. The USBC (replaced the ABC) would go broke giving out free gold rings for 300 games. Bowling a 300 game isn't nearly as special as it used to be.
Now let's go back to the Emmys and revisit the issue of giving special tributes. The special tribute to Corey Monteith was nothing more than producers trying to boost their ratings for the younger viewing demographics. It wasn't about him being "special". But that's not what I want to look at today. I'm interested in the whole idea of giving any one or several individuals a "special" tribute when doing an annual awards show "In Memoriam" segment. Here is a list of the names from the most recent Oscar telecast's In Memoriam segment:
Actors
Celeste Holm — Actress (July 15, 2012)
Charles Durning — Actor (Dec. 24, 2012)
Erland Josephson — Actor (Feb. 25, 2012)
Ernest Borgnine — Actor (July 8, 2012)
Herbert Lom — Actor (Sep. 27, 2012)
Jack Klugman — Actor (Dec. 24, 2012)
Michael Clarke Duncan — Actor (Sep. 3, 2012)
Directors and producers
Charles C. Washburn — Assistant director (April 13, 2012)
Chris Marker — Writer-director (July 29, 2012)
Frank Pierson — Writer-director (July 22, 2012)
Nora Ephron — Writer-director (June 26, 2012)
Richard D. Zanuck — Film producer (July 13, 2012)
Tony Scott — British film director and producer (Aug. 19, 2012)
Ulu Grosbard — Belgian-born theater and film director (March 19, 2012)
Music and sound
Adam Yauch — Songwriter, film director (May 4, 2012)
Hal David — Song writer (Sep. 1, 2012)
Marvin Hamlisch — Composer, songwriter (Aug. 6, 2012)
Michael Hopkins — New Zealand sound editor (Dec. 30, 2012)
Michael Kohut — Re-recording mixer, executive, sound engineer (Unlisted)
Richard Robbins — American film score composer (Nov. 7, 2012)
Richard Rodney Bennett — English composer (Dec. 24, 2012)
Robert B. Sherman — American songwriter, musical films (March 6, 2012)
Theodore Soderberg — American sound engineer (Unlisted)
Visuals
Bruce Surtees — Cinematographer (Feb. 23, 2012)
Carlo Rambaldi — Special effects artist (Aug. 12, 2012)
George Bowers — Film editor (Aug. 18, 2012)
Harris Savides — Cinematographer (Oct. 10, 2012)
John D. Lowry — Image restoration pioneer (Jan. 21, 2012)
Matthew Yuricich — Visual effects artist (May 28, 2012)
Neil Travis — Film and television editor (March 28, 2012)
Designers
Charles Rosen— Production designer (June 26, 2012)
Eiko Ishioka — Costume designer (Jan. 21, 2012)
J. Michael Riva — Production designer (June 7, 2012)
Ralph McQuarrie— Conceptual designer and illustrator (March 3, 2012)
Stephen Frankfurt— Advertising executive, title designer (Sept. 28, 2012)
Writers
Ray Bradbury — Fantasy, science fiction writer (June 5, 2012)
Tonino Guerra — Writer (March 21, 2012)
Other
Andrew Sarri — Film critic (June 20, 2012)
Geoffrey G. Ammer — Marketing executive (Sept. 9, 2012)
Jake Ebert — Executive (Sept. 6, 2012)
Lois W. Smith — Publicist (Oct. 7, 2012)
41 names. Of these 41 people, how many of them had been nominated for an Oscar? How many of them had actually won one?
Ernest Borgnine was nominated once for the Academy Award and won. Celeste Holm was a three-time nominee who won one Oscar. Eiko Ishioka was a two time nominee and one-time winner of an Oscar. Ralph McQuarrie was nominated once and won the award that year. Michael Clarke Duncan was a one-time nominee. Charles Durning was a two-time nominee (and recipient of the Silver Star and Bronze Star for his service during WWII). Carlo Rambaldi, a name that was probably unknown to most at the time was a two-time Oscar winner (both times he was nominated, he won). Richard Robbins was a two-time nominee. Harris Savides was never nominated for an Oscar, but he was for a BAFTA. Hal David was an Oscar winner while Tony Scott was not. Nora Ephron was a three-time nominee.
So if the producers of the Oscar telecast wanted to pay special tribute to just a few of these 41 people, who should they choose? Do you pay special tribute to Richard Robbins, winner of 2 gold statutes, over Ernest Borgnine, winner of only one? Do you favor Borgnine over Charles Durning, who was nominated twice? Is it awards, nominations, or just contributions to the industry that matter?
Were I to be in charge of such things, no one would receive any individual "special" recognition other than the montage of images (still and video) that are shown. I would show more images of the people who are most familiar to the public, but it wouldn't be a huge increase over the tributes to those who weren't as well known.
In the end, everyone being saluted in an In Memoriam tribute is special, and the producers of awards shows should find a way to be more rather than less inclusive. Less divisive rather than more divisive.
* * *
The Los Angeles Unified School District is in the process of putting an iPad in the hands of every single student in the district. Total cost will exceed $1 billion. Giving the students a way to carry their textbooks on an iPad rather than in a backpack that's so heavy it will cause them to have to walk bent, is a good idea. Choosing the iPad as the platform for this is a bad one.
Giving students internet access at home is a noble thing. But at what cost? There is a better answer for the textbooks. It's a device called a Kindle. Kindles are cool. They can hold every single textbook that a student is using that year. And the following year. And so on. Kindles can use WiFi to send and receive email. They can't surf the web per se, but maybe that's a good thing when one considers how the first batch of students misused their iPads to go to websites they weren't supposed to go through, after they hacked past the so-called "protections".
One news article puts the price to replace one of the LAUSD iPads at $700 if lost or stolen. Kindles run about $70.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
On the numerous occasions when I took the train from Kwangju to the capital city of South Korea, I guess I was aboard the Seoul Train.
Is baseball really worth dying over? What kind of idiot stabs someone because they're wearing "gear" from the other team your team is playing against??
While my trivia team didn't win last night's contest, we did win a $10 prize for best team name, thought up by me. We played as "I saw Miley Cyrus with her clothes ON."
So without endorsing his wife, Bill Clinton says his daughter Chelsea would make a great president. I can just see the Super PAC TV commercial now. Some deep-voiced announcer saying "Former President Bill Clinton thinks his daughter would be a better president than his wife."
The brouhaha over the "Naughty Leopard" costume for little girls that was pulled from Walmart reminded me of an annual event at the USO in Homestead, FL. Every year they had a "Naughty Nightie" contest, with the military guys bidding on the nighties of the women who volunteered to be hostesses there. And every year, those guys ended up wearing those nighties they put in the winning bid for.
Look for a blog in the next few days on Obamacare's implementation and included in that will be the reasons why Senator Ted Cruz is not taking advantage of the healthcare plan offered to senators.
* * *
This Date In History:
46 BC – Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in accordance with a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus.
715 – Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne.
1087 – William II is crowned King of England, and reigns until 1100.
1212 – Golden Bull of Sicily is issued to confirm the hereditary royal title in Bohemia for the Přemyslid dynasty.
1345 – Friso-Hollandic Wars: Frisians defeat Holland in the Battle of Warns.
1371 – Serbian–Turkish wars: The forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I's lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa and the Serbian army under the command of Vukašin Mrnjavčević and Jovan Uglješa clash at the Battle of Maritsa.
1493 – Pope Alexander VI issues the papal bull Dudum siquidem to the Catholic Monarchs, extending the grant of new lands he made them in Inter caetera
1580 – Sir Francis Drake finishes his circumnavigation of the Earth.
1687 – The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed by an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini who are besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens.
1687 – The city council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange's invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution.
1777 – British troops Philadelphia campaign occupy Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.
1786 – Protestors shut down the court in Springfield, Massachusetts in a military standoff that begins Shays' Rebellion.
1789 – Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay is appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood is appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph is appointed the first United States Attorney General.
1792 – Marc-David Lasource begins accusing Maximilien Robespierre of wanting a dictatorship for France.
1810 – A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
1872 – The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) is established in New York City.
1907 – New Zealand and Newfoundland each become dominions within the British Empire.
1910 – Indian journalist Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai is arrested after publishing criticism of the government of Travancore and exiled.
1914 – The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood begins.
1918 – World War I: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the bloodiest single battle in American history, begins.
1923 – Gustav Stresemann resumes the Weimar Republic's payment of reparations.
1933 – As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrenders to the FBI, he shouts out, "Don’t shoot, G-Men!", which becomes a nickname for FBI agents.
1933 – Ten convicts escape from the Indiana State Prison with guns smuggled into the prison by bank robber John Dillinger
1934 – Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched.
1942 – The Holocaust: August Frank, a higher official of the SS concentration camp administration department, issues a memorandum containing a great deal of operational detail in how Jews should be "evacuated".
1944 – World War II: Operation Market Garden fails.
1944 – World War II: On the central front of the Gothic Line Brazilian troops control the Serchio valley region after ten days of fighting.
1950 – United Nations troops recapture Seoul from North Korean forces.
1950 – Indonesia is admitted to the United Nations.
1954 – Japanese rail ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan killing 1,172.
1959 – Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless.
1960 – In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
1960 – Fidel Castro announces Cuba's support for the U.S.S.R.
1969 - Abbey Road, the last recorded album by The Beatles, was released.
1970 – The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning 175,425 acres (709.92 km2).
1971 – The Freetown Christiania was founded.
1973 – Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time.
1981 – Baseball: Nolan Ryan sets a Major League record by throwing his fifth no-hitter.
1983 – Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a likely worldwide nuclear war by correctly identifying a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike.
1984 – The United Kingdom agrees to the handover of Hong Kong
1997 – A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Johnny Appleseed
Edmund Gwenn
T. S. Eliot
George Raft
Jurgen Stroop
Pope Paul VI
George Gershwin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh9ghHKHcmw)
Jack LaLanne
Barbara Britton
Matilde Camus
Marty Robbins
Julie London
Patrick O'Neal
Donna Douglas
Jerry Weintraub
Martine Beswick
Bryan Ferry
Christine Todd Whitman
Olivia Newton-John
Stuart Tosh
Linda Hamilton
Melissa Sue Anderson
Jillian Barberie
James Cavieziel
Jake Paltrow
Serena Williams
Movie quotes today come from "G. I. Jane" not because I think it bears revisiting so soon on its own merits, but because James Caviezel was in it:
Sen. Lillian DeHaven: Captain, are you in the habit of lettin' reporters traipse around your base, snappin' their fill? These are supposed to be discreet test cases!
C.O. Salem: Senator, they stand out on a public highway using telephoto lenses. There is nothin' I can do about it, unless you want me to infringe on their civil liberties, which I will be glad to do, if you'll just trim a little fat off the Constitution.
Sen. Lillian DeHaven: Did you just mouth off to a senior member of the Senate Arms Committee? I mean, I'll give you points for style, just nothin' for smarts!
#2
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: [after being brutually beaten during a capture exercise] Master Chief...
Master Chief John Urgayle: Lieutenant, seek life elsewhere.
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: Suck my dick!
[captive members of her team start shouting and chanting Hoo Rar after being silent to the Master Chief]
#3
'Slov' Slovnik: Lemme get this straight. Now we're *sharing the same fucking head*!
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: Listen, you moron! I am here to stay and if you don't wanna be in my life, you've got two choices. Move out or Ring out! That's it! End of File!
'Wick' Wickwire: [to Slovnik] I say you've got less than one minute to get your fucking clothes on!
Just what is it that makes something "special"?
When I was in the military we had lots and lots of different types of orders. TDY orders were those that sent you on a temporary duty assignment somewhere other than your "permanent" base. PCS (Permanent Change of Station) orders sent you from one permanent base to another. General orders applied to everyone. One of my old Army buddies used to crack himself up by translating the Army's first general order. Officially it read:
"I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when relieved."
His version was:
"I will walk my post from flank to flank and salute all bastards above my rank."
Anyway, I digress. Then there were special orders. Special orders do things to an individual or a group of individuals. Changes of command are promulgated by a special order. My Meritorious Service Medal and my two Air Force Commendation Medals were each awarded by a citation, but what made the citation official was a special order. Such orders are "special."
In the days when I was a minimum-wage slave at a McDonald's, anytime someone wanted something "different", it was a special order. No pickles, extra onions, whatever. We did them, but some of the people working at the various fast food chains apparently let their negative attitude toward those who wanted something special be known. That led to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJXzkUH72cY
Bowling a 300 game means you have achieved perfection. 12 shots, 12 strikes. In 1952 the American Bowling Congress had 1.6 million members and there were 198 of these 300 games bowled that year. In 1980, membership had grown to nearly 5 million members and there were 5,373 300 games. Back then you would be rewarded with a gold 300 game ring by the ABC.
Not in recent times. In 2001, membership was back down to 1.7 million. But there were 42,163 perfect games that year. As membership numbers stay relatively stagnant or show minor decreases, the number of perfect games per year continue to rise. The USBC (replaced the ABC) would go broke giving out free gold rings for 300 games. Bowling a 300 game isn't nearly as special as it used to be.
Now let's go back to the Emmys and revisit the issue of giving special tributes. The special tribute to Corey Monteith was nothing more than producers trying to boost their ratings for the younger viewing demographics. It wasn't about him being "special". But that's not what I want to look at today. I'm interested in the whole idea of giving any one or several individuals a "special" tribute when doing an annual awards show "In Memoriam" segment. Here is a list of the names from the most recent Oscar telecast's In Memoriam segment:
Actors
Celeste Holm — Actress (July 15, 2012)
Charles Durning — Actor (Dec. 24, 2012)
Erland Josephson — Actor (Feb. 25, 2012)
Ernest Borgnine — Actor (July 8, 2012)
Herbert Lom — Actor (Sep. 27, 2012)
Jack Klugman — Actor (Dec. 24, 2012)
Michael Clarke Duncan — Actor (Sep. 3, 2012)
Directors and producers
Charles C. Washburn — Assistant director (April 13, 2012)
Chris Marker — Writer-director (July 29, 2012)
Frank Pierson — Writer-director (July 22, 2012)
Nora Ephron — Writer-director (June 26, 2012)
Richard D. Zanuck — Film producer (July 13, 2012)
Tony Scott — British film director and producer (Aug. 19, 2012)
Ulu Grosbard — Belgian-born theater and film director (March 19, 2012)
Music and sound
Adam Yauch — Songwriter, film director (May 4, 2012)
Hal David — Song writer (Sep. 1, 2012)
Marvin Hamlisch — Composer, songwriter (Aug. 6, 2012)
Michael Hopkins — New Zealand sound editor (Dec. 30, 2012)
Michael Kohut — Re-recording mixer, executive, sound engineer (Unlisted)
Richard Robbins — American film score composer (Nov. 7, 2012)
Richard Rodney Bennett — English composer (Dec. 24, 2012)
Robert B. Sherman — American songwriter, musical films (March 6, 2012)
Theodore Soderberg — American sound engineer (Unlisted)
Visuals
Bruce Surtees — Cinematographer (Feb. 23, 2012)
Carlo Rambaldi — Special effects artist (Aug. 12, 2012)
George Bowers — Film editor (Aug. 18, 2012)
Harris Savides — Cinematographer (Oct. 10, 2012)
John D. Lowry — Image restoration pioneer (Jan. 21, 2012)
Matthew Yuricich — Visual effects artist (May 28, 2012)
Neil Travis — Film and television editor (March 28, 2012)
Designers
Charles Rosen— Production designer (June 26, 2012)
Eiko Ishioka — Costume designer (Jan. 21, 2012)
J. Michael Riva — Production designer (June 7, 2012)
Ralph McQuarrie— Conceptual designer and illustrator (March 3, 2012)
Stephen Frankfurt— Advertising executive, title designer (Sept. 28, 2012)
Writers
Ray Bradbury — Fantasy, science fiction writer (June 5, 2012)
Tonino Guerra — Writer (March 21, 2012)
Other
Andrew Sarri — Film critic (June 20, 2012)
Geoffrey G. Ammer — Marketing executive (Sept. 9, 2012)
Jake Ebert — Executive (Sept. 6, 2012)
Lois W. Smith — Publicist (Oct. 7, 2012)
41 names. Of these 41 people, how many of them had been nominated for an Oscar? How many of them had actually won one?
Ernest Borgnine was nominated once for the Academy Award and won. Celeste Holm was a three-time nominee who won one Oscar. Eiko Ishioka was a two time nominee and one-time winner of an Oscar. Ralph McQuarrie was nominated once and won the award that year. Michael Clarke Duncan was a one-time nominee. Charles Durning was a two-time nominee (and recipient of the Silver Star and Bronze Star for his service during WWII). Carlo Rambaldi, a name that was probably unknown to most at the time was a two-time Oscar winner (both times he was nominated, he won). Richard Robbins was a two-time nominee. Harris Savides was never nominated for an Oscar, but he was for a BAFTA. Hal David was an Oscar winner while Tony Scott was not. Nora Ephron was a three-time nominee.
So if the producers of the Oscar telecast wanted to pay special tribute to just a few of these 41 people, who should they choose? Do you pay special tribute to Richard Robbins, winner of 2 gold statutes, over Ernest Borgnine, winner of only one? Do you favor Borgnine over Charles Durning, who was nominated twice? Is it awards, nominations, or just contributions to the industry that matter?
Were I to be in charge of such things, no one would receive any individual "special" recognition other than the montage of images (still and video) that are shown. I would show more images of the people who are most familiar to the public, but it wouldn't be a huge increase over the tributes to those who weren't as well known.
In the end, everyone being saluted in an In Memoriam tribute is special, and the producers of awards shows should find a way to be more rather than less inclusive. Less divisive rather than more divisive.
* * *
The Los Angeles Unified School District is in the process of putting an iPad in the hands of every single student in the district. Total cost will exceed $1 billion. Giving the students a way to carry their textbooks on an iPad rather than in a backpack that's so heavy it will cause them to have to walk bent, is a good idea. Choosing the iPad as the platform for this is a bad one.
Giving students internet access at home is a noble thing. But at what cost? There is a better answer for the textbooks. It's a device called a Kindle. Kindles are cool. They can hold every single textbook that a student is using that year. And the following year. And so on. Kindles can use WiFi to send and receive email. They can't surf the web per se, but maybe that's a good thing when one considers how the first batch of students misused their iPads to go to websites they weren't supposed to go through, after they hacked past the so-called "protections".
One news article puts the price to replace one of the LAUSD iPads at $700 if lost or stolen. Kindles run about $70.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
On the numerous occasions when I took the train from Kwangju to the capital city of South Korea, I guess I was aboard the Seoul Train.
Is baseball really worth dying over? What kind of idiot stabs someone because they're wearing "gear" from the other team your team is playing against??
While my trivia team didn't win last night's contest, we did win a $10 prize for best team name, thought up by me. We played as "I saw Miley Cyrus with her clothes ON."
So without endorsing his wife, Bill Clinton says his daughter Chelsea would make a great president. I can just see the Super PAC TV commercial now. Some deep-voiced announcer saying "Former President Bill Clinton thinks his daughter would be a better president than his wife."
The brouhaha over the "Naughty Leopard" costume for little girls that was pulled from Walmart reminded me of an annual event at the USO in Homestead, FL. Every year they had a "Naughty Nightie" contest, with the military guys bidding on the nighties of the women who volunteered to be hostesses there. And every year, those guys ended up wearing those nighties they put in the winning bid for.
Look for a blog in the next few days on Obamacare's implementation and included in that will be the reasons why Senator Ted Cruz is not taking advantage of the healthcare plan offered to senators.
* * *
This Date In History:
46 BC – Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in accordance with a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus.
715 – Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne.
1087 – William II is crowned King of England, and reigns until 1100.
1212 – Golden Bull of Sicily is issued to confirm the hereditary royal title in Bohemia for the Přemyslid dynasty.
1345 – Friso-Hollandic Wars: Frisians defeat Holland in the Battle of Warns.
1371 – Serbian–Turkish wars: The forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I's lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa and the Serbian army under the command of Vukašin Mrnjavčević and Jovan Uglješa clash at the Battle of Maritsa.
1493 – Pope Alexander VI issues the papal bull Dudum siquidem to the Catholic Monarchs, extending the grant of new lands he made them in Inter caetera
1580 – Sir Francis Drake finishes his circumnavigation of the Earth.
1687 – The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed by an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini who are besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens.
1687 – The city council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange's invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution.
1777 – British troops Philadelphia campaign occupy Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.
1786 – Protestors shut down the court in Springfield, Massachusetts in a military standoff that begins Shays' Rebellion.
1789 – Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay is appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood is appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph is appointed the first United States Attorney General.
1792 – Marc-David Lasource begins accusing Maximilien Robespierre of wanting a dictatorship for France.
1810 – A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
1872 – The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) is established in New York City.
1907 – New Zealand and Newfoundland each become dominions within the British Empire.
1910 – Indian journalist Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai is arrested after publishing criticism of the government of Travancore and exiled.
1914 – The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood begins.
1918 – World War I: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the bloodiest single battle in American history, begins.
1923 – Gustav Stresemann resumes the Weimar Republic's payment of reparations.
1933 – As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrenders to the FBI, he shouts out, "Don’t shoot, G-Men!", which becomes a nickname for FBI agents.
1933 – Ten convicts escape from the Indiana State Prison with guns smuggled into the prison by bank robber John Dillinger
1934 – Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched.
1942 – The Holocaust: August Frank, a higher official of the SS concentration camp administration department, issues a memorandum containing a great deal of operational detail in how Jews should be "evacuated".
1944 – World War II: Operation Market Garden fails.
1944 – World War II: On the central front of the Gothic Line Brazilian troops control the Serchio valley region after ten days of fighting.
1950 – United Nations troops recapture Seoul from North Korean forces.
1950 – Indonesia is admitted to the United Nations.
1954 – Japanese rail ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan killing 1,172.
1959 – Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless.
1960 – In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
1960 – Fidel Castro announces Cuba's support for the U.S.S.R.
1969 - Abbey Road, the last recorded album by The Beatles, was released.
1970 – The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning 175,425 acres (709.92 km2).
1971 – The Freetown Christiania was founded.
1973 – Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time.
1981 – Baseball: Nolan Ryan sets a Major League record by throwing his fifth no-hitter.
1983 – Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a likely worldwide nuclear war by correctly identifying a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike.
1984 – The United Kingdom agrees to the handover of Hong Kong
1997 – A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Johnny Appleseed
Edmund Gwenn
T. S. Eliot
George Raft
Jurgen Stroop
Pope Paul VI
George Gershwin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh9ghHKHcmw)
Jack LaLanne
Barbara Britton
Matilde Camus
Marty Robbins
Julie London
Patrick O'Neal
Donna Douglas
Jerry Weintraub
Martine Beswick
Bryan Ferry
Christine Todd Whitman
Olivia Newton-John
Stuart Tosh
Linda Hamilton
Melissa Sue Anderson
Jillian Barberie
James Cavieziel
Jake Paltrow
Serena Williams
Movie quotes today come from "G. I. Jane" not because I think it bears revisiting so soon on its own merits, but because James Caviezel was in it:
Sen. Lillian DeHaven: Captain, are you in the habit of lettin' reporters traipse around your base, snappin' their fill? These are supposed to be discreet test cases!
C.O. Salem: Senator, they stand out on a public highway using telephoto lenses. There is nothin' I can do about it, unless you want me to infringe on their civil liberties, which I will be glad to do, if you'll just trim a little fat off the Constitution.
Sen. Lillian DeHaven: Did you just mouth off to a senior member of the Senate Arms Committee? I mean, I'll give you points for style, just nothin' for smarts!
#2
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: [after being brutually beaten during a capture exercise] Master Chief...
Master Chief John Urgayle: Lieutenant, seek life elsewhere.
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: Suck my dick!
[captive members of her team start shouting and chanting Hoo Rar after being silent to the Master Chief]
#3
'Slov' Slovnik: Lemme get this straight. Now we're *sharing the same fucking head*!
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: Listen, you moron! I am here to stay and if you don't wanna be in my life, you've got two choices. Move out or Ring out! That's it! End of File!
'Wick' Wickwire: [to Slovnik] I say you've got less than one minute to get your fucking clothes on!
posted by me at 3:49 PM
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