The bigger issue in the Sterling recordings
A FB friend wrote about the chilling effect that the recording of Donald Sterling, and the subsequent release of those recordings is having on anyone and everyone. Here's an excerpt of those words:
"I do not believe that we are wise enough or just enough to wield this much might. Private conversation. then TMZ. Deadspin. Twitter. Facebook. And a life that will never be the same. Again, not defending Donald Sterling. He is indefensible. He is not the point.
I am certainly not important enough for anyone to want to destroy me, or even care very much about some inane or hurtful or, heaven forbid, hateful thing that comes out of my little mouth, and maybe I am altogether wrong.
But I am more than a little afraid."
I didn't entirely agree and wrote this in response:
"We all say or do things when we believe we have an expectation of privacy that we wouldn't want released to the public. But for those of us who are not public figures, we have little to fear. When out in public, it is a different story. There are cameras and recording devices anywhere and everywhere. I give no one the chance to betray me the way that the "archivist" betrayed Sterling, because I keep any thoughts I have that would embarrass me to that degree to myself. My private thoughts are my own. My words uttered even to one person in total privacy were shared by my own volition. If I didn't want everyone to know, why did I tell anyone?"
To which I received this apparently final response:
"Yes, there are recording capabilities everywhere. How horrifying to be in the world you project where you cannot speak the depth and breadth of your heart and mind to anyone because someone might record and broadcast it.
I agree that being a public figure makes you ripe for the picking, but I do not believe it means they should have no private lives.
In the current climate, with our apparently insatiable desire to lift everyone's scabs for a quick peek, anything can trend. Anonymity can turn to celebrity in an instant."
I don't "project" anything. I state the obvious truth that we do live in a world where anything you say outside the privacy of your own home is said at the risk of being recorded. There should be and is no expectation of privacy except when you are truly in private. If we want to debate the legality rather than the morality, Federal law requires only one party's consent to record a conversation. California law requires the consent of all parties to a conversation, if there is a basic expectation of privacy.
One of the situations that can defeat the attorney-client privilege, as well as spousal privilege, is the presence of a third party during communication. That is because the conversation is no longer being conducted with an expectation of privacy in the presence of a third party. There was a third party present when at least part of the recording in question was made. No expectation of privacy existed.
There there's the morality of the situation. If V. Stivianio is to be believed, Mr. Sterling was aware of and consented to the recording. Either way, the only part of the equation where the privacy of anyone was violated was when the recordings were passed on to TMZ by whoever did that dirty deed.
I'm laying all of this out because I don't think my initial words in this thread, shown above, were a clear expression of my feelings and opinions. Your thoughts and ideas belong only to you. Your words, with some exceptions involving copyrights, belong to you and also to whomever you choose to share them with.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom of consequence for speech, as long as the consequence isn't coming from the government. Maybe I'm just fortunate in that I can't think of anything I might say would result in my vilification by the public, where those words to go viral. I don't suffer fools gladly and my definition of what constitutes a fool is quite broad. One of the best bosses I have ever had the privilege of working for told me that long ago. I work hard to overcome that part of who I am, but when I write and when I speak, if I think someone has said or done something really dumb, I'll say so.
Is there something in my past, distant or recent, that I've said or done that might result in my own vilification? I don't believe there is. I've called in sick to employers on days that I could have gone to work, but decided I'd be better off at home. I'm sure I've committed other transgressions. I'm simply more worried that the depths and breadth of my heart and mind might contain something for which I could be vilified than I am worried about someone learning of the existence of such things. In the end, private thoughts might well be best left as such.
* * *
The NBA's unanimous vote came as no surprise. The lawyers can write all they want about what the league can and can't do, now that the bylaws and constitution of the NBA are public knowledge. What isn't public knowledge is the specific terms of the agreement that Donald Sterling signed when he purchased the Clippers. If Leigh Steinberg is right (and he very often is), Sterling gave up the right to litigate in the event the league votes to terminate his franchise. That won't stop Sterling from doing whatever he wants to do though. He believes in scorched earth litigation.
As to Mrs. Rochelle Sterling, Doc Rivers was wrong when he said "...she really didn't do anything wrong." Perhaps at the time he made these remarks, Doc was unaware that Mrs. Sterling also has a documented history of racial bias. She called a black tenant in one of the Sterling properties a "black mother-f***er" when he had the temerity to seek a reduction in rent. She complained she couldn't remodel apartments the way she wanted because "...Latinos are so filthy."
The Sterlings are a cancer. You get rid of cancer, by radiation, chemo, or surgery. Get rid of the Sterlings.
* * *
Mike D'Antoni's sudden departure makes life in Los Angeles basketball circles even more interesting, particularly since sources are claiming the team won't have a new head coach in place before the May 20th NBA draft.
That's not the right move. They need to solidify things and immediately. Several writers have postulated that they should move to hire Derek Fisher once the playoffs have ended. He has great potential as a head coach, but he's unproven. Brian Shaw is unavailable and Byron Scott isn't the right man for the job.
The Lakers should give Kurt Rambis a one year contract as "interim" head coach and commit to making no decision on a 'permanent' head coach until after next season. They should hire Derek Fisher to move into the assistant coaching role that Rambis would be elevated from.
Kurt Rambis is a basketball icon. No one is better when it comes to getting the maximum amount of performance from the minimum amount of talent. His willingness to excel and compete were far more important to his NBA success than his physical talents were. That mental attitude and commitment enabled him to play above what many considered his potential.
The next season is not the real key for this team. They don't have a lot of room to maneuver and grab a big time free agent. Even if they were to "stretch" the nearly $10 million they owe Steve Nash for 2014/15, the fact is there isn't a lot of room for them to both re-sign Pau Gasol and to land a big-name free agent. The salary cap is going to go up for 2014/15, probably by $5 million. Even if Nash's contract is stretched and he disappears, the Lakers are committed to spend nearly 50% of the projected cap amount on Nash, Kobe Bryant and three other players on the current roster.
The real key? Determining who will become the "tentpole" player of this franchise after 2015-16 when Kobe Bryant will almost certainly retire. Landing that player or players is not easy. Who the coach is will be a key component of getting the right person. Will that franchise player be Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James or someone else entirely? I don't know. I do know that the team needs to make a big move after next season. With the Clippers having Blake Griffin and Chris Paul under contract through at least the next three seasons, the Lakers have to do something drastic in order to not become the "second tier" team in Los Angeles.
Then again, the Lakers could right a series of wrongs to one of the league's greatest players and Lakers, and give Kareem a shot at the head coaching gig. He's a brilliant man, on and off the floor. He might just be the answer.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The removal of the "D" from PTSD is a good thing. Better to call it PTS or PTSI and recognize it is an injury, not a disorder.
I don't have a problem with Mallorca banning bikinis outside of bathing areas. Then again, I won't be there anytime soon so why should I care?
If Miley Cyrus has a sinus infection, would that be a Cyrus Virus?
I saw that "closet organizers" were trending and my first thought had nothing to do with furniture that increases the functionality of storage space in a closet. It was, "wow, finally a group to help people emerge from the closet" but clearly that's not in the cards.
Maybe that's why I feel sad that actress Ellen Page says she carried a tremendous amount of shame for not being "out." No one should be ashamed to be who they are.
The Clippers would be much better off if Mrs. Sterling is nowhere near the arena for tonight's game.
Only a real moron would try to excuse walking out of a grocery store without paying for crab legs by calling it "an act of youthful ignorance."
Some random guy asking Courtney Friel of KTLA for a date during a live shot makes as much sense as prom date requests to celebrities. In fact, it might make more sense, since it was an in-person request.
Is this the photo you'd choose to use on the cover of a newspaper's weekly magazine to highlight the achievements of inspiring women?
I wouldn't.
The knowledge that Samuel L. Jackson likes a free web porn site is information I did not need. Nor want.
What kind of name is "Hoda" anyway?
Will Diaper-Man, Strong-Man and the other Mighty Heroes come to the big screen? I hope not.
The following photo is of Sharon Stone. Hard to believe she's 56 years of age.
* * *
May 1st in History:
305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.
524 – King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar.
880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton the Kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.
1455 – Battle of Arkinholm, Royal forces end the Black Douglas hegemony in Scotland.
1576 – Stefan Batory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, marries Anna Jagiellon and they become co-rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1707 – The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.
1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.
1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1785 – Kamehameha I, the king of Hawaiʻi, defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
1786 – In Vienna, Austria, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time.
1794 – War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain nearly all the land they lost to Spain in 1793.
1840 – The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.
1844 – Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established.
1846 – The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.
1851 – Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London.
1852 – The Philippine peso is introduced into circulation.
1856 – The Province of Isabela was created in the Philippines in honor of the Queen Isabela II of Spain.
1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes the Capture of New Orleans.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
1865 – The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.
1866 – The Memphis Race Riots begin. In three days time, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1869 – The Folies Bergère opens in Paris.
1875 – Alexandra Palace reopens after being burned down in a fire in 1873.
1884 – Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.
1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.
1885 – The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opens for business.
1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.
1893 – The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.
1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C..
1898 – Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay: The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
1900 – The Scofield mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.
1901 – The Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, New York.
1915 – The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives, including 128 Americans, rousing American sentiment against Germany.
1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.
1925 – The first Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is held at the University of Toronto, Canada.
1927 – The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.
1927 – The Union Labor Life Insurance Company is founded by the American Federation of Labor.
1930 – The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.
1931 – The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
1933 – The Roca-Runciman Treaty between Argentina and Great Britain is signed by Julio Argentino Roca, Jr., and Sir Walter Runciman.
1933 – The Humanist Manifesto I published.
1940 – The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.
1941 – World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.
1944 – Two hundred Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani in Athens in reprisal for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi.
1945 – World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.
1945 – World War II: Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are murdered by Magda by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths.
1945 – The Yugoslav partisans free Trieste.
1946 – Start of three year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.
1946 – The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.
1947 – Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.
1948 – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il-sung as leader.
1950 – Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.
1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
1957 – Thirty-four people are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashes in Hampshire England.
1960 – Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Also known as "Maharashtra Day".
1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
1961 – The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.
1965 – Battle of Dong-Yin, a naval conflict between ROC and PRC, takes place.
1970 – Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.
1974 – The Argentine terrorist organization Montoneros is expelled from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón.
1977 – Thirty-six people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during the Labour Day celebrations.
1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.
1982 – The 1982 World's Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.
1982 – Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.
1983 – Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.
1987 – Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1989 – Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1990 – The former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) is granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an Autocephalous Anglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.
1991 – Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics steals his 939th base, making him the all-time leader in this category. However, his accomplishment is overshadowed later that evening by Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers, when he pitches his seventh career no-hitter, breaking his own record.
1994 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
1995 – Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.
1999 – The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.
2001 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares the existence of "a state of rebellion", hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, storm towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion.
2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".
2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
2006 – The Puerto Rican government closes the Department of Education and 42 other government agencies due to significant shortages in cash flow.
2007 – The Los Angeles May Day mêlée occurs, in which the Los Angeles Police Department's response to a May Day pro-immigration rally become a matter of controversy.
2008 – The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention.
2009 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.
2011 – Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.
2011 – Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks has been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.
Famous Folk Born on May 1st:
Calamity Jane
General Mark W. Clark
Kate Smith
Morris Kline
Louis Nye
Glenn Ford
Jack Paar
Dan O'Herlihy
Art Fleming
Scott Carpenter
Sonny James
Richard Riordan
Shirley Horn
Ann Robinson
Judy Collins
Stephen Macht
Rita Coolidge
Joanna Lumley
John Woo
John Diehl
Dann Florek
Ray Parker, Jr.
Steve Cauthen
Marilyn Milian
Tim McGraw
Wes Anderson
Julie Benz
"I do not believe that we are wise enough or just enough to wield this much might. Private conversation. then TMZ. Deadspin. Twitter. Facebook. And a life that will never be the same. Again, not defending Donald Sterling. He is indefensible. He is not the point.
I am certainly not important enough for anyone to want to destroy me, or even care very much about some inane or hurtful or, heaven forbid, hateful thing that comes out of my little mouth, and maybe I am altogether wrong.
But I am more than a little afraid."
I didn't entirely agree and wrote this in response:
"We all say or do things when we believe we have an expectation of privacy that we wouldn't want released to the public. But for those of us who are not public figures, we have little to fear. When out in public, it is a different story. There are cameras and recording devices anywhere and everywhere. I give no one the chance to betray me the way that the "archivist" betrayed Sterling, because I keep any thoughts I have that would embarrass me to that degree to myself. My private thoughts are my own. My words uttered even to one person in total privacy were shared by my own volition. If I didn't want everyone to know, why did I tell anyone?"
To which I received this apparently final response:
"Yes, there are recording capabilities everywhere. How horrifying to be in the world you project where you cannot speak the depth and breadth of your heart and mind to anyone because someone might record and broadcast it.
I agree that being a public figure makes you ripe for the picking, but I do not believe it means they should have no private lives.
In the current climate, with our apparently insatiable desire to lift everyone's scabs for a quick peek, anything can trend. Anonymity can turn to celebrity in an instant."
I don't "project" anything. I state the obvious truth that we do live in a world where anything you say outside the privacy of your own home is said at the risk of being recorded. There should be and is no expectation of privacy except when you are truly in private. If we want to debate the legality rather than the morality, Federal law requires only one party's consent to record a conversation. California law requires the consent of all parties to a conversation, if there is a basic expectation of privacy.
One of the situations that can defeat the attorney-client privilege, as well as spousal privilege, is the presence of a third party during communication. That is because the conversation is no longer being conducted with an expectation of privacy in the presence of a third party. There was a third party present when at least part of the recording in question was made. No expectation of privacy existed.
There there's the morality of the situation. If V. Stivianio is to be believed, Mr. Sterling was aware of and consented to the recording. Either way, the only part of the equation where the privacy of anyone was violated was when the recordings were passed on to TMZ by whoever did that dirty deed.
I'm laying all of this out because I don't think my initial words in this thread, shown above, were a clear expression of my feelings and opinions. Your thoughts and ideas belong only to you. Your words, with some exceptions involving copyrights, belong to you and also to whomever you choose to share them with.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom of consequence for speech, as long as the consequence isn't coming from the government. Maybe I'm just fortunate in that I can't think of anything I might say would result in my vilification by the public, where those words to go viral. I don't suffer fools gladly and my definition of what constitutes a fool is quite broad. One of the best bosses I have ever had the privilege of working for told me that long ago. I work hard to overcome that part of who I am, but when I write and when I speak, if I think someone has said or done something really dumb, I'll say so.
Is there something in my past, distant or recent, that I've said or done that might result in my own vilification? I don't believe there is. I've called in sick to employers on days that I could have gone to work, but decided I'd be better off at home. I'm sure I've committed other transgressions. I'm simply more worried that the depths and breadth of my heart and mind might contain something for which I could be vilified than I am worried about someone learning of the existence of such things. In the end, private thoughts might well be best left as such.
* * *
The NBA's unanimous vote came as no surprise. The lawyers can write all they want about what the league can and can't do, now that the bylaws and constitution of the NBA are public knowledge. What isn't public knowledge is the specific terms of the agreement that Donald Sterling signed when he purchased the Clippers. If Leigh Steinberg is right (and he very often is), Sterling gave up the right to litigate in the event the league votes to terminate his franchise. That won't stop Sterling from doing whatever he wants to do though. He believes in scorched earth litigation.
As to Mrs. Rochelle Sterling, Doc Rivers was wrong when he said "...she really didn't do anything wrong." Perhaps at the time he made these remarks, Doc was unaware that Mrs. Sterling also has a documented history of racial bias. She called a black tenant in one of the Sterling properties a "black mother-f***er" when he had the temerity to seek a reduction in rent. She complained she couldn't remodel apartments the way she wanted because "...Latinos are so filthy."
The Sterlings are a cancer. You get rid of cancer, by radiation, chemo, or surgery. Get rid of the Sterlings.
* * *
Mike D'Antoni's sudden departure makes life in Los Angeles basketball circles even more interesting, particularly since sources are claiming the team won't have a new head coach in place before the May 20th NBA draft.
That's not the right move. They need to solidify things and immediately. Several writers have postulated that they should move to hire Derek Fisher once the playoffs have ended. He has great potential as a head coach, but he's unproven. Brian Shaw is unavailable and Byron Scott isn't the right man for the job.
The Lakers should give Kurt Rambis a one year contract as "interim" head coach and commit to making no decision on a 'permanent' head coach until after next season. They should hire Derek Fisher to move into the assistant coaching role that Rambis would be elevated from.
Kurt Rambis is a basketball icon. No one is better when it comes to getting the maximum amount of performance from the minimum amount of talent. His willingness to excel and compete were far more important to his NBA success than his physical talents were. That mental attitude and commitment enabled him to play above what many considered his potential.
The next season is not the real key for this team. They don't have a lot of room to maneuver and grab a big time free agent. Even if they were to "stretch" the nearly $10 million they owe Steve Nash for 2014/15, the fact is there isn't a lot of room for them to both re-sign Pau Gasol and to land a big-name free agent. The salary cap is going to go up for 2014/15, probably by $5 million. Even if Nash's contract is stretched and he disappears, the Lakers are committed to spend nearly 50% of the projected cap amount on Nash, Kobe Bryant and three other players on the current roster.
The real key? Determining who will become the "tentpole" player of this franchise after 2015-16 when Kobe Bryant will almost certainly retire. Landing that player or players is not easy. Who the coach is will be a key component of getting the right person. Will that franchise player be Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James or someone else entirely? I don't know. I do know that the team needs to make a big move after next season. With the Clippers having Blake Griffin and Chris Paul under contract through at least the next three seasons, the Lakers have to do something drastic in order to not become the "second tier" team in Los Angeles.
Then again, the Lakers could right a series of wrongs to one of the league's greatest players and Lakers, and give Kareem a shot at the head coaching gig. He's a brilliant man, on and off the floor. He might just be the answer.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The removal of the "D" from PTSD is a good thing. Better to call it PTS or PTSI and recognize it is an injury, not a disorder.
I don't have a problem with Mallorca banning bikinis outside of bathing areas. Then again, I won't be there anytime soon so why should I care?
If Miley Cyrus has a sinus infection, would that be a Cyrus Virus?
I saw that "closet organizers" were trending and my first thought had nothing to do with furniture that increases the functionality of storage space in a closet. It was, "wow, finally a group to help people emerge from the closet" but clearly that's not in the cards.
Maybe that's why I feel sad that actress Ellen Page says she carried a tremendous amount of shame for not being "out." No one should be ashamed to be who they are.
The Clippers would be much better off if Mrs. Sterling is nowhere near the arena for tonight's game.
Only a real moron would try to excuse walking out of a grocery store without paying for crab legs by calling it "an act of youthful ignorance."
Some random guy asking Courtney Friel of KTLA for a date during a live shot makes as much sense as prom date requests to celebrities. In fact, it might make more sense, since it was an in-person request.
Is this the photo you'd choose to use on the cover of a newspaper's weekly magazine to highlight the achievements of inspiring women?
I wouldn't.
The knowledge that Samuel L. Jackson likes a free web porn site is information I did not need. Nor want.
What kind of name is "Hoda" anyway?
Will Diaper-Man, Strong-Man and the other Mighty Heroes come to the big screen? I hope not.
The following photo is of Sharon Stone. Hard to believe she's 56 years of age.
If I had unlimited wealth, no one would outbid me for the letter written by the late Lou Gehrig that is up for sale. * * *
May 1st in History:
305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.
524 – King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar.
880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton the Kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.
1455 – Battle of Arkinholm, Royal forces end the Black Douglas hegemony in Scotland.
1576 – Stefan Batory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, marries Anna Jagiellon and they become co-rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1707 – The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.
1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.
1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1785 – Kamehameha I, the king of Hawaiʻi, defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
1786 – In Vienna, Austria, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time.
1794 – War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain nearly all the land they lost to Spain in 1793.
1840 – The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.
1844 – Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established.
1846 – The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.
1851 – Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London.
1852 – The Philippine peso is introduced into circulation.
1856 – The Province of Isabela was created in the Philippines in honor of the Queen Isabela II of Spain.
1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes the Capture of New Orleans.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
1865 – The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.
1866 – The Memphis Race Riots begin. In three days time, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1869 – The Folies Bergère opens in Paris.
1875 – Alexandra Palace reopens after being burned down in a fire in 1873.
1884 – Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.
1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.
1885 – The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opens for business.
1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.
1893 – The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.
1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C..
1898 – Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay: The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
1900 – The Scofield mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.
1901 – The Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, New York.
1915 – The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives, including 128 Americans, rousing American sentiment against Germany.
1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.
1925 – The first Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is held at the University of Toronto, Canada.
1927 – The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.
1927 – The Union Labor Life Insurance Company is founded by the American Federation of Labor.
1930 – The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.
1931 – The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
1933 – The Roca-Runciman Treaty between Argentina and Great Britain is signed by Julio Argentino Roca, Jr., and Sir Walter Runciman.
1933 – The Humanist Manifesto I published.
1940 – The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.
1941 – World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.
1944 – Two hundred Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani in Athens in reprisal for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi.
1945 – World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.
1945 – World War II: Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are murdered by Magda by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths.
1945 – The Yugoslav partisans free Trieste.
1946 – Start of three year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.
1946 – The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.
1947 – Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.
1948 – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il-sung as leader.
1950 – Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.
1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
1957 – Thirty-four people are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashes in Hampshire England.
1960 – Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Also known as "Maharashtra Day".
1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
1961 – The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.
1965 – Battle of Dong-Yin, a naval conflict between ROC and PRC, takes place.
1970 – Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.
1974 – The Argentine terrorist organization Montoneros is expelled from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón.
1977 – Thirty-six people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during the Labour Day celebrations.
1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.
1982 – The 1982 World's Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.
1982 – Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.
1983 – Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.
1987 – Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1989 – Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1990 – The former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) is granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an Autocephalous Anglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.
1991 – Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics steals his 939th base, making him the all-time leader in this category. However, his accomplishment is overshadowed later that evening by Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers, when he pitches his seventh career no-hitter, breaking his own record.
1994 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
1995 – Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.
1999 – The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.
2001 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares the existence of "a state of rebellion", hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, storm towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion.
2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".
2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
2006 – The Puerto Rican government closes the Department of Education and 42 other government agencies due to significant shortages in cash flow.
2007 – The Los Angeles May Day mêlée occurs, in which the Los Angeles Police Department's response to a May Day pro-immigration rally become a matter of controversy.
2008 – The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention.
2009 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.
2011 – Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.
2011 – Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks has been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.
Famous Folk Born on May 1st:
Calamity Jane
General Mark W. Clark
Kate Smith
Morris Kline
Louis Nye
Glenn Ford
Jack Paar
Dan O'Herlihy
Art Fleming
Scott Carpenter
Sonny James
Richard Riordan
Shirley Horn
Ann Robinson
Judy Collins
Stephen Macht
Rita Coolidge
Joanna Lumley
John Woo
John Diehl
Dann Florek
Ray Parker, Jr.
Steve Cauthen
Marilyn Milian
Tim McGraw
Wes Anderson
Julie Benz
posted by me at 10:01 PM
<< Home