Interrogatories
Hard tacos or soft tacos?
Have you ever been to Mt. Rushmore? Do you admire it as a work of art and feet of engineering, or see it as the ruination of a perfectly lovely mountain?
Non-POC bombers: do you believe you are privileged?
What is your definition of a hero? Can someone be a hero to you if you are ideologically opposed in some ways?
The Twitter Emitter
On This Day
In 1582, the Gregorian Calendar was implemented by Pope Gregory XIII. In that year, October 4th was followed directly by October 15th in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
In 1830, Belgium seceded from the Netherlands and became its own kingdom.
In 1883, the Orient Express began operation.
In 1927, the sculpting desecration of Mt. Rushmore by sculptor Gutzon Borglum began.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, heralding the beginning of the Space Race.
In 1963, Eric Clapton was invited to join The Yardbirds.
In 2002, John Walker Lindh, "the American Taliban," was sentenced to 20 years in jail without the possibility of parole.
Born on This Day
1515 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (d. 1586)
1550 – Charles IX of Sweden (d. 1611)
1622 - Abraham Lambertsz van den Tempel, Dutch painter (d. 1672)
1657 – Francesco Solimena, Italian painter (d. 1747)
1814 – Jean-François Millet, French painter (d. 1875)
1820 - François Etienne Musin, Belgian painter (d. 1888)
1822 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American politician, 19th President of the United States (d. 1893)
1832 - Josef Munsch, Austrian painter (d. 1896)
1841 - John Joseph Enneking, U.S. painter (d. 1916)
1851 - Francesco Paolo Michetti, Italian painter (d. 1929)
1859 - Vittorio Mateo Corcos, painter (d. 1933)
1861 – Frederic Remington, American painter (d. 1909)
1880 – Damon Runyon, American author (d. 1946)
1895 – Buster Keaton, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1966)
1923 – Charlton Heston, American actor (d. 2008)
1928 – Alvin Toffler, American journalist and author
1941 – Anne Rice, American author
1943 – H. Rap Brown, American activist
1946 – Chuck Hagel, American politician
1946 – Michael Mullen, American admiral
1946 – Susan Sarandon, American actress
1948 – Duke Robillard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Roomful of Blues, The Fabulous Thunderbirds)
1952 – Jody Stephens, American drummer (Big Star)
1957 – Russell Simmons, American businessman, founded Def Jam Recordings and Phat Farm
1959 – Chris Lowe, English singer and keyboard player (Pet Shop Boys)
1965 – Skip Heller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Liev Schreiber, American actor
1968 – Tim Wise, American activist and author whose message seems to get accepted since it's a white guy saying it, though POC have been trying to get the same message out, only to be met with hostility from white audiences. (Not that Wise himself doesn't get hostility from whites - the denial of privilege is deeply ingrained.)
1977 – Richard Parry, Canadian musician and songwriter (Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre)
1979 – Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress and producer
Died on This Day
1497 - Benozzo Gozzoli, Italian painter (b. 1420)
1582 – Teresa of Ávila, Spanish nun and saint (b. 1515)
1597 – Sarsa Dengel, Ethiopian emperor (b. 1550)
1660 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (b. 1578)
1669 – Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch painter (b. 1606)
1688 - Philips de Koninck, Dutch painter (b. 1619)
1754 – Tanacharison, American tribal chief (b. 1700)
1816 - François Guillaume Ménageot, French painter (b. 1744)
1904 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (b. 1834)
1933 - Adolfo Tommasi, Italian painter (b. 1851)
1935 – Jean Béraud, French painter (b. 1849) See Tipple Jar
1947 – Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
1951 – Henrietta Lacks, American patient, HeLa cells derived from her cervical cancer (b. 1920)
1958 – Ida Wüst, German actress (b. 1884)
1970 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (Big Brother and the Holding Company) (b. 1943)
1974 – Anne Sexton, American poet (b. 1928)
1975 – Joan Whitney Payson, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1903)
1989 – Graham Chapman, English comedian and actor (b. 1941)
1999 – Bernard Buffet, French painter (b. 1928)
1999 – Art Farmer, American trumpet player (b. 1928)
2001 – John Collins, American guitarist (b. 1913)
2004 – Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (b. 1927)
Today is
World Animal Day
Cinnamon Roll Day (Sweden)
Vodka Day
World Smile Day
National Taco Day
National Diversity Day
National Frappe Day
National Golf Day