In the little community called J Town, right across the square from those cute little houses with the great big porches, is a little bar called the F Bomb.
Make yourself at home. Go up to the bar, or around the pool table and join in the conversation. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it's about because I have to pre-post the next 6 diaries due to holiday travel to a place where the internet is wild and hard to pin down. If I can connect I shall embellish the diary with tipple jars (otherwise I will just let the auto tip jar happen) tweets and the like, but you never know.
On to the history lesson!
On This Day
In 1825, a group of college students formed Kappa Alpha Society, the first college social fraternity, at Union College in Schenectady, New York. There is no record indicating whether the first frat boys were as obnoxious as their modern counterparts.
In 1842, the University of Notre Dame was founded. Frat boys abounded.
In 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November (since 1941, on the fourth Thursday).
And speaking of frats:
In 1909, Sigma Alpha Mu was founded in the City College of New York by 8 young Jewish men.
In 1913, Phi Sigma Sigma was founded at Hunter College in New York City.
In 1922, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon became the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years. (There was no indication that King Tut belonged to a fraternity.)
Born on This Day
1792 – Sarah Grimké, American abolitionist and feminist (d. 1873)
1795 - Karl Philipp Fohr, German painter (d. 1818)
1832 – Mary Edwards Walker, American feminist physician (d. 1919)
1876 - Bart van der Leck, Dutch painter and with Mondrian, De Stijl art movement (d. 1958)
1895 – William Griffith "Bill" Wilson, American co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (d. 1971)
1899 – Bruno Hauptmann, convicted German kidnapper of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III (d. 1936)
1909 – Frances Dee, American actress (d. 2004)
1909 – Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-born French playwright (d. 1994)
1910 – Cyril Cusack, Irish actor (d. 1993)
1912 – Eric Sevareid, American journalist (d. 1992)
1919 – Frederik Pohl, American science fiction writer
1921 - Francoise Gilot, painter, designer, author, and Picasso muse (and mother of Paloma).
1922 – Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
1922 - Adele Jergens, American actress (d. 2002)
1923 – Pat Phoenix, English actress (d. 1986)
1938 – Rich Little, Canadian comedian and actor, famed for his Nixon impression.
1939 – Tina Turner, American singer and actress
1939 – Wayland Flowers, American Puppeteer (d. 1988)
1945 – John McVie, British musician (Fleetwood Mac)
1951 – Cicciolina, Italian pornographic actress and politician
1963 – Adam Gaynor, American musician (Matchbox Twenty)
Died on This Day
1883 – Sojourner Truth, American abolitionist (b. 1797)
1926 – John Browning, American firearm designer and inventor (b. 1855)
1974 – Cyril Connolly, English intellectual (b. 1903)
1985 – Vivien Thomas, African-American surgeon (b. 1910)
1994 - Nimrod Workman, folksinger (b. 1895)
1996 – Paul Rand, American graphic designer who designed many logos you have seen all your life (and not to be confused with that guy who uses the same names in reverse order). (b. 1914)
Today is
Cake Day
National Shopping Reminder Day
Cyber Monday (shop online)