Interrogatories
If you were allowed, on your tax forms, to direct where you wanted your tax money to go, where would you spend it? In what amounts?
Do you feel comfortable eating alone at a restaurant or going to movies or other shows alone?
Is there any chore/job/action that always makes you kick into high procrastination mode? What is it?
Do you like escargot? (It's National Escargot Day.)
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On This Day
In 1629, the English Parliament passed the so-called Act of Toleration to protect those of the Protestant faith, but deliberately excluding Catholics.
In 1883, the long-under-construction Brooklyn Bridge opened to traffic.
In 1895, Oscar Wilde was convicted of "gross indecency" (a crime that had no written definition because to define such a thing offended Victorian morals) and was sentenced to 2 years of hard labor.
In 1930, aviator Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
In 1935, the first Major League baseball night game was played in Cincinnati (the Reds v. the Phillies, the Reds won).
In 1956, the first, and unfortunately not last, Eurovision Song Contest was held in Switzerland, giving aid and succor to purveyors of cheesy pop music worldwide.
In 1976, in a blind tasting even later called the Judgement of Paris, California wines beat out the French wines, finally giving them the respect they had been lacking.
In 1977, the original Star Wars (none of that New Hope bullcrap, please) premiered.
In 2006, Enron scofflaws Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted of conspiracy and fraud.
Born on This Day
1494 - Jacopo Pontormo, Italian painter (d. 1557)
1544 – William Gilbert, English astronomer and philosopher (d. 1603)
1619 - Philips Wouwerman, Dutch Baroque era painter (d. 1668)
1728 - Jean-Baptiste Pillement, French Rococo painter (d. 1808)
1816 – Emanuel Leutze, German painter (d. 1868)
1819 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1901)
1830 – Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter (d. 1897)
1834 - Peter Baumgartner, German painter (d. 1911)
1841 - Charles Napier Hemy, British artist (d. 1917)
1845 - Madeleine Lemaire, French painter (d. 1928)
1849 - Baldomero Giménez, Spanish painter (d. 1902)
1850 - Sir Ernest Waterlow, English painter (d. 1919)
1869 - Albert André, French painter (d. 1954)
1882 - Creighton Hale, Irish silent film actor (d. 1965)
1895 - Marcel Janco, Israeli artist (d. 1984)
1899 – Henri Michaux, French poet (d. 1984)
1932 - Graham Arnold, British painter
1934 – Jane Byrne, Americian politician, 50th Mayor of Chicago
1938 – Tommy Chong, Canadian actor and comedian
1941 – Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter
1941 – George Lakoff, American linguist and activist
1944 – Patti LaBelle, American singer-songwriter, actress, and author (Labelle)
1945 – Terry Callier, American singer-songwriter guitarist (d. 2012)
1945 – Priscilla Presley, American actress and businesswoman
1947 – Waddy Wachtel, American composer, musician, bandleader, and producer
1950 – Terry Scott Taylor, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Daniel Amos, Swirling Eddies, and Lost Dogs)
1955 – Rosanne Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and author
1960 – Guy Fletcher, English musician and producer (Dire Straits and The Notting Hillbillies)
1967 – Dana Ashbrook, American actor
1967 – Steven Shane McDonald, American bassist and actor (Redd Kross)
1969 – Rich Robinson, American guitarist and songwriter (The Black Crowes)
2007 – Maru (cat), Japanese cat and internet celebrity
Died on This Day
1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer (b. 1473)
1725 – Jonathan Wild, English criminal (b. 1682)
1752 - Charles Parrocel, French painter (b. 1688)
1825 - Horace Hone, English miniature painter (b. 1754)
1831 - James Peale, US still life painter (brother of Charles Willson Peale who is the artist who had all those artist kids named after famous artists) (b. 1749)
1872 – Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter (b. 1794)
1879 – William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist and publisher (b. 1805)
1881 – Samuel Palmer, English painter (b. 1805)
1889 - Hermann Kauffmann, German painter (b. 1808)
1959 – John Foster Dulles, American politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
1963 – Elmore James, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader (b. 1918)
1972 - Asta Nielsen, Danish silent film star (b. 1881)
1974 – Duke Ellington, American composer, pianist, and bandleader (b. 1899)
1991 – Gene Clark, American singer-songwriter and musician (The Byrds and Dillard & Clark) (b. 1944)
1995 – Harold Wilson, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
1998 - Lucio Muñoz, Spanish abstract painter (b. 1929)
2008 – Dick Martin, American comedian (b. 1922)
2008 – Jimmy McGriff, American jazz musician and bandleader (b. 1936)
2009 – Jay Bennett, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Wilco) (b. 1963)
Today is
Brother’s Day
National Escargot Day
Asparagus Day
National Scavenger Hunt Day
International Tiara Day
National Wig Out Day
Heat Awareness Day