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Today's Celebrations – Mother's Day in Sweden, Independence Day in Jordan and Towel Day!!

So this afternoon, when I went to Wikipedia to research jazz trumpeter Wallace Roney, who celebrates his 54th birthday today, my eyes wandered down the Wikipedia main page to check what national holidays were being celebrated today. I saw that……
Mother’s Day is being celebrated in Algeria, France, Morocco and Sweden
First Patriotic Government in Argentina (1810)
Independence Day in Jordan 1946
and Towel Day….

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Towel Day 2005, Innsbruck, Austria, where, by his own account, Adams got the inspiration to write the Guide.


Towel Day??? My inquisitive senses are tingling – I hit the link and discovered that the celebration of Towel Day began in 2001, two weeks after the death of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s author Douglas Adams’ on 11 May 2001. The commemoration was started as a way for fans to show their appreciation for both Adams and the books he authored! On the day fans carry towel with them all day. Why a towel?? The importance of a towel is described in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…..
  read more

May 21, 1968 – Last Contact from the USS Scorpion that never returns…..(Phil Ochs Video)

Originally posted at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries...

Uss_scorpion_SSN589May 21, 1968 the last signals from the United States’ nuclear submarine USS Scorpion were heard. From shortly before midnight on the 20th of May through midnight on the 21st the Scorpion tried to send radio traffic to the Naval Station in Rota Spain, but was only able to reach a Naval communications station in Nea Makri, Greece. These messages were forwarded to SUBPLANT. Six Days later the submarine was reported overdue at Norfolk. read more

Yesterday in the World – May 20th – East Timor Celebrates Independence Day!! Congratulations!!

Yesterday May 20th, was the 12 anniversary of East Timor’s Independence! While I have seen the country’s name before, I really don’t know much else about the country. So the first thing that I did, yes, even before going to Wikipedia, was to search Goggle images for a map of East Timor…..

east timor

From this map we can see that East Timor, like a few other countries shares half of an island and is located northwest of Australia. From Wikipedia:

East Timor i/ˌiːst ˈtiːmɔr/ or Timor-Leste /tiˈmɔr ˈlɛʃteɪ/, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste,[6] is a country in Southeast Asia.[7] It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor. The country’s size is about 15,410 km2 (5,400 sq mi).[8] read more

May 20th in Cambodia, East Timor and Cameroon…….Part One – Cambodia – never forget!

Originally posted at Socialstudious.us

Today is a special day in several South East Asian countries In Cambodia it’s the Day of Remembrance. in East Timor they celebrate their country’s 12th year of Independence, and in Indonesia National Awakening Day is celebrated! While across the Indian Ocean and on the west coast of Africa, Cameroon celebrates their National Day.
Ok I can hear all of the collective sighs now, who cares, well me because it gives me a reason to learn somethings I didn’t know about these countries or somethings I’d rather forget about Cambodia, but I guess like remembering the Holocaust it is better to remember. Ok so first let’s look at where in Cambodia is located in southeast Asia…
laos-cambodia
So there’s Cambodia right in the south central part of the map, with Laos and Thailand along its northern border and Vietnam to the east and southeast. When you look at the map you can readily see why Laos and Cambodia were important for the movement of equipment and men from the north to the south of Vietnam. But back to Cambodia’s Day of Remembrance from Wikipedia…. read more

May 20th in Cambodia, East Timor and Cameroon…….Part One – Cambodia – never forget!

Today is a special day in several South East Asian countries In Cambodia it’s the Day of Remembrance. in East Timor they celebrate their country’s 12th year of Independence, and in Indonesia National Awakening Day is celebrated! While across the Indian Ocean and on the west coast of Africa, Cameroon celebrates their National Day.

Ok I can hear all of the collective sighs now, who cares, well me because it gives me a reason to learn somethings I didn’t know about these countries or somethings I’d rather forget about Cambodia, but I guess like remembering the Holocaust it is better to remember. Ok so first let’s look at where in Cambodia is located in southeast Asia… read more

Socialstudious – May 19, 2014 – Do We Care About All the People of the World??

Sometimes I feel really guilty, the reason is that I many of the things that I own were made by people who were exploited. I bet more than one of my shirts was made either in China or Southeast Asia by workers who are paid next to nothing and who work in buildings that are in many cases unsafe, my running shoes and my iPhone, too. It would be great if we could do something as a country to enforce safety requirements on the companies that create conditions like these……

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According to the Chinese government’s own statistics, one worker will be poisoned by toxic chemicals every five hours — most of them from benzene. (Photo: Shreyans Bhansali / Flickr)

 Truthdig: The Way iPhones Are Made Is Killing Chinese Workers read more

This Day in History – May 17, 1954 – Brown v Board of Education bans school segregation…..

Brown v Board of EducationToday marks that 60th anniversary of the landmark unanimous decision by the Warren Court in the case Brown v. Board of Education, which established that segregated schools were unconstitutional. From Wikipedia….

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court’s unanimous (9–0) decision stated that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the civil rights movement Continue Reading read more

This Day in Philly Sports History – Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Championship!

So 1980 was probably the best year ever in Philadelphia sports history. all four of the major sports 1980 Pihilliesfranchises went to their respective finals.  The outcomes of three out of those four series were not what us fans wanted though. The Flyers lost to the New York Islanders, The Eagles lost to the Jim Plunkett led Oakland Raiders. The Phillies though did win the city a world championship in only their second appearance in the World Series!! Of course that’s two appearance in about a hundred years of existence!!! The Sixers led by Dr J., Bobby Jones and Maurice Cheeks and Andrew Toney played the Lakers in the finals. After beating Boston to chants of “Beat LA” the Sixers went down 3 games to 2 to the Kareem Abdul Jabbar led Lakers. But there was hope, Kareem had twisted his ankle and would be unable to play in Game 6  Philadelphia. LA didn’t even bring their champagne to Philly!! We thought we had it!! Back to LA tied…. Rookie Magic Johnson would have to play center! And all he did was rip the heart out of the city! Putting on a show, Johnson scored 42 points, grabbd 15 rebounds and dished out 7 assits on – MAY 16th 1980!! And we sports fans grieved again ! read more

This Day in History -May 15, 1990 – Van Gogh Painting Sells, for What?? and 1702 – The Spanish Game of Thrones Begins!!

300px-Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Dr_Paul_Gachet_-_Google_Art_Project

So on this day May 15, 1990 Vincent Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet sold at auction in New York for a mere 82.5 million dollars!! The portrait that sold was the first of two authenticated versions of the portrait that were painted by Van Gogh in June of 1890. Dr Paul Gachet took care of Van Gogh at Auers-sur-Oise during the final months of Van Gogh’s life. Both of the portraits depict Gachet sitting at a table with his head leaning on his right arm but they vary in color and style. read more

These Days in History – May 13-15th – The Civil War Battle of Resaca was fought!

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Battle of Resaca, by Kurz and Allison, 1889.

Starting on May 13, 164 through May 15th The Battle of Resaca was fought as General William T. Sherman began his March to the Sea. When I first read the one sentence about this battle starting yesterday, I thought “Where the hell is Resaca?” I assumed it was somewhere in Georgia and probably in northeast Georgia as Sherman started his movements toward Atlanta.

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Location in Gordon County and the state of Georgia

Sure enough there is Resaca highlighted in the northeast corner of Georgia. From Wikipedia

The Battle of Resaca was part of the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle was waged in both Gordon and Whitfield counties, Georgia, from May 13–15, 1864. It ended inconclusively with the Confederate Army retreating. The engagement was fought between the Military Division of the Mississippi (led by Major General William T. Sherman) on the side of the Union and the Army of Tennessee (General Joseph E. Johnston) for the Confederates. Continue Reading read more