Interrogatories
Do you collect anything? If so, what?
Are you a gossip? Do you talk to any gossips?
Are you at all interested in the private lives of public figures?
Do you know CPR? If so, have you ever had to use it?
What’s your favorite lighthouse?
The Twitter Emitter
Take that, person who said a thing on the internet
— Dan Derozier (@danderozier) July 31, 2013
Look officer, I'm not being a smartass. All I'm saying is if you caught me then you were speeding too.
— Bill Murray (@BiIIMurray) August 2, 2013
Each night while twitter sleeps, the hinge fairy puts the hinges back on so that next day, the unhingeing can happen all over again.
— Bazillion ★ Admiral (@jonkudelka) August 4, 2013
"No one is rich who cannot afford his own army," said Marcus Crassus 2000 years ago. We're getting there …
— davidfrum (@davidfrum) August 5, 2013
Rom-com: dowdy NSA officer (Katherine Heigl) falls for charming terrorist she's listening in on (Bradley Cooper), sets out to clear his name
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) August 5, 2013
IRLRT @danderozier Google Naps, competes with Microsoft SleepWorks Expression Studio, Home Edition
— Evan Mintz (@evan7257) August 5, 2013
Hi! I'm Liz Cheney. The fact I have to get a license to fish these pristine streams, shows how jack boot Govt is the problem. Vote for me!"
— Justice Putnam (@justiceputnam) August 6, 2013
Being an asshole is a lifestyle choice.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) August 6, 2013
Oh, sure, McDonald's pays workers in other countries $15/hr and makes a profit, but that would never work here because, well, um, you know.
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) August 6, 2013
When will Apple update my favorite program, "iTunes (Not Responding)"?
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) August 6, 2013
Mitt Romney is speaking tonight in one of his four home states that he lost last November.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) August 6, 2013
Give a man a fish, you fed him today. Teach him to fish, you fed him for a lifetime. If there's no fish in the sea, deny the man foodstamps.
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) August 6, 2013
On This Day
In 1789, Congress established the Department of War. In 1947 it was folded into the newly-created Department of Defense.
In 1959, the “sheaves of wheat” design on the penny was replaced with the Lincoln Memorial design.
In 1970, four men were killed and two wounded when Jonathan Jackson took hostages in a Marin County, CA, courtroom in an attempt to convince officials to free the Soledad Brothers, which included his brother, George Jackson. Jonathan, two prisoners, and the judge were all killed in the resulting shootout. Angela Davis was later charged in the incident, being the owner of the guns that were used, but was acquitted.
In 1974, Philip Petit walked a tightrope between the towers of the World Trade Center.
In 1978, President Carter declared a state of emergency at Love Canal in upstate New York. The company that sold the land to a school district, Hooker Chemical, had improperly buried toxic waste at the site. Occidental Petroleum, who had acquired Hooker Chemical, was held to be responsible under the Superfund Act’s “retroactive liability” rule, though the Niagara Falls School Board certainly was partially to blame. They knew of the chemicals at the time, yet built two schools on the site and sold the rest to developers to build homes.
In 2008, Georgia began an offensive against South Ossetia, causing Russia to step in to intervene, and causing much confusion among Americans who didn’t bother to fully read the news accounts, and thought that the Georgia in question was the one in the U.S.
Born on This Day
1560 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian countess and serial killer (d. 1614)
1574 – Robert Dudley, English explorer and writer (d. 1649)
1742 – Nathanael Greene, American general (d. 1786)
1763 – Johann-Jakob Biedermann, Swiss landscape painter (d. 1830)
1844 – Hugo Wilhelm Kauffmann, German painter (d. 1915)
1862 – Henri Le Sidaner, French painter (d. 1939)
1867 – Emil Nolde, German painter (d. 1956)
1875 – Gerhard Arij Ludwig Morgenstjerne Munthe, Dutch painter (d. 1927)
1876 – Mata Hari, Dutch spy (d. 1917)
1884 – Billie Burke, American actress. Wife of Flo Ziegfeld, but best known today for her role as Glinda the Good Witch in Wizard of Oz. (d. 1970)
1886 – Wilhem Gimmi, Swiss painter (d. 1965)
1890 – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, American activist (women’s rights, labor rights, and founding member of the ACLU) (d. 1964)
1890 – Einar Jolin, Swedish painter (d. 1976)
1901 – Ann Harding, American actress (d. 1981)
1903 – Louis Leakey, Kenyan-English archaeologist (d. 1972)
1907 – Albert Kotin, American painter (d. 1980)
1911 – Nicholas Ray, American director and scenarist (Rebel Without a Cause) (d. 1979)
1913 – George Van Eps, American jazz guitarist (d. 1998)
1926 – Stan Freberg, American comedian and voice actor, whose Green Christmas was a yearly tradition in my house.
1933 – Jerry Pournelle, American author and journalist
1942 – Garrison Keillor, American writer and radio host
1942 – B. J. Thomas, American singer (best known for this earworm, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head)
1950 – Alan Keyes, who Wiki lists as an “American diplomat and activist,” though he is best known today as a typical Right Wing Nutjob and beneficiary of the Republican Party’s lucrative token program (OK, I cannot prove this exists, but how else could any self-respecting person of color have anything to do with that party?)
1960 – David Duchovny, American actor
1966 – Kristin Hersh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Jimmy Wales, American businessman, co-founded Wikipedia
1975 – Charlize Theron, South African model and actress
Died on This Day
1106 – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1050)
1759 – Jan Josef Horemans I, Flemish painter (b. 1682)
1796 – Franz Anton Maulbertsch, Austrian painter (b. 1724)
1815 – Johannes Jacobus Linthorst, Dutch effing flower painter (b. 1750)
1817 – Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French economist and politician (b. 1739)
1834 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and inventor, invented the Jacquard loom (b. 1752)
1862 – William Turner, English painter (b. 1789). A contemporary of the more famous Turner, he is called “of Oxford” to differentiate them.
1877 – Aleksander Kotsis, Polish painter (b. 1836)
1899 – Jacob Maris, Dutch painter (b. 1837)
1938 – Constantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (b. 1863)
1957 – Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (b. 1892)
1972 – Joi Lansing, American model and actress (b. 1929)
1984 – Esther Phillips, American singer (b. 1935)
2005 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist (b. 1938)
2012 – Judith Crist, American critic (b. 1922)
Today is
National Raspberries and Cream Day
Sea Serpent Day
National Lighthouse Day
Sisters Day
Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day
Professional Speakers Day
Purple Heart Day
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