Interrogatories
Is there any kind of shopping you enjoy? If so, what? What is the worst kind?
Do you enjoy puzzles? What’s your favorite kind of puzzle?
What is the most pain you have felt?
What’s the best advice you were ever given? Did you take it?
Is there anyone you need to forgive? Do you think you will?
The Twitter Emitter
People who spy on you have implicitly admitted that your life is more interesting than theirs.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 17, 2013
The secret to effective prayer is asking for things that would have happened anyway.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) August 18, 2013
#IfObamaHadWrittenTheConstitution he'd probably forget to make Christianity the official religion like that bum Thomas Jefferson did.
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) August 25, 2013
A shame Trump University is being attacked right as researchers there were about to find the cure for relieving suckers of their money.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) August 26, 2013
1st lesson in pol. journalism should be knowing the difference between "this is new, important and good" and "this flatters my worldview."
— sethdmichaels (@sethdmichaels) August 26, 2013
If Assad had done something outrageous at the VMAs, this all would have come to a head sooner.
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) August 26, 2013
Never judge a book by its movie.
— Eastwood (@Eagle_Vision) August 26, 2013
Person Most Sure of American Exceptionalism Also Person Most Livid at State of American Culture
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) August 26, 2013
Some day when scientists discover the center of the universe many people are going to be disappointed to find out it isn't them.
— Grumpy Cat (@ItsTheGrumpyCat) August 26, 2013
Just caught up on all my social media after the weekend. Guys, quit making fun of Miley Cyrus. She's going to make a great Batman.
— Jewel Staite (@JewelStaite) August 26, 2013
So from what I gather from Twitter, we're gonna bomb Syria with Miley Cyrus. Is that about right?
— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) August 26, 2013
On This Day
In 1859, the first successful oil well was dug by Edwin Drake, for the Seneca Oil Company. (In the pre-automobile days, it was primarily refined and used as lamp fuel.)
In 1896, the shortest war ever was fought between Britain and the Zanzibar Sultanate. At a mere 40-45 minutes, explaining the wherefores and why-hows would take longer than the war itself, but it largely consisted of the Brit installing their puppet over the rightful successor to the sultanate.
In 1916, Romania entered the fray known as World War 1 on the side of the Allies.
In 1921, the Brits installed another puppet, this time in Iraq, who became King Faisal I.
In 1927, five Canadian women (later known as The Famous Five) petitioned the Supreme Court of Canada with a question regarding a section of the British North America Act: did “persons” include female persons. The Supreme Court ruled against the women, but that was overturned just two years later, after which women could be appointed to the Senate.
In 1962, the Mariner 2 space probe was successfully launched to Venus. It contained all types of sensors, but no cameras, because of the planet’s dense cloud cover.
In 1979, British admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed in a bomb attack by the IRA while on a yachting holiday.
In 2007, Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, pleaded guilty to charges of dogfighting.
In 2008, Senator Barack Obama received the presidential nomination at the DNC in Denver, Colorado.
Born on This Day
1770 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (d. 1831)
1791 – Jozef Geirnaert (or Joseph), Belgian painter (d. 1859)
1803 – Edward Beecher, American theologian (d. 1895)
1865 – James Henry Breasted (no mention of whether he was large or small breasted), American archaeologist and historian (d. 1935)
1865 – Charles G. Dawes, American general and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
1871 – Theodore Dreiser, American author (d. 1945)
1875 – Katharine McCormick, American biologist, philanthropist, and activist. She was a suffragist who supplied the majority of the funding to create the first birth control pill. (d. 1967)
1890 – Man Ray, American photographer and artist (d. 1976)
1896 – Faina Ranevskaya, Russian actress (d. 1984)
1906 – Ed Gein, American serial killer (d. 1984)
1908 – Lyndon B. Johnson, American politician, 36th President of the United States (d. 1973)
1908 – Kurt Wegner, German artist (d. 1985)
1909 – Lester Young, American saxophonist (d. 1959)
1911 – Kay Walsh, English actress (d. 2005)
1916 – Martha Raye, American actress (d. 1994)
1931 – Sri Chinmoy, Bengali-American spiritual teacher, poet, and painter (d. 2007)
1932 – Antonia Fraser, English author
1937 – Alice Coltrane, American pianist and composer (d. 2007)
1937 – Tommy Sands, American actor and singer
1939 – William Least Heat-Moon, American author
1939 – Edward Patten, American singer-songwriter and producer (Gladys Knight & the Pips) (d. 2005)
1940 – Sonny Sharrock, American guitarist (Last Exit) (d. 1994)
1942 – Daryl Dragon, American keyboardist (Captain & Tennille)
1943 – Bob Kerrey, American politician, 35th Governor of Nebraska
1947 – Barbara Bach, American actress (also Mrs. Ringo Starr)
1952 – Paul Reubens, American actor (aka Pee Wee Herman)
1953 – Alex Lifeson, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Rush and Big Dirty Band)
1953 – Peter Stormare, Swedish actor, director, and playwright
1961 – Tom Ford, American fashion designer and director
1969 – Cesar Millan, Mexican-American dog trainer
1970 – Tony Kanal, English-American bass player, songwriter, and producer (No Doubt)
1972 – Jimmy Pop, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Bloodhound Gang)
1979 – Sarah Neufeld, Canadian violinist (Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre)
Died on This Day
827 – Pope Eugene II
1577 – Titian, Italian painter (b. 1490)
1590 – Pope Sixtus V (b. 1521)
1647 – Pietro Novelli, Italian painter (b. 1603)
1651 – Jacob Adriaensz Backer, Dutch Golden Age painter. (d. 1609)
1664 – Francisco Zurbarán, Spanish painter (b. 1598)
1664 – Cornelis Pietersz Bega, Dutch painter and engraver (b. 1631/1632 )
1727 – Aert de Gelder (or Arent), Dutch painter (b. 1645)
1874 – Johan George Schwartze, Dutch painter (b. 1814)
1963 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (b. 1868)
1964 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedian (b. 1895)
1965 – Le Corbusier, hugely influential Swiss-French architect (b. 1887)
1967 – Brian Epstein, original manager of the Beatles, of a drug overdose (b. 1934)
1971 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photographer and journalist (b. 1906)
1975 – Haile Selassie I, Ethiopian emperor (b. 1892)
1980 – Douglas Kenney, American actor and writer (b. 1947)
1990 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1954)
1996 – Greg Morris, American actor (b. 1933)
2003 – Jinx Falkenburg, actress and supermodel (b. 1919)
2012 – Gely Korzhev, Russian painter (b. 1925)
Today is
Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (Texas)
The Duchess Who Wasn’t Day
Global Forgiveness Day
Just Because Day
National Pots de Creme Day
Petroleum Day (?) (Now whose idea was that!? I think I’ll ignore this one.)
Banana Lover’s Day
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