Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

The Daily F Bomb, Wednesday 10/23/13

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Interrogatories

Do you have a staircase at home or work? How many stairs? Do have have any issues with stairs?

Did you ever cheat at any kinds of games or sports? How?

Have you ever been on a cruise? How was it? Would you do it again?

Do you use candles in your home? For ambience or necessity or something else? Do you have scented candles? What scents?

The Twitter Emitter

On This Day

In 1812, French ex-military officer and current prisoner Claude François de Malet came up with an idea to overthrow Napoleon. He escaped from his prison, went to another military prison dressed as an officer and told them that Napoleon was dead, freed some co-conspirators, and they sent out troops to announce Napoleon’s death (he was returning from his failed Russian invasion) and secure the city. It almost worked. He had the entire city believing him. And he would have gotten away with it, too, if not for that meddling police captain who recognized him and got him sent back to jail (and later executed).

In 1850, the first National Women’s Rights Convention was held in Worcester, MA. Delegates came from 11 states, and from as far as California. More than 1000 attended. They demanded full equality under the law, including property rights, employment, education, and of course, the right to vote. Another focus was abolishing slavery, though that did not become a main focus until the Civil War. The conventions continued through 1869, although toward the end they were not held every year.

In 1861, President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus for all military cases.

In 1915, as estimated 33,000 women marched down Fifth Avenue in New York to demand the right to vote.

In 1946, in an auditorium in Queens, the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time.

In 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, a US Army barracks was bombed, killing 241. The French army barracks were hit, too, killing 58. This was, I assume, all Obama’s fault. (Hey, Libya and Lebanon both start with “L,” and Beirut and Benghazi both start with “B.” Coincidence? I think not!)

Born on This Day

1677 – Giuseppe Antonio Petrini, Swiss painter (d. 1758)

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1715 – Peter II of Russia (d. 1730)

1752 – Maria Anna Adamberger, Austrian stage actress (d. 1804)

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1769 – James Ward, English animal painter (d. 1859)

1791 – Franz Xaver Petter, Austrian flower painter (d. 1866)

1805 – John Russell Bartlett, American historian and linguist (d. 1886)

1817 – Pierre Athanase Larousse, French lexicographer (d. 1875)

1835 – Adlai Stevenson I, American politician, 23rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1914)

1844 – Wilhelm Leibl, German painter (d. 1900)

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1852 – Jean-Louis Forain, French Impressionist painter (d. 1931)

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1866 – François Charles Cachoud, French landscape painter (d. 1943)

1880 – Una O’Connor, Irish actress (d. 1959)

1885 – Lawren Harris, Canadian painter (d. 1970)

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1893 – Gummo Marx, American actor (d. 1977)

1896 – Lilyan Tashman, American actress (d. 1934)

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1898 – Werner Scholz, German painter (d. 1982)

1910 – Richard Mortensen, Danish painter (d. 1993)

1915 – Salvatore Fiume, Sicilian painter, sculptor, architect, writer, stage designer (d. 1997)

1918 – Peggy Moran, American actress (d. 2002)

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1922 – Coleen Gray, American actress

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1925 – Johnny Carson, American television host (d. 2005)

1927 – Sonny Criss, American saxophonist (d. 1977)

1928 – Bella Darvi, Polish-French actress (d. 1971)

1931 – Diana Dors, English actress (d. 1984)

1940 – Pelé, Brazilian footballer

1940 – Ellie Greenwich, American singer-songwriter and producer (The Raindrops) (d. 2009)

1940 – Jane Holzer, American model, actress, producer, and art collector

1945 – Maggi Hambling, English sculptor and painter

1945 – Kim Larsen, Danish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Gasolin’)

1952 – Pierre Moerlen, French drummer (Gong) (d. 2005)

1956 – Dwight Yoakam, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

1958 – Michael Eric Dyson, American activist, academic, and author

1959 – Nancy Grace, American journalist and television host, and Olympic nose-flaring champion.

1959 – Sam Raimi, American director

1959 – “Weird Al” Yankovic, American singer-songwriter, comedian, and actor

1964 – Robert Trujillo, American bass player and songwriter (Metallica)

1967 – Dale Crover, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Melvins, The Men of Porn, and Altamont)

1984 – Meghan McCain, American columnist and tweeter (also John McCain’s daughter, of course)

Died on This Day

1698 – David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl, German Baroque painter (b. 1629)

photo DavidKlo3080ckerEhrenstrahl.jpg

1730 – Anne Oldfield, English actress (b. 1683)

1890 – Charles Verlat, Belgian painter (b. 1824)

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1872 – Théophile Gautier, French journalist, author, and poet (b. 1811)

1873 – George Henry Laporte, German painter (b. 1799)

1879 – Pierre Justin Ouvrié, French cityscape and architectural painter (b. 1806)

1917 – Eugène-Samuel Grasset, French illustrator, decorative artist, and printmaker (b. 1841)

photo Euge3000ne-SamuelGrasset.jpg

1935 – Charles Demuth, U.S. Precisionist painter (b. 1883)

1939 – Zane Grey, American author (b. 1872)

1950 – Al Jolson, Russian-American actor and singer (b. 1886)

1957 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (b. 1905)

1959 – George Bouzianis, Greek painter (b. 1885)

1959 – Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (b. 1871)

2012 – Michael Marra, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1952)

Today is

Mole Day (Chemistry)

National Boston Cream Pie Day

TV Talk Show Host Day

Swallows Depart from San Juan Capistrano Day

Medical Assistants Recognition Day

iPod Day


Categories: General.

/ 20 Comments

20 comments

  1. Floja Roja

    Any chicken-swinging, candle lighting or other good luck you can conjure for me would be appreciated – I have a job interview later this morning.

    Now for the answers:

    I have one staircase, broken by a landing, that goes from the front gate at street level up to an archway, then once inside the arch, there’s a path leading to my door, and inside my front door are steps leading into my living room. I’ve never counted the front steps. The apartment stairs are about 14. I’ve almost always lived with stairs. The house I grew up in had a really long staircase leading down from the carport to the front door, then more stairs down to the kids’ rooms. I rented a room in a Mill Valley craftsman house that had sixty-something uneven steps leading up through the front garden to the door. I like stairs. I love a good staircase. In fact, I’ve noticed Americans don’t do beautiful stairs like the Europeans do. The only ones I like here are the ones where you know they paid off the inspector, because they are clearly illegal.

    I have no problems with them, though my dream retirement house would be stair-free just in case I lost mobility. I have a friend who hates stairs and has to go down them very carefully. When she was a child, she’d climb down them backwards on hands and knees.

    I don’t think I have ever played any games or sports that would be easy to cheat at, though one year in PE, for the finals they trusted people to self-test. They had, for instance, the shot put set up in one part of the field, and a clipboard where you would mark your score by your name. Unattended. Of course I took advantage! The shot put I gave honestly, but some I didn’t even do, then I wrote a score that was around what I would actually get had I done the exercise. But that’s the only time I can think of! 😉

    I haven’t ever been on a cruise, and these days with the floating high-rise hotels they have, I am unlikely to. They try to remove it as far from the experience of being on a ship as they can. That’s like going to Paris and staying at the Hyatt.  

    I have a lot of candles, I don’t use them that often. The most frequent use (which is rare) is power outages, though I do light candles for friends, and I will light a candle for the table when I have a small dinner party. The candles I buy myself tend to be unscented, but I have several scented ones that were gifts. I was just burning a vanilla one yesterday.

  2. anotherdemocrat

    Do you have a staircase at home or work? How many stairs? Do have have any issues with stairs?

    Not at home. When I was looking, my mom reminded me that I’d be signing a 30 year mortgage & would be 70 when I got it paid off. She said to buy a place on the ground floor.

    There are stairs at work, but: 1) I rarely go to other floors 2) when the building was renovated, they took the central staircase out so it is no longer possible to walk up the stairs from the entrance – they’re gone. There are exit stairs at either end of the building, but they lead to doors that you can’t enter from.

    Since I’ve developed stress fractures in my heels, walking down stairs actually hurts rather a bit. Going up stairs doesn’t bother me apart from the whole heavy breathing thing. But I won’t walk down stairs unless there’s no other choice. Also – acrophobia. At a previous job, we had 2 buildings beside each other. I hated using the stairs in the other building, it really set off my acrophobia. Once I was on the top floor when there was a fire drill. I almost couldn’t go. I could feel myself falling, just from standing on the landing of that top floor, then all those flights down…. I had falling nightmares for weeks. I’m ok if there’s walls on each side of a staircase, so I can’t see all the way down. If not, I need to be able to look at a wall.

  3. jlms qkw

    the women’s events – did any of them take place at seneca falls?  

    followup: i am trying out yesterday’s cezanne for my wallpaper.  

    answers:

    inside, here:  12, with 3 wedge stairs in the middle as it turns 90 deg.  not sure of the count outside. the house on st mary’s had 13 in a straight line.

    no

    no but i always thought i would like to.  sometimes there are hobby-centered events like knitting or quilting.

    all the time.  okay, my son has a bamboo linen scented candle we light to signal the start of bedtime.  and we will have them now that i have figured out where to put them in the new place.  i burned candles excessively when i had a bathtub.  

  4. Gee

    Do you have a staircase at home or work? How many stairs? Do have have any issues with stairs?

    Did you ever cheat at any kinds of games or sports? How?

    Have you ever been on a cruise? How was it? Would you do it again?

    Do you use candles in your home? For ambience or necessity or something else? Do you have scented candles? What scents?

    Yep, have a staircase.  I have no idea how many stairs, but I’ll guess 12.

    Never cheated.

    Never been on a cruise.  Not sure cruises appeal to me, although I wouldn’t mind seeing the fjords in Norway, or the glaciers in Alaska.

    We’ve got candles and l.e.d. lights for when the power goes out.  Also some scented candles for when there’s a damp, moldy smell.  Very humid in DC.  I believe the scent is vanilla, but I’m not sure.

  5. plf515

    Do you have a staircase at home or work? How many stairs? Do have have any issues with stairs?

    No stairs at home or work. My knees don’t like stairs.

    Did you ever cheat at any kinds of games or sports? How?

    No

    Have you ever been on a cruise? How was it? Would you do it again?

    Yes. It was OK. Good for the kids because we could let them wander and they could find way back to our cabin.



    Do you use candles in your home? For ambience or necessity or something else? Do you have scented candles? What scents?

    No

  6. Gee

    1918 – Peggy Moran, American actress (d. 2002)

    Auditioning for the Man Show?

    Mole Day (Chemistry)

    I can give you Avogadro’s number, if you like.

    iPod Day

    is every day!

  8. Avilyn

    Q&A:

    Do you have a staircase at home or work? How many stairs? Do have have any issues with stairs?  Yes to both – I’m in a townhouse, 3 floors.  Stairs at work too, but my desk is on the first floor so I only need them for meetings.  Hate stairs; partially because I’m out of shape and partially because my knees sometimes have issues with them.  I’ve told the husband that when we move, the next place needs to have all living areas (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, laundry, & computer room) on the ground floor.  

    Did you ever cheat at any kinds of games or sports? How?

    I can’t recall ever cheating in sports, but definitely at games, at least, games played with family.  It’s sort of a running joke in my family about my dad cheating at cards (trying to read your cards by reflections in glasses, etc.) so every now and then we would cheat to get back at him.

    Have you ever been on a cruise?  Nope.

    Do you use candles in your home? For ambience or necessity or something else? Do you have scented candles? What scents?  I have some unscented candles for emergency use (power outages) and a couple of scented ones for the bathroom for the rare instances that I want to shower by candlelight.  Don’t remember what scents tho.

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