Salutary Saturday, everyone. I am tempted to sleep in. May I, please?
But first I have questions. If money was no object, where would you retire to? What’s the best side dish found in the deli? What is your favorite commercial (of all time)? What is your least favorite/stupidest/most annoying commercial of all time? What is the best love song?
Today’s Twitter Stream:
If women can marry Newt Gingrich, they should be able to serve in combat.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 25, 2013
to call the filibuster “reforms” non-substantive would be an insult to empty gestures everywhere buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/fi…
— john r stanton (@dcbigjohn) January 25, 2013
It is more important to get down to the bottom of Beyonce-gate than it is to shine the light on GOP suppressing the vote. #msm
— The Toast (@TheToast2013) January 25, 2013
It’s funny how back in the 80s nobody realized how the movies all looked so 80s.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) January 25, 2013
Sight of hearse rocketing past me in HOV lane makes me ponder definition of “passenger.” @uffishl
— Thérèse Nielsen (@nyreader) January 25, 2013
The problem with Reaganomics is you eventually run out of poor people’s money to give to the extreme rich…
— Phlip (@Pen_Bird) January 26, 2013
Now let’s have some history:
On This Day
In 1802, Congress passed an act calling for a library to be established within the U.S. Capitol. (One wonders if any members of the present day Congress ever use the Library of Congress?)
In 1837, Michigan became the 26th state.
In 1838, those spoilsports in Tennessee (which makes great whiskey) enacted the country’s first prohibition law.
In 1861, Louisiana seceded from the Union.
In 1870, Virginia rejoined the Union.
In 1950, India declared itself a Republic.
In 1863, Massachusetts governor John Albion Andrew was given permission from the Secretary of War to form a militia organization of black men.
In 1915, an act of Congress created the Rocky Mountain National Park.
In 1996, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton testified before a grand jury connected to the Whitewater probe.
In 2005, Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as secretary of state.
In 2009, mother of 6 Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets conceived via in-vitro fertilization.
Born on This Day
1826 – Julia Dent-Grant, First Lady of the United States (d. 1902)
1832 – George Shiras Jr., U.S. Supreme Court justice (d. 1924)
1877 – Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter (d. 1968)
1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general and Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
1908 – Jill Esmond, English actress (d. 1990)
1908 – Rupprecht Geiger, German painter (d. 2009)
1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist (Quintette du Hot Club de France) (d. 1997)
1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
1918 – Nicolae Ceauşescu, 1st President of Romania (d. 1989)
1918 – Philip José Farmer, American writer (d. 2009)
1923 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress
1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress
1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, philanthropist, race car driver and race team owner (d. 2008)
1928 – Roger Vadim, French actor and director (d. 2000)
1929 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist and writer
1931 – Mary Murphy, American film actress
1941 – Scott Glenn, American actor
1941 – Henry Jaglom, English director
1943 – Jean Knight, American singer
1944 – Angela Davis, American feminist and activist
1944 – Jerry Sandusky, Former Penn State football coach; convicted child-sex offender
1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
1946 – Gene Siskel, American film critic (d. 1999)
1949 – Jonathan Carroll, American author
1949 – David Strathairn, American actor
1953 – Lucinda Williams, American singer
1955 – Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American musician (Van Halen)
1958 – Ellen DeGeneres, American actress and comedian
1960 – Charlie Gillingham, American musician (Counting Crows)
1961 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player
1963 – Andrew Ridgeley, English musician (Wham!) (Warning: Very annoying earworm!)
1980 – Brian Fallon, American musician (The Gaslight Anthem)
Died on This Day
1824 – Théodore Géricault, French painter (b. 1791)
1893 – Abner Doubleday, American military figure, and credited inventor of baseball (b. 1819)
1932 – William Wrigley Jr., American industrialist (b. 1861)
1933 – Alva Belmont, American socialite (b. 1853)
1947 – Grace Moore, American soprano and actress (b. 1898)
1962 – Lucky Luciano, American mobster (b. 1897)
1973 – Edward G. Robinson, American actor (b. 1893)
1990 – Lewis Mumford, American historian (b. 1895)
1992 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1912)
2007 – Hans J. Wegner, Danish furniture designer (b. 1914)
2008 – Viktor Schreckengost, American industrial designer (b. 1906)
2011 – Gladys Horton, American musician and singer (The Marvelettes) (b. 1944)
Today is
National Pistachio Day
National Peanut Brittle Day
Australia Day
Spouse’s Day
Bald Eagle Appreciation Day
The choices on today’s poll are all from various Tweeps, courtesy of #SarahPalinsNextGig. Credit goes to ZandarVTS, Dorian_Sage, VideoTelegram, DCdebbie, leosoup, paul_lander, JohnLeePettimor, donsense1, allenbrauer
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