It’s October 22, 2016, and National Nut Day, which I’ll following by having a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. It’s also International CAPS LOCK DAY. Finally, this is the day in 4004 BC on which, according to Archbishop James Ussher’s famous calculation, the world was created!
On October 22, 1879, Thomas Edison tested the first long-lasting incandescent light bulb, using carbonized thread as a filament. It lasted all of 13.5 hours before going dark. In 1895, an express train failed to stop at the Gare Montparnasse, producing this result:
Amazingly, only one person was killed: a woman outside the station hit by falling masonry. In 1962, John F. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba, bringing on the Cuban Missile Crisis, the closest American has come to nuclear war. Two years later, Jean-Paul Sartre received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and refused it. (Do you think Bob Dylan will?).
Notables born on this day include Daniel Boone (1734), Sarah Bernhardt (1844), Curly Howard of the Three Stooges (1903), Timothy Leary (1920), Annette Funicello (1942♥), the first love of many young boys, including me, Deepak Chopra (1946; he turns 70 today, but of course he will never die because of his health regimen), and Jeff Goldblum (1952; surprisingly, several women have told me they find him very sexy). Those who died on this day include Pretty Boy Floyd (1934), Jane Dornacker (1986), Albert Szent-Györgyi (1986), and Soupy Sales (2009). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Cyrus have apparently joined the ambulatory school of philosophy:
Cyrus: Everything is very complicated.Hili: Yes, but sometimes you have to disregard what’s not essential.
Cyrus: To wszystko jest ogromnie skomplikowane.
Hili: Tak, ale czasem trzeba abstrahować od tego, co nieistotne.
And out on the wind-swept prairies of Winnipeg, Gus has been nomming his box (note the license plate on the far end, as well as the Canadian flag), as well as playing with tissue paper:
Has anybody figured out what Gus so likes in his boxes? Some chemical used in making the cardboard, or in the label ink on the box?
Or perhaps he is just cleaning his teeth.
I imagined Gus like the sound.
Typo alert: Pretty Boy Floyd died in 1934.
fixed thanks
Sorry, PCC (e), but the peanut is a legume not a nut!! Still i commend you on your choice of noms.
PCC(E) is aware of the status of peanuts:
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/?s=legumes+&submit=Search
Not fair!! This post was before my enlightenment. But i appreciate your rigor, and now you have made me hungry☺
What is surprising about several women finding Jeff Goldblum very sexy? I am a gay man, and I find him extremely sexy too.
Do gay men and women tend to find the same traits in men attractive?
I don’t think that it’s possible to generalize so broadly. I think it’s probably a very individual thing. I have always liked his smile and the twinkle in his eyes. And his dark, handsome nerdiness, I suppose.
I always thought he was kind of geeky, and not very handsome. Thus I was surprised that he’s somewhat of a sex object.
You don’t have to be handsome to be sexy Jerry. For me and a lot of women, a traditionally good looking man becomes a lot less attractive if he has character flaws like boorishness or extreme arrogance. You can often see things like that in the eyes, especially as a man gets older. I’ve never thought Donald Trump was attractive, for example, and I genuinely can’t see it when people say he is.
Curly of the Three Stooges (real name Jerome. Horwitz) was the only fellow in the troop who largely created his own character, Moe and Larry playing characters cre s ted by Ted Healy. He turned out to be the nost beloved character of the trio though he was replaced after he had some heart trouble.
=.=
I also have encoubtered gals with attractions to Jeff Goldblum and am likewise puzzled.
“National Nut Day, which I’ll following by having a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.”
For shame. Peanuts are not true nuts. Have some Nutella instead.
I think Jeff Goldblum is sexy, in a tall, dark, slightly nerdy but totally earnest sort of way. He looks like the sort who would like foreign films and fine art, and who would remember your favorite kind of music. Of course, most of this is just fantasizing.
He also has a great smile.
The characters he played on Portandia were hilarious, and so was the one he played on the Apartments.com TV ads.
HAPPY CAPS LOCK DAY, EVERYONE!
So that would make Friday Adam and Eve’s birthdays. We should get them something.
How about an apple?
Some warm clothes. Winter is coming, and those fig leaves won’t cut it.
I love that train-wreck photo — I have a poster-sized copy on the wall of my studio. I consider it a sobering reminder for recording engineers: “To have a single switch in the wrong position is a trivial mistake. To fail to notice it is a serious mistake. Always check the switches!”
Interestingly, the locomotive involved – when they finally got it to the workshops – was found to have suffered little damage. Steam locomotives were very tough things.
The Ouest loco in the picture is curious – it has inside cylinders but outside Stephenson valve gear, really quite an unusual arrangement. (Most British locos of the time had inside cylinders with inside Stephenson gear, while US locos typically had outside cylinders with inside Stephenson gear – the inverse of the Ouest loco. Where outside valve gear was fitted it was usually Walschaerts, in conjunction with outside cylinders). [/geek mode]
cr
Rather than rejecting the Nobel Prize, Dylan seems to be ignoring it, to the annoyance of at least one member of the Academy. “It’s impolite and arrogant,” said the academy member, Swedish writer Per Wastberg, in comments aired on SVT public television. A reference to the prize was removed from Dylan’s website last week.
I agree with the academy member. Dylan is being rude and an a***hole. Being rich and famous doesn’t give you the right to be a dick. If he wants to reject it that’s his perogative, but he shouldn’t just ignore them. And if he doesn’t want to discuss why, he could just release a statement saying that too.
I don’t know about that. Some group, no matter who, announces they’re giving you an unasked for award, why are you obligated to acknowledge them? I think the arrogance goes the other way, implying we’re so important you should be honored that we deigned to notice you. Get over yourselves, Nobel committee.
A Nobel prize isn’t just another award, and it’s not like they expect something for nothing – there’s a pretty substantial cash prize. I’m sure Dylan doesn’t need the $1 million, but he is being rude. You can say who do they think they are, but equally, who does he think he is. He’s making this into a big issue imo and I think he needs to get over himself.
Sorry, I just don’t get why he’s obligated to do anything. And it is just another award, something he never asked for, and doesn’t care about. He’s certainly not making it a big issue, that would be the academy member who is criticizing him.
Dylan knows that by ignoring the academy he’s drawing more attention to himself. I’m thinking he’s become glum over the inevitable decline in his career and craves the limelight. I’d guess he’s so full of himself it hurts.
“I’d guess he’s so full of himself it hurts.”
Based on what? You seem to think he wants attention when he’s avoided the media his whole life. This is just another media extravaganza that he doesn’t care about. People seem to have such hurt feelings that he’s not impressed with awards and such. Ignoring it is the perfect response for him.
tomh: That’s another possible explanation.
Jerry’s written a post about it now, so we can all argue about it,
As I said in another post, it’s simple human civility. If someone gave you a present that you didn’t ask for, would you think yourself justified in not saying “thank you”, or at least acknowledging the gift.
Sorry, but I think his behavior is rude, and I also think that most CIVIL human beings would behave differently.
Sarte refused the Nobel. Surely, he was called arrogant as well.
Yes, I’m sure he was. I don’t know the specifics of his case, but I know he was an important philosopher with controversial views. I suspect he did want attention but for some higher principle rather than just self aggrandizement.
I don’t know whether Bob Dylan will accept his Nobel prize but I think he is a man who resents being taken for granted. Difficult and unpredictable he probably won’t want to dress himself in tails and meet the Norwegian Nobelity.
Oops! Swedish not Norwegian.
According to the Annuario Pontificio of 1870: “Dalla Creazione del Mondo — Anni 7060” and “Dal Deluvio universale — Anni 4820.” However, the APs for other years list different dates, at least for the Creation. Haven’t checked the latest.
The Scorsese film Hugo, based on the graphic novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, has a depiction of the Montparnasse derailment (though the story is set in the 1930s). I thought the movie was sweet and entertaining, and beautiful in a vaguely steampunk way, so I’d recommend it.