Good Morning!

On this day in 1802 John Beckley became the first Librarian of Congress.

In 1820 Britain’s King George III died insane at Windsor Castle.

In 1845 Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” was published for the first time in the “New York Evening Mirror.”

In 1936 the first members of major league baseball’s Hall of Fame were named in Cooperstown, NY.

In 1949 “The Newport News” was commissioned as the first air-conditioned naval ship in Virginia.

And in 1990 Joseph Hazelwood, the former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, went on trial in Anchorage, AK, on charges that stemmed from (what was at the time) America’s worst oil spill.  Hazelwood was later acquitted of all the major charges and was convicted of a misdemeanor.

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Quote of the Day

“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”

Thomas Paine

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Today is the birthday of Frederick Delius. Given the weather most of us are having, a reminder of what’s to come seems appropriate. So here’s Delius’ “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring” From George Morton, who I believe is the conductor. It’s the Sheffield University Orchestra, and they do a very nice rendition. 🙂

And this one makes me feel a little better about the weather. Kings College Choir, who never disappoints, with “In the Bleak Midwinter”. From Suila2007

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Anyone have a QoD?

Good Morning!

On this day in 1521 the Diet of Worms began, at which Protestant reformer Luther was declared an outlaw by the Roman Catholic church.

In 1878 the first telephone switchboard was installed in New Haven, CT.  

In 1915 the Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea. 

In 1980 six Americans who had fled the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, left Iran using false Canadian diplomatic passports. The Americans had been hidden at the Canadian embassy in Tehran.

And in 1986 the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff. All seven of its crew members were killed.

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Quote of the Day

“Logic, sometimes has very little to do with political action.”

Alexander Mackenzie

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Today is the birthday of composer Johann Ernst Bach. From Ria Brezova

It’s also Arthur Rubenstein’s. So here he is from 1964, in Moscow. via SProkofieff

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Anyone have a QoD for us today?

Good Morning!

On this day in 1606 the trial of Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators began. They were executed on January 31.

In 1880 Thomas Edison patented the electric incandescent lamp.

In 1888 the National Geographic Society was founded in Washington, DC.

In 1926 John Baird, a Scottish inventor, demonstrated a pictorial transmission machine called television.

In 1945 Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

In 1951 in the U.S., atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats.

And in 1973 the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

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Quote of the Day

“It is a great consolation for me to remember that the Lord, to whom I had drawn near in humble and child-like faith, has suffered and died for me, and that He will look on me in love and compassion.”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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We’ll start off with some Mozart today. From Dagmar Dolatschko

Next up, Jack Brymer, who also has a birthday today, playing more Mozart. From UltimateMozart

And it’s also Skitch Henderson’s. From MusicProf78

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Anyone have a QoD?

Good Morning!

And Happy Saturday! 🙂

On this day in 1881 Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and others signed an agreement to organize the Oriental Telephone Company.

In 1915, in New York, Alexander Graham Bell spoke to his assistant in San Francisco, inaugurating the first transcontinental telephone service.

In 1924 the 1st Winter Olympic Games were inaugurated in Chamonix in the French Alps.

In 1950 a federal jury in New York City found former State Department official Alger Hiss guilty of perjury.

In 1971 Charles Manson and three female members of his “family” were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit murder and seven counts of murder in the first degree.

In 1981 the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States and were reunited with their families. 

And in 1987 the New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos, 39-20, in Super Bowl XXI on NBC. 🙂 WooHoo!

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Quote of the Day

“The snowdrop and primrose our woodlands adorn, and violets bathe in the wet o’ the morn.”

Robert Burns

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On this day in 1858 Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” was presented for the first time, as the daughter of Queen Victoria married the Crown Prince of Prussia.  

It’s Matt Odmark’s birthday. So a Jars of Clay medley. From NoiseTradeVideo

Today is also Richard Finch’s birthday. From WebPortalAvro

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Good Morning!

On this day in 1848 James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California. The discovery led to the gold rush of ’49.

In 1908, in England, the first Boy Scout troop was organized by Robert Baden-Powell.

In 1922 Christian K. Nelson patented the Eskimo Pie.

In 1952 Vincent Massey was the first Canadian to be appointed governor-general of Canada.

In 1965 Winston Churchill died at the age of 90.

In 1989 Ted Bundy, the confessed serial killer, was put to death in Florida’s electric chair for the 1978 kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach.

And in 1995 the prosecution gave its opening statement at the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

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Quote of the Day

“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

Gilbert K. Chesterton

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Today is the birthday of composer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman.  From KuhluaDilfeng2, who has a very nice collection of classical music videos.

It’s also Neil Diamond’s. So here he is, with Mr. Cash.

And it’s Ray Stevens’ birthday as well. Here he is with the “Obama Budget Plan.” From RayStevensMusic

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Good Morning!

On this day in 1556 an earthquake in Shanxi Province, China, was thought to have killed about 830,000 people.

In 1845 the U.S. Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

In 1849 English-born Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a medical degree. It was from the Medical Institution of Geneva, NY.

In 1907 Charles Curtis, of Kansas, began serving in the United States Senate. He was the first American Indian to become a U.S. Senator. He resigned in March of 1929 to become President Herbert Hoover’s Vice President.

In 1950 the Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In 1964 ratification of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was completed.

And in 1973 President Nixon announced that an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War.

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Quote of the Day

“In circumstances dark as these, it becomes us as men and Christians to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments … all confidence must be withheld from the means we use and reposed only on that God who rules in the armies of heaven and without whose blessing the best human councils are but foolishness and all created power vanity. It is the happiness of his church that when the powers of earth and hell combine against it … then the throne of grace is of the easiest access and its appeal thither is graciously invited by that Father of mercies who has assured it that when His children ask bread He will not give them a stone. … That it be, and hereby is, recommended to the good people of this colony … as a day of public humiliation, fasting and prayer … to confess the sins … to implore the forgiveness of all our transgressions … and especially that the union of the American colonies in defense of their rights, for which, hitherto, we desire to thank Almighty God, may be preserved and confirmed. … and that America may soon behold a gracious interposition of Heaven.”

John Hancock

 “The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775”, William Lincoln, editor, (Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1838), pp. 144-145, proclamation of John Hancock from Concord, April 15, 1775, four days before the British marched on Lexington and Concord which resulted in the “shot heard round the world”.”

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Today is the birthday of Rick Heil of SonicFlood. From TheTrueSeven who has like a thousand Christian music videos. It’s a good channel. You should check it out. 🙂

And it’s Jason Davies’, of Between Thieves too.

And it’s Mike Hogan’s as well. So the Dave Crowder Band finishes up. 🙂

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Anyone have a QoD?

Good Morning!

On this day in 1666 Shah Jahan, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, died at the age of 74. He was the Mongul emperor of India that built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal.

In 1879 James Shields began a term as a U.S. Senator from Missouri. He had previously served Illinois and Minnesota. He was the first Senator to serve three states.

In 1905 insurgent workers were fired on in St Petersburg, Russia, resulting in “Bloody Sunday.” 500 people were killed.

In 1950 Alger Hiss, a former adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt, was convicted of perjury for denying contacts with a Soviet agent. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

And in 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws that had been restricting abortions. The case (Roe vs. Wade) legalized abortion.

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Quote of the Day

“Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.”

Lord Byron

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Today is Steve Perry’s birthday.

It’s Teddy Gentry’s too. From AlabamaVevo

It’s also the day composer Hans Erich Apostel was born.

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Good Morning!

On this day in 1789 W.H. Brown’s “Power of Sympathy” was published. It was the first American novel to be published. The novel is also known as the “Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth”.

In 1846 the first issue of the “Daily News,” edited by Charles Dickens, was published.

In 1924 Soviet leader Vladimir Llyich Lenin died. Joseph Stalin began a purge of his rivals for the leadership of the Soviet Union.

In 1954 the Nautilus was launched in Groton, CT.  It was the first atomic-powered submarine.

And in 1998 a former White House intern said on tape that she had an affair with President Clinton.

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Quote of the Day

“I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.”

Walt Whitman

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Today is Placido Domingo’s birthday. So here his is with the Berlin Philharmonic, from OperaFan55

It’s also Mac Davis’. From ThatsMusic

And this one is from Jamie and Geoff, who are the daughter and son-in-law of our friends. I’ve posted Jamie and a friend before, but she and her husband sound very good together too.

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Anyone have a QoD?

Good Morning!

Since it’s a holiday, only 2 posts today.

On this day in 1265 the first English parliament met in Westminster Hall.

In 1801 John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the United States.

In 1885 the roller coaster was patented by L.A. Thompson.

In 1887 the U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.

In 1937 Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on January 20th. The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution officially set the date for the swearing in of the President and Vice President.

In 1942 Nazi officials held the Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their “final solution” that called for exterminating Europe’s Jews.

In 1981 Iran released 52 Americans that had been held hostage for 444 days.

And in 1986 the U.S. observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

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Quote of the Day

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Yesterday was this lady’s birthday.

Today is Wes King’s.

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QoD?

Do you have the day off, and if so, what are your plans?

Good Morning!

And Happy Saturday! 🙂

On this day in 1778 English navigator Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which he called the “Sandwich Islands.”

In 1788 the first English settlers arrived in Australia’s Botany Bay to establish a penal colony. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.

In 1896 the x-ray machine was exhibited for the first time.

In 1911, for the first time, an aircraft landed on a ship. Pilot Eugene B. Ely flew onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor.

In 1919 the World War I Peace Congress opened in Versailles, France.

And in 1964 the plans for the World Trade Center in New York were disclosed.

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Quote of the Day

“The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.”

Daniel Webster

Seems like it still is.

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Today is Heather Payne’s birthday, from PointofGraceMusic.

Today is also the birthday of composer Cesar Cui. From Selecteum des Arts et des Sciences CCU

And it’s the birthday of composer Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier too.

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Anyone have a QoD?

And here’s a picture of Janice’s kitten Bosley.