Quote of the day :
We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.
~ Carlos Castenada
Picture of the day :
Saw this on Twitter, posted by @Fascinatingpics and it has to go in as the picture of the day. I don’t know who to credit for this Snoopy snowman, so I’ll just link to the post for now.
Youtube video of the day :
To go with Snoopy above I’ve chosen ‘White Christmas’ by Frank Sinatra
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3YltnBjqZU&feature=player_detailpage]
Born on this day…
Born today :
- Astronomer, Johannes Kepler (b.1571)
Discovered planetary orbits were elliptical. - Chemist and microbiologist, Louis Pasteur (b.1822)
- Aviation engineer, Sir George Cayley (b.1773)
One of the most important people in the history of aeronautics, he discovered the four aerodynamic forces of flight weight, lift, drag, thrust and cambered wings (the basis for modern aeroplanes) and designed first successful human glider.
He also developed self-righting lifeboats, caterpillar tractors (which he called the ‘Universal Railway’) and seat belts, and well as contributing in several other fields. - Mathematician, Jacob Bernoulli (b.1654)
- Guitarist, Mick Jones (Foreigner)
- Singer, songwriter and pianist, Mike Pinder (Moody Blues)
- Saxophone player and pianist, Les Maguire (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
- Musician, singer and songwriter, David Knopfler (Dire Straights)
- Journalist and TV presenter, Janet Street-Porter
- Actor, Syndney Greenstreet
- Actor, Gerard Depardieu
- Actor, Aaron Stanford
- Actor, John Amos
- Actor and digital artist, Masi Oka
Heroes teleporter, Hiro Nakamura - Actress, Marlene Dietrich
- Actress, Maryam D’Abo (Bond girl)
- Actress, Emilie de Ravin
- Actress, Irene Handl
- Child actress, Heather O’Rourke
- Author and conservationist, Louis Bromfield
- French SF author, Philippe Curval
Also on this day in history
1825 : The first public railway using steam locomotive completed in England, running between Stockton and Darlington. It used George Stephenson’s ‘Locomotion’ engine. Four years later Stephenson built ‘The Rocket’ for the Rainhill Trials and from there went into the history books.
1831: HMS Beagle under the command of Captain Robert Fitzroy set sail from Davenport Dockyard, Plymouth on what would become a five-year scientific expedition around the world. Taking an unpaid but career enhancing post as the official naturalist was a young university graduate, 22 year old Charles Darwin.
1871 : The world’s first cat show was held in Crystal Palace, London.
1904 : The Abbey Theatre in Dublin had it’s opening night. It was the first state-sponsored theatre in the world. The premiering shows were W. B. Yeats’s "On Baile’s Strand" and Lady Gregory’s "Spreading the News."
Still with the theatre, 1905: J.M. Barrie’s "Peter Pan" ‘The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up’ premiered at the Duke of York’s theatre in London.
1927 : ‘Show Boat’ opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.
1945 : The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations.
Seems to me though that in the long term the world’s nations have been milked by the banks ever since…
1966 : First documented discovery of the Cave of Swallows in San Luis PotosÃ, Mexico. The largest known cave shaft in the world, it is so deep that clouds are known to form inside it. Roughly 100 foot in diameter at the top, it widens to 442 by 994 at the bottom of the drop – some 1,214 foot down. Putting it into perspective, the Empire State Building is 1,250 foot tall.
1969 : Led Zeppelin II reached number one on the US album charts, going on to sell over six million copies in the States alone. In the UK it stayed in the album charts for 138 weeks. By November 1999 it had doubled sales, becoming a 12x platinum album. (LedZep II is the one with ‘Whole Lotta Love’ as the lead track. Good as that is, I reckon Kashmir is better.)
1978 : Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship – and so opens the doors for cheap package holidays there.
(Actually, according to wikipedia, Horizon Holiday Group, pioneered package holidays abroad to Spain in 1952, going from Gatwick to Palma).
1999 : Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos was named Person of the Year by Time Magazine.
Trending at this moment:
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is hot on twitter at the moment.
Astronomer Johannes Kepler is hot today on Google, probably because he’s their drawing of the day.
The other trend on Google is that critics think Keanu Reeves latest movie "47 Ronin" will be the flop of the year because of poor takings in it’s first week. Give the guy a break. It’s Christmas for a start and I don’t know about the rest of the world but the UK is getting battered with rain, wind and floods, while parts of north America are still reeling from ice storms. Rather puts the damper of going out for the night. I’ll probably get it on dvd myself, but I am looking forward to seeing it.
