Throughout your life there are things you learn about and forget. Then there are things you never learned about! I think the following falls into the later category. But on this date in 1933, there was an attempt made to assassinate Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Miami, Florida. Here’s what happened on that fateful day.
This morning I was at Wikipedia reviewing the events that happened on this date in history. However, before I got a chance to due that, I spotted a name on the list of those who have recently passed away that was interesting. The name was Einojuhani Rautavaara. The name was interesting because a) I was unfamiliar with the name and b) I was intrigued by the foreign nature of the name. Since I am always interested in explorations of people and places beyond my country’s borders, I clicked on the name to find out more about Einojuhani Rautavaara.
Over the last few days I have added a boatload of ancestors of my fifth great-grandfather Samuel Johnson and his wife Antje Anney Brower I have taken both of their family lines back to the early 1600s in New York. Anyway, as I was looking over events that happened on January 31st this one from 1779. Samuel would have turned 19 that year. The event was Charles Messier’s addition of M57 (Ring Nebula in Lyra) to his catalog. Since I didn’t know who Charles Messier was or what his catalog was I set out to find out about them! (P.S. I do know what a ring nebula is). I am always amazed at what the early astronomers were able to accomplish 300 plus years ago!) From Wikipedia…..
So I have not ever been a fan of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, The obvious reason, he was Defense Secretary, at the beginning and the height of the war in Vietnam, in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. But as I read his autobiography In Retrospect The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, I realize that the administrations that he served in were really in a no-win situation in Vietnam, and that he and others may have kept the US from being involved in the war far earlier. He also admits that the course the US chose concerning the war was the wrong one! At one point, he reveals for the first time what he thought John Kennedy would have done regarding the situation in Vietnam ..
This evening I saw that among the recent deaths listed at Wikipedia I saw the name Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey. I didn’t recognize the name, so I decided to find out about Ms. Kelsey, Frankly I should have known the name, because Ms. Kelsey saved many Americans from major tragedies, when she refused to authorize thalidomide for market use because she had concerns about the drug’s safety!
Through the years, I have read several books on the Native Americans of the West. Most of my reading has centered on the Sioux with some Apache and Comanche thrown in. One of the Native American tribes that I know very little about is the Mohave, which is why the feature story on their leader Irataba caught my eye this morning. Here is a little about the Mohave leader. Go check out more it’s very interesting……
There’s nothing that can make me feel like a tiny,tiny, speak then to contemplate the enormity of the universe. The photo of the day, today, at Wikipedia was a false-color photograph of NGC 1097 a barred spiral galaxy.That is only 45 MILLION light-years away from Earth!
Today is a special day in the United States particularly within the African-American community where Juneteenth is celebrated!! From Wikipedia:
Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day, Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day, is a holiday in the United States that commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas in 1865, and more generally the emancipation of African-Americancitizens throughout the United States. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a portmanteau of June and nineteenth,[1][2] and is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in most states. Read More
This afternoon I saw this post in Twitter feed – A Tribute to the Printer Aldus Manutius, and the Roots of the Paperback.. The tribute is a new show in New York at the Grolier Club in Manhattan, “Aldus Manutius: A Legacy More Lasting Than Bronze,” The show brings together nearly 150 books from Aldine press founded by Manutius in Venice in 1494. The books are known as Aldines. So who is this Aldus Manutius and what does he have to do with paperback books. I think I need to find out about this…..
