Life-Long Learning Archives - Page 3 of 4

Mind Archive by category "Life-Long Learning" (Page 3)

Imbolc – Let’s Celebrate the Arrival of Spring!!

Imbolc – Gaelic Festival Marking the Arrival of Spring (February 1 – 3) Back in 1968, Phil Ochs wrote these words about the Vietnam War, in what may be his most popular song “The War is Over” …… Silent soldiers on a silver screen Framed in fantasies and dragged in dream Unpaid actors of the mystery The mad director knows that freedom will not make you free And what’s this got to do with me I declare the war is over It’s over, it’s over (Complete song lyrics here – Video) Now we all know that the Vietnam War did not end in 1968 but rather went on tragically for another seven years before ending in 1975. I thought about these lyrics when I read before the latter part of the 20th century when many of its customs died the Gaelic Festival – Imbolc or Imbolg was celebrated on February 1st (or about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Imbolc marked the beginning of spring! From Wikipedia :…..Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain[3]—and corresponds to the Welsh Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau. Christians observe it as the feast day of Saint Brigid, especially in Ireland. …..Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain[3]—and corresponds to the Welsh Gŵyl…

This Date in History – November 3, 1816 – Confederate General Jubal A. Early was born! July 1864 Early’s Troops head toward Washington!

So through the years, even though I was not a fan of the Confederacy, because of the slavery issue, I have been more fascinated and interested in its generals than those of the north. Most of the biographies that I have read about Civil War generals have been about Confederate Generals, like Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson, JEB Stuart and the General whose birthday it is today Jubal Anderson Early who would have been 198 years young today, if not for climate change after Noah’s Flood (Pat Robertson: People Don’t Live To Be 950 Anymore Because Of Climate Change. Right! Anyway, Early served first under Stonewall Jackson and then Robert E Lee. He rose from regimental command to lieutenant-general and the command of an infantry corps in the Army of Northern Virginia From me the most interesting event in the War that Early took part in was in the summer and fall of 1864 in the Valley Campaigns….. from Wikipedia: ….when he commanded the Confederacy’s last invasion of the North. As Confederate territory was rapidly being captured by the Union armies of Grant and Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Lee sent Early’s corps to sweep Union forces from the Shenandoah Valley and to menace Washington, D.C., hoping to compel Grant to dilute his forces against Lee around Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. Early delayed his march for several days in a futile attempt to capture a small force under Franz Sigel at Maryland Heights near Harpers Ferry.[5] He rested his men from July 4 through…

On this Date in History – August 19, 1953 The US and British orchestrated Iranian coup d’état .

The Iranian coup d’etat which occurred on today’s date in 1953 had a profound impact on both the Iranian people and the United States. While the negative impacts of the coup were felt by the Iranian people from the beginning, the US really didn’t feel the impacts until the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution and the taking of the US hostages. The coup is known in Iran as the 28 Mordad (the date on the Iranian calendar) coup was the overthrow of (check this out) democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh and was orchestrated by the British and US Intelligence agencies in an operation known as ‘Operation Boot’ by the British and project TPAJAX or AJAX . The US role in the coup was not fully acknowledged by the CIA until 2013 when according to Wikipedia…. …. the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) admitted that it was involved in both the planning and the execution of the coup, including the bribing of Iranian politicians, security and army high-ranking officials, as well as pro-coup propaganda.[11][12] The CIA is quoted acknowledging the coup was carried out “under CIA direction” and “as an act of U.S. foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government. Iranian Prime Minister Mosaddegh was an author, administrator, lawyer, prominent parliamentarian, his administration introduced a range of progressive social and political reforms such as social security, rent control, and land reforms.Mosaddegh was even named man of the year in 1951 by Time! But the position of the US changed in late 1952…

On this Date in History – August 11, 1942 – US Patent granted to Hedy Lamarr for “Secret Communication System”!

On August 11, 1942, U.S. Patent 2,292,387 for the “Secret Communications System” was granted to George Anthiel and his neighbor Hedy Kiesler Markey who was better known as actress Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr was once called the “most beautiful woman in Europe,” and often referred to as the most gorgeous and exotic of Hollywood’s leading ladies! The patent was for a device which would use frequency-hopping to avoid jamming of a things like radio controlled torpedoes. The device used a piano roll to unpredictably chnge the signal sent between a control center and the torpedo at short bursts within a range of 88 frequencies in the radio-frequency spectrum. the specific code for the sequence of frequencies would be held identically by the controlling ship and the torpedo. It would be practically impossible for the enemy to scan and jam all 88 frequencies, as this would require too much power or complexity. The frequency-hopping sequence was controlled by a player-piano mechanism, which Anthiel had earlier used to score his Ballet Mécanique The design of the device was considered so vital to national defense that government officials would not allow publication of its details. However, the device soon met with opposition from the Navy and was never adopted. The idea of the device was implemented though in 1962 by US military ships during the blockade of Cuba, after the patent had expired. The frequency hopping system designed by Anthiel and Lamarr was an important step in the development of technology to maintain the security of both military communications and cellular phones. In…

This Day in Music – Feb 12, 1974 – The Bottom Line Opens in New York City!!

On this date forty years ago, The Bottom Line music venue in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan. The Bottom Line was an eclectic venue that booked just about every kind of musician. The club was owned by Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowsky. The club opened (let’s do the math) on Feb 12, 1974.In 2003 the club was deeply in debt ($190,000 in back rent, plus several hundred thousand dollars in other expenses) and no longer bringing in large crowds. Its landlord, New York University (NYU), increased the rent to market level, which was beyond the club’s ability to pay, in contentious negotiations, the university threatened eviction,.and finally the owners closed the doors prior to being evicted. The last show was on January 22, 2004 just shy of their 30th anniversary! The building now houses NYU classrooms. Oh, but what a venue it was everyone played The Bottom Line.The venue was famous for ….presenting major musical acts and premiering new talent. Bruce Springsteen played showcase gigs at the club and Lou Reed recorded the albumLive: Take No Prisoners there. Harry Chapin held his 2000th concert at the Bottom Line in January 1981.. The Bottom Line hosted an extremely wide variety of music and musicians. Among the thousands who performed on its stage were The Police, Stan Ridgway, Linda Ronstadt, Richard Marx, Prince, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Van Morrison, Chuck Mangione, Emmylou Harris, Clinn Rippy, Neil Young, Barry Manilow, Laura Nyro, Loudon Wainwright III, New York Dolls, Lyle Lovett, The Electric Flag, Pat Martino, Todd Rundgren, Graham Parker, Horslips, Dire Straits, Chris Hillman, Hawkwind, Dolly Parton, George Jones, Tracy Nelson, The Pointer Sisters, Betty Carter, Ravi Shankar, Ramones, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Mose Allison, Muddy Waters, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Ray Barretto, Peter Gabriel, Al Kooper, Tom Waits, Melvin Van Peebles, Neil…

This Day in History – Feb 3, 1900 – The 34th Governor of Kentucky dies from shooting!

On February 3,1900, William Goebel, the newly elected Governor of Kentucky died after serving four days in office. Goebel had been shot by an assassin the day before he was sworn in as the 34th Governor of the state. Goebel remains the only state governor in the nation to be assassinated while in office. John Connelly of Texas and George Wallace of Alabama both survived assassination attempts. From Wikipedia: Goebel’s abrasive personality made him many political enemies, but his championing of populist causes, like railroad regulation, also won him many friends. This conflict of opinions came to a head in the Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899. Goebel, a Democrat, divided his party with self-serving political tactics at a time when Kentucky Republicans were finally gaining strength, having elected the party’s first governor four years previously. These dynamics led to a close contest between Goebel and William S. Taylor. In the politically chaotic climate that resulted, Goebel was assassinated. Everyone charged in connection with the murder was either acquitted or pardoned, and the identity of his assassin remains uncertain…… The assassination….. While the election results remained in dispute, Goebel, despite being warned of a rumored assassination plot against him, walked flanked by two bodyguards to the Old State Capitol on the morning of January 30, 1900. Reports conflict about what happened, but some five or six shots were fired from the nearby State Building, one striking Goebel in the chest and wounding him seriously….. and then just like today the Democrats and Republicans could not agree…… Taylor, serving as…

This Day in History – Jan 2, 1890 – Alice Sanger a new staffer appears at the White House – 1962 The Weavers don’t appear on Jack Paar!!

On this date in 1890 – let’s see that’s 124 years ago……President Benjamin Harrison appointed Alice Sanger as the first female member of the White House Staff.. From History.com During an otherwise uneventful presidency remarkable only for allowing Congress a free-for-all in spending public funds, Alice Sanger’s appointment may have been an olive branch to the growing women’s suffrage movement that had gathered momentum during Harrison’s presidency. In 1890, two of the most influential organizations involved in the women’s suffrage movement, the American Woman Suffrage Association and the National Woman Suffrage Association, combined forces and became the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). NAWSA represented a coalition of women’s suffrage activists, social reformers and temperance advocates. Their demands included stronger female property rights, employment and educational opportunities for women, improved divorce and child custody laws and reproductive freedom. Read More Hum.maybe we could use just a National Woman Association today seems like some of the things that they fought for are still being fought over today!!! Also on this date in 1962, the Weavers scheduled appearance on The Jack Paar Show was cancelled when the members refused to sign a loyalty oath!! From History.com…… The Weavers, one of the most significant popular-music groups of the postwar era, saw their career nearly destroyed during the Red Scare of the early 1950s. Even with anti-communist fervor in decline by the early 1960s, the Weavers’ leftist politics were used against them as late as January 2, 1962, when the group’s appearance on The…

Today in History October 15, 1883 – A Dark Day in US Race Relations

On October 15,1883 the U.S. Supreme Court would have made many of the current justices on the Supreme Court proud, when the Court struck down part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 The long title of the Act included: An act to protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights.. The result of the court’s action allowed for individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race. From Wikipedia: The Civil Rights Act of 1875 (18 Stat. 335-337),[2] sometimes called Enforcement Act or Force Act, was a United States federal law enacted during the Reconstruction Era that guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibited exclusion from jury service. The other name for the the other name for the bill was “SumnerLangstonCare” (not really) because it was drafted by Senator Charles Sumner, a dominant Radical Republican in the Senate, with the assistance of John Mercer Langston, a prominent African American who established the law department at Howard University.[3] The bill was proposed by Senator Sumner and co-sponsored by representative Benjamin F. Butler, both Republicans from Massachusetts, in the 43rd Congress of the United States in 1870. The act was finally passed by Congress in February 1875 and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1875.[4] Immediately, the ancestors of the Koch Brothers and many of the talking heads currently employed by FOX News. I think the group included Hannity’s and Limbaugh’s either 2nd or 3rd great-grandfathers, They all moaned how this would hurt the little businessman and kill jobs, (just kidding again, although I don’t know for sure!} Finally, the Supreme Court made Thomas Jefferson proud when…. The Supreme Court of the United States in a nearly unanimous decision declared…

Today in History – In 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson becomes the first black man to vote in America!

So on March 31, 1870 …. Thomas Mundy Peterson (October 6, 1824 – February 4, 1904) of Perth Amboy, New Jersey was the first African-Americanto vote in an election under the just-enacted provisions of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. His vote was cast on March 31, 1870. From Wikipedia Peterson also became the first black man to hold an elected office. His father was Thomas Peterson. His mother’s name was Lucy Green. The former came from free parents, but the latter’s parents had been slaves in Gov. Newell’s family; in Monmouth County. When Thomas was four years old, his father moved to Perth Amboy. On Feb. 10, 1844, Peterson was married to Daphne Reeve whose family had been slaves on the Bell estate in Perth Amboy. Later in life, he earned a job as school custodian, the elementary school is now named after him. (Sources: The 15th Amendment Black Suffrage: Thomas Mundy Peterson, first Negro voter in the United States) An interview with Peterson showed who encouraged him to vote, “I was working for Mr. T. L. Kearny on the morning of the day of election, and did not think of voting until he came out to the stable where I was attending to the horses and advised me to go to the polls and exercise a citizen’s privilege.” Peterson also revealed his vote in this election, “As I advanced to the polls one man offered me a ticket bearing the words “revised charter” and another one marked, “no charter.” I thought I would not vote…