Friday January 12, 2018

Good morning and welcome to the Wannaskan Almanac for Friday, the 12^th of January.

I hope you didn’t miss it. This morning Saturn and Mars are right above the southeast horizon an hour before sunrise. The waning crescent moon is just above. You’ve got a couple of more mornings to catch this. http://earthsky.org/tonight/mercurysaturn-conjunction-coming-soon

It’s the birthday, in 1588, of John Winthrop. John was the son of well-to-do Puritans. By the late 1620s, King Charles was making life uncomfortable for Puritans in England, so John decided to join the Massachusetts Bay Colony and emigrate to the new world where he could have religious freedom. In 1630, he and his 700 fellow colonists arrived at the heavily forested peninsula that was to become Boston. Winthrop was appointed the colony's second governor. He believed  the settlers had to act as a unit to survive in the new world, but all was not harmonious. His chief rival was Thomas Dudley who lived in Cambridge. Dudley wanted the colonial capital to be in Cambridge. Winthrop insisted on Boston where his house was located. Winthrop once told Dudley the woodwork in his house was too fancy. The two reconciled later when their children married.

   Winthrop is famous for calling the new colony “A city upon a hill,” an expression used by later presidents to highlight America’s unique place in the world. Winthrop himself was an authoritarian. He called democracy "the meanest and worst of all forms of government.” Historians note that he was “a significant founding father of America's best and worst impulses.”

It’s also the birthday, in 1628, of Charles Perrault, father of the fairy tale. Perrault held various positions at the court of Louis XIV. When Perrault’s patron at court died, Perrault lost his position and turned to writing fairy tales to keep busy and entertain his children. He based his tales on old French folk stories. The brothers Grimm adapted his stories in their collection, and some of the stories have been adapted to opera and ballet. Perrault is still in print.

It’s the birthday of the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami in 1949. He ran a coffee house and jazz club for several years until at the age of 29, while attending a professional baseball game, he saw the batter hit a double and suddenly realized he could write a novel. He has since written dozens of books and has been translated into almost 50 languages. His greatest influences are the Western writers, from the classics to Chandler and Vonnegut. His writing is frequently surrealistic and fatalistic, exploring "recurrent themes of alienation and loneliness.” His books became so popular in Japan he often found himself mobbed on the street. He settled in the U.S. for several years, but is now back in Tokyo. Quote: “When you read a good story, you just keep reading. When I write a good story, I just keep writing.”

On this day in 1773 the oldest public museum in the country was organized in Charleston S.C. The Charleston Museum did interrupt operations during the Civil War, so it can’t claim to be the oldest in continuous operation. That would be The Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Mass (1824). Gotcha, S.C.

In 1816 on this day, France officially excluded Napoleon from the country forever. Napoleon had been sent to St. Helena Island in the South Atlanta the previous year and was not likely to return.  The French nobility had just returned to power in France and wanted no part with Napoleon, though he remained a hero to many ordinary Frenchmen. He had been sent originally to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean, but escaped from there, raised an army and met the British and Prussians at Waterloo. Napoleon lived a further six years in uncomfortable circumstances on St. Helena’s until his death at age 51.

On this day in 1906, the Dow Jones closed above 100 for the first time. Yes, that’s one, zero, zero.

In 1912, the mercury plunged to -47 in Washta, Iowa, still the state record.

In 1913 Joe Dzhugashvili changed his name to Stalin (man of steel).

 He eliminated letters like he did his rivals.

On this day in 1943, Frankfurters changed their names to “Victory Sausages” to do their part in the war effort. They went well with Freedom Fries.

Today’s poem is a series of unrelated Tweets from @jmcdonnell123

·         The market’s dinged for focusing on youth. But watch the ads on the nightly news: the young do not need walk-in tubs or liver spot creams.

·         The Wind Chill Index is a travesty, which endures by giving the weatherman more hot air time.

·         Downsize the self. Let thy humility pop.

·         Said the dog to the star: “Are you Sirius?”

·         As the sun makes its annual trek around our house, it lights up crannies not dusted since last year.

·         Our fears are embodied in those porous shields, the army and the cops.

·         Jesus chided us for our hard hearts. We need a softening agent that works more quickly than erosion.

·         Persistence is the wrecking ball banging, banging against my soul's slums.

Today is the best day to cut hair to slow growth, castrate farm animals, quit smoking, potty train, perform demolition, start a diet, or advertise to sell or buy a car, according to “The Farmers’ Almanac.”


   Chairman Joe