Daily Chat 08/07/09

On this day in 1497, Vasco daGama set sail on the first direct European voyage to India. In 1874, a force of 22 officers and 287 men departed from Fort Dufferin, Manitoba on their way to what is now Alberta, to form the Northwest Mounted Police. And in 1947, reports were broadcast of the crash landing of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico. Celebrating birthdays today: Anjelica Huston, Kevin Bacon, Beck and Robbie Keane. Today is the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Portugal.

In memory

James Adams, Samantha Badham, Lee Harris, Phil Beer, Anna Brandt, Ciaran Cassidy, Elizabeth Daplyn, Arthur Frederick, Karolina Gluck, Gamze Günoral, Ojara Ikeagwu, Emily Jenkins, Adrian Johnson, Helen Jones, Susan Levy, Shelley Mather, Michael Matsushita, James Mayes, Behnaz Mozakka, Mihaela Otto, Atique Sharifi, Ihab Slimane, Christian Small, Monika Suchoka, Mala Trivedi, Rachelle Chung For Yuen, Michael Stanley Brewster, Jonathan Downey, David Foulkes, Colin Morley, Jenny Nicholson, Laura Webb, Lee Baisden, Benedetta Ciaccia, Richard Ellery, Richard Grey, Anne Moffat, Fiona Stevenson, Carrie Taylor, Anthony Fatayi-Williams, Jamie Gordon, Giles Hart, Marie Hartley, Miriam Hyman, Shahara Islam, Neetu Jain, Sam Ly, Shyanuja Parathasangary, Anat Rosenberg, Phillip Russell, William Wise, Gladys Wundowa

Daily Chat 06/07/09

When it rains, it pours. Quite a bit today that seems worthy of note. The English king on whom I once had a totally irrational crush, Richard I, was crowned in 1189. Jan Hus was burned at the stake in 1415. Richard III was crowned in 1483. Sir Thomas More was executed in 1535. Louis Pasteur successfully tested the rabies vaccine on a human in 1885. Robert Peary set out for the North Pole in 1908. The family of Anne Frank went into hiding in 1942 and Althea Gibson became the first black athlete to win Wimbledon in 1957. Celebrating birthdays: Della Reese, Ned Beatty, Burt Ward, Sylvester Stallone, Nathalie Baye, Geoffrey Rush, Nanci Griffith and Jennifer Saunders. Today is the first day of the festival of San Fermin in Pamplona. Since Nanci Griffith is one of my favourites, here is one of my favourite Nanci Griffith songs:

Daily Chat 05/07/09

The Scots and the French formed an alliance against the English on this day in 1295. Isaac Newton published Philosophæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687. The Salvation Army was founded in London in 1865. Vaguely meat-like substance Spam was introduced in 1937. The bikini was introduced in 1946 and Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win Wimbledon in 1975. Celebrating birthdays today: Robbie Robertson, Huey Lewis, Bill Watterson and Gianfranco Zola. It is Independence Day in Venezuela, Cape Verde, and Algeria.