This day in History - MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

February 4 -

On this day in 1789, George Washington becomes the first and only president to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College. He repeated this notable feat on the same day in 1792.

1826 – The Last of the Mohicans was published.

1932 - The first Winter Olympics in the United States were held at Lake Placid, NY. The venue would again be the home of the Winter Olympics in 1980, when the U.S. Hockey Team won its “Do you believe in miracles?” gold medal.

1941 - The Salvation Army, the YMCA and YWCA, the National Catholic Community Services, the National Travelers Aid Association and the National Jewish Welfare Board pooled their resources, at the request of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to form a new organization. The United Service Organizations (USO) was created to provide unduplicated recreational services to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who were on leave.

1945 – The Yalta Conference commences.

In 1974, Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA.)

1983 - Singer Karen Carpenter died at her parent’s home in Los Angeles of heart failure caused by chronic anorexia nervosa. Her death, at the age of 32, brought about more public awareness of the disease, characterized by a loss of appetite brought on by mental illness.

1987 - The show-biz world was saddened when Liberace died of AIDS at his Palm Springs, CA estate. He was 67 and had been gravely ill for weeks. Lee, as he was known, was the master of Las Vegas. Hundreds of thousands flock to his museum there (operated by his brother, George) to see Liberace’s garish suits, trademark candelabra, and learn of the myths behind this hugely successful star of television, stage and concerts the world over.

1997 - A civil jury in Santa Monica, California found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. The jury awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages to Goldman’s parents. A few days later, the jury added $25 million in punitive damages to go to Nicole Brown Simpson’s estate and Goldman’s father. Simpson was later ordered to give up his Heisman Trophy and nearly $500,000 in valuables, including his golf clubs, to help satisfy the judgment.

2008 - The Giants beat the Patriots! (Ok, that was yesterday – sue me! :slight_smile: It’s still Sunday when I posted!)

2

So, am I first???

Cool OP, by the way. I didn’t know that’s where the USO came from.

I take it you’re a Giants fan?

GT

3

Poor Karen Carpenter. She had a lovely voice.

Repost of my last post in the previous MMP:

rigs, glad to hear your house is still intact! I PMed you back. :: giggle ::

The Giants won! The game was actually pretty boring until the last five minutes, when the Giants scored a touchdown with a ridiculous pass. I’ve decided I only like watching football with a big group, preferably all drunk.

Cute kitteh, FaeMum!

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Nah - I’m an underdog fan!

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I used to have to go into the building to report Tax Court while the OJ civil trial was going on. To say it was a three-ring circus is the understatement of the year. I had to have a special ID even to get in the building, and since photographers weren’t allowed inside, we’d walk through the lobby waving at all the cameras pressed to the windows saying, “Hi! We’re nobody!” It was fun. :smiley:

I saw Karen Carpenter sing once. She hid at the back of the stage behind her drums. Poor thing, such a beautiful voice but absolutely no faith in herself.

6

On this date in the dogbutler household:
I vacuumed.
I washed the sheets(including the comforter).
I Swiffered the kitchen.
I went to Mass and Adoration.

Will you marry me? :smiley:

I would have like the Pats to win, just to shut up those embittered old '72 Dolphins.

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Now I’m having flashbacks of It’s Only Just Begun, and Room 408. While I didn’t care for the movie a whole lot, I used to love the song, and now when I hear it, I just know something weird is going to happen. So now I’ve got the earworm.
It’s been a long day, see you on Monday!

8

Wow, it’s only 8:00 PM here. I slept through the Stupid Bowl. It was a very nice nap, thankyouverymuch. :smiley:

Nothing to report. My life is boring.

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doggio will you marry me? :smiley: :smiley:

10

Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you …

Nice OP, Rebo! I like Karen Carpenter! I bet nobody other than the cherry-tree cutter has ever been unanimously elected as President!

Nothing else - time to get ready for work! Blech! Do I have to???

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Karen Carpenter was the first female pop/rock vocalist who sang in my range. In fact some of her notes were two low even for me. :smiley:

I am a NYer, but because my bro, two nephews, grand nephew, two niece-in-laws and their families all live in Massachusettes, I was rooting for the Pats. My ex-Bostonian supervisor took Monday off so she could be among Pats fans and (she had hoped) share in the celebrations. When she gets back on Tuesday, she will not be happy.
And I did not win any of the office football pool money. damn.

12

Oh, I forgot to mention - That Guy and Victorian Heroine were there to watch the Superbowl as well, and somehow all three of us ended up sitting on the couch, with me in the middle. I could sense That Guy’s faint unease, which filled me with wicked amusement.

Last year we were also watching the Superbowl together, but it was a much larger group we had. I think I might have mentioned it in the MMP at the time, but it was a couple weeks after we’d first hooked up, and our first social interaction since then. I remember it being painfully awkward - I barely knew Victorian Heroine at the time, so I didn’t even talk to her, and the party was big enough that it was easy to avoid being near her at all. And then right before halftime there was a blackout that ended up with us splitting into two groups and going off to find electricity … Victorian Heroine was with one group, That Guy and I in another. It ended with both of us drunk and in bed again. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been a year since then - it seems like so long ago.

Needless to say, that’s not how it ended tonight. :wink:

My parents had a Best Of Carpenters CD that I fell in love with in 4th grade and listened to endlessly, driving my parents crazy. :smiley:

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I don’t think I could ever read Last of the Mohicans. Mark Twain’s review of James Fenimore Cooper is forever etched into my mind, so I suspect that that view of the work would pervade.

“He really worked that snapping twig!”

14

This day in History

1967 - My friend ML was born. She says we can always remember her birthday, 2/4/67, because, like her its mostly even and a little bit odd.

15

Ooh, five minutes till morning and you’ve already started.

I could go either way on the music of the Carpenters. It’s pretty, but I can’t listen to vast quantities of it. It’s a bit too sappy for my tastes, but then the '70s in general was pretty sappy. I’m gonna have to say that Close To You is my pick. It’s still a great song. I’ll be happy, though, if I never have to hear their rendition of Ticket To Ride.

I’ll tell you something about the Carpenters that you won’t read in wikipedia, because I know where there parents live(d). For a quite a few years, my family would drive by there house every year. The Carpenters had a lovely white two-story home with colonnades (if I remember correctly) that they would decorate for Christmas. It was tastefully done and was just gorgeous. I’ll have to ask my mom if she remembers, but I believe they may have done something special, like having Santa Claus greeting the families who drove by. I do remember how magical it seemed and, for awhile, I had wanted to live in that house. I remember when she died and remember driving past their house sometime after. The juxtaposition of my former fond memories and the fresher sadness that seemed to emanate from it (though mostly in my own mind) is sad.

Karen was a lovely and talented, though tormented, woman. We’re lucky that she had the courage to share her gift with the world while her inner demons were quietly destroying her. Still sending out my sympathy to her family.

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Of course.

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Warning – Smiley Overload Ahead :smiley:

Karen carpenter has been dead for 25 years? :eek: I still think she’s possibly the greatest ever female pop/rock vocalist.
And I was a grown up when she died. I feel old! :eek: :frowning: :eek:

Superbowl: Even though I’ve lived all my life (pretty much) in Israel, I’m still somehow a transplanted Bostonian. You will find me in the corner, nursing my broken pride :frowning:
… And we are never going to get the '72 Dolphins to shut up, now… :rolleyes:
I’m also getting a feeling that the quest for the 2008 Trifecta (Pats, Sox and Celts) is going to end as a Tri-fucked-up… :rolleyes:

All this talk of marriage… must be getting close to valentine’s day :smiley: Nobody’s offering to marry me? :frowning: :o

Oh, and in case anybody missed the answer to my Film Trivia question in the last MMP, **Roo nailed it – the prayer circle scene in Independence Day. And yes, I dn well am too young to remember “Some Like it Hot”!! I’m old, but not that old! :rolleyes: :stuck_out_tongue: :smack:

18

I. Can’t. Sleep.

I am going back into my (very) dark bedroom, to stare at the ceiling. I am too tired to stay online.

I liked the Carpenters, but feel that their music has not aged well. Plus, I think she had all the talent, and had she lived, there would have been a Cher/Sonny type split (well, not divorce, but you know what I mean…)
I like their Christmas CD. There-I’ve said it.

19

Good Monday morning, Mumpers. :slight_smile: Okay, so I’m up very early and caffeinating already. I’m going to try to make it in to work early this morning to earn a bit of credit time. And that, believe me, is a good thing, especially for me.

Interesting OP, Rebo–I like to read “This day in history” things. I loved the Carpenters, especially “Close to You,” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Karen had a beautiful voice; what a shame that anorexia led to her premature death. :frowning:

Hope you were able to finally find some rest, Rigs–insomnia is an awful thing.

Happy Monday again. :slight_smile:

20

Interesting OP, Rebo - must admit the Carpenters music completely passed me by, just not my cup of tea at all.

Unlike rigs, I had no trouble getting to sleep but this morning I just didn’t want to get out of bed. A real case of the Monday Blues. The weekend was quiet but nice, we’d not had a weekend at home with no commitments for a while so it was good to just chill out and watch carcrash telly for a change.

Yesterday the most strenuous thing I did was to paint some lining paper with four different colours to try and make a decision on what colour the kitchen walls should be. I’m tending towards Dulux “Sunbaked Terracotta” but I could change my mind any day.

Other than that, nothing much going on in FaeLand.