Friday Fun!!! Play Well!

On This Date In 1276 Pierre de Tarentaise (Pope Blessed Innocent V) was elected Pope, succeeding Gregory X, whose intimate adviser he was. He assumed the name of Innocent V and was the first Dominican pope.

On This Date In 1757 The Battle on Snowshoes was fought, a skirmish fought between Captain Robert Rogers and a band of his rangers (Rogers' Rangers), and Canadian, French and Indian troops during the French and Indian War. The battle was given this name because the British combatants were wearing snowshoes.

On This Date In 1824 Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, one of Robert E. Lee's most outstanding generals in the Army of Northern Virginia, was born in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia).

On This Date In 1854 The largest merchant vessel of her day, the RMS Tayleur, was wrecked on her maiden voyage with the loss of 372 lives. The 1,750-ton sailing vessel struck a reef off Lambay Island, five miles east of the Irish mainland. She sank within 30 minutes and many of the emigrants were among the victims although most of the 71 crew survived.

On This Date In 1861 Jefferson Davis delivered his farewell speech before the U.S. Senate As soon as he received official notification of Mississippi’s secession from the Union, adopted on January 9, 1861, he delivered a farewell address to the United States Senate, resigned, and returned to Mississippi. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Jefferson_Davis_Farewell.htm And the text: http://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/resources.cfm?doc_id=1507

On This Date In 1924 Vladimir Il'ich Lenin, the architect of the October Revolution and the "leader of the world's proletariat," died, having succumbed to complications from the three strokes that progressively robbed him of his faculties.

On This Date In 1945, an hour before the Indian 71st Brigade was to land, the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth opened fire. Operation Matador, an amphibious and successful thrust during the Burma Campaign in January 1945, captured the strategic port of Kyaukpyu, located at the northern tip of Ramree Island, south of Akyab across Hunter's Bay, as well as the key airfield near the port.

On This Date In 1954 The USS Nautilus, The First Nuclear Submarine, was christened by First Lady Mamie Eisenhower and launched into the Thames River. Design and construction of the new vessel was personally overseen by the "Father of the Nuclear Navy," Admiral Hyman G. Rickover.

On This Date In 1957 Dwight Eisenhower's second inauguration took place. Since January 20 occurred on a Sunday, the President took the oath in the East Room at the White House that morning. Next day he repeated the oath on the East Portico of the Capitol. Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath on the President's personal Bible from West Point, Marian Anderson sang at the ceremony at the Capitol, and a large parade and four inaugural balls followed the ceremony.

On This Date In 1968 31 North Korean commandos snuck into South Korea to conduct a  raid on the Blue House, the South Korean equivalent to the U.S. White House, to assassinate President Park Chung-hee by cutting off his head. Their attempt failed. See more here: http://www.tacticalmilsim.com/1-military/wheels-up/the-blue-house/

On This Date In 1979 Super Bowl XIII was played, with The Pittsburgh Steelers, beating The Dallas Cowboys 35-31. The Cowboys were the first defending champion to lose in the Super Bowl. They were also the first to lose two Super Bowls to the same team (they lost 21–17 to the Steelers in Super Bowl X), and were the first team to score 30 points or more and still lose the Super Bowl.

On This Date In 1987 Aretha Franklin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the second annual induction dinner. Keith Richard presented the award.

On This Date In 1991 Iraqi forces caused the Gulf War Oil Spill, attempting to prevent a potential landing by U.S. Marines.

On This Date In 2001 The Taba summit, talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, were held. These  peace talks were aimed at reaching the "final status" negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and were discontinued on the 27th of January as a result of the upcoming Israeli election.

On This Date In 2003 Season 2 of 'American Idol' aired on Fox.

On This Date In 2010 A Landmark Supreme Court 5-4 decision allowed unlimited corporate and union campaign donations in Federal Elections.

 

Hat tip to the included contributing sources, along with: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

 

Happy Birthday Benny Hill (1924), Placido Domingo (1941), Mac Davis (1942), Billy Ocean (1950), Geena Davis (1956), and Emma Bunton (1976).

 

RIP John C. Fremont (1813-1890), Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863), Christian Dior (1905-1957)), Wolfman Jack (1938-1995), and Jinx Falkenburg (1919-2003).

 

Courtesy YouTube:

Skydiving practice!

 

This drawing was made in Photoshop CS5 with a Wacom Intuos3 graphic tablet. I've used Camtasia Studio for recording and Sony Vegas for editing.

The painting time was 8 hours.

Music: The Rasmus - In the shadows. See more details on the site!

 

I don’t know how this is done! Anyone?!

 

Created by Prof Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire (UK). For more quirky science visit his daily blog http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com.

Gotta love the talent here!

 

Quotes:

 

We cannot fail to win unless we fail to try. Tom Clancy (1947 - )

 

Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble. Carl Jung (1875 - 1961) Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. Steve Jobs (1955 -)

 

Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in life. Jean Paul Richter (1763 - 1825)

 

Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. Except in cases of necessity, which are rare, leave your friend to learn unpleasant things from his enemies; they are ready enough to tell them. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 - 1894), The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, 1858

 

Shared laughter creates a bond of friendships. When people laugh together, they cease to be young and old, teacher and pupils, worker and boss. They become a single group of human beings. W. Lee Grant

 

May your weekend be filled with family and friends! Make it memorable!