Happy Birthday Groucho!

Dear Friends,

Just for the fun of it - anything goes - no scheduled topic - we'll be at Olmecs Restaurant, 410 Bridge Road, Richmond, Friday October 02 between 7 PM and 9.30 PM.

Roll up any time you feel like it for a meal, a coffee, a sweet, a glass of wine, or all of the above. Meet your fellow freedom-lovers and rational thinkers. Share your stories and thoughts: What you've been up to, your projects, your views on the news, what books or articles you've read or written, interesting people you've met or would like to meet, ideas or theories you've been working on, interesting websites/blogs/forums you've been to and maybe recommend, and so on.

Some Historic events On This Day October 02

322 B.C.: DIED: Aristotle, Greek philosopher, scientist, and physician, born in Stagira, Macedonia.

Aristotle tutoring young Alexander

1608: First telescope was demonstrated by the Dutch lens maker, Hans Lipperschey.
http://galileo.rice.e...
Although others have claimed the invention of the telescope and the device was impossible to keep secret, the earliest record of the existence of such a device is a letter of the government of Zeeland to its delegation to the States General of the Netherlands, dated 25 September 1608, which instructs them to be of help to the bearer, "who claims to have a certain device by means of which all things at a very great distance can be seen as if they were nearby, by looking through glasses which he claims to be a new invention."[1] On 2 October the States General discussed Lipperhey's application for a patent on the instrument. Although the patent was eventually denied because it was felt that the device could not be kept a secret, Lipperhey made several binocular telescopes for the States General and was paid handsomely for his services.

1614: French king Louis XIII (13 yo) declared an adult
Louis XIII (1601 - 43), king of France (1610 ... from age nine … until 1643). He succeeded his father, Henry IV, under the regency of his mother, Marie de' Medici. Even after being declared of age in 1614, he was excluded from affairs of state by his domineering mother. In 1617 he caused the assassination of her minister Concino Concini, with the aid of his own favorite, Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, and Marie de' Medici was forced into retirement. He was reconciled to her in 1622 and entrusted (1624) the government to her protégé, Cardinal Richelieu. In 1630, urged by his mother to discharge Richelieu, he instead sent his mother again into exile. He gave full support to Richelieu and his successor, Cardinal Mazarin. Richelieu strengthened royal authority and centralized government control.

1656: US colony Connecticut passes law against Quakers. These are part of the “Blue Laws of Connecticut”.

Some of my favorite excerpts:

8. Whoever attempts to change or overturn this Dominion, shall suffer death.
9. The judges shall determine controversies without a jury.
10. No one shall be a freeman, or give a vote, unless he be converted, and a member in full communion of one of the Churches allowed in this Dominion.
11. No man shall hold any office, who is not sound in the faith, and faithful to this Dominion; and whoever gives a vote to such a person, shall pay a fine of £1; for a second offence, he shall be disfranchised.
12. Each freeman shall swear by the blessed God to bear true allegiance to this Dominion, and that Jesus Christ is the only King.
13. No quaker or dissenter from the established worship of this Dominion shall be allowed to give a vote for the election of Magistrates, or any officer.
14. No food or lodging shall be afforded to a Quaker, Adamite, or other Heretic.
15. If any person turns Quaker, he shall be banished, and not suffered to return but upon pain of death.
16. No Priest shall abide in this Dominion: he shall be banished, and suffer death on his return. Priests may be seized by any one without a warrant.
20. No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting day.
24. When it appears that an accused has confederates, and he refuses to discover them, he may be racked.
25. No one shall buy or sell lands without permission of the selectmen.
27. Whoever publishes a lie to the prejudice of his neighbor, shall sit in the stocks, or be whipped fifteen stripes.
31. Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver, or bone lace, above two shillings by the yard, shall be presented by the grand jurors, and the selectmen shall tax the offender at £300 estate.
35. No one shall read Common-Prayer, keep Christmas or saints-days, make minced pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music, except the drum, trumpet, and the Jews-harp.
39. Fornication shall be punished by compelling the marriage, or as the Court may think proper.
40. Adultery shall be punished by death.
41. A man that strikes his wife shall pay a fine of £10; a woman that strikes her husband shall be punished as the Court directs.
42. A wife shall be deemed good evidence against her husband.
43. No man shall court a maid in person, or by letter, without first obtaining consent of her parents: £5 penalty for the first offence; £10 for the second; and, for the third, imprisonment during the pleasure of the Court.
44. Married persons must live together, or be imprisoned.
45. Every male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap.

1789: George Washington transmits the proposed Constitutional amendments (The United States Bill of Rights) to the States for ratification.

1853: Austrian law forbids Jews from owning land
The "Pillersdorf constitution" of 1848 granted full civil rights and religious freedom to all religious groups of the Empire. After the revolution was crushed and Franz Joseph I installed as a new Emperor, many of these rights were taken back. This included some rights for Jews: Jewish civil servants were inaugurated to prove their loyalty to Austria (1851); they were excluded from the possession of land (1853); and they were excluded from certain profession such as soliciting or teaching (1855)

1866: J Osterhoudt patents tin can with key opener

1870: Italy annexes Rome & Papal States. Rome became the capital of the newly unified Italy. The previous capital was Florence. Rome became the focus of hopes of Italian reunification when the rest of Italy was reunited under the Kingdom of Italy with a temporary capital at Florence. In 1861, Rome was declared the capital of Italy even though it was still under the control of the Pope. During the 1860s, the last vestiges of the Papal States were under French protection. And it was only when this was lifted in 1870, owing to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, that Italian troops were able to capture Rome.

1890: BORN: Groucho Marx

1895: BORN: Bud Abbott, comedian (Abbott & Costello)

Abbott (right) and Costello go to Mars

1924: League of Nations approves protocols of Geneva
http://www.britannica...
… the protocol proposed sanctions against an aggressor nation and provided a mechanism for the peaceful settlement of disputes. States would agree to submit all disputes to the Permanent Court of International Justice, and any state refusing arbitration was to be deemed the aggressor. The French enthusiastically supported the protocol, but it failed after it was rejected by the British.

1941: Germans launch attack on Moscow. Operation Typhoon.
… for 10 days, starting October 2, the 1st Army Group drove east, drawing closer to the Soviet capital each day. But the Russians also remembered Napoleon and began destroying everything as they fled their villages, fields, and farms. Harvested crops were burned, livestock were driven away, and buildings were blown up, leaving nothing of value behind to support exhausted troops. Hitler's army inherited nothing but ruins

1944: Nazi troops crushed the 63-day-old Warsaw Uprising; one-quarter million Poles died. In brutal street fighting, the Poles were gradually overcome by superior German weaponry. Meanwhile, the Red Army occupied a suburb of Warsaw but made no efforts to aid the Polish rebels. After 63 days, the Poles--out of arms, supplies, food, and water--were forced to surrender. In the aftermath, the Nazis deported much of Warsaw's population and destroyed the city. With protestors in Warsaw out of the way, the Soviets faced little organized opposition in establishing a communist government in Poland.

1950: Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz first published

1967: Thurgood Marshall sworn in as 1st black Supreme Court Justice

During his 24 years on the high court, he consistently challenged discrimination based on race or sex, opposed the death penalty, and vehemently defended affirmative action. He supported the rights of criminal defendants and defended the right to privacy. As appointments by a largely Republican White House changed the ideology of the Supreme Court, Marshall found his liberal views increasingly in the minority. He retired in 1991 because of declining health and died in 1993.

PRODOS