Tom Waits on This Day in History

 

Rod Stewart covers Tom Traubert's Blues/Waltzing Matilda

Today in History: One of my favorite songwriters, Tom Waits, was born on this day in 1949. To hear him sing with his gravelly voice is definitely an acquired taste, but there are many other artists that have done covers of his songs. Despite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

Many of his lines are quite descriptive (Waitsisms) such as: You got to tell me brave captain,

why are the wicked so strong,

how do the angels get to sleep,

when the devil leaves the porchlight on.

Outside another yellow moon

Punched a hole in the nighttime

Sixteen men on a dead man's chest

And I've been drinking from a broken cup

Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest

I'm full of bourbon, I can't stand up

Well, Jesus gonna be here

be here soon

he's gonna cover us up with leaves

with a blanket from the moon

with a promise and a vow

and a lullaby for my brow

Jesus gonna be here

be here soon

Ramones cover Tom Waits' I Don't Want to Grow Up

Musically, Waits was influenced by Randy Newman, and Dr. John. He regarded James Brown as one of his musical heroes, and was also a great fan of the Rolling Stones. He has praised Bob Dylan, noting that "for a songwriter, Dylan is as essential as a hammer and nails and saw are to a carpenter", as well as the country musician Merle Haggard, relating: "Want to learn how to write songs? Listen to Merle Haggard."

Government Licensing on This Day in History

Today in History: London becomes the world's first city to host licensed taxicabs on this day in 1897. This makes you think: what is a license, really? "What does a business license accomplish? Well, I guess it proves that you're seriously in business, although in most cities you can't be in business without one. So it's outright extortion, like property taxes, going to fund city government services that you didn't want anyway. Police? Well, maybe you do want police protection of your property, but police won't go near a riot and they're always too busy elsewhere, so you'll have to pay extra to hire your own." Robert Klassen

Why do you have a license on your car when the manufacturer has already placed a number on your car? This is so the government can track you, and they also want the fee a license costs. "The fee, of course, goes to support a state bureaucracy consisting of bored and indifferent individuals who are only working there for the wages and benefits and who couldn't care less about their career, if you can call it that." ibid

According to a 2015 White House report, "By one estimate, licensing restrictions cost millions of jobs nationwide and raise consumer expenses by over one hundred billion dollars...Consumers are likely most familiar with licensing requirements for professionals like dentists, lawyers, and physicians, but today licensing requirements extend to a very broad set of workers," including auctioneers, scrap metal recyclers, barbers, manicurists, eyebrow threaders, and tour guides. This means that an ever-growing share of jobs "are only accessible to those with the time and means to complete what are often lengthy"—not to mention expensive—licensing requirements, while the penalties for working without a license can include job loss, fines, and even incarceration.

Perhaps we need to be more like cats. You have to license your dog, but not your cat. Cats refuse to be licensed. They are too independent, stubborn, stuck-up and disobedient.

 

Nelson Mandela and the Mandela Effect on This Day in History

Today in History: Former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, died on this day in 2013. There is a mass false memory phenomenon called the "Mandela Effect" which many believe is proof of parallel universes.

The term "Mandela Effect" came into being in 2009 by Fiona Broome when she was at a conference talking with other people about how she remembered Nelson Mandela's death in a South African prison in the 1980s. As she began to talk to other people about her memories, she learned that others remembered seeing news coverage of his death as well as a speech by his widow. Broome was alarmed that such a large number of people could remember the same identical event in such detail when it never happened.

Other examples of the Mandela Effect are The Berenstain Bears...many believe it used to be spelled The Berenstein Bears. Many believe Darth Vader said “Luke, I am your father.” However, the line is simply “No. I am your father.” Many remember the Monopoly Man having a monocle, but he doesn't.

People (including me) swear that Freddie Mercury (from Queen), belts out the lyric “of the world” at the end of We Are the Champions, but the song simply ends with “No time for losers, ’cause we are the champions.”

Ricky Ricardo never actually says “Lucy, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do!” though I believe he does.

Anthony Hopkins as Hanibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs doesn't actually say “Hello, Clarice.”

Many remember Curious George having a tail, but now he doesn't.

The official date of the Challenger explosion tragedy is January 28, 1986 but some people swear that the accident happened in 1985 or 1984.

Forrest Gump doesn't really say “Life is like a box of chocolates,” he says “Life WAS like a box of chocolates” which doesn't really make sense.

Sally Field didn't actually say “You like me, you really like me” when she accepted her Oscar. 

When John F. Kennedy was shot, his motorcade had six people in the car, not four. 

There are many more examples. 

 

The Council of Trent on This Day in History

 

See also The Book of Enoch and Other Odd Bibles on DVDrom and Over 320 Forbidden and Lost Books of the Bible on DVDROM (Apocrypha)

Today in History: The final session of the Council of Trent is held was held on this day in 1563. A significant part of this Catholic council was the confirmation that the deuterocanonical books (the Apocrypha) was on  par with the other books of the Bible canon...and that Jerome's Latin translation, the Vulgate, was to be authoritative for the text of Scripture, contrary to Protestant views that the Greek and Hebrew texts were more authoritative.

These days though Catholics no longer use Jerome's Vulgate, opting instead for the Greek and Hebrew texts. If you're wondering what the deuterocanonical/apocryphal books of the Bible are, you can simply compare the table of contents in a Catholic Bible with a Protestant one. The Catholic Bible has more books in their Bibles. For instance, a Catholic Bible will contain the books of Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch while a Protestant Bible will not. The Protestant King James Bible actually had the apocryphal books when it first came out in 1611 (1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Azariah, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees and Baruch). 

Some of these books can be entertaining. For instance, Bel and the Dragon was the first locked room mystery, and the Story of Susanna is the oldest court room drama. The very first translation of the Bible, the Septuagint (280 BC) contained the Apocrypha, and it is believed that the New Testament quotes from the Apocrypha in a few places. I have personally collected over 320 apocryphal Bible books.

Also, Catholics make better Bible versions than Protestants so you should add a New American Bible and a New Jerusalem Bible to your library. 

See also Over 100 Lost, Hidden, & Strange Books of the Bible on DVDROM (Gnostics, Gospels), and Over 180 Forbidden & Lost Books of the Bible on CDROM

Christian Scientist Mary Baker Eddy on This Day in History

 

Today in History: American religious leader, Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the The Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science) died on this day in 1910. In her time, Christian Science was quite popular. The central tenet of this faith was the view that disease is a mental error rather than physical disorder, and that the sick should be treated not by medicine but by a form of prayer. This was a view she modifed from Phineas Quimby, and 19th century mesmerist, who believed that there was nothing human beings couldn’t do so long as they believed fully in themselves. Physical illness, personal misfortune — these were results of an improperly aligned mental system. This view made it to Norman Vincent Peale who adopted it for his "The Power of Positive Thinking" which had an impact on Donald Trump. 

While there are less than 50,000 members in the US today, at one time it had popular followers, such as Carol Channing, Ginger Rogers, Doris Day, Mickey Rooney, Milton Berle, Robert Duvall, Joan Crawford, Val Kilmer. Others such as Henry Fonda, Robin Williams, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Carol Burnett, and Ellen Degeneres, were raised by family members in the faith but didn’t continue.

Walt Disney and George Lucas were also acquainted with Christian Science, and some believe that the "Force" in Star Wars has Christian Science roots. 

After close inspection, many have concluded that Christian Science is neither Christian, nor Science.

See also 300 Books on DVD on Christian Cults & Sects (Adventism, Mormon, Amish etc)

For a list of all of my disks and digital books click here

Little Known Facts About Slavery on This Day in History

 

 Investigating White Slavery 

Today in History: Today is International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. There are a few things everyone should know about slavery. We are all descendants of slaves. The first legal slave owner in America was black and he owned white slaves. His name was Anthony Johnson and he was himself a slave at one time by an enemy tribe in Africa and he was sold to Arab (Muslim) slave traders. In fact, most of the slaves brought here from Africa were purchased from black slave owners in Africa. 

The very first slaves in America were white. 

Brazil was actually THE hotbed of slavery in the Americas. During the Atlantic slave trade era, Brazil received more African slaves than any other country. Even before the slave trade, members of one tribe would enslave captured members of another.

It has been recently discovered that a million or more European Christians were enslaved by Muslims in North Africa between 1530 and 1780 - a far greater number than had ever been estimated before. 

Thousands of slave owners in America were black. Native Americans also owned slaves, which makes reparations a very tricky proposition. 

The book "The Renegade History of the United States" tells of a lesser known side of slavery: "Contrary to what popular images of emancipation tell us, when given the opportunity to leave the plantation, most slaves stayed...By contrast, only 9 percent left immediately after emancipation...Again and again, the ex-slaves told of regret when freedom came."

Oh, and both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ancestors were slaveholders.

See also: See also: They Were White and They Were Slaves: The Untold History of the Enslavement of Whites in Early America on Amazon

See also: When Blacks Owned Slaves, by Calvin Dill Wilson 1905
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/02/when-blacks-owned-slaves-by-calvin-dill.html

See also: A History of White Slavery by Charles Sumner 1853 and When the Irish were Slaves, article in The Month 1890

See also Bible Defense of Slavery and other Southern books on CDrom - Join my Facebook Group - For a list of all of my digital books and books on disk click here

The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America

Buy on Amazon

Forgotten White Slaves

American Mystery Writer Rex Stout on This Day in History

 

Today in History: American mystery writer Rex Stout was born on this day in 1886. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and 39 novellas between 1934 and 1975. Nero Wolfe is a fictional character, a brilliant, oversized, eccentric armchair detective who lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in New York City, and he is loath to leave his home for business or anything that would keep him from reading his books, tending to his orchids, or eating the gourmet meals prepared by his chef, Fritz Brenner.

The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century at Bouchercon 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century. However, Nero Wolfe often lags behind others in the genre, like Sherlock Holmes, Hercules Poirot, Miss Marple, Sam Spade, Phliip Marlowe and Alex Cross. Interestingly, Columbo, according to many lists, is named as the most original detective.

See also True Crime + Mystery Fiction - 500 Books on 2 DVDroms