(If you're looking for a political post, you won't really find it here. Sorry to disappoint. Like you, I too have a 1-a-day diary quota and seeing as everyone else is covering all the important stuff, this will be my contribution for today.)
Not knowing what else to post for my birthday (nostalgia is not my thing), I offer two posts I put up today on Phillybits as I probably won't be writing much of anything else today, 'cuz...you know...it being my birthday and all.
I'll start with a thorough description of Scorpio's and then a brief look back in history for a "On this date..." style post. As an "On this day..." sidenote, I'll add that I believe in a few days, it will mark my 1 year anniversary of being a Kossack. When Markos upgraded the site, I lost my very first post which I put up, which I put up the day after Kerry lost the election.
Enjoy!
:p
(Always good to read a description of yourself from time to time. Amazing how sometimes they seem to describe you to a T!)
As the eighth sign of the zodiac, Scorpio represents the eighth stage in the evolution of man and his place in the universe. This stage is concerned with an emotional development that goes beyond Cancerian concern with home and family. Scorpio's emotional involvement is not based on love or pleasure, but on the control and understanding of human emotions and the role they play in the mysterious process of life and death. Though all Scorpios do not spend their lives pondering the mysteries of life and death, most of them are inquisitive, probing individuals. They are fascinated with how things work, especially people. Their mental and physical powers of recuperation are remarkable, and truly evolved Scorpios can learn to use their power to help and inspire others.
Scorpios are the most intense, profound, powerful characters in the zodiac. Even when they appear self-controlled and calm there is a seething intensity of emotional energy under the placid exterior. They are like the volcano not far under the surface of a calm sea, it may burst into eruption at any moment. But those of us who are particularly perceptive will be aware of the harnessed aggression, the immense forcefulness, magnetic intensity, and often strangely hypnotic personality under the tranquil, but watchful composure of Scorpio. In conventional social gatherings they are pleasant to be with, thoughtful in conversation, dignified, and reserved, yet affable and courteous; they sometimes possess penetrating eyes which make their shyer companions feel naked and defenseless before them.
In their everyday behavior they give the appearance of being withdrawn from the center of activity, yet those who know them will recognize the watchfulness that is part of their character. They need great self-discipline, because they are able to recognize the qualities in themselves that make them different from other humans, and to know their utterly conventional natures can be used for great good, or great evil. Their tenacity and willpower are immense, their depth of character and passionate conviction overwhelming, yet they are deeply sensitive and easily moved by their emotions. Their sensitivity, together with a propensity for extreme likes and dislikes make them easily hurt, quick to detect insult or injury to themselves (often when none is intended) and easily aroused to ferocious anger. This may express itself in such destructive speech or action that they make lifelong enemies by their outspokenness, for they find it difficult not to be overly critical of anything or anyone to whom they take a dislike.
Modern astrologers assign Pluto, planet of intensity and depth, as the ruler of Scorpio. Ancient astrologers (unaware of Pluto's existence) assigned Mars, planet of fire and energy, as the ruler of Scorpio. Both of these planets can be seen to influence the nature of those born in Scorpio. The focus and concentration of their expressions and personality makes them appear magnetic and powerful. The fiery energy of Mars that is exhibited when they are enthusiastic attracts and inspire others. Their intensity can be overwhelming but also subtle. Their considerable energy is not aroused or employed just to have something to do as is often the case with Aries, the other Mars-ruled personality. Unlike Aries, Scorpio is not openly combative unless it becomes necessary. Their privacy is tightly protected, and others get to know them only up to a certain point. They may not show any sign of inner struggle but when they are after something or someone their determination is fierce. Should they not be favored in the outcome, they are not willing or gracious losers. They are not arrogant and, in fact, are quite interested in others and what others have to say. However they often exhibit a self-sufficiency that implies there isn't much they don't already know.
Being so gifted, they can find fulfillment in many employments. Their inner intensity can result in the ice-cold self-control and detachment of the surgeon, the concentration of the research scientist, and the heroism of the soldier. Any profession in which analysis, investigation, research, dealing with practicalities, and the solving of mysteries are relevant, can appeal to them. So police and detective work, espionage and counterespionage, the law, physics or psychology may attract them, and they can become masters of the written and spoken word. They may be most persuasive orators and find fulfillment as diplomats or preachers and, if they make the Church their profession, their inner intensity can express itself in the spiritual fervor of the mystic or the thaumaturgy.
Scorpio individuals are enigmatic, strong-willed, and passionate. People born under this sign are considered to be dynamic and extreme in their opinions. Scorpios need a positive avenue of expression in career, love, and creative achievement or their feelings turn inward, imprisoned, and at times even destructive. The positive aspect of Scorpio is their unswerving dedication once their emotions are engaged. The Scorpio energy, drive, and endurance are legend. Above all, the Scorpio seeks to give life a meaningful pattern, to find a deeper purpose. Controversially, Scorpios are ruthless enemies, they never forgive an injury and will wait years to get even. Scorpio is a fierce competitor, though often they manage to conceal this from others. Scorpios file away pieces of information, facts, names and don't hesitate to use what they know if the occasion arises. Astrologers forget to emphasize how loving, generous, kind, loyal, even the gentle quality of a Scorpio. A Scorpio never forgets a kind gesture and tries to repay it handsomely.
The Scorpio lover, the nature of this sign is more complicated. The typical Scorpio is interested in marriage and long-term commitment. To Scorpio, love is an intensely passionate and enduring emotion that may be directed at one person only. Love is central to the life of typical Scorpios and inspires many of their ambitions and actions. It is true those Scorpio men and women have strong sexual appetites and require a deep physical attraction towards their lover. Suspicious and wary, Scorpios are reluctant to trust their heart to anyone. But once they do, they love deeply. With a Scorpio, it is usually all or nothing at all. Scorpios are passionate in love, and passionate about everything in which they become involve.
The Scorpio friend, as a rule only has a few friends and expects loyalty from them. Scorpio is not a natural socializer, but will keep close friends for many years. Scorpios are loners who look to themselves to solve problems. It is often said that a Scorpio wants to know everyone's secret but never willingly divulges his or her own. Scorpio natives have a great wisdom and are often sought as life guides.
Scorpio colors are red, black, midnight blue, and emerald green. Vulnerable parts of the body are the reproductive organs and excretory system. Headaches, infections, and fevers are Scorpio complaints. Topaz is Scorpio's birthstone. The Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder, traced the name to the Island of Topazos which, in Greek means "to guess. " This meaning is a fair description of the inquisitive, mystery-loving nature of Scorpio. Topaz, one of the hardest minerals, cannot be cut with a knife. It is yet another representation of the impenetrable Scorpio nature. Scorpio flowers include the anemone, heather, and gardenia.
And how about some random history now?
It is my 27th birthday today. One thing I've always been interested in are those offers where you can get a framed newspaper (usually the NY Times) from your birthday and year so that you could have a hard copy of what happened and was reported that day. Though I never got one, I figured today would be as good a day as any to take a peek into the past to see what interesting facts today carries throughout history. There's so much to dig up that I cannot possible commit myself to a thorough post so you'll have to make due with what I present.
Enjoy!
From On This Date In History:
The world's first 'test-tube rabbit' was introduced to the New York Academy of Medicine on this day in 1939. This was a major scientific achievement. It's not easy stuffing a male and female rabbit in one of those little test tubes.........and then finding just the right wine and romantic music........
The movie rating system went into effect on this day in 1968. The rating system consisted of G, M, R and X. Later the ratings PG-13 and NC-17 were added. And now there's a proposal from movie-goers to add HYN - "Hold Your Nose".........
The Beatles began a two week gig at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany on this day in 1962. Seven years later the Fab Four's last album reached #1 on the chart ("Abbey Road").
On this day in 1964, the Dave Clark Five made their American TV debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. Ed said, unlike the Stones, the Five are "nice, neat boys." They sang "Glad All Over."
"Island Girl" by Elton John hit #1 on this day in 1975. The tune held down the top spot for three weeks.
The #1 song twenty years ago today: "Saving All My Love For You" by Whitney Houston.
From the
Library of Congress:
On November 1, 1897, the first Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public. Previously, the Library had been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol.
From
The History Channel:
1765 Parliament Enacts The Stamp Act
In the face of widespread opposition in the American colonies, Parliament enacts the Stamp Act, a taxation measure designed to raise revenue for British military operations in America.
1861 McClellan replaces Scott
President Lincoln names George Brinton McClellan general in chief of the Union armies, replacing the aged and infirm Winfield Scott. In just six months, McClellan had gone from commander of the Ohio volunteers to the head of the Union army.
1871 NYSE plugs leaks
The NYSE looked to seal up potential information leaks by passing a stern law forbidding members from "dealing with" non-members in the "rooms of the Exchange." The punishment for this infraction was a suspension lasting anywhere from sixty days to one year.
1893 Going for the gold
For a good chunk of the 19th century, legislators squabbled over whether gold or silver should be the basis for the nation's currency. On November 1, 1893, supporters of the gold standard won a key victory, as Congress voted to turn back the three year-old Sherman Silver Purchase Act. During its brief time in the law books, the Sherman Act helped to generate $155.9 million in Treasury notes.
1895 First American auto club
The first automobile club in the United States, the American Motor League, held its preliminary meeting in Chicago, Illinois, with 60 members on this day. Dr. J. Allen Hornsby was named president of the new organization, and Charles Edgar Duryea, the car manufacturer, and Hiram P. Maxim, car designer and inventor, were named vice presidents. Charles King, who constructed one of the first four-cylinder automobiles in the following year, was named treasurer.
1924 Legendary western lawman is murdered
On this day, William Tilghman is murdered by a corrupt prohibition agent who resented Tilghman's refusal to ignore local bootlegging operations. Tilghman, one of the famous marshals who brought law and order to the Wild West, was 71 years old.
1927 Ford Model A production begins
For the first time since the Model T was introduced in 1908, the Ford Motor Company began production on a significantly redesigned automobile on this day--the Model A. The hugely successful Model T revolutionized the automobile industry, and over 15,000,000 copies of the "Tin Lizzie" were sold in its 19 years of production. By 1927, the popularity of the outdated Model T was rapidly waning. Improved, but basically unchanged for its two-decade reign, it was losing ground to the more stylish and powerful motor cars offered by Ford's competitors. In May of 1927, Ford plants across the country closed, and the company began an intensive development of the more refined and modern Model A. The vastly improved Model A had elegant Lincoln-like styling on a smaller scale, and used a capable 200.5 cubic-inch four-cylinder engine that produced 40hp. With prices starting at $460, nearly 5,000,000 Model As, in several body styles and a variety of colors, rolled onto to America's highways before production ended in early 1932.
1941 FDR puts Coast Guard under control of the Navy
On this day in 1941, President Roosevelt announces that the U.S. Coast Guard will now be under the direction of the U.S. Navy, a transition of authority usually reserved only for wartime.
The Coast Guard was established as the Revenue Marine Service by Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, in 1790. In 1915, the U.S. Lifesaving Service, formed in 1878, and the RMS combined to become the Coast Guard. During peacetime, the Guard was under the direction of the Department of Treasury until 1967, when the Department of Transportation took control. But during war, it was under the control of the U.S. Navy. What made FDR's November 1 announcement significant was that the United States was not yet at war-but more and more American ships were nevertheless becoming casualties of the European war.
The Coast Guard's mission is to enforce all laws applicable to the waters within U.S. territory, including laws and regulations promoting personal safety and protection of property. It provides support and aid to all vessels within U.S. territorial waters. It is charged with inspecting sailing vessels and their equipment for violations of safety regulations, as well as lighthouses, buoys, navigation equipment, and radio beacons. The Guard operates and maintains a network of lifeboat and search-and-rescue stations, which also employs aircraft.
The Guard's wartime duties include escorting ships, providing port security, and inspecting ships for everything from illegal drugs to munitions. They also have powers of interdiction-the right to stop, board, and inspect any vessel suspected of threatening U.S. security. In fact, Coast Guard ranks are analogous to those of the U.S. Navy; even the uniforms are similar. The Guard is headed by an admiral appointed by the president. Women have served in the Guard since 1973.
1950 An assassination attempt threatens President Harry S. Truman
On this day, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. Truman, who had avoided an attempt on his life from the right-wing Israeli Stern Gang a few years earlier, escaped unscathed.
In the autumn of 1950, the White House was being renovated and President Truman and his family were living in the nearby Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue. On the afternoon of November 1, Truman and his wife were upstairs when they heard a commotion on the front steps of the house. Alerted by the sound of gunshots, Bess Truman glanced out the window and exclaimed, "Harry, someone's shooting our policemen!"
Indeed, the pair of would-be assassins had strolled up to the front door of Blair House and opened fire. They never made it past the entry steps, however, due to the quick reaction of police officers and guards. Secret Service Agent Leslie Coffelt was mortally wounded in the ensuing melee, but not before he managed to kill Torresola. Collazo later revealed to police just how poorly planned the assassination attempt was: the assailants were unsure if Truman would even be in the house when they launched their attack at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
Torresola and Collazo were political activists and members of the extremist Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, a group fighting for full independence from the United States. The "Independistas," as they were commonly called, targeted Truman despite his support of greater Puerto Rican autonomy.
Apparently unfazed by the attempt on his life, Truman kept his scheduled appointments for the day. "A President has to expect these things," he remarked dryly.
Oscar Collazo was sentenced to death, but in an admirable act of forgiveness on July 24, 1952, Truman commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.
1950 Wall St. reacts to attempted attack on Truman
Shortly after President Harry S. Truman retired for his afternoon nap, two radical Puerto Rican nationalists launched a mini-assault on the Blair-Lee mansion, where the president and his family where staying while the White House, located across the street, was undergoing repairs. Staff police charged into action, engaging the attackers in a deadly gunfight. When the dust settled, one of the assassins was dead and the other wounded. One of the police officers was also killed and another two were wounded. However, the guards successfully foiled the assassins' attempt to kill the president. Truman remained safe and sound, barely disturbed from his slumber. The news quickly spread to the financial community, where relieved traders went on a small spree that helped the Dow post a modest 0.68 gain to close the day at 225.69. For Truman, who had once enjoyed strolling around the White House grounds, the aftermath of the attack was marked less by relief than a heightened sense of caution that limited his freedom and mobility.
1952 United States tests first hydrogen bomb
The United States detonates the world's first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. The test gave the United States a short-lived advantage in the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union.
Following the successful Soviet detonation of an atomic device in September 1949, the United States accelerated its program to develop the next stage in atomic weaponry, a thermonuclear bomb. Popularly known as the hydrogen bomb, this new weapon was approximately 1,000 times more powerful than conventional nuclear devices. Opponents of development of the hydrogen bomb included J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the fathers of the atomic bomb. He and others argued that little would be accomplished except the speeding up of the arms race, since it was assumed that the Soviets would quickly follow suit.
The opponents were correct in their assumptions. The Soviet Union exploded a thermonuclear device the following year and by the late 1970s, seven nations had constructed hydrogen bombs. The nuclear arms race had taken a fearful step forward.
1964 Military and political situation in South Vietnam deteriorates
One year after the overthrow and assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem, the situation in South Vietnam is deteriorating in both the military and political spheres.
Following two months of extreme political turmoil, the High National Council confirmed the appointment of Tran Van Huong as South Vietnam's premier. Though he promised to wage total war against the communists while separating religion and politics, he proved to be only the latest in a line of ineffectual leaders that attempted to fill the void left by Diem's death.
The military situation was no better. On this date, Viet Cong raiders infiltrated the U.S. air base at Bien Hoa, 12 miles north of Saigon, and launched a heavy mortar attack that caught the U.S. and South Vietnamese off guard. Before the Viet Cong withdrew, they killed five U.S. servicemen and two South Vietnamese soldiers, wounded 76, destroyed two B-57 bombers, and damaged another 20 U.S. and South Vietnamese aircraft. A lengthy search of the area around Bien Hoa failed to locate any of the Viet Cong. Word of the attack reached Washington early in the morning, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for "a prompt and strong response" against North Vietnam. Ambassador Maxwell Taylor called for a more limited response, but also advocated bombing in retaliation. President Lyndon Johnson, concerned with the presidential election that was only 48 hours away, decided to do nothing except order the immediate replacement of destroyed and damaged planes.
1968 Two new programs initiated in South Vietnam
The U.S. mission in Saigon initiates two operations designed to bolster rural security and development efforts.
The Le Loi program was an intensified civic action campaign intended to repair the damage done by the enemy's offensives earlier in the year and to return control of the rural population to the Saigon government.
The other operation was the Phuong Hoang (Phoenix) program, a hamlet security initiative run by the Central Intelligence Agency that relied on centralized, computerized intelligence gathering to identify and eliminate the Viet Cong infrastructure--the upper echelon of the National Liberation Front political cadres and party members. This program became one of the most controversial operations undertaken by U.S. personnel in South Vietnam.
Critics charged that American-led South Vietnamese "hit teams" indiscriminately arrested and murdered many communist suspects on flimsy pretexts. Despite these charges, the program was acknowledged by top-level U.S. government officials, as well as Viet Cong and North Vietnamese leaders after the war, to have been very effective in reducing the power of the local communist cadres in the South Vietnamese countryside.
According to available sources, from 1968 to 1972, the Phoenix program resulted in the capture of 34,000 Viet Cong political cadre, while an additional 26,000 were killed. The program also convinced 22,000 communists to change their loyalties and support the South Vietnamese government.
From Info Please:
1512 Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were shown to the public for the first time.
1870 The U.S. Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.
1936 Benito Mussolini described the new alliance between Nazi Germany and Italy as an "axis" running between Berlin and Rome.
1993 The Maastricht Treaty was enacted, establishing the European Union.
Of course, the biggest highlight from history was, of course, my being born! That fact has been missing from history books for 27 years now for a still unknown reason. I mean....it's
me we're talking about here! Lol!!
Just kidding. Anyways, for everyone leaving me comments in Cheers and Jeers and the Open Threads, for everyone with birthdays yesterday, tomorrow, your children's birthdays, and all birthdays in general, thank you for your thoughts and Happy Birthday to all of you as well, whenever your birthdays are!