The Opening of the .....

Secret Recordings by John F. Kennedy...

Fifty years later after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the national Archives have pulled together documents and secret White House recordings to show how President John F. Kennedy deliberated with advisers to avert nuclear war.

This Friday a new exhibit, “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” opens illustrating the showdown which took place with the Soviet Union. While the recordings have been available to researchers for yeas this is the firs public showcase of Kennedy’s recordings to replay the manner in which he handled a very tense time within history.

In the fall of 1962, Soviet leader Premier Khrushchev ordered a secret deployment of nuclear missiles to Cuba that was soon detected by United States Spy planes. On October 16^th Kennedy was briefed on the photographic proof of the missiles sits being developed. U.S. officials determined from the sixe of the images that the medium ranged missiles would be capable to reach Washington, Dallas, Cape Canaveral, Florida and any other areas within a proximity of 1,000 miles of Cuba – the time frame was within minutes. Soon after it was then learned that there were an array of longer range missiles that could reach any part of United States – as well as Canada as the two were seen as one country by the Khrushchev.

What is so significant is these archives now available to the public illustrate the standoff which took place over 13 days. As well, it was a time which gives proof of a time which was the most dangerous time in history where we came to nuclear destruction.

As Kennedy leaned toward a blockade order to prevent Soviet ships from sending more military supplies to Cuba, some military advisers though it was a weak response. Within the archives there are the sounds of heated debates within the Whitehouse.

This exhibit will travel to various cities first Washington and there after in Boston.

 

The True Story of Winnie the Poo

The story of Winnie the Pooh started when a young vet living in Winnipeg, Canada, was stretching his legs on a train platform in Ontario. This man, Harry Colebourn, was serving in the Canadian Army at the time. He saw a man cradling a tiny orphaned black bear cub, and bought it for $20. The bear, who Harry called Winnie after his hometown in Winnipeg, became the Canadian Army's mascot. After coming to England, Harry Colebourn and the other Canadian soldiers had to go to France, so Winnie was put in the care of London Zoo. When Lieutenant Colebourn came back from France, he found that Winnie was having such a wonderful time at the Zoo that he decided to let him stay there forever. Winnie lived until 1934.

Christopher Robin was one of Winnie's greatest fans, and was allowed to go inside the cage with him. Here is a passage from the introduction to "Winnie the Pooh".
So when Christopher Robin goes to the Zoo, he goes to where the Polar Bears are, and he whispers something to the third keeper from the left, and doors are unlocked, and we wander through dark passages and up steep stairs, until at last we come to the special cage, and the cage is opened, and out trots something brown and furry, and with a happy cry of "Oh, Bear!" Christopher Robin rushes into its arms.

Since Christopher Robin loved Winnie so much, he renamed the bear that he had received for his 1st birthday, Edward Bear, and called him Winnie the Bear. A poem from "When We Were Very Young" tells that Christopher Robin met a swan, and called him Pooh, but the swan has gone now, so Christopher Robin changed Winnie the Bear to Winnie the Pooh in honor of the swan.

Christopher Robin's father, Alan Alexander Milne, loved to watch Christopher Robin and Pooh play together in Ashdown Forest, so he wrote stories about them, along with Christopher Robin's other toys, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Kanga and Roo. He also made up the characters Rabbit and Owl, based on real animal living in the Forest. In the stories, Asdown Forest was called the Hundred Acre Woods. "Winnie the Pooh" was published in 1926, followed by "The House At Pooh Corner" in 1928.

In 1961 in America, Walt Disney was reading the Pooh stories to his children. He liked the idea of Winnie the Pooh and his friends, so he decided to use Pooh in a movie. After all of the neccesary paperwork, Walt set out to create his dream. In 1966, "Winnie The Pooh And The Honey Tree" was a big success, and in 1968, "Winnie The Pooh And The Blustery Day" won an Academy award. In 1974 another Pooh movie was made, called "Winnie The Pooh And Tigger Too".

 

 

 

 

 

A Guy from Rochester

Guy Weadik had just made the pitch of his life and heard the words all most hate to hear…No Thanks.  The Yankee cowboy a self confident trick roper and vaudeville act – returned to Calgary in 1912 with what he thought was a great idea.  His dream was a frontier contest on a larger scale, one that would include the best rider and roper from across the continent squaring off for huge prized in front of thousands of spectators.  Guy’s idea was to include the greatest assemble of “plains Indians,” that traders and pioneers had ever scene, not to mention the name of his dream was that of, “The Stampede”.

After laying out his plan to the board of directors of what then was called the Calgary Industrial Exhibition.  It was turned down flat, mainly because the Exhibition at the time was that of a festive and illustrative exhibit of the progress of a boom town on the plains.  It was turned down flat, as the theme at that time was to introduce and illustrate the amount of progress that one of the youngest cities had made.  What happened next would change everything for Weadick and in countless ways for the pioneer city of Calgary.  This is the story of the first Stampede and the wild inproable rit it took from Weadick’s grand vision to wondrous even controversial reality in the summer days of 1912.  It’s also about a remarkable period in Calgary’s history at the time of unbridled optimism, ambition and marvel of a modern industrialization, not yet seen as it was overshadowed by the horrors of the First World War.  To say Calgary was booming during this time would be like comparing a Clydesdale to a fair sized pony.  The city was fueled by an endless supply of big dreams.  The word on everyone’s lips was “progress and boom.”Opening Alberta’s first public library, the unrelenting ongoing building construction or new municipal street car system.  In contrast, three decades earlier Calgary had been more than a prairie outpost of a few ramshackle homes and some tents.  As well, the arrival of the railway changed everything. 

Calgary’s population surged in 1912 with an influx of people by the trainload.  Within one year Calgary's population surpassed 60,000 thousand.  An incredible tenfold increase in less than a decade.  The ranching industry had dominated the influence of the landscape of Calgary.  New homes and building were popping up everywhere yet housing was in short supply.  More than on quarter worked within the construction labor force industry in 1911, with carpenters earning 50 cents per hour.  Indeed, Calgary was a place of frequent excitement, a city where the future seemed as limitless as the giant praries skies.

When Guy Weadick arrived amidst the activities in 1912 it was with hope this prairie hub was ready for his big idea.  The idea was for all his cowboy stylings and country drawl.  Ironically, Guy Weadick was born in Rochester, New York in 1885.  Some ways away from Calgary, Alberta.He was born in 1885 in Rochester, New York and raised on the Irish side of town.  His parents were George Weadick, an American railway worker, and Mary Ann, and Irish- Canadian woman.  Guy was the oldest of a family of five.  As a teenager, Weadick headed west and worked on ranches.  Along the way, he came to learn from cowboys and old timers who’d tell stories of the golden age of the open range.  In 1952, he was within his twenties Weadick began to think that Calgary might be ready for a frontier celebration, on that replaced the fantasy and tricks of the Wild West show with an authentic cowboy skills in a rodeo.  Five years later while Weadick and his wife where touring the music halls of Great Britain and circuses of Europe.  This was the time he received a letter from Calgary.  The letter was an invitation to make another presentation on his stampede idea.  The letter was from Calgary – with the thought that the time was ripe to return to Calgary and place his idea for those whom would be interested in sponsoring it.  The Exhibition had been around for nearly as long as Calgary, the first exhibition took place one year after Calgary was declared a city.  In short a huge event for the west and considered an annual occurrence.  In short it was huge with ideal timing for Weadick. Yet still the board of directors of the Calgary Exhibition could not see where the exhibition would work alongside of his stampede.  It just didn’t seem compatible.

Again Weadick was not about to give up.  Upon a meeting with a few prominent Alberta businessmen - finally things began to make a turn.  Weadick promoted his idea again with an interview with the CBC.  In so many words he pitched his idea, calling the Calgary Stampede and Exhibition would be the largest gathering of cowboys, First nations, and prospectors ever seen.  More importantly it would perpetuation the memory of the region’s pioneers.  After this presentation which was then broadcasted throughout Canada – there was a change of thought within the board of directors of the Exhibition from indifference to enthusiasm.  The two businessmen within Alberta whom had advised Weadick – placed $100,000 behind his idea and the rest became history. 

Guy Weadick of Rochester, New York was achieved his dream which is commonly known as the Calgary Stampede.

 

Veterans Museum of Nutana - Video.AVI

I have no idea as to if this shall play or not. But within the write I made
of earlier this week regarding the university that was tied with a war.
I did make it to the Air force Legion and thought that this would come
out all right. It's a Saturday so why not and if there is no sound I know
that I have to get my camera serviced. But it was amazing to see this
place and as well within here where this symbolic pin is - I found it
ironic that not even the people within the legion knew of the story
of the "Airplane Room" within the university.

Yet it was a story that I found remarkable of what it represented within
History.

http://initiativestain.multiply.com/journal/item/1389/1389?replies_read=8

A University at War – Paper Airplanes Upon the Ceiling

Time does march on, yet within the University of Saskatchewan, located within Saskatoon, Saskatchewan the memories as well as honour have never faded. So often knowledge fades within regards to one of the most the most interesting stories of a university and the ties it had with the Second World War. I found it very interesting to find how there was the first university I attended had such a relevant contribution with the WW2. Within the Diefenbaker Canada Centre, a small but poignant exhibit is once again shining a light on a university at war.  Archives photo of soldiers marching through the Memorial Gates entrance. “People don’t really know what a huge impact the war had on the University of Saskatoon,” according to Teresa Carlson, acting director of the Diefenbacker Centre and curator of  “A University at War”:  Illustrating the remarkable relationship the U of S has with the second world war.

Not only did the university witness some 2,500 of its students and faculty enlist within the war in 1932. Canada being a commonwealth country was the first to enter within the war.

The university was not entirely built although the it was founded in 1907.  Thus the war even set back the growth of the University.  The opportunity to explore the part played by the university came with the centre’s decision to host One Way Passage titled, “Canada’s War Brides.”  This audiovisual installation exhibition by Beverly Tosh was developed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the single largest arrival of war brides within Canada at Pier 21, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Which was the 31st annual reunion of the Saskatchewan War Brides Association. 

http://www.canadianwarbrides.com/

It also gave the chance to approach the University’s role from an academic as well a historic point of view. One of Canada’s biggest contributions to the war may well have been through the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and most of the pilots did part of their training at the university. There were 5,000 all in all.

http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/sports_and_recreation_in_saskatchewan-history.html

From the University archives and the centre’s own collection, Carlson assembled photographs and memorabilia that commemorate those who enlisted. Some 200 students who were killed in action during this time in history.  Of particular interest was the recruiting material of the Canadian Officers Training Corps (COTC). Which was aimed directly for students and faculty.  Education was considered a key asset for officers. A lapel pin from a World War II officer’s uniform bears the U of S crest. While doing research I was taken aback when I came across lists of University students injured and killed as they were published in The Sheaf, whiche was and has been an ongoing student newspaper since the inception of the university.  

Similar to the story of the war brides this seemed so patriotic and brave but in reality, people died and those who were injured came back changed men. One of the most interesting artifacts in the exhibit comes from the Royal Canadian Legion Nutana Air force Legion Branch # 362 here within Saskatoon. It is an officer’s uniform with buttons and lapel pins that display not only the medals of the Air Force. As well they display the University of Saskatchewan crest on the uniform as well as on the officer’s hat badge. 
Place with displays and exhibits, which are often visited by school children, amongst other visitors there are cartoon like images of the stone owl carved on the University’s buildings.  The university used an owl to portray some segments of the war efforts.
There is one very well known image. Not only is it an image it’s a tradition that continues to this very day by way of students.

This all said explains why this very theatre room of education called the Thorvaldson room has paper airplanes that students throw up to the ceiling each year. As each projected paper airplane thrown up to the ceiling of the room represents a tradition of respect and honour for each and every death of an airman.

http://flic.kr/p/6aLpSZ
Thus this is why it's referred to as and known still today as the "Airplane Room".

 

 

An update as of this eve:

Last summer there were 366 paper planes that were removed from the ceiling of this Thorvaldson room. Some care here with the preservation of these messages by way of paper. As of this summer this very room shall be going through a complete renovation, the Dean shall be leaving and I do believe that I would rather see this room in particular to remain. Yet progress does take place as the entire university has been under a renovation and expansion. Most are neither signed nor dated. A few bear vulgar messages. Yet most are of the kind, which have sayings of the likes of, "that of which does not kill you makes us stronger." Another is made from a dollar bill with a screw tape on. After the end of year they are cleared off and placed into storage. Ironically the Thorvaldson room is one that is used primarily as a chemistry teaching theatre. Yet these notes gather from previous years have been made from old essay paper, campus posters, music sheets, mathematics and physics. Which would illustrate those that would merely visit the room for one reason. Within this new era, students as in times before, not near the amount, do not use paper.  I would hope that the powers to be within the university do retain these within a display. Not from there website but by way of some sort of creative electronic pad perhaps. Yet it still does not replace the tradition of which it began. Within new eras we tend to forget the roots and historical values. I would hope that there is some manner that extends on this tradition of participation and display. As I myself did not know the meaning behind these planes until I spoke with a few people within the library department and communications department of the university.  The value of a university united during times of war came to amaze me. I would not have know this story if I had not asked one professor. From there I decided to write further on it as I was at first amazed and then I pondered on how many really knew about this room. Not even people from the forces had. It was something that was an unknown. Yet when one sees it, even people from the city here, they would be so in awe to know the history of this tradition of the paper airplanes within the oldest lecture theatre within the university. A chemistry teaching theatre... Who would ever have thought this would ever happen? I literally uncovered something that most all don't know exists. I kid you not - that is with regards to these paper planes. Notes by students placed on paper from all areas of the university would end up within the roof of an old chemistry theatre. From paper used in essays, campus posters, and music sheets mathematics, engineering and physicals. I think that says something.

This theatre room shall be going through a complete renovation this summer, I can't say I am in favour of it. One would hope that there would be a manner in keeping this lecture hall as it is. While modernizing the areas in which they have elected to do. I hope. As back in 1995 and now there is a question as to if there is a need to continue on this tradition. For myself, I do believe there is within some new modernistic manner. As of today I just received an email from the communications officer, which I had met with yesterday. I do believe some things do have worth and value. The sort as this that you would think would never be forgotten.

My hopes are they would place this in the newspaper now and see what the people of the city for that matter the entire province think on this one. I bet more would vote for it to be retained rather than otherwise.

I just recieved and email after speaking with the one spokes person and I myself believe this teaching room should still stay within the same manner as it's history - not only within the symbolic value. As of todays date this is my hope within this theatre which represented something that most people which pay for this university don't have a clue about what is there as well as what is to be done. Time does march on. Yet history is something of worth and value not all the time but of the likes of this. I believe that most would wish for this to remain within it's original state. - my own opinion....

 

 

 

Martin Luther King - A Legacy of Hope within a Dream

I find that this writing that is regarded highly international what with regards to a man that had a vision. I don't think many come close to his convictions of what he did. As well, I think that he was a man that dared to challenge something within societies that did make an impact back in the 60's.

I think probably people will always make some judgment on people with regards to their color. Not all but some.

Some things change and some things never do. But as time goes by and during these days of recent and especially today marks something very different. Something very significant.

I find that this is one holiday that is celebrated by some and honored by others. What this man stood for was an effort and a basis that would resonate through out not only the United States but as well for many of countries. As well as many cultures. To all that hail from the United States of America this man was more about mankind and society that color. Look at how far we have come! And yet how far we need to go. If Dr. Martin L. King was alive today - I wonder what he would think with regards to everything that we have seen in the last ten years...

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity." But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that a black person is still languishing in the corners of  society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was adhere too.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as citizens of color are concerned. America historically gave people of black color a bad check --- a cheque that came back marked "insufficient funds". We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check --- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand’s of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the people of black decent. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. There is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold, which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, and rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must come true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California. But not only that let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"

Today that "Bell of Freedom" rang…in a new way 48 years ago.

 

The History of the Song, "Happy Birthday To You"

The very popular ‘Happy Birthday to You’ song has become an indispensable part of birthday celebrations across the world. Today, the song is over a hundred years old. The story of the song has a sweet beginning though later it was bogged by controversy. It is still not certain who wrote the lyrics of the song ‘Happy Birthday to You’.

History of the Happy Birthday Song
Happy Birthday song is considered to be a joint work of two American sisters, Mildred J. Hill who was schoolteachers in Louisville Kentucky Experimental Kindergarten and Dr Patty Smith Hill who was a Principal in the same school. The song that was originally composed by two sisters was entitled ‘Good Morning to All’ but bore the recognizable melody. The tune of the song was first published in 1893 in the book, ‘Song Stories for the Kindergarten’. It credited Patty Hill for the lyrics and Mildred Hill for the music. Over the years the song became extremely popular in schools across US. The melody of this song is passed into the public domain and it is therefore safe to hum in public without permission.

Controversy over the Lyrics
It is said that some forty years later, Patty Hill came up with the words, ‘Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear name, Happy Birthday to You’. She also fit those words into the melody of ‘Good Morning to All’ song. The entire song was published in 1935.

There is one more version to this story. Some says 31 years after, ‘Good Morning to All’ song was published, Dr Patty Hill became the head of the Department of Kindergarten Education at Columbia University's Teacher College. At that time a gentleman, Robert H. Coleman published that song, without the sisters' permission. Besides, Coleman added a second verse, the now popular ‘Happy Birthday to You’.

Popularity of the Birthday Song
The addition of Birthday verse popularized the song and over the years ‘Good Morning to All’ verse composed by Hill sisters disappeared. The Birthday Song gained popularity in late 1930s when it was sung in ‘As Thousands Cheer’ - a Broadway Production. Today, the Guinness Book of World Records recognizes ‘Happy Birthday to You’ as one of the three most popular songs in English language. The other two being ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and ‘For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.’ The Birthday Song is popular all over the world and has been translated into dozens of languages. English version of the song is more popular and is sung even where English is not a primary language.

Legal Battle over the Copyright
After Mildred died in 1916, Dr Patty along with her third sister Jessica took Coleman to court over the copyright issue of the song. It was proved in the court that Mildred and Patty own the melody. Thus the family became the legal owner of the song and was thus entitled to royalties from it whenever it is sung for commercial purpose. Ownership of the song swapped hands in a multi-million dollar deal. The current copyright of the song is owned by Warner Communications. They purchased the copyright in 1989 for more than $28 million dollars. The copyright of the song has been extended several times and is now not due to expiring until at least 2030.

It therefore follows that one cannot use the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics for profit without paying royalties. In other words unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal. It means that every time you hear the song sung on TV or radio it means the royalties are being paid to the Warner Communications.

To prevent themselves from the prevention of copyright infringement and having to pay royalties several restaurants and TV channels have corporate-developed songs that are used instead of "Happy Birthday to You".

Popular rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ Song
‘Happy Birthday’ was the first song to be performed in outer space. It was sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on March 8, 1969. Famous Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe's rendition to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in May 1962 is considered to be the most famous performances of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ song.

~ Lyrics of the Songs ~

‘Good Morning to All’ lyrics
Good morning to you,
Good morning to you,
Good morning, dear children,
Good morning to all.

‘Happy Birthday to You’ lyrics
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear (name)
Happy Birthday to you.

This traditional version of the song generally known is actually the chorus to the original. The first verse goes like this...

So today is your birthday
That's what I've been told
What a wonderful birthday
Now you're one more year old
On your cake there'll be candles
All lighted, it's true
While the whole world is singing
Happy Birthday to you ....
(Happy Birthday chorus)

Some add another phrase to the end, sung to the same tune:

How old are you now,
How old are you now,
How old are you (name),
How old are you now.

And another version:

From old friends and true,
From good friends and new,
May good luck go with you,
And happiness too.

 

Helen Keller - History March 1887

On this day in 1887, Anne Sullivan begins teaching six year old Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing after a severe illness at the age of 19 months. Under Sullivan's guidance Keller flourished, eventually graduating from college and becoming an international lecturer and activist. Sullivan, later called "the miracle worker," remained Keller's interpreter and constant companion until here passing in 1936. Anne Sullivan, born in Massachusetts in 1866, had experience being handicapped herself, as a child, an infection impaired her vision. She then attended the Perkins Institution for the Blind where she learned the manual alphabet in order to communicate with a classmate who was deaf and blind. Eventually, Sullivan had several operations that improved her weakened eyesight.
Helen Adams Keller was born on 27 June 1880.  As a baby, who was afflicted with scarlet fever, left Helen unable to see, hear or speak. She was considered a bright but spoiled and strong willed child. Her parents eventually sought the advice of Alexander Graham Bell formerly from Hamilton, Ontario the inventor of the telephone and an authority on the deaf. He suggested Helens' parents to contact the Perkins Institution, which in turn recommended Anne Sullivan as a teacher.  Sullivan, aged 20, arrived at Ivy Green, the Keller family estate, in 1887 and began working to socialize her wild, stubborn student and teach her by spelling out words in Keller's hand. Initially, the   finger spelling meant nothing to Keller. However, a breakthrough occurred one day when Sullivan held one of Keller's hands under water from a pump and spelled out "water" in Keller's palm. Keller went on to learn how to read, write and speak. With Sullivan's assistance, Keller attended Radcliffe College and graduated with honors in 1904.
Helen Keller became a public speaker and author; her first book, ‘The Story of My Life’ was published in 1902. She was also a fundraiser for the American Foundation for the Blind and an advocate for racial and sexual equality.

 

~ All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.~
Helen Keller

 

The Irony of Valentines Day :)

Yes it’s Valentine’s Day, a day for lovers, just a little ironic...

While Saint Valentine is the Patron Saint of lovers he himself was renowned for his chastity. Valentine was Roman who was martyred because he declined to give up Christianity. The first written reference to Saint Valentine and his role as the supporter to lovers, smooches and all of the likes within this area of love and passion. Yet history shows it seems to have come from Chaucer.

Within a poem he wrote in the late 14th century. The line in the poem went like this, "For it was one Saint Valentine's Day that every fowl cometh to choose its mate". Okay....sure, swell it's all what makes the world go around.

Now all things considered that’s as in a rooster prowling in the hen house.  Valentine's Day came to be commercialized sometime within the 1800's and continues to this day being associated with cards, chocolates, dinner and gifts between lovers.  

The extent of your generosity depends on how much you want or really do need. This too all depends on whether it's a wife or a girlfriend. A little hint here...If just if it's both, do remember to use two different flower shops if that is your cup of tea.

I recall being in grade three or four sitting at my desk writing out a Valentines to give to the girl I had a crush on hoping she'd give me one so as not to crush my young heart felt fantasies in one blow. And speaking of blows, Valentine certainly took his share I kid you not. As that's how Valentine was killed, beaten to death with clubs.

He passed away on February 14th, 269 A.D.   That really bites! A big ouch for St. Valentine.

Believe it or not as the Emperor Claudius had outlawed marriages. Hideous this Claudius was. As back within that time mainly Claud in lack of better words wished to get ride of Valentine only for a means to gather more men for his army.  

Yet Valentine never ceased and was successful in keeping romance, love and literally marrying people to no end. Is there really an end within that. So much for Claudius and the power he had over this thing called love or lets just call it that little really rather large within history and within those times and how it prevails within these times.  As here still within this very day we are proving Valentine was right and true love can't be "beaten".

The reason to this very day still comes seemingly prevails all within a day dedicated to love thanks to good old Saint Valentine.

 

We Love You Yeah Yeah Yeah

 John Lennon Tributes on 70th Birthday

 

John Lennon didn't tell us what to do but showed us who we could be. it's a gift still appreciated as an outpouring of love rises up on his 70th birthday.

When John Lennon died in December of 1980 there was a touching outpouring of grief and the facts of his life and death became the focus of media for months. There were even therapy groups devoted to processing the grief surrounding his death and it became clear that there was a great deal of love for the former Beatle.

The fact that gatherings are taking place worldwide to mark October 9, 2010 and what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday suggest that the love for Lennon has not diminished. He has been gone now two months shy of 30 years but his legacy of music and peace are heard and respected by new and long-time fans alike.

Celebrating John Lennon's Birthday and His Message of Peace

Celebrations on Lennon's birthday include events at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York (he was inducted in 1994), unveiling an 18 foot high Peace and Harmony statue in his honor in Liverpool with Julian and Cynthia Lennon, Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon lighting the Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland and a documentary to be shown in Central Park.

Outpourings of Love for Lennon

Over the past week or more there has been plenty of offerings to his memory, plenty of love directed at the musician and peace activist that John Lennon was throughout his life. Tributes have been coming from the famous and from the obscure and some of those tributes being put up on sites to commemorate Lennon's birthday are recent, some are older.

Tributes on John Lennon:

Ozzy Osbourne, fellow U.K. musician: "The world stopped for me when Sharon told me John Lennon had been shot in New York. I can’t even describe how I felt. The amount of joy and hope that he gave people was just remarkable."

Ray from New Hampshire, U.S.A. on a fan website: "The world remains a much sadder place without you in it. By the way, you were not the only one. We are still trying to Give Peace A Chance."

Celebrated actor Drew Barrymore: "He gave everyone great music to be sad to and make love to and laugh to and drive to, and every sort of thing that you live for in the world. If you put his music on to anything that you’re doing in life, it fits right alongside of it.”

Singer and his wife Yoko Ono: "He had a very painful childhood in which he hardly saw his mother or his father. But, later, he managed to turn his pain around to give the world many beautiful songs and important messages which changed our heads and the way of our lives."

Drummer Mick Fleetwood: "John was a fantastic human being. I was blessed...when I was 18 or 19, I got to hang out around the Beatles and John. It was an incredible experience, the energy that they all had was phenomenal, just outrageous, and of course, he’s still a bright and shining star for us all.”

Didi from U.K. on fan website: "It's still feels so wrong that he's gone and listen to his music often. He's still speaking to us and wish we'd bloody well listen."

Fellow Beatle Ringo Star (who turned 70 in July):" Happy Birthday John. Peace and Love, I loved you and I miss you. Can you believe 70?!"

John Lennon: October 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980

Perhaps because turning 70 is a milestone this Lennon birthday has become the most celebrated since his death and we are seeing such an outpouring of stories and love. Clearly John Lennon's gift to the world has not been forgotten and it would seem that the love that he gave is being given back.

Lennon on Lennon:

John Lennon on himself: "My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all."

 

What has happened since Nuremberg?

There is no rational explanation for the madness of the Final Solution. At the time of the Holocaust, the Jews were stripped of their possessions, walled in ghettos, powerless and docile. They had no power, no land, nothing. The Jews were not a danger to Hitler's rule.

On the contrary, the destruction of the Jewelry, affected negatively the German war effort, destroyed valuable industrial manpower, strained the transportation system, eliminated 25 percent of the medical professions and crippled the German research institutions, especially in the field of atomic physics. In addition, the racial discrimination laws excluded from military service about 300,000 Jews and those whom were even partially Jewish. World War II was decided not only within the battlefields. It was going on in the many rooms of scientific laboratories. The invention of radar, breaking of the secret codes, building of superior air crafts and tanks, decided the outcome of the war. Killing of Jewish scientists, Jewish doctors and other valuable manpower of this sort was the ABSOLUTE.  The Final Solution was against the interest of the German people and the Nazi party, and there was only one explanation for this lunacy.

Only a sick, compulsive mind, living within his distorted world, conceived such a terror with other human beings. Hitler had such a mind. Despite outward appearance of strength, he was a sick, paranoid man, full of delusions. He believed that within his own world that he was the greatest German who ever lived since the dawn of time. For he was the greatest master builder, the greatest military leader, the greatest philosopher, for he thought he was a liberator of the human race. His paranoia, delusions, detachment from reality, brutality, lack of moral scruples were signs of a twisted one whom lead all caused by the disease of syphilis. It can be proved, that Hitler was infected with syphilis. In1908, and thirty years later, the dormant illness entered the third stage, causing inflammation of the brain. The fact that Hitler was in his youth infected with syphilis, is mentioned in the memoirs of many Nazi dignitaries. Hitler was by no mean a healthy man as he was treated for several diseases. Hitler ordered the killing, because he believed that the Jews were his powerful enemies, bent on destroying him. The best proof of Hitler's sickness is his behavior at the end of the war. When the Russians were only miles away, he lived his life within a bunker shuffling about. He lost completely the touch with reality. His outward appearance was pitiful. Hands that trembled, coupled in the end by several physical difficulties. It looked like that he suffered from Parkinson's disease. Which doesn't cause detachment from reality. The insanity of one man was superimposed on a whole nation. The Holocaust is not the only indication of Hitler's derangement. Nazi Germany was full of the bizarre. Germany had human breeding farms, where volunteer blond, blue eyed SS men produced children for the Fuhrer. By was of impregnated young girls. Hitler considered the creation of a new religion, where he would play the role of a redeemer of mankind, while he himself was of Jewish decent, and all future generation of Germans would pray to him. What a bent mind this man was. In Auschwitz there where the experiments on twins. Attempting to find ways of improving the breeding methods for the German women. An uneducated corporal, was commanding an army of 5 million people, slowly grinding it down, while the propaganda Minister, fled the country. God created man in his image and Hitler tried to create a new man in his own brutal image. His vision of a new world is outlined in the "Table Talks" a book based on Hitler's own monologues. It is a chilling picture of a world order based on slavery, brutality. There is no doubt that the Hitler was a charismatic leader, who was able to infect with his paranoia a whole generation the German people. The Holocaust was the first stage of the new world order and a few of Hitler's admirers in this country would be surprised to learn, that they would have been the next victims. It is tragic, that for the satisfaction of the whim of one man, a whole nation was crucified as well the entire world, conditioned by two thousand years of anti semitism, they looked the other way yes it was INDIFFERENCE.  Not one thing, or would anyone take a courageous attempt to stop one of histories largest tragedies.

~ Since the Nuremberg Trials, it is estimated that close to 100 million people have died as a result of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The trials were supposed to serve, as a lesson to those might believe that they could engage in these acts of horror with consequence. ~ 

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Featured_Videos/1555003082/ID=1656370227

In Flanders Field - Rememberance Day

The reason for this holiday is not to be forgotten. It was at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918 that the guns went silent to end what history terms the Great War, World War 1. Remembrance Day continues to be held in honour of our veterans. Not just the 1914-1918 conflict but also World War II, the Korean War, and the veterans of Canada’s overseas roles in places like Bosnia, Rwanda, and Afghanistan. Let’s not forget either the events of September 11th, 2001 which reminded us that evil still exists in the world and there are those who would like to see our way of life destroyed and then rebuilt according to their barbaric and antiquated perception of how a male dominated, women subjugated, tyrannically religious society should function. Many of us wear red poppies at this time of year, the lasting symbol of November 11th. Tomorrow, the thinning ranks of veterans will don their uniforms and attend ceremonies to remind us of what they fought for, and what many of their comrades died for, which was to preserve our way of life; the rights and freedoms we enjoy to this day. We live in a land of relative freedom and prosperity compared to almost anywhere else on earth you could name.

Honoring those that have served isn’t just another day off to sleep in but rather to pause and reflect that there was a price to be paid for our freedom.

Lest we forget.

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There are several stories I could share however it's a tad of a brain drain but I thought I would place in here a poem called In Flanders Field.

The poem "In Flanders Fields" by the Canadian army physician John McCrae remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915.The most asked question is: why poppies? Wild poppies flower when other plants in their direct neighborhood are dead. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, but only when there are no more competing flowers or shrubs in the vicinity (for instance when someone firmly roots up the ground), these seeds will sprout. There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil.

So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him blooded poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before. But in this poem the poppy plays one more role.
The poppy is known as a symbol of sleep. Some kinds of poppies are used to derive opium from, from which morphine is made. Morphine is one of the strongest painkillers and was often used to put a wounded soldier to sleep. Sometimes medical
Doctors used it in a higher dose to put the incurable wounded out of their misery.
'In Flanders Fields' is also the name of an American War Cemetery in Belgium where 368 Americans are buried. The cemetery got its name from the poem though. The bronze foot of the flagstaff is decorated with daisies and poppies.
Another reference to the poem can be found on the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy, in Northern France. Between the pylons stands ‘The Spirit of Sacrifice’: a figure holding high a burning torch, obviously referring to the last verse of McCrae's poem.’ In Flanders Fields' may be the most famous poem of the Great War — sometimes only the first two verses are cited or printed. This is not just because of the lack of quality in the third verse, but also because this last verse speaks of an unending quarrels with the foe. And if one thing became clear during the Great War it was this: there was no quarrel between the soldiers (except maybe in the heat of a fight). The quarrel existed mainly in the minds of stupid politicians and generals who mostly never experienced the horror of the battlefield.
But McCrae was not opposed to war and this was not the first time he spoke of a continuing fight. Wars should go on, he thought, until all the wrongs of the earth are righted. In some countries authorities were so pleased with the pugnacious sentiments in the third verse of 'In Flanders Fields' that they exploited these lines in their propaganda. Since then the now widespread custom to honour with poppies those who died so that we could be free, has been, and still is, used and misused to justify wars.
Nevertheless I will give you the full and exact version of McCrae's great poem, taken from his own, handwritten copy. But first, here is the story of how he wrote it — and how the recent death of a dear friend moved him.
The next evening the poem was wrote by McCrae while sitting on the rear step of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Yser Canal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.
As McCrae sat there he heard larks singing and he could see the wild poppies that sprang up from the ditches and the graves in front of him.

He spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook. The poem originally entitled, "We shall not sleep" was very nearly not published.
Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but Morrison retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England.

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
     
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agu6OrflE-E

On this Day in History - Lester B. Pearson Nobel Peace Prize Winner

On this day fifty years ago, Lester Bowles Pearson was honored with the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for his vision, wisdom, perseverance and skillful success in establishing an international police force to resolve the 1956 Suez Crisis. In effect, creating the UN's first designated peacekeeping mission, and the blue print for the UN's now well-recognized role in peacekeeping and, subsequently, peace building as well.

Throughout his career and lifetime, Pearson was a strong advocate of the UN's role in peacekeeping, and in strong Canadian involvement in UN peacekeeping operations. He firmly believed that Canada had a responsibility, indeed a vital national interest, in active participation in any international activity that would lessen the chances of another world war, and in robust intervention to end ongoing conflict. As such, he was a strong and effective advocate for peaceful resolutions to several major international crises that faced the UN during his tenure as a leading Canadian diplomat - from the Korean War to the Suez Crisis to the Cyprus Crisis. Through his involvement in early UN conflict solving, both Pearson and Canada emerged with distinction.

In addition to his unwavering belief in the role of the UN in fostering international cooperation and peace, Pearson was a strong advocate for the UN's role in the very issues that can directly influence the delicate balance between peace and unrest - economic issues, social issues, development issues, human rights, and environmental degradation. His vision of a peaceful and cooperative world.

"Threats to global survival, though they are sometimes exaggerated in apocalyptic language which makes our flesh creep, are real. The prophets of doom and gloom may be proved wrong but it is a chilling fact that man can now destroy his world by nuclear explosion or ecological erosion." "The stark and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society by war since total war is total destruction, and if war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war. Therefore, the best defense of peace is not power, but the removal of the causes of war, and international agreements which will put peace on a stronger foundation than the terror of destruction." Pearson served as Canada's prime minister between 1963 and 1968. Pearson whom was always called Mike is among a small number of politicians who earned their stripes first in diplomacy. For younger people, I would imagine they know his name through the one of a few airports in Toronto called the Pearson International Airport.

 

~ 47 Years Ago ~ Martin Luther King

I find that this writing that is regarded highly international what with regards to a man that had a vision. I don't think many come close to his convictions of what he did. As well, I think that he was a man that dared to challenge something within societies that did make an impact back in the 60's.

I think probably people will always make some judgment on people with regards to their color. Not all but some.

Some things change and some things never do. But as time goes by and during these days of recent and especially today marks something very different. Something very significant.

I find that this is one holiday that is celebrated by some and honored by others. What this man stood for was an effort and a basis that would resonate through out not only the United States but as well for many of countries. As well as many cultures. To all that hail from the United States of America this man was more about mankind and society that color. Look at how far we have come! And yet how far we need to go. If Dr. Martin L. King was alive today - I wonder what he would think with regards to everything that we have seen in the last ten years...

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity." But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that a black person is still languishing in the corners of  society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was adhere too.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as citizens of color are concerned. America historically gave people of black color a bad check --- a cheque that came back marked "insufficient funds". We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check --- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand’s of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the people of black decent. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. There is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold, which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, and rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must come true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California. But not only that let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"

Today that "Bell of Freedom" rang…in a new way 47 years ago.

http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/08/28/

Going Forwards and Backwards in Time

This Sunday many will be were some go ahead one hour and some go back an hour pending where you live in accord to the zero meridian.

Daylight time was first endorsed in Germany in 1915, soon thereafter it was adapted by Britain most of Europe and Canada. Since the sun shone for a time while most people were asleep, it was reasoned that light far better utilizing time by way of amending our time within the day. The solution was to push the clocks ahead one hour in springtime, causing people to wake an hour earlier. Expending less energy in light their homes, the thought was if time was adjusted patterns would adjust with it. And all would change their daily routines. When the days started getting shorter in the fall and people awoke to increasing darkness, the clocks were turned back an hour to get more light in the morning. Although first instituted in 1915, the idea of daylight time had been batted around for a more than a century. Benjamin Franklin suggested the idea more than once in the 1770s while he was an emissary to France. It wasn't until more than a century later that the idea of daylight time was taken seriously. William Willett, an English builder, revived the idea in 1907, and eight years later Germany was the first nation to adopt daylight time. Reason being it was to conserve energy. Britain quickly followed suit and instituted British Summer Time in 1916. Several areas, including parts of Europe, Canada and the United States, followed suit after the First World War. In most cases, daylight time ended with the armistice. During the Second World War, a different type of daylight time was reestablished by Britain and clocks were set two hours ahead of Greenwich time during the summer. It was known as “Double Summer Time”. The time shift didn't end with the summer, as clocks were rolled back to be one hour ahead of GMT through the winter. The Uniform Time Act, enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1966, established a system of uniform for each region, as do other countries around the world. Yet there are some places that still don't observe daylight savings time around the world but the majority of the world have.

 

Today in History - John F. Kennedy

1. On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die.  Of Irish descent, he was born in Brooklyn, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety.  Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President.  His Inaugural Address offered the memorable thought, "Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty.

Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society. He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. But the hard reality of the Communist challenge remained.

Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a band of Cuban exiles, already armed and trained, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro was a failure. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. Kennedy replied by reinforcing the Berlin garrison and increasing the Nation's military strength, including new efforts in outer space. Confronted by this reaction, Moscow, after the erection of the Berlin Wall, relaxed its pressure in central Europe.  Instead, the Russians now sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. The American response to the Cuban crisis evidently persuaded Moscow of the futility of nuclear blackmail.

Kennedy now contended that both sides had a vital interest in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and slowing the arms race a contention that led to the test ban treaty of 1963. The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.

 

The John F. Kennedy Museum can be found here >http://www.jfklibrary.org/

 

 

Some Quotes of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

 

A child mis educated is a child lost.

 

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. A nation, which has forgotten the quality of courage, which in the past has been brought to public life, is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today and in fact, we have forgotten.

 

A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.

 

Today's military rejects include tomorrow's hard-core unemployed.

 

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"

 

America has tossed its cap over the wall of space.

 

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

 

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

 

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

 

Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.

 

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

 

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

 

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

 

For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

 

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

 

Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends.

 

Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies.

 

Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.

 

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.