Today in History....

Спасибо (spassiba) is the Russian word for "thank you"...

Fine

Спасибо :wink:

As some wag remarked soon after the events of 19-21 August, it was not a coup d'etat but a two-day coup.

August 21

1778 Bernardo O'Higgins won independence for Chile


Holidays
Hungary : Constitution Day (1949)
Senegal : Independence Day (1960)
Hawaii : Admission Day (1959) - - - - - ( Friday )
Mich : Montrose-Blueberry Festival - - - - - ( Friday )

Aug 28, 1749 -- the birthday of Johann Goethe, German poet, author of Faust and Young Werther.

Today is also -- by tradition, at least -- the day in 476 c.e. on which Odoacer and his horde of Vandal warriors entered Rome, overthrew the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and set himself up as King of Italy. And things ain't been the same since.

Isnt Odoacer the old form of Otto? ... any way--

Friday the 22nd was '50s jukebox queen Joni James' 76th birthday -- Sep. 22, 1930. Her songs could be heard on just about every jukebox
in bus stations coast to coast.

Yes, and as everybody who listens to classical music radio stations already knows, today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dmitri Shostakovich, the Russian composer who was constantly in and out of favor with Stalin. According to his son, Shostakovich kept a bag backed by his bed, expecting a midnight knock on the door any night and swift deportation to the gulag ... or worse. A number of his most stirring compositions -- concertos and symphonies -- were banned in the USSR during Stalin's life time because they didn't meet with the dictator's tastes in music. But he was popular with both the masses and the cognoscenti. At one point, five different productions of his early opera, Lady Macbeth were running at five different theaters in Moscow at the same time. All it took to close them down was one virulently negative review in Pravda. ordered by Stalin. He was never actually deported or even arretsed, but he must have been a nervous wreck while Stalin was alive.

Happy Birthday Sputnik
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.

http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/

Yes, we tend to forget or overlook the importance of Sputnik. But without that goad from the Soviets, the idea of putting a man on the moon would prabably still be just an idea, not much above an sf notion. I remember how shocked we all were that the USSR was that far ahead of the USA in space technology. To actually put a pile of junk into orbit around the planet was simply mind-boggling in 1957. How many artificial satellites are circling the earth today? A couple of hundred? More? Anybody know?

Shostakovich!

Days ago when I didn't know Shostakovich I was listening to British Classic FM and there was a very nice piece of Shostakovich on air and it was so nice and I didn't know why I told myself "Shostakovich" oh for Christ's Sake I didn't remember I had heard any Shostakovich before so with a GREAT GREAT SUrPRISE the presenter told "Nice piece, From Shostakov..." I was immediately aware we both have something rather ambiguous in common and also immediately I embarked on my young journey exploring Shostakovich and I said to myself I was going to listen to all his symphonies and concertos and all the other works!

I love this feeling.

Hope our relationship can be evergreen :wink:

Thanks for this information Andrew.

JB