Saturday, May 17, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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May 17, 1954
Brown v Board of Education
The Brown v. Board of Education case, decided by the US Supreme Court on May 17, 1954, was a landmark civil rights decision that ruled state-sponsored segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The Supreme Court unanimously concluded that segregation in public education violated the 14th Amendment, specifically the equal protection clause.
The case involved several separate cases from different states, including Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The plaintiffs in these cases sought admission to public schools on a nonsegregated basis.
The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, delivered a unanimous ruling that segregated public schools were inherently unequal and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This decision overturned the doctrine of "separate but equal" established in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case, which had allowed segregation in various aspects of American life. Brown v. Board of Education was a major victory for the civil rights movement and a catalyst for further legal and social change. The ruling established the principle that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, regardless of whether the facilities are equal in quality.
While Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark decision, the implementation of desegregation was not without its challenges. Many areas, particularly in the South, faced resistance and delays in implementing the ruling.
From the Court’s judgment:
To separate them [black children} from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone. The effect of this separation on their educational opportunities was well stated by a finding in the Kansas case ... :"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to retard the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system."
Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority. Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected.— Brown, 347 U.S. at 494 (alterations and footnotes omitted).
The members of the U.S. Supreme Court that on May 17, 1954, ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
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SYDNEY SUBURBS
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DUNDAS
Location:
Dundas is located 21 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta, and the electoral division of Bennelong.
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Name origin:
Dundas and surrounding areas were originally known as "The Ponds", a name still reflected in The Ponds Creek. The Ponds/Subiaco Creek is a joint northern tributary of the Parramatta River.
The first private land grants in Sydney made in 1791 were in what is now North East Dundas and adjoining Dundas Valley and Ermington. This consisted of land grants to 14 former convicts and their families along the Ponds and Subiaco Creeks.
Reverend Samuel Marsden selected an area of 100 and named his farm "Dundas Farm" in honour of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, who was also the Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department. The area, nonetheless, was not known as Dundas until almost a century later.
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
Styled as Lord Melville from 1802, he was the trusted lieutenant of British prime minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18th century.
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BTW:
Reverend Samuel Marsden (1765 – 1838) was an English-born priest of the Church of England in Australia and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society. He played a leading role in bringing Christianity to New Zealand. Marsden was a prominent figure in early New South Wales and Australian history, partly through his ecclesiastical offices as the colony's senior Church of England cleric and as a pioneer of the Australian wool industry, but also for his employment of convicts for farming and his actions as a magistrate at Parramatta.
History has remembered Marsden as the "Flogging Parson", with contemporaries claiming that he inflicted severe punishments (notably extended floggings), even by the standards of his day.
Joseph Holt, who was transported to Sydney following his negotiated surrender after the Irish Rebellion of 1798, gave vivid account in his memoirs of the search for Irish plotters in which he was arrested. Marsden was held to be involved in this secret action by the authorities.
Holt himself was released but witnessed the fate of others. He related:
"I have witnessed many horrible scenes; but this was the most appalling sight I had ever seen. The day was windy and I protest, that although I was at least fifteen yards to the leeward, from the sufferers, the blood, skin, and flesh blew in my face" (as floggers) "shook it off from their cats" (referring to the cat-of-nine-tails scourging lash)."The next prisoner who was tied up was Paddy Galvin, a young lad about twenty years of age; he was also sentenced to receive three hundred lashes. The first hundred were given on his shoulders, and he was cut to the bone between the shoulder-blades, which were both bare. The doctor then directed the next hundred to be inflicted lower down, which reduced his flesh to such a jelly that the doctor ordered him to have the remaining hundred on the calves of his legs .... 'you shall have no music out of my mouth to make others dance upon nothing'.
Some have written that Marsden ordered such treatment but Holt's memoirs do not explicitly link Marsden to the floggings at Toongabbie on that day.
Cat-o-nine-tails
Marsden's attitudes to Irish Roman Catholic convicts were illustrated in a memorandum which he sent to his church superiors during his time at Parramatta:
"The number of Catholic Convicts is very great... and these in general composed of the lowest class of the Irish nation; who are the most wild, ignorant and savage Race that were ever favoured with the light of Civilization; men that have been familiar with ... every horrid Crime from their Infancy. Their minds being Destitute of every Principle of Religion & Morality render them capable of perpetrating the most nefarious Acts in cool Blood. As they never appear to reflect upon Consequences; but to be ... always alive to Rebellion and Mischief, they are very dangerous members of Society. No Confidence whatever can be placed in them... “
In 1806, Marsden was the originator of the New South Wales "Female Register" which classed all women in the colony (excepting some widows) as either "married" or "concubine". Only marriages within the Church of England were recognised as legitimate on this list; women who married in Roman Catholic or Jewish ceremonies were automatically classed as concubines. The document eventually circulated within influential circles in London, and is believed to have influenced contemporary views of the Australian colony as a land of sexual immorality, some of which survived into 20th-century historiography.
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About Dundas:
Dundas is a leafy green suburb, notably due to its centrepiece The Ponds Walk, which follows the Ponds Subiaco Creek. The Ponds Walk is a 7.7-kilometre walking track which passes through Carlingford, Dundas Valley, Telopea, Dundas, Ermington and Rydalmere
According to the 2021 census, there were 4,959 residents in Dundas. 51.2% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China 11.3% and South Korea 6.0%.
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Gallery:
Oatlands House, Dundas in 1927
It is presently a popular wedding venue and located on the grounds of the Oatlands Golf Course.
The Sydney suburb previously known as West Dundas was renamed Oatlands in 1991, the name deriving from an historic house – now known as Oatlands House - built in the 1830s.
Oatlands House today
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DUNDAS VALLEY
Location:
Dundas Valley is located 21 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Parramatta. Dundas Valley is part of the Northern Sydney and Greater Western Sydney regions.
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Name origin:
Lieutenant William Cox, a member of the NSW Corps, in the early 1800s would refer to his land as Dundas Heights. He would view his land from a vantage point of Dundas Heights.
Originally part of Dundas, Dundas Valley was declared a suburb in 2007.
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About:
The valley has been shaped by the Ponds Creek, around which many of the area's parks are located. The valley is bounded by both steep and gentle slopes feeding into the creek.
The area was developed during the 1950s and 1960s with the construction of public housing.
A quarry, later known as the Pennant Hills Quarry, was established in 1832, utilizing basalt from a volcanic plug. This quarry, visited by scientists like Charles Darwin, produced blue metal for road construction.
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Friday, May 16, 2025
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
My wife treats me like a god...
She takes very little notice of my existence until she wants something.
ON THIS DAY
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May 16, 1929
First Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Oscars are widely considered to be the most prestigious awards in the film industry.
The first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with an audience of about 270 people. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors, and other participants in the film-making industry of the time, for their works during the 1927–28 period. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes.
For this first ceremony, winners were announced to the media three months earlier. For the second ceremony in 1930, and the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11:00 pm on the night of the awards. In 1940, the Los Angeles Times announced the winners before the ceremony began. As a result, in 1941 the Academy started using a sealed envelope to reveal the names of the winners.
BTW:
The origin of the nickname of the trophy has been disputed, as multiple people have taken credit for naming the trophy "Oscar".
Margaret Herrick, librarian and president of the Academy, may have said she named it after her supposed uncle Oscar in 1931. ] The only corroboration was a 1938 clipping from the Los Angeles Examiner, in which Herrick told a story of her and her husband joking with each other using the phrase, "How's your uncle Oscar".
Bette Davis, in her 1962 autobiography, claimed she named it in 1936 after her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson, of whom the statue's rear end reminded her. But the term had been in use at least two years before. In a 1974 biography written by Whitney Stine with commentary from Davis, Davis wrote, "I relinquish once and for all any claim that I was the one—so, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the honor is all yours."
Columnist Sidney Skolsky wrote in his 1970 memoir that he came up with the term in 1934 under pressure for a deadline, mocking Vaudeville comedians who asked "Will you have a cigar, Oscar?" The Academy credits Skolsky with "the first confirmed newspaper reference" to Oscar in his column on March 16, 1934, which was written about that year's 6th Academy Awards. But in the newspaper clipping that Skolsky referred to, he wrote that these statues are called 'Oscars', meaning that the name was already in use.
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FUNNY FRIDAY
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Hello Byters, the theme today is international humour, apologies for perpetuating any stereotypes.
Some items have been posted in Bytes previously.
Caution: risqué content ahead.
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SOME HUMOUR:
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SCOTLAND:
A Texan is touring Europe and he ends up in a Scottish pub sitting across from an older Scotsman. As Texans tend to do, he starts bragging about how big everything is in Texas.
“Down on my ranch outside Dallas, I can walk out my front door at sunrise, get in my big ol’ Cadillac, start ‘er on up, put my boot flat down on the gas, and when the sun goes down, I still ain’t reached my front gates.”
The Scotsman takes a big swing of his stout, and says,
“Ach, aye. I had a car like that once, too!”
__________
I went into a Coffeehouse in Scotland and asked the guy in the counter: "Hey, can I please get a large latte with oat milk?"
Dazed and confused, he looked at me and said: "Sir, am sorry, we cannae make a latte withoot milk..."
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AMERICA:
I'm American, and I'm fed up of people saying that America is the stupidest country in the world.
Personally, I think Europe is the stupidest country in the world.
__________
What is the difference between Americans and the British?
Americans think 200 years is a long history, while the British think 200 miles is a long trip.
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AUSTRALIA:
I recently visited Australia, it’s such a nasty, horrible place…
Everyone I met told me “go die”.
__________
An American walks into a pub in Australia...says ''I'll have a bud light.'' The bartender replies ''You're an American, right?'' The guy says ''How did you know, was it the beer or my accent?'' To which the bartender replies ''Neither, you're the fattest fuck I've ever seen in my life.''
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DENMARK:
Why do Denmark, Norway, and Sweden put bar codes on the sides of their military ships?
So when they come in to port, they can just Scandinavian.
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA:
What city is located right in the middle of Czechoslovakia?
Oslo
__________
Three people arrive at the Pearly Gates and are given an admission test by St Peter, to wit, spell LOVE, symbolising God’s love. The first two both spell correctly and are granted admission. The third, a woman, is told there is an admission test.
She responds: “Don’t start on me with that crap. I have had it with guys giving me a hard time. I’ve had to work twice as hard to get half as far as the men I worked with, put up with their arrogance and bullshit, I come up here and there’s some stupid test I have to pass. What is it?”
St Peter says “Spell Czechoslovakia.”
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MEXICO:
A young Mexican man named Jose was curious about America so he snuck across the border.
He wanted to go see a baseball game so when he went home, he could tell his family all about it. When he got there, the game was sold out, so he decided to climb to the top of a flag pole to get a better look. When he returned home, his family was anxious to hear about his experience:
"What happened?" asked his family.
"Well, America is the nicest place in the world!!" he said. "Before the game started, all the people in the stands and all the players stood up, looked at me and said, "Jose, can you see?"
__________
Call me a racist if you want, but south of the border is a sea of violence, corruption and stupidity I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
I just thank my lucky stars I live in Canada.
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ISRAEL:
A reporter goes to Israel to cover the fighting. She is looking for something emotional and positive and of human interest. Something like that guy in Sarajevo who risked his life to play the cello everyday in the town square.
In Jerusalem, she heard about an old Jew who had been going to the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. So she went to check it out. She goes to the Wailing Wall and there he is! She watches him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turns to leave, she approaches him for an interview.
"Rebecca Smith, CNN News. Sir, how long have you been coming to the Wailing Wall and praying?"
"For about 50 years."
"What do you pray for?"
"For peace between the Jews and the Arabs. For all the hatred to stop. For all of our children to grow up in safety and friendship."
"How do you feel after doing this for 50 years?"
"Like I'm talking to a fucking wall."
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GERMANY:
How many Germans do you need to change a lightbulb?
One, we are very efficient and not funny.
__________
You always claim Germans don't have humour,
but we have. It's just like healthcare. Most Americans don't get it.
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FRANCE:
A German visits France and is stopped at immigration.
The French immigration agent asks, "Business or pleasure?"
The German replies, "Pleasure!"
The agent asks, "Occupation?"
The German replies, "Nein, Nein, just visiting!"
__________
Following is an anecdote, previously posted in Bytes, and of uncertain origin. It has been widely quoted and may be an urban myth, Snopes.com does not verify whether it is truth or fiction.
The exchange is frequently said to have taken place between Madame de Gaulle and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan or his wife, Lady Dorothy Macmillan. One variant has Harold Macmillan, not understanding what Madame de Gaulle meant to say, "Well, yes, not much time for that now."
When Charles de Gaulle decided to retire from public life, the American ambassador and his wife threw a gala dinner party in his honour. At the dinner table the Ambassador's wife was talking with Madame de Gaulle.
"Your husband has been such a prominent public figure, such a presence on the French and International scene for so many years! How quiet retirement will seem in comparison. What are you most looking forward to in these retirement years?"
"A penis," replied Madame de Gaulle.
A huge hush fell over the table. Everyone heard her answer . . . and no one knew what to say next.
Finally, Charles leaned over to his wife and said, "Ma cherie, I believe zee Americans pronounce zat word 'appiness.'"
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ITALY:
Two Italian men get on a bus. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation. The lady sitting behind them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of the men say the following:
"Emma come first. Den I come. Den two asses come together. I come once-a-more. Two asses, they come together again. I come again and pee twice. Then I come one lasta time."
"You foul-mouthed swine," retorted the lady indignantly. "In this country we don't talk about our sex lives in public!"
"Hey, coola down lady," said the man. "Who talkin' abouta sexa? I'm a justa tellin' my frienda how to spella 'Mississippi'."
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THAILAND:
My new Thai girlfriend said "A small penis shouldn't be a problem in a loving relationship"
I still wish she didn't have one though.
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WALES:
I was at a bar the other night and overheard three very hefty women talking. Their accent appeared to be Scottish, so I approached and asked, "Hello, are you three lassies from Scotland?"
One of them angrily screeched, "It's Wales, Wales you bloody idiot!" So I apologised and replied, "I am so sorry. Are you three whales from Scotland?"
And that's the last thing I remember.
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RUSSIA:
Putin has boasted that Russia is planning to build a base on the moon. The idea is that astronauts will live there permanently.
When they were asked if they really wanted to spend the rest of their lives in a barren, lifeless, empty landscape, the Russians said "No. That's why we want to go to the moon."
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CHINA:
An American tourist goes on a trip to China. While in China he engages in a fair bit of unprotected sex.
One week after returning home, he wakes up to discover that his manhood is covered in bright green and purple spots. Completely freaking out, the man goes to see a doctor. The doctor tells the man that he has never seen anything like this before and suggests that they run some tests. After the tests are completed, the doctor tells the man to come back in two weeks for the results.
The man returns two weeks later for the results of his test. The doctor says "I have some very bad news. You've contracted Mongolian VD, its very rare and almost unheard of in the west." The man, completely perplexed at the news he is hearing asks "So... do I just take some medicine for it?". "There is no known cure for Mongolian VD." replies the doctor, "We are going to need to amputate your penis.". The man, completely terrified screams "No way! I WANT A SECOND OPINION!!!" The doctor explains "That's your choice, you may go and get a second opinion, but your only option is surgery.".
The next day, the man seeks out a Chinese doctor, hoping that he may know more about the disease than a western doctor. The Chinese doctor examines the man’s penis and says " Ahhh, yes. Mongolian VD, very rare." The man says "Yeah yeah, I know, but what can you do about it? My American doctor wants to amputate my penis!". The Chinese doctor shakes his head and laughs "Stupid American doctor, always want to operate, make more money that way. No need for operation." "Oh thank god!" The man proclaims.
"Yeah" says the Chinese doctor "Faw off by self in two weeks.”
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LIMERICK OF THE WEEK:
There was a young lady of Chichester
Who made all the saints in their niches stir.
One morning at mattins
Her breasts in white satins
Made the Bishop of Chichester’s britches stir.
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GALLERY:
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Thursday, May 15, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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May 15, 1940
The McDonald brothers open their drive-in restaurant.
Siblings Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald's in San Bernardino, California, on May 15, 1940.
The brothers introduced the "Speedee Service System" in 1948, putting into expanded use the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant that predecessor White Castle had put into practice more than two decades earlier. The original mascot of McDonald's was a hamburger-headed chef who was referred to as "Speedee". In 1962, the Golden Arches replaced Speedee as the universal mascot. Clown mascot Ronald McDonald was introduced in 1963 to market the chain to children.
In 1961, Ray Kroc purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and began the company's worldwide reach. The sale cost Kroc $2.7 million (worth almost 28,410,134 dollars in the current day).
Some facts:
McDonald's has over 40,000 international restaurant locations as of 2024 and 13,622 in the United States as of 2025.
The restaurants serve in total over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries.
McDonald's is the world's second largest fast food restaurant chain by number of locations, surpassed only by Chinese chain Mixue Ice Cream & Tea as of September 2024
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ANECDOTES
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Syndicated cartoonist Gary Larson, whose off-the-wall comic strip, The Far Side, appears in hundreds of daily newspapers, was once invited to speak to a graduating class of history students at the University of California at Berkeley. "My first controversial cartoon," Larson recalled, "was of Santa Claus writing in his cookbook on nine ways to serve venison." The result? Larson was deluged with hate mail.
Nonetheless, an editor stood by him and gave him a word of supportive advice: "'Just keep doing it the way you're doing it,'" Larson recalled, "and I have... I can't think of anything much sadder than hearing a different drummer in your head and marching to the same beat that everybody else does."
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Winston Churchill entered a men's washroom in the House of Commons one day and, observing Labor leader Clement Attlee standing before the urinal, took up his stance at the opposite end of the room. "Feeling stand-offish today, are we, Winston?" Attlee chirped. "That's right," Churchill replied. "Every time you see something big, you want to nationalise it."
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St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1278) was a genius and a brilliant theologian, but he was also quiet, gentle, full of wonder, and the size of a fullback. People mistook his innocence for idiocy when he was a young monk and called him The Dumb Ox.
One day, his fellow monks ran up to him and said: “Thomas, come see! The pigs are flying in the sky!”
Thomas jumped up and bounded to the window. The other monks shrieked with laughter.
He was silent for a minute, then quietly said: “I would rather believe pigs can fly, than that my brothers would lie to me.”
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There are two versions of how the Mongols killed the Caliph al-Mutasim when they sacked Baghdad. The more realistic one is that he was rolled into a carpet and trampled to death by the horde, the Mongols’ own method for putting princes to death without shedding royal blood.
The other, as reported by Marco Polo, is that he was locked in his treasury with all his jewels and baubles with no food or water and left to die reflecting on how he should have spent his gold on an army rather than wasting it on his own vanity and greed.
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In 1899, a young Winston Churchill was starting out as a writer. Problem: there was an American novelist of the same name whose works (at the time) were more well known than the British Churchill's. What follows is a good humoured correspondence between the two.
Letter from Winston Churchill (UK) to Winston Churchill (US)
London, June 7, 1899.
Mr. Winston Churchill presents his compliments to Mr. Winston Churchill, and begs to draw his attention to a matter which concerns them both. He has learnt from the Press notices that Mr. Winston Churchill proposes to bring out another novel, entitled Richard Carvel, which is certain to have a considerable sale both in England and America. Mr. Winston Churchill is also the author of a novel now being published in serial form in Macmillan's Magazine, and for which he anticipates some sale both in England and America. He also proposes to publish on the 1st of October another military chronicle on the Soudan War. He has no doubt that Mr. Winston Churchill will recognise from this letter -- if indeed by no other means -- that there is grave danger of his works being mistaken for those of Mr. Winston Churchill. He feels sure that Mr. Wiston Churchill desires this as little as he does himself. In future to avoid mistakes as far as possible, Mr. Winston Churchill has decided to sign all published articles, stories, or other works, 'Winston Spencer Churchill,' and not 'Winston Churchill' as formerly. He trusts that this arrangement will commend itself to Mr. Winston Churchill, and he ventures to suggest, with a view to preventing further confusion which may arise out of this extraordinary coincidence, that both Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. Winston Churchill should insert a short note in their respective publications explaining to the public which are the works of Mr. Winston Churchill and which those of Mr. Winston Churchill. The text of this note might form a subject for future discussion if Mr. Winston Churchill agrees with Mr. Winston Churchill's proposition. He takes this occasion of complimenting Mr. Winston Churchill upon the style and success of his works, which are always brought to his notice whether in magazine or book form, and he trusts that Mr. Winston Churchill has derived equal pleasure from any work of his that may have attracted his attention.
to which Winston Churchill (US) replied:
Mr. Winston Churchill is extremely grateful to Mr. Winston Churchill for bringing forward a subject which has given Mr. Winston Churchill much anxiety. Mr. Winston Churchill appreciates the courtesy of Mr. Winston Churchill in adopting the name of ‘Winston Spencer Churchill’ in his books, articles, etc. Mr. Winston Churchill makes haste to add that, had he possessed any other names, he would certainly have adopted one of them.
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Wednesday, May 14, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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May 14, 1948
Establishment of the State of Israel
The declaration of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 marked the culmination of decades of Jewish nationalist aspirations and the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, made the declaration in a ceremony held at the Tel Aviv Museum. In his proclamation, he announced the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. The declaration emphasised the historical connection of the Jewish people to the land, the hardships they had endured throughout history, and their right to self-determination. It also extended an olive branch, calling for peace with neighboring states and assuring the Arab inhabitants of Israel of their civil rights.
David Ben-Gurion declaring the establishment of Israel on 14 May 1948
Neighbouring Arab states invaded the area the next day, beginning the First Arab–Israeli War. Subsequent armistice agreements established Israeli control over 77 percent of the former Mandate territory.The majority of Palestinian Arabs were either expelled or fled in what is known as the Nakba, with those remaining becoming the new state's main minority.
Over the following decades, Israel's population increased greatly as the country received an influx of Jews who emigrated, fled or were expelled from the Muslim world. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and Syrian Golan Heights. Israel established and continues to expand settlements across the illegally occupied territories, contrary to international law, and has effectively annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in moves largely unrecognised internationally.
After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt—returning the Sinai in 1982—and Jordan. In 1993, Israel signed the Oslo Accords, which established mutual recognition and limited Palestinian self-governance in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. In the 2020s, it normalised relations with several more Arab countries via the Abraham Accords. However, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict after the interim Oslo Accords have not succeeded, and the country has engaged in several wars and clashes with Palestinian militant groups.
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WEIRD WEDNESDAY
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YONGMEI:
Yongmei was a Chinese bigamist who had over 900 marriages in just over 20 years. She started seeking husbands in 1993 to make quick money, marrying impoverished farmers and then quickly divorcing them. The men would each have to pay a small fee for the divorce, and Yongmei would pocket the cash. At her peak, she was raking in around $8,000 a month
Her scheme led to arrest in 2011 and a four-year prison sentence, though it's unclear if she served any time.
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RASPUTIN
Grigori Rasputin (1869 – 1916) was a Russian mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, through whom he gained considerable influence in the final years of the Russian Empire.
Rasputin was born to a family of peasants in Siberia. He had a religious conversion experience after embarking on a pilgrimage to a monastery in 1897 and has been described as a monk or as a strannik (wanderer or pilgrim), though he held no official position in the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1903 or in the winter of 1904–1905, he travelled to Saint Petersburg and captivated a number of religious and social leaders, eventually becoming a prominent figure in Russian society. In November 1905, Rasputin met Nicholas II and his empress consort, Alexandra Feodorovna.
In late 1906, Rasputin began acting as a faith healer for Nicholas' and Alexandra's only son, Alexei Nikolaevich, who suffered from haemophilia. He was a divisive figure at court, seen by some Russians as a mystic, visionary and prophet, and by others as a religious charlatan. The extent of Rasputin's power reached an all-time high in 1915, when Nicholas left Saint Petersburg to oversee the Imperial Russian Army as it was engaged in the First World War. In his absence, Rasputin and Alexandra consolidated their influence across the Russian Empire. However, as Russian military defeats mounted on the Eastern Front, both figures became increasingly unpopular, and in the early morning of 30 December 1916, Rasputin was assassinated by a group of conservative Russian noblemen who opposed his influence over the imperial family.
Historians often suggest that Rasputin's scandalous and sinister reputation helped discredit the Tsarist government, thus precipitating the overthrow of the House of Romanov shortly after his assassination. Accounts of his life and influence were often based on common rumours; he remains a mysterious and captivating figure in popular culture.
Death:
A group of nobles led by Purishkevich, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Prince Felix Yusupov decided that Rasputin's influence over Alexandra threatened the Russian Empire. They concocted a plan in December 1916 to kill Rasputin, apparently by luring him to the Yusupovs' Moika Palace.
Rasputin was murdered during the early morning on 30 December 1916 at the home of Prince Yusupov. He died of three gunshot wounds, one of which was a close-range shot to his forehead. Little is certain about his death beyond this, and the circumstances of his death have been the subject of considerable speculation. According to Smith, "what really happened at the Yusupov home will never be known". The story that Yusupov recounted in his memoirs, however, has become the most frequently told version of events.
According to Yusupov's account, Rasputin was invited to his palace shortly after midnight and ushered into the basement. Yusupov offered tea and cakes which had been laced with cyanide. After initially refusing the cakes, Rasputin began to eat them and, to Yusupov's surprise, appeared unaffected by the poison. Rasputin then asked for some Madeira wine (which had also been poisoned) and drank three glasses, but still showed no sign of distress. At around 2:30 am, Yusupov excused himself to go upstairs, where his fellow conspirators were waiting. He took a revolver from Pavlovich, then returned to the basement and told Rasputin that he had "better look at the crucifix and say a prayer", referring to a crucifix in the room, then shot him once in the chest. The conspirators then drove to Rasputin's apartment, with Sukhotin wearing Rasputin's coat and hat in an attempt to make it look as though Rasputin had returned home that night. Upon returning to his palace, Yusupov went back to the basement to ensure that Rasputin was dead. Suddenly, Rasputin leaped up and attacked Yusupov, who freed himself with some effort and fled upstairs. Rasputin followed Yusupov into the palace's courtyard, where he was shot by Purishkevich. He collapsed into a snowbank. The conspirators then wrapped his body in cloth, drove it to the Petrovsky Bridge and dropped it into the Little Nevka river.
In a modern analysis of Rasputin's death, published on the 100th anniversary of the event, Dr Carolyn Harris of the University of Toronto notes that the actual circumstances were apparently less dramatic than Yusupov's account. Rasputin's daughter recorded that her father disliked sweet food and would not have eaten the supposedly poisoned cakes. An autopsy account by the official surgeon involved has no record of poisoning or drowning but simply records death by a single bullet fired into the head at close range.
Rasputin's corpse on the ground with a bullet wound visible in his forehead
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LISTERINE
Listerine was originally used to treat dandruff, body odour, and even diseases like gonorrhea and smallpox. It was also used as a disinfectant to sterilise surgical tools, as well as a cleaning product.
During the Victorian era, Dr. Joseph Lister was a doctor who understood the power of keeping clean. He discovered that his patients' mortality rate dropped when he properly washed his hands and equipment. By using carbolic acid to keep things sterilized, his patients were unlikely to develop sepsis.
However, he was not the one to invent Listerine.
Lister's work inspired St. Louis-based doctor Joseph Lawrence to develop an alcohol-based formula for a surgical antiseptic which included eucalyptol, menthol, methyl salicylate, and thymol (its exact composition was a trade secret). Lawrence named his antiseptic "Listerine" in honour of Lister.
Lawrence hoped to promote Listerine's use as a general germicide as well as a surgical antiseptic, and licensed his formula to a local pharmacist named Jordan Wheat Lambert in 1881
Lambert's licensing agreement with Lawrence required that he and his "heirs, executors and assigns" be paid royalties by Lambert or its successors for each bottle sold in perpetuity, until such time that Lambert or its successors ceases manufacturing Listerine. Most of these royalty shares are held by Lawrence's heirs. Real estate broker John Reynolds bought a roughly 50% stake in the royalties in the 1950s, which he then transferred to the Archdiocese of New York, and was later resold to other parties to help fund the diocese. The Salvation Army, American Bible Society, and Wellesley College also held shares in Listerine royalties.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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May 13, 1787
First Fleet sails for Australia
The First Fleet was 11 British ships which transported convicts and a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the European colonisation of Australia.
It consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three storeships and six convict transports under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. On 13 May 1787, the ships, with over 1,400 convicts, marines, sailors, colonial officials and free settlers onboard, left Portsmouth and travelled over 24,000 kilometres (15,000 mi) and over 250 days before arriving in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788.
Governor Arthur Phillip rejected Botany Bay for a settlement.. The bay was open and unprotected, the water was too shallow to allow the ships to anchor close to the shore, fresh water was scarce, and the soil was poor.
Choosing instead Port Jackson, to the north as the site for the new colony; they arrived there on 26 January 1788, establishing the colony of New South Wales, as a penal colony which would become the first British settlement in Australia.
BTW:
John Limeburner was a convict on the First Fleet ship Charlotte. He was convicted on 9 July 1785 at New Sarum, Wiltshire of theft of a waistcoat, a shirt and stockings. He married Elizabeth Ireland in 1790 at Rosehill and together they established a 50-acre farm at Prospect. He died at Ashfield (the suburb where I used to live and where my office is still located) on 4 September 1847 and is buried at St John's, Ashfield, death reg. as Linburner aged 104.
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READERS WRITE
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Caution: risque content ahead.
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An email from Tim B in response to yesterday’s Music Monday post about The Devil went down to Georgia (where Tim resides):
Thanks Otto,I enjoyed revisiting the original song and believe it, I had not heard of the re-match song and enjoyed it even more than the original. I think it was Robert Johnson that popularized the triple O guitar for blues style songs.Thanks for the bluesy Bytes today.Tim
Thanks Tim.
Some more Robert Johnston blues, fantastic:
Sweet Home Chicago (remember this in the Blues Brothers movie?)
Kind Hearted Woman Blues:
Song Collection:
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An email from Ron T, who resides in Kansas City in the US, in response to the Badass post on Geronimo:
Great piece on Geronimo. Thanks.The reverence for this warrior isn't lost. Around WWII times [I think it was back then], when a paratrooper jumped, he would very often yell, "Geronimo!"Some thought is the adrenaline rush and/or to honor this warrior's code.Continued thanks for Bytes. They're always at the top of the day's anticipation and pleasure.Blessing to you and your loved ones.
Thanks Ron, and you are correct.
From Wikipedia at:
Geronimo is a United States Army airborne exclamation occasionally used by jumping paratroopers or, more generally, anyone about to jump from a great height, or as a general exclamation of exhilaration. The cry originated in the United States.
Origins
At least two different explanations place the origins of the exclamation in Fort Benning, Georgia, where some of the first of the US Army's parachute jumps occurred in the 1940s.
According to paratrooper Gerard Devlin, this exclamation dates from August 1940 and is attributed to Private First Class Aubrey Eberhardt, member of parachute test platoon at Fort Benning. The parachute had only recently been adopted for troop drops, and this platoon was the first to test it. On the eve of their first jump, the platoon decided to calm their nerves by spending the day before taking in a film at the Main Post Theatre and a night at the local beer garden. The film they saw was a Western featuring the Native American Geronimo. Its title is uncertain, but it was probably the 1939 film Geronimo with Andy Devine and Lone Ranger star Chief Thundercloud in the title role. On the way back to barracks, Eberhardt's comrades taunted him saying that he would be too scared to remember his name. Eberhardt retorted, "All right, dammit! I tell you jokers what I'm gonna do! To prove to you that I'm not scared out of my wits when I jump, I'm gonna yell Geronimo loud as hell when I go out that door tomorrow!" Eberhardt kept his promise, and the cry was gradually adopted by the other members of his platoon.
In his book Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Richard Winters, Winters offers a different explanation: The 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning was due to go on the first jump. At the time there was a popular song called "Geronimo" on the radio, which quickly became a favorite amongst the troops. The cry became known to the commanding officer who insisted they would instead jump out and cry "Currahee", the name of a mountain at Camp Toccoa, their first training camp. The paratroopers had run up and down the mountain frequently during training, the run known to the troops as "3 miles up, 3 miles down".
There is also a third explanation. Medicine Bluffs at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where Geronimo was jailed as prisoner of war and his grave is located, are steep cliffs and have come to be known as Geronimo's Bluff. Tall tales were told about Geronimo while at Fort Sill. It was said that one day Geronimo, with the Army in hot pursuit, made a leap on horseback down an almost vertical cliff, a feat that the posse could not duplicate. The legend continues that in the midst of this jump to freedom he gave out the bloodcurdling cry of "Geronimo-o-o!" when in reality the source of the tale is expected to have come from a famous incident called McColloch’s Leap.
Response
501st Parachute Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia
World War II pocket patch and beret flash of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Initially, the top brass were wary of the cry, claiming that it constituted a lack of discipline. Others said that it showed bravery and should be encouraged. Eventually the latter view won out, and when the Army's paratrooper regiment grew, the cry grew with it. In the early 1940s, the Army's 501st and 509th Parachute Infantry Regiments incorporated the name "Geronimo" into its insignias, with the permission of Geronimo's descendants. By then, the coverage of the paratroopers' exploits during World War II had made the cry "Geronimo" known to the wider public, and its use spread outside the military and U.S. Army.
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From friend and protagonist Steve M in response to the post on bookplates:
Good morning Otto,Interesting Bytes re book plates. Got a pic of yours?Steve m
In response I sent him this:
 EX LIBRIS
………………. |
And another from Steve, who disagrees with my choices of top movies, this email being in response to my selection of the original John Wayne film Stagecoach:
You’re doing it again, Otto…“Fantastic film; great cast; good story and characters that set the scene for many western stories and characters which followed; how could one not like this film. Well, my friend Steve likely wouldn’t but I suspect he is an alien who has taken over a human body.”Every film that John Wayne appeared in he played the same character – John Wayne! Pleased don’t confuse popularity and script reading with good acting!Here’s a good actor…in fact, a brilliant actor who inhabits the character he plays and leads viewers to believe he is a different person entirely: Anthony Hopkins.– have you seen The Father? Wonderful script, superb acting. Please watch it to help further your education when it comes to the silver screen.All the best for a good weekend,Steve m
Thanks Steve, I think. My response is my bookplate.
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And an earlier one from Tim B responding to the Funny Friday about politics and politicians at the time of our Federal election, notab”y the joke about the first Jewish President elected (causing his mother to say at his inauguration: ‘You see that man up there with his hand on the Tanakh? His brother is a doctor!" Alternative version: first woman elected President, her father at the inauguration says to the Supreme Court Justice sitting beside him: 'You see that woman over there with her hand on the Bible, becoming President of the United States? Her brother played football for the University of Alabama.”)
Good Morning Otto,Funny Friday was indeed funny, and I dare say, maybe had some truth to it. I am from Alabama, as you may know, but live in Georgia. My Mother grew up in a little community called Flea Hop, (a story behind that name), close to Eclectic. My older brother, Reg, is a lawyer and I was an airline pilot, but we did not have a brother that played football for Alabama. If we did, he would have been the hero in the family. 🙂I don't know if you heard, but President Trump gave the commencement speech at the University of Alabama yesterday.I also, as you know, am a staunch conservative, maybe derived from my days in the military, and almost always vote "R". The Dems just haven't put up a viable candidate I could vote for since JFK, and I was too young to vote then. Not to get into a long political discourse, but if you really look into the voting base for both parties, the Dems may have a higher IQ, but seem to lack common sense, as in men can be women, women can be men, open borders are good for the country, men can compete against women, and all the other nonsense ideas they espouse. I don't know anything about Australian politicians but here we do indeed have politicians that promise the world but never deliver and that is on both sides of the aisle. Trump is the only President who is actually trying to keep his campaign promises. Our electorate on both sides are too uninformed to primary viable candidates. I think if was Plato that said: If you don't take an interest in the affairs of your government , then you are destined to be governed by fools. That is where we are today.Hope your candidate wins.....mine did. 🙂Have a great day Otto, and keep those funny Friday's coming.Tim B
Thanks Tim
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Some comments on whether to retain On This Day:
Philip and Enid:
Enid and I both enjoy “On This Day”. Like the rest of Bytes, it is always informative and nearly always interestihng.Hope you and te family are all well.RegardsEnid & Philip
Steve M again:
Good morning Otto,In response to your question today, yes, Bytes ‘on this day’ is great. I’m enjoying it, ta!
Tim B:
I like the on this day posts and also the thought for the day. I really enjoy Bytes Daily and look forward to them, and yes I have a life and do a lot of other things, but reading Bytes Daily is one of my evening relaxation favorites. (I receive it every evening around 7 or 8, which makes your funny Friday, my funny Thursday evening .🙂)
Thanks people
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In the Sydney Suburbs post on Dulwich Hill, I posted a watercolour pic of my home.
Some comments from readers:
Tim B:
Cool looking home. Did you do the painting? It looks like a painting and not a photograph.
Steve M:
Interesting info regarding Dulwich Hill…the Wardell story is very interesting! Who did the water colour of the Otto Playboy Mansion? Very nice.
Ron T:
Your home, for real?!? It's magnificent.
Comments:
The house is a 2 storey Victorian residence (c1895) with an additional level as basement.
The watercolour was done by a local artist who had an ad fin the local newspaper or painting from photographs, I had it done as a gift for Kate.
Kate and I bought the house 24 years ago at an inexpensive price in that the vendors had already bought and needed to sell but had no interest from buyers We inspected the night before the auction and exchanged contracts on the spot. It turns out there were other interested parties but they had not expressed any interest for fear of seeming too anxious.
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From David J in response to the post on spoonerisms and the man who gave his name to them, William Archibald Spooner:
A spoonerism I seem to actually recall hearing on a recorded speech by our 31st President Herbert Hoover. He was introduced by "Ladies and Gentlemen, our President, Hoobert Heever.David J
Thanks David.
And a contribution from Tim B:
Evening Otto,Do you know the difference between " a pygmy tribe and a girls track team.....a pygmy tribe is a cunning bunch of runts. Or the difference between a rooster and a lawyer...a rooster clucks defiance. Thought you might enjoy these two Spoonerisms.Hope you are doing well and enjoying the end of summer.Tim
Thanks Tim.
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Feedback is always appreciated, folks.
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