Thursday, April 3, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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April 3, 1968:
Martin Luther King’s Mountaintop speech.
"I've Been to the Mountaintop" is the popular name of the final speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr on April 3, 1968. King spoke at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee.
The speech primarily concerns the Memphis sanitation strike. King calls for unity, economic actions, boycotts, and nonviolent protest, while challenging the United States to live up to its ideals. At the end of the speech, he discusses the possibility of an untimely death:
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! So I'm happy tonight, I'm not worried about anything! I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
King was fatally shot by James Earl Ray the next day as he stood on a motel second-floor balcony.
The Lorraine Motel, where King was assassinated, is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.
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ATWOOD'S DUCK
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry famously said that perfection was achieved, not when there was nothing more to add, but when there was nothing left to take away.
What if you may have put in hard work and a lot of effort but the manager or client is not satisfied? Then you might benefit from deploying Atwood’s Duck. It’s a cunning manoeuvre to save your work from unwarranted criticism.
In the context of software programming, a duck is an element added to a product design for the sole purpose of drawing attention and directing scrutiny away from other elements – specifically to appease meddling managers.
Originally a programming term, the concept was popularised by Jeff Atwood, co-founder of Stack Overflow. He relates the following anecdote about a computer game design company:
It was well known that producers (a game industry position) had to make a change to everything that was done. The assumption was that subconsciously they felt that if they didn’t, they weren’t adding value.The artist working on the queen animations for Battle Chess was aware of this tendency, and came up with an innovative solution. He did the animations for the queen the way that he felt would be best, with one addition: he gave the queen a pet duck. He animated this duck through all of the queen’s animations, had it flapping around the corners. He also took great care to make sure that it never overlapped the “actual” animation.Eventually, it came time for the producer to review the animation set for the queen. The producer sat down and watched all of the animations. When they were done, he turned to the artist and said, “that looks great. Just one thing — get rid of the duck.”
Atwood’s Duck is synonymous with an attempt to outsmart a manager, client, or stakeholder. But also of organisational dysfunction at the personal level. If you want to keep people from interfering with your work of perfection, give them something too obvious to not criticise, but not so obvious and out there that you look stupid.
It is comparable to Parkinson’s Law of Trivialities, illustrated by the Bikeshed story (previously in Bytes).
In meetings, we tend to spend more time talking about trivial issues (e.g. a company bike shed) than discussing complex and more significant ones (e.g. a nuclear power reactor project). Everyone leaves the complex matters to those they imagine have more knowledge and understanding, dealing with the less complex, which they understand, with more time and debate. As a result, decisions are made at the lowest level of everyone’s expertise.
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
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April 2, 1982:
Argentine troops seize the Falkland Islands
On this day in 1982, Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.
The conflict was a major episode in the protracted dispute over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina asserted (and maintains) that the islands are Argentine territory,and the Argentine government thus described its military action as the reclamation of its own territory. The British government regarded the action as an invasion of a territory that had been a Crown colony since 1841. Falkland Islanders, who have inhabited the islands since the early 19th century, are predominantly descendants of British settlers, and strongly favour British sovereignty. Neither state officially declared war, although both governments declared the islands a war zone.
Patriotic sentiment ran high in Argentina, but the unfavourable outcome prompted large protests against the ruling military government, hastening its downfall and the democratisation of the country. In the United Kingdom, the Conservative government, bolstered by the successful outcome, was re-elected with an increased majority the following year. The cultural and political effect of the conflict has been less in the UK than in Argentina, where it has remained a common topic for discussion.
Argentine soldiers and Falklanders in 1982
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ON THIS DAY
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April 1, 2004:
G Mail launched
Gmail, launched on this day in 2004, is the email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide, making it the largest email service in the world. It also provides a webmail interface, accessible through a web browser, and is also accessible through the official mobile application.
At its launch in 2004, Gmail (or Google Mail at the time) provided a storage capacity of one gigabyte per user, which was significantly higher than its competitors offered at the time. Today, the service comes with 15 gigabytes of storage for free for individual users. Users in need of more storage can purchase Google One to increase this 15 GB limit across most Google services. Users can receive emails up to 50 megabytes in size, including attachments, and can send emails up to 25 megabytes.
Google's mail servers automatically scan emails for multiple purposes, including to filter spam and malware.
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AESOP'S FABLE
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Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to modern times through a number of sources and continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media. The fables originally belonged to the oral tradition and were not collected for some three centuries after Aesop's death. By that time a variety of other stories, jokes and proverbs were being ascribed to him.
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The Widow and the Sheep
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The Fable:
A certain poor widow had one solitary Sheep. At shearing time, wishing to take his fleece and to avoid expense, she sheared him herself, but used the shears so unskillfully that with the fleece she sheared the flesh. The Sheep, writhing with pain, said, “Why do you hurt me so, Mistress? What weight can my blood add to the wool? If you want my flesh, there is the butcher, who will kill me in an instant; but if you want my fleece and wool, there is the shearer, who will shear and not hurt me.”
The Moral:
The least outlay is not always the greatest gain.
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Monday, March 31, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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March 31, 1854:
U.S. Commodore
Matthew Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa in Japan
Perry c
1856-1858
In 1852, Perry was assigned a mission by American President Millard Fillmore to force the opening of Japanese ports to American trade, through the use of gunboat diplomacy if necessary. The growing commerce between the United States and China, the presence of American whalers in waters offshore Japan, and the increasing monopolization of potential coaling stations by European powers in Asia were all contributing factors. Shipwrecked foreign sailors were either imprisoned or executed, and the safe return of such persons was one demand.
The Americans were also driven by concepts of manifest destiny and the desire to impose the benefits of western civilization and the Christian religion on what they perceived as backward Asian nations. The Japanese were unwilling to change their 250-year-old policy of national seclusion.
With ten ships
and 1,600 men. American leadership designed the show of force to "command
fear" and "astound the Orientals." After initial resistance,
Perry was permitted to land at Kanagawa, near the site of present-day Yokohama
on March 8. The Convention of Kanagawa was signed on March 31, ending that
country's period of seclusion.
Commodore Perry meeting Japanese officials.
When Perry returned to the United States, Congress voted to grant him a reward of $20,000, equivalent to $520,000 in 2023, in appreciation of his work in Japan.
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SHORT STORY
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Students at an elementary school were asked to write an essay about what they would like God to do for them. At the end of the day, while grading the essays, a teacher read one that made her very emotional.
Her husband, who had just walked in, saw her crying and asked her "What happened?" She answered "Read this. It is one of my school's students' essays.":
"Oh God, tonight I ask you something very special. Make me into a television set. I want to take its place and live like the TV in my house.
Have my own special place, and have my family around me. To be taken seriously when I talk. I want to be the center of attention and be heard without interruptions or questions.
I want to receive the same special care as the TV set receives even when it is not working. Have the company of my dad when he arrives home from work, even when he is tired. And I want my mom to want me when she is sad and upset, instead of ignoring me. And I want my brothers to fight to be with me.
I want to feel that family just leaves everything aside, every now and then, just to spend some time with me. And last but not least, ensure that I can make them all happy and entertain them. Lord I don't ask you for much. I just want to live like a TV."
At that moment the husband said "My God, poor kid. What horrible parents!"
The wife looked up at him and said "That essay is our son's!"
Sunday, March 30, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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March 30, 1981:
US President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded.
On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as Reagan was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton hotel. Hinckley believed the attack would impress the actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotomanic obsession after viewing her in the 1976 film Taxi Driver.
Reagan was seriously wounded by a revolver bullet that ricocheted off the side of the presidential limousine and hit him in the left underarm, breaking a rib, puncturing a lung, and causing serious internal bleeding. He then underwent emergency exploratory surgery. He recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11.
White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady suffered brain damage and was permanently disabled. His death in 2014 was considered a homicide because it was ultimately caused by his injury.
Ronald Reagan waves just before he is shot. From left are advance man Rick Ahearn; Jerry Parr, in a white trench coat, who pushed Reagan into the limousine; press secretary James Brady, who was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head; Reagan; aide Michael Deaver; an unidentified policeman; policeman Thomas Delahanty, who was shot in the neck; and secret service agent Tim McCarthy, who was shot in the chest.
On June 21, 1982, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate the president. He remained confined to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Washington, D.C. In January 2015, federal prosecutors announced that they would not charge Hinckley with Brady's death, despite the medical examiner's classification of his death as a homicide. Hinckley was discharged from his institutional psychiatric care on September 10, 2016.
The incident was a traumatic experience for the 18-year-old Foster, who was hounded by the media and paparazzi in its aftermath. She took a semester off at Yale and had to be escorted by a bodyguard everywhere she went.
On September 10, 2016, Hinckley was permitted to permanently leave the hospital to live with his mother full-time, under court supervision and with mandatory psychiatric treatment.
The not-guilty verdict led to widespread dismay and, as a result, the U.S. Congress and a number of states rewrote laws regarding the insanity defense. The old Model Penal Code test was replaced by a test that shifts the burden of proof regarding a defendant's sanity from the prosecution to the defendant. Three states have abolished the defense altogether.
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PHOTOS OF THE PAST
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A Young Berber Girl With Her Traditional Regalia, From The Ouled Nail Tribe, Algeria, North Africa.
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Marilyn Monroe In A Potato Sack Dress (1951)
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Dancer Manon Chaufour 1930
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The 20's Fabulous Rózsika And Janka Deutsch Aka "The Dolly Sisters" Were Hungarian-American Identical Twin Dancers, Singers And Actresses, Famous Stars Of The World Famous "Ziegfeld Follies" And The "Folies Bergere" In Paris
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Harriet Hoctor (1905-1977) American Ballerina, Choreographer, Actress And Dance Instructor In A Back Bending Pose As A Question Mark For A 1925 Photograph
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Young Family Hitchhiking On U.S. Highway 99 In California
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Korean War Kiss-Goodbye, Los Angeles, September 06, 1950
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Albanian Woman, Ellis Island (1905)
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Actress Myrna Loy In The Barbarian,1933
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Marlene Dietrich, Berlin, 1929
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Boots 1920
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Woman Inspects a Scottish Soldier’s Kilt, Rome 1944
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Photo 1920 Titled: "A Few Seconds Before Happiness"
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Sitting On Their 1947 Chevrolet At Dinner, And 63 Years Later
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A Mother And Her Son On Their Way To A Pride Walk, 1985
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Saving Teddy During The 1941 Blitz Of Liverpool
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Little Girl Talking With Her Father, A Train Driver For Southern Railway's Southern Belle Steam Train, Before He Leaves On A Trip To Brighton - London, 1931
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Warsaw, Poland
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Cyclist From Estonia, On A Self-Made Bicycle, 1912
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Inside Of A Railroad Car Made By The Pullman Company, 1890s
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Italian Grocery Shop, New York, 1943
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First Publicly Sold Bottle Of Coca-Cola, Released In 1894
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Living United States Flag, Formed By 10,000 Navy Sailors In Illinois, 1917
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Female Firefighting Team On A Converted Motorcycle In London, 1932
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Photographer Margaret Bourke-White Capturing A Shot From The Top Of The Chrysler Building, 1935
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High School Girls Learn The Finer Points Of Auto Mechanics In 1927
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How Babies Traveled On Airplanes 1960's
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A Saloon In Wyoming In The Late 1800s
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First American Aircraft Carrier. Converted From A Coal Cargo Ship. USS Langley. 1928
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Empire State Builder Hanging On A Crane Above New York City, 1930
Friday, March 28, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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March 29, 1912:
Death of Scott in Antarctic expedition.
Captain Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – c 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic.
On the first expedition, he set a new southern record and discovered the Antarctic Plateau, on which the South Pole is located. On the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, less than five weeks after Amundsen’s South Pole expedition. On the return journey from the Pole, a planned meeting with supporting dog teams from the base camp failed, despite Scott’s written instructions, and at a distance of 162 miles (261 km) from their base camp at Hut Point and approximately 12.5 miles (20.1 km) from the next depot, Scott and his companions died. When Scott and his party’s bodies were discovered, they had in their possession the first Antarctic fossils discovered. The fossils were determined to be from the Glossopteris tree and proved that Antarctica was once forested and joined to other continents.
On 29 March 2012, storm-bound in a tent near the South Pole, Scott made his last entry in his diary “the end cannot be far”. He also left a “Message to the Public” which ended with these words:
We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last ... Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale, but surely, surely, a great rich country like ours will see that those who are dependent on us are properly provided for.
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