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Five Things from This Day in History

For today, I thought I would share some things throughout history that I found interesting that happened on July 25. Many things happened on this day in all those years passed, but these are the few that caught my interest. We begin in 1853. Joaquin Murrieta, the famous Californian bandit known as “Robin Hood of El Dorado”, is killed by California Rangers. In 1919 Johnston McCulley read “The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murrieta: The Celebrated California Bandit” by John Rollin Ridge and this inspired his fiction character Don Diego de la Vega, also known as Zorro.

In 1943, the 1st warship named after an African American launched, USS Leonard Roy Harmon, a Buckley class destroyer. Leonard Roy Harmon was an American Sailor who died during WWII and was awarded the Navy Cross for his valor. In 1972, US health officials concede African Americans were used as guinea pigs in a 40-year syphilis experiment. Given the current political climate of the United States, I felt both of these events were important as one celebrates African Americans and the other illustrates how they were still used by upper classes.

In 1984 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space. She was also the second woman to fly to space. Her spacewalk mission was aboard the Soyuz T-12. In 2019 “City killer” Asteroid 2019 OK passed by almost undetected at 187 to 427 feet (57 to 130 meters) just 45,000 miles (72,000 km) away from Earth, closer than the Moon. It was discovered the day before, July 24, 2019, it passed by Earth. It is uncommon for asteroids this size to pass within 100,000 km (62,000 miles) of Earth.

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Wacky Wednesday: July 22

Welcome to another fun filled day of wacky words and wacky holidays. Our first word is a noun which refers to a glass jar for collecting small insects. It’s called a Pooter. One of my illiterate relatives would often refer to computers as pooters. The process involves sucking the insects through a small tube. I don’t know if this was ever practical. Next we have a rare word which describes something that is also rare. Agastopia refers to loving one part of someone’s body. They may protect it more than other parts or they may prefer to use it for tasks. Do you have a favorite part of your body?

We have a couple of food holidays and a couple not-food holidays today. We have National Hammock Day and National Rat Catcher’s Day. If you own a hammock, go enjoy it this evening. Rat Catcher’s Day commemorates the myth of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Our food holidays are National Penuche Fudge Day and National Hot Dog Day. Penuche Fudge is like any other fudge but often includes nuts. National Hot Dog Day occurs on a Wednesday in July every year. It was founded by the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council in 1991. Over 25 million hot dogs are sold at baseball stadiums each year. Maybe not this year (2020)? Have you enjoyed a hot dog today?

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Coffee and Contemplation: Nonviolent Resistance and Protesting

A couple days ago something amazing happened in Portland, Oregon. Portland police ‘retreat’ after standoff with NAKED female protester. A woman walked up to police stopping several feet away and began performing yoga on the street. The police eventually withdrew. With all the protests happening around the country, I think people may need more ideas of nonviolent resistance. There have been many examples throughout history including the Sit-In protests in the 1960s. Black Americans who were not allowed in “white only” establishments would sit down refusing to leave. They would sometimes fill an entire restaurant.

I first want to point out the difference between Nonviolent Resistance and Civil Disobedience. Berel Lang makes the argument that civil disobedience is a form of political action which necessarily aims at reform, rather than revolution: its efforts are typically directed at the disputing of particular laws or group of laws, while conceding the authority of the government responsible for them. In contrast, political acts of nonviolent resistance can have revolutionary ends. My takeaway is Civil Disobedience is like people protesting against wearing masks and quarantine (things in place to help protect people). Nonviolent Resistance is protesting against police brutality such as the naked yoga woman I mentioned.

There are many forms of Nonviolent Resistance. Many have been seen in the US for the last few years. Tactics such as picketing, marches, vigils, leafletting, protest art, protest music and poetry, and boycotts are just a few examples. One of my favorite historical events was The Singing Revolution which helped lead to the liberation of the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). As a fan for “V for Vendetta” (2005), I also enjoyed reading about The Rose Revolution in the country of Georgia. The event derives its name from the climactic moment, when demonstrators led by Mikheil Saakashvili stormed the Parliament session with red roses in hand.

I hope some of these examples help everyone think of new ways of Nonviolent Resistance. The entire United States and the world at large has to work together to make the world a better place. Reform is no longer and option. It’s time for a revolution. I hope we can achieve a nonviolent end to all the suffering.