Did you know the metaphor, “Swan Song,” came from Greece?
The metaphorical phrase of the “Swan Song,” has been long debated over the centuries and had become proverbial in Ancient Greece by the 3rd century BC, and was reiterated many times in later Western poetry and art as giving a final gesture, or performance just before death or retirement.
The reason why today’s story is called “The Swan Song,” is because two years ago today I started writing my blog.
I wasn’t out for fame or glory when I started this blog; I just enjoyed writing and inspiring others.
That I wanted to be upfront with all my readers today, and tell them I enjoyed your comments over the years, but I wanted spend more time in finishing my autobiography for publication.
Sadly I can’t do both, but this isn’t a good-bye but just time out to finish my book I started two years ago.
My blog is still going to be here for you to enjoy, and to share with others, and I’m grateful to my 74 followers that has with me for the last two years, but as I leave you now.
I wish you success and happiness in all your endeavors, as I share this video with you below to help you follow your dreams because nothing in Life happens without a purpose.
Today on, “Days to Remember,” we celebrate how on May 29th 1916, the official flag of the president of the United States was adopted.
Until today I had no idea the president of the United States had their own flag, did you?
The flag of the President of the United States consists of the presidential coat of arms on a dark blue background. While having the same design as the presidential seal since 1945, the flag has a separate history, and the designs on the flag and seal have at different times influenced each other.
The flag is often displayed by the President in official photos, flown next to the coffin of the President in official funeral processions, and flown on the President’s motorcade.
Who designed this infamous flag?
Samuel Chester Reid, who proposed this design, made a drawing of it years later which showed the eagle and Liberty in switched positions, and had the stars arranged in a larger star.
Who was Samuel Chester Reid?
He was an officer in the United States Navy who commanded a privateer during the War of 1812. He is also noted for having helped design the 1818 version of the flag of the United States, which first established the rule of keeping thirteen stripes and adding one star for each U.S. state.
As the President is Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, each service developed its own tradition of honoring the President, which eventually led each to design their own presidential flag.
This did not happen until the late 19th century however, and the Navy at first used existing flags for their ceremonies.
On May 29, 1916, President Wilson issued Executive Order 2390, which officially changed to the new design.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Today on, “Days to Remember,” we celebrate how on May 28th 1955, “Billboard” reported that “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” was the most popular song in the U.S.
Who wrote this infamous song?
“The Ballad of Davy Crockett” is a song with music by George Bruns and lyrics by Thomas W. Blackburn.
The song was introduced on ABC’s television series Disneyland, in the premiere episode of October 27, 1954.
Fess Parker is shown performing the song on a log cabin set in frontiersman clothes, accompanied by similarly attired musicians. The song would later be heard throughout the Disneyland television miniseries Davy Crockett, first telecast on December 15, 1954.
Today’s YouTube presentation brought to you by user name, (warholsoup100), gives you the song version of Davy Crockett that came out on May 28th 1955.
When George Bruns and Thomas Blackburn came up this the catchy tune they were both artists working at Disney Studios.
There were actually three versions released close together: one by actor Fess Parker, this one by actor/singer Bill Hayes, and one by singer/actor Tennessee Ernie Ford (most memorable today as “Cousin Ernie” from the TV series I Love Lucy). Since Hayes’ version went #1, we’ll award the crown to him.
Davy Crockett was real person, not something Walt Disney and his staff created.
He was as a noted frontiersman, soldier and politician, who served in the Texas Revolution and died at the battle of the Alamo.
He also served as a member of the US House of Representatives for two terms, Tennessee’s 9th district 1827-1831, and Tennessee’s 12th district 1833-1835. OK, we’ll grant you that, kind of like an early American frontier Chuck Norris, the tales about him got a little tall – we’ll forgive you if you’re skeptical about ursine slaughter at age three.
But he was a real man whose real signature is on real US government documents and whose real ashes are somewhere in the Alamo vicinity (Santa Anna was sloppy with his grave-marking), and even has a real town in Texas named after him.
As we celebrate how on May 28th 1955, “Billboard” reported that “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” was the most popular song in the U.S.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Today on, “Days to Remember,” we celebrate how on May 27th 1933, Walt Disney’s “Three Little Pigs” was first released.
Before we get into today’s story about the Three Little Pigs, it was written in 1886, by author James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps.
The story in its arguably best-known form appeared in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, first published in 1890 and crediting Halliwell as his source.
The story begins with the title characters being sent out into the world by their mother, to “seek out their fortune”.
The first little pig builds a house of straw, but a wolf blows it down and eats him.
The second pig builds a house of furze sticks, which the wolf also blows down and eats him.
Each exchange between wolf and pig features ringing proverbial phrases, namely:
“Little pig, little Pig, let me come in.”
“No, no, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin.”
“Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.”
Today’s YouTube presentation brought to you by user name, (Walt Disney Kanal), brings you the Three Little Pigs Walt Disney version, because on May 27th 1933, Walt Disney’s “Three Little Pigs” was first released to the movie theatres.
The most well-known version of the story is an award-winning 1933 Silly Symphony cartoon, which was produced by Walt Disney.
The production cast the title characters as Fifer Pig, Fiddler Pig, and Practical Pig.
The first two are depicted as both frivolous and arrogant. The story has been somewhat softened.
The first two pigs still get their houses blown down, but escape from the wolf.
Also, the wolf is not boiled to death but simply burns his behind and runs away. Three sequels soon followed in 1934, 1936 and 1939 respectively.
It was happy ending not like the original version of it when it was written in 1886.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Today on, “Days to Remember,” we celebrate how on May 26th 1958, Union Square, San Francisco became a state historical landmark.
Union Square was originally a tall sand dune, and the square was later set aside to be made into a public park in 1850. Union Square got its name from the pro-Union rallies held there on the eve of the Civil War. The monument itself is also a tribute to the sailors of the United States Navy.
Union Square was built and dedicated by San Francisco’s first American mayor John Geary in 1850 and is so named for the pro-Union rallies that happened there before and during the United States Civil War.
Since then the plaza has undergone many notable changes, one of the most significant happening in 1903 with the dedication of a 97 ft. tall monument to Admiral George Dewey’s victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War, it also commemorates U.S. President William McKinley, who had been assassinated.
Today’s YouTube presentation brought to you by user name, (Maps of World), gives you a little slide show and movie of how the Union Square in San Francisco looks like. As we celebrate how on May 26th 1958, Union Square, San Francisco became a state historical landmark.
Union Square is the heartbeat of San Francisco ever-changing, eternally celebrating, yet firmly rooted in its rich past.
In 1847, the City of San Francisco commissioned Jasper O’Farrell to lay out a design for its streets and parks. Union Square was one of two public squares.
It was named on the eve of the Civil War as a demonstration of support for the Union.
In the 1930s, the Union Square Garage Corporation was formed and lobbied for permission to build the world’s first underground parking structure. After a California Supreme Court decision, permission was granted and they broke ground on May 31, 1941.
Today, Union Square retains its role as the ceremonial “heart” of San Francisco, serving as the site of many public concerts and events, art shows, impromptu protests, private parties and events, winter ice rink and the annual Christmas tree and Menorah lighting. Public views of the square can be seen from surrounding buildings.
As celebrate how on May 26th 1958, Union Square, San Francisco became a state historical landmark.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Today on, “Days to Remember,” we celebrate how on May 25th 585 B.C., the first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.
So who was it back then that discover the first solar eclipse in Greece?
The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus accurately predicted a solar eclipse, according to The Histories of Herodotus.
If Herodotus’ account is accurate, this eclipse is the earliest recorded as being known in advance of its occurrence. Many historians believe that the predicted eclipse was the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BC.
Today’s YouTube presentation brought to you by user name, (tektamos) gives you beautiful show of who Thales of Miletus was back then, as we celebrate how on May 25th 585 B.C., the first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.
Who was Thales of Miletus?
Thales was born in the city of Miletus around the mid 620s BC, although some historians say he was a Phoenician who immigrated to Miletus with his parents. He was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from Miletus in Asia Minor.
The dates of Thales’ life are not exactly known but are roughly established by a few datable events mentioned in the sources.
Thales died at the age of 78 during the 58th Olympiad (548–545 BC) and attributes his death to heat stroke while watching the games.
Aristotle, the major source for Thales’s philosophy and science, identified Thales as the first person to investigate the basic principles, the question of the originating substances of matter and, therefore, as the founder of the school of natural philosophy.
Thales’ hypotheses were new and bold, and in freeing phenomena from godly intervention, he paved the way towards scientific endeavor on May 25th 585 B.C., of his first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Today on, “Days to Remember,” we celebrate how May 24th 1986, Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork reunited as the Monkees. They kicked off their reunion tour at the Concord Hotel, in New York’s Catskills Mountains.
Who remembers the Monkees?
The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968.
The musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork and British actor and singer Davy Jones. The band’s music was initially supervised by producer Don Kirshner.
Micky Dolenz was born at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital (now Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), in Los Angeles, California, the son of actors George Dolenz and Janelle Johnson.
In 1965, Dolenz was cast in the television sitcom The Monkees and became the drummer and a lead vocalist in the band created for the show. He was not at that time a drummer. He needed lessons even to be able to mime credibly but eventually was taught how to play properly. By the time The Monkees went on tour in late 1966, Dolenz was competent enough to play the drums himself.
Michael Nesmith was born in Houston, Texas in 1942. When Nesmith was 13, his mother invented a typewriter correction fluid later known commercially as Liquid Paper. Over the next 25 years she built the Liquid Paper Corporation into a multimillion dollar international company, which she finally sold to Gillette in 1979 for US$48 million.
Nesmith began his recording career in 1963 by releasing a single on the Highness label. He followed this in 1965 with a one-off single released on Edan Records followed by two more recorded singles; one was titled “The New Recruit” under the name “Michael Blessing,” released on Colpix Records, coincidentally also the label of Davy Jones, though they did not meet until The Monkees formed.
Peter Tork was born at the former Doctors Hospital, in Washington, D.C. Although he was born in the District of Columbia in 1942, many news articles incorrectly report him as born in 1944 in New York City, which was the date and place given on early Monkees press releases.
Tork got the job and became one of the four members of the Monkees, a fictitious pop band in the mid 1960s, created for a television comedy sitcom written about the fictitious band. Tork was the oldest member of the group.
David Thomas Jones was born at 20 Leamington Street, Openshaw, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on December 30th 1945. From 1966 to 1971, Jones was a member of the Monkees, a pop-rock group formed expressly for a television show of the same name. He was child actor in England before he came to America.
Today’s YouTube video presentation brought to you by user name, (The Madster 200), gives a the theme song and ending song of the hit show in the 60s called, “The Monkees,” as we celebrate how May 24th 1986, Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork reunited as the Monkees. They kicked off their reunion tour at the Concord Hotel, in New York’s Catskills Mountains.
For the first few months of their initial five-year career as the Monkees, the four actor-musicians were allowed only limited roles in the recording studio. This was due in part to the amount of time required to film the television series.
Nonetheless, Nesmith did compose and produce some songs from the beginning, and Peter Tork contributed limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith.
They eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band’s name. The sitcom was canceled in 1968, but the band continued to record music through 1971, but on May 24th 1986, Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork reunited as the Monkees. They kicked off their reunion tour at the Concord Hotel, in New York’s Catskills Mountains.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Today on, “Days to Remember,” we celebrate how on May 23rd 1785, Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals.
I wear bifocals but I didn’t know it was invented in 1785, did you?
So what inspired Benjamin Franklin to inspire the bifocal?
Benjamin Franklin was a hyperope who likely required eyeglasses originally in the 1730s.
By the late 1750s he was usually described wearing them and they became an integral part of his face, at least for distance use.
Many paintings and contemporary sketches and satirical cartoons show him represented wearing his eyeglasses.
He admitted that he could not “distinguish a letter or even of large print without them”.
Benjamin Franklin began to advertise eyeglasses for sale in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, as early as 1738.
With moderate hyperopia he would have found eyeglasses to correct farsightedness useful by this time, about age 30.
What is hyperopia? It term used to describe farsighted people.
Von Rohr and several others credit optician Samuel Pierce with making bifocals for Franklin.
Pierce described people wearing bifocals in 1775 and he himself may have worn them in the 1760’s.
Although this is all noted in the Levene’s chapter no hard evidence is presented.
How do they make bifocals now?
Today’s YouTube video shows you how computer technology now grinds your lens to appropriate prescription.
There’s a small commerical in the beginning sorry about that but it’s very informative videos brought to you by user name, (Empire Optical Channel) as we celebrate how on May 23rd 1785, Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals.
Here are some fun facts, below that you may or may not know about the bio focal lens.
A bifocal lens without a clear dividing line is called a progressive lens. No one can tell you’re wearing progressive lenses.
The lenses are made so that the transition from near vision to far vision is gradual. One potentially limiting factor in progressives is that more lens space is needed for the transition.
The frame you pick needs to have a lens large enough to accommodate the necessary space.
Progressive lenses also can be harder to adjust to than standard bifocals; about 1 in 10 people find them difficult to wear.
Did you know bifocals’ also come in contacts?
Bifocal contacts are not for everyone, however. Bifocal contacts seem to work better as hard contacts rather than soft contacts.
Also, some people find that bifocal contacts don’t provide enough up-close vision to see as sharply as they would like.
Bifocal contacts also can be tricky to fit on your eye. It may take several visits with your eye care provider to get the right fit for you.
The first vision correction device was invented in 1000AD, and called a reading stone.
As you can imagine, it was for farsighted folk who couldn’t read properly, and was basically a glass sphere used as a magnifying glass.
Makes you really thankful for the thin and manageable lenses we have now, doesn’t it?
The first sunglasses, however, date back to 12th century China, where flat crystals of smoky quartz were mounted for personal use to reduce the glare from the sun.
It is also said that these ‘sunglasses’ were used by judges while presiding cases, so as not to give away their emotions. This is the earliest record of sunglasses using ‘lenses’, and materials to see through clearly during daylight or otherwise dates back even further.
You might remember Benjamin Franklin as one of two things, either as a founding father of the United States of America, or the guy who performed the lightning rod experiment.
What many people don’t know, however, is that Benjamin Franklin was also the inventor of bifocals. He was both myopic and hypermetropic, so he developed these special lenses to help him see better. Talk about multi-talented!
As we celebrate today how on May 23rd 1785, Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Today on Days to remember we celebrate how on May 22nd 1841, Henry Kennedy received a patent for the first reclining chair.
A recliner is when the occupant lowers the chair’s back and raises its front. It has a backrest that can be tilted back, and often a footrest that may be extended by means of a lever on the side of the chair, or may extend automatically when the back is reclined.
The word recline was first used in the 1660s. Beginning in 1880 the word recliner was used to describe a type of chair.
Around 1850, the French introduced a reclining camp bed that could serve as a chair, a bed and a chaise longue. It was portable and featured padded arm rests and a steel frame.
Knabush and Shoemaker, two American cousins, are credited with gaining a patent on a wooden recliner.
The design was the same wooden bench recliner found in other designs. Issued in 1928, the patent led to the founding of La-Z-Boy.
In 1930, Knabush and Shoemaker patented an upholstered model with a mechanical movement.
Daniel F. Caldemeyer is known as the father of the modern day recliner.
His invention, as owner of National Furniture Mfg. Co based in Evansville, Indiana, initiated the widespread home usage of the chair that he called the rocket recliner.
His name was based on the fact that he developed his chair based on the science of kinetics that he used while serving in the US Air Force.
His design was used by NASA for the seats in Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, but who was Henry Kennedy?
Henry Kennedy was a native resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia, who was a cabinet-maker and upholsterer, and who had invented a new and improved action of the seat and back of a recumbent or library chair by means of the introduction of a spiral wire spring into the seat.
The nature of my invention consists in introducing a small wire spring horizontally between the back rail of the seat and the front rail of the chain, with a small pole which is inserted between the back and the front rails of the chair riming through a hole bored in the back rail of the seat, which on May 22nd 1841, Henry Kennedy received a patent for the first reclining chair.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Today on Days to remember we celebrate how on May 21st 1602, Martha’s Vineyard was first sighted by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold.
Martha’s Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony.
It includes the smaller Chappaquiddick Island, which is usually connected to the larger island, though storms and hurricanes have been known to separate the two islands.
The last such separation of the islands was in 2007, and as of April 2, 2015, the two islands are again connected.
Often called just “The Vineyard” the island has a land area of 100 square miles.
It’s the 58th largest island in the United States and the third largest on the East Coast of the United States, after Long Island and Mount Desert Island.
A smaller island to the south was named “Martha’s Vineyard” by the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who sailed to the island in 1602.
Bartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer who were instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown in colonial America. He led the first recorded European expedition to Cape Cod. He is considered by Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.
He obtained backing to attempt to found an English colony in the New World and in 1602 he sailed from Falmouth, England in a small Dartmouth bark, the Concord, with thirty-two on board.
Following the coastline for several days, he discovered Martha’s Vineyard and named it after his deceased daughter, Martha, and the wild grapes that covered much of the land.
Gosnold established a small post on Cuttyhunk Island, one of the Elizabeth Islands, near Gosnold, now in Massachusetts.
Like the nearby island of Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard was brought to prominence in the 19th century by the whaling industry, during which ships were sent around the world to hunt whales for their oil and blubber.
The discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania gave rise to a cheaper source of oil for lamps and led to an almost complete collapse of the industry by 1870.
During the whaling era, wealthy Boston sea captains and merchant traders often created estates on Martha’s Vineyard with their trading profits.
Today, the Vineyard has become one of the Northeast’s most prominent summering havens, having attracted numerous celebrity regulars, but on May 21st 1602, Martha’s Vineyard was first sighted by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Days to Remember 