Happy November 27!

And it's a day on which things happened.  Let's see if any of them were interesting, shall we?



If you were a Cheyenne Indian living along the Washita River on this date in 1868, you'd probably already be pretty bummed out.  Or pretty dead.  Cuz at some time today- probably early morning- along came Custer and his merry men, charging through your camp.  Lots of people died, most of them Indian.  Ultimately, I guess, it was retaliation for Indian attacks a few weeks earlier.  Which were retaliation for something else that was a retaliation for something else again.... I have a headache. 

On this date in 1895, Alfred Nobel signs a Last Will and Testament.  Since he died the following year, this one actually mattered.  In it, he made provision to give over his entire estate in order to give a series of prizes in things like science and peace.  Not surprisingly, they call the thing the Nobel Prize.  Once upon a time, it was given to people who actually accomplished things, as a recognition for their significant achievements.  In the last 10-15 years or so, it's just been a way of telling people that the committee likes their political stances, or in one case, an acknowledgement that the recipient might actually accomplish something other than not being somebody else that the committee didn't like.  So it's lost a lot of it's cachet.  Stupidity ruins everything, I guess.

1924 saw the very first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I'll assume that this date happened to be Thanksgiving, since they would have been pretty late to the party if it wasn't. 

Eighteen years later, there was another world war going on in Europe.  The US and the British had invaded North Africa, with some basically good results.  The French were leaning towards yet another surrender, now to the other side of the War.  And the Germans wanted the French fleet, based in Toulon, to continue surrendering only to them, as a decent sized fleet would be useful to them.  But the French, being unable to decide who to surrender to, decided to give up in North Africa, and then scuttle all their ships, thus keeping from the indignity of surrendering to both sides at the same time, which would be quite an achievement even for France.  In the end, the Germans tried to seize the fleet using a panzer division (despite the obvious flaw that tanks can't swim very well), and the French succeeded in sinking most of their own ships, including 3 battleships and over 20 other major ships.  It didn't help the Allies any, but it didn't do much for the Germans either. 

In 1954, Alger Hiss was released from prison, where he had spent less than 4 years.  Not for the treason which he certainly committed, mind you, but for perjury, because he denied that he was a Soviet spy.  Sometimes Justice isn't just blind, but also completely incompetent. 

And that's pretty much that.  Stay tuned for next year!