That's November 11 to the uninitiated. So a great big thank you to all my fellow Vets. Sadly, I missed the pivotal moment of 11:11 a.m today, when the guns actually fell silent. Bummer.
Anyhow, on to other things. In the harbor at Provincetown, a merry band signs the Mayflower Compact. And no, it wasn't something used for women to put makeup on. They were pretty staunchly religious, so they had no truck with that kind of frivolity! After all, they left Europe, leaving behind those folks who were too busy having Euro-sex!
In 1634, the Irish Parliament passes "An act for the Punishment of the Vice of Buggery", speaking of Euro-sex. Apparently they were against it.
In 1750, the F.H.C. Club was formed. It stands for the "Flat Hat Club". Catchy name, eh? The founders were in a tavern, so that explains a lot. For the record, it's considered the first college fraternity, for people who are willing to pay for their friends.
1839 brings along a new school in Virginia, called "The Virginia Military Institute". It was only within the last 20 years that, under pressure from numerous groups, they allowed women in. Ironically, the "numerous groups" included each and every one of the (several) women's only colleges in Virginia, along with a bunch of other women's only schools across the country. Fascinating that an all-male school is sexist, but numerous all-women schools are not, huh?
The city of Atlanta has a crappy day today in 1864. General Sherman, getting ready for his next maneuver, that of "making Georgia howl", starts to burn the City. The idea is to burn only facilities that contribute to the Rebel war effort, but... well things get out of hand. But on the plus side, Georgia has never rebelled since then.
Happy Statehood Day to Washington. Fun fact: They initially were gonna call the state "Columbia", but decided that doing so might cause people to confuse it with the District of Columbia. So they opted to call it something else, thus ensuring that the two areas would be impossible to confuse. Yeah, politicians were as full of... common sense... then as they are now.
And as alluded to at the start, on this date in 1918 the Armistice ending WWI, aka "the War to End All Wars" was signed. And happily, it managed to pass along a great lesson in how NOT to bring a war to an end. Not that anybody paid attention, mind you. As a result of the end of the War, the Austrian Empire comes to a crashing halt as well, when Emperor Charles I steps down, without actually abdicating. He presumably had a short and miserable reign- he only got the throne because his uncle, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, which brought the whole war into being. What a mess.
Tying into our theme of honoring Veterans, today was also the day that President Harding dedicated the Tomb of The Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery.
All people with a love of the open road should celebrate the hell out of today. In 1926, the US established Route 66. People have been getting their kicks on it ever since, though it's nowhere near as much fun now, since much of it is highway. I've been on some decent stretches, as it runs right through Albuquerque, where I lived for a few years. I've also taken that route all the way to California, which is the point of the whole thing.
In 1940, the British Navy has a great idea, and launches a raid on the Port of Taranto, in Italy. They do a lot of damage to the Italian fleet there, using torpedoes and dive bombers. Not many people really notice it, but I assure you the Japanese Fleet does. And they have bad intent for their new-found knowledge.
And that's that!
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