Today is...

[IceWizard]

11 Mar 2017



Genealogy Day



Many of us are too preoccupied with our lives to think too much about the past, especially ancestors of our who lived and died perhaps hundreds of years ago. every now and then, however, people who happen to have a bit more time start digging around and sometimes find out the most fascinating facts about where their forefathers came from and what kid of people they were.

Think about it: aren’t you just a little bit curious? If so, Genealogy Dayis sure to prove both fun and educational.

The History of Genealogy Day

The idea of keeping track of one’s family tree is not a new one. The family tree of Confucius, for example, has been maintained for over 2,500 years, a Guiness World Record. In Western societies, genealogy was especially important to royalty, who used it to decide who was of noble descent and who was not, as well as who had the right to rule which geographical area.

Much like the ancient Egyptians’ assertions that their pharaohs were part god and part man, the medieval Anglo-Saxon Chronicle claimed that the god Woden (perhaps better known as the Norse god Odin) himself was a direct ancestor of several English kings.

Genealogy Day was created in 2013, by Christ Church, United Presbyterian and Methodist in Limerick, Ireland to help celebrate the church’s 200th anniversary. For this day, Christ Church brought together local family history records not only from its own combined churches, but also from the area’s Church of Ireland parishes, including the Religious Society if Friends in Ireland (Quaker) and the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon). The people in attendance could then use the amassed marriage and baptism records dating back to the early 1800s, such as Limerick Methodist Registers and Limerick Presbyterian Registers, to find out about their great-great-grandparents.

The idea proved so popular that the day was repeated for the next two consecutive years and has inspired many people to take a look into their family tree to find out a bit more about where they come from.


And





National Submarine Day



How low… can you go?
How low… can you go?

When it comes to Submarine Day, we imagine it’s pretty low.

Believe it or not, the first recorded submersible was built by Cornelius Drebbel in 1620 for James I of England, although why anyone would want to plunge beneath the surface of a 17th century Thames is beyond us.

April 11, 1900 however is when the American Government purchased its first commissioned submarine, the USS Holland. USS Holland was the United States Navy’s first commissioned submarine, named for her Irish-American inventor, John Philip Holland, although not the first submarine of the US Navy, which was the 1862 Alligator. The boat was originally laid down as Holland VI, and launched on 17 May 1897.

Today’s submarines are of course far more sophisticated than that particular oar-powered contraption, having played major parts in military operations for over a century. The amount of expertise that goes into their design, construction, maintenance and operation is quite staggering, especially when you take into account the inclusion of navigation and communication networks; sensors, armaments and weaponry; powerful propulsion systems; and of course, a large number of rigorously trained and highly skilled men and women, often putting their lives on the line for their countries.

So today can take many forms: We can think about the ingenuity and majesty of the mighty submarine itself. We can celebrate its place in the modern world. We can imagine what they’ll be like in a hundred years’ time. But most importantly, we can take a moment to think about those lost at sea over the years, and pay tribute to the courage of those who are beneath the ocean waves at this exact moment in time.

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March 11 Birthdays



Johnny Knoxville - 46




John Barrowman - 50




Anton Yelchin - (1989 - 2016) (27)




David Newman - 62




Shemp Howard - (1895 - 1955) (60)




Anissa Jones - (1958 - 1976) (18)




Rob Paulsen - 61




George Kooymans - 69



Mark Stein - 70






March 11th

1995: Van Halen kicked off their tour in support of their last album with Sammy Hagar, Balance in Pensacola, FL, later dubbed the “Ambulance” Tour by Eddie Van Halen due to his hip surgery & Alex Van Halen wearing a neck brace most of the tour.

1989: Guns N’ Roses peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with “Paradise City” which was their third top ten single in the U.S.

1989: Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander & Heart singer Ann Wilson peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with their duet “Surrender to Me” from the movie Tequila Sunrise.

1983: Styx kicked off their tour in support of their concept album Kilroy Was Here at the Fox Theatre in San Diego. On this tour there was a theatrical stage built around the album in which band members had roles & dialogue in addition to playing the music.

1974: Janis Joplin’s manager Albert Grossman was awarded $112,000 on her life insurance policy after the insurance company argued that Joplin’s overdose death in 1970 was a suicide & not an accident.

1972: Neil Young reached number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart for the first time as Harvest began a two week run on top of the album chart.

1971: Jim Morrison arrived in Paris & checked into The Hotel George’s before he moved to an apartment at 17 Rue Beautreillis, where he lived until his death.

1970: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released their first album Déjà Vu which went later went to number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and sell seven million copies in the U.S. alone.

1967: The Beatles’ music publisher Dick James announced that “Yesterday” had been covered 446 times so far. To date, there are more than 3,000 recorded cover versions.

Birthdays:

Mark Stein - Singer & organist for Vanilla Fudge born in 1947

George Kooymans - Singer & guitarist for Golden Earring born in 1948