February 19, 2014

February 19: this day in history (from Wikipedia)

1878 – "Thomas Edison patents the phonograph." Liberating us from the dark days when families had to entertain themselves by singing or playing music together.

1942 – "World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to internment camps." And there's a memorial to in Washington DC to this guy!

1963 – "The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique reawakens the Feminist Movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread." I was born several years later, but growing up I generally  didn't like hostile demeanor and rank Statism that infused the feminist movement for decades. I suppose, that was inevitable and many of those women were courageous . I'm just glad there's more social freedom today for girls and women.

I am tired of the "first woman this, first woman that..." kind of non-news that's becoming increasingly trivial. "First woman Fed chairman," "first woman to anchor prime time Olympic telecasts." Please, we get it already. And it's not going to get better when we have a first woman President. She could drop a bomb on an American elementary school, and if anyone objects, the response will be, "You're only saying that because you're a sexist."

Notable quotes from people with February 19 birthdays (from Brainy Quote unless otherwise noted)

"To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge." - Nicolaus Copernicus (February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543)

"The accolades usually come when you're dead or too old to get a job." - John Frankenheimer, film director (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002)

"I have a writer's memory which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was."

"In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you." 

- Amy Tan (born February 19, 1952)

Song of the Day

Happy 74th birthday, Smokey Robinson!