On this day in history...

[Richard A]

Arneb has a point. And as for precedent, there have been plenty of extraordinary renditions since, on far shakier ground. And while I agree with Arneb's general opposition to the death penalty, I do worry a bit about the fact that it was also Israel's last judicial one. (Of course, it has carried out plenty of extra-judicial ones, but that's another story.) If you choose to have a death penalty, the circumstances in which you don't use it say as much as those in which you do. I'd have been happy to see Yigael Amir swinging from the end of a rope and while Ceausescu and his wife thoroughly deserved the end they got, I'm not convinced that justice wouldn't have been served by a few of his lieutenants sharing the same fate; Romania was pretty hasty, once the Ceausescus had been shot, to get the death penalty off the statute book.

[Arneb]

100 years ago today, the Lied der Deutschen became the National anthem. It is sung to the melody of the 2nd movement of Franz Joseph Haydn's String Quartett in C opus 76, No. 3., Hob. III:77, Poco Adagio. Cantabile. It originally consists of three verses

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt,
Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze
Brüderlich zusammenhält,
Von der Maas bis an die Memel,
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt –
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt!

Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang
Sollen in der Welt behalten
Ihren alten schönen Klang,
Uns zu edler Tat begeistern
Unser ganzes Leben lang –
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang!

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach lasst uns alle streben
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand[4] –
Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes,
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!

In English:
1
Germany, Germany above all
Above everything in the world
When, always, for protection and defense
Brothers stand together.
From the Maas to the Memel
From the Etsch to the Belt,
Germany, Germany above all
Above all in the world.

2
German women, German loyalty,
German wine and German song,
Shall retain, throughout the world,
Their old respected fame,
To inspire us to noble deeds
For the length of our lives.
German women, German fidelity,
German wine and German song.

3
Unity and Justice and Freedom
For the German Fatherland!
After these let us all strive
Brotherly with heart and hand!
Unity and Justice and Freedom
Are the pledge of happiness.
Bloom in the splendour of this happiness,
Bloom, German Fatherland!

The then German President, Friedrich Ebert, expressed the wish that the first verse would be interpreted as an expression of, love for the country instead of national hubris, but that is precisely what happened when the Nazis took over, burying verses 2 and 3 and coupling verse 1 with the unspeakable Horst-Wessel-Lied, a brutish fight-and-marching song of the SA. No wonder that the song was entirely forbidden after Allied occupation. After a few years of to and fro in the new Federal Republic, the President and Chancellor, Theodor Heuss and Konrad Adenauer, agreed to an official letter exchange declaring the third verse, and only the third verse, to be the National Anthem (to the chagrin of Heuss, who would have preferred to do away with a tradition that he saw as deeply poisoned). President von Weizsäcker and Chancellor Kohl reaffirmed this after unification. Ossis weren't asked, but after all, we didn't have a new country, they just joined the existing FRG.

Myself, I can identify with verse three rather well. Verse 2, well, what's wrong about wine and women? But as we say, time has thoroughly and rightly gone past that one.

[g-one]

I used to enjoy hearing the instrumental version of that one almost every weekend when Michael Schumacher was in F1.
I recognized the tune from a hymn, but did not know it was from Haydn, thanks.

[Arneb]

It's called the Kaisequartett, and you'll find loads of perfomances on YT.

[tubeswell]

12 August - in NZ history

12 August 1816 - NZ's first Mission School opened at Hohi (Oihi) in the Bay of Islands (in Northland - a.k.a 'the winterless north' at the northern end of the North Island)
This was in a Church Missionary Society (Anglican) settlement, when good old Church of England preachers had determined that 'natives' in the new colony needed to follow Henry VIII's religion (at the same time as a whole lot of other Christian churches had decided NZ 'natives' needed to follow whatever particular branch of Christianity their gospel was peddling). The building measured about 10m x 6m and included an area for Māori students to sleep and a cordoned-off platform for teachers and Pākehā students. It was constructed of kahikatea boards pit-sawn by mission workers. A fireplace with a brick chimney enabled heating and cooking.

12 August 1895 - Winton baby-farmer Minnie Dean hanged
In Southland (which is 'at the bottom' of the South Island, where, for Enzo's edification, the locals are really upside-down), Williamina (Minnie) Dean became the first – and only – woman to be hanged in New Zealand. Her crime - burying bodies of 3 children who had died in her care, in her back garden.

12 August 1975 - NZ runner, John Walker, broke the 4-minute mile world record, recording 3 minutes 49.4 seconds at Gothenburg, Sweden (which isn't anywhere near NZ, but, oh-well, Kiwi's will claim any remotely NZ-ish as 'NZ history' - part of New Zealander's obscurity complex, being a country named after 'old Zeeland', wherever the f**k that is)

[Heid the Ba]

I remember the runner John Walker. I was in Zealand earlier in the summer, it is the wet bit of Netherlands down near the Belgian border.

[Lianachan]

August 16th, 1745 - Highbridge skirmish, the first action of the '45. I'll be at the battle site in a few weeks, explaining it all to people as part of the Highland Archaeology Festival this year.

[tubeswell]

Aug 17 1942 3,000 British POWs (including 118 NZ POWs) died when the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean, sparing these loyal troops the coming hardships of their internment in a POW camp, and denying the enemy convoy their POW shield. That's the way it was done.

[Lance]

Aug 17 1942 3,000 British POWs (including 118 NZ POWs) died when the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean, sparing these loyal troops the coming hardships of their internment in a POW camp, and denying the enemy convoy their POW shield. That's the way it was done.

Wow

[Lianachan]

Aug 17 1942 3,000 British POWs (including 118 NZ POWs) died when the Italian transport ship Nino Bixio was torpedoed by a British submarine in the Mediterranean, sparing these loyal troops the coming hardships of their internment in a POW camp, and denying the enemy convoy their POW shield. That's the way it was done.

Wow

Oh, that's nothing.

[Lianachan]

August 19th, 1561 - Mary Queen of Scots arrives home from France, sailing into the Port of Leith. She had lived in France since the age of 5 and briefly became Queen of France but her young husband Francis II died barely a year into his reign, prompting her to return to Scotland.

[Lianachan]

August 24th, 1912. First aeroplane flight in the Highlands, a high wing monoplane called "Firefly" from a field on the outskirts of Strathpeffer during their Highland Games. Less than a mile from my house...

[tubeswell]

^Looks like a Bleriot^ monoplane?

[Lianachan]

It does, but I have no additional info just now (having never heard of this until today).

[Lianachan]

^Looks like a Bleriot^ monoplane?

I have found:

Only three years after Bleriot crossed the Channel a similar monoplane named ‘Firefly’ appeared at the Strathpeffer Games on 24th August 1912. This appears to be the first heavier than air machine to fly north of the Great Glen. It was piloted by B C Hucks who it would seem was on a national barn-storming tour for there are photographs of the same combination flying in Norfolk just three weeks earlier. Hucks was a well known pilot having been the first man to loop-the-loop in an aeroplane.

B C Hucks

[Lianachan]

September 3rd, 1650 - Battle of Dunbar. Chalk one up for the bad guys.

[Lianachan]

September 11th, 1987. Opening of Paisley Park. Not a park in, let’s face it, Glasgow, but a studio and stage complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota used by (among others) Beastie Boys, M.C. Hammer, Freddie Jackson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Neil Young, Kool & The Gang, Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, The Muppets, the Bee Gees, Barry Manilow, Jeff Beck, Burger King, McDonald’s, Comet Cleanser, Volkswagen, Porsche, Cadillac, Lincoln Mercury and the studio where the (shite) films “Drop Dead Fred", “Graffiti Bridge” and "Grumpy Old Men" were made. Probably most famous due to Prince, who instigated, designed and financed it before using it to rehearse many tours, perform many shows, record thousands of songs and make many videos, before dying there in 2016.

[Arneb]

4 November 1995, assasination of Yitzhak Rabin, then Israeli Prime Minister and co-architect of the Oslo Accord, by a radical member of the Settlers' movement.

[Lance]

14 November, 1968: Colonel Walter E. Kurtz disappears from his post.

[Мастер]

14 November, 1968: Colonel Walter E. Kurtz disappears from his post.

I'm feeling tragic, like I'm - Marlon Brando

[Arneb]

50 years ago today:

[Arneb]

50 years ago today, in about 4 hrs time, this happened:

Watch on youtube.com

[Arneb]

50 years ago today:



"As I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come – but we believe not too long into the future – I’d like to just [say] what I believe history will record. That America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind." - Eugene Cernan

[Arneb]

Later that day...

Watch on youtube.com

[Lance]

Eugene Cernan

Back when I worked for the Big Evil oil company, they would occasionally have "Lunch and Learns" with guest motivational speakers. One time one of the shuttle astronauts came in to speak, who also had recently published a book. The name of the astronaut and book escape me at the moment and a quick Google search didn't help.

Anyway, during the course of his talk, he gave away 3 autographed copies of his book to people who correctly answered his trivia questions. I don't recall the first 2 questions but in the audience of several hundred, many hands went up with the answers. He chose whoever he thought got their hand up first.

Then came the third question: "Everyone knows Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon. Who was the LAST?"

I could not believe in that audience I was the _only one_ who knew the answer.

If I knew where the book was now, I could have told you the title and his name. But, alas...