Today is...

[IceWizard]

29 Jan 2017

Thomas Paine Day



Freethinkers Day, also known as Thomas Paine Day, is an opportunity to promote appreciation of freethought thought the life and works of Thomas Paine. Freethought supports reason over faith, and rejects arbitrary authority.

Thomas Paine was a courageous freethinker, whose life and work inspired great social and political advancement across world. Raised in England, Paine played a vital role in the American and French Revolutions. His books and pamphlets, including The Age of Reason, The Rights of Man, and Common Sense gained a mass audience for the liberating philosophy of the Enlightenment.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) arrived in America in 1774 at Benjamin Franklin's request. On January 10, 1776, he published Common Sense, a remarkable and powerful republican pamphlet which had an immediate success. He served in the Revolutionary War under General Greene and later in official positions appointed by congress and in the Pennsylvania legislature. In his later publication, Age of Reason, Paine expressed that "all religions are in their nature mild and benign" when not associated with political systems. Paine was the quintessential Deist of the 18th century.

Between March 1791 and February 1792 he published numerous editions of his Rights of Man, in which he defended the French Revolution. The words of Thomas Paine inspired many to strive for political, economic and social advancement. He was among the first to call for an end to slavery and the establishment of human rights around the world.

In the 1990s, the Truthseeker magazine began celebrating Freethinkers Day on Thomas Paine's birthday in order to educate the public on the importance of Thomas Paine in the history of freedom. Also in the 1990s, the Thomas Paine Foundation began celebrating the birthday of Thomas Paine on January 29th, a Thomas Paine Day proclamation on June 8 and other Paine theme events during the year.



And



Curmudgeons Day



It’s Curmudgeons Day! Bah humbug!

Merriam Webster defines a curmudgeon as “a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man,” but I have a bone to pick with that definition: why can’t I be a curmudgeon?! I’m crusty and ill-tempered enough!

Curmudgeons Day is held on January 29 in honor of legendary comedian W. C. Fields. Since most of my generation is unfamiliar with W. C. Fields.

I’ve pulled a few quotes from W. C. Fields:

“Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.”

“I like children – fried."

"A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money."

"I never drink water; that is the stuff that rusts pipes. "

"I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food."

"It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to."

"The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath."

"Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water."

Celebrate Curmudgeons Day by being a curmudgeon or watching a few good curmudgeons – Oscar the Grouch, Grumpy the Dwarf, John and Max from Grumpy Old Men, or (my personal favorite animated curmudgeon) Carl from Up!

“In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.'”

Exodus 16:2-3

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January 29 Birthdays



Tommy Ramone - (1952 - 2014) 62



David Byron - (1947 - 1985) 38



Oprah Winfrey - 63



Harriet Tubman - (1820 - 1913) 93



Tom Selleck - 72



Heather Graham - 47



Paul Ryan - 47



Sara Gilbert - 42



William McKinley - (1843 - 1901) 58



Thomas Paine - (1736 - 1809) 73



John D. Rockefeller Jr. - (1874 - 1960) 86






January 29th


2006: Bryan Adams became the first Western artist to perform in Karachi, Pakistan, where he performed a benefit concert to raise money for underprivileged children to go to school and for victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

1992: Willie Dixon, who has had his songs covered by artists such as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Animals, and Eric Clapton to name a few, died of heart failure in Burbank, CA. He was 76 years old.

1983: Stevie Nicks married record promoter Kim Anderson. The couple would be divorced in April 1984.

1983: “Shock the Monkey” by Peter Gabriel peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, which was Gabriel’s first top 40 single & his first single to chart higher in the U.S. than the U.K.

1982: Joe Walsh, backed by a band billed as the Hollywood Rock ‘n’ Roll Revue performed a benefit concert in Santa Barbara, CA. The benefit was the Pacific Alliance Presents A Water For Life Benefit Concert For A Non-Nuclear Future.

1977: Aerosmith reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for the second time as “Walk This Way” peaked at number ten.

1969: Fleetwood Mac reached number one on the U.K. Singles Chart for the only time with the instrumental, “Albatross”.

1967: The Who and The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed at London’s Saville Theatre.

1964: The Beatles recorded their first and only session for EMI Records outside of the U.K. in Paris at Pathe Marconi Studios. They recorded German versions of “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” & “She Loves You”.




Birthdays:

Leadbelly born in 1889

David Byron - Singer for Uriah Heep born in 1947

Tommy Ramone - Drummer for The Ramones born in 1952

Eddie Jackson - Bassist for Queensryche born in 1961