1449
Battle of Tumu Fortress – Mongolians capture the Chinese emperor.
1504
Michelangelo’s David is unveiled in Florence.
1923
Honda Point Disaster: nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost, and twenty-three sailors killed.
1935
US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed “Kingfish”, is fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building.
1941
World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins. German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union’s second-largest city, Leningrad.
1943
World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the Allied armistice with Italy.
1944
World War II: London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time.
1945
Cold War: United States troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier.
1994
USAir Flight 427, on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport, suddenly crashes in clear weather killing all 132 aboard; resulting in the most extensive aviation investigation in world history and altering manufacturing practices in the industry.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes once called Franklin Roosevelt “a second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament.”
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In the bigger picture, the Pirates entered Friday playing 25-19 (.568) baseball since the All-Star break, tied for the fifth-best record in the league during that span. For reference, the only four teams ahead of Pittsburgh in that category – Milwaukee, Toronto, the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston – would all be in the playoffs if the season ended today. The same can be said for the New York Yankees, whose second-half record is still identical to Pittsburgh's after dueling Friday losses.
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An innovative contest by a city in formerly communist East Germany to curb depopulation by offering a fortnight of free housing has stunned local officials with its success.
***
Low-cost micro-units, often called single-room occupancies, or SROs, were once a reliable form of housing for the United States’ poorest residents of, and newcomers to, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and many other major U.S. cities. Well into the 20th century, SROs were the least expensive option on the housing market, providing a small room with a shared bathroom and sometimes a shared kitchen for a price that is unimaginable today—as little as $100 to $300 a month (in 2025 dollars)
For some reason, politicians have since made boarding houses illegal by zoning that enforced single-family homes and by rules limiting occupancy, demanding every room have a private bathroom, outlawing shared kitchens, and requiring parking spaces for every resident.
***
Denmark is abolishing the VAT on books, in an effort to boost reading. It was formerly twenty-five percent, the highest in the world.
***
OpenAI is lending its generative artificial-intelligence tools to the creation of an animated movie, hoping to prove the technology can make films faster and cheaper than Hollywood.
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On this day in 1941, German forces began their siege of Leningrad, a major industrial center and the USSR’s second-largest city. The German armies were later joined by Finnish forces that advanced against Leningrad down the Karelian Isthmus. The siege of Leningrad, also known as the 900-Day Siege, though it lasted a grueling 872 days, resulted in the deaths of some one million of the city’s civilians and Red Army defenders.
***
“Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza, Leading Scholars’ Association Says,” ran the headline in The Washington Post.
The BBC’s headline read: “Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, World’s Leading Experts Say.”
The World's Leading Experts? The organization? The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
The Guardian quoted the president of the association, Melanie O’Brien, declaring that the resolution represented “a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on on the ground in Gaza is genocide.” In another interview with ABC News Australia, O’Brien boasted that the resolution passed with nearly 90 percent support.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once called Franklin Roosevelt “a second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament.”
***
In the bigger picture, the Pirates entered Friday playing 25-19 (.568) baseball since the All-Star break, tied for the fifth-best record in the league during that span. For reference, the only four teams ahead of Pittsburgh in that category – Milwaukee, Toronto, the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston – would all be in the playoffs if the season ended today. The same can be said for the New York Yankees, whose second-half record is still identical to Pittsburgh's after dueling Friday losses.
***
An innovative contest by a city in formerly communist East Germany to curb depopulation by offering a fortnight of free housing has stunned local officials with its success.
***
Low-cost micro-units, often called single-room occupancies, or SROs, were once a reliable form of housing for the United States’ poorest residents of, and newcomers to, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and many other major U.S. cities. Well into the 20th century, SROs were the least expensive option on the housing market, providing a small room with a shared bathroom and sometimes a shared kitchen for a price that is unimaginable today—as little as $100 to $300 a month (in 2025 dollars)
For some reason, politicians have since made boarding houses illegal by zoning that enforced single-family homes and by rules limiting occupancy, demanding every room have a private bathroom, outlawing shared kitchens, and requiring parking spaces for every resident.
***
Denmark is abolishing the VAT on books, in an effort to boost reading. It was formerly twenty-five percent, the highest in the world.
***
OpenAI is lending its generative artificial-intelligence tools to the creation of an animated movie, hoping to prove the technology can make films faster and cheaper than Hollywood.
***
***
An NGO for You
“Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza, Leading Scholars’ Association Says,” ran the headline in The Washington Post.
The BBC’s headline read: “Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, World’s Leading Experts Say.”
The World's Leading Experts? The organization? The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
The Guardian quoted the president of the association, Melanie O’Brien, declaring that the resolution represented “a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on on the ground in Gaza is genocide.” In another interview with ABC News Australia, O’Brien boasted that the resolution passed with nearly 90 percent support.
On Tuesday evening, Salo Aizenberg, a board member of Honest Reporting and contributor to NGO Monitor, tested that proposition. After exploring the IAGS website, he found that he could become a member of the organization with just a $30 contribution. “This organization that purports to be a leading organization of scholars is open to anyone who is interested,” he told The Free Press. For thirty dollars.
After Aizenberg posted about his new membership to X, others joined in on the fun. Newly minted genocide scholars now include Emperor Palpatine, the villain of the Star Wars franchise; Adolf Hitler of Gaza City; and the favorite, “Mo Cookie,” who turns out to be the Cookie Monster wearing a green scarf with the Hamas logo. And the 90% support? It was 90% of a small portion of the group who bothered to answer.
After Aizenberg posted about his new membership to X, others joined in on the fun. Newly minted genocide scholars now include Emperor Palpatine, the villain of the Star Wars franchise; Adolf Hitler of Gaza City; and the favorite, “Mo Cookie,” who turns out to be the Cookie Monster wearing a green scarf with the Hamas logo. And the 90% support? It was 90% of a small portion of the group who bothered to answer.
This is silly. And people trying to use them as persuasive "experts" is silly. But a lot of silly stuff is dangerous. People dressed in KKK outfits are silly. Tariffs are silly. Government ownership of private businesses is silly.
But I surely dislike how shallow people are rewarded by silliness. I hate when it is influential. And I despise when it is tax-deductible.
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