On this day:
1356
Battle of Poitiers: an English army under the command of Edward, the Black Prince, defeats a French army and captures the French king, John II.
1676
Nathaniel Bacon's forces burn Jamestown to the ground during Bacon’s Rebellion.
1692
Giles Corey is pressed to death after refusing to plead in the Salem witch trials.
1777
American Revolutionary War: British forces win a tactically expensive victory over the Continental Army in the First Battle of Saratoga.
1796
George Washington’s farewell address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.
1846
Two French shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, experience a Marian apparition on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, now known as Our Lady of La Salette.
1863
American Civil War: Battle of Chickamauga.
1870
Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Paris begins, which will result on January 28, 1871 in the surrender of Paris and a decisive Prussian victory.
1881
U.S. President James A. Garfield dies of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting.
1934
Bruno Hauptmann is arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
1990
Delhi University student Rajiv Goswami attempts self-immolation during Anti-Reservation agitation in India. Though he survived, his self-immolation inspired nearly 150 self-immolation bids and indirectly led to the resignation of the V. P. Singh Govt.
Battle of Poitiers: an English army under the command of Edward, the Black Prince, defeats a French army and captures the French king, John II.
1676
Nathaniel Bacon's forces burn Jamestown to the ground during Bacon’s Rebellion.
1692
Giles Corey is pressed to death after refusing to plead in the Salem witch trials.
1777
American Revolutionary War: British forces win a tactically expensive victory over the Continental Army in the First Battle of Saratoga.
1796
George Washington’s farewell address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.
1846
Two French shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, experience a Marian apparition on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, now known as Our Lady of La Salette.
1863
American Civil War: Battle of Chickamauga.
1870
Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Paris begins, which will result on January 28, 1871 in the surrender of Paris and a decisive Prussian victory.
1881
U.S. President James A. Garfield dies of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting.
1934
Bruno Hauptmann is arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
1990
Delhi University student Rajiv Goswami attempts self-immolation during Anti-Reservation agitation in India. Though he survived, his self-immolation inspired nearly 150 self-immolation bids and indirectly led to the resignation of the V. P. Singh Govt.
***
“Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I’ll show you a crook.” — Harry Truman
***
The Senate tradition of reading Washington's Farewell Address to the Nation aloud in the Chamber began on February 22, 1862, as a morale-boosting gesture during the dark days of the Civil War. Every year since 1896, the Senate has observed Washington's birthday by selecting one of its members, alternating parties, to read the 7,641-word statement in legislative session.
***
A minority opinion: When female reporters objected that male reporters had an advantage because they could enter football locker rooms for post-game interviews, the culture demurred. Women were allowed in, causing surprised guys coming out of showers, a scramble for towels, and annoyed interviews with half-naked men flexing.
It was sold as a women's rights question. I don't recall any concern over those men's comfort. So men and women mixed in the locker rooms behind the towel of women's rights. The camel's nose was under the tent. Good taste was discriminatory. Manners were next.
A minority opinion: When female reporters objected that male reporters had an advantage because they could enter football locker rooms for post-game interviews, the culture demurred. Women were allowed in, causing surprised guys coming out of showers, a scramble for towels, and annoyed interviews with half-naked men flexing.
It was sold as a women's rights question. I don't recall any concern over those men's comfort. So men and women mixed in the locker rooms behind the towel of women's rights. The camel's nose was under the tent. Good taste was discriminatory. Manners were next.
***
***
***
SatStats
(a lot of agriculture)
A Lancet study showing heat deaths in Europe are rapidly rising, reaching 63,000 a year. This study shows that European heat-death risk has risen 82% since 1990.
But the study and the commission report both ignore a crucial factor: Heat mortality risk rises sharply with age, and Europe has aged dramatically. Since 1990, the share of Europeans over 70 has increased by 78%. Aging alone explains virtually all the observed increase in heat deaths.
In 1939, 93.3 percent of Black children were in poverty. By 2023, it was 5.7 percent.
*
The water bill has risen more than 27 percent over the past five years and is increasing at roughly twice the rate of inflation.
*
Between 2011 and 2023, the number seeking mental health treatment rose from 31.6 million to 59.2 million — about 1 in 6 Americans.
*
A Lancet study showing heat deaths in Europe are rapidly rising, reaching 63,000 a year. This study shows that European heat-death risk has risen 82% since 1990.
But the study and the commission report both ignore a crucial factor: Heat mortality risk rises sharply with age, and Europe has aged dramatically. Since 1990, the share of Europeans over 70 has increased by 78%. Aging alone explains virtually all the observed increase in heat deaths.
*
In 1939, 93.3 percent of Black children were in poverty. By 2023, it was 5.7 percent.
*
The water bill has risen more than 27 percent over the past five years and is increasing at roughly twice the rate of inflation.
*
Between 2011 and 2023, the number seeking mental health treatment rose from 31.6 million to 59.2 million — about 1 in 6 Americans.
*
These points appear on the website of 412 Food Rescue, a non-profit devoted to redirecting unused food away from the waste system:
In the United States, we waste 62.5 million tons and spend $218 billion a year (or 1.3% of our GDP) in growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten.
In the United States, 1 in 7 are hungry. According to the United Nations, if we recover all the food that is lost or wasted, we will have enough to feed all those who are hungry, four times over.
*
Food production uses 10% of the energy budget, 50% of the land, and 80% of all fresh water consumed in the U.S.
*
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 97% of food waste generated ends up in the landfill.
This comprises the single largest component of municipal solid waste —generating a large portion of U.S. methane emissions (a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 52% of fruits and vegetables go to waste—food that supplies that highest quality nutrition required to prevent obesity and disease.
40% of food going to waste translates to 20 pounds of food per person per month, worth $165 billion a year.
*
Real median family income in the U.S. has roughly tripled since 1947, climbing from about $34K to over $105K in today’s dollars.
*
Despite all the doom and gloom, American families are far more prosperous than their grandparents were:
*
In 1901, the average American family spent 42% of its disposable budget on food, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
*
In 1945 it was 23%. In 1965 it was 15%. In 1985 it was around 12%.
Today, per Agriculture Department calculations, it’s 9.7%.
That number is driven by a historically high rate of dining out and having food delivered.
Food is diverse and no longer subject to seasonality
If we remove eating out from the equation and measure only grocery and supermarket shopping, the average family spends just 7.9% of its budget on food — and a discriminating shopper can probably do better. Less income goes to food for Americans than for people in any other nation on Earth, the USDA has found.
In the United States, we waste 62.5 million tons and spend $218 billion a year (or 1.3% of our GDP) in growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten.
In the United States, 1 in 7 are hungry. According to the United Nations, if we recover all the food that is lost or wasted, we will have enough to feed all those who are hungry, four times over.
*
Food production uses 10% of the energy budget, 50% of the land, and 80% of all fresh water consumed in the U.S.
*
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 97% of food waste generated ends up in the landfill.
This comprises the single largest component of municipal solid waste —generating a large portion of U.S. methane emissions (a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 52% of fruits and vegetables go to waste—food that supplies that highest quality nutrition required to prevent obesity and disease.
40% of food going to waste translates to 20 pounds of food per person per month, worth $165 billion a year.
*
Real median family income in the U.S. has roughly tripled since 1947, climbing from about $34K to over $105K in today’s dollars.
*
Despite all the doom and gloom, American families are far more prosperous than their grandparents were:
In 1901, the average American family spent 42% of its disposable budget on food, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
*
In 1945 it was 23%. In 1965 it was 15%. In 1985 it was around 12%.
Today, per Agriculture Department calculations, it’s 9.7%.
That number is driven by a historically high rate of dining out and having food delivered.
Food is diverse and no longer subject to seasonality
If we remove eating out from the equation and measure only grocery and supermarket shopping, the average family spends just 7.9% of its budget on food — and a discriminating shopper can probably do better. Less income goes to food for Americans than for people in any other nation on Earth, the USDA has found.
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