A Bit of History/ Science and the 2016 Birth Date Thing

I haven't finished any books since my last entry. I'm working through 4 varied books, all different and enjoyable; David Adams Richards - Nights Below Station Street; Dean Koontz's - Forever Odd; Clive Cussler's - The Wrecker and Martha Grimes' The Man with a Load of Mischief. So today I'm focusing on Treasures of Use and Beauty and then posting my final Birth Date thing.

Great Historical Events

Today's excerpt covers 1794.

1794. Great whisky rebellion in Western Pennsylvania, caused by the tax levied upon whisky. A large district in Pennsylvania, where the crops of grain were over-abundant, and no adequate market except the great Monongahela distillers, openly resisted the tax by resorting to mob law. Officials and loyal citizens were whipped, branded, tarred and feathered, and great excitement prevailed in all the Northern States. The Union was imperiled, and Washington headed an army to meet the crisis. The rebellion was soon suppressed, and law and order established.
First woolen factories and carding machines in Massachusetts.

Wayne's Great Victory

Aug. - Wayne's great victory over the Indians, under 'Little Turtle.' Gen. Anthony Wayne, or 'Mad Anthony', as he was called, on account of his reckless courage, attacked the Indians upon the Maumee, in Ohio, and by his determined and impetuous charge, he routed the whole Indian force from their favorite ground, and drove them more than two miles through thick woods and fallen timber in the course of one hour, causing the to sue for peace on the conqueror's own terms. Their confederacy was completely annihilated.
Act passed for building ships of war, which laid the foundation for the present navy system.
American vessels were prohibited from supplying slaves to any other nations.
First sewing thread ever made from cotton produced at Pawtucket, Rhode Island."

Science of Common Things

In today's excerpt, the amazing Prof. L.G. Gorton discusses the causes of thunder and the big boomers.

"What is the cause of thunder? Thunder is caused by the sudden rush of air into the vacuum which the electricity, as it darts with inconceivable velocity, leaves behind it. (Ed. Comment. So the whole gods bowling in the heavens is false... Wow! Who knew?) Why is thunder sometimes loud and continuous, and at other times broken and unequal? Because it is sometimes near, and the sound from all parts of the flash reaches us at the same instant, and at other times it is at different distances from us, and consequently all the sound does not reach us at the same time. (Ed. Comment. When I was a kid (Yes, it was a few years back!) I was told that when you see lightning flash, count 1 steamboat, 2 steamboats and when you finally hear the thunder, each steamboat was equal to one mile away. There's science for you!)

We move into the realm of sound with the next excerpt. WHAT??? SOUND!!!

 The Birth Date Thing 10 November 2016

I'm all caught up!!! Now whatever will I do next? Oh well, let's get on with it.

US Billboard #1 Single 10 November 2016

Closer by The Chainsmokers, ft Halsey. The Chainsmokers is an American DJ / production duo. Closer was their first US #1 single. The song featured American singer, Ashley Frangipane, AKA Halsey.

UK #1 Single 10 November 2016

Shout Out to My Ex by Little Mix. Little Mix is a UK pop group which was formed during the 8th series of UK's X-Factor. Shout to my Ex was their 4th UK #1 single.

New York Times #1 Fiction Best Seller 10 November 2016

Escape Clause by John Sanford. American author Sanford is known for his Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers thrillers, amongst other stories. I've read the first two Davenport thrillers and did enjoy them. Escape Clause was the 9th book in the Flowers' series.








"The first storm comes from, of all places, the Minnesota zoo. Two large, and very rare, Amur tigers have vanished from their cage, and authorities are worried sick that they’ve been stolen for their body parts. Traditional Chinese medicine prizes those parts for home remedies, and people will do extreme things to get what they need. Some of them are a great deal more extreme than others - as Virgil is about to find out.

Then there’s the home front. Virgil’s relationship with his girlfriend Frankie has been getting kind of serious, but when Frankie’s sister Sparkle moves in for the summer, the situation gets a lot more complicated. For one thing, her research into migrant workers is about to bring her up against some very violent people who emphatically do not want to be researched. For another, she thinks Virgil’s kind of cute."

Pulitzer Prize Winner 2016

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Viet Thanh Nguyen is an American - Vietnamese novelist. The Sympathizer was his debut novel.










"The winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as five other awards, The Sympathizer is the breakthrough novel of the year. With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose that has been compared to Graham Greene and Saul Bellow, The Sympathizer is a sweeping epic of love and betrayal. The narrator, a communist double agent, is a “man of two minds,” a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain who arranges to come to America after the Fall of Saigon, and while building a new life with other Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles is secretly reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam. The Sympathizer is a blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping espionage novel, and a powerful story of love and friendship."

Nobel Prize Laureate 2016

Bob Dylan (USA). Robert Zimmerman, AKA Bob Dylan, is an American singer / songwriter, musician, painter and writer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 'for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.' 

Hugo Award Winner 2016

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.  Nora Jemisin is an American author of speculative fiction. The Fifth Season is the 1st novel in her Broken Earth series.









"Three terrible things happen in a single day.

Essun, masquerading as an ordinary schoolteacher in a quiet small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Mighty Sanze, the empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years, collapses as its greatest city is destroyed by a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heartland of the world's sole continent, a great red rift has been been torn which spews ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

But this is the Stillness, a land long familiar with struggle, and where orogenes - those who wield the power of the earth as a weapon - are feared far more than the long cold night. Essun has remembered herself, and she will have her daughter back.

She does not care if the world falls apart around her. Essun will break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter."

Edgar Award Winner 2016

Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy.  Lori Roy is an American author from Kansas who has written 3 novels. Let Me Die in His Footsteps was her 3rd novel.









"On a dark Kentucky night in 1952, exactly halfway between her fifteenth and sixteenth birthdays, Annie Holleran crosses over into forbidden territory. It’s been that way since Joseph Carl Baine was hanged in 1936. But local superstition says that tonight Annie can see her future in the Baines’ well.

What she sees instead, there in the moonlight, is a dead woman. And suddenly the events of 1936, events that have twisted and shaped the lives of Annie and all her kin, are brought back into the present.

Juna will come home now, to finish what she started. And if Annie is to save herself, her family and this small Kentucky town, she must face the terrible reality of what happened all those years ago."

Man Booker Prize Winner 2016

The Sellout by Paul Beatty.  Paul Beatty is an American author and associate professor of literature at Columbia University. The Sellout was his fourth novel.









"Born in the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens - on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles - the narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians: "I'd die in the same bedroom I'd grown up in, looking up at the cracks in the stucco ceiling that've been there since '68 quake." Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, he spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe that his father's pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family's financial woes, but when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realizes there never was a memoir. All that's left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral.

Fueled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Dickens has literally been removed from the map to save California from further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the town's most famous resident - the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkins - he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court."

Giller Prize Winner 2016

Do Not Say that We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien. Madeleine Thein is a Canadian novelist and short story writer from Vancouver, B.C. Do Not Say that We Have Nothing was her fifth work.









"Master storyteller Madeleine Thien takes us inside an extended family in China, showing us the lives of two successive generations - those who lived through Mao’s Cultural Revolution and their children, who became the students protesting in Tiananmen Square. At the center of this epic story are two young women, Marie and Ai-Ming. Through their relationship Marie strives to piece together the tale of her fractured family in present-day Vancouver, seeking answers in the fragile layers of their collective story. Her quest will unveil how Kai, her enigmatic father, a talented pianist, and Ai-Ming’s father, the shy and brilliant composer, Sparrow, along with the violin prodigy Zhuli were forced to re-imagine their artistic and private selves during China’s political campaigns and how their fates reverberate through the years with lasting consequences."

So there you go, the Birth Date feature is caught up to the present year. Not sure what I'll do next, but you'll see.. :) Take care!