Monday, October 13, 2014

Good morning crew,

Happy Columbus Day. In recent years there has been some controversy surrounding the political correctness of celebrating this day, but it has a long tradition in the United States.

The first recorded celebration of Columbus Day in the U. S. took place on October 12, 1792. Organized by The Society of St. Tammany, also known as the Columbian Order, it commemorated the 300th anniversary of Columbus's landing.

The 400th anniversary of the event, however, inspired the first official Columbus Day holiday in the United States. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation urging Americans to mark the day. Which they have, ever since.

A common misconception is that Columbus proved that the world was round by sailing West into the unknown. During the debates at the court of Queen Isabella, the true shape of the Earth was never an issue, it was its size!

The opponents of Columbus said he was underestimating the size and that he could never sail due west from Europe to the Orient. They were right. He encountered an obstacle which later became know as North America.

Laugh it up,

Joe

joe@gophercentral.com

P.S. Did you miss an issue? You can read every issue from the Gophercentral library of newsletters on our exhaustive archives page. Thousands of issues, all of your favorite publications in chronological order. You can read AND comment. Just click GopherArchives

***
"The New York Post says that Oscar Wilde is responsible for Kim Kardashian's rise to fame because he was the first person who was 'famous for being famous.' When asked her thoughts about it, Kim said, 'Is Oscar the one that lives in a trash can?'" -Seth Meyers

***
"At the Eiffel Tower they've installed a new glass floor that lets tourists see what's going on hundreds of feet below them. It celebrates France's favorite pastime: looking down on people." -Jimmy Fallon

***
"People are upset because it now takes longer to get fast food. The average time to get your order is three minutes, four seconds - and people are outraged. And what I do while I'm waiting, send out for a pizza?" -Dave Letterman

***
Indigenous Peoples-Columbus Day - (A True Story)

In 1990, the Berkeley City Council passed a law changing the name of Columbus Day to Native American Day because Columbus wasn't nice to the Indians. Of course, no Indians were asked if they wanted the holiday's name changed or if they wanted to be called Native Americans.

In 1991, the Berkeley City Council changed the name again, to Indigenous People Day. A group of P.C.ers argued that Indians are not native to America but to Asia, so calling them Native Americans might be insulting to Asians. Of course, neither the Indian or Asian communities were consulted about this.

In 1992, the Italian American Anti-Defamation League gave the City of Berkeley their Insensitivity Award. The Italian-American group said that they agreed that Indians haven't been treated well, but that the Italians weren't the ones who did it, so why take away their holiday? Nobody asked Italian-American how they felt about renaming Columbus day.

In 1994, the Berkeley City Council changed the holiday back to Columbus Day.

In 1995, representatives of the Winnamucca Indians protested City Council meetings. They argued that Indians had never asked that Columbus day be renamed to honor Indians, since it had, the City Council couldn't take it back, less they become "indigenous peoples givers."

In 1996, the City Council changed the name to Indigenous Peoples - Columbus Day.

Currently there are people lobbying to rename the holiday Animal Rights Day.


*-------------- Guaranteed to Roll Your Eyes --------------*
As a Marine Captain stationed in Okinawa, Japan, I was accompanying the assistant commandant on his inspection of the troops. To break the silence, the general would ask some of the Marines standing at attention which outfit they were serving with. Ramrod straight, each would respond, "Marine Air Group 36, sir," or "Second Marine Division, General." But near the end of the inspection, when the general asked a young private, "Which outfit are you in?"

The Marine replied, "Dress blues, sir, with medals!"