Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

"Necessity will soon oblige and justify an insurrection of the poor against the rich."
- Royal Governor of Massachusetts Francis Bernard's letter on the likelihood of anarchy if the Stamp Act went into effect, written to the Earl of Halifax, Sept. 7, 1765



The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper from London which included an embossed revenue stamp. Printed materials included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers, and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies, and it had to be paid in British currency, not in colonial paper money.

The purpose of the tax was to pay for British military troops stationed in the American colonies after the French and Indian War, but the colonists had never feared a French invasion to begin with, and they contended that they had already paid their share of the war expenses.

Video summary:

In the third and last part of this series, we explore the actions of sailors and slaves during the Stamp Act Crisis. In the late fall of 1765, colonists wearing “soot, sailors habits and slouch hats” harassed Crown officials, tore down houses of prominent merchants, and violently hounded those suspected of involvement with the “damned stampt paper.” Descriptions of these disorderly, drunken protestors contrasted with accounts of symbolic protest scenes, such as funerals for “Liberty.”

Molly Fitzgerald Perry, Lecturer at Christopher Newport University, will analyze the descriptions of Jack Tar sailors alongside those of free and enslaved people of color, highlighting questions of these individuals as both social actors and political icons. Tracing the spread of news and heated debates between residents of New England port towns and plantation ports across the Lower South and West Indies, Ms. Perry will recreate the central role played by mariners and African Americans during this moment of imperial disruption.

Sept 26, 1960: Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy and Republican nominee Richard Nixon participate in the first-ever televised presidential debate from Chicago.




Happy 40th to Stanislav Petrov Day to all who celebrate (and everyone should).

Born Sept 7, 1939, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (died May 19, 2017). Today in Sept 26, 1983, just past midnight, 44 year-old lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces calm assessment of a satellite warning of the launch of five US Minuteman ICBMs was a false alarm, thanks to "a funny feeling in my gut" - may have averted a catastrophic nuclear war.



'I Had A Funny Feeling in My Gut'

Petrov’s story including his treatment by Soviet military authorities after this incident (which was covered up for 15 years until his superior officer published a memoir) is told in the 2014 hybrid documentary-drama "The Man Who Saved the World."



Petrov died in May 2017 in Moscow of hypostatic pneumonia. He was 77.

Spooky irony that "WarGames" opened just 115 days earlier.

Also, today is International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, says the totally worthless organization.



In 1990, Soviet/Russian painter and sculptor Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli presented this 39ft high, 40 ton St George and the Atomic Dragon bronze sculpture to the United Nations to commemorate the signing of the 1987 INF Treaty. Titled "Good Defeats Evil", it sits in a garden outside the UN headquarters visitors entrance in New York City for all to admire.



By comparison, Good Defeats Evil has found a more receptive audience in Manhattan. In the gardens of the UN Headquarters, it shares a home with another dramatic Soviet sculpture, We Shall Beat Our Swords Into Plowshares by Evgenii Vuchetich. In 1959, in the aftermath of the successful Soviet Exhibition of Science, Technology and Culture in New York, the sculpture was likewise gifted to the United Nations as a symbol of the Soviet commitment to nuclear disarmament.

In an ironic twist, since 2001, Good Defeats Evil has stood in the shadow of the Trump World Tower.



Sept 26, 1997: the nuclear terrorism thriller "The Peacemaker", starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, and directed by Mimi Leder, opened in movie theaters.



“I’m not afraid of the man who wants ten nuclear weapons, colonel. I’m terrified of the man who only wants one.”


Sept 26, 1991: Today marks the beginning of the Biosphere 2 experiment in Arizona. Eight people lived in a sealed environment from 1991 to 1993 to research how well a closed ecological system could support human life. They did make it the full two years, meaning today also marks the end of the experiment in 1993. They encountered challenges such as oxygen levels dropping and difficulties in food production. Overall, it was a success and it provided valuable data and lessons for future experiments and space colonization discussions.



It's still open to the public: Biosphere 2

Related:
Built in the early 2000s near Hanksville, Utah, the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is the largest and longest-running Mars surface research facility and is one of two simulated Mars analog habitats owned and operated by the Mars Society.



The Musk Mars Desert Research Observatory

Mars Society establishes institute to advance colony on Mars - The space advocacy movement has announced an initiative to found the Mars Technology Institute, which aims to create the technologies necessary for establishing a presence on the red planet.


R.I.P. David McCallum (19 September 1933 – 25 September 2023).