January 1

It is the New Year. 2026 A.C.E.
January 1st according to the Gregorian calendar, which over time has become the international standard.

On this day in 1726 – J. S. Bach's first performance of Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16, his church cantata for New Year's Day to a libretto by Georg Christian Lehms.

In 1739 Bouvet Island, the world's remotest island, is found by Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozie.

Hand-coloured photograph of the southeast coast of Bouvet Island in 1898 (-Carl Chun)

(sidequest activated: Carl Chun spent much of his life studying the collections made during the expedition, and was responsible for discovering many marine organisms, including the vampire squid.)

A Vampire Squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) drawn by Carl Chun, 1911.

In 1773 – The hymn "Amazing Grace", previously titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17, Faith's Review and Expectation", is first used to accompany a sermon in England.

In 1818, Mary Shelley (anonymously) publishes Frankenstein

‘Frankenstein’ and its transformations By Shana E. Hadi (Stanford Daily 11/29/2018)
An abridged version of Frankenstein read by Christopher Lee

In 1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the U.S.

In 1971 - The Last Cigarette Ads Appear on TV

In 1989 – The Montreal Protocol begins. Stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.

The Antarctic ozone hole (October 2024)

Happy Birthday to
Christoph Bernhard
Kristijonas Donelaitis
Paul Revere

(bostonraremaps.com/inventory/almanac-revolution-revere-cartoon/)
The cut bears the caption “The wicked Statesman, or the Traitor to his Country, at the Hour of DEATH.” It depicts a finely-dressed Governor Hutchinson-“the wicked Statesman”-seated at a table with a pot of currency before him and a copy of Machiavelli at his feet. Hutchinson looks with trepidation to his right, where the flames of Hell burn high, a horned devil holds a tablet bearing a list of his crimes, and Death prepares to impale him with its spear. Lest the point is insufficiently clear a note on the verso reads:

“…how wretched, how intolerable, are the last Moments of one who has made it his Business to sacrifice Mankind to accumulate a little Pelf [i.e., dishonestly acquired wealth] ! Look at the Engraving on the first Page, and endeavor to form some faint Idea of the Horrors that Man must endure, who owes his Greatness to his Country’s Ruin, when he is about taking Leave of this World, to receive a just and proper Punishment for his Crimes. Let the Destroyers of Mankind behold and Tremble !”

Arthur Hugh Clough
His Homeric pastoral The Bothie of Toper-na-fuosich is full of socialism, reading-party humours and Scottish scenery.

Heinrich Rauchinger
(W katordze, 1886)

The guy who invented this thing.

Alfred Stieglitz
(Georgia O'Keeffe, Hands, 1918)

Stieglitz took at least 220 photographs that he called Equivalent or Equivalents; all feature clouds in the sky.

Qi Baishi

The guy who wrote "A Passage To India" among other things. I will probably never get around to reading it, but I may actually listen to this audiobook collection of cassettes that I have of it one day.

This fucking guy.

Chesley Bonestell
"Our Galaxy, The Milky Way"

Charles Bickford...here he is as "Dingo Mike" in a scene from "The Pagan Lady" in 1931.
Synopsis of "The Pagan Lady"

Seabury Quinn
(Weird Tales ; Jules De Grandin Vol.1
Weird Tales ; Jules De Grandin Vol 2)

Xavier Cugat

Dana Andrews
Here he is in "Crack In The World"

Basil Dearden

Full movie "The Mind Benders" available on Kanopy.

Roman Totenberg...One of Totenberg's favorite instruments was the Ames Stradivarius, which was stolen from his office in the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts after a concert in May 1980. The instrument was recovered and returned to Totenberg's daughters on August 6, 2015.

Audrey Wurdemann

Carol Landis