February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar.
Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.
Read more at brainyquote.com
National Indian Pudding Day
National Cafe’ Au Lait Day
1621 – Myles Standish was appointed as first commander of Plymouth colony.
1801 – An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was resolved when Jefferson was elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives. The Twelfth Amendment, ratified in 1804, was added to the United States Constitution. It called for electors to make a distinct choice between their selections for president and vice-president.
The United States House of Representatives passed the Missouri Compromise for the first time on this day in 1819.
1863 The International Red Cross was founded in Geneva.
Madame Butterfly premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1904. It is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story takes place in Japan.
Synopsis from Wikipedia:
A U.S. naval officer named Pinkerton rents a house on a hill in Nagasaki, Japan, for himself and his soon-to-be wife, “Butterfly”. Her real name is Cio-Cio-san (from the Japanese word for “butterfly”) She is a 15-year-old Japanese girl whom he is marrying for convenience, and he intends to leave her once he finds a proper American wife, since Japanese divorce laws are very lax. The wedding takes place at the house.
Three years later, Butterfly is still waiting for Pinkerton to return, as he had left shortly after their wedding. Her maid, Suzuki, keeps trying to convince her that he is not coming back, but Butterfly will not listen to her. The American consul, Sharpless, comes to the house with a letter which he has received from Pinkerton which asks him to break some news to Butterfly: that Pinkerton is coming back to Japan, but Sharpless cannot bring himself to finish it because Butterfly becomes very excited to hear that Pinkerton is coming back. Sharpless asks Butterfly what she would do if Pinkerton were not to return. She then reveals that she gave birth to Pinkerton’s son after he had left and asks Sharpless to tell him.
From the hill house, Butterfly sees Pinkerton’s ship arriving in the harbour. She and Suzuki prepare for his arrival, and then they wait. Suzuki and the child fall asleep, but Butterfly stays up all night waiting for him to arrive.
Suzuki wakes up in the morning and Butterfly finally falls asleep. Sharpless and Pinkerton arrive at the house, along with Pinkerton’s new American wife, Kate. They have come because Kate has agreed to raise the child. But, as Pinkerton sees how Butterfly has decorated the house for his return, he realizes he has made a huge mistake. He admits that he is a coward and cannot face her, leaving Suzuki, Sharpless and Kate to break the news to Butterfly. Agreeing to give up her child if Pinkerton comes himself to see her, she then prays to statues of her ancestral gods, says goodbye to her son, and blindfolds him. She places a small American flag in his hands and goes behind a screen, killing herself with her father’s seppuku knife. Pinkerton rushes in, but he is too late, and Butterfly dies.
1933 – The Blaine Act initiated the repeal of Prohibition in the United States. The 21st Amendment which formally ended Prohibition was adopted Dec 5th, 1933.
Also in 1933, Blondie Boopadoop married Dagwood Bumstead three years after Chic Young’s popular strip first debuted. (Bet you didn’t know Blondie’s maiden name!) According to The Blondie Story by the son of Chic Young, Dagwood was the “playboy son of billionaire railroad tycoon, J. Bolling Bumstead.” Dagwood was disinherited by his parents for marrying “that gold digger blonde.”