Daily Pic (Venetian Lagoon)

Leave a Comment
John Warburton-Lee/DanitaDelimont.com

Holidays in the Venetian Lagoon

About a mile north of Venice, in the Venetian Lagoon, is a collection of seven small islands that lie so closely together they’re generally known as a single island called ‘Murano.’ Visitors cross the narrow canals of Murano via pedestrian bridges. And during the holidays, those canals are decorated with lights, making the whole scene even more romantic.

If you go to Italy for the holiday season, stay through January 5. That’s Epiphany Eve, when a witch-like character known as Befana swoops down the chimneys of Italian homes, leaving candy and presents for children. Sound familiar?

Daily Pic 12/16/17

© Bob Gibbons/Science Photo Library

Tamarack branches with cones in Newfoundland and Labrador



Today in History 12/16 (Boston Tea Party)

Leave a Comment
Illustration of English tea chests thrown overboard in Boston Harbor by colonists in 1773 (© Dea Picture Library/Getty Images)(1773) Colonists throw British tea into Boston Harbor
Members of the underground Sons of Liberty, some dressed as Indians, throw 342 chests of tea off British ships to protest “tax tyranny,” or Britain’s Tea Act of 1773, which gave the East India Company a monopoly on the American tea trade. The Boston Tea Party will bring tensions between colonists and the British to a head.
The Boston Tea Party was a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. American Patriots strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company.
Address: 306 Congress St, Boston, MA 2210
Phone: 1 (866) 955-0667
Date: Dec 16, 1773


This iconic 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier was entitled The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor; the phrase “Boston Tea Party” had not yet become standard. Contrary to Currier’s depiction, few of the men dumping the tea were actually disguised as Native Americans.
wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
4.16.n18

(1773) Colonists throw British tea into Boston Harbor.
Also on this day,

1893 | ‘New World Symphony’ as Dvořák premieres his symphony for the New World
Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, premieres his Symphony No. 9 at Carnegie Hall. Heavily influenced by African-American spirituals, the ‘New World Symphony’ is received with rapturous applause and will become one of the world’s most popular pieces of classical music.
1944 | The Battle of Bulge begins in Belgium
In the heavily forested Ardennes region, German forces launch a surprise counterattack and push deep into the American line, creating a 50-mile wide “bulge” in the Allied front. The battle will continue for a month and will be the deadliest one for US troops in World War II.
1985 | Mobster ‘Big Paul’ killed as Mob boss Paul Castellano is gunned down in NYC
The “Howard Hughes of the Mob,” head of the Gambino crime family, is killed along with Thomas Bilotti outside a steak house on the orders of John Gotti. Gotti will assume leadership of the family, though will later be found guilty of the murders and will be sentenced to life in prison in 1992.

Today in History 12/16/17

American soldiers pass an abandoned German Tiger tank as they patrol outside La Gleize, Belgium, late December 1944 or early January 1945 (© Peter J. Carroll/AP)(1944) The Battle of Bulge begins in Belgium
In the heavily forested Ardennes region, German forces launch a surprise counterattack and push deep into the American line, creating a 50-mile wide "bulge" in the Allied front. The battle will continue for a month and will be the deadliest one for US troops in World War II.
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in eastern Belgium, northeast France, and Luxembourg, towards the end of World War II. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's armored forces, and they were largely unable to replace them. German personnel and, later, Luftwaffe aircraft also sustained heavy losses.
Start date: Dec 16, 1944
End date: Jan 25, 1945

Map of the opening of the salient, the start of the Battle of the Bulge
Map showing the swelling of "the Bulge" as the German offensive progressed creating the nose-like salient during 16–25 December 1944.   Front line, 16 December   Front line, 20 December   Front line, 25 December   Allied movements   German movements

wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge
4.8.d17