Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is an uniquely American holiday, at least the one at the end of November. American families will gather for a big meal, traditionally of Turkey, as well as thankfulness and fellowship.

The holiday commemorates the first Thanksgiving, begun by the English settlers at Plymouth, Massachusetts, to show thanks for their survival of their first winter of 1620-1621, and their first successful harvest, made possible in large part by the Native Americans. The first Thanksgiving feast, attended by the Native Americans and the Pilgrims, lasted 3 days, history tells us.

The holiday was made official during the Civil War by a proclamation by President Lincoln. The holiday is meant to remind Americans of their many blessings and to remind them also of their obligations to the less fortunate. Many Americans will spend the holiday volunteering in soup kitchens, serving up donated turkey dinners. Many restaurants will open their doors to the poor and feed them without charge. Thanksgiving is a day when no one in America need go hungry, except by his own choice.

Each year, by tradition, a turkey is donated to the President of the United States, and his family. Until President Kennedy, they ate the turkeys. Kennedy let his go. Since President Bush the Elder, the turkeys have received an official presidential pardon, and allowed to live, unlike so many millions of their brethren.

I don't want to get in the habit of posting too many videos. The one below will be the last one for a while. It shows the pardoning ceremony yesterday of a turkey named Courage, by President Obama. I hope you will watch it.

I wish all my fellow Americans a happy Thanksgiving, and blessings to our esteemed non-American readers as well.

A special Happy Thanksgiving to the wonderful South African families who are today celebrating their second Thanksgiving because of my influence. You honor me and my country. God bless each of you. Ndiya kuthanda.

And to a very special friend who is traveling again as I write this - you know who you are - Godspeed, and I hope there is enough cake left to take a picture of for you. There probably won't be, since I have already started eating it.

Speaking of measurement scales: Radioactivity is measured in units called "curies"

Her likeness has appeared on a Polish banknote, a Soviet postage stamp, and on the last French 500-franc note (before conversion to the Euro.)

The element with the atomic number 96 is called "curium".

There are statues of her. Untold institutions all over the world are named after her.

Albert Einstein said she was probably the only person not corrupted by the fame she had won.

Madame Curie died in 1934. She coined the term "radioactive" and discovered two elements: palonium and radium. Her first name wasn't really Madame. Or Marie, either. Her name was really Marya Salomee Sklodowska. Actually (depending on your linguistic persuasion) Mary, Marie, Maria, and Marya are the same.

Madame Curie was the first woman buried in the Pantheon in Paris. Or her ashes, to be more precise. This is a great honor. I almost said "Parthenon" but that is in Centennial Park in Nashville. A copy of the Nashville one is also in Greece.

[Please watch this space for an upcoming post on the beautiful Pantheon of Paris.]

She named the element polanium after her native country, Polandium. She later became a French citizen. Alors.

Madame Curie earned two advanced degrees, one in physics and one in mathematics, from the Sorbonne. Sorbonne doesn't mean anything - it was just named after Robert de Sorbon. It is really many universities. Founded in, like, 1250 or thereabouts. Many of its grounds are exceedingly gorgeous, but will probably not achieve postdom from yours truly. But never say never, eh?

She (our Marya) was the first woman professor at the University of Paris. She was the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes (One for physics and later one for chemistry.) Her husband Pierre also won a Nobel Prize. So did her daughter. So did her son. (Not all at the same time.) That is also probably a first.

[Fun fact: Not all famous people are rich: The Curies reportedly used part of their Nobel Prize money to replace the wallpaper in their home, and to upgrade to modern indoor plumbing. Of course, they also gave some money to needy students as well.]

Pierre bore an uncanny resemblance to Vincent Van Gogh, except that he had two ears. If you are using this post as source material for a term paper on Pierre, perhaps you might want to omit that last part, as it is only undocumented personal opinion.

She conducted research into the treatment of Cancers with radioactive isotopes. ("She" again being Madame Curie. Sorry.)

In April, 1906, Pierre was killed in a street accident. Walking across the street in heavy rain, he was struck and run over by a horse-drawn carriage and his skull fractured. It has been speculated that he had been weakened by his long exposure to radioactivity, but this was never proven, so I won't even mention it here.

After her husband's death, the Sorbonne physics department entrusted his chair to Marie, and later she became a full professor there. She was the first woman professor at the Sorbonne. Even so, and despite her education and achievements, the French Academy of Sciences refused to admit her as a member, because she was a woman. Indeed, it would be a half-century later before a woman would be admitted (Marguerite Perey, in 1962.) Ironically, Perey had been a doctoral student under Madame Curie.

Marie and her husband Pierre discovered much about uranium and other elements and radioactive isotopes, and about their attributes and possible uses. But they were never aware of what radioactivity could do to the human body; they worked around and handled the substances for many years with no protection. She died on the Fourth of July, 1934, of aplastic anemia - almost certainly contracted from her long exposure to radiation.

Not knowing the effects of radiation, she carried test tubes of the radioactive isotopes around with her in her pockets, and kept them in her desk. It is said she remarked on the beauty of the blue-green light the material gave off in the dark. A remarkable lady.

OH BOY!