On This Day November 8th

 OTD

November 8th is the three hundredth twelth day of the year, and there are 53 days remaining until the end of the year.

 

Events

1291 – The Republic of Venice enacts a law confining most of Venice's glassmaking industry to the "island of Murano".

1602 – The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford is opened to the public.

1644 – The Shunzhi Emperor, the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, is enthroned in Beijing after the collapse of the Ming dynasty as the first Qing emperor to rule over China.

1745 – Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of approximately 5,000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.

1889 – Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.

1895 – While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X–ray.

1920 – Rupert Bear, illustrated by Mary Tourtel, makes his first appearance in print.

1933 – Great Depression: New Deal: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveiled the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than four million unemployed.

1972 – American pay television network Home Box Office (HBO) launches.

 

Birthdays

 1656 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician (d. 1742)

1836 – Milton Bradley, American businessman, founded the Milton Bradley Company (d. 1911)

1847 – Bram Stoker, Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (d. 1912)

1900 – Margaret Mitchell, American journalist and author (d. 1949)

1923 – Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)

1929 – Bobby Bowden, American football player and coach (d. 2021)

1956 – Steven Miller, American record producer and engineer

1966 – Gordon Ramsay, British chef, restaurateur, and television host/personality

1985 – Jack Osbourne, English-American television personality

 

Holiday Highlight

National Dunce Day

Not much is known about why or when the first National Dunce Day was observed. Today, the holiday is observed as a way to promote learning and unearthing the real reason behind the much-maligned word “dunce”.

John Duns Scotus, also known as Duns Scotus, was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He was born in 1265 or 1266 and passed away unexpectedly on November 8, 1308. The story about Duns Scotus being buried alive, in the absence of his servant who alone knew of his susceptibility to comas, is probably a myth. National Dunce Day is observed on his death anniversary.

He is one of the four most important philosopher-theologians of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages, along with Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and William of Ockham. Duns Scotus made a considerable impact on both Catholic and secular thought. He is best known for his doctrines on the “univocity of being”, which argues that existence is the most abstract concept we have and this holds true for everything that exists. He proposed formal distinction — a way to distinguish between different aspects of the same thing — and the idea of haecceity, or the property that’s supposed to be in each individual thing that makes it so unique. Duns Scotus also developed a complex argument for the existence of God and argued for the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Many centuries after his death, Duns Scotus was given the scholastic accolade Doctor Subtilis (“the Subtle Doctor”) for his convincing and subtle manner of thought. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993. Not much is known about Duns Scotus outside of his work.

 

 

Holidays And Observance

 Abet and Aid Punsters Day

Cook Something Bold & Pungent Day

Dunce Day

International Tongue Twister Day - (Say "TOY BOAT" 5 times in a row!!)

Intersex Day of Remembrance

National Cappuccino Day

National Harvey Wallbanger Day

National Parents as Teachers Day

National S.T.E.M. / S.T.E.A.M. Day

National Walk to Work Day

World Town Planning Day

X-Ray Day