Here’s your open thread for January 18, 2020.
Today is the birthday of Cary Grant, Danny Kaye, Kevin Costner, and Mark Rylance. Two of those actors won Oscars. One of them was never even nominated. Here he is in the sort of thing that never gets nominated for an Oscar, but maybe should:
If you’ve never seen The Court Jester, give it a watch. Rob Reiner, Cary Elwes, and Mandy Patinkin all did.
January 18 also marks the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an event that has occurred every year since 1908. Looking back on the past 112 years of Christian Unity, I think this may have something to teach us about the efficacy of prayer.
Today is also the birthday of Montesquieu and of A.A. Milne. I’ve read Milne.
And it’s the birthday of Daniel Webster. I like Webster as a character in “The Devil and …” but overall I’ll side with John Greenleaf Whittier, because, yeah, the Fugitive Slave Act was the kind of massive evil that merits a poetic chronicling of your shame 170 years later.
Oh, and happy 61st birthday to Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins:
Talk amongst yourselves.