Reconciliation of Sorts

King Birger of Sweden

December 10, 1317: King Birger of Sweden holds a “reconciliation” banquet. It was held at Nyköping Castle and is therefore known as the Nyköping Banquet. In 1310, the king’s brothers, Duke Valdemar and Duke Eric, had tried to overthrow King Birger. With the help of both the Danish and Norwegian kings, a settlement was reached and Sweden was divided between the brothers, each having his own sovereign state. Christmas was being celebrated by King Birger and he invited his estranged brothers to join in the merriment at Nyköping Castle. The brothers arrived and were housed at the Castle but due to cramped quarters, their retinues were forced to spend the night in the town of Nyköping.

At some time during the night while the brothers slept, the King’s drost Brunke (a sort of baliff) arrived with a group of crossbowmen and had the Dukes manacled and taken to the dungeon. The following morning, the dukes followers were also arrested. As the Dukes were being taken away, King Birger reminded his brothers of their attempted coup at the Håtuna Games seven years earlier. The brothers knew there would be no mercy bestowed upon them and on January 18, 1318 had their last wills and testaments drawn up and both are preserved to this time. It wasn’t long before both of the Dukes had died of the traditional execution of drawn-out starvation. The Duchesses tried to maintain control over their husbands’ lands, but were unable to do so.

The King had misjudged the political climate in which he ruled. A rebellion broke out after the populace found out about his family problems and the King was forced to flee. He first went to Gotland, an island off the east coast of Sweden, and then had to continue on to Denmark. Legend states the King threw away the key to the dungeon before leaving town. Nyköpingån, the river near the Castle, was dredged in the 19^th century and a large medieval type key was found during the dredging. Even with this plan in effect, the King was exiled in Denmark and remained there until his death in 1321.

In 1319, then three-year-old Magnus – the son of Duke Eric, was elected King. The family had a limited supply of names and King Birger’s son was also named Magnus and he resisted his cousin’s getting to rule. He led forces which tried to take Nyköping Castle, but failed. Magnus and drost Brunke fled but were captured in Stockholm and were executed in 1320. The royal family was decimated with all adult males dead by 1321. The old Queen Mother, King Birger’s wife, and the toddler son of Duke Eric were all that was left. Magnus IV was the King of Sweden from July 8, 1319 and was also the King of Norway from August 1319. He had been born in the spring of 1316. He ruled in Norway until 1343 and in Sweden until 1364. He died in a shipwreck on December 1, 1374 at the age of 58.

Remember ye aught of the Håtuna Games? I remember them clearly. – King Birger to his brothers

Insecurity breeds treachery: if you are kind to people who hate themselves, they will hate you as well. – Florence King

Destiny is a good thing to accept when it’s going your way. When it isn’t, don’t call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery or simple bad luck. – Joseph Heller

The complaint of the treachery of friends usually indicates that a man hasn’t been discriminating in his early relationships. – Philander Johnson

Also on this day: Stop! Go! – In 1868, the first traffic signal was used for the railroads.
Giving All – In 1907, a riot broke out in Trafalgar Square against the use of vivisection.
Nobel Prizes – In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.
Two Marks – In 1884, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published.
Here He Comes to Save the Day – In 1955, Mighty Mouse Playhouse premiered.

Here He Comes to Save the Day

Mighty Mouse

December 10, 1955: Mighty Mouse Playhouse takes to the air. The cartoon series featured Mighty Mouse and aired on CBS between this date and 1966. The superhero mouse was not extraordinarily popular in theaters, but even so he was Terrytoons’ shining star. He became a national icon because of his long stint on the small screen. Most short film studios, both live-action and cartoon, were declining by the 1950s as television captured more of the viewing audiences’ time. Limited animation techniques were lower in cost and taking precedence. Paul Terry sold the entire Terrytoon company to CBS in 1955 and they began running shorts on this day. Mighty Mouse cartoons were popular with children through the 1980s.

Terrytoons was founded in 1929 and was responsible for creating many cartoon characters. Mighty Mouse was just one of many which included Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Good, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, and Luno. The “New Terrytoons” era had additional characters available including Deputy Dawg and The Mighty Heroes. Even after the company officially closed in 1968, the film library remained and was rereleased to theaters by Fox. The cartoons lived on in television reruns especially the series of Mighty Mouse and Deputy Dawg. The rights to the library were acquired by USA Network in 1989 and they have not pursued continued airing of the cartoons.

Paul Terry was born in California in 1887 and became one of the most prolific film producers in history. He produced over 1,300 cartoons between 1915 and when he retired in 1955. In 1904, he began working as a news photographer and did newspaper cartooning. Ten years later, he became interested in animation after seeing Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor McCay. Terry made his first film, Little Herman, which sold in 1915. After attempting to work on his own with limited success, he joined the JR Bray Studios in 1916 where he produced and directed eleven Farmer Al Falfa films. The next year, he left Bray and opened Paul Terry Productions. He closed his studio and joined the Army and fought during World War I.

In 1920, Terry and Amadee J Van Beuren opened Fables Studios and began producing a series of Aesop’s Film Fables. Terry began experimenting with sound and released Dinner Time two months before Steamboat Willie – Disney’s debut. Van Beuren and Terry split ways and Terrytoons was formed by Terry alone and it was there he began working on his stable of cartoon characters. He was quick to adopt new techniques which helped with production. He wished to retire in 1955 and sold his company to CBS. He died in 1971 at the age of 84.

Disney is the Tiffany of animation. I’m the Woolworth. – Paul Terry

All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable. – Walt Disney

When we constantly ask for miracles, we’re unraveling the fabric of the world. A world of continuous miracles would not be a world, it would be a cartoon. – Douglas Coupland

Kids cannot follow stories. They don’t know what the hell is going on in a cartoon. They like to see funny visual things happening. – John Kricfalusi

Also on this day: Stop! Go! – In 1868, the first traffic signal is used for the railroads.
Giving All – In 1907, a riot broke out in Trafalgar Square against the use of vivisection.
Nobel Prizes – In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.
Two Marks – In 1884, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published.

Giving All

Brown Dog statue

December 10, 1907: A riot breaks out in Trafalgar Square in London. Medical science seeking answers to questions of anatomy and bodily function used the technique of vivisection. This involves surgery on living organisms, usually animals with a central nervous system. Today the practice has been replaced by less invasive animal experimentation resulting in non-mortality for the subject. Only cancer research still uses vivisection as a method of research.

Frances Power Cobbe founded the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) in 1875. Animals were being studied either with or without the use of anesthesia. Information was gathered in front of lecture classes via vivisection. This outraged many Edwardian English folk. Some of the more famous lecturers who used vivisection as a teaching method were attacked verbally and physically. The NAVS, with the support of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, were able to pass the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1876.

In December of 1902, a stray brown dog weighing about 14 pounds was operated on and his pancreatic duct was tied off. He then lived in a small cage until February 2, 1903 when he was again brought before medical students and Physiologist Ernest Starling opened the dog’s abdomen. Next, Physiologist William Bayliss examined the salivary glands after making a second incision in the dog’s neck. Finally, student and future Nobel Laureate Henry Dale removed the dog’s pancreas and then killed the dog. The doctors said the dog was anesthetized by the use of morphine, chloroform, and ether without the crowd knowing it. The dog became a cause célèbre.

A statue of the Brown Dog was erected at Battersea in 1906. Medical students were angered by the wording on the plaque. Bayliss, who discovered hormones by using vivisection, sued for libel and won. The statue had a 24-hour guard. On this day, about 1,000 “anti-doggers” marched through the streets of London and clashed with suffragettes, trade unionists, and about 400 police in Trafalgar Square. The resulting melee is known as the Brown Dog Riots. The statue was removed in 1910 and finally replaced with a new statue in 1985.

“In Memory of the Brown Terrier Dog done to Death in the Laboratories of University College in February 1903, after having endured Vivisection extending over more than two months and having been handed from one Vivisector to another till Death came to his Release. Also in Memory of the 232 dogs vivisected at the same place during the year 1902. Men and Women of England, how long shall these things be?” – from the Brown Dog statue

“As we go walking after dark,
We turn our steps to Latchmere Park,
And there we see, to our surprise,
A little brown dog that stands and lies.
Ha, ha, ha! Hee, hee, hee!
Little brown dog how we hate thee.” – One of the songs the rioters sang as they marched

“The dog struggled forcibly during the whole experiment and seemed to suffer extremely during the stimulation. No anaesthetic had been administered in my presence, and the lecturer said nothing about any attempts to anaesthetize the animal having previously been made.” – Liouse Lind-af-Hagbey

“This monument replaces the original memorial of the brown dog erected by public subscription in Latchmere Recreation Ground, Battersea in 1906. The sufferings of the brown dog at the hands of the vivisectors generated much protest and mass demonstrations.” – inscription on new statue’s plaque

This article first appeared at examiner.com in 2009. Editor’s update: Vivisection comes from the Latin word for alive, vivus, and the term for cutting, sectio. The purpose for this is to gather information that is not available via other methods. When done on humans, it is considered to be a form of torture. Today, the practice is regulated by external ethical review boards and is governed, at least in the English speaking world, by laws. The US, UK, and Australia all have laws that regulate both the allowable reasons and the treatment modalities with all countries having measures to avoid or lessen the animals’ pain. Even without the use of cutting, the animals of the world have gained some rights through the laws concerning animal testing. Many countries implement laws but they are jurisdictional and the vary greatly around the world. The US has several laws regulating testing on animals. These regulations do not cover a wide range of animals and testing continues with some outrageous practices still in use.

Also on this day: Stop! Go! – In 1868, the first traffic signal is used for the railroads.
Nobel Prizes – In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.
Two Marks – In 1884, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published.

Two Marks

Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain

December 10, 1884: Samuel Clemens publishes a new book. Sam was born in 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth of seven children, however only four of them lived to adulthood. When he was four, the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri – a port town on the Mississippi River. At the time, the state was one of the slave states and so young Sam was familiar with the institution. When he was 11, his father died of pneumonia. The next year, Sam was apprenticed to a printer. By the age of 15 he was working as a typesetter and submitting for publication articles and humorous pieces to the Hannibal Journal, a newspaper owned by his brother. On a trip on a riverboat, he was encouraged to become a pilot and it was then he took his pen name, Mark Twain.

Twain made money from his writing, but he was not as good at his investments. He loved technology and would invest in new ideas only to continually lose money. Some of his writing speaks to this love of science and paranormal experience. But he didn’t only lose money by investing in technology. He also bought into a publishing house which was initially successful, but then it too lost money. His writings and lectures helped to keep the company afloat. However, even with these sources of income, Twain eventually had to file for bankruptcy.

In 1876, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published. And as a sequel, on this date, the first printing of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place. Twain’s original idea for the book, following Huck into adulthood, was abandoned. Instead he worked on and off from 1876 until 1883 trying out different ideas. He heavily edited the work to strengthen characters (especially Huck and Jim) as well as to address the then-current topic of literacy and voting. Demand for the book spread beyond the borders and it was published on this day in both Canada and England. The US waited and on February 18, 1885 it was finally published at home.

The book is considered to be one of the Great American Novels. It is considered to be one of the earliest works in American literature to be written in the vernacular, or native dialect. The book is written in first person with Huck narrating his story. It is noted for colorful descriptions of both people and places along the Mississippi River. It shows a scathing look at the pre-Civil War South with entrenched attitudes, especially toward slavery. The book was illustrated by E.W. Kemble and is 366 pages long. It runs into trouble today because there is a politically incorrect word included, even though the mood of the book is anti-racist.

There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.

The average man don’t like trouble and danger.

All I say is, kings is kings, and you got to make allowances. Take them all around, they’re a mighty ornery lot. It’s the way they’re raised.

We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. – all from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

Also on this day

Stop! Go! – In 1868, the first traffic signal is used for the railroads.
Giving All – In 1907, a riot broke out in Trafalgar Square against the use of vivisection.
Nobel Prizes – In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.

Nobel Prizes

December 10, 1901: The first Nobel Prizes are awarded. The categories include Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine. Economics was added in 1969 and is a non-official prize funded through a different source. The majority of the prizes are handed out in Stockholm, Sweden with the Peace prize given in Oslo, Norway. The prizes are awarded on December 10 each year, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death at age 63. He suffered a stroke and died in Sanremo, Italy in 1896.

Nobel Prize

Alfred was born in Stockholm in 1833. His family moved to St. Petersburg where his father helped to build torpedoes. His father was also the inventor of plywood. The family moved back to Sweden when the family works in Russia went bankrupt. Alfred studied explosives and found that nitroglycerine mixed with an inert substance was safer and more portable. He patented his invention, dynamite, in 1867.

Dynamite was first demonstrated at a quarry in Surrey, England and proved a success. Nobel went on to experiment with nitroglycerine and gun-cotton to make a jelly-like and more powerful explosive called gelignite. That too was patented, this time in 1876. He continued to modify and improve his explosives. In 1888 a French newspaper printed a premature obituary and said, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.” Not wanting to be known as a bringer of death, Alfred devised a better way for his name to be remembered.

His last will and testament left 31 million kroner ($141 million in 2010 currency) to fund a set of prizes to be given to the best and brightest in several fields. Between 1901 and 2011, 830 Laureates and 23 organizations have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Women have received 40 awards. Lawrence Bragg was the youngest recipient when he took the prize for Physics in 1915 at the tender age of 25 and the oldest Laureate to date is Leonid Hurwicz, who was 90 years old when he was awarded the 2007 Prize in Economic Sciences. Two Laureates have turned down the prize and four winners have been forced to refuse the honor. Four individuals and two organizations are multiple winners. Three Laureates were under arrest at the time they were given their awards.

“I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize.” – George Bernard Shaw

“The Nobel Peace Prize is a powerful message. A durable peace is not a single achievement, but an environment, a process and a commitment.” – Mohamed ElBaradei

“I’d kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.” – Steven Wright

“I intend to leave after my death a large fund for the promotion of the peace idea, but I am skeptical as to its results.” – Alfred Bernhard Nobel

Also on this day:

Stop! Go! – In 1868, the first traffic signal is used for the railroads.
Giving All – In 1907, a riot broke out in Trafalgar Square against the use of vivisection.

Stop! Go!

Traffic Signal

December 10, 1868: Railroad signal engineer JP Knight sets up the first traffic signal at the intersection of George and Bridge Streets outside the House of Parliament in London, England. The light was based on semaphore technology used by trains. When the arms were out at a horizontal position it meant “stop” for all carriage traffic. When the arms were at a 45 º angle, it meant that carriage traffic could proceed with “caution” watching out for foot traffic. There was no “go.” Red and green lanterns were added for night drivers. The control was built for the Members of Parliament so they could come and go more easily. It was taken down in 1872 while still the only traffic light in London.

Berlin, Germany was the next place to notice that traffic needed to be controlled and in 1882 they erected a police operated control signal. Carriages became horseless, faster, more dangerous, more numerous. Traffic control needed a system. In Salt Lake City, Utah,  the first electric light was used in 1912 and by 1917 they had six interconnected intersections controlled from one master switch.

On August 5, 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio, the American Traffic Signal Company installed red and green lights at all four corners of 105^th St. and Euclid Ave. The lights were built so as to assure no crossed signals and a bell sounded to let drivers know that the light would be changing from green to red. In Detroit, Michigan William Potts added the yellow caution light and hung the signals from suspension poles.

Today’s traffic signals include signals for pedestrians. Some halt all traffic while walkers can not only cross horizontally or vertically, but diagonally as well. Today’s lights also have a few seconds of “all red” in order to clear intersections before traffic proceeds from cross roads. Some lights use sensors in the pavement that allow for the light to be tripped while others are controlled by a central computer. There are also intersections with red light cameras that are set to take pictures of the license tags of people who fail to stop when the light is red.

“The cost of a traffic light ($125,000) is much less than the cost of an accident involving multiple cars along with doctor and hospital bills, including repair of damaged and paying off totaled vehicles.” – James Goodwin

“Traffic signals are heavy-duty consumers. You’re talking about big lamps.” – David Schultz

“We’re replacing lights that have been in operation since 1959. Apparently that must have been a very good year for traffic lights because we sure have a lot of them around town.” – Jerry Paul

“Traffic signals in New York are just rough guidelines.” – David Letterman

Also on this day, in 1907 a riot broke out in London to protest the use of vivisection.