Good News In History, November 15

Good News In History, November 15

121 years ago today, King Gillette patented the disposable safety razor: an enormous improvement over the day’s shaving technology of straight, forged blades that needed to be honed every day with a leather strop. By contrast, Gillette utilized stamped razers from carbon steel sheets, while adapting existing safety features that prevented injury beyond the odd nick. The result, despite being disposable, was both expensive and hugely popular. READ a bit more about this American innovation… (1904)

Gillette first got the idea for a disposable razor when a friend pointed out that disposable products guarantee future customer purchases. Gillette’s razor retailed for a substantial $5 (equivalent to $175.00 in 2024)—half the average working man’s weekly pay—yet sold by the millions.

In his first year, he sold 51 razors and 168 blades; the second year, 90,884 razors and 123,648 blades, thanks in part to Gillette’s low prices, automated manufacturing techniques, and good advertising. A gargant of American hygiene and grooming, Gillette is now worth more than $50 billion.

In 2020, Gillette announced a commitment to reduce the use of virgin (unrecycled) plastics by 50%by 2030 and maintain zero waste to landfill status across all plants.

MORE Good News on this Date:

• A new presidential republic was launched after Brazil‘s military overthrew the emperor (1889)
• The first assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva (1920)
• The cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial was laid (1939)
• A quarter million peaceful protesters rallied against the Vietnam War (1969)
• Dire Straits became the first act to sell over three million copies of an album in the UK with Brothers in Arms, which contained five top 40 singles—Money for Nothing, So Far Away, Walk of Life, Brothers in Arms, and Your Latest Trick (1987)
• Palestinian Independence Day is celebrated, commemorating the day the Palestinian National Council declared itself a state (1988)
• The Space Shuttle Atlantis launched its first flight (1990)
• Baseball players and owners agreed on a tougher steroids-testing policy (2005)
• The Occupy Wall Street Project, Strike Debt, launched the Rolling Jubilee project to buy up Americans’ debt for pennies on the dollar through the “secondary debt market”, and in its first year has erased almost $15 million in anonymous personal debt (2012)

8 years ago, Pakistani archeologists revealed to the world the finished excavations of the Bhamala Stupa, one of the oldest in the world, and a monumental work of the Buddhist faith that contains a depiction of Buddha sometimes described as “sleeping,” but he’s actually in Samadhi. The site has received UNESCO World Heritage status, and was discovered in the early 20th century, but excavations were halted in the 30s.

Located in the far north of Pakistan, the stupa is part of the overall Bhamala Stupa Complex which includes monastic quarters and other buildings. Many important statuary works have been uncovered there.

It’s dated to between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, and is considered to be the final evolution of the stupa building style of the Gandhara civilization. (2017)

Happy 85th Birthday to Sam Waterston, the stage and film actor noted for his performance in The Killing Fields (1984), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, and for his role in Law & Order, which earned him both Golden Globe and SAG Awards.

He continued his quietly charismatic and unfailingly solid performances in HBO’s The Newsroom, and recently brought his distinctive comedy to the Netflix comedy alongside Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Martin Sheen, in Grace and Frankie. WATCH Martin Sheen, John Lithgow, Jane Fonda, Kelli O’Hara, and Meryl Streep pay (a virtual) tribute to Sam Waterston on his 80th birthday… (1940)

Also, on this day in 1988, the world’s first international fair trade certification was launched, uniting producers and labeling initiatives across Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand behind the Max Havelaar Foundation plan in the Netherlands. In 2017, ethical sales of global Fairtrade products rose by 8 percent to nearly $9.2 billion, generating more than $193 million for farmers and co-ops, with products in the US like coffee, cocoa, and bananas seeing growth of 24%, 33%, and 51%.

One of the most recognizable labels, Fairtrade International (and Fairtrade America), appears on more than 30,000 products sold in over 150 countries, helping improve the sustainability of their entire supply chain. There are currently more than 1.6 million farmers and workers in various certified organizations across 75 countries. The Fairtrade movement is particularly popular in the UK, where there are 500 Fairtrade towns, 118 universities, over 6,000 churches, and over 4,000 schools registered. The US now ranks as the third largest market for Fairtrade goods behind the United Kingdom and Germany.

And, 96 years ago today Ed Asner, the beloved actor who played Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 70s and 80s, was born. His notable roles included Santa Claus in the film Elf, and the voice of Carl in Pixar’s 2009 Oscar-winning Best Picture UP!

A longtime advocate for the developmentally disabled, Asner had a son with autism who earned a degree from the University of Connecticut. He celebrated his milestone birthday last year raising a lot of money for the new Ed Asner Family Center in Reseda, California, which is dedicated to promoting self-confidence in differently ‘abled’ individuals, and bringing balance and wellness to their families through arts and vocational enrichment and mental health services. “I want these kids to have that same opportunity and go beyond,” said Ed, whose son, Matt, has three children on the spectrum. Asner died in 2021. (1929)

And on this day in 1887, the artist Georgia O’Keeffe was born in a farmhouse in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. For her paintings of enlarged flowers, skyscrapers in New York, and New Mexico landscapes. she has been called the “Mother of American modernism.” SEE her paintings in a 3-minute video…

80 years ago today, Gabriela Mistral became the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The poet, educator, and Chilean icon was also consequently the first Latin American woman, and the fifth woman overall, to claim the prize. Some central themes in her poems are nature, betrayal, love, a mother’s love, sorrow and recovery, travel, and Latin American identity as formed from a mixture of Native American and European influences. 

Mistral had a meteoric rise through the complex politics surrounding the 20th-century Chilean education system, during which time she went from rural school teacher to the director of the most prestigious girl’s high school in the capital in just a few short years, despite being entirely autodidactic.

By the time she retired and received a pension in 1925, she had already published several books of poetry, including “Sonnets on Death” (Sonetos de la Muerte) “Desolation” (Desolación), and “Tenderness” (Ternura). She then traveled Europe, working in international relations, and lecturing at universities.

In Ternura Mistral attempts to prove that poetry that deals with the subjects of childhood, maternity, and nature can be done in highly aesthetic terms, and with a depth of feeling and understanding. Example… (1945)

There was this girl of wax;
but she wasn’t made of wax,
she was a sheaf of wheat standing in the threshing floor.
But she was not a sheaf of wheat
but a stiff sunflower