February 8

Events

1819 - Some "art" criticism is more personal than others - English art critic John Ruskin was born on this day. He married a demure woman named Euphemia "Effie" Gray, but seven years after his marriage, Euphemia complained in a letter to a friend of hers that "Mr. Ruskin has yet to make me his wife." It seems that Ruskin as an art student was familiar with the nude female only in the form of statuary and consequently was put off by Euphemia's having hair where the Venus de Milo didn't. She later ran off with the Pre-Raphaelite painter Millais, and he fell in love with a 10 year old girl. So things worked out for both of them, really.

1910 - A good deed on this day - William D. Boyce of Chicago, Illinois incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on this date. The Boy Scouts were originated several years earlier by Englishman Sir Robert Baden-Powell. It seems that Mr. Boyce was visiting England and one foggy day in London town, he lost his way. A young boy guided him, but refused any monetary reward. A surprised Mr. Boyce queried as to why. The boy replied that he was a Scout and Scouts did not accept a reward for doing a good turn. This gesture of good will so inspired Boyce that he searched out Baden-Powell to learn more about the British Scouts and how they groom boys' behavior. Upon his return to the United States, he formed the Boy Scouts of America.

1976 - He ain't Judd Hirsch and she sure ain't Marilu Henner - Considered one of the great films of all time by one of the great directors of all time, Taxi Driver was released on this date. In the film Robert DeNiro plays a mentally unstable Vietnam war veteran who works as nighttime taxi driver in New York. His loathing for the decadence and sleaze he sees causes him to reach out to try to protect a 12 year old prostitute he encounters. At one point he says to her, "You're a young girl, you should be at home now. You should be going with boys, you should be going to school, you know, that kind of stuff." Jodie Foster played the girl and underwent a psychological evaluation before she was allowed to play the role to ensure it would not harm her. It didn't. She received one of the four Oscar nominations the film got.

1996 - "We gotta protect kids from something ... whatever it might be." - United States President Bill Clinton signed into law the Communications Decency Act on this date. The act made it a crime to transmit "patently offensive material" or to allow it to be transmitted over public computer networks where children might see it. It authorized the US government to restrict on-line speech and conduct with fines of $250,000 and jail sentences of up to 2 years for anyone who made such material available to children on line. One problem with the act was what should count as "patently offensive material." Especially so, considering what Bill's idea of a good time in the oval office was.

1999 - The final word on the whole story - Vili Fualaau became famous as the 12 year old boy who had a sexual relationship with his teacher, Mary Kay Letourneau. Fualaau appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on this date. Here is what he had to say: "Mary didn't take away my childhood. I gave it away by consent. I knew what I was getting into. She knew what we were getting into. I don't feel one bit in my whole entire body that she ever raped me. I don't love her because she's 30 years old and she doesn't love me because I'm 15 years old. We love each other for who we are. Do I plan to marry her? Yes, I plan to marry her. She's my world, she's my life, and they all know that I have her ring on still, and it's never going to change." Well said, Vili.

February 8, 1892 - Ralph Nicholas Chubb was a British poet, printer, and artist.