Well, you have all been blessed with my presence for forty-six years today. No doubt all your lives have been positively (hell…damn near miraculously) impacted by my existence.
Meh.
I’m not big on annual events that are effectively celebrating one less of something, be it birthdays (my own or someone else’s), New Year’s Day, what have you. But at 46, it is pretty clear that I’ve probably lived more than half my life, and this has made me perhaps a little more introspective than I usually am during such “events.” This got me to thinking “what else of real importance might have happened on August 31st?” So, here goes:
2004 – The Republican party nominates George W. Bush as its presidential candidate
1997 – Princess Diana is killed in a car crash
1992 – Dynamite explosion in Philippines mine; 500 die
1988 – 5-day power blackout of downtown Seattle begins
1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 over California, killing 82
1979 – Comet Howard-Koomur-Michels collides with Sun
1976 – George Harrison found guilty of plagiarizing “My Sweet Lord”
1954 – Hurricane Carol (1st major named storm) hits New England, 70 die
1888 – Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper’s victims.
1886 – 1st major earthquake recorded in eastern U.S., at Charleston SC, 110 die
1535 – Pope Paul II deposed and excommunicated by King Henry VIII
1056 – Empress Theodora dies without a successor, ending the Macedonian Dynasty
All in all, a great day in history.
Of course, on this day in 2006, Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The Scream” was recovered in a raid by Norwegian police, so perhaps it wasn’t all bad.
Michael Profit 