Tuesday, December 13, 2005

A Date with Destiny

Because I cannot stand to spend another day whining about my sixth grade homework (except to say dammit, I didn't understand Geometry during the Nixon administration, why am I still being tortured by polygons today?) and today is now nearly tomorrow, I am turning to a "this day in history" post to highlight even more things I do not know.

This day in History
1621: Under the care of Robert Cushman, the first American furs to be exported from the continent leave for England.
Furs. I know nothing about furs except they are furry. And just say no. Run Rabbit, Run!

1642: Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovers New Zealand.
New Zealand has a lot of sheep.

1769: Dartmouth College is chartered.
I'm sure this is important to somebody.

1862: Outnumbered Confederate forces defeat Union troops at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
I am mindful of the saying of battles and wars. Thankfully we won the one that matters.

1979: The first Susan B. Anthony dollar coin is minted.
Tomorrow in history: The first person got stuck with the first Susan B. Anthony dollar and couldn't figure out a way to get rid of it because NOBODY wanted a Susan B. Anthony dollar.

2003: U.S. troops capture ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, who is found hiding in a small underground chamber dubbed a "spider hole."
Do I have an opinion on this subject? You bet your Susan B. Anthony I do. Am I going to talk about it here? Not so much, except to say that to replace one political mess with another political mess makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Mary Todd Lincoln, 1818-1882
Today is the birth anniversary of first lady Mary Todd Lincoln. The White House offers an overview of her life, along with biographies of every first lady since Martha Washington.
Aside from being Mrs. Abraham, Mary Todd Lincoln was pretty much cuckoo for Cocoa-Puffs.


I give up. I guess I should be eternally grateful that irregular polygons weren't discovered today. I'm going to go to bed and hope I'm smarter than the pillow. But honestly, I'm not betting my Susan B. Anthony on it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know far more about the fur trade than I want to (the furs were used to make felt for hats, a process using mercury, a poison...hence the term the "Mad Hatter," insanity being a preface to dying.)

Poor Mary Todd, much maligned. Her out-of-control diabetes caused most of her mental problems (is there a theme here?) but the deaths of children and husband might drive me over the edge, too!

Sarah said...

Send Susan over here. I'll introduce her to Sacagawea.