Hols of the Day

Bet you didn't know it was...

Leprechaun Day. The most notable thing being that now I know how to spell 'leprechaun' without looking.

Also, it's Frog Jumping Day, supposedly in honor of Mark Twain's short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

I found no date that directly corresponds to this story, but there is a frog jumping contest on the the third weekend of May, in Calaveras County, California....more from Mark Twain, later.

First,

Today in History:

1110--Crusaders march into Beirut causing a bloodbath

1637--Cardinal Richelieu of France creates the table knife

1643--Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago Chile; kills 1/3 of population

1828--US passes Tariff of Abominations

1846--US declares war on México, 2 months after fighting begins

1888--Brazil abolishes slavery

1967--Octagonal boxing ring is tested to avoid corner injuries

Quite frankly, I'm beginning to think that many supposed "Today in History" sites routinely copy and paste from each other with no real effort to check out the veracity of their supposed data. I believe this because:

a) some of the above "facts" simply cannot be verified independently, and,

b) they all use the exact same choice of words, which would naturally rouse suspicions.

So after this, no more random copying and pasting from Ma unless I can find corroborating evidence within a four-minute search.

For instance, I could not locate info on an earthquake in Santiago in 1643, due in no small part to an appalling lack of Internet accessibility during that time period, and apparently no surviving newspapers or even microfiche.

HOWEVER, there was a hu-MON-gous quake in 1960, which registered a whopping 9.5 on the Richter scale. Foreshocks included four at 7.0, one of which was 7.9. The numerous aftershocks registered five over 7.0.

The Tariff of Abominations is a little complicated but here's a humorous and informative YouTube video Ma found which explains it all quite succinctly.


But getting back to Mark Twain, I learned of an amusing quote from watching a few minutes of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" while finishing up my treadmill punishment yesterday. I share it for all Twainian fans--of which I am one--and especially for a couple of my daughters, heh, heh...

"I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."

Mark Twain Letter to Joseph Twichell, 9/13/1898
 

Tweet