OutdoorType

(just kidding)

March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar and there are 282 days remaining until the end of the year.

In addition to today being your birthday, it is also World Tuberculosis Day! Happy World Tuberculosis Day Mom!

Here are some Historical Events that occurred on March 24th:

In 1882, Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis). (and now you know why it is World Tuberculosis Day. Happy World Tuberculosis Day again!). In 1958 Elvis Presley was officially inducted into the U.S.Army.

Some other things happened too, like in 1603 James VI of Scotland also became James I King of England, which sort of sounds like a lateral promotion, but probably came with a nice pay increase.

Quite some years later, in 1765 during the American Revolutionary War, the Kingdom of Great Britain passed the Quartering Act that required the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops. This was kind of sticking point for the colonists so when after they finished winning their independence, and after they grey tired of the Articles of Confederation, and after realising that the new Constitution would be better off with a few quick (10) amendments they made sure to say that:

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

In 1832, the twenty-six-year-old founder of the Mormon church, Joseph Smith, was dragged from bed by disaffected former followers. Smith was beaten unconscious, then tarred and feathered. The attack encouraged Joseph to accelerate a trip to Zion (aka, Independence, Missouri).

Meanwhile, in 1837 our cousins up north in Canada gave African men the right to vote. We did the same thing, only it took us 31 years, a bloody Civil War, and TWO amendments to the Constitution (#13 & 14) before we could do the same thing (and even that didn’t exactly solve the problem of voter disenfranchisement).

Some other neat people were also born today. John Wesley Powell (b. 1834) was a U.S. soldier, geologist, and explorer of the American West. He is famous for the 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition, a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers that included the first passage through the Grand Canyon. During the Civil War Battle of Shiloh he lost most of one arm (so imagine doing all that first exploration stuff with only one arm). An interesting bit about that trip down the Colorado is that three men abandoned the mission and were later murdered. While Indians have always been the prime suspects, it now seems more likely that they were felled by a Mormon ambush.

Harry Houdini was born today in 1874 in Budapest. He forever changed the world of magic and escapes, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest escapologists in history. In 1944 seventy-six men escaped from the German prison camp Stalag Luft III. The prison escape attempt was later made into a famous movie called, “The Great Escape.” The Great Escape starred Steve McQueen. Steve McQueen was born March 24, 1930.

Edward Weston, an American photographer, was born in 1886. The New York Times newspaper reported on April 14, 2008 that Sotheby’s sold one of his photographs to a New York art dealer for $1.6 Million. Even though he was a celebrated photographer he survived selling his photos for a humble price of $7-10. Now, they have gone up over 1,000,000% in value.

I hope you’ve had a great day Mom!