(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!

Friday Night Fun @ Sine, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Friday Night Fun @ Sine… Original plan was to skate and then head to the bar but the rain forced an early retreat inside (ok, so we never even tried to skate this time). The lighting wasn’t so great and we took only a few photos, but you can check out the short set on Flickr.

Me and Piñatas, we go back aways… 6th birthday, 1981.

el burro, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Piñata pics posted!

All on Flickr….

Tunnel inferno leaves two people dead in California

Story Highlights

• Traffic backed up in all directions
• Firefighters pumping foam into tunnel to douse fire
• 15 trucks involved in pileup on Golden State Freeway
• At least 8 people reported injured, one missing

Full story on CNN.com

Dead donkey, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

He put up a mighty fight, but in the end, candy for everyone!

The pinata was FUN.

But I still miss the good ol’ days when Piñatas came from Juarez and not China. Used to be you could peel apart your trashed piñata and read a fairly recent newspaper that more often than not hailed from a Mexican border town. Now there is no more newspaper. Now the crepe paper is attached to a cardboard form. And the bottom seems to have been pre-weakened so as to allow for the candy to fall with just a few blows (as was the case with our little donkey). Our group was just not going to stand for this.

Comprised largely of adventure racers, this competitive (you might even say highly ultra super competitive) group quickly assessed the situation… Only one person had swung the stick. The hull integrity of the piñata was compromised. Candy was on the ground. Hitting the piñata looked like fun and more people wanted a chance. The solution… tape. Using masking tape we put our emergency backwoods medical skills to the test and quickly repaired the hole and reattached the candy delivery device to the line. And then more fun ensued.

Adventure racers are not known for their abilities to compete in ball sports. Throwing, catching, swinging sticks at balls… there is a reason most of us dreaded PE in school and instead drifted towards self-propelled bikes and boats and the reading of maps and the running through the woods. And so the stances and swinging styles varied wildly from random thrashings to Jedi inspired light saber duels (the light saber allusion being enhanced greatly with the addition of two glow sticks at the end of the offical piñata thrashing wand).

Finally, after a much more acceptable length of time, and after many had had a chance to swing and look foolish (providing much entertainment to the onlookers – and perhaps some annoyance to the neighbors) the donkey was well and truly dead and the scramble for candy began in earnest.

On October 12, 1810

The Germans are world renown for both their ability to party and also for their keen aptitude at naming things. Both the marriage and the party were a great success.

Ludwig later became King Ludwig I of Bavaria (his grandson, Ludwig II, would build the famous Neuschwanstein castle), the party became known as Oktoberfest, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Other things happened on October 12 too…

For instance, did you know that in 1609 “Three Blind Mice” was published by London teenage songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft? Or that in 1792 the first celebration of Columbus Day in the USA was held in New York (Columbus having “discovered” the new world 300 years earlier to the day)?

Where you even aware that in 1892 The Pledge of Allegiance was first recited in unison by students in US public schools? Or that in 1960 Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on a desk at a United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonialist policy being conducted in Eastern Europe?

Some people were born on October 12…

• 1537 – King Edward VI of England (d. 1553)
• 1576 – Thomas Dudley, Massachusetts colonial magistrate, father of Anne Bradstreet (d. 1653)
• 1798 – Pedro I of Brazil (d. 1834)
• 1860 – Elmer Sperry, American inventor (d. 1930)
• 1872 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (d. 1958)
• 1904 – Lester Dent, American writer (d. 1959)
• 1951 – Sally Ride, first American woman in space
• 1968 – Hugh Jackman, Australian actor and singer
• 1969 – Martie Maguire, American musician (Dixie Chicks)
• 1970 – Kirk Cameron, American actor
• 1975 – Marion Jones, American “athlete”
• 1977 – Bode Miller, American alpine ski-racer
• 1997 – Prince Boris of Bulgaria

While other people died…

• 1576 – Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1527)
• 1870 – Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1807)
• 1940 – Tom Mix, American actor (b. 1880)
• 1971 – Dean Acheson, U.S. Secretary of State (b. 1893)
• 1978 – Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious (b. 1958)
• 1997 – John Denver, American singer (b. 1943)
• 1998 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976)
• 1999 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (b. 1936)
• 2000 – 17 US Navy crew members of the The USS Cole
• 2002 – 202 people killed by terrorists bombs in Bali
• 2003 – Joan Kroc, American philanthropist (b. 1928)

Let me tell you something, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Not only was Wednesday International Talk Like a Pirate Day, it was also Cathy’s birthday!  Photos from her bash held at the new Busboys & Poets are on Flickr for your viewing enjoyment…

Note: Want to download them?  All you have to do is sign in with your Yahoo! account.  

Catie Can Rent A Car!, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Catie’s birthday was successfully celebrated at Tony & Joe’s down on the Georgetown waterfront Saturday night.