OutdoorType

My toast from last night’s rehearsal dinner…

Good evening. For those of you whom I have forgotten to introduce myself to, I am Brian, brother of Shawn, and best man (and not, as you might think, the official photographer). I’d like to thank our parents Bill & Susie and Leah’s parent’s Wink and Dorthea for making this weekend possible, for shepherding into this world two really great people.

In college I majored in history and as a result I am always trying to draw connections between past and present. When Shawn and Leah chose April 25th for their wedding I decided to try and find an event that might tie into their day tomorrow and maybe even serve as a metaphor for their new life that begins together.

After setting aside various bits of military trivia such as the 1862 capture of New Orleans by David “Damn the torpedoes” Farragut, or the declaration of war on Spain made by the US Congress in 1898, or the impending fall of Saigon in 1975, I found an interesting footnote, and it read: “1990, the Hubble Telescope is deployed into orbit from the Space Shuttle Discovery.”

Just in case you need a reminder (looking at Shawn), the Hubble is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space. Its unobstructed view of the universe has allowed scientists to observe not only the planets in our solar system, but the most distant stars and galaxies. It had the most precisely ground mirrors ever created by man and its launching 19 years ago marks the most significant advance in astronomy since Galileo’s telescope. Our view of the universe and our place within it has never been the same.

Now, I knew I was on to something with the whole Hubble/Marriage thing, but I wasn’t 100% sure how to proceed, so I did what anyone would do in this situation, I turned to Twitter.

In less than 140 characters I typed: “The Hubble Telescope as a metaphor for marriage. Discuss.” I clicked update and flung my request into the ether.

A near immediate reply appeared on my screen:

“Too easy! Initial perfection of mirrors, need for unexpected adjustments, revelation of cosmic beauty.”

And so I say to Shawn and Leah… I hope that tomorrow is the start of a journey that, while requiring a few minor adjustments from time to time, is one that leads to a beautiful life together.

Cheers!

(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!

February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, such as 1988, 1996, 2008 or 2016 (with the exception of century years not divisible by 400, such as 1900) for the Gregorian calendar, which is most widely used in the world today. These are called leap years, and February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year. February 29 is also known as bissextile day or Leap Day.

There are only a few hours left in the day, so any ladies out there hankering to become betrothed (to me) need to act fast on the tradition that women may make a proposal of marriage to men only in leap years, further restricted in some cases to only February 29. Best as I can tell you really have nothing to lose… tradition states that “if the man rejects the proposal, he should soften the blow by providing a kiss, one pound currency (1 British pound = 1.9847 U.S. dollars), and a pair of gloves.”

p.s. I totally stole the “Happy Leap Day” idea from Katy…