19 April 2007

The Best Birthday Present You Can Give James Today

Ok, Let's recap.

On April 19th...

1775: A shot is fired and the American Revolution begins at the Lexington Common. It was the "shot heard round the world."
[It's sad that I did not know that. Someone had to remind me that this is why we have Patriot’s Day. I always thought Patriot's Day was just another convenient Massachusetts holiday like “Evacuation Day” which "just happens" to fall on March 17th/St. Patrick’s Day. I assumed someone made up Patriot's Day so people could run or attend the Boston Marathon. ]

1861: The first blood of the American Civil War is shed. Four soldiers and 12 rioters were killed.

1989: A giant asteroid passes within 500,000 miles of Earth.

1993: Waco. Branch Davidian compound implodes after 51-day seige. 86 dead.

1995: The Oklahoma City Bombing, 168 dead

1999: Columbine, 13 dead. (April 20)

I've known him for 10 years but it is still staggering to me that James, a good soul, a healing man in every way, shares his birthday with all this negative energy. But he turns 39 today and the best birthday present you can give him is a piece of your own crappy history. Go to This Day in History and let him know of any shitstorms that were swirling about the day you were born.

My birthday Nov 29: George Harrison dies, 2001.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

8/14 -
1751 Daughter poisons her father in London,
1935 Social Security Act passed and signed into law,
1917 China declares war on Germany,
1987 Deficit reaches new high.
Many happy returns James!

Anonymous said...

2/9:
1965- US sends first troops into South Vietnam
2001- US sub collides with fishing boat in Pearl Harbor
1960- Coor Brewery heir is kidnapped
1950- McCartney says Communists are in the State Department
1942- The Normandie burns and sinks in NY Harbor

James - HAPPY 39TH BDAY!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey James, Happy Birthday. Don't feel so bad - sh*t happens everyday. Here's some good/bad/call-it-what-you-want.

07/16

1945: Atom bomb successfully tested
1955: Moss wins 1st Grand Prix (YES!)
1969: Apollo 11 departs Earth
1977: Shaun Cassidy tops the charts (I heart him)
1979: An army doctor is accused of stabbing his family to death (which was later made into a Movie of the Week that starred Gary Cole as the doctor - aka Bill Lumbergh from Office Space - sad that I recall watching this MOTW when it came out)
1990: Earthquake wreaks havoc in the Phillipines
1999: JFK Jr. killed in plane crash off of MV

Anonymous said...

April 19th is also my parents anniversary! Thanks for the reminder, Jacksons.

1966: The Brown/Dik wedding takes place somewhere in Fitchburg, MA (thank you Tom Haley, thank you)

Anonymous said...

James--you know what this means...you are officially one DECADE older than me! Happy Birthday!

Anonymous said...

My birthday gift to James -- aside from the brief appearance by The Sun earlier -- is that he WINS at having worst tragedies on his birthday. We know how you love to win, James. ;) In comparison, I have the lamest birthday tragedies:

1813 British burn Buffalo NY during the War of 1812
1852 Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants
1989 Jane Pauley says goodbye to NBC's "Today" show
1994 B737-400 flies into a mountain at Edremit East Turkey, 54 killed
1993 Todd Bridges arrested for transporting methamphetamine (speed)
1997 Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu

Happy Birthday, James!!

KJ said...

Random observations...

EPB: Did it really say "McCartney" says Commmunists in the State Department? As in Sir Paul? That's hilarious. It's the freakin' History Channel.

BG: That Shaun Cassidy reference reminded me of your Bill Shatner-esque karaoke performance of Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing" from a few years ago. "Drag yourself across the floor."

Any reference to the Brown-Dik wedding will alway kill me.

LPD: Wear that Todd Bridges' arrest like a badge of honor.

Anonymous said...

KJ - My idiotic blunder.... not Sir Paul, he said 'we all live in a yellow submarine'.... McCarthy on the other hand was the crazed man in Senate.

We still on for tomorrow afternoon?

KJ said...

EPB-We are ON. I'll call you. My hair appt is on Newbury at 1:30 so it'll probably be around 3:30-ish. I'll see if any other burds are around to join us. xo

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday James !

Santa comes every year on my f'in birthday and I get Christmas Cards with "Happy B'day" on them !
But it's a slow day with respect to tragedy....

Really, little happens

In 1776: American forces under George Washington cross the Delaware River at night, and raid British Hessian mercenaries at the Battle of Trenton the next day.

They had a shitty Christmas !

1941: The British military garrison in Hong Kong surrenders to Japan.


1991: Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as Soviet president...and then had a good old turkey dinner !