Today is the birthday, in 1890, of Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan, Lady Mallowan, usually known by her first married name, Agatha Christie. She was an English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers, particularly in the mystery genre. She is the best-selling novelist of all time, her books having sold more than two billion copies.

Her first husband was Archibald Christie; they married in 1914 and had one child before divorcing in 1928. Following the breakdown of her marriage and the death of her mother in 1926, she made international headlines by going missing for 11 days. During both world wars, she served in hospital dispensaries, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the poisons that featured in many of her novels, short stories, and plays. Following her marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930, she spent several months each year on archaeological excavations in the Middle East and used her first-hand knowledge of this profession in her fiction.

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Christie as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross, pictured outside her childhood home of Ashfield in 1915.

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BADA BING BING Bing…

OBAMA 2028! Since rules don’t exist anymore.

“GOP leaders are now divided between the fearful and the deluded – between those who have lost their nerve and those who have lost their minds.”

THE DAY AFTER A HOLIDAY IS DIFFERENT WHEN YOU’RE RETIRED. EVERYBODY ELSE IS COMPLAINING ABOUT GOING BACK TO WORK. I’M JUST TRYING TO REMEMBER WHAT DAY IT IS.

To every woman who wants to repeal the 19th Amendment: Quit your job, close your bank account, cut up your credit cards, surrender your property, and ask your husband for permission to speak. Live the miserable little fantasy you’re trying to force on everyone else.

OUR BEST HOPE IS THAT TRUMP IS TAKING MEDICAL ADVICE FROM ROBERT KENNEDY, JR.

If the phrase: “GET OFF THE COMPUTER, I NEED THE PHONE”, makes perfect sense to you, you’re officially old.

What do you call a dog that herds watermelons? A melon collie.

How does a burger introduce his wife? Meet Patty.

A teacher asked the children in her Sunday School class, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would I get into Heaven?”

“NO!”, the children all answered. “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into Heaven?” Again, the answer was “NO!”

“Well,” she continued, “then how can I get to Heaven?” In the back of the room, a five-year-old boy shouted out, “You gotta be dead!”

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Today is the birthday, in 1946, of Ola Brunkert, drummer with the Swedish group ABBA. Was a member of the Slim Blues Gang, Science Poption and jazz-rock combo Opus III before joining ABBA. He played on every ABBA album and toured with the group. He was found dead with his throat cut at his home in Majorca, Spain on March 17th 2008 after he hit his head against a glass door in the dining room at his home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, composed the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry”, which later became the lyrics for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States.

was on a mercy mission for the release of Dr. William Beanes, a prisoner of the British. The British agreed to release Beanes, but Key and Beanes were forced to stay with the British until the attack on Baltimore was over.

Key watched the British attach on Fort McHenry from a truce ship in the Patapsco River. On the morning of the 14th, Key saw the American flag waving above Fort McHenry. Inspired, he began jotting down verses on the back of a letter he was carrying. Key’s poem, originally named “Defence of Fort M’Henry”, was printed on pamphlets by the Baltimore American.

Key’s poem was later set to the tune of a British song called “To Anacreon in Heaven”, the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen’s club of amateur musicians in London. The song eventually became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner”. The US Congress made it the national anthem of the United States in 1931.

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Maybe…’Literacy’?

I don’t want to know…

Today is the birthday, in 1959, of Norwegian singer Morten Harket who is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band A-Ha. They scored the 1985 US No.1 single ‘Take On Me’ and the 1986 UK No.1 single ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’, becoming the first Norwegian group to score a UK and US No.1 hit. ‘Take On Me’ was bolstered by the wide exposure on MTV of director Steve Barron’s innovative music video featuring the band in a live-action pencil-sketch animation sequence. The video won six awards and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. On 17 February 2020, the music video for ‘Take On Me’ reached one billion views on YouTube. Harket was named a Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav by King Harald for his services to Norwegian music and his international success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3meKlaJL3qo

Today is, of course, the anniversary of the devastating terrorist attacks on the United States by by the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda. A total of 19 terrorists hijacked four airliners, flying one into each of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The third plane crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in a rural field in Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt.

The attacks killed 2,977 people, injured thousands more, and gave rise to long-term health consequences while causing at least US$10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history, as well as the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement personnel in American history, killing 343 and 72 members, respectively.

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…and they say there are no jobs…

Mozart: Requiem In D Minor: Sequentia: Lacrimosa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUaIUHYfhjs

On this day in 1960, Abebe Bikila becomes the first sub-Saharan African to win a gold medal, winning the marathon in bare feet. He was the first Ethiopian Olympic gold medalist, winning his first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he won his second gold medal, making him the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title. In both victories, he ran in world record time.

Born in Shewa, Abebe moved to Addis Ababa around 1952 and joined the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Ethiopian Imperial Guard, an elite infantry division that safeguarded the emperor of Ethiopia. Abebe served in the Kagnew Battalion during the Korean War.

Bikila in 1968

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Today is the birthday, in 19442, of Danny Hutton, singer with Three Dog Night, who had the 1970 UK No.3 & US No.1 single with a cover of the Randy Newman song ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’. The band scored 21 Billboard Top 40 hits (with three hitting No.1) between 1969 and 1975. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVE59Aj7kog

Around this day in 1945, newspapers began to report a blight affecting the potato crop in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. This was the beginning of The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger. It was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852. It constituted a major historical social crisis and had a significant impact on Irish society and history.

The worst year of the famine was 1847, which became known as “Black ’47”. The population of Ireland on the eve of the famine was approximately 8.5 million; by 1901, it was 4.4 million. During the Great Hunger, roughly one million people died and over one million more emigrated.

Long-term reasons for the scale of the famine’s impact included the system of absentee landlordism and single-crop dependence. Initial government actions to alleviate famine distress, which were constructive but limited, were ended by a new Whig administration in London that pursued a laissez-faire economic doctrine. Additionally, some members of the British government believed that the famine was divine judgement or that the Irish lacked moral character.

Large quantities of food were exported from Ireland to England during the famine, and the refusal of London to bar such exports was an immediate and continuing source of controversy. This controversy contributed to the exacerbation of the Irish issue in British politics, the intensification of anti-British sentiment, the intensification of Irish nationalism and the campaign for independence. Additionally, the famine indirectly resulted in the eviction of tens of thousands of households, a situation exacerbated by a provision that forbade access to workhouse aid for those possessing more than one-quarter acre of land.

Famine Memorial in Dublin

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not nice!

BADA BING!!

Hell hath no fury like an Internet commenter who hasn’t read the article but wants to disagree anyway.

A man just called me evil, I needed that. Thought I was losing my spark for a minute.

WHEN YOU’RE DEAD, YOU DON’T KNOW YOU’RE DEAD. THE PAIN IS FELT BY OTHERS. THE SAME THING HAPPENS WHEN YOU’RE STUPID.

It’s “Lake Ontario” not Lake America. It’s “Gulf of Mexico” not Gulf of America. It’s “convicted felon” not president.

Them: “You’re so quiet!” Autistic person: “Correct. I’ve analyzed your patterns and decided you’re not safe.”

If you could just snap your fingers and make five people disappear for good with absolutely no consequences to you, who would be the other four?

“I talk to an invisible man who controls the universe.”  If uttered in a psychiatric ward, it’s a symptom.  If proclaimed in a church, it’s a sermon.  

Any stairway can be a stairway to heaven if you’re clumsy enough.

St. Upid, Patron saint of economic collapse.

Whenever someone asks what I’m doing later and my answer is “nothing,” please understand “nothing” is not an opening in my schedule. “Nothing” is the event. It’s the plan.

Am I Fat? Boomers: You Could Lose A few Pounds Millennials: “No You’re Beautiful” Gen Z :” We Don’t Body Shame Of Course You’re Not. Gen X: ” I Know 5 Fat People and You’re 4 of them’

“If stupidity got us into this mess, why can’t it get us out?” (Will Rogers)

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WARNING!

Today is the birthday, in 1941, of Otis Redding, American singer-songwriter, record producer. After appearing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival Redding wrote and recorded his iconic ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay’ with Steve Cropper. The song became the first posthumous No.1 record on the Billboard Hot 100 and The Dock of the Bay became the first posthumous album to reach No.1 on the UK Albums Chart. Redding was killed in a plane crash on 10th December 1967. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVjnBo96Ug