We call this day March 31st. Yesterday was a very good day and I’m expecting the same today. When you get to be the age I am, a day without health issues is, by definition, a good day. I have my genes to thank because my lifestyle isn’t exactly health orientated. If my corpse is found in a gym, I was murdered, and my body was moved. Let’s see what events have been selected to celebrate today. 03/31 is César Chávez Day, Clams on The Half Shell Day, National Crayon Day, Manatee Appreciation Day, National “She’s Funny That Way” Day, National Tater Day and National Farm Worker Day. A tip of my hat to the people who work on farms so that we can have food on our table. Now a history lesson: In 1657 on this day the English Parliament offered to make Oliver Cromwell the Kind of England. He refused. Cromwell died the next year of natural causes. His body was exhumed in 1661 and he was hung and beheaded as a traitor. I think I need to read his biography. On this day in 1736 the Bellevue Hospital was opened in New York City. It was America’s first public hospital. On this day in 1822 the Chios Massacre happened. Ottoman soldiers landed on the Greek Island of Chios and killed or enslaved 3/4s of the population of 120,000. On this day in 1880 Wabash, Indiana became the first town to be illuminated by electricity. This was the day in 1932 that Ford Motor Comapny introduced the V8 engine. There are lots of interesting people who died on 03/31. Isaac Newton died in 1727 at the age of 84. He said, “What we know is a drop, what we don’t know is an ocean.” He also said, “I consider my greatest accomplishment to be lifelong celibacy”. Wow. This is the day that Knute Rockne died in a plane crash in 1931 at the age of 43. Knute said, “If winning isn’t everything, why bother to keep score?” I’ll end with a quote from J.P. Morgan who died in 1913 at the age of 73, and said, “When you expect things to happen, strangely enough, they do happen.” Abide.
