It’s 07.27.2023. July is almost gone. I’m looking forward to November. I skipped over the hottest part of the summer and hurricane season. A high of 80 degrees is something to look forward to. We have a long list of events which can be celebrated: Bagpipe Appreciation Day, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, National Chicken Finger Day, National Chili Dog Day, National Crème Brulé Day, National Refreshment Day, Walk on Stilts Day, and my pick: National Scotch Day which I will celebrate around 5 PM. Now some history: On this day in 1377 was the first recorded use of a quarantine. Visitors to Dubrovnik were isolated for 30 days before they could enter the city. On this day in 1566 an English tribunal convicted Agnes Waterhouse of witchcraft and sentenced her to death making her the first woman executed for this crime in England. On this day in 1586 Walter Raleigh brought the 1st tobacco to England from Virginia. On this day in 1816 US troops destroyed Fort Apalachicola, a Seminole fort, to punish them for harboring runaway slaves. On this day in 1890 Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh shot himself and would die 2 days later. On this day in 1919 the Chicago race riot happened with 15 whites and 23 blacks killed and 500 injured. On this day in 1940 Bugs Bunny made his cartoon debut. On this day in 1953 North Korea and the United Nations signed an armistice and divided Korea at the 38th parallel. On this day in 1990 Zsa Zsa Gabor began serving a 3-day jail sentence for slapping a police officer in Beverly Hills. Today’s dead person is Swami Vivekananda. He said, “We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.” “We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think.” “The whole point is to discipline the mind.” “Blame nobody else, do not make the mistake of the ignorant.” “The great secret of true success, of true happiness, I this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.” That’s a good place to stop. Abide.
