June 21, 2022

June 21, 2022. My yesterday was fun to live. Nothing special happened but I had a great time doing what I did. As my new favorite stoic philosopher Epictetus said, ”As you think, you become.” Leo Tolstoy agreed. He said, “If you want to be happy, be.” I think today will be a fun day too. June 21^st is World Humanist Day, World Handshake Day, World Music Day, International Day of Yoga, National Peaches and Cream Day, National Day of the Gong, National Smoothie Day, National Cheery Tart Day, and The Longest Day which means that this is the first day of Summer. Now let’s see what the history of this day is. On this day in 1547 the Great Fire of Moscow happened. A third of the wooden city was destroyed and 3,000 people died. On this day in 1788 the US Constitution went into effect when New Hampshire was the 9^th state to ratify it. This is the day in 1853 that the envelope-folding machine was patented in by Russell Hawes in Worcester, MA. In 1893 on June 21^st, the 1^st Ferris Wheel opened at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. On June 20^th I wrote that the Detroit race riot of 1943 took place. On June 21^st, 1943 6,000 federal troops stopped the riot. In 1982 on this day, John Hinckley was found not guilty of the 1981 attempted assassination of President Reagan by reason of insanity. Today we will visit the grave of Niccolò Machiavelli who died in 1527. He is sometimes referred to as the father of modern political philosophy. He said, “It is better to act and repent than not to act and regret.” “Always assume incompetence before looking for conspiracy.” “A sign of intelligence is an awareness of one’s own ignorance.” I will end with “The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.” Abide.