April 30, 2022. My plan for this new day is to follow the advice of Mr. Jeffery Lebowski, otherwise known as the “Dude”. “Life is short and complicated, and nobody knows what to do about it. So don’t do anything about it. Just take it easy, man.” That’s a good enough plan for me. Today is Bugs Bunny Day, National Honesty Day, National Bubble Tea Day, International Jazz Day, National Oatmeal Cookie Day, National Raisin Day, National Arbor Day, Spank Out Day (who’s your daddy?) and Eeyore’s Birthday. Now, to history. This is the day in 1315 French chamberlain Enguerrand de Marigny was hanged after being convicted of sorcery. This is an interesting story: Enguerrand was the King’s tax collector and hated by pretty much everyone but the king. The sorcery charge was bogus, the trial speedy and sentence executed immediately. Problem solved. On this day in 1563 Jews were expelled from France by order of Charles VI. In 1864 New York became the 1st state to charge a hunting license fee. On this day in 1904 the Ice cream cone made its debut at St. Louis World’s Fair. Lastly, on this day in 1952 Mr. Potato Head was the 1st toy advertised on television. Let’s start today’s quotes with Eeyore, the pessimistic donkey from Winnie the Pooh, who said, “One can’t complain. I have my friends. Someone spoke to me only yesterday.” It’s also the birthday of Carl Fredrich Gauss who would be 245 years old today. He said, “It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possessing but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.” I’ll wrap this up with some quotes from one of my favorite SF authors, Larry Niven who said, “Any damn fool can predict the past” and “Anything you don’t understand is dangerous until you do understand it.” Abide.
