Monday, February 16, 2009

Hope you're having a great generic Presidents day



Celebrate anyone of them in style - John Quincy Adams for example. Let's celebrate the fact that he like to take a nude morning swim in the Potomac daily (weather permitting.) Or Jimmy Carter, the first U.S. president to have been born in a hospital. Or my personal favorite, Warren G. Harding.



Besides being the only President probably murdered by his wife because of his philandering ways (Bill must have known Hillary could never get away with it), Warren was such a lousy poker player that he once lost a complete set of china that had been in the White House dating back to President Benjamin Harrison's years.

So let's hear it for all the generic Presidents.



Still feeling a little logy from all the Valentine Day candy - try some oatmeal, it's good for you.


Today in History;
February 16, 1921 -
Vera-Ellen, actress and anorexia nervosa sufferer, was born on this date.



By the time she appeared in White Christmas, all of her costumes had to be redesigned to cover her neck which appeared horribly aged from the eating disorder.


February 16, 1923 -
Lord Carnarvon opens King Tut's tomb, revealing one of the most well-preserved treasures from the ancient world.



While it has been frequently reported that a curse killed 13 of the 20 people present at the opening of the tomb, there was no curse and no unusual death patterns occurred.


February 16, 1959 -
Failed baseball player Fidel Castro is sworn in as President For Life of Cuba after having led the revolution that removed Fulgenico Batista. At the time, Cuba was a nation plagued by poverty, racked by corruption, and held in thrall by the military force of its leader. During his first year of rule 500 are put to the firing squad, an RBI record any dictator would be proud of.



Today, of course, Cuba is a nation plagued by poverty, racked by corruption, and held in thrall by the military force of its leader.


On February 16, 1918 -
Lithuania declared its independence from Russia.



It was such a successful declaration that they didn't have to repeat it for more than seventy years.


February 16, 1990 -
Keith Haring artist/cartoonist, died of AIDS at 31 on this date.




And so it goes

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