DULLEST DAY? Earlier this week, I heard someone on TV testifying that it had been decided that the date – January 24th is known as “the dullest day of the year.
I've never heard that it was so designated, have you? Certainly the individual who came up with that idea must have got up on the wrong side of his or her padded cell some morning recently.
You cant just go around branding specific days as being complete duds. So much depends on your own special interests and what you consider to be worthwhile. If you're strong on music, for instance; if you don't mind stretching the category a bit that Justin Tubbs died of an aortic aneurysm January 24,1998. He was a son of the late Country Music Hall of Fame member Ernest Tubbs and that made a lot of good people sad. In 1994 David Cole, a superstar producer, died of spinal meningitis, a college music professor sued the “New Kids on the Block” for 21-million back pay charges and he accused them of lip-synching eighty percent of their concert lyrics.
Good things for the date: birthday cakes for Mary Lou Retton, John Belusi, Edith Wharton, Tatyana Ali, one of the “Sesame Street” children you've watched growing up. 1986 In 1986 the “Voyager 2” space probe came within 51,00 miles of Uranus, giving earthlings their look at the distant planet.
Then,there were a few in-between things which could have been bad or good depending on how you look at them: a Russian nuclear powered satellite plunged to the earth's surface,disintegrated and scattered radio active dust over much of Canada's Northwest Territory. In Lebanon gunmen were holding four American educators hostage. They were later released. The prosecution made its opening statement in 1995 at the O.J. Simpson murder trial in California. “Olestra” - a no fat, no-calories cooking oil was FDA approved – January 24, 1995. A U.S.Supreme Court upheld a Missouri law that limited the contributions an individual could donate to a political candidate in one election.
And, of course, here are some oldies you just may not like to be reminded of because some of them sound just like yesterday. In 1908, in England, Robert Baden-Powell organized the first Boy Scout Troop. In 1962 Jackie Robinson became the first black member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1984 Apple-Macintosh unveiled heir first model to change computer thinking forever. It was also on January 24, 1848 – a day when, supposedly very little of consequence takes place, that gold was discovered in California. The President of the United State - President James K. Polk – made the discovery official that same year -eleven months later in December 1848.
It's shame he couldn't have waited a few more weeks and made the announcement on Jan. 24, 1849 because the Gold Rush came to be called “the 49's” after all.
A.L.M. January 24, 2006 [c496wds]
