Complex Numbers

All On That Day

Pretty sure the last saber-toothed tiger died the day I was born.

PROMPT July 8th

What historical events, besides your own birth, occurred on your birthday in the year you were born?

Okay, no, not really.

Still, a whole lot of people are going to have to do some gymnastics - or outright lying - if they're trying to obscure their actual date of birth. Me, I haven't made a big secret of it, so I went looking for events that happened on February 18, 1966.

What I found disgusted me.

Not only did nothing of any global import apparently occur that day, but yeeesh, some of these "what happened the day you were born" websites are crapola. "You're an Aquarius!" Yep, knew that, didn't care. The defining characteristic of Aquarians is that we don't believe in astrology. One day later and I'd have been a Pisces. Hell, they don't even report my moon sign (also Aquarius; I was, auspiciously, born during a New Moon).

Speaking of astrology, according to these sites, it was Year of the Horse, and I'm Gen-X. Still don't care. Apparently apathy is the defining characteristic of Gen-X. Probably of horses too. I mean, how many times have you seen a horse rescue someone trapped in a well?

Let's see... celebrity births? No one I've ever heard of.

Famous people deaths? Ditto. Although one of the early cosmonauts "committed suicide" by train on that day. Since he was Russian, I put the quotes around "committed suicide."

I did find one interesting little bit of trivia: On November 21 of this year, if I've survived all the shit 2020 is determined to throw at all of us, I will have been alive for exactly 20,000 days. Considering I only remember, like, three of them, that's quite a lot of days. Doesn't mean much, of course, but I put it on my calendar so I'll have an excuse to drink, which will reduce my number of remembered days to two.

One other random bit of useless trivia I remember from when I was young (and is hence very suspect as to its veracity): As we all know, Star Trek debuted on TV in September of 1966, after having gone through a difficult birthing process. A network ordered a pilot, it was rejected, and it ordered another pilot. The original pilot eventually ended up getting recut for a two-part episode. Point is, it was a long, involved process (that never would have happened if it weren't for Lucille Ball, but that's another story). The thing I remember reading was that the network finally made a series order for the show in February of 1966. I choose to believe that this momentous event happened on my birthday. I can't find what day it actually was, and I have about a 1 in 20 chance of being right (assuming Hollywood took weekends off), so I'm going with it.

I did find one interesting thing, though, something that I'd never heard of.

https://www.onthisday.com/articles/buried-at-sea:-the-casket-that-carried-jfk

Buried at Sea: The Casket That Carried JFK

February 18, 1966 — The casket used to carry the body of assassinated President John F. Kennedy from Dallas to Washington was, on this day, parachuted into oblivion.

Not JFK himself, of course. He's supposedly at Arlington Cemetery; I've seen the gravesite. My father's buried close by.

The story of the coffin is remarkable. It was ordered from Dallas undertaker Vernon O’Neal by Secret Service agent Clint Hill when futile attempts at Parkland Hospital to save the slain President were finally abandoned. Hill is the man who leapt onto the back of Kennedy’s limousine after the fatal shots were fired.

The story is short, and worth the read; I won't risk violating whatever copyright laws by reproducing the whole thing here. Basically, the Kennedy family didn't want the casket to become some sort of spectacle, so they sent it to Davy Jones' Locker.

Like I said, no real historical import, but an interesting footnote to one of the defining events of the 20th century. And this is the first I've heard of it.

Could be bullshit, of course; I can't be arsed to fact-check something that obscure.