January 17, 2019
Something To Know
Good morning dearest readers. Today we have some rather dull On This Date action for you, plus the top songs from today in 1976 and Winston Churchill is featured in Philosophy 101.
Almanac
On This Date:
In 1898 – For reasons someone thought good, the US takes possession of Wake Island. Located about halfway between Hawaii – which the US had also recently annexed – and the Phillipines – where the US was always butting in anyway – it was thought Wake Island would make a good telegraph cable station and a good place to refuel Navy ships. Today, Wake Island remains a US possession, administered by the Air Force, of all things, which runs an air field there. There is not a permanent population, though there are about 100 Air Force and civilian contractors there at any one time.
In 1950 – What History refers to as the Great Brinks Robbery occurs at a Brinks branch in Boston, with thieves stealing about $2.775 million, roughly $29 million in today’s dollars. All eleven members of the gang were eventually arrested, though only about $58,000 was ever recovered.
Your Hit Parade
#1 songs on this date in 1976:
Hot 100 – I Write the Songs – Barry Manilow (only week)
Soul Chart – Wake Up Everybody (Part 1)…Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (1st of two weeks)
Country Chart – Convoy…C.W. McCall (5th of six weeks)
Album Chart – Gratitude…Earth, Wind & Fire (1st of three weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.
Numbers Racket
10,621: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
$21.945: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
658: days until 2020 election.
Philosophy 101
A very little luck might have carried me to the highest of all prizes or have ended the game.
Winston Churchill
Letter to his mother, 1897
Very little is accomplished in this life without luck, both good and bad. Yes, we talk a lot here about following your heart and trusting your instincts and we must do that, because our hearts tell us where to go and our instincts tell us how to get there. This is the ultimate Pro Tip for those that get on in this life.
However, just because we are on our path doesn’t mean we are going to accomplish everything we mean to do. There are an awful lot of people on this planet and they are all leading random lives and we have to deal with our share of them. This means that sometimes what we do and do not accomplish is out of our hands. That’s OK. It’s the way the world is built.
Today’s quote comes from a letter Churchill wrote when he was a young man at war in South Africa and it brilliantly illustrates the vagaries of life: some luck either way and Churchill might have been a war hero or been killed. We avoid the shifting tides of fate, as much as we can, by making our own luck and we do that by having the wisdom to know the life we were meant to live, the courage to go and live that life and patience to see it through to the very end. As Churchill’s life shows, you live the life you were meant to live, complete with its attendant successes and even more failures, and what is meant to happen in your life usually does.
Have a good day, and many thanks for reading.
Kaitlyn