March 20, 2019
Dearest Readers,
Welcome aboard today. On This Date reviews events in both 1602 and 1985, while Top of the Charts visits the #1 songs and album of 1982 while Philosophy 101 talks about knowledge.
Many thanks for reading,
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn
On This Date:
In 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is formed. Though usually known as a trading company, the Dutch East India Company was rather diversified, and was one of the world’s first megacorporations and was also used by the Dutch government as an instrument of colonialism. It remained in business through 1799.
In 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the Iditarod Dog Sled race in Alaska in a time of 18 days and 20 minutes, about two-and-a-half hours faster than the runner-up. The race that year had more than the usual number of storms and Riddles won because she had carried on in a storm where others had chosen to lay over in a village. Four of the next five races were won by Susan Butcher, and they remain the only two women to win the race.
Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1962:
Hot 100 – I Love Rock and Roll…Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (1st of seven weeks)
Soul Chart – That Girl…Stevie Wonder (5th of nine weeks)
Country Chart – Mountain of Love…Charley Pride (only week)
Album Chart – Beauty and the Beat…The Go-Go’s (3rd of six weeks )
UK Singles Chart – The Lion Sleeps Tonight…Tight Fit (3rd and final week)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.
Numbers Racket
10,679: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.138: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
602: days until Election Day 2020.
Philosophy 101
I was by no means a scholar, simply an interested reader with nothing to do but live and learn.
Louis L’Amour
Education of a Wandering Man
We talk a lot here about the assorted talents we are all born with and how maximizing those talents is the key to a good life but, in reality, L’Amour is right, all we really have to do in this life is live and learn. Because when you get right down to it, all education is self-education, something else L’Amour was fond of saying.
This is true regardless of how we choose to educate ourselves, whether we utilize the resources of a great, or even average, university or whether we do it ourselves: we must put the work in to teach ourselves both what we want to know and what we should know. Those that go to college and spend four years binge drinking and passing tests are doing themselves as much good as the autodidact who comes home from work and spends his time drinking brewskis and watching TV all night.
The ultimate education in this life is knowing ourselves, and the only real knowledge comes the experiences we have and the work and diligence we put into making good things happen for ourselves. The very best way to educate ourselves is to know the life we are meant to live and the only way to do this is to know what we are about, to have the courage to go and live the life our hearts and our instincts tell us to live and to have the patience to see our path through to the very end.
Louis L’Amour (1908-88), self-educated himself, was an American writer.