March 13, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Today On This Date visits Harvard and the Krakow Jewish ghetto and Top of the Charts reviews the #1 songs and album today in 1965. Philosophy 101 has some drivel on living your very best life.

Cordially, and with many thanks for reading,

xoxoxo
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1639 – New College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, adopts the name Harvard College, in honor of the late Rev. John Harvard, who game the college his library and half his estate when he died. Founded in 1636, Harvard would graduate its first class in 1642 and would remain the only college in the American colonies until the establishment of William and Mary in 1693.

In 1943 – The remaining 10,000 Jews are deported from their ghetto in Krakow, Poland. About 80 percent, those deemed fit to work, are sent to a nearby labor camp while those deemed unfit for work are killed. Any stragglers were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The Krakow labor camp was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in January 1945.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1965:
Hot 100 – Eight Days a Week…The Beatles (1st of two weeks)
Soul Chart – Shotgun…Junior Walker and the All-Stars (1st of four non-consecutive weeks)
Country Chart – I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail…Buck Owens (4th of five weeks)
Album Chart – Mary Poppins Soundtrack…Various Artists (1st of 14 non-consecutive weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.

Numbers Racket
10,673: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.122: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
608: days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
The whole pursuit of this dream has allowed me to live my best life, that makes me hopefully the best version of me.
Alex Honnold

In June 2017 Mr Honnold climbed a very large rock in Yellowstone National Park known as El Capitan, which is a 3,000 foot wall of sheer granite, without any human or mechanical aid – known as free soloing in the sport. By any measure, this is a supreme accomplishment, a landmark achievement in human adventure, a complete triumph of human spirit and will. Today’s quote regards that feat. Like any person who accomplishes anything of merit, he was completely focused on what he wanted to do and put whatever time and effort was required to accomplish his goal.

It’s a lesson us mortals can serve us mortals well, too. The pursuit of our very best life, the pursuit of the very best versions of us, must show the same diligence and courage.

Now, as we are fond of saying here, it really doesn’t matter what that pursuit is. Mr Honnold free solos 3,000 feet of sheer, perpendicular granite because that is what he is compelled to do from deep inside. It didn’t matter that success was not guaranteed, and perhaps not even likely, and that failure meant a rather messy death. His marching orders from Mother Nature were clear: attempt to climb this rock. So he did.

We can be no less focused in the pursuit of our very best life and it doesn’t really what it is we are pursuing, either. All that matters is that we are answering to whatever summons us from deep inside. Like Honnold, we, too, can have the wisdom to know what we are about and the courage to go and live the life we were meant to live and the patience to see it through to the very end. When we do these things, what is meant to happen in our life does happen.

Our very best life may not be documented by a film crew or cause us to live down the ages. Or it might, you never know. But whether it does or not is of no consequence. All that matters is that we follow our hearts and trust our instincts because our heart will tell us where to go and our instincts will show us how to get there. When we do that, the life we are meant to live is there for the taking.

Alex Honnold is 33 and originally from Sacramento. He has spent no small portion of his adult life living out of a van. 

March 10, 2019
Dearest Readers,

And a good Sunday morning to you. We’re glad you’re here.

Today in On This Date the US takes possession of what it had bought in the Louisiana Purchase and James Earl Ray pleads guilty to shooting Martin Luther King, Jr. Top of the Charts reviews this date in 1979 and Philosophy 101 talks about serenity.

Many thanks for reading,

Cheers!
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn

On This Date:
In 1804 – A formal ceremony ceding of control of territory sold in the Louisiana Purchase ends in St Louis with the raising of the American flag. The ceremony had begun the previous day when Spain, who still administered the Territory, lowered their flag, which was replaced by the French flag. The United States had purchased the Territory from France the previous year for $15 million in cash and debt assumption. Today the territory that made up the Louisiana Purchases makes up all or part of 15 states and two Canadian provinces.

In 1969 – James Earl Ray, pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr. at a Memphis hotel on April 4, 1968. He had been arrested in June in London, traveling on a fake Canadian passport and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray and some others escaped in 1977 and were captured two weeks later and Ray died in 1998.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1979:
Hot 100 – I Will Survive…Gloria Gaynor (1st of three non-consecutive weeks)
Soul Chart – Bustin’ Loose (Part 1)…Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers (4th and final week)
Country Chart – Golden Tears…Dave and Sugar (2nd of three weeks)
Album Chart – Spirits Having Flown…The Bee Gees (2nd of six non-consecutive weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.

Numbers Racket
10,670: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.116: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
611: days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
(His) manner was so serene that I could not tell if he was serious or not, always a sign of the highest breeding.
Gore Vidal
Creation

Serenity allows us to present the same face to the imposters known as success and failure. They are imposters because both success and failure are subjective and relative. Subjective because people are different and one’s failure may well be another’s success. Relative because neither exists without the other. You take success away and there is no failure. Those that get on in this life realize this and ay putting themselves beyond success and failure are serene in both tranquility and tumult.

Serenity, though, is not reserved for those who come from privilege and breeding; it is there for everyone: you, me, and your aunt in Reno. It takes work, though. Serenity is the direct result of a calm mind and calm minds are reserved for those who know what they are about and who are living the life they were meant to live and anyone of us can do that. All that is required is knowing what we are about, knowing the talents we were issued at birth and a commitment to getting the most out of them.

Serenity is literally there for the taking. All we need is the wisdom to know what we are about, the courage to live the life we are meant to live and the patience to see it through to the very end.

Gore Vidal (1925-2012) was an American writer. 

March 9, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Welcome and many thanks for stopping by today. On This Date features visits to this date in 1556 and 1862, while Top of the Charts visits 1959 and, among other people, Frankie Avalon and Johnny Cash.

Philosophy 101 has some drivel about trusting your instincts.

Many thanks for reading,

Cheers!
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn

THE ALMANAC
On This Date:
In 1556 – David Rizzio, the private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered, apparently on orders from Mary’s jealous husband, Lord Darnley. Darnley was in league with those zany Protestant nobles and confronted Rizzio at dinner in Mary’s private dining room. Hiding behind the monarch didn’t help Rizzio, who was stabbed several dozen times before being tossed down the stairs and stripped of his jewels and robes. Darnley himself would be murdered the following year, while Mary ruled until she was forced to abdicate in 1567.

In 1862 – History’s first battle between two ironclad warships ends in a draw as the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia – formerly the USS Merrimack – fight to a standstill in the Battle of Hampton Roads in the American Civil War. Though the Union Suffered far more casualties than the Confederacy and lost two frigates, they were still able to maintain their blockade of Chesapeake Bay, though the Confederate navy remained intact.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1959:
Hot 100 – Venus…Frankie Avalon (1st of five weeks)
Soul Chart – It’s Just a Matter of Time…Brook Benton (1st of nine weeks)
Country Chart – Don’t Take Your Guns To Town…Johnny Cash (3rd of six weeks)
Album Chart – The Music From Peter Gunn…Henry Mancini and his Orchestra (3rd of ten weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.

Numbers Racket
10,669: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.112: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
612: days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
This is the moment of embarking
All auspicious signs are in place.
Deng Ming-Dao
365 Tao

We talk a lot here about being on our paths and living the lives we were meant to live because it is life’s great prize. However, only we can decide if we are doing that. You can’t do it for me and I certainly can’t do it for you. Your instincts will tell you. All you have to do is listen to them. As you go about your days, are your insides calm? Are you at peace because they are telling you are living the life you are meant to live? Or are your insides in conflict, leading you to feel out of step with life and out of touch with what you were meant to accomplish here?

These are your instincts talking to you. Those that get on in this world listen to these instincts. Those whose lives are not what they imagined or want are probably ignoring them.

If this is you, make this your moment of embarking because it is never too late to start life on your path. Once you’ve decided to follow your heart and trust your instincts, all signs are auspicious and every moment is positive because our hearts will tell us where to go and our instincts will tell us how to get there.

All we have to do is let them.

Deng Ming-Dao is an American writer and 365 Tao is a book of daily meditations. 

March 6, 2019
Dearest Readers,

Never, ever let me take this many days off in a row again! Every apology is issued.

Let’s get back to work.

Many thanks for reading,

Cheers!
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn

THE ALMANAC
On This Date:
In 1857 – The United States Supreme Court issues its ruling in Dred Scott v. Sanford. The case was brought by a slave named Dred Scott who sued for his freedom after his master John Sanford had taken him to free states and territories. Among other things, the court’s ruling said blacks whose ancestors were slaves could not be citizens of the United States whether they were free or not. It also held, among other things, that the federal government could regulate slavery in territories acquired after the creation of the US. The decision would be superseded by both the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Scott and his family would be given their freedom in 1857, and he worked a hotel porter in St Louis while is wife took in laundry.

In 1967 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of former Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, defects to the United States after entering the US embassy in New Dehli, India. She was immediately flown to Rome and then to Geneva, ultimately arriving in the United States in April. She became a US citizen in 1978 and later returned to the Soviet Union and reclaimed her Soviet citizenship. She later became a British citizen, but returned to the United States, dying in southern Wisconsin in 2011.

Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1976:
Hot 100 – Love Machine (Part 1)…The Miracles (only week)
Soul Chart – Boogie Fever…The Sylvers (only week)
Country Chart – Good Hearted Woman…Waylon and Willie (3rd of three weeks)
Album Chart – Desire…Bob Dylan (5th of five weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.

Numbers Racket
10,667: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
22.107: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
614: days until Election Day 2020.

Philosophy 101
Niagara will witness the passing of the human species…Such ceaselessness had its parallel in his own life…the inner demand to make something of himself…to swim upstream against formidable obstacles.
Fred Kaplan
Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer

Abraham Lincoln is a good example of a lot of things, but more than anything he is a good example of someone who knew what he wanted from life and then went out and tried to get it. He had and answered the inner demand to make something of himself.

I believe all of us have this demand. Those that get on in this life, those who at the end are looking back at time well spent yield to that demand. Those that are looking back on time squandered, at a life that is less than what they wanted, ignore that demand.

Those that do get on in this world do not have any special powers or any greater luck than we have. They merely have the commitment to make their time serve them. They wake up every morning, determine what they should be doing that day and then go and do it.

We should have that same commitment. If we are going to look back at time well spent we must have the wisdom to know the life we are meant to live, the courage to go and live that life and the patience to see the road through until the day we die. When we do, we will live the life we are meant to live, life’s great prize.

Fred Kaplan is an American writer.
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States.