January 26, 2019
Good morning dearest readers, I’m glad you stopped by today.
The almanac for today features the world’s largest diamond and a fibbing president, the Top of the Charts highlights 1952 and Philosophy 101 talks about overcoming ourselves.
THE DAILY ALMANAC
On This Date:
In 1905 – The world’s largest diamond, known as the Cullinan diamond, named after the chairman of the South African mine where it was found, is discovered. It would later be cut into nine separate games, two of which are in the British crown jewels and the rest of which are owned by Queen Elizabeth.
In 1998 – President Bill Clinton goes on national television to announce he did not have sex with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. He was just kidding, of course, and in December 1998 Clinton was impeached by the United States House of Representatives, though in early 1999 he was acquited in a trial held by the United States Senate.
Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1952:
Best Sellers In Stores – Cry– Johnny Ray and The Four Lads (5th of eleven weeks)
Soul Chart – Weepin’ & Cryin’…Griffin Brothers Orchestra (3rd of three weeks)
Country Chart – Slow Poke…Pee Wee King (13th of 15 non-consecutive weeks)
Album Chart – An American in Paris…Soundtrack (3rd of 16 non-consecutive weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.
Numbers Racket
10,629: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
21.959: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
650: days until Election Day 2020.
Philosophy 101
…yet McGary loved the church, as a comradely gathering of people alike hungry for something richer than daily selfishness…
Sinclair Lewis
Elmer Gantry
From time to time in this feature we talk about overcoming human nature and, by extension, ourselves. It isn’t easy. The daily selfishness that Mr Lewis refers to often stems from our deepest instincts: self-preservation, the sometimes goatish urge to reproduce, the need to look after ourselves before we do anything else.
It’s not easy overcoming these instincts, but it is necessary because we cannot get on this life, we cannot maximize the talents we were issued at birth, we cannot live the life we were meant to live unless we do. It takes wisdom, courage and patience to overcome ourselves: the wisdom to know the life we were meant to live, the courage to go and live that life and the patience to see it through to the very end.
Sometimes those traits aren’t enough because selfishness presents itself every day. However, are our talents and ambitions preset themselves every day, too, and we are not going to get the most out of these if we spend our days succumbing to daily selfishness. We must have the fortitude to overcome ourselves.
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn