January 28, 2019
Good day, readers. I’m glad you’re here.
Today the English monarchy and the last flight of the Challenger are featured on On This Date, Top of the Charts highlights this date in 1978 and Virgil, an old Roman poet, has the quote that provides today’s Philosophy 101 lesson.
THE DAILY ALMANAC
On This Date:
In 1547 – Edward VI becomes king of England, following the death of his father, Henry VIII. Edward was nine at the time and only reigned until his death at age 15. When it became clear he was going to die, Edward declared in his will the throne pass to a cousin, Lady Jane Grey, but she only lasted nine days before being overthrown and replaced by Mary I, the second child of Henry VIII to wear the crown. The third and final child would be Elizabeth I, who assumed the throne following the death of Mary’s husband, Philip.
In 1986 – The space shuttle Challenger lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on a routine mission to release a satellite, observe Halley’s Comet and have schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe conduct lessons from space. Challenger never left Earth’s orbit, however, exploding 73 seconds after take off, an investigation showing primary and secondary O-rings on a solid rocket booster failed. It is not known exactly how or when the crew died, though the impact of the crew cabin crashing into the ocean would have killed anyone who was still alive. It was the first American manned spaceflight not to make it to space and the second ever, following a 1975 Soviet mission where the two-man crew survived.
Top of the Charts
#1 songs on this date in 1978:
Hot 100 – Baby Come Back– Player (3rd of three weeks)
Soul Chart – Our Love…Natalie Cole (2nd of two weeks)
Country Chart – Out of My Head and Back in My Bed…Loretta Lynn (1st of two weeks)
Album Chart – Saturday Night Fever…Various artists (2nd of 24 weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.
Numbers Racket
10,631: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
21.963: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
648: days until Election Day 2020.
Philosophy 101
They can because they think they can.
Virgil
To an extent that may surprise or even astonish us, we tend to get the lives we expect. Those that expect a good life, those that know what they are about and maximize the talents they were born with at birth, generally get the lives they were expecting. Similarly, those with low expectations for their time on this planet usually get that, too.
Now, just because thinking you can doesn’t mean you will. There are other factors involved, not the least being what you want must be attainable and it must be something you have a knack for. For example. if we were to try to win an Olympic sprinting medal, we would not succeed. Certainly, this is attainable because Olympic sprinting medals are issued every four years, but no matter how much we want it or how much we think we can do it, we don’t do it because we are not cut out for high-speed foot travel. Plus, it is useful to remember there are billions of people on this planet all leading random lives and sometimes things are out of our control.
However, if you think you can do something you have a knack for, if you are reacting to something emanating from the very core of your being, and you put in the work required to make it happen and you have the patience to see it through to the very end, you may very well climb your mountain. And if you don’t, the very fact you were on your path doing what you were meant to do with your life ensures an equally satisfactory result will present itself.
Thank you for reading. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn