I have discovered that all human misery comes from a single thing, not knowing enough to stay quietly in your room.
Lynne Truss
On the entire planet, there are only nine countries smaller than San Marino, which was founded on the 3rd in 301 by Saint Marinus. San Marino is the oldest republic still in existence; it is also one of the smallest, ranking 223rd out of the 232 recognized nations. The statistics however fail to take in to consideration the many micronations that have declared their independence. Micronations like Terre d’riches and the Virtual Commonwealth of Cyberia prove that not everybody has lost their sense of humor. I think however that I would be just a bit reluctant to try to cross an international border with a passport issued by the Purple Bunny Federation.
In last month’s issue, we touched on President Richard Nixon, who it seems was spending a lot of time getting kicked around by the upstarts in Congress and the ingrates in the nation. He really shouldn’t have been overly concerned about things like the indictments and the impending impeachment proceedings because on the 8th of September in 1974 newly minted President Gerald Ford granted Nixon a pardon for all crimes that he may have committed during his reign as President. I think the 9th of September was probably Miller time for Tricky Dick.
The United States Army has an advertising campaign touting their desire to find individuals who wished to be ‘An Army of One.’ According to their website “The 2006 Game Plan describes the strategic challenges we face to accelerate the momentum we have established to transform our Army.” My guess is that Howard Unruh is not the type of recruit the Army is looking for. On the 5th in 1949 Howard Unruh, an Army sharpshooter who served in World War II, left his home in Camden, New Jersey with a German Luger and wandered around the neighborhood shooting and killing 13 of his neighbors This was the first documented single-episode mass murder in the United States. Mr. Unruh, now in his 80s and a permanent resident of the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, continues to maintain that ‘[I] would have killed a thousand if [I] had bullets enough.’
Squid holding a sailor
Hamida Djandoubi was, to put it mildly, not a very nice person. In 1974, he tortured and killed an ex-girlfriend. For quite a while, he seemed to be getting away with it, having threatened two witnesses with a fate identical to that of his ex-girlfriend if they ratted on him. However, in February of 1977, justice finally caught up with Djandoubi. At the end of his trial Djandoubi was sentenced to death. As is not only fitting, but also expected, the sentence was appealed. All reviewing courts upheld the sentence of death and it was finally ordered that the sentence be carried out. At 4:40 in the morning of September 10 in 1977 Djandoubi paid his debt to society when executioner Marcel Chevalier flipped a switch and the blade of a guillotine sent Djandoubi to whatever reward awaited him. This would be the last execution by guillotine in France.
Have you ever felt that your family at times puts just a little too much pressure on you to live up to their expectations? Whatever you faced in this regard should really be considered in light of Mary Stuart’s parents’ expectations. On the 9th of September in 1543 Mary, aged nine months, was crowned ‘Queen of Scots’ in the village of Stirling in Scotland. My guess is that she still had to eat all of her strained peas.
Henry Hudson must have been something else. He has had a river, a bay, and a car named after him. He must have been a decent sailor and explorer because he was able to get large, influential companies from two countries to give him more than adequate financing for his voyages. He managed to do this in spite of the fact that he never really did what he had been hired to do, which was find the elusive northern passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Obviously, his performance evaluations never touched on that little bit concerning “Have you done what we hired you to do?” In 1609, Hudson was doing what explorers do – exploring. On 11th, he entered what is now called the Hudson River. Needing a break from all the not finding stuff that he was doing he pulled his ship, the Half Moon, over to the side of the road and landed on what was destined to be called Manhattan Island. I’m sure it was just a coincidence that Henry’s birthday was September 12, 1570. You can’t really fault the guy for wanting to celebrate his birthday, can you?
