Sunday, January 15, 2023

Your roving reporter, January 15th

On this day in 1559, Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England and Ireland in Westminster Abbey, London.

On this day in 1892, James Naismith published the rules of basketball.

On this day in 1919, the Great Molasses Flood, also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster, occurred when a wave of molasses caused by an exploding storage tank swept through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 people and wounding 150.

On this day in 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley was one week old.

Elvis died on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42. Three days ago, Elvis's only child, his daughter Lisa Marie, died at the age of 54 due to heart problems. Two days before her unexpected death, she had attended the 80th Golden Globes Awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, California, with her mother, Priscilla Presley, where actor Austin Butler was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture--Drama for his performance as Elvis Presley in a film entitled Elvis.

Out of all the many facts about January 15th I could have mentioned to you today, I chose these four. Please rank them in order of importance and state your reasons.

My own feeling is that one's perspective, based on one's experience, determines one's conclusions. For example, Shaquille O'Neal might reach a different conclusion than Mary, Queen of Scots would.

This is what passes for deep thinking in the year 2023.

6 comments:

  1. Of the facts you mentioned I like the Great Molasses Flood the best. My mother died January 14.

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  2. Emma, I like your choice. It may show up again in a future post, but I'm not promising anything.

    I still remember loved ones' birthdays and the dates they died even if it has been a very long time ago. Mrs. RWP is not so blessed/afflicted.

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  3. In all honesty so far as I am concerned none of them is particulary important although the events leading up to the crowning of Elizabeth 1 have huge historical significance. For those who perished the Great Molasses flood wasn't exactly a bundle of laughs either.

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    Replies
    1. Graham, I picked them at random from a long list of events that occurred on January 15 throughout recorded history. I didn't mean to imply that any were particularly 'important' as importance is often in the eye of the beholder.

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    2. I only made that comment, Bob, because you asked us to rank them in order of importance and I couldn't.

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    3. So I did, but it was meant tongue-in-cheek. I felt the events differed so from one another that ranking them would be well-nigh impossible. You proved me right!

      Delete

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