NOVEMBER 21st - Only if it Impresses Scar Jo



On this day in 1871, Emilio Onra was shot out of a cannon becoming the first human cannonball in history. What on earth would possess him to wish to attain this feat is beyond me. I can understand skydiving and bungee jumping, though I would need liquid courage, a hefty bribe, and the knowledge that it would impress Scarlett Johansson before attempting either. But shooting one’s self out of a cannon? Not really seeing the upside there. I’m sure there is some skill involved, but it seems negligible compared to funambulism. (Nik Wallenda, you got me again, you tightrope walking bastard.) Not that bungee jumping or skydiving require a PhD, but neither involves the propulsion out of a cannon. Don’t even get Thomas Jefferson started on it. “Hogwash and poppycock,” he’d call it. “Cannons are for killing Redcoats not shooting tiny men into the air.” But then TJ once saw a frontiersman build a log house in a day using only his hands and was not impressed in the slightest. “Bet it’s gonna be drafty in there,” was all TJ mustered up. Despite TJ’s take, I do think you have to credit Onra for having balls of steel, which may have proved beneficial with the shooting out of a cannon and whatnot. And whatever his mental capabilities, I would think it takes a rather unique individual to agree to be shot out of cannon. Or maybe he just had some liquid courage, a hefty bribe, and Scarlett Johansson’s admiration. She’s timeless, that Scar Jo.

This day has been Marked.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AUGUST 22nd - Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

On this day in 1911, somebody working at the Louvre discovered that the Mona Lisa was missing. The previous day, a Monday--meaning the museum was closed to the public, Vincenzo Peruggia, a maintenance worker, brazenly walked out of the Louvre with what would eventually become the most famous painting in the world. Vincenzo basically sat on the painting for two years until he was caught trying to “return” it to his homeland of Italy in a misguided demonstration of Italian patriotism. The theft itself is quite interesting, mostly because of the lack of planning and preparation that went into it, but equally intriguing is the part it played in making the Mona Lisa so famous. Many historians feel that the painting reached new heights because it was stolen. It kind of makes sense in that whole “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone" kind of way. Not that I would suggest staging a kidnapping to allow your significant other to realize how much he/she loves you, because that’s jus
Read more

AUGUST 23rd - History of the One-Way

Image
On this day in 1617, the idea of the one-way street was supposedly introduced in London in the alleys near the River Thames. I’m not sure why London was on the cutting edge of traffic direction, though Albemarle Street, which is acknowledged as the first one-way street, was designated as such because the scientific lectures given there in the early 1800s were so popular. Why wouldn't they be? I can’t really imagine why a one-way street in 1617 would be necessary, but then I can’t really imagine what London in 1617 was like at all. I’m fresh out of people to interview too. Unless the Highlander is real. Just as well. Interviews take a long time. And the person inevitably goes off on tangents. Look, I’m sure the story of how you “accidentally” ingested psychedelic mushrooms while trekking across the Pacific Northwest in your hippie days and met your first wife, Wind Lover, is an incredible story, but I merely asked if you were currently married. It’s a yes or no question. Without the
Read more

OCTOBER 23rd - A Blink of the Cosmic Eye

On this day in 1977, American paleontologist, Elso S. Barghoorn, announced the discovery of some algae microfossils, complete with some super-scientific name and some super-scientific qualifiers, that were 3.4 billion years old. In layman’s terms--really freaking old. Interestingly enough October 23 was also thought, for a long time, to be the day on which the Earth was created. In 1650, church leaders interpreted that the bible documents Earth’s creation on October 23, 4004 BC. Also a long time ago. Not quite the 3.4 billion years of the first life-forms, or the 4.5 billion years most scientist believe the Earth has been around for. So old Barghoorn may have been giving a little nod there, as in “I’ll take your 5700 years and raise you a few billion.” In any case, it shows that we are here but for a blink of the cosmic eye. Stuff has been around so long that if you really start to think about it, you start feeling like you are watching first 30 minutes of The Tree of Life and wonderi
Read more