Marked This Day

On this day in 1980, Buddy Holly’s glasses were found after missing since his death in a plane crash that also killed Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in 1959. They were not recovered from the wreckage on the day it was found because they had been thrown farther away and buried under snow. That April, once the snow melted, they were recovered along with the Big Bopper’s gold watch. Since that time, they sat in an envelope in the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's office, until opened on this day in 1980. You may be thinking, Big deal. Just a pair of glasses. Well, first off they were the glasses of a damn big rock star who died tragically. Buddy Holly made glasses cool. And that’s a good thing. Because people who wear glasses have some issues to deal with. The name calling is secondary. Four eyes? Psssh. Why would that be a bad thing? Extra eyes mean seeing more. And there is a lot to see in this world. How would a double rainbow look with four eyes? Pretty badass, I bet. But eyeglass w...

On this day in 2006, Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan downloaded “Speed of Sound” by Coldplay. Not a big deal, even for you people who won’t admit that Coldplay is a damn good band, except for that Alex happened to download the one billionth song from iTunes. The lucky little purchase earned him a $10,000 iTunes card, a new 20 inch Mac, and 10 60gig iPods. That’s a hell of a haul. Especially when you think of how far digital music has come. I remember waiting hours on end for the old dial-up connection to download the latest song I wanted. Tied up the phone line the whole time. And you were never sure of the sound or quality. Napster. WinMX. Kazaa. It was the dawn of a new musical age. iTunes legitimized the whole thing--thankfully for the artist's sake. Downloading has morphed into streaming services. Pandora. Spotify. Even iTunes. Music is at your fingertips like never before. And that is a good thing. But the art of the album has been lost. Can you imagine The Who t...

On this day in 1969, two of the greatest singer-songwriters in history began a two-day recording session in Nashville, the fruit of which was over a dozen duets. Only “The Girl From the North Country” was ever officially released on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline . Can you imagine that? Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash farting around in a studio, recording a bunch of songs, and then being like, “let’s not release these.” How rock n’ roll is that? The songs are all readily available now as bootlegs, but still. If they had released them as an album? Instant classic. Millions sold. But nah. They didn’t do that. I haven’t researched exactly why they didn’t, though I’m sure somebody has written about it. But in my head it’s one of the coolest things ever. Just letting these wonderful collaborations grow in mythical stature and spread by diehards who got their hands on them. I’m not one who gets blindly nostalgic about the past. People always tend to focus on how great things were while conveniently...

On this day in 2014, twelve illegal gold miners were rescued from a mine in South Africa. Hundreds of others were trapped in the mine, supposedly by a rival gang of miners or zama-zamas. And some of the others could have been rescued, but refused to come out because the twelve rescued miners were immediately arrested. I know little about the conditions in South African prisons or the dire straits that make the “zama zamas” risk their lives in abandoned gold mines. The whole thing seems outrageous. Underground gangs hunting for gold? Sounds like The Goonies . Except not heartwarming. Or funny. I’m not unaware that this seems so foreign to me because of the abundance of riches that I have. I mean I’m not Mark Zuckerberg or even Tom from MySpace, but I don’t have to risk my life on a daily basis for the mere hope finding some gold. It does seem a bit extreme to stay down in a mine rather than be arrested, but as I said, I don’t have enough familiarity with the situation. In any case it is...

This day in 2013 was out of this world. Really had an impact. Showered us with gifts. These vague puns probably work better if I just go ahead and tell you I’m talking about meteors. The biggest impact from a meteor in that last 100 years occurred in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia on this day in 2013. That’s pretty amazing in and of itself. But hours later asteroid 2012 DA14 passed by Earth a mere 17,200 miles away, marking the largest meteor to come that close to Earth. I’m guessing the people of the Chelyabinsk region thought the world was ending. With good reason. People get so worked up about these predictions of the world ending. The Mayan Calendar. The twenty times Nostradamus predicted the world would end. The various cults that drank the kool-aid. But I seriously doubt the end of the world is going to be scheduled. At least not with any legitimate foresight. It’s similar to the real issues in your life. They just pop up. Unexpected. Like Baz Luhrman’s “Everybody’s Free (To W...

On this day in 278A.D. (or there abouts) St. Valentine, a priest in Rome was beheaded by Claudius II. That’s right. The Saint for which Valentine’s Day was named after was executed on the same day that roses and chocolate are barfed all over the place in an increasingly corporate holiday which requires one to demonstrate his/her love and affection for another through material goods. Turned out, Valentine was beheaded because he kept marrying people after Claudius banned marriage in Rome so he could have a stronger army. That’s pretty ballsy stuff by St. V. Going against the Emperor and all that. And then there was supposedly a whole love story with the jailer’s daughter and a letter he left for her before his head and neck were split asunder signed “from your Valentine.” So I get why there is a Valentine’s Day and why it celebrates love. I’m not a love-hater, by any means. I’ve seen The Notebook . I listen to Billie Holiday. I wanted Britney and Justin to make it in the early 2000s. No...

On this day in 1884, the first part of the Oxford English Dictionary was published. The OED is now considered the most comprehensive English language dictionary and contains definitions for over half a million words. There have actually been reports it would take over 120 years for one person to type out the OED--I’m not sure what the word per minute on that is though. The English language is a monstrosity of verbiage. And don’t get me started on the rules. But the OED provides a valuable service. It is a guardian of meaning. Words have meaning. When you call someone beautiful it means something. When you tell someone you love them it means something. If you call someone a pompous blowhard or a whiny little fartnugget, that means something too. Of course words can’t harm physically, but they affect emotions. A love-letter can stir passions. A racial slur can spark hatred. And the word “moist” can be universally hated by an entire gender. Words can be fun to say. Discombobulate. Didgeri...