They say it's their birthday!

Time for birthday wishes! 

It's happy birthday time for A.P. Hill, Confederate general.  He was a bit of a partier, actually having to retake one year at West Point because of gonorrhea.  But in that make-up year, he became good friends with Burnside, who we met in the last post.  He also was engaged to a young woman who broke it off, and married... George B. McClellan.  Fun fact:  Once, while Union troops were recovering from a ferocious attack by Hill's troops, a funny boy in the ranks shook his head and speculated aloud on how much better things would have been had Ellen married Hill instead of Little Mac.  He was a fine division commander, but was frequently sick when he took command of a corps.  Was it related to his dose of clap?  We'll never know!  But he died just before the War ended, as a result of being shot. 

Another interesting birthday today is that of Hedy Lamarr- that's Hedy, not Hedley! 

You'll agree with me that billions and billions of people have heard impersonations of Carl Sagan saying "billyuns and billyuns".  However, you might not realize that he never actually said it- at least not in Cosmos.  At any rate, he was born on this date too.  I've heard that his classes at Cornell were always packed to the rafters, and I can understand why.  He was quite engaging and passionate about the material.  If you haven't seen Cosmos, do so now- the preaching is annoying, and of course the special effects are 70s cheesy, but it is incredibly interesting. 

Bob Gibson was also born today.  Great pitcher, and quite intimidating on the mound.  He once defined a "quality start" as "a complete game victory", so he was definitely old school.  Another book to read- "Sixty feet, six inches"- it's kind of a discussion of hitting and pitching featuring Gibson and Reggie Jackson. 

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer out the news that it's Mary Travers birthday.  But I don't so I won't.  She was of course the good looking part of Peter, Paul and Mary. 

And speaking of famous musicians that died too young, Tom Fogerty was born on this date.  He was overshadowed in CCR by brother John.  That, and the fact that their manager ripped them off for most of their money and pretty much all the rights to the music John wrote (and Tom apparently still supported the asshat) led to a lot of bitterness between the brothers.  They reconciled shortly before Tom died, but even then he apparently took a last dig at John.  Apparently part of the problem too was that John became the face of the Band, and the songwriter, which Tom didn't think was fair.  On the other hand, name one Tom Fogerty song- hard to do, since most of their good stuff was written by John.  A sad, and indeed cautionary tale. 

Ooh, remember this:  "Don't make me angry, Mr. X.  You really wouldn't like me when I'm angry".  Those were the words of Bill Bixby as Doctor David Banner.  Why wouldn't you like him when he's angry?  Because then he turns into Lou Ferrigno, who turns 60 today!  That was back when the Hulk was cool, and there was an actual point to the whole thing, other than making a crappy movie with interesting special effects. 

One of my favorites was also born today, Tony Slattery.  You might have seen him on the (waaaay better) BBC version of "Whose line is it anyway?"  He was usually in a leather jacket, and was quite naughty.  And also quite funny.  He's another interesting cat who you should read up on. 

Here's an odd one:  Both Nick Lachey and his wife Vanessa Minnillo have birthdays today.  Notice I didn't say "here's an interesting one".  I was gonna skip him entirely, but then I saw her name pop up too.  I dunno why I cared.  Actually I don't and I have no idea why I'm still typing about them, so I'll stop.

It's Joel Zumaya's big day too.  He's sorta a baseball player, when he's not hurt (which isn't often, unfortunately).  He's one of the hardest throwers in baseball history, and for a while had the record for fastest fastball, though I believe he's now number two.  Plus he played for Detroit!  Alas, he's been hurt pretty much constantly since his fantastic rookie season, so if he plays again it might be elsewhere. 

And on that depressing note, we're at an end.  Thank God we didn't end with Nicky and Vanessa!  Oops!