So let's get right to it! First off, happy birthday to Quintus Horatius Flaccus, born in 65 B.C. You might better know him simply as Horace. His death date was just a couple weeks ago, by the way; so we're not gonna rehash it all here. But given his full name, he must have been connected to the Horatiai (?) who fought and died at a bridge centuries before. Wish I could recall the whole story there.
Next on our list, we recognize the birth of Mary Queen of Scots. Monty Python didn't do any skit about this. If they had, it might have lasted longer than the one about her death. She had several marriages- first off, she became queen of France, until her husband died. She returned to Scotland and married again, but then he died. The house caught fire and he died of strangulation. Apparently not from the fire, since he was found outside the house. She married the presumed murderer, but fled to her cousin Elizabeth in England. Liz locked her up, since the Papists in England thought Mary was the rightful queen. Anyhow, that ended badly for her, but she was born in 1542. Presumably under a bad sign.
If you're into cartoons of a slightly dated variety, then you'll be happy to know it's the birthday of James Thurber. If you aren't, you probably won't be.
An interesting cat, who was also talented was born on this date in 1925: Sammy Davis Jr. Again, if you don't know about him, it would take too long to explain. I'll merely mention that if you know the song "Candy Man", which was from the original version of "Willie Wonka", with Gene Wilder- way better than the Johnny Depp version, btw- then you should know that Sammy absolutely LOATHED that song. Which is ironic, since it's his biggest hit. Go figure.
A couple weeks ago, Flip Wilson died. We talked about how he was a sort of breakthrough performer, though not on the scale of his predecessors, some of whom have gotten bad press in the recent past. Anyway, Flip was born on this date in 1933. He died way too young, but that's the way it happens, I guess.
Speaking of people who died too young, Kwai Chang Cain himself was born on this date in 1936. That's David Carradine to the uninitiated. Kung Fu was a pretty good show, and he did a lot of other stuff too. Like auto-asphyxiation, if the police in Bangkok are to be believed.
Another cool birthday? James "Danno" Mac Arthur. His adoptive mother was screen legend Helen Hayes. And his biggest role was as Danny Williams in the original Hawaii Five-O. He was waaay better than the guy who plays the role in the new version, but that's not surprising, as the new Steve McGarrett is nowhere near as good either. He was born in 1937.
Did you know David Carradine played the flute? Fascinating, no? Well not really. And it's only relevant because another flautist was also born on this date... James Galway- er, "Sir James" to you. He's probably a better player than Carradine, and would be even if Carradine were, you know, alive.
Detroit Tigers fans will no doubt remember "Steady Eddie" Brinkman, who played shortstop for the Team. He was born on this date in 1941 in Cincinnati. His high school teammate was a jackwagon named Pete Rose. He played 15 years in the Majors, despite being a mediocre hitter (to be kind). He came to Detroit as part of the Denny McClain trade, which turned out better for the Tigers than the Senators, in large part because McClain's arm was basically shot, and he was getting crazier and crazier.
If you're a music fan, then you might have heard of a guy named Jim Morrison. He sang for a band called the Windows or something (maybe "Doors"?) And he is one of those many musicians who checked out at the age of 27. His dad was a navy admiral- apparently they were estranged due to Jim being a bit Out There. Too bad, but also too late to do much about it. He was born in 1943.
Next name for the music section is Gregg Allman. He and his gang played in the aptly named Allman Brothers Band. I think they're still going, alas without Duane, who I believe was also one of those rockers who checked out at 27. Gregg also married Cher, and fathered Elijah Blue, who is nowhere near as famous as his half-
And here comes the head-exploding portion of our post: Born on this date in 1959, author Mark Steyn. Born on this date in 1961, author Ann Coulter. Between them, they've sold piles and piles of books, and driven piles and piles of liberals to have brain hemorrhages. And they're both amusing, though Steyn is much moreso. Steyn writes about the impending collapse of the Western World, in light of our asinine politicians and refusal to stand up to fundamentalist Islam. Coulter writes books about how dumb liberals are, which is sort of the same thing they write about conservatives, only they're not as successful at it. So lots of people call her names and insult her, but she keeps cashing the checks. Oh, and when they're not insulting her personally, they make a point of not mentioning how heavily footnoted her books are, which means that they can't actually find fault with what are often called "facts".
Also born today, in 1966, Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. She's kinda nuts, but I guess she has some issues, and always has. She recently was on Twitter complaining that she hasn't gotten lucky in a while, and needed a man. However, she was quite clear that anyone interested in helping with that problem would need to be pretty wealthy himself, as she wouldn't want a gold-digger. Oh darn- I'm so into neurotic, overweight women! I guess I'll have to get over it.
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