Solar Alignment #44

Technorati tags: Humor, April 15, Birthday

It's a cosmic phenomenon that occurs once every full orbit of the Earth around the Sun - today is once again April 15th. Assuming, of course, that you believe the Earth orbits around the Sun. There are some that still insist that the Earth is the center of the Universe, and everything else revolves around it.

But let's not go there... not today, anyway.

For those living in the United States of America, today is rather painful day. Why? Because in the US, April 15th is Tax Day - the day when the folks there rush to file their income tax returns (ours is in another couple of weeks).

But April 15th is an important day from a number of other perspectives, as well.

From an historical point of view (via Wikipedia), today is the day

• Abraham Lincoln died (in 1865) - assassinated the night before by John Wilkes Booth
• the General Electric Company was formed (in 1892)
• the Titanic sank (in 1912) after hitting an iceberg, and subsequently making Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" the one song that stalks Walski wherever he goes
• Insulin becomes publicly available (in 1923)... which may be karmatically linked to why diabetes is prominent in Walski's family
• McDonald's opens it's first franchised restaurant (in 1955), paving the way for the worldwide phenomena of fast food and obesity, and creating generations of Happy Meal consumers
• 96 Liverpool F.C. supporters died in the infamous Hillsborough tragedy (in 1989)
• Jean-Paul Sartre, Pol Pot and Joey Ramone also died today (in 1980, 1998 and 2001 respectively)
• Anwar Ibrahim becomes eligible to run for public office (as in actually today - 2008)

But April 15th is not entirely tragic, as it's also the birth date of a few historically important and/or famous people (via Wikipedia):

• Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452)
• Guru Nanak Dev - founder of the Sikh religion (b. 1469)
• Kim Il Sung - former dictator of North Korea, and father of Jong-il (b. 1912)
• Kenneth Lay - yes, that Enron guy (b. 1942)
• Dodi Al-Fayed - yes, that Dodi Al-Fayed (b. 1955)
• Benjamin Zephaniah - Rastafarian writer & dub poet (b. 1958)
• Ed O'Brien - Radiohead guitarist (b. 1968)
• Emma Watson - aka Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films (b. 1990)

And on a slightly less significant (but still important) note, today is also Walski's birthday.
(another year older, and maybe wiser, in the full post)

Yes, Walski turns 44 today. Or 42 + 2, to be precise.

It's an age where birthday presents don't mean much anymore, but people being present does. Walski's lost a few friends and family along the way, but thanks God for the life that he's been bestowed so far - both the good and bad. The bad become lessons, and the good, rewards. And for the most part, it's been a very rewarding life. Most of all, Walski is very, very thankful to the big guy up there for sending along the Mrs into his life... Ok.. 'nuff said, before Walski gets to mushy...

So anyways, thanks to everyone who SMS'd or sent him e-mails, Facebook pokes/hugs and what-not, with well-wishes for the day. Unfortunately, work doesn't stop on April 15th (although it should), so Walski better not spend any more time on this...

Life, the Universe and Everything... two years on, it just seems to get better and better... the best, Walski hopes, is yet to come...