Alright, enough already.

I get it - cigarette smoking is bad. I don't smoke but I would quit if I did, just to stop the damn commercials.


May 7, 1901 -
Gary Cooper, original boytoy, iconic actor and womanizer, was born on this date.



Super-duper.


Here is your Today in History -

May 7, 1895 -
In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the first in the world radio receiver.



Unfortunately, since no one had invented regularly scheduled broadcasts, the demonstration was a confusing affair.


May 7, 1915 -
A very minor league Archduke and his wife got themselves killed in the Balkins. Before you you say confligration, half the world was at war. On February 4, 1915, Germany declared the seas around the British Isles a war zone and any Allied ships in the area would be sunk without warning. King George V's government chose to ignore the warnings, as they were written in German. This seems odd, as George spoke german, his grandfather was german (Prince Albert) and his first cousin was Kaiser Wilhelm II.



Anyway, a German submarine, U-20, sank the Lusitania, killing 1100. There were no star-crossed young lovers aboard, however, so instead of making a movie about it the U.S. had to enter World War I.


May 7, 1920 -
With much fanfare the Treaty of Moscow is signed. Soviet Russia recognizes independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.



No one bothered to tell Lenin and the Soviets invade the country six months later.


May 7, 1937-
The Hindenberg wreckage still lies smoldering having crashed crashed and burned in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing thirty-six yesterday.



The good news was, it provided a really cool cover for Led Zeppelin's first album and a fairly good basis for a novel by E. L. Doctorow.

May 7, 1975 -
President Gerald R. Ford declared an end to the Vietnam War.



Almost 3 million Americans served in Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1975, the United States spent $111 billion on the war ($686 billion in 2008 dollars). This resulted in a large federal budget deficit. The war demonstrated that no power, not even a superpower, has unlimited strength and resources. But perhaps most significantly, the Vietnam War illustrated that political will, as much as material might, is a decisive factor in the outcome of conflicts.


It's National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day and I'm providing a free screening to all readers.

You can take this test right where you are.

Place the middle and index fingers of your right hand on your left wrist, applying just enough pressure to feel the gentle beating of your blood. That gentle beating is called your "pulse." This "pulse" proves you are alive, which is an indisputable symptom of anxiety disorders.

Medicate yourself as soon as possible and repeat until the world is bearable.

If you don't think you suffer from any anxiety disorders, and you think that the world is bearable just as it is, congratulations! You've already been lobotomized.

And so it goes