Today is Waitangi Day in New Zealand. This celebrates the February 6, 1840 signing of "The Treaty of Waitangi" by representatives of the British Crown and leading Maori chiefs in Waitangi. The treaty preserved many Maori rights while making New Zealand a British Colony.
Given the confused and confusing state of things, I must recommends that America join her Kiwi friends in celebrating Waitangi Day. There's no particular logic to this, but it's fun to say "Happy Waitangi Day." We could all wear funny hats and buy each other Waitangi presents.Sound silly?
Just four days ago we were all waiting for a stupid rodent to crawl out of a hole and look for his shadow.
February 6, 1921 -
The Kid, starring Charlie Chaplin and 6-year-old Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester), was released in the US on this date.
The scene where Chaplin and Coogan tearfully reunite is as touching as anything ever enacted on film.
Today in History:
February 6, 1911 -
That great American, Ronald Reagan, who appeared in such films as Jap Zero, Girls on Probation, and Bedtime for Bonzo, is born in Tampico IL.
It should be a national holiday.
February 6, 1917 -
Zsa Zsa Gabor, Queen of Outer Space is born in Budapest. Party girls everywhere are celebrating their patron saint's day.
Enough said.
It was on this date in 1919 that the German constituent assembly met in Weimar for the first time to declare itself The Official German Government For The Time Being.
This Weimar Republic, as it came to be known, should not be confused with the Weimar Republic fashion clothing outlet found in many American malls. The former caused an economic depression, Hitler, and the horrors of the second World War. The latter caused a slight dip in sales at Banana Republic and Old Navy.
February 6, 1943 -
Actor Errol Flynn acquitted of raping an adolescent. The woman had actually tried this shakedown with other celebrities and wasn't quite an adolescent despite her testifying with pigtails and a lollypop.
In like Flynn.
February 6, 1945 -
Bob Marley, musician, singer-songwriter and Rastafarian was born on this date.
How can your day not be a little brighter.
February 6, 1952 -
Elizabeth II becames Queen upon the death of her father George VI, on this date. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
Talk about bizarre ways you can land a job - Elizabeth went up a tree a princess and came down a Queen.
Today is exactly halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox, which is the scientifically correct way of saying it's the middle of freakin' winter. Bottoms up: it only gets better from here.
(Except, of course, in the Southern Hemisphere, where it only gets worse, which might have something to do with why it's Waitangi Day down there.)
And so it goes.
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