Friday, April 8, 2011

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

Happy Birthday Siddhartha Gautama (if you're in Japan.)



Otherwise, just calculate the first full moon day of the sixth month of the Buddhist lunar calendar, which would be the fourth month of the Chinese calendar, except in years in which there's an extra full moon, and then Buddha's birthday falls in the seventh month. Well, except where it starts a week earlier. And in Tibet it's usually a month later.


April 8, 1979 -
The 204th and final episode of All in the Family ran with the tearful episode, Too Good Edith, on this date.



The series would come back in the fall in the less successful offering, Archie's Place.


April 8, 1990 -
It wasn't a very good day for Laura Palmer - The cult series Twin Peaks, about cherry pie and Damn fine cup o' coffee!, premiered on ABC on this date.



The homecoming photo of "Laura Palmer" is Sheryl Lee's actual prom photo.


Today in History:
It's a bad day for rulers -
April 8, 217 -
Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antoniius) Roman emperor (188 – 217) was murdered with a single sword stroke while relieving himself.

Not a pleasant way to go.


April 8, 1143 -
John II Comnenus Emperor of Byzantium (1118-43), died when he was accidentally infected by a poisoned arrow while out hunting.

I hate when that happens


April 8, 1364 -
John II the Good, King of France (1350-64), died at 44 after a night of heavy drinking in London.

You may ask why the King of France was drinking in London - that's another story.


April 8, 1498 -
Charles VIII King of France (1483-98), died in a freak tennis accident -

striking himself on the head while passing through a doorway, leaving the tennis court. A few hours later, he fell into a sudden coma and died.

Tennis - it's an extreme sport.


April 8, 1832 -
Some 300 American troops of the 6th Infantry leave Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, to confront the Sauk Indians in what would become known as the Black Hawk War.

This is one of history's funny coincidences, in which Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis led troops on the same side - Lincoln as a captain of militia, Davis as a lieutenant of Regulars.

Impress the habitués of your local tavern.


April 8, 1950 -
Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky, one of the most gifted male dancers in history - celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations, died on this date in a psychiatric hospital.



No film exists of Nijinsky dancing. Sergei Diaghilev never allowed his ballet company, the Ballets Russes, to be filmed. He felt that the quality of film at the time could never capture the artistry of his dancers and that the reputation of the company would suffer if people saw it only in short jerky films.


April 8, 1973 -
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, one of the most recognized figures in twentieth-century art, he is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the wide variety of styles embodied in his work and sleeping with almost anything that moved, died on this date.



Everybody ... Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink any more.


April 8, 1994 -
Kurt Cobain's body is found 3 days after committing suicide with a shotgun.



That was probably not a pretty sight (I won't even mention the smell - definitely not teen spirit.)



And so it goes.

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