The Final Four

Well, if you thought the weather couldn't get any stranger, I give you Missouri. Ok, it's warm outside, but it's also windy, and the temperature's about to drop. So, beware. And, I know that it's (Monday, Soom-waar, Doshanbeh, yawm-al-ithnayn, Kamal, Setting Orange) because I'm back at work, and I'm not really looking forward to the rest of the day. Hopefully everyone had a good weekend. I watched the first five episodes of "The Flight of the Conchords". I highly recommend it if you have any appreciation for good humor. As the title states, we've reached the Final Four of March Madness which will actually be played in April, which begins tomorrow. Thus, Memphis, UCLA, UNC, and Kansas are the last four standing. The Big Ten is blatantly absent, surprise, surprise.

In 1146 Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistercian monk with a large following in Kalamazoo, delivered a sermon in Vezalay, France calling for the 2nd Crusade. This was largely in response to the fall of the County of Edessa. Pope Eugene III (can you believe there was more than one?) called for the Crusade and unlike the first one, largely due to Bernard's preaching, European royalty got directly involved, including Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Although not very successful in the Middle East, the Crusade led to numerous "unintended" massacres of German Jews and the reconquest of Lisbon, Portugal. In 1492 Queen Isabella ordered all Jews in Spain to either convert to Christianity or be expelled. In 1889 the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris. In 1906 the NCAA was established. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies from Denmark for $25 million. In 1918 Daylight savings time went into effect for the first time. This completely srewed everyone up for like a week except for people in parts of Indiana and Arizona who are fortunate enough to never have to change their clocks. In 1931 an earthquake destroyed Managua, Nicaragua killing 2000. In 1942 the Nazis deported 5000 Jews from Stanislawow, Ukraine to Belzec. In 1965 an Iberia Airlines flight crashed killing 47. In 1986 a Mexicana flight crashed killing 166. And in 1992 the USS Missouri was decommissioned. Several people wished that the whole state would be decommissioned and divided amongst its neighbors. Problem was that none of its neighbors would take their share, except for Arkansas which has absolutely nothing to lose and whose average IQ would not be affected by the additon.

In New Jersey, today is Thomas Mundy Peterson Day in honor of the gentleman who was the first African-American to vote following the ratification of the 15th Amendment.

In the Mediterranean island of Malta today is Freedom Day. The Romans and Greeks called the island Melita, which means "honey". The capital is Valletta and there are only 402,000 who live in the country. 98% of these people are Catholic. Last year Malta was voted as having the best climate in the world.

Happy Birthday: Pope Pius IV (dead); Rene Descartes (dead); Pope Benedict XIV (dead); Robert Bunsen (dead but after whom the bunsen burner is named); Cesar Chavez (dead); Liz Claiborne; Sheila Dikshit (what a name!!); Christopher Walken, who is awesome and a good dancer; Al Gore (pleae run for President, Mr. Gore!!); and Ewan McGregor, a fine actor.

Enjoy the day if you can. "I've always maintained that one should never tangle with anything that has more teeth than the Osmond family."