Birthday
One of the songs on the album The Beatles
I can’t sing Happy Birthday to us. I’m not a good singer and it also falls under copyright protection. Even though the song origins of the song dates to the late 19th century from a song by teachers Patty and Mildred J. Hill who each morning sang to their class a tune called Good Morning to All. In 1935 Happy Birthday to You was copyrighted as a work for hire by Preston Ware Orem for the Summy Company. This copyright still holds and is owned by an investment group. The song will not pass in to the public domain until 2030.
The date of birth is determined by the time zone in which you reside. For example I was born at 11:45 PM Eastern Time. A person born at that very same minute in London would have had an August 31st birthday. My sister, who was born 13 years and 2.5 hours later, celebrates her birthday on the 31st, but if she was born in California we would have had the same birthday.
It’s possible for the older of twins to have their official birth time as listed an hour later than their sibling if the two were born during the time change of Daylight Savings time in the fall.
Those who are born on February 29th could be thought to have a birthday once every 4 years. They often celebrate their birthday on those years that don’t have a 29th on February 28th or March 1st. A person who was born on February 29, 1960 would have just celebrated that 12th birthday in 2008.
Many cultures have a coming of age birthday. For those of the Jewish faith on a boy’s 13th birthday he has his bar mitzvah. At the age of 21 it is legal for Americans to purchase and consume alcohol. At 17 Wizards, such as Harry Potter, comes of age.
Happy Birthday
Living in 1492
Christopher Columbus. Everyone knows that Columbus was alive in 1492, it was in this year that he set sail across the Atlantic and landed on what soon would be called America. He lived from 1451 to 1506
Leonardo Da Vinci. In 1492 Da Vinci was living in Milan and produced his Vitruvian Man, his study of the proportions of the human body. In the later half of the 1490′s he worked on his The Last Supper, the mural painting and did the Mona Lisa during 1503-6. He lived from 1452 to 1519.
Ivan the Great of Russia lived from 1440 to 1505. Shortly after the end of 1492 he declared himself the Lord of All Russia.
Niccolò Machiavelli, the Italian diplomat, political philosopher, musician, poet, and playwright lived between 1469 – 1527.
Michelangelo, full name Michelangelo, di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, was born in 1475 and lived until 1564. Even though he was less than 20 in 1492, it was in that year hat he completed Madonna on the Steps and the Battle of Centaurs.
OK, this might be a stretch, but Henry VIII of England celebrated his first birthday in 1492. Henry VIII lived from 1491 to 1547, taking the crown in 1509. His father Henry VII, born Henry Tudor (1457 – 1509) was King of England, Lord of Ireland (August 22, 1485 – April 21, 1509) and was the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
Facts from Early American History
St. Augustine Florida is the oldest continuous settlement in the United States. It was originally a Spanish settlement as well as its oldest port. St. Augustine was founded by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés on September 8, 1565.
The first English child born in America was Virgina Dare who was born on August 18, 1587. She was born shortly after a colony was established on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. John White, the Roanoke colony’s governor was her Grandfather. White returned to England to get supplies and when he returned the colony had disappeared. Never to be discovered was what had become of the Colony nor Virginia Dare.
The Dutch under the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant controlled the American coast between New York (They founded New Amsterdam, New York’s original name in 1525) and the mouth of the Delaware Day. Dutch settlements on the western shores of the Delaware Bay is one of the reasons that Delaware was not part of the Maryland Colony.
The Maryland Colony began with a failed attempt by George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore, in Newfoundland. Calvert had been the Secretary of State under King James the First and he had requested a chance to build a colony in the New World. The “Province of Avalon” began settlement in 1623. In 1628 Calvert moved to the settlement with the intention of remaining there for the rest of his days. The winter of 1628-29 was much worst than he expected and he returned to England. He still desired a colony in the New World and began the process that would become the Maryland Charter.
During the Revolutionary War Florida (at the time two separate colonies, East and West Florida) were English Colonies. Spain had lost Florida to England during the French Indian War that ended in 1761. They were invited, but did not sent representatives to the Continental Congress. East and West Florida would return to Spanish rule in 1783 as part of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.
On July 16, 1769 Junípero Serra found a mission at San Diego. This was the first of 21 missions founded along California’s pacific coast.
The Hurricane of 1933
By mid-August of 1933 the summer hurricane season had been very active. There had already been 7 recorded storms with one of them turning into a hurricane. Beginning on August 17th a storm was detected northeast of the Leeward Islands. When the center of the storm made landfall of the United States over Norfolk, Virginia it was as a Category 2 Hurricane.
Hurricanes were not given names prior to 1950 and this storm is commonly referred to as the Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane. It was the most severe Atlantic hurricane to hit the East Coast since 1821 and caused $27.2 million dollars in 1933 dollars ($368.4 million 2005) of damage and left 18-30 fatalities.
In Ocean City, Maryland the town’s boardwalk was in shambles as whole blocks were demolished with the town being flooded. There was a railroad bridge into the city that was never replaced. The road link was broken as well. Damage was estimated at $7.5 million in today’s dollars.
Before 1933 there was a move to cut an path across the Assateague Peninsula to the Sinepuxent Bay. The storm created what is now called the inlet at Ocean City, Maryland and turned the peninsula into Assateague Island.
With the help of Maryland’s US Senator Millard E. Tydings, Maryland was awarded funding to finish the job that the storm began to stabilize the new formed inlet before drifting sands would close it.
In 2003 Hurricane Isabel took a very similar path as the 1933 Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane. Between 1933 and 2003, no other Hurricanes was as severe to Virginia as those.
The Phases of Elvis
When looking back on the career of Elvis Presley, it’s not hard to break it down into six stages.
The Beginning. (1954-1955)
Elvis was first discovered by Sam Phillips of Sun Records and for the first months of his career he performed throughout the south.
The Hits. (1956-1958)
Once Elvis fell under the management of Colonel Parker his career skyrocketed with hit after hit on his new record company RCA records.
The Army. (1958-1959)
Many thought that after Elvis was drafted by the United States Army his career was over. It turned out to be just a short break. One where he would discover his future bride.
The Movie Years. (1960-1968)
While many of the movies seemed to be remakes of themselves, he enjoyed big screen stardom and with all of the films made, he will be around forever, even if it will be on late night television.
The Comeback. (1968-1970)
Once he decided that the movie career was enough and what he really wanted as well as what he was best at was being a singing star, he reestablished his recording and concert career. Some of the best songs were done during this comeback stage.
The Concert Years. (1971-1977)
Elvis was a performer and when he was on stage in the middle of a song you have to believe that was when he was the happiest. He wanted to please and for many of those years that’s exactly what he did.
These could be classified as six stages in his career when he was alive. In many ways he is more popular now more than 30 years after his death. Opinions are those of the author and any error are mine.
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