Saturn & Other Coincidences

Fun stuff from a mentalfloss.com article by Ellen Gutoskey, edited by yours truly: Violet Jessop worked as a steward aboard the Olympic in 1911 when it collided with the HMS Hawke. The Olympic sustained damage but didn’t sink. In 1912 she was aboard the Titanic. In 1916 she was a nurse aboard the Britannic, Titanic’s sister ship, which had been turned into a hospital in WWI. It suffered an explosion, probably from an underwater mine, and sank. She lived to 84.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was working on Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. He was thrown into the air by the impact. He returned home to Nagasaki, where he was in the blast zone when the second bomb went off. He lived to 93.
In 1611, the year the King James Bible was published, Shakespeare was 46. The 46th word of Psalm 46 is “shake,” while the 46th-from-last word is “spear.”
Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the 50th anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1826.
November 9th is a key date in German history. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918, putting an end to the monarchy. It’s also the date of the infamous Kristallnacht in 1938, and the day the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Germans have a word for it: Schicksalstag, “The Day of Fate.”
In 1610 Galileo observed the rings of Saturn from his telescope. He sent letters to friends and colleagues, proudly declaring, “SMAISMRMILMEPOETALEUMIBUNENUGTTAUIRAS,” an anagram which is believed to be decoded as “altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi” — “I have observed that the highest planet is threefold.” German astronomer Johannes Kepler deciphered it as “salve, umbistineum geminatum Martia proles,” — “Be greeted, double-knob, children of Mars.” He concluded Galileo was saying Mars had two moons. He was sort of right. The red planet’s two moons were not discovered until 1877.
In 1940 American male twins were separated and adopted. Each was named James by his (not their) parents. When they reunited almost 40 years later, the similarities were uncanny. Each had married a woman named Linda and divorced. They married a second time, each to a woman named Betty. Both Jims had grown up with a dog named Toy and an adopted brother named Larry. Both had sons they named James Allan, though the spelling of the Allan differed.

Photo from Google Images:

If only. Headline from newsmax.com: “Criticism of Hamas in Gaza Builds: ‘May God Curse Them’.” Unfortunately, the terrorist outfit has plenty of support in the USA.

I’ll believe it when I see it. From NM: “Iran Elects Moderate Reformist in Presidential Runoff.”

Do the results in the elections in France and England predict what will happen in America in November? Even if Quid Pro Joe is not replaced, the election can be taken by mail-in ballots, as it was in 2020. The migrant quote will be crucial. Count on operatives filling out those ballots.

It was hot but not as hot as I’d expected today at the Anti-Inflation Book Shop. My thanks to the young woman who donated four books, and to the gentleman who did a swap of Russian titles; and to Wolf, who bought Abbott & Costello and Jack & the Beanstalk (1952), Sherlock Holmes (2009), the Amazing Stories box set and The Producers (1967) all on DVD, and a book on stamp collecting; and to the Latino restaurant worker, who purchased two CDs by Dido and three other media items.

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