Birthday Postings!

Yaaaaaay cake!

Happy Birthday to...well, me. But in honor of this I've decided to post a little history about what else happened on this day:

On Jan. 30, 1962, two members of "The Flying Wallendas" high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit.

- On this date:

• In 1649, England's King Charles I was beheaded.
• In 1798, a brawl broke out in the U.S. House of Representatives in Philadelphia, as Matthew Lyon of Vermont spat in the face of Roger Griswold of Connecticut.
• In 1862, the ironclad USS Monitor was launched from the Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, N.Y., during the Civil War.
• In 1882, the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was born in Hyde Park, N.Y.
• In 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. The first episode of the "Lone Ranger" radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.
• In 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, was shot and killed in New Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist. (Godse and a co-conspirator were later executed.)
• In 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered his first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Author, journalist and radio commentator Dorothy Thompson died in Lisbon, Portugal, at age 67.
• In 1964, the United States launched Ranger 6, an unmanned spacecraft carrying television cameras that crash-landed on the moon, but failed to send back images.
• In 1968, the Tet Offensive began during the Vietnam War as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese provincial capitals.
• In 1972, 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as "Bloody Sunday."
• In 1981, an estimated two million New Yorkers turned out for a ticker-tape parade honoring the freed American hostages from Iran.
• In 1982, actor-comedian Stanley Holloway died in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England, at age 91.

Ten years ago: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States would watch closely to see what Iraq, Iran and North Korea did next, a day after President George W. Bush singled them out as part of a dangerous "axis of evil." Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai visited the World Trade Center site and placed a wreath of yellow roses by a memorial wall as he surveyed the ruins of Sept. 11.

Five years ago: A propane tank explosion leveled the Flat Top Little General Store in Ghent, W.Va., killing four people. Two gunmen shot and killed Mellie McDaniel, the wife of the Jackson County, Fla., sheriff and a deputy sent to check on her; other deputies opened fire and killed the assailants. Hollywood writer-producer and novelist Sidney Sheldon died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 89.

One year ago: Egypt's most prominent democracy advocate, Mohamed ElBaradei, called for President Hosni Mubarak to resign during an address to thousands of protesters in Cairo who were defying a curfew for a third night. Rachid Ghanouchi, leader of the long-outlawed Tunisian Islamist party, returned home after two decades in exile. MVP DeAngelo Hall had one of his team's five interceptions and returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown to help the NFC match a Pro Bowl scoring record in a 55-41 victory over the AFC. Novak Djokovic won his second Australian Open title, breezing past Andy Murray 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Ryan Bradley won his first title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Another fun fact I know: Martin Luther King's house was bombed on this date. 

This doesn't as such, really comfort me. Knowing that Hitler becoming chancellor of Germany, Ghandi being shot and Charles I being beheaded all on the date I was born doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence. But at least I was born on the same day as FDR!