On this day in 1889, the 300-metre Eiffel Tower officially opened, commemorating the French Revolution. I would say out of all the famous icons I can think of, the Eiffel Tower has to be one of the most-viewed in the world, next only to Nick Nolte’s mug shot.
On this day in 1917, the United States purchased the Danish West Indies for $25 million and renamed them The Virgin Islands. A quick visit shortly afterward by the Americans showed that the name was actually just wishful thinking on their part, plus, there were no wise men around either.
On this day in 1921, Albert Einstein lectured in New York on his new theory of relativity. After it was over, only 25 percent of the audience had understood what he was talking about. The other 75 percent all said, “What did you think of his hair?”
On this day in 1923, in the Stanley Cup final, the Ottawa Senators swept the Edmonton Eskimos in 2 games. I’ll bet the Eskimos lost because they found it too slippery to get their running game going.
On this day in 1949, Newfoundland joined Confederation as Canada’s 10th province. It had been 82 years since Confederation and Newfoundlanders needed time to consider joining because they actually had two options, would they join up with Canada, or would they join up with Greenland? You had Canada with 13 million people or you had Greenland with 13 people. They chose Canada. By the way, Greenland still has 13 people.
On this day in 1975, the CN Tower in Toronto reached 555.35 metres in height or 1822 feet, becoming the world’s tallest freestanding structure; there was nothing higher than that except for the snowboarders sitting in Whistler enjoying some BC Bud.
On this day in 1994, another clue in human evolution happened when the journal “Nature” reported the discovery in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull. You probably didn’t hear much about it on the supper hour news, mostly because nobody could pronounce it.
If your birthday is March 31st, you share it with one of the great philosophers, René Descartes, who was born on this day in 1596. Perhaps the most famous quote from Rene Descartes was this one; “I think, therefore I am”. This is the complete opposite of George W. Bush’s motto; “I think I am”.
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