This Week in History: Dec 14-20

Well, our day-by-day look at history ended yesterday, but because of the feature's overwhelming popularity, and my overwhelming need for more blogs, I've decided to make the feature a weekly regular for awhile. So instead of searching for meaning in a day's random sad events, I'll just highlight one event a day from the upcoming week. So we all know what kind of history we might be doomed to repeat in the next seven days.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 14
Nostradamus was born this day in 1503. So he doesn't need to read any further in this entry, since he foresaw it all, I guess. Of personal interest, B.K.S. Iyengar was born this day in 1918. He's the founder of Iyengar yoga, which is the style of yoga I've been doing lately, so everyone's been all abuzz about the guy's 90th birthday. 90 years old and he still is practicing yoga.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 15
One of the most dazzling events in Atlanta's history occurred, today, as Gone With the Wind had its world premiere at Loew's. There were all sorts of parties and parades and events. The anecdote that is perhaps most associated with the event is that Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy, could not attend without sitting in a separate section because segregation was still in full force. She elected not to attend, which pissed Clark Gable off, to the point that he didn't want to attend either. Hattie McDaniel convinced Clark Gable to go after all, where he gave a nice speech about how the night was really about the people of Atlanta and Margaret Mitchell. I think it's always nice to see the writer getting props.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 16
Today is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and Jane Austen's birthday! Celebrate by drinking tea and speaking in a British accent all day!

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 17
On this day in 1903, the Wright Brothers made their famous flight at Kitty Hawk, NC, forever saddling North Carolina as the "First in Flight" state. There are a tremendous amount of interesting things about North Carolina, and all we get on license plates and state quarters and driver's licenses is that stupid "First in Flight" thing.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 18
Today brings us a weird grouping of celebrity birthdays. Try to imagine these people having a joint birthday party: Keith Richards, Steven Spielberg, Ray Liotta, Brad Pitt, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Katie Holmes. No, seriously, try to imagine such a birthday party. It will take you the rest of the day.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 19
I didn't really find this day in history too interesting on first glance, which is part of why I'm switching to this weekly format.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: DECEMBER 20
Today is a day where something important might happen in terms of the United States. See, on this day in history in 1606, settlers set out to establish Jamestown, VA, which means maybe the United States will get bigger today. Supporting that idea, in 1803 we signed the Louisiana Purchase, making us even bigger. But in 1860, we got smaller, because South Carolina seceded from the United States. So my predictions: either we annex Canada, or we get rid of the states we don't need (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) once and for all.