I propose we jump from April 14 directly to April 21 every year.....

April 19, 1775 - "Shot heard 'round the world" starts American Revolution
April 20, 1888 - 246 killed by hail storm in India
April 20, 1889 - Hitler is born
April 19, 1904 - Toronto destroyed by fire
April 18, 1906 - 8.25 Earthquake destroys San Francisco, kills 4000
April 15, 1912 - Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM off Newfoundland as band plays on
April 19, 1933 - U.S. abandons Gold Standard
April 20, 1945 - Soviets enter Berlin
April 16, 1947 - Massive explosion and fire kills 522 in Texas City, Texas
April 17, 1990 - Gas explodes on passenger train in Kumrahar India, 80 die
April 19, 1993 - Brand Davidian compound seige in Waco
April 19, 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing
April 20, 1999 - Columbine massacre
April 16, 2007 - Virginia Tech shooting
April 20, 2010 - Deepwater Horizon explosion


It's just a bad week. We should all go on vacation that week.... but not on any cruise ships (see 1912)

Also, on April 12, 1945, FDR died.:(

D'oh!:D

May flowers.

:9

I'm rather fond of that entire American Revolution thang. :)

It had always seemed that for a good deal of my adult life tragedy had always followed my birthday.

Not that I have a complex or anything. And by the way, no way I'm giving up my favorite day of the year...420. :smoke:

And teabaggers will have to reschedule tax day protests.

Many, many good things happened between those dates as well. A small sample (thank you, Wikipedia!):

April 15
1923 – Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
1452 – birth of Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath (d. 1519)
1894 – birth of Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)

April 16
1941 – Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians throws the only Opening Day no-hitter in the history of Major League Baseball, beating the Chicago White Sox 1-0.
1889 – birth of Charlie Chaplin, English actor, writer, songwriter, composer, and film producer (d. 1977)
1921 – birth of Peter Ustinov, English actor (d. 2004)
1947 – birth of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player

April 17
1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) the start of the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury.
1964 – The Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Mustang at the New York World's Fair.
1885 – birth of Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), Danish author (d. 1962)
1896 – birth of Seρor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist (d. 1999)
1967 – birth of Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-born Scottish actor (best known as Desmond Hume of the television series Lost)

April 18
1924 – Simon & Schuster publishes the first Crossword puzzle book.
1930 – BBC Radio infamously announce that there is no news on that day.
1857 – birth of Clarence Darrow, American attorney (d. 1938)
1946 – birth of Hayley Mills, English actress
1947 – birth of James Woods, American actor
1953 – birth of Rick Moranis, Canadian comedian

April 19
1943 – Bicycle Day – Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time.
1987 – The Simpsons premieres as a short cartoon on The Tracey Ullman Show
1903 – birth of Eliot Ness, American lawman (d. 1957)
1935 – birth of Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian and composer (d. 2002)
1946 – birth of Tim Curry, British actor
1963 – birth of Valerie Plame Wilson, American former C.I.A. agent

April 20
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1939 – Billie Holiday records the first Civil Rights song "Strange Fruit".
1986 – Professional basketball player Michael Jordan sets all-time record for points in an NBA playoff game with 63 against the Boston Celtics.
2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
1850 – birth of Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (d. 1931)
1893 – birth of Harold Lloyd, American actor (d. 1971)
1908 – birth of Lionel Hampton, American musician (d. 2002)
1920 – birth of John Paul Stevens, American jurist
1937 – birth of George Takei, American actor




(I can't help it -- I'm an incurable optimist. I'm also a Democrat!)