May 20

It is rare that people are given unequivocal notice that perhaps they should consider moving. The people of Codell, Kansas clearly got a series of subtle hints when on the 20th in 1916, 1917 and 1918 their town was struck by tornadoes. No, not tomatoes, tornadoes!

May 19

As Keith Richards and Mick Jagger pointed out, ‘marrying money is a full time job, I don’t need the aggravation, I’m a lazy slob’. At no time was this more clearly illustrated than on the 19th in 1536 when Henry VIII had Anne Boleyn beheaded for adultery.

May 18

Rhode Island is the smallest of the 50 United States but on occasion, it is definitely ahead of the curve in a big way. On the 18th in 1652, the good people of the nation’s smallest state passed a law making slavery illegal.

May 17

Bartholomew Roberts, a Welshman, was born on the 17th in 1682. His name at birth was John Robert. Why he assumed the name Bartholomew is puzzling. Perhaps he felt that John Robert didn’t have enough zing to it. In any event, as children tend to do, he grew up and as an adult made a career choice to become a pirate. His motto appears to have been ‘Better being a commander than a common man’. He even managed to secure an appropriate nickname for his chosen life’s work, though I’m uncertain as to why he chose Black Bart, which somehow strikes me as more appropriate a sobriquet for a 19th century American Old West bandit than it does for an 18th century British maritime outlaw.

May 16

In 1918, the 16th was witness to the passing of the Sedition Act by the United States Congress. This act made criticizing the government a crime punishable by imprisonment. Just look at how far we have come since the dark days of World War I. Today if you criticize the government, our noble President sees you as being merely a traitor who is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. He has yet to have anyone jailed because of this however. Let’s see how long that lasts.

May 15

It is a long-settled fact that God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. I am certain that God is still scratching his head and asking himself ‘Why on earth did I do that?’ when on the 15th in 1252, Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull exstirpanda, which authorized the torture of heretics in the Inquisition.

May 14

Edward Jenner was a doctor in a small village tucked away in the bucolic English countryside. He was however ambitious and spent his life trying to find a niche in which he would excel. He accomplished his goal when, on the 14th in 1796, he administered the first smallpox vaccination.