Today in History: March 30

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

A deluded young man attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan 35 years ago today. Reagan had been president for only 69 days. CNN was less than a year old and its 48 straight hours covering the story helped it construct a reputation for being a comprehensive and reliable news operation.

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“Color Me Barbra,” the second of Barbra Streisand’s television concerts, was broadcast 50 years ago tonight on CBS. It was nominated for five Emmy awards (winning none) and earned her unanimous praise. “The Minute Waltz” (below the fold):
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Nothing to Conceal

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

I am a very private person, plus I am pretty committed to being co-dependent with the planet, so I probably waste more psychic energy and time trying to give other people their privacy than I spend on maintaining my own. Especially in those moments when it seems that people around me are oblivious to their horrible and immediate need to simply keep things to themselves. Or to warn me of imminent over-sharing.

I could blame cell phones, blame Facebook and Instagram, think some thoughts about the effect of self-help groups and therapy on the culture at large, but after thinking all those deep thoughts, I do not care about your details, unless you are my dearest, most intimate friend(s). No. Not even then. Even then, there are things I do not really need to know. The details.
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Today in History: March 29

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last … Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman.—Captain Robert Falcon Scott

The final entry in Robert Falcon Scott’s diary is dated March 29, 1912, 104 years ago today. His expedition to the South Pole, begun in 1910 with his ship’s departure from Wales, had become by 1911 a race with Roald Amundsen’s team to be the first to reach the Pole. In January 1912, Scott and four others reached the South Pole only to find a tent and a month-old note from Amundsen stating that he had beaten Scott. The return journey, now one of defeat, stretched on for weeks. Scott and his team started to slow their travels due to frostbite, found that supplies left for them had evaporated in the cold, and missed a meeting by weeks with the remainder of his team. (The team had abandoned hope for them and returned to their ship, where they waited and waited for Scott.) One of Scott’s companions committed suicide simply by stepping outside their tent and standing in the harsh conditions outside: “I am just going outside and I may be some time,” were his last words, Scott wrote.
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