Jews and Crusaders Unite!

I usually don't do these sorts of things. And if I do, I sure as hell don't do it on my blog. But I liked this one that I found on Wisdom Weasel.

The assignment reads "Go to Wikipedia. Type in your birth date (but not year). List three events that happened on your birthday. List two important birthdays and one interesting death."

I cheated and didn't bother with the numbers I was supposed to do but simply put what interested me.

2/23

1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.
How great is that?

1820 - Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
And we would have succeeded too if it weren't for those meddling kids.

1836 - The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.

1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
And luckily the color of my skin makes it that I won't be locked up and sent there "in perpetuity."

1919 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
Nice! I always knew there was something about fascism that I liked.

1945 - World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize.
I'm the ultimate patriot!

1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Considering that my father's mother died that year at the age of 32 from polio and my father was in a wheelchair the previous year because of the disease, this really resonates with me.

1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.
What an awesome way to turn 18!

1998 - Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.
Could my birthday be the best ever or what? I mean as a Jew and a Crusader, I feel honored.

2006 - Initial D Street Stage is released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable console.
Third graders rejoice across the land.

Queens, emperors, mistresses of kings were born on this day. But here are the ones that I was most impressed with.

1868 - W.E.B. DuBois, American civil rights leader

1955 - Howard Jones, British pop singer

1963 - Bobby Bonilla, former baseball player

Deaths
1821 - John Keats, English poet (b. 1795)

1965 - Stan Laurel, American actor and comedian (b. 1890)

And of course, Russia celebrates Day of Motherland's Defender on 2/23.