Today I am 27.
I share this birthday with Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa (1931) and rocker John Mellencamp (1951), among others. I'm a big fan of Archbishop Tutu's human rights record, but his soft lefty pacifism in the face of terrorism is disturbing. I like John Mellencamp's charity work, but his politics are disastrously ill-informed.
Also born on October 7: Toni Braxton (hoo-ha!), June Allyson (boring!), Niels Bohr (my favorite physicist!), Ollie North (my favorite abuser of transactional immunity!), Yo-Yo Ma (my favorite cellist!).
Edgar Allan Poe died this day 1849.
The Battle of Saratoga began this day 1777.
Georgia Tech scored the most points in college football history by one team (222) by running the ball for 978 yards, never using the forward pass in 1918.
US forces crossed the 38th parallel into NoKo territory in 1950.
Barry Bonds broke the home run record set two years before by Mark McGwire in 2001.
