The stock of d’Anconia Copper crashes. (Sept 3, 1973)

Francisco d’Anconia causes a number of fires and cave-ins to his own copper mines, deliberately crushing the wealth of his colleagues including the owners of Taggart Transcontinental.

How to Commemorate:

• Collect pennies.
• Undermine your friends.
• Shrug a lot.

Works Cited

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Amazon         Barnes & Noble        Worldcat

John Carter Day

To honor the birthday of Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875), let's celebrate his character John Carter--a regular post-Civil-War guy who gets transported to Mars. Like you do.  The books are terrific, but I'm a special fan of the movie.  Basically the plot is: A dad goes to Mars, kicks all kinds of alien ass, brings peace, and outsmarts the preternatural overlords.  My kind of story!

How to Commemorate:
Jump a lot.
Call people "Virginia."
Go to Mars. (Ok, at least look at NASA's plans.)

Princess of Mars series (book)
Amazon.     Barnes & Noble.     Public Libraries.

John Carter (movie)
Amazon.     Barnes & Noble.     Public Libraries.

Stay away from Oxford

At the end of The Eyre Affair, literary detective Thursday Next's time-traveling dad has some words of advice for the future.  "Never buy a blue car or a paddling pool, stay away from oysters and circular saws, and don't be near Oxford in June 2016. Got it?"

What is due to happen in Oxford this month? No idea. But the book was originally published in America in 2002 so it bears some watching. I would also point out to you fictional almanackers that there are Oxfords all over the world. Be on alert.

How to Commemorate:
For the love of God, just stay away from Oxford!

Population of Agloe, NY drops from 1 to 0 at noon because Margo Roth Spiegelman leaves.

Margo IS excitement and enthusiasm, and after a night pulling retributory pranks—she vanishes.  Quentin and his friends try to unravel the threads of what happened, where she went, and if she is even still alive.

How to Commemorate:

·        Leave somewhere at noon.

·        Find and visit a paper town.

·        Try writing crosshatch.

·        Take a road trip.

·        Edit a Wikipedia (I mean, Omnictionary!) page.

Find the book on Amazon or at a library.

Katniss Everdeen's Birthday

Today is the birthday of Katniss Everdeen, who fought as tribute in the Hunger Games.

How to Commemorate:

• Enter a lottery.
• Go hunting (preferably with bow and arrow).
• Complete (or sign up for) and obstacle course.  (We recommend the Rugged Maniac.)

May the Fourth be With You

We all know Star Wars, so I'm just going to suggest using quotes as much as you can during the day. Some of my favorite lines from the movies are:

• These aren't the ___ you're looking for.
• I find your lack of ___ disturbing.
• Don't get cocky.
• I've got a bad feeling about this.
• I can do this. I can do this.
• It's a trap!
• Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
• There's always a bigger fish.
• Do or do not. There is no try.
• Never tell me the odds!
• The garbage will do.
• This is not how I expected this day to go.

Oh, and just call everyone "Big Deal."

Buck Rogers launches into space

Buck Rogers lived in many comic book, novel, movie, and TV renditions, but the one I grew up with was the 1979 series starring Gil Gerard, which states that he launched into space in May of the far-off year 1987. Buck Rogers had a huge influence on science fiction for the next century. He is the original man-out-of-time (first appearance 1928 ) even before Captain America (1941). (I love Cap; don't get me wrong!)  Buck's stories were among the first popular ones to explore things like cryogenic freezing for space travel and post-apocalyptic worlds.

I also want to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to Star Trek: Voyager for, I think, basing Captain Proton almost directly on the Buster Crabbe black and white shorts (which were my dad's favorites--thanks, late night PBS!). Those are some of my favorite episodes, Voyager.



How to Commemorate:

• Get lost.
• Make arcane references.
• Every fifth step, say "beedy beedy."