1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city. “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

1915 – The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Are we breaking faith?

1921 – West Virginia imposes the first state sales tax. What a GREAT idea! We’ll tax your income, and then when you go to spend what’s left, we’ll get another bite!

1926 – US Marines land in Nicaragua nine months after leaving from a previous stay and remain this time until 1933. Somebody’s got to keep a lid on things.

1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States. You knew it had to start somewhere. Here’s where…

1979 – Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher becomes the United Kingdom’s first female prime minister as the Labour government is ousted in parliamentary elections. She’s got more guts than Britain’s seen since Churchill.