History: The Year is 1732

I've uploaded year 1732 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1732

Here are some one liners...


Skittles Arrive in New York and Texas -- Skittles is a game called ninepins. It is an early form of bowling.

Poor Richard's Almanac and Modern PR -- Benjamin Franklin prints his own almanac, and it is not only filled with proverbs. It also contains a prank and a running joke.

George Washington and So-called Presidents Day -- I talk about the basic facts of his birth and the fact that there is not really a president's Day as a Federal holiday.

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Skittles Arrive in New York and Texas

Ninepins is a bowling game from the Middle Ages with its origins in Germany. A version of this game called "skittles" is played in Great Britain. Sometimes it is a lawn game. Other times it is a tabletop pub game played indoors. Ninepins is brought to New York by the Dutch and played for the first time this year. By 1895 the game will be standardized after being outlawed in Connecticut. The game will be replaced by the 10-pin bowling game when a machine for resetting 10-pins is developed. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

My Take by Alex Shrugged
A quick search of the Internet shows a tabletop version of ninepins available for less than $10. The only place that ninepins is played seriously any more is in Central Texas. The game came to Texas along with German immigrants. You can still find it played in Fredricksburg (the hometown of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz) and New Braunfels. Personally I've never played the game, but I was intrigued that such an ancient game remains popular here. Fredricksburg and New Braunfels are popular tourist destinations. ^{[4] [5]}

Poor Richard's Almanac and Modern PR

The word "almanac" comes from the Arabic word meaning "calendar." Such calendars have grown from a simple list of religious reminders to include the phases of the moon, information on bloodletting and predictions from Nostradamus. Print shops love almanacs because like any calendar, you need a new one every year. Thus they are a steady source of income. Benjamin Franklin has been printing two popular almanacs, but he has had a falling out with the authors so he writes his own under the pen name of Richard Saunders. Along with the normal information expected in almanacs, "Poor Richard" provides his thoughts on life in the form of proverbs. Some of these proverbs are original, and others are well-known but reworked. ^{[6] [7]}

* Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

* He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.

* Haste makes waste.

* No gains without pains.

* God helps them that help themselves.

* None preaches better than the ANT, and she says nothing.

My Take by Alex Shrugged
Franklin knew what to do to get free publicity. For example: He predicted the date and hour of death of his main competitor, Titan Leeds. It was a prank, and Leeds responded by calling Franklin a "conceited scribbler," a liar and a fool. Thus Leeds mentioned Franklin and Poor Richard in his own almanac. The exchange became a running joke. When Leeds finally died, Franklin, in the name of Poor Richard, claimed to be receiving letters from Leed's ghost. This was outrageous... and thus quite popular.

George Washington and So-called Presidents Day

Adjusting the date to the Gregorian calendar, George Washington is born on February 22, 1732 into a Virginia plantation family of "middling rank" as they put it. He will live at what he later calls "the Old Mansion" where Pope's Creek meets the Potomac. They will move to Ferry Farm in 1738. He will receive an elementary school education, and then his father will die. His mother, Mary, will push him hard to succeed and he will listen carefully to her guidance. Many of the stories about his youth have no documentation, or are recollections that are misremembered by relatives or are simply wrong. He could not possibly have skipped a silver dollar across the Potomac, but other rivers were possible. The story about the cherry tree came from Parson Weems who was looking for inspirational stories about George Washington. The story was known and the relatives never denied it, but actual hard evidence is lacking. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]}

My Take by Alex Shrugged
There is NO FEDERAL HOLIDAY named "Presidents Day". There is Washington's Birthday which is celebrated the third Monday of the month of February. Individual states have named this holiday variously, "Washington and Lincoln's Birthday," "Presidents Day," and even "Washington and Jefferson's Birthday." FYI, Jefferson's birthday is in April but who cares? If you can switch around a man's birthday celebration so that it gives you a three-day weekend, then the actual month is meaningless. I don't like celebrating a day just for any President, because frankly, I despise some Presidents. (I'm looking at you Woodrow Wilson!) Also, I remember when holidays used to be celebrated in the middle of the week. When that happened, we were forced to discuss WHY we were celebrating. When such holidays fell on a Monday or Friday, we just partied. ^{[13] [14] [15]}

This Year in Wikipedia

Year 1732, Wikipedia.