What’s Up in March?
What’s Up in March?
A little celebration for the Irish, the Australian Grand Prix this month, plus the Boston Massacre and other historical events in March.
What’s up in March:
Click the arrow above to listen.
St. Patrick's Day (March 17}
Hooray for St. Patrick. His day it is widely celebrated with parades, wearing green attire, and traditional Irish food and drink. The March 17 celebration started in 1631 when the Church established a Feast Day honoring St. Patrick. He was the Patron Saint of Ireland who died around the fifth century—a whopping 12 centuries before the modern version of the holiday was first observed.
Oh, and by the way, not to be a downer, but St. Patrick was not irish
Patrick was born around 450 A.D., just when Roman troops withdrew from Britain. His father was a gentleman and a Christian deacon who owned a small estate in a place called Bannavem Taburniae.
Scholars aren’t sure where this place was – it was probably on the west coast around Bristol, near the southern border of modern Wales and England.
But who care, right. Here in America, it’s a great day for the Irish to wear green, get drunk, have a parade, and act accordingly.
Australian Grand Prix: (March 24)
The beginning of the Grand Prix Season. Held in Melbourne, Australia, the Australian Grand Prix has frequently been the opening race of the F1 season. It’s the event of the year for the rich and famous as we watch (next year on Netflix) the beginning of the 2024 Grand Prix season. The exact cost of an F1 car is hard to confirm, but they come to a sum of approximately $15 million each. About as much as a good Major League Baseball player in America. But those damn cars are impressive with their diva drivers. I mean, who among us can drive a car going over 200 miles an hour?
NOTE: This is a late edition. This yer 2024 F1 switched things up this year. F1 season started two weeks earlier with two races, one in Dubai March 2 and the next week, March 9 in Saudi Arabia. both were run on Saturdays because of the Sunday rules during Ramadan.
Some historical March events
The Ides of March (March 15, 44 BC)
The assassination of Julius Caesar, a pivotal event in Roman history. We all know that story. A dictator should listen to his wife when she tells him not to go to the forum and he should never trust his buddies with a knife.
Beginning of the Russian Revolution (March 1917)
On March 15, 1917 Nicholas renounced the throne in favour of his brother Michael.
As the family planned to leave Nicholas was detained by Prince Lvov’s provisional government. It was planned that he and his family would be sent to England, but instead, they were removed to Western Siberia. This step sealed their doom. In April 1918 they were taken to Yekaterinburg in the Urals.
When anti-Bolshevik “White” Russian forces approached the area, the local authorities were ordered to prevent a rescue. In the early hours of July 17, 1918, the family were all slaughtered in the cellar of the house where they had been confined.(from Britannica website)
The Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770)
How many times have we heard this story in our lifetimes. Greedy King George taxed his fellow American aristocrats until they finally revolted and whipped up the crowds over having to pay extravagant taxes for English wars. Without representation in Parliament, the colonists felt that taxes and other laws were exceedingly unfair.
The instability in Massachusetts led British leaders to send forces to Boston as a precaution. On March 5, 1770, a Boston mob began to heckle and verbally abuse British sentries.
The conflict escalated and the soldiers fired, killing five and wounding seven others. The Boston Massacre and later events like the Boston Tea Party illustrate the deteriorating relationship between Britain and its colonies that culminated in the American Revolutionary War.
The Spanish Flu Comes to America (March, 1918)
An emergency hospital at Camp Funston, Kansas, 1918. New Contributed Photographs Collection / otis historical Archives / National Museum of Health and Medicine
During World War I, an unprecedented influenza pandemic known as the “Spanish flu” swept the globe. The exact source of the flu is debated, but many experts agree that the mobilization of either troops or wartime laborers contributed to the outbreak of the disease. In March of 1918, the flu reared its head in America when more than 100 soldiers fell sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. Known today as the deadliest pandemic in world history, the Spanish flu infected approximately 27% of the world’s population and killed millions.
The Three Mile Island Accident (March, 1979)
In March of 1979, a nuclear reactor from the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (Pennsylvania) experienced a partial core meltdown resulting in a radiation leak. Hitting a “five” on the 7-point International Nuclear Event Scale, the accident was the most significant in the history of U.S. nuclear power.
Commercial nuclear power plants were established in the 1950s as a lower-cost, environmentally-friendly alternative to other forms of power that burn fossil fuels. But what the hell do you do with spent highly radioactive nuclear waste. The flame of anti-nuclear power activism was fanned further nearly a decade later with the Chernobyl disaster. It’s a shame because if it is contained it is much better than polluting fossil fuels.
The Reagan Assassination Attempt (March 28, 1981
On March 28, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. read in the Washington Star that President Ronald Reagan would be at the Washington Hilton in two days’ time. He wrote a letter to actress Jodie Foster, with whom he was infatuated, stating his plan to murder Reagan and his hope that this grand gesture would impress her. Hinckley merely fifteen feet away from his target, fired six shots, five of which hit members of Reagan’s group and the limousine. The final bullet ricocheted off the limousine and hit Reagan under his left arm, stopping just 25mm from his heart. Reagan was taken to George Washington University Hospital where the bullet was surgically removed. Hinckley was found “not guilty by reason of insanity” and placed in a mental hospital until his release in 2016.
This list could go on and on, but that's all for now folks. Do not fear, spring is near.
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