As January comes to a close, here we are, one-twelfth of the way through 2023. The time ticks away, and we tick with it.
And with that, much has happened behind us. Not just in the past thirty days but in the past 30 centuries. Here are a random few. And I do mean random.
1. For a period of 20 years, Argentina ranked as one of the wealthiest nations on Earth. Don’t cry for me, Argentina. It is true. They had the highest GDP per capita in 1895. And they were also among the ten richest countries until 1920. Now. I’m not sure how it came to this, but today, the country is in crippling debt. This considerable swing they had is considered one of the most significant economic downturns in modern history. As they say. Easy come. Easy go.
2. Speaking of going. The next item happened in 1797 in Iran. Persian King Agha Mohammad Khan ordered the execution of two servants for being too loud. But he remembered it was a holy day. So with that in mind, he postponed their execution by a day and made the servants return to their duties. It turned out not to be such a great move. They murdered the king in his sleep that night. Lullaby, and Good Night.
3. Let’s switch to the dark side. Of the movies. Specifically, those action-packed thrillers. You know the kind — deadly assassins, hitmen, spies, heroes. Somebody’s always getting shot, choked, or blown up. Well. Here is a list of the deadliest actors — the ones with the most “kills” in movies and the number of people they have slain on screen. The deadliest actors – with the all-time most movie kills – are Milla Jovovich (1296), Jet Li (1076), Dolph Lundgren (919), Arnold Schwarzenegger (842), Chow Yun-Fat (810), Sylvester Stallone (786), Jason Statham (718), Kevin Costner (670), Wesley Snipes (593), and Nicholas Cage (571). Ka-Pow. Please note. Adam West as Batman is NOT on the list.
4. Staying on the dark side. More than half of all mushrooms consumed in the US are grown in a small town in Pennsylvania. It is really a township. Kennett Township. They have numerous indoor farms that produce more than a million pounds of mushrooms daily. Farmers in that small area of Chester County, Pennsylvania, have been growing mushrooms since the late 1800s. That is when several local Quakers decided to raise them underneath their flowerbeds. Today, it has grown into big mushroom business. No sh!t.
5. Since we are in Pennsylvania. The Hershey Ice Cream Company is an entirely separate entity from the Hershey Chocolate Company. Who knew? But it is true even though both companies were founded in Lancaster County. And in the same year! BUT by unrelated men named Hershey. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup is called for, I’d say.
6. Now, here’s a thing. Many Chinese people go to South Korea for inexpensive, yet high-quality plastic surgery. But when they want to return home to China, they have difficulty re-entering the country. All because their passport photos don’t match their new face post-op. Hey. Do I know you?
7. Speaking of changed appearances. A doctor reviewed the injuries sustained by Marv and Harry in Home Alone 1 & 2. The doctor concluded that 23 of the injuries would have resulted in death. Not quite enough to put Macaulay Culkin on the list of deadliest actors.
And so it ticked.
And so it tocked.
And here we are, a-watching.
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“By its very nature, history is always a one-sided account.”
― Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
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“Time after time, history demonstrates that when people don’t want to believe something, they have enormous skills of ignoring it altogether.”
― Jim Butcher
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“We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.”
― George Bernard Shaw
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The time, it has some things. And we watch.
