Yeehah! Of course I had to mention it. The day that all Americans everywhere stop work and have a party. What are they celebrating? The fact that France, Spain and Holland helped them win a war against the British. I make that 4 to 1 so the outcome isn't that terribly surprising, is it? By the by, the 4th has very little actual significance. The Declaration of Independence (lifted almost wholesale from Englishman John Locke) was written on 2 July 1776 and published on 8 July. The 4th was the day that Congress accepted it (and even then with alterations). How is it that such a great nation can get its own Independence Day wrong?
In other news ...
Same news, really. On this day in 1826 two of the blokes who signed the Declaration (see above) dropped dead. One was Thomas Jefferson, the slave owner who nevertheless contended that all men were created equal. And the other was John Adams, father of the much more famous Gomez and Fester.
What are the odds?
