Crazy Eights
One of the more entertaining things about living in the new century is that for the first 12 years, you can have fun with dates. For instance, on January 1, 2001 the date could be written as 01/01/01. This year, the big day fell on yesterday, August 8, 2008 or 08/08/08. Now, here is a very odd story that perhaps may cause one to follow the exploits of two children born yesterday. Not only were they born on 08/08/08 but they were born at 8:08 AM. Their weight? You guessed it…8 pounds, 8 ounces. In the first story from Fergus Falls, Minnesota a doctor says that it was “one in a million” and that it wouldn’t happen anywhere else. Not only did the exact same thing happen, it wasn’t far away in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This will be one for a bored statistician to determine what are the odds that not one, but two babies are born at precisely the same time at the same weight and the numbers coincide with the date in question. Mathematically, I suspect it is a truly remarkable event and would support my contention to Snow White that I can win the lottery.
This Date in History is filled with Tragedy: “Little Boy” was dropped on Nagasaki on this date in 1945. A few days later the Second World War came to an end. On this date in 1969, the Manson “family” killed 5 people in Roman Polanski’s home, including the pregnant actress, Sharon Tate. President Nixon was the chief executive but just 5 years later on this date in 1974, Nixon became the first President to resign his office and Gerald Ford was inaugurated as the 38th President and became only man to hold both the presidency and vice-presidency without ever being elected to either office.
