History of the Day: 9/8, 9/9

This is my self-proclaimed "Beard Week" in remembrance of Tsar Peter of Russia who in 1698, in an attempt to move people into modern times, imposed a tax on beards. I'll not shave these mournful seven days in protest! Also, in celebration of Beard Week, you can transfer all measurements to beard seconds or "the length an average physicist's beard grows in a second." For instance, 100 meters = 20,000,000,000 beard seconds.

September the 8th is the birthday of Richard Strauss, one of my favorite composers largely due to his fantastic rendering of Don Quixote as a cello. Here is Yo Yo Ma performing a piece from the work. And happy birthday to Mary (Jesus' mom), whose birthday is celebrated on this day by Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

But perhaps most important, Star Trek TOS (the Original Series) first aired on this day in 1966. Did you know there were lyrics to the original theme song?

Beyond the rim of the star-light
My love is wand'ring in star-flight
I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches
Love, strange love a star-woman teaches.
I know his journey ends never
His star trek will go on forever.
But tell him while he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me.

I wish this were a hoax, but it's not. The story behind it is even more disturbing. Well, almost as disturbing, but not quite. DS9 definitely had the best Star Trek intro by far. To celebrate, you can take the Star Trek Personality Test!

September 9th is the anniversary of the Battle of Svolder, in which Olaf of Sweden and Sven Forkbeard (no kidding) ambushed Olaf of Norway and soundly defeating him. There's a popular folk song (Omurin Langi or "The Long Serpent") in case you want to sing all 84 verses to commemorate it with your students. Or, you can recite The Musician's Tale/Saga of King Olaf from Longfellow's American version of the Canterbury Tales. 'Cause, you know, how often are you really going to have the chance to say "Forkbeard" in your lifetime, right?