Wikipedia Birthday Meme

I picked up this meme from John, who got it from Nuthatch, who got it from ScienceWoman, who got it from Writer Chica, who got it from Hotdish (at which point the trail goes cold). This is so much fun I couldn’t wait ‘till my actual birthday to participate. And, in my case, there is actually a bird connection, at least a tenuous one, so read on.

The instructions dictate that you go to Wikipedia, do a search for your birth month and day (without regard to year); select three events, three births, and three deaths from; and post the results.

The following is a snapshot of significant or interesting (to me) events, births, and deaths that have occurred on the month and day of my birth, July 1st:

Events

1858 – The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’s papers on evolution to the Linnean Society

1885 – United States terminates reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada

1958 – Flooding of the St. Lawrence Seaway begins

Births (I broke the rule here; I couldn’t stop at just three)

1869 – William Strunk Jr., American grammarian (d. 1946) [perhaps explaining one of my obsessions]

1912 – David R. Brower, American environmentalist (d. 2000)

1952 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor

1961 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)

1967 – Pamela Anderson, Canadian model and actress [I yielded to temptation]

Deaths

1983 – R. Buckminster Fuller, American architect and philosopher (b. 1903)

1995 – Wolfman Jack, American radio personality (b. 1939)

2000 – Walter Matthau, American actor (b. 1920)

Finally, the Birthday Calculator provides lots of interesting (and not so interesting) trivia about people who, like me, were born on July 1, 1946. The one piece of trivia that jumped out at me, and assumed much personal significance, is that my Native American Zodiac sign is Woodpecker. At this site (you'll have to scroll down to see the Woodpecker icon), we are told that people born under the sign of the Woodpecker share the following character traits (I lay claim to all of them except the ones about being "possessive, angry, jealous, and spiteful"):

Woodpeckers are usually the most nurturing of all the Native American animal symbols. The consummate listener, totally empathic and understanding, the Woodpecker is the one to have on your side when you need support. Of course, they make wonderful parents, and equally wonderful friends and partners. Another proverbial feather in the Woodpeckers cap is the tendency to be naturally frugal, resourceful, and organized. In a nurturing environment the Woodpecker is of course caring, devoted, and very romantic. Left to his/her own devices the Woodpecker can be possessive, angry, jealous, and spiteful.

And, finally, here is the horoscope for Woodpecker people like me.