Almanac for May 17

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 17th: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-17-Beauty-and-the-Beast-T6T11FR3LW

Bummer May 17th

May 17, 1946: William Jefferson Blythe Jr., the father of future 42nd U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton, is driving from Chicago toward his home in Hope, Arkansas when his Buick’s tire blows out. Blythe loses control of car, which crashes, throwing him into a ditch. Blythe survives being thrown from the vehicle but is unable to pull himself out of the water in the ditch before he drowns. The future president is born three months after his father’s death.

May 17, 1995: A 35-year-old man in San Diego steals a 56-ton M60A3 tank from the National Guard. The Army veteran, who’s dealing with substance abuse issues and their consequences, destroys an estimated $149,000 worth of property as the tank crushes vehicles and infrastructure including utility poles, fire hydrants, and traffic lights. No one else is hurt, but when the tank becomes disabled, San Diego police force the hatch open and shoot the tank thief, killing him.

May 17, 2012: Singer Donna Summer dies of lung cancer.

Bonus: Spotify is turning 20 and celebrating by telling us all of our favorite songs. I don't remember, but apparently I started using Spotify on March 31, 2017. Right around this time. (God, I love Colin Dickey's books.)

No surprise there.

"Joyride" by Kesha Rose Sebert - an obsession since August 2024.

"Hymn to Virgil" was a 2025 obsession. I feel like Lady Gaga's "Disease" came in between the "Joyride" days and the winter of "Hymn to Virgil." My tag for Hozier on Tumblr is "our lord and savior Andrew Hozier Byrne," and I'm only a little bit being ironic.

I need to read If Not For My Baby, the romance novel based on a Hozier rpf.

That Rihanna song? Reminiscent of JohnLock, to me. This is a meme I made in 2017.

"Here With Me" by Dido is from Love, Actually, a film which has both BBC Sherlock's Martin Freeman and Andrew Lincoln of Walking Dead and Wuthering Heights fame.

"Cruel Summer" was my #24 most-listened song of 2025, when I wrote, "24. Cruel Summer - Taylor Swift: My #4 song last year and probably the Taylor Swift song that brings me the purest joy. But I can only listen to it in the summer. I abandon it when autumn comes. I forgot that I started listened to it because of Good Omens. 

"I have to admit, the revelation that Neil Gaiman is a garbage heap of a human being really dulled my enthusiasm for Ineffable Spouses. David Tennant and Michael Sheen, it's not your fault."

But now, in May 2026, Good Omens 3 is out and I will be watching it soon.

"Joke's on You?" Harley Quinn-related.

"Already Gone?" For me, it's part of the soundtrack to a podfic I really need to finish recording.

That '80s bop by Tiffany, of course, besides having been part of my 1980s childhood, was also on the Umbrella Academy soundtrack.

I've been listening to Nirvana since the '90s, but what rekindled my love for "Come As You Are" specifically was its appearance in the Captain Marvel movie.

"I Drove All Night?" Destial playlist. "Boom Clap?" I'll always associate that with the film version of The Fault In Our Stars. And then there's this, with Danila Kozlovsky from the Vampire Academy movie.

We'll look at the second half tomorrow.

Almanac for May 16th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 16th: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-16-Adrienne-Rich-T6T41FR31J

Today's Observance: St. Brendan the Navigator's Day, Armed Forces Day (U.S.)
Artist Birthday: Adrienne Rich
Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: Liberace

Bummer May 16

May 16, 1940: During World War II, the library of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, rebuilt after German troops burned it down in the First World War, is shelled by the Nazis. The rebuilt library catches fire again, and approximately one million books and other materials are lost.

May 16, 1953: Roma jazz guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt dies of a brain hemorrhage. He is 43 years old.

May 16, 1955: Writer/activist James Agee has a heart attack and dies in the back of a taxi cab in New York City. He’s 45 years old.

May 16, 1984: “Anti-comedian” Andy Kaufman dies of lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He is 35 years old.

May 16, 1990: Sammy Davis Jr. dies of complications of throat cancer.

May 16, 2005: Three-year-old Eliza Jane Scovill dies of AIDS-related pneumonia. Her HIV-positive mother Christine Maggiore questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, did not take anti-HIV medication during her pregnancy with Eliza Jane, and refused to have Eliza Jane treated for HIV. Maggiore was investigated by local child protective services, who declined to take action on the grounds that Maggiore had taken Eliza Jane to see several physicians. The Medical Board of California did place the medical license of one of these physicians on probation.

Behold! My new Amazon storefront. Where I will make nerdy lists about books, my cats, and my garden.

Almanac for May 15th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 15th: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-15-Welcome-to-the-Jungle-of-Nool-G2G71FPCDW

“On the fifteenth of May, in the Jungle of Nool,
In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool...” - Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who

Today's Observance: St. Dymphna's Day

Bummer May 15

May 15, 1886: Poet Emily Dickinson dies of kidney disease at her home in Amherst, Massachusetts. She’s 55 years old. Dickinson has not left the home since 1865.

May 15, 1953: Chester “Chet” Miller dies in a car crash during practice for the 1953 Indianapolis 500. He is 50 years old. 

May 15, 2016: Jane Little (born Jane Findley) plays with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, as the double bass player has done since 1945, when she made her debut at age 16. Little is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the musician with the longest tenure with a single orchestra. Little, who is being treated for multiple myeloma, collapses on stage as the orchestra plays “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” She dies later in the day.

Almanac for May 14th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 14th: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-14-A-Clockwork-Orange-G2G41FO2RR

Artist Birthdays: Victoria Beckham, Natalie Appleton

Beatles Trivia
May 14, 1968: John Lennon and Paul McCartney appear on The Tonight Show to talk about the newly-formed Apple business venture. While Johnny Carson is on vacation, the show is co-hosted by Tallulah Bankhead and pro baseball catcher-turned-tv personality Joe Garagiola. (Neat guy, Joe Garagiola. He was an honorary member of the Akimel O’otham tribal community because he helped bring badly-needed resources to the deeply impoverished Gila River Indian Community.) 

Bummer May 14

May 14, 1988: In what becomes known as the Carrollton Bus Collision, a bus full of teenagers coming home from a church trip to King’s Island amusement park is struck by a drunk driver and catches fire. The intoxicated driver, Larry Mahoney, is killed along with the bus driver and 25 passengers.

May 14, 1998: Frank Sinatra dies of a heart attack.

May 14, 2015: Guitarist B.B. King dies peacefully in his sleep of vascular problems related to his Type 2 diabetes. He is 89 years old. 

May 14, 2018: Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633, flying between Chongqing and Lhasa, experiences explosive decompression when a damaged windowpane separates from the aircraft. First Officer Xu Ruichen is partially sucked out of the aircraft. He suffers a sprained wrist, an eye injury, and cuts. A flight attendant also suffers minor injuries. Remarkably, the flight is able to make an emergency landing without fatalities. Captain Liu Chuanjian is widely considered a hero.

Almanac for May 13th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 13th: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-13-Is-There-Something-I-Should-Know-H2H31FO1XI

Beatles Trivia
May 13, 1970: The Beatles documentary Let It Be, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, premieres in New York. 

Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: Druid Day

Bummer May 13th

May 13, 1985: The Philadelphia Police Department destroys 61 homes via two explosive devices dropped from a police helicopter in an attempt to end a standoff with the MOVE compound. The members of MOVE were followers of a man who called himself John Africa and emphasized so-called natural living, resistance to police brutality, and animal rights.

The MOVE house was considered a nuisance to its neighbors. The Philadelphia PD obtained warrants for four MOVE members for various violations. Police evacuated the neighborhood around the MOVE house, then showed up in force to enforce the arrest warrants and evacuate the other residents of the house. A firefight ensued. 

Of the seven adults and six children in the house, only one adult woman and one 13-year-old boy survived. The fire department allowed the unoccupied houses around the MOVE house to burn after the bombing.

May 13, 1988: American jazz musician Chet Baker dies of an apparently accidental fall from a window in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Almanac for May 12th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 12th: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-12-Never-Cry-Wolf-G2G71FO0YL

I love this memoir. I couldn't put it down.

Artist Birthday: Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne film The Keep article by Movies of the 80s

Bummer May 12th

May 12, 1976: Original Yardbirds lead singer Keith Relf dies at his London home at the age of 33. Relf is apparently playing an electric guitar in his basement when the shock occurs. Although taken to West Middlesex Hospital, the father of two boys is pronounced dead. His chronic asthma and emphysema, along with medications he took for these conditions, may have been a contributing factor that weakened his ability to withstand the shock.

May 12, 1982: Norwegian-Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn attacks Pope John Paul II with a bayonet, apparently believing the Pope was in league with Soviet communists. The attack occurs in  Fátima, Portugal, the site of an alleged apparition of Mary the mother of Jesus, where the Pope has gone on a pilgrimage. 

The Pope is slightly wounded, but recovers. Fernández y Krohn is sentenced to seven years in prison for attempted murder and contempt of court, but released after three years.

May 12, 2010: Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 leaves Johannesburg, South Africa, bound for Libya. A series of errors by the flight crew causes the aircraft to crash into low terrain, killing 103 of the aircraft’s 104 occupants. Among the dead is novelist Bree O’Mara, an Irish and South African dual citizen. 

The sole survivor was a 9-year-old boy from the Netherlands. Both of his legs were broken, but he sustained no life-threatening injuries. His parents were killed in the crash, so he was subsequently adopted by his aunt and uncle. 

Almanac for May 11

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 11th: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-11-U7U21EMSP7

Bummer May 11th

May 11, 1910: Lewis Emerson Rader, Sr., a politician who served in the Washington state legislature until 1899, dies of starvation while attempting a “fasting cure” under the supervision of quack medical practitioner Linda Laura Hazzard. Hazzard, who practiced medicine while falsely claiming to be a doctor, will also die from her own quack practices in 1938.

This is an affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4jXqga8

May 11, 1984: A fire breaks out in the Haunted Castle attraction inside Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in New Jersey. The fire is put out within 90 minutes and at first all staff and guests are thought to be accounted for. Later, the badly burned bodies of eight teenage guests are found inside the attraction. The teenagers died after becoming trapped inside the castle.

May 11, 1981: Bob Marley dies of acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of skin cancer not related to exposure to UV rays, which has spread to his lungs and brain. Marley is only 36 years old. His last words are reportedly, “Money can’t buy life.”

May 11, 1985: The Bradford City football (soccer) stadium in West Yorkshire, England catches fire when a fan drops a lit cigarette into the litter under the bleachers. High winds, wooden bleachers, and flammable roofing material quickly spread the fire, and locked exits prevented some fans from escaping quickly. More than 200 people are injured and 56 spectators die.