More than fifty-nine mill’ have enrolled
To do duty and honor uphold
But to me what’s most dear
Is the eight weeks a year
When those marvelous Thin Mints are sold

Event: The Girl Scouts (then Girl Guides) of the USA are founded
Year: 1912
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scouts_of_the_USA

“In our fabulous heavenly plot
A fine center we’ve already got
Now you say it’s the sun?
That’s it, Nicky! You’re done!
No one else will be reading this rot!”

Event: The Catholic Church bans Copernicus’ De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) despite the fact that almost no one was interested in reading it or capable of understanding it
Year: 1616
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_revolutionibus_orbium_coelestium

Many wonders the parks do contain
Teton mountains and green coasts of Maine
See the continent’s peak
That grand hole cut by creek
Conservation is everyone’s gain

Events: Denali National Park established; Acadia (then Lafayette) and Grand Canyon National Parks are established; Grand Teton National Park established
Years: 1917; 1919; 1929

The VP’s? Not a mem’rable lot
‘Cept for those who the pres’dency got
But we all know of Burr
The contemptible cur
And the Treasury Sec that he shot

Event: Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr is arrested for treason (which doesn’t actually have anything to do with the fact that he shot Alexander Hamilton)
Year: 1807
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Burr

Some things really are best set in stone
Or in steel, which we shall not bemoan
See the shining arch crest
Whence a nation looked west
And the god on his marble-wrought throne

Events: First stone of the Lincoln Memorial is laid; construction begins on the Gateway Arch
Years: 1914, 1963
Learn more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_arch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Memorial

This entry should have gone up on February 5th (which is the relevant date in this case), but the site was dealing with technical issues. Just pretend this appeared last Wednesday and ignore the date that appears with it.

Though in one field he’s no longer king,
Hitting homers is only one thing
As for runs batted in
There he still has no twin
And he’s still got his World Series ring

Event: Birth of Hank Aaron
Year: 1934
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron

What to do with old Mexico’s land?
The debate quickly raged out of hand
Should it be slave or free?
Where would border lines be?
Most important: would compromise stand?

Event: Senator Henry Clay proposes the Compromise of 1850, which resolved the issue of slavery in the states and territories for less than the length of a presidential term
Year: 1850
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compromise_of_1850

Controversial? Oh, you could say so
Even to the old plaintiff, Jane Roe
The decision they made
Went against Henry Wade
‘Twas with privacy they chose to go

Event: The U.S. Supreme Court makes a decision in Roe v. Wade, stating that a constitutional right to privacy included a woman’s decision to have an abortion
Year: 1973
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade

As technology onward advanced
Knowledge storage was also enhanced
Once held captive indoors
It’s no longer on floors
Onto internet tubes it has danced

Events: The British Museum opens to the public; Wikipedia goes online
Year: 1759; 2001
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

Just a hound dog, but boy could he sing
Even jailhouses he could make swing
And his swiveling hips
Caused some folks to lose grips
Nothing less from the rock-n-roll king

Event: Birth of Elvis Presley
Year: 1935
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley