After the Memorial

I hope everybody had a wonderful Memorial Day and spent time thinking about their favorite soldiers – past, present, and future. I know Charlotte did! :-) A salute to my cousin serving in Afghanistan. Looking forward to seeing you home safe.

So, what happens after Memorial Day? Today is 1 June 2010. In order to take my mind off other woes, I decided to see if anything interesting happened on this day. This is what I found...

193 – Roman Emperor Didius Julianus assasinated

1533 – Ann Boleyn crowned Queen of England

1779 – General Benedict Arnold court-martialed for malfeasance

1812 – President James Madison asks Congress to declare war on the UK - thus beginning the War of 1812

1831 – James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole

1857 – Baudelaire's Fleurs du mal published

1869 – Thomas Edison patents his electric voting machine (and look how good that turned out for us!)

1890 – Census Bureau starts using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns (think they are still using it this year?!)

1910 – Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole expedition leaves England

1935 – First driving tests introduced in the UK

And last but not least...

1974 – The Heimlich Maneuver is published in the journal Emergency Medicine

So I cannot decide if I should feel proud or old that I am just a couple of months older than the Heimlich! It always amazes me when I think about just how recently some of our simple modern ideas about emergency medicine are. We have come so far so quickly in some ways. The modern ambulance started out as the funeral home using the hearse to carry patients to the hospital when necessary – no care or treatment given. Now look how much paramedics can do to help save lives in emergencies. Unfortunately, it is yet another profession, like that of teachers and (dare I say it?) librarians, where the pay does not reflect the ability, the effort, the care...

So what was your favorite event of 1 June?

I learned some new things today. Did you?