Year of the Homer, I’m 38 now

On this day in 1968, I was born around 330 pm according to my parents. A rather tumultuous year for the US too [see pretty much every annoying TV special about the Sixties]. Now that I am the same age as Homer Simpson (38), I really, really need to avoid being so close to his average weight, 239 lbs if you’ve watched enough episodes. He is around my height (6’ 1”) but the only confirmed size I can get is six heads according to the animation guidelines. If each head is a foot, you could say the two hairs on top give him that extra inch. Let’s see if I can finally get back down to 200 by the time I’m 40. 
 
Speaking of 40, make your plans now because I will be celebrating the big four-o in Las Vegas to celebrate that I managed to live so long. 
 
What else? I share my birthday with two historical figures: Benito Mussolini [not good but probably concluded as an explanation from the kids I’ve supervised at my job with Gateway 16]; Alexis de Tocqueville [that boring French guy everyone has to read about in college if you take a class on US government]. Show business is a tad more generous: Wil Wheaton [has quite the writing career after Star Trek], David Warner [a favorite villain of mine], Jean-Hugues Anglade [French actor, he’s the boyfriend in Nikita and the weak-willed Valois king in Queen Margot], voice actor Richard Horvitz [currently doing Squirrel Boy and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy but will always be remembered for Invader Zim] and Rush singer/bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee. Definitely balances out me having to share this day with Senator Elizabeth “Trophy Wife” Dole. 
 
Historical events are even better for my birthday: 
 
The Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588 which put England on track to becoming the world power it was until WWII. Spain has managed to have its revenge though. Not all the vessels were destroyed at Calais, France. Many fled north to Scotland and Ireland where some wrecked off the Irish coast. Those surviving Spaniards mingled with the Irish (known as the Black Irish) and these sailors were probably also flamenco dancers. Thus their descendents tortured the English-speaking world with the annoying Riverdance fad. America got caught in the backlash because we used to be England’s colony. 
 
Centuries later, President Ike “make the green in two” Eisenhower authorized the creation of NASA. That might explain my interest in space exploration. 
 
Lastly, here is the event which makes me laugh and maybe you will if you think about it. On this day 30 years ago, the first Son of Sam murder happened in NYC. Now murder isn’t funny, unless it’s in a Carl Hiaasen novel, but I recall what followed as a kid somewhat. For about a year, NYC was somewhat panicked because the killer (Stan Berkowitz) wrote letters to reporter Jimmy Breslin and the cops bragging about his handiwork. Now keep in mind, this was 1976-77. The Zodiac killer was pretty recent and never caught so most Americans weren’t too thrilled about a copycat. Also, the NYC of the last ten years, the Disneyfied version of Times Square created by Guiliani didn’t exist. The sleazy, dirty, scary NYC of Taxi Driver was a more accurate snapshot of the city. But here’s where I find the whole Son of Sam spree to be funny in an odd way. If the books and Spike Lee movie are to be believed, it seems silly that NYC would be terrified over one particular nutcase shooting people at random when it’s still an everyday occurrence. The other muggers just don’t receive their orders from dogs working as agents of the Devil.