Next 'upside-up' year in 3,999 years?
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
This should come as no surprise to those of you who know me: I was born in an “upside-up” year; that is, one in which the digits that form the year are the same as when they are rotated upside down. In another words, a rotationally symmetric or reflective inverse year.
This happened in 1881 (not the year of my arrival).
It happened again in 1961 (Helloooo, World!); and, according to many dime-store mathematicians and a county engineer or two, it might not happen again for almost 4,000 years (6009). This may or may not be correct. But it is interesting. One of the aforementioned mathematicians opined that this odd occurrence would next happen in the year 6969. Could be.
From almost all accounts, this qualifies me, and everyone else born in 1961, as a living anomaly. My own anomaly is wrapped in an enigma, surrounded by a conundrum, in search of an enema. (Easy, Dr. Beery.)
As Toby K. Covel (Toby Keith) would say, “It’s All Good.” Toby arrived in the upside-up year of 1961 two days ahead of me. Neither one of us are as good as we once were. But we’re as good once as we ever were. (Feel free to use that in a song, TK.)
* * *
On this day in the rotationally symmetric year of 1961, Fidel Castro declared Cuba a socialist state. The dictator officially abolished elections, claiming his revolution has no time for elections.
“If Mr. Kennedy (President JFK) does not like socialism, we do not like imperialism,” Castro said. “We do not like capitalism.”
I’ll bet not.
Later in 1961, Castro declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was adopting Communism. Not only did Castro survive the Bay of Pigs “invasion” in 1961, he came out even more powerful. What Kennedy lacked in intestinal fortitude in 1961 was followed by the Cuban missile crisis the next year.
At that time, Kennedy feared the Soviet bloc and their anticipated involvement in any U.S.-Cuba confrontations. It may not have been the most opportune moment for the United States to help the 11 million people whose country is roughly the same distance from Key West, Fla. as Hillsboro is from Athens.
Fast forward almost 49 years (say it ain’t so!) and the ruthless, murderous communist cuckold is still running his island nation by rule of force, not of law.
Someone once said that the shrimp are cockroaches of the sea. If so, then Castro is the cockroach of the Gulf. Or Caribbean.
Remember, this was the same island dictator who urged Khrushchev in 1962, to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States. (That’s us, by the way.)
Even at 83, Castro hasn’t lost his appetite for killing, either. On Feb 23 of this year, human rights activist Orlando Zapata-Tamayo died after an 83-day hunger strike and a series of beatings by the Castro brothers regime, reported Humberto Fontova on Townhall.com. “Zapata-Tamayo was beaten and arrested by Castro’s police for the crime of disobedience. Tamayo, a humble rural plumber and bricklayer, had studied the (smuggled) works of Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi and had attempted some civil disobedience to protest the Stalinism imposed on Cuba by the Castro brothers, Che Guevara and their Soviet puppeteers,” Fontova writes.
Given that the more things change in other parts of the world, the more they stay the same in Castro’s Cuba, the Obama administration may want to proceed with caution on their recently announced plans to ease some trade and travel restrictions with the nearby country.
Thus far, Obama and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry have been hesitant in releasing up to $20 million in aid and ending the 48-year embargo on Cuba.
Obama has pledged to improve ties with Cuba, provided Castro begins democratic reforms and recognizes human rights. To date, Castro has shown no signs that he’s willing to do either, nor does history suggest he will.
Castro has outlasted nine U.S. presidents, though. With any luck, he won’t outlast a 10th.
* * *
Lastly, on Tuesday of this week, former Congressman and candidate for governor John Kasich told an enthusiastic audience at the Highland House Museum, “(Highland County) may be down, but it’s not out.”
Thanks, Mr. Kasich. But we already knew that.
There are more positive things going on in Highland County than most in Columbus and Washington know.
Despite the county’s 18-percent unemployment rate, there are a few new private businesses opening in our cities and towns, and around Rocky Fork Lake and Paint Creek Lake. There’s a possible plan for energy efficient development near Greenfield.
There’s the ubiquitous Katy Farber of the Highland County Chamber of Commerce.
There are many people who, despite the government obstacles placed before them, are doing their level best to move onward and upward (as Mary Brown Turner often says.)
Maybe that’s the real message we need taken to Columbus.
Kasich did challenge people who do not like any unfunded state mandates to send him a list of “any mandate you want repealed.”
He says no one’s ever sent a list to him. There’s a contact form on his website: www.kasichforohio.com. How much time ya got?
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
This happened in 1881 (not the year of my arrival).
It happened again in 1961 (Helloooo, World!); and, according to many dime-store mathematicians and a county engineer or two, it might not happen again for almost 4,000 years (6009). This may or may not be correct. But it is interesting. One of the aforementioned mathematicians opined that this odd occurrence would next happen in the year 6969. Could be.
From almost all accounts, this qualifies me, and everyone else born in 1961, as a living anomaly. My own anomaly is wrapped in an enigma, surrounded by a conundrum, in search of an enema. (Easy, Dr. Beery.)
As Toby K. Covel (Toby Keith) would say, “It’s All Good.” Toby arrived in the upside-up year of 1961 two days ahead of me. Neither one of us are as good as we once were. But we’re as good once as we ever were. (Feel free to use that in a song, TK.)
* * *
On this day in the rotationally symmetric year of 1961, Fidel Castro declared Cuba a socialist state. The dictator officially abolished elections, claiming his revolution has no time for elections.
“If Mr. Kennedy (President JFK) does not like socialism, we do not like imperialism,” Castro said. “We do not like capitalism.”
I’ll bet not.
Later in 1961, Castro declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was adopting Communism. Not only did Castro survive the Bay of Pigs “invasion” in 1961, he came out even more powerful. What Kennedy lacked in intestinal fortitude in 1961 was followed by the Cuban missile crisis the next year.
At that time, Kennedy feared the Soviet bloc and their anticipated involvement in any U.S.-Cuba confrontations. It may not have been the most opportune moment for the United States to help the 11 million people whose country is roughly the same distance from Key West, Fla. as Hillsboro is from Athens.
Fast forward almost 49 years (say it ain’t so!) and the ruthless, murderous communist cuckold is still running his island nation by rule of force, not of law.
Someone once said that the shrimp are cockroaches of the sea. If so, then Castro is the cockroach of the Gulf. Or Caribbean.
Remember, this was the same island dictator who urged Khrushchev in 1962, to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States. (That’s us, by the way.)
Even at 83, Castro hasn’t lost his appetite for killing, either. On Feb 23 of this year, human rights activist Orlando Zapata-Tamayo died after an 83-day hunger strike and a series of beatings by the Castro brothers regime, reported Humberto Fontova on Townhall.com. “Zapata-Tamayo was beaten and arrested by Castro’s police for the crime of disobedience. Tamayo, a humble rural plumber and bricklayer, had studied the (smuggled) works of Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi and had attempted some civil disobedience to protest the Stalinism imposed on Cuba by the Castro brothers, Che Guevara and their Soviet puppeteers,” Fontova writes.
Given that the more things change in other parts of the world, the more they stay the same in Castro’s Cuba, the Obama administration may want to proceed with caution on their recently announced plans to ease some trade and travel restrictions with the nearby country.
Thus far, Obama and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry have been hesitant in releasing up to $20 million in aid and ending the 48-year embargo on Cuba.
Obama has pledged to improve ties with Cuba, provided Castro begins democratic reforms and recognizes human rights. To date, Castro has shown no signs that he’s willing to do either, nor does history suggest he will.
Castro has outlasted nine U.S. presidents, though. With any luck, he won’t outlast a 10th.
* * *
Lastly, on Tuesday of this week, former Congressman and candidate for governor John Kasich told an enthusiastic audience at the Highland House Museum, “(Highland County) may be down, but it’s not out.”
Thanks, Mr. Kasich. But we already knew that.
There are more positive things going on in Highland County than most in Columbus and Washington know.
Despite the county’s 18-percent unemployment rate, there are a few new private businesses opening in our cities and towns, and around Rocky Fork Lake and Paint Creek Lake. There’s a possible plan for energy efficient development near Greenfield.
There’s the ubiquitous Katy Farber of the Highland County Chamber of Commerce.
There are many people who, despite the government obstacles placed before them, are doing their level best to move onward and upward (as Mary Brown Turner often says.)
Maybe that’s the real message we need taken to Columbus.
Kasich did challenge people who do not like any unfunded state mandates to send him a list of “any mandate you want repealed.”
He says no one’s ever sent a list to him. There’s a contact form on his website: www.kasichforohio.com. How much time ya got?
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]