THIS DATE IN HISTORY: March 26

A belated selective cut and pasted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_26:

Events

1953 - Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine.

1982 - A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, D.C..

1979 - Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C..

1997 - Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides.

1999 - The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world.

2006 - The military junta ruling Burma officially names Naypyidaw, a new city in Mandalay Division, as the new capital. Yangon had formerly been the nation's capital.

Births

1874 - Robert Frost, American poet (d. 1963)

One of Frost's most famous poems, THE ROAD NOT TAKEN:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I first heard of Frost when I was trying to find some lines used in the Charles Bronson movie, TELEFON, which was used to trigger sleeper agents into action. The lines came from this poem: STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING, which was Frost's favorite of all his poems.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
but I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep,
and miles to go before I sleep.

1904 - Joseph Campbell, American author (d. 1987)

Campbell was a mythologist, writer and lecturer best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. What he basically did was extract the essence of universal symbols in the world's myths and religions. He noted that the world's myths are similar and there are common themes. One of his famous books is THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES. His works have influenced George Lucas when Lucas crafted the STAR WARS saga.

1916 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (d. 1986)

One of the great film noir classics, Stanley Kubrick's THE KILLING, starred Hayden. This movie had some influence on Quentin Tarantion's PULP FICTION. What was great for me about this movie was not just Hayden's solid performance, but also how the movie followed one character's actions through to the caper heist, then picks up on a different character and follows his actions until the heist at the racetrack. Non-linear storytelling.

1931 - Leonard Nimoy, American actor and director

Mr. Nimoy, Live Long and Prosper!

1940 - James Caan, American actor

So many great, classic movies with Caan: GODFATHER, ROLLERBALL, WAY OF THE GUN and more!

1943 - Bob Woodward, American journalist

Probably best known for co-authoring the book, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, on Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

1954 - Curtis Sliwa, American founder of the Guardian Angels

I don't have statistics or anything, but I believe Sliwa and the Guardian Angels helped to cut down crime in New York City subways.

Deaths

1959 - Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)

Crime writer who is practically synonmous with 'hardboiled' fiction... creator of the quintessential private detective, Philip Marlowe.