Hello, Life: Goodbye, Columbus! Celebrating One of History's Most Famous Failures!
October 12 is Columbus Day. Or at least it used to be, because that was the day he "discovered" America in 1492. This year, it is on Monday, October 9. It is a Monday, so federal, state and local government agencies can have a three-day weekend. Schools will be closed, as well. It is a federal holiday, so everyone else has to work that day and everything other than government will be open. The purpose of Columbus Day is to "honor" the man who proved that the Earth wasn't flat and discovered America in the process. Which, of course, wasn't the case. The common myths regarding Columbus have been depicted in a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Columbus appeals to a Mae Westian version of Queen Isabel of Castille and a stereotypical Hispanic King Fernando of Aragon for ships to prove that the world wasn't flat. While funny as Hell, none of it is true. A little background is necessary here. Sixteen hundred years previously, Eratosthenes of Cyrene understood that the