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2009: Day 175

Six hundred thirty five years ago (1374) the streets of Aachen, Germany might have looked like a mad music video thanks to an outbreak of St. John's Dance. Hallucinations, twitching and jumping until they collapsed from exhaustion -- and the kids things raves are something new. Interestingly, the closest modern medicine's come to explaining it is ergot poisoning, though that doesn't account for the dancing mania element.

Cosmic ray discoverer Victor Francis Hess manifested this day in 1883, unwittingly enabling the creation of the Fantastic Four decades later.

Pablo Picasso's first public exhibition opened today in 1901.

Crime/mystery writer Lawrence Block (1938) turns 71 today. Somewhat more spectacularly, a meteorite estimated to be approximately 450 tons exploded roughly 12 miles over Chicora, Pennsylvania.

The Yardbirds' guitarist Jeff Beck (1944) turns 65 today.

Economist, writer and commentator Robert Reich entered the world's ledger today in 1946.

Robocop's partner, Anne Lewis -- okay, actress (and environmentalist/cancer activist) Nancy Allen (1950) turns 59 today. Coincidentally, so was Robocop (and Buckaroo Banzai) himself, Peter Weller, albeit three years earlier, in 1947. Sharing the day and year with Peter was Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. This same day, as I suppose ardent UFO enthusiasts know, Kenneth Arnold made what has come to be seen as the first widely-reported UFO sighting. The media storm that followed saw the term "flying saucer" coined by the press.

Comics artist Mike Weiringo was born today in 1963.

Finally, fans of the U.S version of The Office may want to know that Mindy "Kelly Kapoor" Kaling turns 30 today.

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