ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Hey, Lou.  It's me, Mark.  I know you've been gone more than 70 years now and we've never really met.  But I've been thinking about you.  In your famously courageous speech, you considered yourself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.  If you thought you were lucky then, you should see the progress people are making towards your disease in 2014.  Is it cured?  Well, no.  Not exactly.  Well, not at all.  But, uh, they don't name it after you anymore.  So that's a start, right?  You mean you like it being called Lou Gehrig's Disease?  Hear me out though.  There's something amazing happening.  There are a handful of brilliant and dedicated people working really hard to find a cure.  Then, just these last few weeks, there have been people who are pouring ice water over themselves in the name of ALS.  That's what they call it now.  Does the ice water help the disease?  Real good question, Lou.  Of course not.  You would have figured that out yourself.  You probably want to know why they're doing it then.  As I understand it, if you pour a bucket of ice water on yourself, you relieve yourself of the moral obligation to donate money towards a cure.  Then you challenge 3 friends to do the same thing.  Isn't that great?  Aren't you thrilled at the progress we've made in 73 years?  I certainly know I am.  You lucky bastard.

Where were you when?

Every generation has a tragedy where everyone seems to remember where they were when the heard.  The most recent one was 9/11.  My theory is that it happens once every 20 years or so.  Here are the last four:

2001:  September 11th attacks
1986:  Challenger explosion
1963:  JFK Assassination
1941:  Pearl Harbor attack

Beyond that I'd only be speculating. Perhaps Black Monday in 1929?  Or something WWI related (1914-1918)?

I can tell you the details of my day on 9/11/2001.  That's the one I'm old enough to remember.  I guess what I'm also trying to say is that we're 5-10 years away from another one.  That's it.  That's my theory.  The every 2 decade tragedy theory.