Whoa...freaky...

Today must be the luckiest day of the year. Here's why:

I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10. Take a guess, let's see if you can come close. You're absolutely right, it was seven. I opted not to write that out, just in case you saw it and therefore tossed out all possibility of you thinking of anything OTHER than seven. I know, I'm quite scientific.

Anyway, the number seven is lucky for the vast majority of people. Who knows why? It's really quite weird in my opinion. People tend to like the number 7. There's no explanation.

And what is today? A day full of sevens. July 7 (7/7), leaving 177 days remaining in the year. And on this day in 1807, the Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia, and Russia (3 countries) ends the Fourth Coalition. 3+4=7.

But does it stop there? Oh no. July 7, 1865, four conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln are hanged. So let's review those numbers: 1, 8, 6, 5, 4. 8-1=7, 6+5-4=7.

And finally on this day in 1946, Howard Hughes is nearly killed when his XF-11 spy plane prototype crashes in a Beverly Hills neighborhood. And what's the Beverly Hills zip code we all know and love? 90210. So, follow me on this with all the numbers in this paragraph (1, 9, 4, 6, 11, 9, 2, 1, zeros never do anything, so I'm dropping them):
1+9+4=14
14 x 6=84
84/11=7.63636363...
2+1=3, so wipe out all those 3s after the decimal in the last result, which leaves you with
7.6666666...
9-3=6, so wipe out all those 6s after the same decimal, and what do you get? 7.

Wow, with my amazing math powers, I could start a religion. Or at least a cult. Give me some random biblical prophecy and away I go!

What else is today in history famous for?

The first military draft in the U.S. (1863). Payment of $100 could land you an exemption though. Payment of $20 only got you the National Guard apparently. And by the way, yes, I do realize that this was during the Civil War, so National Guard duty probably wouldn't have kept you out of the line of fire much.

Sliced bread being sold for the first time (1928). It was described as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since wrapped bread."

Mother Frances Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized (1946). Of course, she had only become an American officially 8 years before she died... She's the patron saint of immigrants apparently. I managed to secure a picture of the shrine to Mother Cabrini in Manhattan. Have fun with this picture. I think you'll find Waldo before you can distinguish any sort of shrine.

And finally, just one year to the day after Mother Cabrini's canonization, Roswell gets its UFO incident. That's right, the whole Roswell UFO thing happened on 7/7/1947 (1+9+4-7=7)...

And there are 7 letters in the town name of Roswell...

And New Mexico was the 47th state to join the Union...

And cue the X-Files theme music...

Pictures:
Seven
Sliced Bread
Cabrini Shrine?