Five-0: me and Sharon Stone

Two weeks from today I pass the half century mark. I'm not quite sure which is more disturbing at the moment, the notion of actually having survived (so far) to limp toward this milestone or that I share the exact same birthday with Sharon Stone.

And then there are the obvious parallels:

• March 10, 1958 fell on a Monday. So does March 10, 2008.
• In 1958 the Army fired the first U.S. satellite into orbit. In 2008 we fired a rocket to blow a satellite out of orbit.
• A Republican president was mucking about in the Middle East. Duh.
• The first ever Grammy Awards were handed out and promptly forgotten - a tradition stronger than ever at 50.
  
• and on March 11 Charles Van Doren's winning streak on "21" comes to a screeching halt, scandal and disgrace soon to follow (I have always despised game shows).

Other than the usual threat of nuclear annihilation and far too many B-movies on the subject, it seems a pretty uneventful year.