Here's a Reuters article that really chaps my hide, via LGF:
World’s oldest person celebrates 115th birthday
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch woman who swears by a daily helping of herring for a healthy life celebrated her 115th birthday on Wednesday as the oldest living person on record.
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, a former needlework teacher, was born in 1890, the year Sioux Indians were massacred by the U.S. military at the Battle of Wounded Knee.
WHAT??? I supposed they're trying to give us some sort of frame of reference for just how old she is, but let's look at what else happened in 1890, events Reuters skipped in order to use Wounded Knee:
Oscar Wilde publishes The Picture of Dorian Gray
Otto von Bismarck dismissed
Idaho is admitted as the 43rd state
Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park established
US stops minting $1 & $3 gold coin & 3¢ piece
Daughters of the American Revolution founded
Ellis Island opens as a US immigration depot
And the list goes on. Heck, Reuters could've said that this woman was born the year before basketball was invented! All of these give us a frame of reference as well; why Wounded Knee?
Posted by Sarah at July 1, 2005 09:47 AM | TrackBackQuibble: Is Reuters based in America? I thought it was from the UK...
Posted by: Patrick Chester at July 1, 2005 11:25 AMYou're right...I fouled that one up.
Posted by: Sarah at July 1, 2005 12:29 PMOr even: The year the Sioux Indians lost the Battle of Wounded Knee.
Posted by: David Boxenhorn at July 1, 2005 05:26 PM1890 Dutch continue illegal enslavement of Indonesia.
Posted by: Greg Schreiber at July 1, 2005 05:55 PMSARAH. Please! It is written in the great
secret code book given to every European
upon their 18th birthday:
(ahem) Thou shalt not pass up any opportunity
to make point out the flaws and folibles of
America and Americans. Even when it is neither
germain nor relevant to the topic at hand.
We have yet to break the spirit of the United
States,but that is the mission. In spite of
their goodness,decency and incredible generosity,
they must not be allowed to think that they are
'all that and a bag of chippes' .
Amazing isn't it... not only is she not Sioux, she's not Native American, or even plain old American!!! Was NOTHING happening in the Netherlands the year she was born?
It boggles the mind how much Reuters hates America!
Posted by: Teresa at July 1, 2005 11:35 PM1890 - The year the ten-year-old Wilhelmina became Queen of the Netherlands, which she remained until 1948. Also the year Luxembourg seceded from the Netherlands.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 4, 2005 08:49 AMMy God! That's more interesting and important
to them than Wounded Knee! Put that into
perspective- this woman was born when Whilhelmina
ascended the throne and BENJAMIN HARRISON was the
president.