Born This Day & WK

Today, as you may or may not be aware, is a special day for the Report.  As calendar and traditional custom dictate, today is my birthday.  And I am in the prime of my life, at 23.  (23 being the smallest two-digit prime number whose digits, when added together, sum to form a prime number.)  Of course, I was not the only one born today.  I share the honor with such historical figures as JFK, John Hinkley Jr., and Patrick Henry.  It's also an important day in the world of music, with Danny Elfman and Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown celebrating birthdays, and Bing Crosby recording White Christmas.  (In May!  I know, right?!)  And it's a great day to get high; Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to summit Everest on this day in 1953, and John H. Balsley, carpenter and inventor of the safety step-ladder was born.

On account of it being my birthday and all, I was planning on sharing some of my favorite things with you all, but then realized that given the structure of the Report, that's pretty much what I do on a daily basis anyway.  So I'm going to pick one amazing thing and focus on it, using an "On This Day In History" event as a starting point.  On this day in 1886, John Pemberton placed the first advertisement for Coca-Cola in the Atlanta Journal.  Since then, the advertising has become much brighter and more creative, with current advertising work headed by one of my favorite companies, the advertising agency Wieden and Kennedy.  Their work for Coca-Cola alone includes some of the more memorable recent ads, including the inside-machine Happiness Factory (love that jingle!) and the sneaky bugs of Heist.  But seriously, explore through the WK page... Some really phenomenal work going on there by brilliant creatives.

And it wouldn't be a good birthday report without a whole bunch of birthday puppies!

Well, that's all for today.  Do something really big somewhere really small; on this day in 1890, Rhode Island ratified the Constitution and became the 13th state!