Day in History: January 9th

Given the fact that the Earth has been around for a while, and January 9th has happened more than a few times, there is a multitude of events that have happened on this day. However, this is not really that important of an event. We're not looking to change the world today, but maybe you get a laugh out of this 'historically significant' event, well historical enough for it to be recorded and repeated.Christopher Columbus, whatever your opinions on him are, on this day, mistook manatees (see photo) for mermaids (see other photo). Christopher was not super impressed with what he perceived to be these mythical creatures of the sea. Myth and legend have it that, despite being half fish, half human, mermaids are beings of exquisite beauty. Manatees are not so much that, in any way shape or form. Making this 'discovery' (if you can call it that), off the coast of the Dominican Republic, on his voyage to find a quicker way to Asia, Christopher reported that they were not half as beautiful as legend said they were. We could probably understand maybe dolphins...nope not even dolphins.

Not half as beautiful. Chris (can we call him Chris? We're gonna call him Chris), Chris, brother man, the closest cousin, believe it or not, is the elephant. Last time we checked, folks weren't walking around saying 'Man, would you look at the ears on that elephant, I'd like to marry that'. How this actually became a thing is beyond us.

We're pretty sure ol' Christopher Columbus was possibly hallucinating after such a long voyage at sea, but your guess is as good as ours. One thing is certain, we hope that if mermaids ever exist or did exist, that they didn't look like manatees. That'd just be, really really weird.