November 6: Plutonium, Ostriches, and a Royal Forest Permit

Some days in history quietly over-deliver. November 6 is one of them — part political milestone, part ancient paperwork, part bird-based mayhem. Grab a snack and let's wander through the files.

History Did Some Genuinely Big Things Today

In 2012, Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay politician elected to the United States Senate — a genuine capital-H Historic moment, and a reminder that sometimes the news is just straightforwardly good. Rewind a few centuries to 1217, when King Henry III of England issued the Charter of the Forest, re-establishing the rights of free men to access royal forests. Yes, there was once a document whose entire job was telling you that you're allowed into the woods. Medieval bureaucracy: never not thorough.

Meanwhile in 1944, the B Reactor at the Hanford Site in Washington began producing plutonium, eventually making enough to supply nearly the entire American nuclear arsenal. A reactor that started quietly on a Monday-ish November day and went on to become extraordinarily consequential. Low-key beginnings, high-key legacy.

Happy Birthday to a Heartthrob and a Hockey Star

If you watched a certain wildly popular romance franchise, you already know Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, the English actor and model born in 1997, who made a generation of readers suddenly very invested in brooding book boyfriends. Also celebrating is Sam Reinhart, the Canadian ice hockey player born in 1995, who scores goals rather than smoldering glances — a nice balance of talents for one calendar square. Fun fact for trivia night: both arrived in the mid-'90s, which means November 6 clearly specializes in producing people who are very good at their jobs.

A Real Holiday and a Beautifully Weird One

On the legitimately-celebrated front, today is Gustavus Adolphus Day in Sweden, Finland, and Estonia — a proper observance complete with a special pastry topped with the king's silhouette. A holiday where you eat a cake shaped like a monarch is, frankly, the correct way to remember history. Over in Kenya, it's also Obama Day, which is a wonderfully specific flex.

And then there's 2025, when the Government of Canada culled 314 ostriches after H5N8 was detected at a farm in Edgewood, BC. We won't dwell on the birds, but we will note that ostrich farming in British Columbia is a sentence most of us never expected to read. November 6, you absolute wildcard — from royal forests to Senate firsts to Canadian ostriches, you've got range. See you next year.