June 19 birthday boys Boris Johnson and Moe Howard: Both were bowled over by their barbers. (Noted by Kevin Dopart)
Shaquille O’Neal and Michelangelo. Muhammad Ali and Al Capone. Ron DeSantis and Amy Winehouse. Each pair shares a birthday (though, duh, not a birthdate — though George W. Bush and Sylvester Stallone: very same day in 1946). In Invitational Week 34 we asked the Loser Community to track down some pairings and explain how they were linked — like this one from Jesse Frankovich: Richard Nixon (1-9-1913) and “Gilligan’s Island” actor Bob Denver (1-9-1935) were both at the center of terrible plots.
See them all in this week’s Invitational, part of The Gene Pool at geneweingarten.substack.com. Plus a new contest that, for once, asks you to be sympathetic and understanding. (Well, sorta.)
Come for the Invite, and stay for the Gene Pool banter about “sosumis” — things that you don’t like that people say you should (“I don’t. So sue me”) and also the converse, “Nickelbacks,” things you like that others complain about.
Subscribe to The Gene Pool to get the Invitational every Thursday, and his essays and discussions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, even for one measly $5 month.
Thanks for reading The Invitational! Subscribe here for free to receive my occasional posts here. (But go to The Gene Pool itself to subscribe to the contest along with Gene’s twice-weekly Q&A.)