The emperor, the sultan, and the king

Several important historical events occurred on March 4th. In 1152, Frederick Barbarossa was elected Holy Roman Emperor and cast a formidable shadow across Europe until his unexpected death as he led a German army toward the Holy Land in 1190. On March 4th in 1193, Saladin died of a lingering fever in Damascus at the age of fifty-five, and on March 4, 1215, John took the cross to placate the Pope and win papal support in his struggle with his barons; I don’t doubt that he did it with his fingers crossed, for John was as keen to go on crusade as his father, Henry, had been.
Meanwhile, we are awaiting yet another winter storm. This one was not named even though it brought us sleet and freezing rain today, rain tomorrow, and “significant snow” on Thursday. The storm named Thor dumped a ton of hail on Huntington Beach, CA and is now barreling east, leaving misery in its wake. The odds are that there will be at least one more and it occurred to me that a great name for it would be Uhtred, after our favorite Bernard Cornwell character. Maybe we should lobby the Weather Channel?