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The Blogmanac: "On This Day" ... and much more
Think universally. Act terrestrially.
For in a hard-working society, it is rare and even subversive to celebrate too much, to revel and keep on reveling: to stop whatever you're doing and rave, pray, throw things, go into trances, jump over bonfires, drape yourself in flowers, stay up all night, and scoop the froth from the sea.
Anneli Rufus*
Salon.com News | Saving Pvt. Lynch: The made-for-TV movie "May 16, 2003 | Editor's Note: It was one of those daring escapades that define a war in the public's mind: On April 2, a band of U.S Navy SEALs boldly swept into an Iraqi hospital to rescue teenage soldier Pfc. Jessica Lynch from hellish captivity, an act of heroism captured in dramatic fashion by the raiders' video cameras. But according to recent press reports, several coming from Canada and the U.K., it now appears that the Defense Department's account of the storming of the Nasiriya hospital was grossly inaccurate and heavily dramatized by the Pentagon's savvy propaganda experts. As John Kampfner, who hosts a BBC exposé on the raid that airs this Sunday, wrote Thursday in the Guardian, '[Lynch's] rescue will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of news management yet conceived. It provides a remarkable insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon's media managers, and has produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars."
Nauru camps "psychiatrist's nightmare": doctor "Australia: Almost 450 asylum seekers, including more than 100 children, are still being held on the island of Nauru as part of the [Australian] Federal Government's 'Pacific solution'.
According to the Government, most of the detainees are in good physical and mental health.
But Dr Maarten Dormaar, the former head psychiatrist at the two Nauru detention camps, tells a very different story.
Late last year he quit his job, unable to continue working in what he described as 'a psychiatrist's nightmare'."
Ambarvalia, Festival of Dea Dia (dates of commemoration varied) This ancient Roman festival celebrates the goddess in her aspect as the cosmic mother of humanity. A goddess of growth, Dea Dia is identified with Ceres, goddess of agriculture, grain, and the love a mother bears for her child (known as Demeter in ancient Greece). Her priests were the Fratres Arvales, who honoured her in this feast. During the Ambarvalia, the priests blessed the fields and made offerings to the underworld powers.
This festival, which involved rites performed on the outskirts of the city, resembles a later, Christian, ritual from around this time of year, the ‘beating of the bounds’ of the Rogation days, which we shall be looking at in the Almanac next week.
Professor Wonderful
All of a half-century ago-when I was a little boy on the farm in my native New England - I remember asking all kinds of questions. What is the Earth made of? Why is the sky blue? Why is the sunset red? How does a bird soar? Why does a brook gurgle? How does an earthworm crawl? Why is a dewdrop round? Why does corn pop? Why does a wood fire crackle? And a thousand like questions. To a few I got the answers in reading. To some I got the answers in dialogue with my Mama and my Papa and with my teachers. Some I thought out – not too well, to be sure – but I was learning to think. By this device – ever questioning – ever uncertain – I gathered up a rather massive body of knowledge. Professor Julius Sumner Miller, American science populariser, born on May 17, 1909
More Millerisms:
The schools destroy the holy spirit of curiosity.
I’m all for having the leaders of nations meet on the open field with a sword.
Why is it so?
Look it up!
Enthusiasm. Without it we are dead.
Oh, yes! I find this place where I get the mostest light – the mostest light. The mostest. That's the superlative of 'most'. I'm reciting something of Euclid. Beautiful – you should read it!
My wife engages in some imaginative adventures, and she put that together from turkey bones. Isn't that fantastic? Look at that. Look at that creature. Out – born out of her mind.
1909Professor Julius Sumner Miller, American science populariser, best known in Canada for his ‘mad professor’ work on TV’s The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (this page has audio files) and in Australia for his hit show, Why Is It So?. In the 1950s, he was Disney’s ‘Professor Wonderful’ on The Mickey Mouse Club.
The day The Professor called me a goddamn sonofabitch It was long ago, about 1986. The Professor admonished me. "I must make it clear. Editors must publish my words precisely as I instruct them to. I will not tolerate misspelling. I frequently tell editors exactly how to present my words."
So began my meeting with the late Professor Julius Sumner Miller, that wonderfully cantankerous Merlin who had been a part of Australian TV almost as long as anyone could remember. His off-screen was no different from his famed on-screen eccentricity. Hadn't I suspected that? The strange ways of the wacky Professor Wonderful, as Disney called him, could only be the product of a life whose eccentricities had worn deep channels in the man by their constant coursing through his being.
I was then editor of a magazine named Simply Living, and this was an assignment I loved setting myself. When introduced to our photographer, Graeme Davey, the Professor asked me for the spelling of the surname of the British scientist Sir Humphrey Davy. On discovering my ignorance, Professor Miller started proving the answer— D-A-V-Y — by reading from a book on the shelf.
"But you're quoting from your own book." I baited him.
"What of it?"
"You can't go to a book of your own writing as corroboration of your claim that Davy is spelt D-A-V-Y." I needed to stand my ground to not be swamped by this expansive personality.
"Notice," said the Professor, in the characteristic manner he always exhibited on his Why is It So? TV program, which, as I said, was his only manner. "Notice, if the editor had had any competence, would he not have corrected ..."
"But you might have told the editor not to change a word," I broke in. How would he react to this cheek from me? He paused long, looked at the others, and turned to me with a sheepish smile.
"Wilson, you're a right honourable son-of-a-bitch!"
“Finally, a word on how to tackle a question. Read it. Read it quietly. Read it out loud to yourself or to someone who listens intently. Get your IMAGINATION in gear ! Draw a picture in your mind or a real one on paper or on the sand with your finger or with the toe of your boot. Get into dialogue on it. Use your hands - your arms - gesture - flail them - get excited! - show a passion! Find an analog - what is it like? Talk to yourself. Get 'mad' with it. At the table engage your family - do the experiment - come alive! Soon a faint light emerges - the light grows - an understanding comes forth. Soon too the enthousiasmos - that divine possession - so long fettered by inactivity - blossoms forth. Leonardo put it well: "Quiet water becomes stagnant. Iron rusts from disuse. So doth inactivity sap the vigour of the mind."” JS Miller
Nimbin Aquarius 2003 Events Unfortunately, even though it's not far from home, I don't think I can get to Nimbin for the 30th anniversary of the founding of the free town, though I'm going to try. Many thousands of people with devotion to a new world live in the Rainbow Region (north coast of New South Wales, home of the Almanac), of which Nimbin is one of the main epicentres. Happy 30th, Nimbin!
Correspondent | Jayson Blair: Green or black? "You just can't get away from the ghostly karmas of Jayson Blair on the net these days. Since the day of the 15,000-word muckracking by New York Times, all perceivable forms of publications including the omnipresent blogs are doing rounds with tales behind the 'black eye' of nytimes.
"Peeping through the cracks, pundits had found the reason why the young Blair could flee through the corridors unscathed after 50-plus errors in his four-year tenure : he is black. Here’s a change of tone ..."
Video Proves 9-11 Was No Suprise "By now you have all heard the strange story of how George Bush claimed to have seen the first plane hit the World Trade Tower on TV before going into a school room to read to some children. This is a strange story because there was no video of the first impact until a day later, when a video shot by a documentary film crew that captured the first impact surfaced."
The White House lied "'The White House Lied' was the headline on the ABCNews.com Web site on April 25. They weren't harking back to the days of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky."
Today is Wesak Buddha’s birthday festival, celebrating also his attainment of enlightenment and his ascension.
Wesak's full moon today coincides with a lunar eclipse (see below). What a great time to be making those necessary decisions and commitments!
"When the full moon is in the constellation of Taurus (usually the full moon in May), a world-wide event takes place that is oftentimes referred to as Wesak. . In the East, this date also marks a celebration of Buddha's birth, attainment of Buddhahood, and his departure from the physical body. The new and full moon periods are always times of increased communication with other dimensions. It is as if the veils become thinner between planes, and is why meditation at these times can be very fruitful. When the moon is in Taurus, a special rending of the veils occurs. As legend has it, Buddha, "The Illumination of Light," and Christ, "The Embodiment of Love," meet at this time for the benefit of humanity and Earth." Source
Djwhal Khul, in the Alice Bailey book, Ponder on This, has suggested about Wesak: "No cost is too great to pay in order to be of use to the Spiritual Hierarchy at the time of the full moon of May (this year in April), the Wesak Festival. No price is too high in order to gain the spiritual illumination which can be possible, particularly at this time."
Feast day of St Brendan the Elder (aka, the Navigator, or Voyager) This most widely diffused of all legendary saints, St Brendan, is found in manuscripts of all Western European languages, and the travels of St Brendan are the subject of a popular medieval romance, 'The Voyage of Saint Brendan'. Some say that Brendan sailed from Ireland and found America in the cth century. In the 1970s, Tim Severin showed that it was possible to sail a coracle (a small boat made of wood and leather) to America, so it is possible, if unlikely, that Irish monks might have preceded Christopher Columbus by several centuries.
Founder and first abbot of monastery at Clonfert, Galway, Brendan went looking for the island that had once contained Adam and Eve's paradise. He got a ship victualled for seven years, and for 12 monks, but two more wanted to come. “Ye may sail with me”, he said, “but one of you will go to perdition ere you return”.
After 40 days they saw land and sailed around it for three days, when they went ashore. A dog came up and made him welcome "in his manner”. The hound took them to a fine hall with a feast spread out, which they ate. There were beds ready for them, so they slept, and the next day they put to sea again and went a long time without seeing land.
After some time they found a beautiful land with green pasture and a flock of the whitest, fattest sheep they’d ever seen, every one as big as an ox. A kind old man came and said “This is the Island of Sheep, and here is never cold weather, but ever Summer; and that causes the sheep to be so big and white.” He told them to sail east, whence they would come to the Paradise of Birds, where they could keep their Easter-tide celebrations.
As they soon came to land, they made a fire to cook dinner, but their island began to move and Brendan’s intrepid travellers fled to the ship. The sainted leader of this fabulous expedition told his crew that the cause was a great fish called Jascon, “which laboured night and day to put its tail in its mouth, but for greatness it could not”.
They came upon the Paradise of Birds, where one bird said that the birds of this land were formerly angels who had fallen from Paradise with Lucifer. On Easter Day the bird said that it had now been one year since Brendan had left his abbey; when seven years were up he would find what he wanted, and in all these seven years he would keep his Easter-tide with the birds. The birds sang all the Christian hymns of Easter.
On Christmas Day, Brendan’s party found an island with 24 monks. Travelling ever onward, St Brendan and crew had the next Easter on the back of Jascon. Later, they came to an island of frightening fire, and one of the crew jumped overboard in fear, fulfilling the saint’s prophecy.
Brendan died in 578. The others found their island paradise, bringing back food and jewels. The legend influenced the West's search for other lands for centuries, and as late as 1721 the Spanish government sent an expedition in search of Brendan's Paradise.
While we're on the subject of Ireland, we have a new moderator! Nóra Uí Dhuibhir from Dublin, who has accents on her spelling as well as her diction, has kindly accepted my invitation to join me as a co-moderator on the Blogmanac.
Members of the Almanac ezine know Nóra from her frequent offerings of humour and info. She has also been doing an excellent column on human rights for the premium Almanac, and has been a supporter of the Almy in many ways. A seasoned activist, Nóra is also a writer, musician, singer and multi-linguist, as well as a great friend of mine, who will bring a great new dimension to this blog.
Welcome, Nóra, and I really look forward to your posts. Beanneacht or whatever it is.
More from Wilson's Almanac free daily ezine 1763 One of Western history’s most celebrated friendships commenced. James Boswell first met Dr Samuel Johnson, whose famous biography he later wrote and published on this day in 1791. They met in the back parlour of Tom Davies' London bookshop.
Aware of Johnson's well-known prejudices, Boswell at this first long-waited meeting admitted: "I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it".
1791 Boswell's Life of Dr Johnson – perhaps the best-known biography in the English language – was published on the 28th anniversary of the meeting of these two remarkable men.
USA Urged to Put Warning Labels on Teflon Pans "An environmental group on Thursday asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require that cookware coated with Teflon and similar chemicals carry a label describing potential health risks of the non-stick coating.
"The Environmental Working Group said in a study released on Thursday that cookware coated with Teflon-like coatings could reach 700 degrees Fahrenheit in 3-5 minutes, releasing 15 toxic gases and chemicals, including two carcinogens."
Synthetic gecko hairs promise walking up walls "The prospect of being able to emulate a gecko and walk up a wall and across the ceiling has come a step closer to reality. Scientists in California have begun to work out how to make a material coated with synthetic gecko hairs. If engineers could create a material that matches the nimble lizard's incredible grip, the applications would be endless.
"We could make super-grip shoes for athletes and tyres that hold the road better in all weathers, for example. And in Hollywood, actors playing superheroes like Spiderman or Neo from The Matrix could climb walls and walk on the ceiling without the studios resorting to computer graphics."
US: Ashcroft Attacks Human Rights Law "A new legal brief filed by the U.S. Justice Department would roll back twenty years of judicial rulings for victims of human rights abuse, Human Rights Watch warned today."
New Moon falls on Thursday, 1 May 2003 at 10:16 PM First Quarter falls on Friday, 9 May 2003 at 9:53 PM Full 'Hare' Moon falls on Friday, 16 May 2003 at 1:36 PM Last Quarter falls on Friday, 23 May 2003 at 10:32 AM New Moon falls on Saturday, 31 May 2003 at 2:21 PM
New Moon falls on Sunday, 8 June 2003 at 6:27 AM First Quarter falls on Saturday, 14 June 2003 at 9:15 PM Full 'Hare' Moon falls on Sunday, 22 June 2003 at 12:46 AM Last Quarter falls on Monday, 30 June 2003 at 4:39 AM
Sky-Watchers Await Total Lunar Eclipse on Thursday "On the night of May 15 the full moon will slip into Earth's shadow and darken to an orange-reddish glow during the first of four total lunar eclipses to occur over the course of the next 17 months."
Tonight's Sky "On the American evening of May 15, totality begins at 11:14 p.m. EDT, although the action starts well before that. The partial phase, when the moon first dips into Earth's dark umbral shadow, begins at 10:03 p.m. EDT. After 11:40 p.m. EDT, when the moon reaches mid-eclipse and lies deepest in the shadow, the stages play out in reverse. Totality ends at 12:07 a.m. EDT, and the partial phase wraps up at 1:18 a.m. EDT."
This page shows where the eclipse will be visible. Not from Australia, unfortunately.
1163 Heloise, brilliant student and later wife of French theologian and philosopher Peter Abelard, whose tragic love affair with the tutor resulted in his castration, died in Paraclete Abbey.
(Some sources say 1164)
The death of Heloise The medieval story of Heloise and Abelard, written down by two of the protagonists of the tale, tells us that Heloise was an orphan, 18 years old, living with a canon of Nôtre Dame Cathedral at Paris, Fulbert, who was her uncle and guardian. Abelard was her tutor, at first by mail, and she grew greatly in learning. Abelard, twice her age, was the most famed man of his time, a rising teacher, philosopher and theologian, and pupils came to him by the thousands. He was also very attractive to women, had a good voice and sang beautifully. Heloise wrote "Female hearts were unable to resist (his singing)".
Fulbert took Abelard into his house to advance Heloise's studies. Abelard neglected his other students and wrote love songs to Heloise, who had become his lover, and finally even the unsuspecting Fulbert knew what all Paris knew. Heloise’s guardian demanded that they marry, and Abelard consented, even though marrying Heloise would ruin his prospects of advancement. For this same reason, Heloise refused to marry him. But they were indeed married, and Fulbert took a cruel revenge on Abelard, by hiring a gang of thugs to castrate him. Both Heloise and Abelard devoted themselves to the religious life to atone for “their sins”.
Heloise only found out what had happened to Abelard many years later. She still loved him, even while in the convent, but he directed her to stay a nun, and said he now loved her as a father would love a daughter; she survived him by 21 years.
When Heloise was buried in Abelard's tomb, his hand rose up to greet her after the tomb was opened. Or, so it is said. Their bodies were moved several times, and were interred in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, Paris, in 1800, where many years later the bodies of Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison also were laid to rest.
1936 Wavy Gravy (“the illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Teresa” – Paul Krassner), philanthropist; cult hero of the Californian counter culture, circa 1960s; founder of famed hippie commune The Hog Farm; Master of Ceremonies at both Woodstocks (1969 and 1994)
c. 570 CE Mohammed (born Halabi), son of Abdallah, of the family of Hashini, and of Amina, of the family of Zuhra, both of the powerful tribe of Koreish (but of a lesser branch). Various dates are given as his possible date of birth, including April 20. He died on June 8, 632.
His birthday festival (celebrated at certain different times by different strands of Islam) is called Maulid an-Nabi.
Mohammed: miracle man The life of the prophet Mohammed is arguably not as replete with miracles as those of Jesus and his saints, and the Buddha, but many believe that at his birth his mother radiated light seen in distant Syria and that the prophet fed a thousand men with one sheep. Traditionally, too, it has been believed that he made predictions that came true; he read the mind of Jewish enemies about to poison him; the hand of Abu Jahl withered after throwing stones at him, and Mohammed was even saluted by a stone.
Once, after he stopped leaning on a post, it wept and nearly broke in two. Or, so it is said.
Modern Miracles of Islam Does this tomato carry a message from God? “According to a reporter from the Express newspaper, UK, they were calling it the Miracle Tomato of Huddersfield. For when a schoolgirl sliced it in half she found written inside what thousands believe to be a message from God. Moslem Shasta Aslam 14, was astounded to see the words, spelled out in Arabic, "There is only one God" and "Mohammed is the messenger" in the veins of the each segment.” Source
"An interesting Urban Legend that is true is the fact that when the wardrobe dedpartment of MGM began to buy costumes for the movie Wizard of Oz they bought a huge amount of second hand clothes from many rummage sales around the Hollywood area. When the part of the wizard was cast many overcoats were chosen for him to wear, one was picked and on the first day of shooting, the actor noticed the lining of the coat had a label saying, 'Property of L Frank Baum'. [Check out the online coincidences archive; I'm going to add some of mine there if I can. If you have some cool coincidences of your own, or historical ones I can use in the Almanac, feel free to leave them below in Comments.]
"Baum was a socialist and Oz is a barely disguised socialist utopia, as indicated in this quotation from The Emerald City of Oz:
"There were no poor people in the land of Oz, because there was no such thing as money, and all property of every sort belonged to the Ruler. Each person was given freely by his neighbours whatever he required for his use, which is as much as anyone may reasonably desire. Every one worked half the time and played half the time, and the people enjoyed the work as much as they did the play, because it is good to be occupied and to have something to do. There were no cruel overseers set to watch them, and no one to rebuke them or to find fault with them. So each one was proud to do all he could for his friends and neighbors, and was glad when they would accept the things he produced." Source: Wikipedia
David Briscoe is well known to longer-term members of the Almanac. He's been sending in photographs with mottoes almost since Day One, quite unsolicited and gratis, and they've been very welcome, so I've always included them in the Almy ezine, where they are always one of the most popular features. From time to time I will be sharing these in the Blogmanac, and here's the first selection.
David, who lives with his lovely wife, Rosie, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, shares with me a birthday (aptly, St David's Day) and a love of beauty and poetry. He tells me that his favourite poet is Khalil Gibran, and that this quote is perhaps his favourite. My generous friend, who I have never met and who I did not know till he started sending in pix, now has an online gallery definitely worth a wander through -- check out the "Quotables". Thanks, David!
May 14, 1964 Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev pressed a button that effected the diversion of the Nile River necessary to build the next stage of the Aswan Dam.
"I will make the rivers (of Egypt) dry... and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers." (Ezekiel 30:12-13)
“Millions of people worldwide are facing serious threats to their livelihoods and cultures due to the construction of large dams. Intended to boost development, these projects have led instead to further impoverishment, degraded environments and human rights violations. An estimated 40-80 million people have been forcibly evicted from their lands to make way for dams. Evidence shows that these people have often been left economically, culturally and psychologically devastated.
Growing evidence shows that dams often fall short of meeting their projected benefits. In November 2000, the World Commission on Dams released a highly critical report showing that dams have generated less power, irrigated less land and supplied less drinking water than projected. While dams can prevent some floods from occurring, the WCD found that they can also exacerbate damages suffered when floods do occur. Projects studied by the WCD incurred an average cost overrun of 56 percent, and about half faced delays of one year or more. For more information on the economic, social and environmental impacts on dams, please click on the About Dams link.” Source: International Rivers Network
The High Aswan Dam: Environmental Impacts Long-Term Negative Impacts of Aswan High Dam 1. Erosion of coastline barriers, due to lack of new sediments from floods, will eventually cause loss of brackish water lake fishery that is currently the largest source of fish to Egypt. 2. Subsidence of Delta, due to lack of new sediment supplies from flood, will lead to inundation of northern portion of Delta, much of which now used for rice crops. 3. Deposition of sediments in Lake Nasser will eventually eliminate irrigation water storage volume from the reservoir, preventing the main use for which the High Dam was constructed. 4. The quantities of sediments which will accumulate in Lake Nasser are so large that there are no plausible ways to remove them in the future.
If you know a blog from a ping, and your RSS from a hole in the ground (as we say Downunder), and you want to play blogs with this site, please contact me and let's talk turnkey.
Anyone who goes to see a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined. Attributed to Samuel Goldwyn, who bought out Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks from United Artists on May 14, 1939
More Samuel Goldwyn (attributed) quotations That is the kind of ad I like. Facts, facts, facts. I don't think anybody should write his autobiography until after he's dead. Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union. Too caustic? To hell with the cost. If it's a good picture, we'll make it. That's the trouble with directors. Always biting the hand that lays the golden egg. I had a monumental idea this morning, but I didn't like it. I'll take fifty percent efficiency to get one hundred percent loyalty. I read part of it all the way through. God makes stars. I just produce them.
1692 Reverend Kirk and the Fairy Knowe On May 14, Reverend Robert Kirk of Aberfoyle, Scotland (author of The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies), collapsed and died on a hill near his home, called the Fairy Knowe. After his funeral, Kirk appeared to a relative with a message for his cousin that he had been taken away by fairies, and held captive. He told his cousin, Graham of Duchray, that he would reappear at the christening of his posthumous child, and that Duchray should break the spell by throwing a knife over his head. When Kirk’s ghost appeared as predicted, his cousin was so upset he forgot to throw the knife, and Kirk’s ghost disappeared forever. Or, so it is said.
The legend grew up that Kirk could be freed if a child was born and christened at his manse, and a knife was stuck into the reverend gentleman’s chair at the christening. In the Aberfoyle district, Rev. Kirk is believed by many not to have died, but to have been taken into fairyland, where he lives today.
1796 British physician Edward Jenner carries out the first successful smallpox vaccination On this day, Edward Jenner conclusively established the principles of vaccination. He wrote to his friend Gardner:
“A boy of the name of Phipps was inoculated in the arm, from a pustule on the hand of a young woman, who was infected by her master's cows. Having never seen the disease but in its casual way before, that is, when communicated from the cow to the hand of the milker, I was astonished at the close resemblance of the pustules, in some of their stages, to the variolous pustules. But now listen to the most delightful part of my story. The boy has since been inoculated for the small-pox, which, as I ventured to predict, produced no ill effect.”
Some physicians for a long time opposed vaccination: A Dr Smyth warned that vaccinated people caught cattle's diseases, or even became cow-like, and that small-pox was a visitation of God, and not to be treated; a Dr Ferdinand Smyth Stuart published a pamphlet showing Jenner as a monster with the horns of a bull.
Americans and 9-11, by an American journalist "Americans think that they already know everything there is to know, and the rest of the world wants to destroy them with their own knowledge. So they hide in their houses, in front of the TV sets, taking pills at scheduled times. Their psychiatrists say that they are doing the right thing, and life is so serious, they’d better not ask any questions."
Ashcoft visits school (Nora from Ireland sent me this one:)
Attorney General Ashcroft is visiting an elementary school. After the typical civics presentation, he announces, "All right, boys and girls, you can all ask me questions now."
A young boy named Bobby raises his hand and says, "I have three questions: 1. How did Bush win the election with fewer votes than Gore? 2. Why are you using the USA Patriot Act to limit Americans' civil liberties? 3. Why hasn't the U.S. caught Osama Bin Laden yet?"
Just then the bell sounds and all the kids run out to the playground. Fifteen minutes later, the kids come back to class. "I'm sorry we were interrupted by the bell," Ashcroft says. "Now, you can all ask me questions."
A young girl raises her hand and says, "I have five questions: 1. How did Bush win the election with fewer votes than Gore? 2. Why are you using the USA Patriot Act to limit Americans' civil liberties? 3. Why hasn't the U.S. caught Osama Bin Laden yet? 4. Why did the bell go off 20 minutes early? 5. Where's Bobby?"
"While Lynn and other pagan revelers danced around a Maypole nearby, the Harvard students put a distinctly Ivy League stamp on the centuries-old celebration of springtime and fertility."
Cut Men: Do They not Bleed? Wendy McElroy "Male bashing -- the stereotyping of men as brutal, stupid or otherwise objectionable -- is commonplace. Our sons, husbands, fathers and men-friends are gleefully slandered because they are male. They are subjected to malicious jokes and attitudes that would be decried if directed at blacks, Hispanics or women. The assault against men must stop. But how?"
Wendy McElroy's piece states the obvious but it must be stated again and again, and hopefully by more women. Her views are congruent with those expressed in my article, Strategic Disempowerment. I wonder if FOSXNews will ever pick that one up?!! :)
TIME.com: The Oily Americans "For more than a half-century, American foreign policy dealing with oil has typically been manipulative and misguided, often both at the same time."
Curioser and curioser. Looks like TIME Magazine has been infiltrated by Muslim Communists. How long before the editors win a vacation in Guantanamo?
Voila > l'Actualité > Insolite ""It's not a joke," a Microsoft spokesperson assured AFP. But it certainly sounds like one. According to Voila.fr, the software giant is launching the I-Loo - a portable toilet with an adjustable plasma screen, a wireless keyboard and an internet connection. It will, the site says, consign the piles of newspapers traditionally found in the corners of bathrooms to the bin.
"'The internet is so much a part of everyday life that offering people the chance to surf in toilets is a natural step,' a marketing director told AFP. 'I't's fascinating to think that the smallest room could be an way in to the enormous virtual world.'
Outdoor summer festivals such as Glastonbury will probably be the testing grounds for the invention. Whether the queues outside the notoriously smelly Portaloos will grow any longer remains to be seen."
Scotland on Sunday - Scotland - Woman sues for lost childhood "A WOMAN who was taken into care as a child over unfounded sex abuse claims is suing a local authority for compensation for her ‘lost childhood’ in a landmark legal case, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.
The woman, from Ayrshire, was one of hundreds of children wrongly removed from their families in a series of sex abuse investigations across Britain in the late 1980s and early 1990s."
Here in Australia, we have a well-known joke: What's the difference between a rottweiler and a Department of Family Services social worker? Answer: With the rottweiler, sometimes you get your children back.
This poor family in Scotland had a Halloween party, apparently, and it sounds like the wimmin with the spiky hair and long dangly earrings from The Department decided to come in and do their bit. They stole the child away from the parents. Scotland sounds more like Australia than I ever knew. Shame about the drizzly weather, and warm beer.
Reuters AlertNet - Bush, Blair nominated for Nobel prize for Iraq war "OSLO, May 8 (Reuters) - A Norwegian parliamentarian nominated U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday, praising them for winning the war in Iraq."
This story suggested (with thanks) by LyP in a comment below. It reminded me of the how Alfred Nobel came to give his money to the Nobel Prizes. He read his obituary in the paper one day. No, he wasn't dead, but his bro was and the paper got it wrong. But when he read what a bastard the paper thought he was for inventing dynamite and making a fortune out of death and destruction, he had a conscience attack. He came up with the idea of the Nobel Prize, which was never intended for warriors. Bush and Blair, however, would not be the first unqualified people to get one. I can think of three right off the top of my head who won the prize for peace, who were avowedly in favour of using violence for settling disputes. C'est la guerre (et la vie), huh?
Anger over Iraq invasion slowly evolves into action as Western interests targeted in S-E Asia "As American and British forces ‘mop up’ the pockets of resistance while ‘cruising’ through Baghdad, the protest and anger generated before and during the war are taking on a new dimension that may not be so easy to deal with as Saddam’s regime: the hatred of anything Western in the minds of people; such is the anger generated and felt as Muslims watched the American aggression in helpless anger."
Occasional Subversion | The "Liberal Media" Notices Afghanistan is a Mess "The leftist press has been saying it for months, but finally a major media outlet, Time Magazine, has written a story about the mess the U.S. left behind in Afghanistan ... They've had this information for a long time (it's not exactly a big secret), so why report it now? "
ifeminists.com > editorial > Feminists Poised to Highjack the Iraqi Reconstruction Effort "Iraqi males -- young and old, civilian and combatant -- were the primary victims of Saddam's brutal regime. But as feminist groups pressure the Bush administration to fund programs that favor women, don't expect to hear much about that in the weeks and months ahead."
Who shears his sheep before St Gervatius’s [Servatius’s] day Loves more his wool than his sheep. English traditional proverb for May 13
May 13, 1917 Fatima – let the apparitions begin
Mary, Queen of Heaven -- or goddess? -- appears to kids
During the dark days of the first World War, an event happened in a Portuguese village that has profoundly affected the Roman Catholic Church ever since. According to Catholic tradition over nearly the last century, the Virgin Mary (“the Mother of God”), appeared six times to three shepherd children ('the Three Seers') in a chickpea field near the town of Fatima, Portugal. These apparitions commenced on this day and continued until October 13th 1917.
Mary told the children that she had been sent by God with a message for every man, woman and child. She promised that prayers to her would result in the advent of peace in the world. She also gave them secrets that are still carefully guarded by the Vatican. Consequently, something akin to a cult of Fatima has existed within the Catholic Church.
Strangely, the Virgin/goddess instructed the children that they should suffer for sin. An issue of the Catholic newspaper, The Wanderer, stated that after the vision, there "began a gradual transformation of the little shepherds into spiritual victims of reparation for sin."
It is said that the children viewed their suffering as contributing to the conversion of sinners. While in great pain, on of the girls, Jacinta, would pray, "O my Jesus you can convert many sinners now, because this sacrifice is very big."
Mary told two of the children that they would soon "go to heaven" but that the third would live long. This indeed happened as the two youngest died in the great global influenza epidemic that swept the world after World War One, and the other lived as a cloistered nun in a Portuguese convent.
The shrine of Our Lady of The Rosary at Fatima is one of the most significant places of pilgrimages of any religion, anywhere in the world. On May 13, 2000, Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to the shrine. His purpose in going was to thank the Virgin Mary again for sparing his life when a would-be assassin wounded him May 13, 1981.
Fatima is also the name of an ancient Arabian goddess and she is identified also as the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed. She is known as Zahra, the radiant one, as well as Batul, meaning virgin. She is queen of humanity, is compared to Mary and is called Maryam. A major all-female feast, sofreh hazrat i zahra, is still very popular with Muslim women; these sofreh (dining cloth) feasts, mainly celebrated in Iran, have their origins in the ancient Zoroastrian religion that began in Iran c.55 BCE.
Fatima is thus a popular girl’s name amongst Muslims and Catholics especially. Variants of Mary, such as Maryam and Miriam are also very popular Muslim names.
Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad that he created the universe for him and because of him. He later told him that Muhammad himself was created because of Ali and at the end proclaimed that both and all was created because of Fatima (Hadith Ghodsi).
May 13, 1985 MOVE along, nothing happening here Philadelphia, USA, police and a radical black cult named MOVE clashed when MOVE’s headquarters were bombed on the orders of Mayor Wilson Goode. Eleven people died and 61 homes were destroyed in the extraordinary event. Said one resident, "MOVE in its wildest day never perpetrated anything on our block like what Wilson Goode did." However, good Mayor Goode thought otherwise, and said that the action he ordered was "perfect, except for the fire”.
Transition to an empire "WHEN General Jay Garner landed in Iraq and arrived in bombed and looted Baghdad he declared: 'This is a great day.' As if his presence miraculously ended the thousand and one problems afflicting ancient Mesopotamia. What is astonishing is not the obscenity of the statement but the resignation and apathy with which the media covered the installation of the man who should really be called the proconsul of the United States. As if there were no longer international law."
These times: seizing the truth of optimism A strange near-silence has fallen over the world since the close of the 'hot' part of the Iraq war. No, I don't mean that there aren't as many news stories, or websites or TV shows, nor that there's not as much spam hitting our inboxes or as many frantic duties in our daily lives. What I'm referrring to is a palpable air of people withdrawing. I think that many in the antiwar movement are quiet now, regrouping perhaps, licking wounds, certainly. But it's not just the peaceniks.
Have you noticed? It's a quiet time. People are not sending as many emails, or messages generally on the Net (expect the damnspammers). It's a time in which I can imagine that many people in the West are renting more videos, eating more popcorn and chocolate, spending more time around the house, maybe in the garden. Maybe reading more novels. Going to the gym more to work out, perhaps a bit less to meet people. More solitude. More pensiveness and self-reflectivity. A lot of watching and waiting -- maybe for a terrorist attack. perhaps for long hoped for signs of true leadership and honesty in our elected representatives. I can't help but think that except for the most committed and fanatical supporters of the New World Order, even those who don't see themselves as part of any paradigm shift or movement might be harbouring secret doubts about what has gone down in the past 18 months.
It's a time for thought; war does that. We saw the blood running in the streets, even in the media who wanted the war so much to occur. As one who receives hundreds of emails and visits dozens of websites each day, I think I sense a new mood, a slow mood like cold molasses. yet I think it's time for hope, as a big crack appeared in the facade of the status quo, and there is a gut feeling abroad that the plasterers we got were not the right crew to call in. Do you sense anything like this?
This Almanac is committed to the new, just as those who have done so much damage to human aspirations are committed to the old. My view is that there are those who will not look at the new moon out of a pathological respect for the old. This blog, and the Almy as a whole, are looking at the moon that is now waxing as I write, getting brighter each evening as it has since before we crawled out of the primordial slime. Please, pull me up if I look back at the dark.
There's a lot to be done, and we haven't scratched the surface yet. Joyous optimism -- not ostrich-like, but wise as the serpent -- is fresh in me and a great many people I know, who see these times as pregnant with great possibilities. Nothing -- not even the recent setbacks -- can dissuade me from that. I'm having so much fun blogging these thoughts and sharing them with the small number of people who will read them. Numbers are nice, but few/better is more important. If I may be allowed a cliche: you can count the pips in an apple, but you can't count the apples in a pip. I commend that statement not only to all the Pips in the world, but to you and each of the very welcome guests to this humble Blogmanac.
Carpe diem! It's all we've got, apart from our imaginations.
Bright blessings to all, especially those who feel hurt, let down and confused by the harshness on this planet. The moon is waxing greater, and always will.
Deep Thinking about Weblogs "What are weblogs? What's the big deal? Why should we pay attention? We attempt to answer these questions in the essay that follows"
Birthstone for May: Emerald, signifying success in love; hope and immortality.
May is witching time According to a custom of olde England, May is the witching time. In an English superstition that found its way via immigrants to America, if a broody hen is set during May, all her chicks will be sure to die.
May 12 Twilight Time ’Tis said that from the twelfth of May to the twelfth of July all is day. From the twelfth day of May To the twelfth of July Adieu to starlight For all is twilight. Traditional English saying
There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!' Edward Lear, English nonsense verse writer, born on May 11, 1812
Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better. Florence Nightingale, English nurse, born on May 12, 1820
The world is put back by the death of every one who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts to conventionality. Florence Nightingale
Born May 12, 1820 Florence Nightingale, English nurse during the Crimean War. She was named after the city in Italy in which she was born to English parents. Until then, Florence was an uncommon name, and for males only. Her fame and the respect with which she was esteemed by the British popularised her name as one for girls. Florence Nightingale died 1910.
To Make an Amblongus Pie by Edward Lear Take 4 pounds (say 4 1/2 pounds) of fresh Amblongusses, and put them in a small pipkin. Cover them with water and boil them for 8 hours incessantly, after which add 2 pints of new milk, and proceed to boil for 4 hours more. When you have ascertained that the Amblongusses are quite soft, take them out and place them in a wide pan, taking care to shake them well previously. Grate some nutmeg over the surface, and cover them carefully with powdered gingerbread, curry-powder, and a sufficient quantity of Cayenne pepper. Remove the pan into the next room, and place it on the floor. Bring it back again, and let it simmer for three-quarters of an hour. Shake the pan violently till all the Amblongusses have become a pale purple colour. Then, having prepared a paste, insert the whole carefully, adding at the same time a small pigeon, 2 slices of beef, 4 cauliflowers, and any number of oysters. Watch patiently till the crust begins to rise, and add a pinch of salt from time to time. Serve up in a clean dish, and throw the whole out of the window as fast as possible.
Eisheilige (ice saints), southern Germany, May 11-15 The presence of these “ Strong Lords” bring unseasonably cold and/or wet weather. These are the saints Mamertius, Pancratius (Pancras), Servatius, Bonifatius, and Cold Sophie. These Christian names are versions of the Swabian presiding spirits of these days. Today’s ice saint is St Pancras.
RSS syndicating this blog Wilson's Blogmanac now has RSS newsfeed and our first syndicator, http://www.syndic8.com/. Thanks, Jeff! If any reader would like to recommend syndication agencies/aggregators to submit to, please share it with me. I'm new at this. Any tricks of the trade gratefully received by a newbie.
Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq (washingtonpost.com) "BAGHDAD -- The group directing all known U.S. search efforts for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, according to participants."
Bush et al consistently lied to the American public about many things (see Myths of the War on Terrorism and Iraq), and many have long suspected they lied about the WMDs. The USA invaded a country not only pauperised by 12 years of cruel sanctions, it invaded a country with a rinky-dink little defence force (and let's not forget that they had destroyed a lot of their weaponry in fron tof the UNMOVIC inspectors, mostly meeting with Blix's approval). All the while, the White House/Pentagon Axis of Diesel's PR moguls have created a myth of the "brave Americans". Since when are valour and courage exemplified by bullies shooting sitting ducks?
It's hard to believe that more than two-and-a-half village idiots in backwoods America fell for this horseshit, but there ya go ... the power of the mega-media these days.
The story above comes from the Washington Post, which still has just a little cred. Not the Washington Times, which is owned lock, stock and fascist by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his Loony Moonies --- one of the world's longest-standing CIA client states.
US rivals turn on each other as weapons search draws a blank "One key argument for war was the peril from weapons of mass destruction. Now top officials are worried by repeated failures to find the proof - and US intelligence agencies are engaged in a struggle to avoid the blame."
Blair voted "worst Briton" LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair has been voted the "worst Briton", narrowly beating glamour model Jordan, in a poll for Channel 4 television.
Geniuses don't die. I'm going to live forever. Salvador Dali, Spanish surrealist master, who died on May 11, 1989, aged 78
I do not take drugs. I am drugs. Salvador Dali
A yuppie is someone who believes it's courageous to eat in a restaurant that hasn't been reviewed yet. Mort Sahl, American stand-up comic, born on May 11, 1927
Operation Strangelove: Peace Is Our Profession "Be part of a national anti-war action on May 14. Screen Dr. Strangelove, and raise money for groups still working hard for peace, justice and relief in Iraq.
May 11, 1812 Assassination and a prophetic dream
British Tory Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, the son of the 2nd Earl of Egmont, became the only British leader to be assassinated when he was shot dead in the House of Commons by a deranged bankrupt Liverpudlian businessman, John Bellingham. Perceval was just entering the lobby of the House when he was shot by John Bellingham, who was hiding behind a door. The PM staggered forward, grasped his chest and called out, "I am murdered! I am murdered!", falling to the Commons floor.
A stunned silence ensued, as MPs looked in disbelief at the mortally wounded Prime Minister, and John Bellingham calmly walked back to his seat where he resumed his place.
On the day of the inquest into the death of Spencer Perceval, Bellingham sent the following letter to his landlady:
Dear Madam : Yesterday midnight I was escorted to this neighbourhood by a noble troop of Light Horse, and delivered into the care of Mr. Newman (by Mr. Taylor the Magistrate and MP) as a state prisoner of the first class. For eight years I have never found my mind so tranquil as since this melancholy but necessary catastrophe, as the merits or demerits of my peculiar case must be regularly unfolded in a criminal court of justice, to ascertain the guilty party, by a jury of my country.
I have to request the favour of you to send me three or four shirts, some cravats, handkerchiefs, night-caps, stockings, etc, out of my drawers, together with comb, soap, toothbrush, with any other trifle which presents itself which you may think I may have occasion for, and enclose them in my leather trunk, and the key, please to send sealed per bearer; also my great-coat, flannel gown, and black waistcoat, which will much oblige. Dear madam, your obedient servant, John Bellingham. To the above please to add the Prayer Book.
At the trial it was clear to all that the assassin was mad, but despite that fact, Bellingham was executed within the week.
A prophetic dream The night following the assassination, before news of the event could have reached him, the wealthy mining engineer John Williams of Scorrier House, near Redruth, in Cornwall, dreamed three times of the exact circumstances of the assassination, even down to the dress of both protagonists. He told his wife, and the next day told several friends, who all verified the fact later. About six weeks later, Williams went to London and visited the House of Commons with a friend, where he was able to point out the exact positions of the prime minister and his assassin. When Williams died, in April 1841, the Gentleman's Magazine's obituary said "His integrity was proof against all temptation and above all reproach". More
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