*Ø* Blogmanac August 31 | Celebrating today
Eyo masquerade, Lagos, Nigeria
“In the Nigerian capitol of Lagos, masqueraders called Eyos wander the streets concealed in white robes, carrying long sticks. Each represents an individual family and symbolizes authority. A person crossing the path of an Eyo must remove his hat and shoes as a sign of respect. An offended Eyo will attack with its stick.” Source
Hekate, or Hecate
“The last day of each month is sacred to the Goddess Hekate. In ancient times, worshippers would leave a ‘Hecate's Supper’ with specially prepared foods as offerings to Hecate. The offerings were also gifts to appease the restless ghosts, called apotropaioi by the Greeks. These offerings are best prepared for the goddess on the eve of the new moon, to be left behind at crossroads at night, without looking back.” Source
Eyo masquerade, Lagos, Nigeria
“In the Nigerian capitol of Lagos, masqueraders called Eyos wander the streets concealed in white robes, carrying long sticks. Each represents an individual family and symbolizes authority. A person crossing the path of an Eyo must remove his hat and shoes as a sign of respect. An offended Eyo will attack with its stick.” Source
Hekate, or Hecate
“The last day of each month is sacred to the Goddess Hekate. In ancient times, worshippers would leave a ‘Hecate's Supper’ with specially prepared foods as offerings to Hecate. The offerings were also gifts to appease the restless ghosts, called apotropaioi by the Greeks. These offerings are best prepared for the goddess on the eve of the new moon, to be left behind at crossroads at night, without looking back.” Source
Did Bush make Osama deal with Musharraf?
"Rising from the desert in one of the flattest, most remote places on earth is an 80-foot temple topped by the stylized figure of a man. 
"In one of the most bizarre rites of the Silicon Age, nearly 30,000 people are camped in the middle of the Nevada desert 90 miles north of Reno to build and then destroy a temporary city built around a religious icon."
I found this at an interesting and well-designed (non messy) blog, 
If you'd like a copy of Michael Moore's Number 1 bestseller Stupid White Men, which is a couple of years old but still a good read, you can buy a print copy from the 
My work is full of sweating, nervous uneasiness, which is a big part of me and everybody else. Most people don't want to see that though, because it reminds them of inadequate parts of themselves.
The Inca emperor, 
"An award-winning cartoonist dumped from New Zealand's biggest newspaper over his anti-Israel drawings said he stood by his work and rejected an editor's right to direct what he could or could not draw.
I have a dream
This is a story that intrigues me as much for the way it captivated the German people of its day and succeeding generations, as for its intrinsic oddness.
USA: Pacifist, and former 
We know it was on this date because in his 
In ancient Rome, today was the day for honouring a deity, 
How it began
"Atlantis, or so it is said, was a huge island lying beyond the Pillars of Hercules (now known as the Straits of Gibraltar) and its culture had dominated the Mediterranean nine thousand years before Solon, the lawmaker of Athens. From its ideal condition as an advanced culture it deteriorated into a military aggressor, so the gods resolved to punish the civilisation. We have this on authority of Plato in his Timaeus and Critias (c. 350 BCE). He learned the story from his cousin, who got it from his grandfather, who heard it from his father, who got it from Solon himself, who heard it from the priests of Sais in Egypt in 590 BCE."
At the Democratic Presidential Convention in Chicago, USA, 
Mt Fuji climbing season ends
Did a Pacific volcano change Western history?
On July 20, at Mousehold, England, a herald of the king had been turned away, his message of conciliation – or, demand for compliance – from the monarch to some 20,000 rural insurrectionists rejected. The herald had promised the king's pardon to all who would depart quietly to their homes. 
I hope everyone's enjoying the night sky at present as much as I am, with no moon, and that you're not one of the hundreds of millions of people in the world who are now unable to see the Milky Way. Industrialisation has brought many benefits, but a big chunk of the human soul has been robbed from many of us by the inability to see the true night sky as it really is – a blaze of stars with the huge, milky band of our galaxy running through it. The one that has been seen by our ancestors since humanity began. Bright cities have only been a blight on humanity for a few decades.
And I watched Mars. For the last month and for the next, the really good thing to be seeing is 
Odin’s Ordeal (August 17-25)
Thomas Chatterton, the English poet, was born on November 20, 1752 and produced all his work by the age of only 17, when he committed suicide on this day in 1770 ...
"There’s a global mass extinction occurring, the world is losing up to a quarter of all its frogs, toads and salamanders. Here in Australia 8 species of frog have gone extinct in the last 20 years. The mystery of our disappearing amphibia has been baffling scientists for years. But a team of Australian scientists lead by Dr Gerry Marantelli has been desperately trying to piece together what’s been causing the extinction. They’ve uncovered a bizarre chain of events ..."
The Western Daily Press reported that actor Gareth Gilchrist, who was flying home from Edinburgh, Scotland to play Caithness in a production of Macbeth, had a stage-prop flick-knife with him that was picked up by the airport metal detector. He was arrested by police officer Heather McBeth, who was reported to have quipped, “Is this a dagger I see before me?”
The weapons specialist, Dr David Kelly, said six months ago that he would "probably be found dead in the woods" if the American and British invasion of Iraq went ahead, Lord Hutton's inquiry was told yesterday.
The morning of January 1st saw me, dressed in a suit and carrying a black briefcase, on a 5.00 a.m. bus headed from my suburb, along the still-dark streets and across town, to the hospital. There I would try to manage the media that would certainly show up to see lots of sick kids pretend to talk to Mrs Bush, and vice versa. All but the actually dying children had been rehearsed for months, and we knew that by now they could fake sincerity like professionals. So could the doctors and nurses and clerical staff. I was pretty sure Mrs Bush could as well, because she had more practice at it than all of us put together. Hell, we were just a pack of dumb Aussies. However, we would do our best to look as sophisticated as Americans. 
At 8 pm on August 5, 
"An Action Man-style action figure in the likeness of George W Bush is set to hit the market in October ...
Today the Romans held horse and chariot races, and libations were poured into the flames that consumed the sacrifices. During the period of the festivities, horses and mules were adorned with garlands of flowers and their owners were forbidden to work them. 
"Within hours of the explosion, we were being told that this was an attack on a 'soft target', a blow against the UN itself. True, it was a 'soft' target, although the machine-gun nest on the roof of the UN building might have suggested that even the international body was militarising itself. True, too, it was a shattering assault on the UN as an institution. But in reality, yesterday's attack was against the United States.
A number of residents of Knock, in County Mayo, 
“Patronage 
I'm deeply shocked and saddened to hear that the top UN envoy to Iraq, 
This is how the 
Scientists trying to find out more about the rare Arctic char in the lakes of Killarney have hooked a "monster". A hydro-acoustic study of Muckross Lake, one of the deepest lakes in Ireland, has thrown up a baffling image of a deep lurking "thing" the size of a small house in the south-eastern part of the lake.
Odin’s symbol is the raven, his weapon, a spear carved with runes or treaties. Odin is also symbolised by a knotted device, the valknut. He wanders the earth disguised as a traveller, and once pierced himself with his own spear, and hung on the world tree, 
Do you have a bit of time on your hands for peace and the planet?
"So this day is an opportunity to look at perhaps the most fundamental divide between America and the rest of the industrialized world: faith. Religion remains central to American life, and is getting more so, in a way that is true of no other industrialized country, with the possible exception of South Korea. 
Baiting the bull
Fully two years later, the ‘murdered’ William Harrison returned to Chipping Campden, with a fantastic story, which he laid out in a sworn 
1969 The 
Feast of the Assumption
And they sent unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. And when they were come, they said unto him, 'Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man; for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give?' But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, ‘Why tempt ye me? Bring me a coin, that I may see it.' And they brought it. And he saith unto them, ‘Whose is this image and superscription?' And they said unto him, 'Caesar's.' And Jesus answering said unto them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they marveled at him.
Last days of Burke and Wills
Thanks for everything, Little Johnny
“One of Japan's most famous Bon festivals. Over a million people visit every year to watch and take part in the Awa Odori, a local folk dance set to traditional music. Awa dance is said to be a ‘fool's dance’. A well known saying runs, ‘it's a fool who dances and a fool who watches, so if both are fools, you may as well dance!’. The atmosphere is infectious and many thousands dance in the streets, giving the whole city centre a real carnival atmosphere.” 
“Perseid activity increases sharply in the hours after midnight, so plan your observing times accordingly. If time is short, you can simply set your alarm for 3 a.m. and watch the last couple hours of the event. We are then looking more nearly face-on into the direction of the Earth’s motion as it orbits the Sun, and the radiant is also higher up, so viewing conditions are optimal …
No Wilson's Almanac ezine today
By ERIC MARGOLIS
Before the invention of the sewing machine, clothes making and mending consumed the lives and eyesight of countless millions of women worldwide. (Of course, sewing machines have reared another monster, as adults and children in 
The story of this great labour-saving device, one which helped free women from some of the drudgery of the time, began long before Howe and Singer’s rivalry, however, and numerous machines had been invented over the preceding century in various parts of the world. In 1834, American 
Solar alignment in Mexico
Interim Iraqi administrator L. Paul Bremer III had attempted a blackout of news from the Golden State, arguing that coverage of California’s election would “not be helpful” at this sensitive stage in the evolution of Iraqi democracy. But much to Mr. Bremer’s dismay the al-Jazeera television network beamed reports about the California race into Iraq late Friday, stirring fresh fears about democracy as a viable form of government in this war-torn country.
After more than 18 years of campaigning, it's time to dance. The final line has been drawn protecting over 3.5 million hectares of Amazon rainforest, and now Brazilian indigenous people, called the Deni, celebrate the demarcation of their land.
Demarcating indigenous lands is an efficient method of protecting the Amazon rainforest, which is under threat from thousands of logging companies. The majority of these companies use illegal and predatory tactics like fires, cattle ranching and projects that ultimately open the heart of the Amazon to destruction. Satellite images of the Brazilian Amazon revealed increased deforestation. The Brazilian Government estimated that between August 2001 and August 2002, the equivalent of five million football fields were destroyed. This represented an increase of 40 percent in deforested areas in only one year, but it also revealed that indigenous lands were currently spared from this destruction.
There was an entry in the journal of English alchemist 
Fertility festival dedicated to Puck as a buck goat. The fair is one of Ireland's oldest and longest celebrated. It might be that it is derived from pre-Christian 
Through a partnership with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, the [American] nation's largest and oldest thoroughbred-rescue operation, the prison has operated a work program for the past 18 years for inmates to care for the former champions, runners-up and perennial losers. Most of them no longer have practical economic value -- other than the $600 a meat buyer might pay -- before they come to a pasture in upstate New York to live out their years. 
The record for the hottest day ever in Britain was broken on Sunday as temperatures soared to 37.4C (99.3F). Recorded at Heathrow airport, it beat the existing record of 37.1C - recorded at Cheltenham in August 1990. 
August 10, 1856 More than 140 vacationers – perhaps many more – drowned at a ball on 
“Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida, is one of the most amazing structures ever built. In terms of accomplishment, it’s been compared to Stonehenge, ancient Greek temples, and even the great pyramids of Egypt. It is amazing – some even say miraculous – because it was quarried, fashioned, transported, and constructed by one man: Edward Leedskalnin, a 5-ft. tall, 100-lb. Latvian immigrant." Source: 
The Perseid meteor showers are very bright at this time of year (generally visible between July 23 and August 22, peaking around August 13), so in England the meteors were called ‘fiery tears of St Lawrence’ as they fell on his day, and also related to the torments of the martyr. 
The growing crisis in the Anglican Communion over attitudes towards practising homosexual clerics has prompted the Archbishop of Canterbury to call an emergency meeting of bishops in London in October.
In the West it has always been unfashionable to mention the victims of Communism. Ask any child the name of a Nazi death camp and the names Auschwitz, Belsen and Dachau will roll off the tongue. Then ask for the name of a Soviet or Maoist death camp, where many millions more people were killed, and you will probably draw a blank, as you will if you ask most adults.
[In case we had any doubts, I assume Hollywood will now tell us the film is "based on a true story".]
"A radical new theory of time and motion has some of the world's physicists doubting the claim while others laud the 27-year-old college dropout who came up with it, an unknown big thinker named Peter Lynds.
"I am endorsing Dennis Kucinich for President because he stands up for heartland Americans who are too often overlooked and unheard. He has done that his whole political career. Big corporations are well-represented in Washington, but Dennis Kucinich is a rare Congressman of conscience and bravery who fights for the unrepresented, much like the late Senator Paul Wellstone. Dennis champions individual privacy, safe food laws and family farmers. A Kucinich Administration will put the interests of America's family farmers, consumers and environment above the greed of industrial agribusiness. 
In 1994, the General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World's Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year during the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.
Sculptor finds foundry where statue of Athena was forged
"How well do you know Madonna? Do you consider Tiger Woods a buddy? What about former South African President Nelson Mandela? 
1593 
1899 Pamela Lyndon (PL) Travers (
Instead of people looking away, gasping, or shuddering, Vicky Lucas wants them to know that her face is integral to who she is. And, as she explains here, she likes who she is. 
I began to sing of Pallas Athena, the glorious goddess, owl-eyed, inventive, unbending of heart, pure virgin, savior of cities, courageous, tritogeneia. From his awful head wise Zeus himself bore her arrayed in warlike arms of flashing gold, and awe seized all the gods as they gazed. But Athena sprang quickly from the immortal head and stood before Zeus who holds the aegis, shaking a sharp spear: great Olympus began to reel horribly at the might of the owl-eyed goddess, and earth round about cried fearfully, and the sea was moved and tossed with dark waves, while foam burst forth suddenly: the bright son of Hyperion stopped his swift-footed horses a long while, until the maiden Pallas Athena had stripped the heavenly armor from her immortal shoulders. And wise Zeus was glad.
1914 In the midst of a huge government propaganda campaign, a flood of enlistment began for recruits to fight for Britain’s Empire with the 
NewScientist.com news service 
With HIV/AIDS infection rates of 30 per cent in some countries, a whole continent is reeling under the effects of this epidemic. What sort of adults will millions of orphans become, if they live, and what will they say to the rich world that steadfastly ignores their plight? 
When my mother died, I was very young,
"Results are 'remarkably similar' to using napalm"
Hiroshima Peace Festival, or Hiroshima Day
You know, it just kinda hit me tonight. My maternal great-grandfather was born in 1819. Yes, my Mum's grandpa was born just after Napoleon died. Talk about six degrees of separation! Only a few generations back to the early industrial era, to the time of Nelson's navy, when men were keelhauled, and traitors were hanged, drawn and quartered. The word 'Australia' was three years old. People in Sydneytown (almost all of them convicts), looked like this.
Among the inferior professors of medical knowledge, is a race of wretches, whose lives are only varied by varieties of cruelty; whose favourite amusement is to nail dogs to tables and open them alive; to try how long life may be continued in various degrees of mutilation, or with the excision or laceration of the vital parts; to examine whether burning irons are felt more acutely by the bone or tendon; and whether the more lasting agonies are produced by poison forced into the mouth, or injected into the veins.
"A group of Papua New Guinean academics has warned the country is close to becoming a failed state, echoing the institutional collapse that led Australia to intervene in the neighbouring Solomon Islands.
[The Spirit of Yippie -- or is the Spirit of Yuppie? -- lives.]
Downing Street, MI6 and the Foreign Office closed ranks yesterday to deny categorically that Sir Richard Dearlove, Britain's top spymaster, is retiring early in the wake of the row over intelligence claims about Iraq's banned weapons programme. 
More than 18,000 people visited the Welsh National Eisteddfod field at Meifod, near Welshpool, on opening day on Saturday. Following a massive financial loss of more than £300,000 over the past two years, organisers were delighted with the turn-out. Attendance was well above expectation and 4,000 up on last year's event at Tyddewi.
Actor Ioan Gruffudd returned to his homeland to join one of Wales' most elite cultural groups at the festival. The 29-year-old star of "Hornblower" and "Great Expectations" was made a member of the Gorsedd of Bards, the 'guardians' of Welsh language and culture.
"Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said in a rare interview with American television Sunday that the United States made Osama bin Laden a saint and prophet, and that the fugitive al Qaeda leader "has become a symbol for defending the Islamic world." 
On the fourth of August, he [de Soto] reached the town [El Dorado, well ahead of the army] where the chief was living. On the way [while camped at Carmi, the provincial boundary, with the advanced horsemen], the latter sent him blankets and skins, but not daring to remain in the town, went away. The town was the largest that had been seen in Florida. The governor and his men [in the advanced party] were lodged [by the Indians] in half of it; and a few days afterward[(when the army arrived, having camped at Omaha the night before] seeing that the Indians were going about deceitfully [on the Full Moon], he ordered the other half (today's Harrisburg, the largest half of the town) burned ...
"On Aug. 27, 2003, Mars will be less than 34.65 million miles (55.76 million kilometers) away -- closer to our planet than it’s been in nearly 60,000 years. The view will be stupendous. 
Albert Einstein suggested to President Roosevelt that atomic research should commence in the US. Roosevelt’s approval led to the construction of the first atomic bomb.
On August 2, 1876, while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed by Jack McCall who was later tried and hanged on March 1, 1877. The hand that Hickok held at the time he was shot was a pair of eights and a pair of aces. The hand later became known as the "dead man's hand."
Named for the god Lugh, who is associated with this season of Lammas, this is an old name for the Perseids, the most familiar of all meteor showers, that take place at around this time of year. Associated with the Swift-Tuttle Comet, the Perseids have been well documented since at least 830 CE and take their name from the constellation Perseus where shooting stars appear. We can well imagine ancient Celts looking upon these wonders and associating them with other phenomena of the season between the equinox and solstice, including the heat of the last of the Dog Days. 
"(2003-07-31) -- New York Times executive editor Bill Keller said today he has scrapped plans to hire a public editor as a "reader representative," and instead will link the online newspaper to a network of so-called "blogs".
