Surf almanac with menu above.
Click here to consult your free I Ching and Tarot while waiting (opens in a new window).

How to read our feed



(Our news on your My Yahoo!)

Whole Almanac menu, top of page

Cafe Diem!
Growing range of products
help support the Almanac

Wilson's Almanac free daily ezine

Why we are here:
To give readers many reasons and many ways to 'carpe diem!' – seize the day!

Members of Wilson's Almanac ezine: 2,773 (Jan 1, 2005)
Click for subscription info

Tell J-9 You've Read It! ::

Blogmanac team
Jeannine Wilson (USA)
Veralynne Pepper (USA)
Pip Wilson (Australia)

Carpe diem!

Seize the day with more than 150 articles at Wilson's articles department





This blog is dedicated to the 353 victims of the SIEVX disaster,
and casualties of poverty and authority all around the planet

Yellow Pages News, current affairs	Book of Days Birthdays, folklore, history
Sandy Beach Almanac Beachcomb with Wilson	Kill the President Code and clues mystery

Subscribe free to Almanac and Blogmanac ezines

	:: Veralynne		6:24 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Kucinich Big Winner in Debate If You Want It

A personal note to all Americans from the one Democratic presidential candidate who CAN and WILL make a genuine difference in our country and the world.


"Dear Friend,

"I'm going to be blunt. My presidential campaign needs your help more than ever. There are only a few days left in this fundraising quarter (ending Sept. 30) and I need your support.

"If you saw last night's nationally-televised debate, you know that I am speaking out for you . . . and for your issues.

"I spoke out for bringing the troops home from Iraq, and against the President's request for $87 billion more. I was alone in discussing how the Iraq occupation hurts our economy.

"I was alone in advocating a withdrawal from NAFTA and the WTO in favor of bilateral trade pacts that protect workers' rights and the environment.

"I spoke clearly about taking our healthcare system out of the hands of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies -- and establishing nonprofit national health insurance, Enhanced Medicare for All. I alone called for returning the Social Security retirement age to 65.

"Our wealthy nation can afford healthcare and retirement security. But we have to rescind the tax breaks for the wealthy, and as I pointed out in last night's debate, the wealthiest 1% in our country will get a majority of the Bush tax cut.

"To keep bringing these issues to the American people our campaign needs an infusion of funds. Please donate. Your contribution today will be doubled through federal matching funds arriving in a few months.

"I know many of you have donated as much as you can, and I thank you. But please reach out to three other people who share our values -- by forwarding this email to them.

"If you watched last night's debate, you saw me call for a 15% cut in Pentagon spending and an end to tax breaks for the wealthy in order to fund childcare and education and job creation. I spoke of my efforts to end the death penalty and to establish a cabinet-level Department of Peace.

"These issues reflect our unique and progressive grassroots campaign that you have helped build. To expand our insurgent campaign, please donate.

"Sincerely,

"Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich
http://www.kucinich.us


"P.S.

"Attached is my Audio Postcard to you. To see and hear it, please turn up your speakers, and click here.

"The message you will instantly hear is my message to activists across the country on Peace Day, September 21.

"Remember that it's even better to send postcards than to receive them, so when you have the card on your screen, please send it to friends."

	:: N		12:45 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Nigeria: Amina Lawal's death sentence quashed

News Release from Amnesty International, 25 September

Amnesty International welcomes the decision today by the Sharia Court of Appeal of Katsina State, in northern Nigeria to quash Amina Lawal's sentence to death by stoning handed down by a Sharia court at Bakori, in Katsina State on 22 March 2002.

According to her defence lawyer, Amina Lawal was freed on the grounds that neither the conviction nor the confession were legally valid. Therefore no offence as such was established.

"Amina Lawal's case should not have been brought to a court of law in the first instance. Nobody should ever be made to go through a similar ordeal," Amnesty International said ...

Amina Lawal was found guilty by a Sharia Court in March 2002 after bearing a child outside marriage. Under new Sharia Penal Legislations in force in several northern Nigerian states since 1999, this was sufficient for her to be convicted of the offence of adultery as defined in the new Sharia Penal laws of Katsina state and summoned to appear before a Sharia tribunal to respond to this charge which now carries the mandatory punishment of death by stoning.

How Much More Suffering under Sharia Penal Legislation? Take action!
All AI Documents on Nigeria

	:: Pip		5:35 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac September 26 | Some of today

Satan urinates on blackberries, Scotland
Yesterday was the last day for picking blackberries because the devil poisons them today by urinating on them (Old Michaelmas Day, October 11, in parts of England).

Fourth Friday in September: Native American Day (USA)
“This day is set aside to honor and celebrate Native Americans, the first Americans to live in the U.S. Still commonly referred to as American Indians, the term "Native Americans" has been used in recent years as a sign of respect and recognition that they were indeed the first people to populate our wonderful nation. By the time the first explorers and settlers arrived from Europe, Native Americans had populated the entire North American Continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the northern reaches of Canada.” Source

70 CE Jerusalem fell to the legions of Roman Emperor Vespasian (Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, November 18, 9 CE - June 23, 79), under Titus, ending the Jewish War, despite the besieged fortress of Masada holding out for another three years. After the sacking of Jerusalem, all that remained was the Wailing Wall.

1580 Francis Drake completed the first round-the-world voyage by an Englishman, in the Golden Hind, bringing treasure and spices back to England. (Some sources say September 20.)

“Elizabeth Sydenham, wife of Sir Francis Drake, advised that her husband had been killed by the Spaniards, was on her way to marry another man when a bolt of lightning struck the ground at her very feet. Elizabeth interpreted it as a sign that her husband was still alive and called off the wedding. Later Sir Francis returned from his naval expedition ...alive and well.” Source


1824 Kapiolani defies Pele (Hawaiian volcano goddess) and lives.

Hawaiian legends tell that eruptions were caused by Pele, the beautiful but tempestuous Goddess of Volcanoes, during her frequent moments of anger. Pele was both revered and feared; her immense power and many adventures figured prominently in ancient Hawaiian songs and chants. She could cause earthquakes by stamping her feet and volcanic eruptions and fiery devastation by digging with the Pa'oe, her magic stick. An oft-told legend describes the long and bitter quarrel between Pele and her older sister Namakaokahai that led to the creation of the chain of volcanoes that form the islands. Source: The Daily Bleed

	:: Pip		1:05 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Bomb scare evacuates 'cheeky darkie' host's station

"A bomb threat linked to New Zealand's leading current affairs broadcaster, Paul Holmes – who this week apologised for calling UN chief Kofi Annan a 'cheeky darkie' - has forced the evacuation of the radio station he works for.

"New Zealand Press Association said today a caller was understood to have told Newstalk ZB in Auckland that a bomb would go off unless Holmes was taken off the air.

"Earlier this week, on his morning radio show, Holmes referred to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a 'cheeky darkie' ...

"As the bomb threat was made, debate in NZ over Holmes's comments continued to rage.

"A producer of Television New Zealand's (TVNZ) evening Holmes show has resigned and other staff are also believed to want to leave the program ..."
Source

	:: Pip		11:25 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac September | And the winner is ...
Monthly Award for Best Comment
The winner of the Best Comment Award for August comments, is Michael, who left his mark a number of times during the week of 08/24/2003 - 08/30/2003.

Michael, we don't know your email address, so please contact us for your prizes. And congratulations!

	:: Pip		9:32 PM

	:: Pip		7:16 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac September 24, 1912 BCE | Solar eclipse
According to Kevin Pang, a Pasadena, California, USA, geology consultant, when 4th century BCE Chinese philosopher Motze wrote, in his account of a battle some 1,500 years earlier, "The sun rose at night", he was referring to a total solar eclipse that took place on this day. The sun’s re-emergence from behind the moon was thus recorded as a nocturnal sunrise.

Because Pang knew where precisely where the battle took place, by astronomical calculations done by a computer program by Kevin Yau of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it was possible to discover the eclipse of September 24, 1912 BC and thus understand what event Motze was referring to.

Kevin Pang’s work on celestial portents and the fall of Constantinople

	:: Pip		7:10 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac September 24 | Day of Obatalá
Day of Obatalá, West Africa, Orisha/Santeria
Obatalá, the King of the White Cloth, the first potter and sculptor, is the oldest Orisha. He is considered to be the Father of all the other Orishas. In Haiti, Obatala is known as Damballah, the primordial serpent. When he possesses his children, they move about on the floor in the manner of snakes.

	:: Pip		4:08 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac September 24, 1652 | Highwayman James Hide

1652 English highwayman, Captain James Hind, known by every man and woman in England for his daring crimes, was executed at Newgate Prison. Hind grew up in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, the son of a saddler, served an apprenticeship and worked as a butcher for two years until running away from his disagreeable master.

He went up to London, where he met and teamed up with Thomas Allen, a prominent highwayman. On one occasion they bailed up none other than Oliver Cromwell and his seven bodyguards, but were overpowered by the latter. Tom Allen died on the gallows for this crime, but James Hind somehow managed to make his escape.

A battle of the Bible
Another time on the road, Captain Hind met Hugh Peters, who was one of the Puritan republicans responsible for the death of King Charles I, and commanded him to hand over his purse. Peters, a religious man, regaled Hind with verses from the Bible. “It is written in the Law”’ he chastised the highwayman, “that thou shalt not steal. And furthermore, Solomon, who was surely a very wise man, speaketh in this manner: ‘Rob not the poor, because he is poor’.”
Hind decided to debate his victim in kind, and challenge Peters for his crime of regicide. “Verily,” said Hind, “if thou hadst regarded the divine precepts as thou oughtest to have done, thou wouldst not have wrested them to such an abominable and wicked sense as thou didst the words of the prophet, when he saith, ‘Bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron’. Didst thou not, thou detestable hypocrite, endeavour from these words to aggravate the misfortunes of thy Royal master, whom thy accursed republican party unjustly murdered before the door of his own palace?”

Here Hugh Peters began to make excuses for the king’s assassination, and brought forward other parts of Scripture in his defence, and also to preserve his money. “Pray, sir,” replied Hind, “make no reflections on my profession; for Solomon plainly says, ‘Do not despise a thief’; but it is to little purpose for us to dispute. The substance of what I have to say is this: deliver thy money presently, or else I shall send thee out of the world to thy master in an instant.”
These words of the captain so frightened the old Presbyterian that he gave him thirty broad-pieces of gold, and then the highwayman and regicide parted. However, Hind was not thoroughly satisfied with letting such a notorious enemy to the Crown get off so lightly. He rode after Peters at full speed, caught up with him and cheekily said to him: “Sir, now I think of it, I am convinced that this misfortune has happened to you because you did not obey the words of the Scripture, which say expressly, ‘Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses for your journey’; whereas it is evident that you had provided a pretty deal of gold. However, as it is now in my power to make you fulfil another command, I would by no means slip the opportunity. Therefore pray give me your cloak.”

Understandably, Peters was dumbfounded. Hind explained himself, quoting from the New Testament: “You know, sir, our Saviour has commanded, that if any man take away thy cloak, thou must not refuse thy coat also; therefore I cannot suppose you will act in direct contradiction to such an express direction, especially now you can't pretend you have forgot it, because I have reminded you of your duty.” The old Puritan hesitated, then delivered his coat, which Hind was delighted to receive, and no doubt the highwayman went on his way laughing heartily.

A 17th-century Robin Hood?
As might be expected, perhaps, an aura of the Robin Hood kind grew up around the highwayman, and many stories were told of his kindness, sympathy and generosity to the poor. Once, he came upon a poor man riding on an ass. He rode up to meet him, and asked him very courteously where he was going. The old man replied, “To the market at Wantage, to buy me a cow, that I may have some milk for my children.” “How many children,” asked Hind, “may you have?” The old man answered ten. “And how much do you think to give for a cow?” Hind asked the peasant. “I have but forty shillings, master, and that I have been saving together these two years,” came the answer.

Hind felt compassion for the man, but he needed money, so what could he do? He quickly thought of an plan that would serve both him and the old man too. “Father,” he said, “the money you have got about you I must have at this time; but I will not wrong your children of their milk. My name is Hind, and if you will give me your forty shillings quietly, and meet me again this day sevennight at this place, I promise to make the sum double. Only be cautious that you never mention a word of the matter to anybody between this and that.” Sure enough, a fortnight later the old man came, and Hind was as good as his word, suggesting that he buy two cows, instead of one, and adding twenty shillings to the sum promised, so that the peasant could purchase the best cow in the market.

On Friday, December 12, 1651, Captain James Hind was brought to the bar of the sessions house in the Old Bailey Courts, London, and indicted for several crimes; but nothing being proved against him that could reach his life, he was con veyed in a coach from Newgate to Reading in Berkshire, where on the 1st of March, 1651, he was arraigned before Judge Warberton for killing one George Sympson at Knole, a small village in that county. The evidence here was undeniable, and he was found guilty of wilful murder.

In early September, 1652, he was condemned for high treason, and on the 24th he was drawn, hanged and quartered, aged only 34. At the place of execution he declared that most of the robberies that he had ever committed were upon the republican party, of whose principles he professed he always had an utter abhorrence.

After he was executed his head was set upon the Bridge Gate, over the River Severn, whence it was privately taken down and buried within the week. His quarters were put upon the other gates of the city, where they remained till they were destroyed by wind and weather.

Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email

	:: Pip		2:15 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Kofi Anna's UN speech

	:: Pip		2:14 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Can this be fair?

Grassroots movement in USA to avoid cost of repairing Iraq damage

There is an email (*see below) that is doing the rounds of the Net, and it's just one example of a growing, widespread movement in America. The new movement opposes granting Bush $87 billion for reconstruction work in Iraq. The argument generally made is that Americans deserve to have the money spent on them more than Iraqis do. "Why should we send all that money to Iraq when our own economy is down the hole?" is the line generally taken.

While one sympathises with anyone who resents giving Bush a dime, one must ask whether this attitude is fair. Shrub might have got into power with a minority of the votes of the electorate, but he did have most Americans backing him to the hilt when it came to invading the sovereign nation of Iraq.

Survey after survey reveals, astonishingly, that the majority opinion in the USA is that Iraq (and Afghanistan) had involvement in the Twin Towers event. We know that Bush invaded Afghanistan not to catch bin Laden – after all, the Taliban offered to turn him over to an international court or third party country – but to secure oil and gas pipelines. By now everybody has heard the fact that Bush did not invade Iraq to stop "Weapons of Mass Destruction", for the evidence was always abundant that there were none.

Now we learn that something like 60 or 70 per cent of Bush's electorate actually believes that the USA has already found WMDs in Iraq, and 70 per cent believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9-11! This in spite of the fact that Hussein and bin Laden were as much enemies as Bush and Castro. How can millions of people be so unaware of the facts?

Obviously the fact that the USA has the most restricted media outside totalitarian states is affecting these figures – our American brothers and sisters simply are not getting the news and commentary that the rest of the world is enjoying. I heard somewhere recently that something like 98 per cent of the TV programming in America is actually from America. Compare this with any other country: in Australia probably about 70 per cent of our programming comes from overseas, such as Britain, USA, as well as many countries in Europe and Asia (mostly). My American friends constantly complain to me that all they get is "Made in America" news and current affairs. This is so sad. No wonder Bush had such a mandate for his Machiavellian schemes. Americans go to war to learn geography.

The US, not Iraq or the UN, must take responsibility
So now we have this strange situation that all these Americans – most of whom, I'm sure, are probably decent people at heart, but fed by false information from this bullying, lying president and media with vested interests in military sales – all these Americans who wanted to blast innocent Iraqi families to smithereens, now don't want to patch up the immense damage they caused. Can this be fair?

The arguments posed by organisations like the National Priorities Project (below) sound very persuasive, even compassionate. It's politics of the warm inner glow. "Let's not spend money in Iraq, let's spend the money on soccer balls for Jimmy and Jenny; let's build new hospitals in Oklahoma. We need that money to patch the pot-holes in Elm Street."

Well, I understand that sentiment. I want the pot-holes patched in Ironbark Drive. I want free dental, not just fee medical. We Aussies would like a few more library books too, and I sure need a job. But hang on a minute here. These Moms and Pops who want $87 billion spent on projects in the world's richest hyper-nation, and here in Oz, are the same Moms and Pops and Mums and Dads I saw back in February squealing that all those towel-heads and sand-niggers had to be murdered "because of what they done to America on September 11". You couldn't reason with those people then, and you can't reason with them now.

We of the compassionate tendency of politics always like to blame Bush and those truly diabolical neo-cons like Rumsfeld, Perl, Rove and Wolfowitz, as well we might. We always point the finger at General Electric/NBC, Westinghouse, Fox, Rupert Murdoch, the military-industrial complex, but never, ever at ordinary citizens. However, let us never forget that those near-fascists of the Bush cabal have killed tens of thousands of people lately, not all by themselves, but with the enthusiastic, vociferous, jingoistic, self-righteous, racist and blood-chilling support of the majority of the American people. There. I've said it. It seems that no one else on the progressive side will.

I put my case thus: How dare our American cousins abrogate their responsibility to clean up some of the mess they so wilfully and heartlessly caused our Iraqi and Afghan cousins? To the American people, whom I have always loved and defended through thick and thin, I say this: You upfucked it, now you go fix it. Restore electricity to the Moms and Pops of Iraq and Afghanistan. Send in food and medicines. Provide the same grief counsellors you send in when one of your corporations "downsizes" its staff. Airlift in textbooks, computers and advisers on sustainable agriculture and permaculture. Restore the water supply and transportation where you bombed the pipelines, bridges and roads. (I am assuming here that you did not believe the 6 o'clock news's deceitful representation of the two Gulf Wars as being clean, precise and victimless.)

Your troops, on orders, stood by and deliberately allowed hospitals to be looted – send not $87 billion to build new hospitals, send $870 billion. In your lust for the rivers of prosperity and comfort that flow from Middle Eastern petroleum, it was you who placed such unwarranted sanctions on Iraq that some 500,000 completely innocent Iraqi babies and kiddies died of malnutrition and disease between 1992 and 2003. It was America that blew up the public buildings and utilities of Iraq and beautiful Afghanistan, and it is the once-proud America (which is addicted to boasting to the other 190 countries of being the world's greatest nation) that must rebuild them. Let's put an end now to this distasteful clamour to keep American dollars at home.

Yesterday in the United Nations, President George W Bush, having previously done his utmost to destroy that necessary institution, came unctuously begging for the other nations of the world to come in and pay for the ruin that his country is still inflicting on Iraqi men, women and children. To use a New York idiom "De noive of dat guy!" Old Beady Eyes' smarmy oration came shortly after an excellent speech by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, who sensibly pointed out that this awful US policy of "pre-emptive invasion" is a dangerous precedent that bodes ill for world peace. Hear! Hear!

Friends in America (and Britain and Australia): You turned these countries into rubble. Now you go and fix them up. And please, no more of these simpering emails telling me that we should be spending this money on building new locker rooms for college athletes and sandpits for our fat, whingeing children. At least, not while most of the world is near starving and getting mighty, mighty pissed off with our self-centred ways.

	:: Pip		10:01 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Blogmaniacs, please spread the word

Holden website will donate $1 to leukaemia patient support for every person who clicks

Your click can help drive a cure for Australians living with leukaemia. Visit the Holden website home page at

http://www.holden.com.au

and click on the button where it says. With every click Holden will donate $1 to Leukaemia Foundation patient support.

It costs nothing to click, takes only a few moments and no personal details are required. The more people who click, the more Holden donates to the Leukaemia Foundation – so make sure you forward this to your family and friends too. The Leukaemia Foundation is a national organisation dedicated to the care and cure of Australians living with leukaemia and related blood disorders. The patient transport program is just one way that the Leukaemia Foundation provides practical assistance to help patients and their families. As a supporter of the Leukaemia Foundation, Holden provides vehicles for the national patient transport program. The Holden-provided cars travel in excess of 400,000 kms a year, transporting patients to and from their treatment sessions. Every click you make will enable the Leukaemia Foundation to extend their mission of care.

	:: N		9:44 AM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Dangerrrr! cats could alter your personality

[When my son told me about this report I insisted to him that it must be a spoof, but apparently it's not!]

from The Sunday Times
Jonathan Leake, Science Editor
September 21

"They may look like lovable pets but Britain’s estimated 9m domestic cats are being blamed by scientists for infecting up to half the population with a parasite that can alter people’s personalities.

"The startling figures emerge from studies into toxoplasma gondii, a parasite carried by almost all the country’s feline population. They show that half of Britain’s human population carry the parasite in their brains, and that infected people may undergo slow but crucial changes in their behaviour.

"Infected men, suggests one new study, tend to become more aggressive, scruffy, antisocial and are less attractive. Women, on the other hand, appear to exhibit the “sex kitten” effect, becoming less trustworthy, more desirable, fun-loving and possibly more promiscuous.

"Interestingly, for those who draw glib conclusions about national stereotypes, the number of people infected in France is much higher than in the UK.

"The findings will not please cat lovers. The research — conducted at universities in Britain, the Czech Republic and America — was sponsored by the Stanley Research Medical Institute of Maryland, a leading centre for the study of mental illness."

Read on (if you dare) here

	:: Pip		3:02 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Some more about Virgil

Yesterday we had a brief item about the Latin poet, Virgil, on the anniversary of his death. Here is a bit more about the author of the Aeneid and many wonderful poems:

Virgil: larger than life
Many fables were told about this Roman poet whose persona grew to mythological proportions by the time of the Middle Ages.


His birth was announced by an earthquake in Rome, and he grew to be skilled in the magical arts, or so it is said. Virgil made a lamp that lit every street in Rome; he was said to have founded the city of Naples upon eggs, as a magical charm for protection. On one of Naples's gateways he erected two statues: one had a happy face, the other a deformed and miserable one. If one was to enter the town near the happy statue, that person would prosper; if near the sad statue, the person would have a contrary fate. On another gate he erected a statue of a fly, the presence of which kept out flies from Naples for eight years.

He built baths that cured all ills, and surrounded his house with a stream of air that served as a wall. Virgil also constructed a bridge of brass which took him anywhere he pleased.

A beautiful woman whom he courted told him to come to her castle tower by night. She would let down a basket on a rope for him to ascend; but she left him dangling halfway up the tower wall.

When the Emperor of Rome was troubled by rumours of rebellion, he called on the poet, who made for him a statue representing each of the provinces, and one representing Rome. The former all turned their backs on the latter, and rang bells, thus warning the emperor of the coming rebellion.

Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email

	:: Pip		2:24 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Iraq: Coast is clear, time to do what we came for

Privatisation ... and privateers
Don't let this one slip through the news cracks: yesterday was another black day for Iraq.

The BBC reports on how America is selling off the assets of the Iraqi people. From this day on, the laws that have just been passed by Bush's puppet government in Baghdad say that foreign companies can own what they like in Iraq and have no responsibility to keep any part of the profits in that country. For all Saddam Hussein's horrible excesses, much of the means of production, distribution and consumption of good and services was owned by the state, and by Iraqis. Not any more

State socialism certainly has its own way of exploitation, but at least Iraqis had free education and health care and many other civilised features enjoyed by almost all advanced societies – with the notable exception of America – and the profits of enterprise stayed in the same country as the workers. Bush and Co. are ideologically opposed to such nonsense and have put an end to it, according to plans laid down years ago. As predicted here, the real purpose of the invasion is now underway. The hard work of Iraqi men and women will now pay for the lifestyles of the rich and almost-rich corporate invaders, and Iraq's resources will be bled dry. Oil will nominally remain a state enterprise, but only under the advantageous terms of the Bush cartel and their party donors and friends:

Iraq adopts sweeping economic reforms
"The American-backed administration in Iraq has announced sweeping economic reforms, including the sale of all state industries except for oil.

"The surprise announcement by Iraqi Finance Minister Kamel al-Keylani dominated the second day of meetings organised by the International Monetary Fund in Dubai.

"The recently-appointed minister unveiled a string of reforms that analysts said read like a manifesto devised by Washington, signing off 30 years of Saddam Hussein and the socialist Baath Party.

"Al-Keylani said liberalisation of foreign investment, the banking sector, taxes and tariffs would 'significantly advance efforts to build a free and open market economy in Iraq'.

"But the BBC's Nick Springate, in Baghdad, says many ordinary Iraqis will see the moves as a big sell-off with predominantly multi-national, American companies viewed as getting 'rewards' ..."
Source

	:: Pip		1:39 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Blogmanac news and hospital call

Welcome back Nora!
I'm pleased to pass on the news that Nora Ui Dhuibhir has come back to the Blogmanac team. As you might recall, Nora had to leave recently due to ill health; she is still, unfortunately, having a pretty rough time with that, but our Irish correspondent wants to continue sharing her insightful and often funny posts with Blogmanac readers. I'm delighted Nora's back and look forward to reading her messages again. Nora tells me she might not be able to post as often as before, but I'm just happy that we'll be hearing from her at all. Good health, Nora, and welcome back!

	:: Pip		1:13 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Moon brings green power to Arctic living

"Households on the Arctic tip of Norway are getting power from the moon through a unique undersea power station driven by the rise and fall of the tides.

"On Saturday, near the town of Hammerfest, a tidal current in a sea channel, caused by the gravitational tug of the moon on the Earth, started turning the 10-metre blades of a turbine bolted to the seabed to generate electricity for the local grid.

"The prototype looks like an underwater windmill and is expected to generate about 700,000 kilowatt hours of non-polluting energy a year – enough to light and heat about 30 homes.

"'This is the first time in the world that electricity from a tidal current has been fed into a power grid,' said Harald Johansen, the managing director of Hammerfest Stroem, which has led the project ..."
Source

	:: Pip		6:07 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac | Similarities of ancient gods to Jesus

New page posted at the Scriptorium
Well, it's not exactly new, but much updated, and I've given it its own space – it used to live on the Christmas folklore page. This page is an ongoing project: a comparison of various ancient gods with Jesus Christ. It looks at who was born of a virgin, who was called "Light of the World", who was crucified or "hung on a tree" for enlightenment, and so on. Here's a snippet:

"Krishna was born of the virgin Devaki in a cave, which at the time of his birth was miraculously illuminated. The cow-herds adored his birth. King Kansa sought the life of the Indian Christ by ordering the massacre of all male children born during the same night ..."

"Mithras was known as: Saviour; Son of God; Redeemer; Lamb of God; the Way, the Truth and the Light; Messiah."

"In the catacombs at Rome today can be found pictures of the baby Horus being held by the Virgin Isis-Meri in what scholars have claimed is the original 'Madonna and Child'."


I'm continually adding to this page, so you can come back and drop in from time to time. I hope you enjoy Gods and saviours and their similarities to Jesus Christ.

	:: Pip		5:52 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac September 21, 1866 | HG Wells

A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own.
HG Wells, English social activist and writer, born on September 21, 1866

There was no aloofness or coldness in approaching him, no barriers to break down as with most Englishmen; his twinkling eyes were like those of a mischievous boy.
Margaret Sanger, American feminist, on her former lover, HG Wells

1866 HG (Herbert George) Wells (d. August 13, 1946), English social activist and writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine.

"Part of Wells' Utopian vision was one in which all codes of sexual behavior had been abolished, and he refers to this as well in Days of the Comet: "The old-time men and women went apart in couples, into defensive little houses, like beasts into little pits, and in these 'homes' they sat down purposing to love, but really coming very soon to jealous watching of this extravagant mutual proprietorship. All freshness passed very speedily out of their love, out of their conversation, all pride out of their common life. To permit each other freedom was blank dishonour."
Wells's love life
More on Wells
And more
HG Wells bibliography including his utopian and socialist books

	:: Pip		5:31 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac September 21, 1995 | New Delhi's Milk Miracle

1995 The milk miracle of New Delhi, India which spread worldwide and finished in 24 hours as suddenly as it had started.

“It all began on September 21st when an otherwise ordinary man in New Delhi dreamt that Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed God of Wisdom, craved a little milk. Upon awakening, he rushed in the dark before dawn to the nearest temple, where a skeptical priest allowed him to proffer a spoonful of milk to the small stone image. Both watched in astonishment as it disappeared, magically consumed by the God.

"What followed is unprecedented in modern Hindu history. Within hours news had spread like a brush fire across India that Ganesha was accepting milk offerings. Tens of millions of people of all ages flocked to the nation's temples. The unworldly happening brought worldly New Delhi to a standstill, and its vast stocks of milk - more than a million liters - sold out within hours. Just as suddenly as it started in India, it stopped in just 24 hours.” Source (with video)

Crying, bleeding, milking ... similar miracles

	:: Pip		5:26 PM

*Ø* Blogmanac September 21 | A little about today from the Almanac

Feast day of Raud the Strong, Norway
Martyrdom of Raud the Strong by the King of Norway, Olav Tryggvason, commemorated on the eve of Autumnal Equinox. He was tortured and died rather than give up the old Norse gods.


Feast of Kuodor-Gup, Selkup, Siberia
God of Riches. Source: The Daily Bleed

19 BCE The Roman poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, b. October 15, 70 BCE), aged 50, died in the port of Brindisii (Brundisium) upon his return from Greece, having removed from his last will an earlier request that the Aeneid be burned upon his death.

1327 England's King Edward II (b. April 25, 1284) was murdered in the dungeons of Berkeley Castle, allegedly by a red hot poker being shoved in his rectum, at the bidding of his estranged and ambitious wife, Queen Isabella of France, whom the hapless homosexual had married on January 25, 1308.

"An alternative version of events, which has received little attention from historians, suggests that the body buried at Gloucester is not that of King Edward, but that he was allowed to escape to the Continent and survived many more years.” Source

1741 A fall of "angel’s hair"- an unknown fluffy substance - fell on Selborne, England, then became gelatinous, then evaporated away altogether. Similar experiences have happened in Japan (October 1, 679 CE and September 27, 1477) .

1968 In a bloody prelude to the Mexico City massacre of October 2 this year, in which more than 300 students were massacred by the police, cops raided the Tlatelolco district of the city and battled with students and other residents. A baby girl and at least three students were killed and many hundreds arrested during this battle. More

Ah, lives there a man with soul so dead,
who never to himself hath said
As he hunched and rolled in his comfortable bed:
To hell with the rent ... I'll drink instead!
Hunter S Thompson, The Proud Highway

1986 Hunter S Thompson claims he remained sober on this day.