|
|
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
Subscribe free to Almanac and Blogmanac ezines
Saturday, October 04, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac October 4 | So, Pip, what's on today?
 Jejunium Cereris, Fast of Ceres, ancient Rome
This Roman holiday was propitiatory, begun in 191 BCE after a series of disasters. Originally held every four years, by the reign of Augustus it was celebrated annually. Besides fasting, celebrants wore garlands in the Greek fashion. This holiday has certain similarities to the Greek holiday of Thesmophoria which also honored the grain goddess.
Blackburn, Bonnie & Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Oxford Companion to the Year, Oxford University Press 1999 Source: School of the Seasons
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair …
Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,
Mother Earth
who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
St Francis of Assisi, from Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon
It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.
St Francis of Assisi
 Feast day of St Francis of Assisi
Born the son of a wealthy merchant, Francis’s father rejected him for giving generously to Assisi's poor. The Portiuncula, his small chapel, soon became thronged with disciples. Francis of Assisi ecame famous for his love of nature, preaching even to birds. His mendicant friars lived in extreme poverty. He was canonised 1228.
His father had him beaten and fettered because he was giving everything away to the poor. He took Francis before the bishop, whereupon Francis renounced all his rights of ownership and inheritance, and stripped off his clothes as a sign of his taking up of poverty.
If any part of his habit was too soft, he darned it with pack-thread. He slept sitting on the ground. He rarely ate cooked food, and when he did, he sprinkled it with ashes. Yet he disappproved of indiscreet or insincere austerity. He averted his eyes from women, and hardly knew any by sight. He cried copiously and nearly went blind from tears. In one of his hymns, he spoke of his brother the Sun, his sister the Moon, his brother the Wind, his sister the Water. When dying, he said, "Welcome, sister Death". Leo, his secretary, said that he saw the saint levitate while praying. He had the stigmata; the wounds from his hands, feet and sides, though he at first tried to conceal them, wrought miracles. Pope Alexander IV publicly declared that he had seen the stigmata.
Francis is the patron saint of Italy, Italian merchants (due to his family's business), animals, animal welfare societies, ecology, and ecologists.
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
1895 Joseph Francis ‘Buster’ Keaton, American comic actor, director and screenwriter (The Navigator; The General)
How Joseph Francis became ‘Buster’
As a six-month-old baby, Joseph Francis Keaton fell down the staircase at the theatrical boarding house where his parents were staying. The accident was witnessed by an unknown by aspiring young magician and 'escapologist', Erich Weiss, who went by the stage name Hary Houdini.
Rushing over to the baby Keaton, Houdini found little Joe unharmed and actually laughing. Houdini told the Keatons, “That’s some buster your baby took”. The name stuck fast.
Waiting for Buster
Samuel Beckett wrote Waiting for Godot with Buster Keaton in mind.
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
1903 Otto Weininger took his own life, aged only 23.
“Otto Weininger's extraordinary life culminated in the publication of his timeless work Sex and Character. Soon after the publication he went to Italy to await results. There appeared to be none, and during the next four months an intellectual malady, described by his friends as "a too grave sense of responsibility," became acute. On October 4, 1903, at the age of 23, he took his own life.
"Sex and Character began to sell. It ran through printing after printing. It was translated into innumerable languages, and in a few years his publishers could declare with no more than pardonable exaggeration that no scientific book in the whole history of books had ever a greater success." Source
Weininger aphorisms
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Necrophiliac ducks, clever cabbies and reluctant sheep
The Annual Ig Nobel Awards
By Mark Henderson, at The Times
"When a male mallard duck flew into the glass façade of Rotterdam’s Natural History Museum in 1995, Kees Moeliker had little idea that he was about to witness a landmark in biological science.
"Upon hearing a loud bang a floor below his office, the scientist rushed to investigate. He found the bird’s lifeless body on the ground — and another drake 'raping the corpse'.
"Eight years later, Dr Moeliker’s contribution to ornithological knowledge has finally been recognised. His seminal paper, entitled The First Case of Homosexual Necrophilia in the Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, was honoured last night with an Ig Nobel prize, commemorating achievements that 'cannot or should not be reproduced'.
"The study of the unfortunate duck, which won the biology prize, was one of ten remarkable pieces of research cited in Harvard University’s annual Ig Nobel awards, the Nobel Prize spoof that celebrates bizarre and apparently pointless science."
Read more of this lunacy and the roll of dishonour
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Friday, October 03, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac October 3 | Oschophoria, ancient Greece
 The Bearing of Green Branches to commemorate Theseus's return
The Oschophoria was a festival celebrated in Attica, according to some writers celebrated in honour of Athena and Dionysus, according to others Dionysus and Ariadne. Dionysus was the Greek god of wine and ecstasy, known to the Romans as Bacchus, and is pictured here with his companion Pan in a sculpture by Michelangelo.
Said to have been instituted by Theseus, this was a vintage festival, its name derived from the word for a branch of a vine with grapes.
The Greek myth states that when Theseus left Athens, he took with him three girls and two boys dresses as girls. After he killed the minotaur and returned to Athens he was crowned with a wreath of olive leaves. However, because his father died he put the crown on his staff and not on his head. The festival of Dionysus was being commemorated when he returned, and he placed the two boys that were dressed like women at the front of the procession. Consequently, in the procession during the Oschophorian celebrations, two men dressed like women carried vine-branches from the temple of Dionysus to the temple of Athena Skira. They were accompanied by a herald with a wreath wrapped around his staff. Also in the procession were women who carried the sacred foods for the feast. Some of the meat became a burnt offering for the gods, with the remainder eaten or divided up for the participants to take home. When the procession reached the temple, stories were told and many songs sung. The women usually prepared the dinner and narrated myths. Athletic games were also played during the Oschophoria.
We note that October 3 in the Roman Catholic tradition is also the Feast day of St Dionysius, the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens, martyr. Downy helenium, Helenium pubescens, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.
The god Dionysus (Bacchus) and his drunken festivals (new at the Scriptorium)
The Greek/Roman god and the Dionysia and Bacchanalia
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | New York leads the way
From Lisa:
Verified Voting - Campaign To Demand Verifiable Election Results
The 'Voter Confidence Act' - HR 2239
Representative Rush Holt and over 30 cosponsors have introduced a bill that would require a voter-verifiable audit trail on every voting system.
It's called the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 (H.R. 2239).
If we can get this bill passed, we won't have to fight, state by state and county by county, to preserve democratic elections.
We urgently need to get H.R. 2239 passed.
CONTINUE to see what you can do.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Reclusive Irish Nuns on the Internet
DUBLIN (Reuters)
 "A reclusive order of Irish nuns has opened itself up to the outside world for the first time by launching a Web site to spread the good news. The Poor Clare nuns, who take vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, say the information superhighway will help them bring comfort to those in need of spiritual guidance.
"They usually only communicate with visitors, and even family members, by talking through iron bars at their closed monastery in Galway, western Ireland.
"'This is another way in which they can engage with the world through prayer and contemplation,' said a spokesman for The Conference of Religious, an umbrella group for Ireland's religious orders. [I take it they won't be surfing! And a brief look at the site suggests they have no email contact address. But it's still a far cry from iron bars. - N]
"The Web site, www.poorclares.ie, depicts the nuns baking at the monastery, and suggests daily prayer ideas. Its launch coincides with the 750th anniversary of the death of St. Clare, the founder of the order, who is also the patron saint of television."
Source
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Thursday, October 02, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac | One for the coffee break
Some brain-teasers for you. They’re from Mensa, published at the Irish Times here. You're given the answer to item 0 to show how the test works. See how many you can get and I’ll post the answers in a few days. 23 correct answers is apparently genius level! (You might like to copy and paste this to do later.) Me? Well so far I’ve got 8 ... Let us know how you do in the 'Comment' box below!
 (0) 24 H in a D. Answer: 24 hours in a day.
(1) 26 L of the A. (2) 7 D of the W. (3) 7 W of the W. (4) 12 S of the Z. (5) 66 B of the B. (6) 52 C in a P (W Js). (7) 13 S in the USF. (8) 18 H on a G C. (9) 39 B of the O T. (10) 5 T on a F. (11) 90 D in a RA. (12) 3 B M (S H T R). (13) 32 is the T in D F at which W F. (14) 15 P in a R T. (15) 3 W on a T. (16) 100 C in a D. (17) 11 P in a F (S) T. (18) 12 M in a Y. (19) 13=UFS. (20) 8 T on an O. (21) 29 D in F in a L Y. (22) 27 B in the N T. (23) 365 D in a Y. (24) 13 L in a B D. (25) 52 W in a Y. (26) 9 L of a C. (27) 60 M in an H. (28) 23 P of C in the H B. (29) 64 S on a C B. (30) 9 P in S A. (31) 6 B to an O in C. (32) 1000 Y in a M. (33) 15 M on a D M C.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Wednesday, October 01, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac October 1, 1847 | Annie Besant: Social activist who lit a match
 Annie Besant (October 1, 1847- September 20, 1933), English social reformer, author (The Political Status of Women,1874; Marriage, As It Was, As It Is, And As It Should Be: A Plea For Reform, 1878; The Law Of Population, 1877) and worldwide head of the Theosophy movement.
Born Annie Wood in Clapham, London, her childhood was unhappy after her father's death when she was five. Besant was educated by Ellen Marryat, sister of the noted writer of sea adventures, Frederick Marryat. Miss Marryat was a strict Calvinist, but she saw to it that Annie's education was not too narrow and included travel in Europe. In 1867, Annie Wood married a vicar, Frank Besant, resulting in the birth of two children, but her increasingly irreligious views – when she refused to attend communion, Frank ordered her to leave the family home – led to a legal separation in 1873, with her husband retaining custody of their son (and she later lost custody of their daughter because of her progressive views). At this point, Annie Besant completely rejected Christianity and in 1874 joined the Secular Society.
She studied science at university, something considered very unfeminine at the time, but did not ever take her degree, because there “was one examiner in the University who told her beforehand that however brilliantly she might do the papers which were set, he would not pass her, because he had a strong antipathy toward her atheism and to certain of her activities for the masses, which he considered immoral” (Nethercot, Arthur H, The First Five Lives of Annie Besant, p. 186).
Advocate of contraception
Annie Besant was a member of the National Secular Society, which preached 'free thought' and of the Fabian Society, the noted socialist organisation whose members included George Bernard Shaw and Sidney and Beatrice Webb. In the 1870s, Besant edited, with National Secular Society founder Charles Bradlaugh, the weekly National Reformer, which advocated such advanced ideas as trade unions, national education, women's right to vote, and contraception.
In 1877 Besant and Bradlaugh were convicted of selling birth control pamphlets in the slums of London; in court they argued that “we think it more moral to prevent conception of children than, after they are born, to murder them by want of food, air and clothing.” They were sentenced to six months imprisonment for publishing “an obscene libel”, but the verdict was overturned on appeal and the publicity helped to liberalise public attitudes. However, her activism in this case cost Annie custody of her daughter, Mabel, whose custody was awarded to Frank Besant on his application.
Besant soon wrote and published her own book advocating birth control, The Law of Population. That a woman would advocate birth-control received wide-publicity, with newspapers such as The Times of London accusing Besant of writing “an indecent, lewd, filthy, bawdy and obscene book”.
The Bryant & May ‘Matchgirls Strike’
After joining the Social Democratic Federation, Annie started her own campaigning newspaper, The Link. On June 23, 1888, Besant wrote an article in The Link, entitled ‘White Slavery in London’, the consequence of which was a three-week strike among the employees of the Bryant & May match company, whose female workers worked fourteen hours a day for a wage of less than five shillings a week ...
Read the story of Annie Besant: Social activist who lit a match, newly uploaded at the Scriptorium.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Tuesday, September 30, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac | The awful truth about Wesley Clark
After his honeymoon period with the media, comes a barrage of criticisms of Wesley Clark (seen below clowning around and swapping hats with Serbian war criminal and mass murderer, Ratko Mladic). This article comes from a page full of Clark info – scary info, like that the Presidential wannabe was in great part responsible for the Waco massacre, and less than honest with the American people, as seen below.
The Democrats have Kucinich, which is all they need. Let's hope they stand with him and let Wesley Clark get back to the big toy box.
 "In an article in last Thursday's Toronto Star, reporter Tim Harper uncovered the identity of the man who supposedly called Wesley Clark on Sept. 11, 2001, urging him to go on CNN and blame Saddam Hussein for the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
"Clark, you'll remember, told Tim Russert last June that the attempt to link Saddam and 9/11 'came from the White House, it came from people around the White House, it came from all over. I got a call on 9/11. I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, "You've got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism.'"'
"Clark eventually admitted that he never received a call from the White House. Instead, he talked to 'a man from a – of a Middle East think tank in Canada, the man who's the brother of a very close friend of mine in Belgium.' Clark's explanation threw THE SCRAPBOOK for a loop, because we couldn't locate a 'Middle East think tank in Canada.' But according to Harper, the man who called Clark was Thomas Hecht, who heads the one-man Montreal office for the Israel-based Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies."
Read more of this eye-opening stuff on Clark
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac September 30 | The Greater Eleusinian Mysteries, ancient Greece
Eighth and final day
"Eleusinia ... The eighth day was called Epidaurion Hemera, because once Aesculapius, at his return from Epidaurus to Athens, was initiated by the repetition of the lesser mysteries. It became customary, therefore, to celebrate them a second time upon this, that such as had not hitherto been initiated might be lawfully admitted."
(Lempriere, Dict.)
 The Eleusinian mysteries, ancient Greece
The time of the full moon during the Greek month of Boedromion marked the beginning of the Eleusinian mysteries, which began with a procession to Eleusis, a small town about twenty-two kilometres north-west of Athens, where the ceremonies were celebrated. Held annually in honour of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone (aka Kore), these were the most sacred and revered of all the ritual celebrations of ancient Greece.
Drinking of the kykeon (a mix of barley and pennyroyal) was an “act of religious remembrance” involving “an observance of an act of the Goddess” (Mylonas, George E, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries). Some scholars argue that the Eleusinian mysteries took place because the kykeon might have contained barley which, like many other grains when aged, can contain the fungus ergot which contains LSA, a precursor to LSD.
The Greater Mysteries took place in Boedromion (September) and lasted nine days. In the Hellenistic age (300-150 BCE), the cult was taken over and run by the state, with two aristocratic families (the Eumolpidae and Kerykes) from Eleusis officiating. The ceremony began in Athens; participants purified themselves by bathing in the sea, and also sacrificed a piglet.
The Telesterion
The eighth and final day was called the Second Initiation, with the rites taking place in caves and in the Telesterion, designed by Ictinos in the 5th Century BCE, which was an initiation hall capable of holding thousands of worshippers. There the initiates were shown Demeter’s hiera (sacred relics) that were housed in the interior chamber known as the Anaktoron (Palace), while the priestesses revealed their oracles of the holy night (probably via a fire that represented the possibility of life after death). This was the most arcane part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, with those who had been initiated forbidden ever to speak of the events that had taken place in the Telesterion.
Demeter (‘barley mother’ – her name is purely Greek, meaning ‘spelt mother’, spelt being a hardy variety of wheat.) was the Greek goddess of agriculture, health, birth and marriage. She was associated with the Roman goddess Ceres; also, she was the daughter of Cronos and Rhea, and therefore the sister of Zeus. Her priestesses were addressed with the title Melissa.
The daughter of Zeus and Demeter, Persephone (‘she who destroys the light’) (also Kore, ‘maiden;’ Roman equivalent: Proserpina) became the goddess of the underworld when Hades abducted her from the Earth and brought her into the underworld.
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
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
*Ø* Blogmanac | Medetrinalia, ancient Rome
Medetrinalia
A day for the Roman goddess of medicines: offerings of fruit were made to Meditrina. In Roman mythology, she was the goddess of medicines, goddess of health, longevity and wine. Festivals in her honour were also celebrated on October 3 and October 11.
Meditrina roughly equates with the Greek goddess Jaso, but differed from Medetrina’s sister Hygieia (they, and Panacea, were daughters of Asclepius and Salus) in that while the Greek goddess preserved good health, Meditrina’s role was to restore it.
“In the month of October [is] the Meditrinalia, 'Festival of Meditrina' ... on this day it was the practice to pour an offering of old and new wine ... and to taste of the same, for the purpose of being healed; which many are accustomed to do even now, when they say: ‘Wine new and old I drink, of illness new and old I'm cured’.”
(Varro, Ling. Lat. VI. 21)
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Plan to ban oral in world's largest Muslim nation
 "COHABITATION, oral sex and homosexual sex will soon become crimes in Indonesia if the justice ministry has its way, a ministry spokesman said Monday.
"The ministry is drafting an amendment to the country's criminal code to include acts not currently categorised as crimes but considered morally unacceptable.
"These include cohabitation, oral sex, extramarital and non-marital sex, sorcery aimed at hurting other people and homosexual sex, spokesman Sukartono Supangat said.
"'It's still in its early stage. We're still collecting input from various parties and experts,' he said.
"He said in addition to Dutch colonial law, the proposed amended criminal code will also adopt Islamic law, international conventions and tribal laws."
Source
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Weapon of Mass Destruction
How the US spied on a tiny island distillery
by Jim McBeth, at "The Scotsman"
"In the wavering image of a webcam, the figures moved with the sinister intent of those whose mission is mayhem. Thank heavens 'Ursula' was watching ...
"If the slightest possibility exists that Bruichladdich distillery on Islay is a threat to world peace, we need to know.
"For it has been revealed that Ursula, a spy with the US Defence Threat Reduction Agency -- 'Our mission to safeguard the US and its allies from weapons of mass destruction' -- has been monitoring the island distillery."
Full story here
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Myanmar must clarify Aung San Suu Kyi's fate
The Straits Times, 29 September
 "YANGON - Calls were mounted yesterday for the release of Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi as she remained under house arrest after nearly four months of detention in a secret location.
"Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who will host a summit of Asean leaders in Bali next month, reportedly urged the junta to make its plans for the opposition leader clear before the meeting.
"'The Myanmar government should state specifically whether it will keep Suu Kyi under house arrest or free her immediately. The road map over whether it will free Suu Kyi should be made clear,' she told The Jakarta Post newspaper.
"Otherwise the issue could cast a shadow over the summit, said Ms Megawati, who sent former foreign minister Ali Alatas to Yangon last week to persuade the military rulers to release the Nobel peace laureate ...
"The 58-year-old opposition leader was taken to her home on Friday after she was admitted to a private hospital in Yangon for major gynaecological surgery." -- AFP
Full text
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | World's oldest man dies
Next time someone tells you milk is bad for your health, show them this:
"The world's oldest man has died, aged 114.
"Yukichi Chuganji died at his home, in southern Japan.
"According to his son, the 114-year-old's last words were 'thank you, it was good' - spoken after he had been given some apple juice.
"Mr Chuganji was born in 1889 and later worked as a silkworm breeder.
"He liked to drink milk everyday, but did not consume alcohol.
"He had five children, seven grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
"Japan is also home to the world's oldest woman, 116-year-old Kamato Hongo.
"It is estimated that there are 20,000 people living in Japan who are 100 or older."
Source
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
Click: More toonimations
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Monday, September 29, 2003
*Ø* Blogmanac | GM crops? No thanks, say Britons
Britain delivers overwhelming verdict after unprecedented public opinion exercise
"The title of the debate was 'GM Nation?' But that is precisely what the British people do not want their country to be, according to the official report from the national consultation on genetically modified crops and food presented to the Government yesterday.
"The unprecedented test of public opinion, which over six weeks this summer involved 675 public meetings and elicited more than 36,000 written responses, revealed a deep hostility to GM technology across the population.
"Alongside fears that GM crops and food could be harmful to human health and the environment, the debate threw up widespread mistrust and suspicion of the motives of those taking decisions about GM – especially government and multi-national companies such as Monsanto."
Read the full story
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac September 29 | Michaelmas
Feast day of St Michael and other Archangels
Today’s plant
Michaelmas daisy, Aster tradescanti, was designated today’s plant by medieval monks. It is dedicated to St Michael, whose feast day this is.
Ganging day and Taffy on a goose
Michaelmas was typically a playful time. Once every seven years, St Michael’s Day in Britain was known as a ganging day, on which young men went through the parish, jokingly bumping into everyone they met. Women used to stay at home today, except some girls who used to drink with the youths and sleep out with them in the fields. Local publicans were obliged by custom to provide them all with alcohol and plum-cake. In a Norwich, England, tradition that was unfortunately obsolete by World War II, vendors sold ritual biscuits, each called Taffy on a goose, in the form of a man riding on a goose. Throughout Britain and Ireland it was a great time of feasting, replete with folklore, much like Christmas. For example, finding a ring hidden in a Michaelmas pie meant that one would soon be married.
St Michael’s apparition
King Louis XI of France instituted an order commemorating St Michael, because an apparition of the saint had been seen on a bridge at Orleans when that city was besieged by the English in 1428. The Feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael commemorates the 6th century appearance of the archangel on Mount Gargano near Manfredonia in southern Italy. Michael requested a church built in his honor at the site. Today, Catholic medals or holy cards with ‘relics’ of St Michael are usually chips of rock from the cave, or pieces of cloth that have touched it.
Angelic silences
Today being the feast of St Michael and All Angels, it is timely to note a bit of folklore about those strange silences that sometimes befall a group engaged in conversation. It used to be said that an angel had passed by on such an occasion, taking off the conversation to record in a heavenly tome, to bring out on Judgement Day as evidence either in favour of or against the speakers.
Michaelitag, Germany
Since 813 CE, St Michael has been the patron saint of Germany. The German equivalent of England’s John Bull and America’s Uncle Sam is the German Michael, (deutscher Michel), who wears a nightcap with a pompom. Today is regarded as Winter’s beginning and is marked with celebrations, markets and bonfires. In Germany, St Michael is known as the Angel of Death, so many cemetery chapels are named for him.
St Michael’s Chair
This is an old beacon turret atop the chapel at St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall (St Michael is the patron of high places). In an old tradition, whoever of a newly-married couple first sits on the site will gain the supremacy in the marriage.
Excerpted from the new Wilson's Almanac article on Michaelmas.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | A little about September 29
 Feast of Gwynn ap Nudd
Leading a pack of phantom hunters in chase after a sacred white stag is Gwynn ap Nudd, the Welsh Celtic god of the underworld and the faerie kingdom. Today is the feast day of the god, who dwells on Glastonbury Tor, the sacred mountain also known as the resting place of King Arthur. He is like the British legendary character, Herne the Hunter.
Voodoo Day of Elegba, or Ellequa
Today is a sacred day in the Santeria/Vodoun spiritual tradition. It is also Vodoun’s day of Manman Aloumandia.
Feast day of Heimdall
This Icelandic Viking god is the guardian of Asgard, home of the gods, and lives beside the rainbow bridge that connects Asgard with other realms. He is an enigmatic deity who needs no sleep and can see in the dark even on the darkest night. He was born of nine giantesses and the waves of the sea.
Let's celebrate!
Sumerian New Year
Festival of Nemesis, ancient Greece, Goddess of Fate
Celtic tree month of Muin ends
Election of Lord Mayor of London
National Day of Remembrance for Policeman Killed, Australia (St Michael, patron of police)
Michaelitag, Germany
Roe hunting season begins, old England (ends on Candlemas, Feb 2)
Hare hunting season begins, old England (until Midsummer)
Feast day of St Theodota
Constitution Day, Brunei
Battle of Boqueron Day, Paraguay
Oktoberfest (Sep 20-Oct 5) (send an Oktoberfest card)
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Fire Rumsfeld and Change Course
Our friends at MoveOn.org are running a petition (for Americans only) to have Rummy fired. They've already gathered about 200,000 sigs, so please take a moment to help this important campaign.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Dumb Crook? Or Dumb Clerk?
 USA: Police are searching for a man who paid for $150 in groceries at a Food Lion grocery store with a bogus $200 bill.
The man walked out of the store with his groceries and $50 in change before the fake bill was discovered Sept. 6.
The phony bill – the U.S. Mint does not print a $200 bill – bore the image of President Bush on the front and had the White House on the back. It also included signs on the front lawn of the White House with slogans such as "We like broccoli" and "USA deserves a tax cut," Roanoke Rapids police said.
Instead of being labeled a Federal Reserve note, the fake bill was marked as a "Moral Reserve Note." The bill bore the signatures of Ronald Reagan, political mentor; and George H.W. Bush, campaign adviser and mentor.
Food Lion said normal policy is not to accept bills over $100.
Source unknown; contributed by Almaniac Mary Ann Sabo.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Thousands march in Europe, Mideast against Iraq war
"Tens of thousands of people demonstrated without incident across Europe and the Middle East against the US-led occupation of Iraq and to voice support for the Palestinians.
"The largest rally took place in London, where police estimated 20,000 demonstrators, although organisers put the tally at five times higher.
"Demonstrations, attracting leading politicians, also took place in France, Belgium, Austria, Greece, Poland, Turkey and Lebanon, although turnout paled compared to the massive rallies earlier this year ahead of the Iraq conflict."
Source
Saturday, October 25, March on Washington
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Rogue state joins the civilised world
N Korea calls Rumsfeld 'psychopath'
 "North Korea has launched a scathing attack on US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, calling him a 'dictatorial psychopath'.
"The official KCNA news agency commentary went on to call him a 'politically illiterate old man' who was 'cursed and hated worldwide' because of his belief that only the US can dispense international justice.
"The condemnation, outspoken even for the official news agency, followed Mr Rumsfeld's own negative comments about North Korea in a recent speech to US and South Korean business leaders."
Source
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us Sunday, September 28, 2003
Your daily almanac was born on
Monday, January 1, 2001
(the first day of the millennium), 1,000 days ago.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Poson: New article at the Scriptorium
 O great King! the birds of the air and the beasts on the earth have an equal right to live and move about in any part of this land as thou. The land belongs to the people and all other beings and thou art only the guardian of it.
Arhat Mahinda
The Poson Festival commemorates the anniversary of the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka.
Full moon in June would be an excellent time to be in the mountainous heart of Sri Lanka at Mihintale (aka Mihinthele), the ‘cradle of Buddhism’ in that beautiful but tragic island. For two days of the full moon of June, the Festival of Poson is in full flight. It is a nationwide commemoration, but Mihintale is the place to be.
It was here in 246 BCE that the Buddhist apostle Arhat Mahinda Thero, special envoy of his father (Asoka, 264-267 BC King of India), met King Devanampiyatissa (307-267 BCE) on the full moon day in the month of Poson and officially introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka ...
Excerpted from a new article, on Sri Lanka's Poson Festival, that I hope you will enjoy.
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | What is it about the American eagle logo?
It's one helluva good looking trademark, but .... hmmmmm ...
Click
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac September 28, 1749| The murder of Arthur Davis
 On June 10, 1754, Duncan Terig alias Clark, and Alexander Bain Macdonald, two highlanders, were tried before the Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, for the murder of Arthur Davis, sergeant in Guise's Regiment, on September 28, 1749. Davis, who had been quartered at Dubrach, a small upland farm near the clachan (village) of Inverey in Braemar, had been missing for several years.
One Alexander MacPherson, who knew only Gaelic, spoke through an interpreter and said that an apparition had come to his bedside. The ghost had said he was Sergeant Davis, and took him to the body. Counsel for the prisoners asked, in the cross-examination of MacPherson, “What language did the ghost speak in?” The witness replied, “As good Gaelic as I ever heard in Lochaber.” “Pretty well for the ghost of an English sergeant,” answered the counsel. The ridicule in the court helped to acquit the accused. Another witness, Isabel Machardie, also saw a man (naked) enter the house.
There is more about this case online
More on Scotland's ghosts
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
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
*Ø* Blogmanac | Shhh! Don't tell the truth!
From Bill:
Diebold Shuts Down Blackboxvoting.org
With Legal Threats
BlackBoxVoting.com writes, "Claiming that links on the blackboxvoting.org site were infringing on their copyright, Diebold has temporarily shut the site down. The issue at question is links to a database of Diebold email provided by an insider that documents Diebold's ongoing campaign of fraud and deception in the design, manufacture and sale of its computer voting machines and software. Diebold originally objected to emails being posted in their entirety on the blackboxvoting.org site. When the material was taken down, Diebold then claimed that links to sites outside the US were infringing their copyright, and the ISP complied with the demand. This will not stand. We are searching for new home for the site and it will go back up as soon as we can manage it." Diebold has declared war on the First Amendment -- we demand that ALL state and local governments immediately return Diebold voting machines!
SOURCE
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
Report Warns of High-risk Vulnerabilities,
but Diebold Claims Victory
BlackBoxVoting writes, "The SAIC report evaluating Diebold software was quietly released today. It would seem that either Diebold is having a complete mental breakdown, or they are reading a completely different report. 'We are pleased to be moving forward,' said Thomas W. Swidarski, president of Diebold Election Systems. 'The thorough system assessment conducted by SAIC verifies that the Diebold voting station provides an unprecedented level of election security.' Huh? That's not what the report I read says. This Risk Assessment has identified several high-risk vulnerabilities in the implementation of the managerial, operational, and technical controls for AccuVote-TS voting system. If these vulnerabilities are exploited, significant impact could occur on the accuracy, integrity, and availability of election results."
SOURCE
Permalink to this post
Blogroll Us
| |
|
Pages
of Days
Almanac
President