Paracultural Calendar for April 15

[Mark Thibodeau]

Thank you so much! Yes, it is my 45th birthday today. Not that I enjoy such
things. Just glad to know someone read to the bottom of today's entry! :-)

MT/Jerky

On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com> wrote:

> It's Happy Birthday then, isn't it? Hope you are having a good one!
>
> best wishes,
> elisabeth
>
> Elisabeth Romberg
> eromberg at mac.com
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Apr 15, 2015, at 7:20 PM, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> On this day in *1896*, the first *Olympic Games* of the Modern Era come
> to a close in Athens, Greece, with a relatively simple closing ceremony.
> First-place winners didn't win gold medals, but silver ones creepily
> stamped with the big, staring face of Greek pagan deity *Zeus*.
> Second-place winners got copper medals. Third-place got a handshake and a
> signed, autographed picture of His Royal Majesty Lord *Jack Fucking Squat*
> .
>
> *****
>
> On this day in *1955*, milkshake-machine salesman *Ray Kroc* opens the
> doors to his first franchise of a *McDonald's Brothers* restaurant in Des
> Plaines, Illinois. The *McDonald's* restaurant chain dates its founding
> to this day.
>
> *****
>
> On this day in *1989*, protesters begin gathering in *Tienanmen Square* in
> the People's Republic of China to commemorate the death of the recently
> ousted and publicly humiliated General Secretary *Hu Yaobang*, who was
> relatively liberal and reform-minded by Chinese standards. The protests
> would grow and intensify until June 4, at which point all Hell broke loose.
>
> *****
> And now for some birthday announcements:
>
> On *April 15*, in *1452*, Renaissance painter, sculptor, engineer,
> scientist, mathematician, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, inventor,
> musician and all-around super-genius *Leonardo da Vinci* is born.
> Seventeen years later, in the Punjab, *Nanak Dev* is born. He will go on
> to found the Sikh religion and be its first Guru. The *dictionary* is
> born on this day in *1755*, when *Samuel Johnson*'s *A Dictionary of the
> English Language* is first published in London. The *General Electric
> Company* is founded on this day in *1892*, and since corporations have
> the same rights as human beings nowadays, I guess it's only fitting that
> this event be listed as a birthday. In *1920*, psychiatrist and humanist *Thomas
> Szasz* is born. He later emerges as one of the most eloquent voices
> speaking out against the misuse and abuse of science, reason and medicine
> as a tool for social control. The *road atlas* was born on this day on
> *1924*, when *Rand McNally* publishes the first book of its kind. In
> *1942*, Bush Crime Family crony *Kenny-Boy Lay* is born... Enron ensues.
> And, finally, on this day in *1970*, exactly nine months after his
> parents consummate their wedding vows while bathed in the flickering glow
> of a Niagara Falls motel room TV set reporting the stupendous news that two
> human beings were actually walking on the goddamn Moon... *yer old pal
> Jerky* is born.
>
>
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