Paracultural Calender Apr 24
Mark Thibodeau
jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com
Sat Apr 25 15:18:34 CDT 2015
On this day in *1479 BC*, upon the death of his father *Thutmoses II*, and
at the tender age of three years old,*Thutmose III* begins co-ruling Egypt
with his stepmother, *Hatshepsut*. The two co-rule Egypt for twenty-two
years, until Hatshepsut’s death, after which he would go on to reign,
alone, as the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth *Dynasty
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Egypt>*, for another
thirty-two years. Generally considered to be one of the greatest rulers of
the Ancient World, Thutmoses III led numerous highly successful military
operations to expand Egypt’s territory and influence, as well as its art
and monumental architecture.
*****
On this day in *1184 BC*, the simultaneously historical/mythological city
of *Troy* falls to an invasion led by the revenge-driven – and also
quasi-mythical – *King Agamemnon*. So, just to put things in perspective,
the head in the photograph at the top of today’s column dates from nearly
half a millennium *before* the events described in the Greek Epic Cycle, or
more specifically, in *Homer*’s *Iliad*. Sometimes, history can be pretty
fucking cool.
*****
On this day in *1915*, two hundred and fifty Armenian intellectuals and
community leaders are arrested in Istanbul, marking the opening salvo of
what would eventually degenerate into one of the worst genocides of a
century pretty much jam-fucking-packed with genocides. Sometimes, history
isn’t very cool at all.
*****
On this day in *1955*, representatives from twenty-nine African, Asian and
Middle Eastern nations get together for the final day of the *Bandung
Conference*, held in Bandung, Indonesia. At the time, the nations
represented – Egypt, China, Indonesia, India, Iraq and others – all had yet
to take sides in the *Cold War*, and for the most part they wanted to keep
it that way, believing the struggle between the United States and the
Soviet Union had little to do with them. Instead, they hoped to focus on
economic development, improving health care, and ensuring better crop
yields for their farmers. They also called for an end to South African
apartheid and the nuclear arms race, which was gathering steam at the time.
American reaction was not encouraging, to say the least. They refused to
send an observer to the meetings, despite being invited to do so. Secretary
of State *John Foster Dulles* reiterated the government's *Dubya*-esque
policy of equating neutrality with aggression. The end result? Economic,
political and even covert military retaliation, all of which caused
increases in nationalism, anti-Americanism and/or radical Muslim
fundamentalism in almost every nation represented at the conference. Many
of these nations have yet to recover.
*****
On this day in *1990*, during the thirty-fifth Space Shuttle mission,
the *Hubble
Space Telescope* is packed aboard the *Discovery*, then launched into outer
space and successfully positioned into its current low-Earth orbit, from
whence it has been providing us with mind-blowing *deep-space porn
<http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/>* ever since. Sadly, the Hubble is
scheduled to go out of commission this year some time, and its replacement,
the *James Webb Space Telescope*, won’t be launched until 2018, at the
earliest. Considering the economic state of the world, and without a
working Space Shuttle to ferry it up there, your humble correspondent is
starting to worry that the Hubble might not ever be replaced. All you
science-lovers out there keep your metatarsals and metacarpals crossed.
*****
On this day in *2005*, for the first time ever, a cloned dog is born in
South Korea. It's creator, the controversial Korean scientist *Hwang
Woo-Suk*, names it *Snuppy*. This might not seem like such a big deal,
considering *Dolly* the sheep was cloned almost nine years earlier.
However, according to *Wikipedia*, despite scientists being able to clone
everything from cats, cows, horses, mice, mules, pigs, rabbits and rats,
they were having trouble cloning dogs “due to the problematic task of
maturing a canine ovum in an artificial environment.” Who knew?
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