PARACULTURAL CALENDAR FOR AUGUST 23

[rich]

I still enjoy the Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun scene in Live
at Pompeii with glimpses of some of the frescoes (not the naughty ones).
the music weird and poignant perfectly fits. I see rock stars the way they
were, David Gilmour in particular, now all suited and old and well cropped,
once barefoot, bare feet in the dirt, hair unwashed, shirtless, old pants,
playing that lovely music.

rich

On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 12:01 AM, David Casseres <david.casseres at gmail.com>
wrote:

> My dad took me to Pompeii when I was a lad. He bribed the guide to take us
> to the ruins of the whorehouse, where there were crude (by Internet
> standards, anyway) pornographic frescoes. The best one showed Roman gents
> doing a New Year's Day ritual: weighing their dicks on a scale, to see
> who'd have the best luck in the coming year.
>
> Classical.
>
> On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 9:29 AM, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On this day in the year 79 AD, the European continent's only active
>> volcano, Vesuvius, blows its top. Thousands die, asphyxiated by clouds of
>> hot, poison gas, and the vibrant Roman cities of Pompeii and, less
>> famously, Herculaneum, are buried under a thick layer of steaming mud and
>> ash. The dead cities lay undisturbed and preserved for millennia until, in
>> the eighteenth century, archaeological excavations began. They continue to
>> this very day. Priceless art treasures and great, formative works of
>> philosophy, literature and science were discovered, fueling the
>> Enlightenment. Today, Vesuvius is still active, and scientists claim it's
>> only a matter of time before she pops off again. Nearly a million people
>> live in her "kill zone." Who knows? Maybe in another two thousand years
>> they'll be digging up empty Brio bottles and copies of L'Espresso magazine
>> and marveling at the wonder of it all.
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1305, Sir William Wallace - better known today as
>> Braveheart - is executed for high treason at Smithfield in London.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1572, the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre takes place in
>> France when King Charles IX - acting on the wishes of his mother, Catherine
>> de Medici - orders the assassination of French Protestant leaders, known
>> asHugenots, who were attending the marriage of their leader, Navarre, to
>> the King's sister, in Paris. Once word got out the the King's men were
>> killing Protestant leaders, Frenchmen across the nation went bonkers,
>> massacring any Protestant they could get their hands on. Despite a royal
>> proclamation to cease and desist, the killings went on into October, by
>> which time nearly seventy thousand French Protestants had been slaughtered.
>> Meanwhile, up in heaven, Jesus and God looked at each other and shook their
>> heads in utter disbelief.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1784, Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee)
>> declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not
>> accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1863, a Confederate-sympathizing, slavery-supporting
>> reprobate by the name of William C. Quantrillleads 450 guerrila-style
>> "raiders" in a violent attack on the city of Lawrence, Kansas. The
>> rampaging army - which included the infamous James and Younger crime gangs
>> - burned down most major buildings in the city, and killed over 200 men and
>> boys.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1927, Italian Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed
>> after a lengthy, controversial trial.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression
>> treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the
>> Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two
>> nations. Meanwhile, three years later to the day, on this day in 1942, the
>> Battle of Stalingrad begins after Hitler stupidly chooses to invade the
>> USSR.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1966, Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth
>> from orbit around the Moon.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1968, drummer Ringo Starr quits The Beatles over a minor
>> disagreement. He soon comes to the terrifying realization that he's RINGO
>> STARR, for fuck's sake, and promptly returns, tail tucked tightly between
>> his legs, acting as though nothing had happened. Taking pity on him, John
>> Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrisonlet it slide.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1973 a bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns
>> into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to
>> sympathize with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1990, a computer genius named Tim Berners-Lee opens the
>> WWW - World Wide Web to new users.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1990, Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet
>> Union.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1993, the Galileo spacecraft discovers a moon, later named
>> Dactyl, around 243 Ida, the first known asteroid moon.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in 1996, Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden issues message
>> entitled "A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of
>> the two holy places." At the time, Republicans scoff at President Clinton's
>> attempts to take this threat seriously.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> Five years ago on this day, yours truly predicted that on this day in the
>> year 2013, the alphabet would go the way of the Morse Code, as all human
>> beings who manage to survive the devastating "Common Cold Plague" have
>> their brains implanted with tiny microchips that allow all twelve of them
>> to be in constant telepathic communication with each other, using Bluetooth
>> technology. Too bad it didn't come to pass.
>>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20150825/7f372012/attachment.html>