ParaCultural Calendar for Jan 6, 2015

[Mark Thibodeau]

I've been sending it out daily. Has it not been reaching the List?

Mark T.

On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 6:00 PM, Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Wow! It's back!! -Allan in WV where we stay alert for stimulation
>
> On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 5:41 PM, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On this day in *1492*, *Ferdinand and Isabella*, the Catholic Monarchs
>> enter Granada, completing the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors (Muslims).
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in *1540*, *King Henry VIII* of England marries *Anne of
>> Cleves*. A particularly annoying *Rick Wakeman tune* ensues.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in *1721*, the Committee of Inquiry on the *South Sea Bubble* publishes
>> its findings.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in *1912*, German geophysicist *Alfred Wegener* first
>> presents his theory of continental drift. Betcha didn't know that theory
>> was so young, didja?
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in *1929*, *Mother Teresa* arrives in Calcutta, India, where
>> she begins her long crusade of NOT bringing nourishing food, healing
>> medicine, or any kind of real, actual, *measurable* relief to India's
>> poorest and sickest people. In other words, this sacred cow did *less
>> than nothing*.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in *1931*, *Thomas Edison* submits his final patent
>> application. I think it was an auto-fellatio machine or something. In any
>> case, it didn't catch on.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in the year *1941*, the 20th century's greatest president – *Franklin
>> Delano Roosevelt*- said the following:
>>
>> "In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a
>> world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of
>> speech and expression - everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of
>> every person to worship God in his own way everywhere in the world. The
>> third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means
>> economic understandings that will secure to every nation a healthy
>> peacetime life for its inhabitants - everywhere in the world. The fourth is
>> freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide
>> reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that
>> no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression
>> against any neighbor - anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a
>> distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable
>> in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis
>> of the so-called New Order of tyranny that the dictators seek to create
>> with the crash of a bomb."
>>
>>
>> We've come a long way, baby.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in *1995*, a chemical fire in an apartment complex in
>> Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for *Project
>> Bojinka*, a mass-terrorist attack.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in *2009*, in response to continual bombardment of civilian
>> population centers by Palestinian militants, Israel conducts an assault on
>> Gaza. *Operation Cast Lead*. And they all lived happily ever after.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> On this day in *1994*, one of the most ridiculous scandals in modern
>> history is sparked when a crowbar-wielding attacker strikes figure skater *Nancy
>> Kerrigan* on the knee as she exits the ice after a day's practice.
>> Unfortunately, the aftermath of the attack was caught on video, and images
>> of Kerrigan sitting on the floor, hugging her wounded leg, howling "Why
>> meee?! Why anyone?!?" virtually guaranteed that the media would milk this
>> story dry. And when it turned out that the attacker was linked to *Tonya
>> Harding* - Kerrigan's main rival for Olympic gold - all bets were off.
>> It was just too perfect... Nancy the Ice Wasp versus White Trash Tonya.
>>
>> In the post-September 11th world, it's easy to forget that there was a
>> year-long period when you literally couldn't escape the Kerrigan/Harding
>> saga. Unless you were lucky enough to be in a coma at the time, all those
>> stupid details are permanently seared into your brain. Remember Harding's
>> sleaze-ball hubby, *Jeff Gillooly*? His tub-o-lard henchman, *Shawn
>> Echkardt*? The vaudevillian amateur thugs, *Derrick Smith* and *Shane
>> Stant*, who were paid six grand to "eliminate" Kerrigan from the Olympic
>> picture? Their nearly instantaneous surrenders and confessions? Tonya's
>> changing stories about her knowledge of and involvement with the plot? The
>> Lillehammer Showdown? Harding's Achilles skate-lace-snap and the ensuing
>> drama? Kerrigan's silver medal? Harding's 8th place humiliation? Of course
>> you do.
>>
>> And who can forget *Gillooly's Revenge?* After Harding dropped him like
>> a handful of fish guts, he sold their XXX-rated honeymoon videos to
>> Penthouse, singlehandedly kick-starting America's now-insatiable appetite
>> to watch famous people - who, unlike porn stars, were not famous for
>> fucking - fuck.
>>
>> For her part, after hosting the fifth worst episode ever of *Saturday
>> Night Live*, Nancy Kerrigan faded into obscurity. For Harding, leaving
>> the limelight would not prove so easy. In 2000, she went on a drunken
>> rampage, beating up her new boyfriend with a hubcap. She was also charged
>> with DUI.
>>
>> In 2002, Harding redeemed herself somewhat by pummelling the shit out of
>> that lying hosebag *Paula Jones* on Fox TV's *Celebrity Boxing*.
>>
>
>
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