ParaCultural Calendar for Jan 6, 2015

[Allan Balliett]

I didn't see it yesterday, hence the comment. Maybe it was there. It was
there if you say so. -Allan

On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 6:00 PM, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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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