PARACULTURAL CALENDAR FOR JUNE 2

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in 455 AD, the Vandals enter the city of Rome and begin
their “sacking” of it. The rape and plunder last for two weeks and
mark the end of Roman supremacy on the European continent. Hello, Dark
Ages!


On this day in 1566, plague-era physician and infamous prophet
Nostradamus dies in Salon, France. In the weeks before dying, he has a
silver plate engraved, and instructs his family to bury it with him
when he dies. One hundred and thirty four years later, two amateur
students of the occult decide to ring in the new century by digging up
Nostradamus's grave and drinking wine from his noble skull. They dig
for hours, slide the lid off his sarcophagus, and gaze upon his
skeleton. Beneath the bony hands folded across the now empty ribcage
is the aforementioned silver plate. The braver of the two reaches down
and moves the hand, then brings his lantern down to read the
inscription: "MDCC." Initials? No… Roman numerals. Seventeen hundred.
As in 1700 AD. As in the year in which these two grave robbers then
found themselves, hovering over Nostradamus's exhumated corpse.
(caveat lector: I'm not 100 percent sure this is true, but I've heard
it a lot from people I trust who are in a position to know such
forbidden things - ed)

On this day in 1692, Bridget Bishop becomes the first person to go to
trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. She is
quickly found guilty, then hanged on June 10.

On this day in 1919, anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight
separate U.S. cities. Surprisingly organized for a bunch of people
dedicated to mass confusion, eh?

On this day in 1924, the US government does something brutally ironic
when President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into
law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the
territorial limits of the United States.

On this day in 1953, Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of the United
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and
Territories & Head of the Commonwealth. This is the first major
international event to be televised internationally.

On this day in 1966, Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the
Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another
world.

On this day in 1997, in a Denver, Colorado court, Timothy McVeigh is
found guilty of 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the
1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma.

On this day in 2003, Europe launches its first voyage to another
planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches
from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

On this day in 2004, the roarin' Mormon Ken Jennings begins his
74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!

On this day in 2012, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is
sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of
demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l