Paracultural Calendar for March 18

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *37 AD*, the Roman Senate annulled *Tiberius*'s will and
proclaimed *Caligula *emperor.

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On this day in *1314*, *Jacques de Molay*, the 23rd and the last Grand
Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake.

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On this day in *1834*, six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England
were sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.

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On this day in *1850*, American Express was founded by *Henry Wells*
and *William
Fargo*.

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On this day in *1892*, former Governor General *Lord Stanley* pledged to
donate a silver challenge cup, later named after him, as an award for the
best hockey team in Canada; originally presented to amateur champions,
the *Stanley
Cup* has been awarded to the top pro team since 1910, and since 1926, only
to National Hockey League teams.

***

On this day in *1922*, in India, *Mohandas Gandhi* was sentenced to six
years in prison for civil disobedience. He served only 2 years.

***

On this day in *1959*, President *Dwight D. Eisenhower* signs Hawaii into
existence as a member state, in full and equal standing, of the United
States of America. All of the other states - excluding Alabama -
subsequently experience a short-lived collective obsession with all things
Polynesian. Today, you can still find evidence of this fad in small New
England towns where people go to Chinese restaurants to get drunk.
Deceptively powerful cocktails served in ceramic volcanoes, topless hula
dolls gyrating seductively over pu-pu platters piled high with sweet-glazed
meat, half-naked Samoans twirling fiery batons while making "ooga-booga"
faces; this kitsch ephemera remains, scattered and tenacious like the
radioactive residue from a dirty bomb, in the half-life death-grip of
immutable plastic eternity... Man. This is some good weed.

***

On this day in *1965*, cosmonaut *Aleksei Leonov*, leaving his spacecraft
Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, became the first person to walk in space.

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On this day in *1968*, the U.S. Congress repealed the requirement for a
gold reserve to back US currency.

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On this day in *1974*, most OPEC nations ended a five-month oil embargo
against the United States, Europe and Japan.

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On this day in *1989*, in Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy was found near the
Pyramid of Cheops.

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On this day in *1995*, sports/entertainment/footwear titan/mogul *Michael
Fucking Jordan *announces his return to the NBA after a 17 month
"retirement" during which time he played a little minor league baseball.
Whether or not this has anything to do with his father being murdered in
cold blood, or his monster gambling habit, who can say?

***

On this day in *1996*, an unnamed comatose woman gives birth to the
son of *John
Horace*, the man who brutally beat and raped her nine months earlier. 365
days later, on this day in *1997*, she mercifully passes away.
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