Corrected Paracultural Calendar for March 21

[Mark Thibodeau]

`(I accidentally sent March 20 as March 21 yesterday... THIS is March 21
event list!)

On this day in *630*, Emperor *Heraclius* returns the *True Cross*, one of
the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem.

***

On this day in *1804*, *Code Napoléon* is adopted as French civil law.

***

On this day in the year *1843*, the world fails to end, as popular
evangelical preacher and widely-read apocalyptic millennialist *William
Miller* had predicted. Strangely, Miller's hundreds of thousands of
followers didn't even bat an eyelash when he declared he'd made a
mathematical error, then simply changed the End Time date to *October 22,
1844*. Miller gave his own personal guarantee that the world would end for
sure this time, and many of his followers gave away all their earthly
belongings and wealth in anticipation of the Godly Destruction of All
Things. It is for this reason that today's Seventh Day Adventists -
including the Branch Davidians (direct descendants of the original
Millerite church) refer to October 22, 1844 as *The Great Disappointment*.
And now, friends, you know why there oughta be a law against allowing Born
Again Christians anywhere near THE BUTTON.

***

On this day in *1844*, the Bahá'í calendar begins. This is the first day of
the first year of the Bahá'í calendar. It is annually celebrated by members
of the Bahá'í Faith as the Bahá'í New Year or Náw-Rúz.

***

On this day in *1925*, the *Butler Act* prohibits the teaching of human
evolution in Tennessee.

***

On this day in *1935*, Shah of Iran *Reza Shah Pahlavi* formally asks the
international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, meaning
"Land of the Aryans".

***

On this day in *1952*, *Alan Freed* presents the Moondog Coronation Ball,
the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.

***

On this day in *1963*, Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San
Francisco Bay, closes.

***

On this day in *1980*, US President *Jimmy Carter* announces a United
States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet
war in Afghanistan.

***

On this day in *1980*, *Dallas* aired its "A House Divided" episode which
led to 8 months of international intrigue regarding "Who shot J.R.?"

***

On this day in *1993*, *Victorine Hollingsworth*, *Annetta Richards*, *Rita
Riddle*, *Gladys Ottman*,*Sheila Martin*, *James Lawton*, and *Ofelia
Santoya* emerge from *David Koresh*'s Branch Davidian compound in
Waco/Elk/Mount Carmel, Texas. Later, in the evening, the FBI begins
blasting Tibetan chants over the loudspeaker system in an attempt to
frazzle the remaining cultists. Koresh's response? "Because of the loud
music, nobody is coming out." Just before midnight, the loudspeaker system
malfunctions.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20150322/f4a410ea/attachment.html>