Paracultural Calendar for May 12

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *1938*, while researching drugs to improve blood circulation
and prevent geriatric disorders, chemist*Albert Hoffman* first manufactures
*LSD* (lysergic acid diethylamide) for *Sandoz Labs* in Switzerland. It
will be five years before he accidentally ingests any of the wonderstuff,
himself, after which he will write: "Last Friday, I was forced to interrupt
my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home,
being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight
dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant
intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated
imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed, I perceived an
uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with
intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition
faded away." Cue the sitar music and turn on the lava lamps! Here are some
other people's *trip stories*
<http://www.erowid.org/archive/psychonaut/index.htm>.

*****

On this day in *1932*, ten weeks after his abduction and following one of
the most *torturous and multiply-botched
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh,_Jr.> *criminal
investigations in legal history, *Charles Junior*, the infant son of
aviation pioneer and avid Nazi-supporter *Charles Lindbergh*, is found dead
in Hopewell, New Jersey, a few miles from the Lindbergh home.

*****

On this day in *2002*, former US President *Jimmy Carter* arrives in Cuba
for a 5-day visit with *Fidel Castro*. He was allowed to address the Cuban
public uncensored on national television and radio with a speech that he
wrote and presented in Spanish. In the speech, he called on the US to end
"an ineffective 43-year-old economic embargo" and on Castro to hold free
elections, improve human rights, and allow greater civil liberties. From a
parapolitical perspective, it would have been supremely interesting to hear
what these two had to say to each other during their private conversation.

*****

On this day in *2008*, an earthquake measuring around 8.0 magnitude shook
China's Sichuan region to bits, killing over 69,000 people... and you
probably don't even remember, considering the accelerated rate at which
feces are colliding with propeller on every conceivable level these days.
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