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I believe it was God's will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world, since, as we have said in the first chapter of this book, no other man, Christian or Saracen, Mongol or pagan, has explored so much of the world as Messer Marco, son of Messer Niccolo Polo, great and noble citizen of the city of Venice.
Marco Polo, who died on January 8, 1324, writes humbly of himself; Travels

When a man is riding through this desert by night and for some reason – falling asleep or anything else – he gets separated from his companions and wants to rejoin them, he hears spirit voices talking to him as if they were his companions, sometimes even calling him by name. Often these voices lure him away from the path and he never finds it again, and many travellers have got lost and died because of this. Sometimes in the night travellers hear a noise like the clatter of a great company of riders away from the road; if they believe that these are some of their own company and head for the noise, they find themselves in deep trouble when daylight comes and they realize their mistake. There were some who, in crossing the desert, have been a host of men coming towards them and, suspecting that they were robbers, returning, they have gone hopelessly astray ... Even by daylight men hear these spirit voices, and often you fancy you are listening to the strains of many instruments, especially drums, and the clash of arms. For this reason bands of travellers make a point of keeping very close together. Before they go to sleep they set up a sign pointing in the direction in which they have to travel, and round the necks of all their beasts they fasten little bells, so that by listening to the sound they may prevent them from straying off the path.
Marco Polo; Travels

 
Dalrymple coat of arms, and the 'Curse of Scotland', the Nine of Diamonds

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by Margaret Read MacDonald

Ancient Ways

Be A Goddess

The Oxford Dictionary of Saints

Spellcraft

The Encyclopedia of Saints

Daily Everything

Lord of the Rings

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Feast day of Justitia, goddess of justice, ancient Rome

Justitia was the Roman goddess of justice. She was originally depicted holding a cornucopia and scales. Later she was shown as blindfolded, holding scales and a sword or sceptre.

In Greek mythology, Themis ('law'; Roman equivalent: Justitia) was the personification of divine order, law and custom. She built the Oracle at Delphi and was herself oracular. With Zeus, she was the mother of the Horae, Moirae, Dike and Astraea.

Themis was usually portrayed as a harsh-looking woman, blindfolded and holding scales and a cornucopia.

In ancient times in many places in Europe, the king went to the gates of the royal city or of the temple to dispense justice. Many such gates were sculptured with lions to represent strength of the law. Hence expressions such as 'at the gates' or 'at the lions', and 'the gate of justice'.

Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days    Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days

Images of statues of Justitia (some dead links)

Midwives' Day, ancient Greece

Today's Goddess:  Eleithyia

"Themes: Birth; Children; Creativity; Fertility

"Symbols: A Torch; White Flowers

"About Eleithyia: As the Aegean Goddess of birth, Eleithyia acts as the midwife to your new year, filling it with creative power. Eleithyia's name translates as "Fluid of Generation," giving her strong fertile aspects, and she also has a hand in personal fate. According to myth, Eleithyia was the midwife of the gods and even birthed Eos, the creative force behind all things. When Eleithyia's hands were closed, birth was delayed. When Eleithyia opened her body, a child arrives effortlessly.

"To Do Today: The ancients honored their midwives today as the Goddess's assistants by giving them gifts. In modern times, this might equate to sending a thank-you note to your physician or pediatrician. "If you bring Eleithyia's fertility to any area of your life this year, try this spell: Gather a handful of white flower petals. Work in an area that somehow represents your goal. If you want a fertile garden, for example, cast this spell in your garden; for fertile ideas, perform it in your study. Visualize your goal as you release all but one petal, turning clockwise to the winds saying:

"The wish of my heart, Eleithyia see, 
and bring back to me fertility. 

"Carry the last petal to help the magick manifest."

Source: Patricia Telesco, 365 Goddess, and GrannyMoon's Morning Feast

Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days

Druidic New Year
Source: The Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar

Feast day of St Abo of Tblisi

Feast day of St Apollinaris

Feast day of St Athelm

Feast day of St Eugenian of Autun

Feast day of St Frodobert

Feast day of St Garibaldus

Feast day of St Gudule (Gudula,  Gudila), virgin

(Yellow tremella [Sinte Goedele's lampken; St Gudula's lantern], Tremella deliquescens, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

Gudule's mother was a niece of the eldest of the French kings named Pepin (580 - February 27, 640), an archaic Gallic version of the English and Australian name 'Pip' (usually, as in my case, a contraction of Philip). Gudule was educated at Nivelle under the care of her cousin, St Gertrude, then returned to her father's house and dedicated her life to religion. She spent her revenues on the poor, hence her veneration in the Roman Catholic Church.

While going to the church of Morgelle, she relit a taper by the efficacy of her prayers, as the Virgin Mary heard her and relit the taper (or lamp). Gudule died on January 8, 712 and was buried at Ham, near Villevord. Her relics were transferred to Brussels in 978 and deposited in the church of St Gery; in 1047 they were removed to the Church of Michael, now called the Cathedral of St Gudula. In art she is represented with a lantern.

The flower called tremella deliquescens, bears fruit in the beginning of January; it's known as 'Sinte Goedele's lampken' (Saint Gudula's lantern) because not even the winter can extinguish it.

Feast day of St Helladius

Feast day of St Lucian of Antioch, priest and martyr, Church of England

Feast day of St Lucian of Beauvais

Feast day of St Pega
Pega (c.  673 - c. 714), the sister of St Guthlac, was an anchoress at Peakirk ('Pega's church'; in modern Peterborough, Cambridgeshire) in the English kingdom of Mercia. She reputedly cured a man of his blindness.

The image at right, from the British Library, showsSt Pega with her brother, St Guthlac. The spectacles on Guthlac have been added at a later date by some graffitist.

Feast day of St Severinus, 'apostle to Noricum', German monastery founder

Feast day of St Severinus of Septempeda

Feast day of St Theophilus

Feast day of St Wulsin of Sherborne

Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints

Jackson Day (for Andrew Jackson), Louisiana, USA
A public holiday in Louisiana. "Celebrates the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 when the United States forces commanded by Andrew Jackson defeated the British. This was the last battle of the War of 1812, and was actually fought two weeks after the peace treaty was signed. Also known as Old Hickory's Day and Battle of New Orleans Day."   Source

Commonwealth Day, Northern Mariana Islands

Gynaecocratia, Greece
Women congregate in cafes while men perform the household tasks. Monoklissia, North Petra, Strimi, Xilagani, Nea Kassani, Serres, Kilkis, Xanthi and Komotini are towns where you can see this custom, celebrating womanhood. Men are only allowed to join their wives after dark.

1081 Henry V, (d. May 23, 1125), Holy Roman Emperor

1583 Simon Episcopius, Dutch bishop

1587 Johannes Fabricius, Frisian/German astronomer and a discoveror of sunspots, independently of Galileo Galilei

1823 Alfred Russel Wallace, British zoologist, co-discoverer, with Charles Darwin, of the theory of evolution. Wallace sent his conclusions to Darwin, and their findings were both presented to the Linnaean Society in 1858.

1824 Wilkie Collins (d. September 23, 1889), British novelist (The Moonstone; The Woman in White)

"Though many of Collins's twenty-five novels are now little-read, his 'gaslight thrillers' were once very popular, and two – The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868) – have not only stayed in print but grown in reputation."   Source

1854 Samuel Mathers (Samuel Liddel 'MacGregor' Mathers, born as Samuel Liddel; d. November, 1918), magician and one of the most influential figures in modern Occultism. He is primarily known as a founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (birth date uncertain; some sources give January 11). Mathers died on November 5 or November 20, 1918. The manner of death is unknown; his death certificate lists no cause of death.

"Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers was born in 1854 and died 1918. As a prominent occult scholar, he was an author and a leader of the occult revival in the late 1880's. He had a life long fascination with magic, mysticism and Celtic symbolism that led him to hold high office in the S.R.I.A. (Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia). He, together with Dr. William Wynn Westcott and Dr. William Woodman was a co-founder of the influential occult Order known as the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.'"   Source

1864 Prince Albert Victor (Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale; Albert Victor Christian Edward; d. January 14, 1892), mentally deficient grandson of Queen Victoria, eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and Alexandra of Denmark and heir to the British throne; later an alleged suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders, but this is fanciful, and likely an urban myth. At the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the throne after his father. However, he predeceased him, and the crown eventually passed to his younger brother, Prince George (King George V), the grandfather of the current British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. He died of pneumonia as a complication of influenza.

"Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward, eldest child of Bertie, the Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) and his wife Alexandra of Denmark, was born on January 8, 1864 at Frogmore House in Windsor and he was a seven months baby; he was called just Eddy by his family.

"When he began to grow up, his tutor, John Neale Dalton, noticed an 'abnormall dormant condition' in Eddy's mind, which  might be caused during his premature birth. Eddy failed in all subjects and was unable to keep his attention in something for more than a few minutes. He was constantly overshadowed by his younger brother, Prince George (future George V) in every aspect. Dalton said that Prince Eddy required of Prince George's company to induce him to work so the tutor considered the two boys should be educated together."   Source

1867 Emily Greene Balch (d. 1961), American Quaker academic, writer, editor of The Nation, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 1946

Balch was co-founder of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), an organisation that came to embrace programs that endorse violence as an acceptable means of achieving world 'peace and justice'.

1870 Miguel Primo de Rivera (d. 1930), dictator of Spain

1885 John Curtin, Australian Prime Minister during WWII

John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library

1891 Walther Bothe (d. 1957), physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1954

1899 Solomon Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan (Ceylonese) statesman

1902 Georgi Malenkov (December 26, 1901, Old Style - January 14, 1988), Soviet politician and Communist Party leader, and a close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. He briefly became leader of the Soviet Union (March - September 1953) after Stalin's death and was Premier of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1955.

1902 Carl Rogers, American humanistic psychologist and author (On Becoming a Person; Client Centered Therapy; Freedom to Learn for the '80s; A Way of Being; Carl Rogers on Personal Power; Becoming Partners: Marriage and Its Alternatives)

"Carl Rogers is best known for his views about the therapeutic relationship. These views revolutionized the course of therapy. He took the, then, radical view that "the client knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been buried" (Rogers, 1961, pp. 11-12). He assisted people in taking responsibility for themselves. He believed that the experience of being understood and valued gives us the freedom to grow, while pathology derives from attempting to earn others' positive regard rather than following an inner compass."   Source

"His own approach, person-centered therapy, posited that when the therapist provides three necessary and sufficient attitudes or conditions--empathy, congruence (= genuineness), and unconditional positive regard--the client will make use of them to uncover those aspects of his experiencing repressed by a self-concept made rigid by internalized conditions of worth …"   Source

Carl Rogers: The Quiet Revolutionary, An Oral History

1912 José Ferrer (d. 1992), American actor

1926 Soupy Sales, American TV personality (some sources give 1930)

1931 Bill Graham (d. 1991), rock music entrepreneur

1935 Elvis Presley (d. August 16, 1977), rock and roll singer and guitarist.

Elvis: The Hollywood Years, a biography by David Bret, claims that his manager Colonel Tom Parker "held secret information about a homosexual affair between Elvis and actor Nick Adams over his head like a sword. He made it clear that ... if Elvis didn't toe the line, he'd let it get out. At that time, it could well have ruined his career. That is why Parker had so much control over him."

Official Elvis site

1937 Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer

1941 Graham Chapman (d. 1989), English comedian (Monty Python)

1942 Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist and author

1942 Yvette Mimieux, French actress

1947 David Bowie, English singer

 

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482 Saint Severinus, 'apostle to Noricum', German monastery founder, died.

624 A Muslim army occupied the Kurashitische Caravan. Abu Sufjan ibn Harb, Kurashite chief, died in battle.

871 Battle of Ashdown: Ethelred of Wessex defeated the Danish invasion army.

1106 The accession of Alexander I of Scotland (c. 1078 - 1124).

1198 Innocentius III became Pope.

1324 Marco Polo (b. 1254), Venetian explorer and Governor of Nanking, died in Venice, aged 70. Twenty-five years earlier, as a prisoner of war of the Genoese, he had dictated to a fellow inmate, Rustichello of Pisa, memoirs from his days with Kublai Khan, a book called Travels, which may be fact or fiction.

1642 The death of the Italian astronomer, philosopher, and physicist, Galileo Galilei (b. 1564).

In April or May, 1609, he heard at Venice of a cylindrical instrument, made by one Hans Leppershey of Middleburg, that made distant objects look closer. He made one by putting spectacles lenses together at different ends of a tube. He soon made one which could magnify 30 times and commenced observations of the moon, which he discovered to have an irregular surface, like that of the earth.

On January 7, 1610, Galileo observed the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto). The Grand Duke of Tuscany gave him a high salary and he could leave his former professional duties. He discovered the crescent form of Venus, the spots on the sun and the form of Saturn.

Galileo met with fierce opposition from the followers of Aristotle. He appealed to their own senses, but without success. He might have escaped the censure of the church, but he "was of an ardent disposition", so when he was assailed from the pulpit he brought out a pamphlet defending his views. In February, 1615, he was brought before the Inquisition in Rome, where he was ordered to recant and never teach his doctrines again. 

He went quiet for a long time, then many years later published System of the World, which, in April, 1633, brought him before the Inquisition again. The heliocentric doctrine (which taught that Earth and the other planets revolve around the moon) was the one which offended. Clothed in sackcloth, he fell on his knees before the cardinals, and with his hands on the Bible, abjured the heresies he had taught regarding the earth's motion. He promised to do penance for the rest of his life.

"Copernicanism was not actually specifically proscribed as heretical in 1616. After Bellarmine's examination, Copernicus' De Revolutionibus and Foscarini's book (among others) were placed on the Index of Forbidden Books, the former to remain on the Index until specific, minor revisions were made (a few words deleted and some passages excised, but on the whole leaving the basic ideas intact). An official response to be sure, but still a long ways from a definitive ban on Copernicanism in general. Indeed, copies of De Revolutionibus were published in Italy after 1616 (with the prescribed revisions, of course), and the situation was sufficiently ambiguous that Galileo felt free to proceed with his work until his trial in 1633."   Source

1656 The Dutch newspaper, De Weekelycke Courant van Europa, later named the Haarlem Courant, which existed for more than 200 years, commenced publication.

1676 England: King Charles II's 'Proclamation Suppressing Coffee-Houses' was withdrawn, 12 days after it was issued, largely due to public disapproval, but also because of the questionable legality of the proclamation.

 

1707 Death of John, Earl of Stair.

Dalrymple and the Nine of Diamonds
Sir John Dalrymple, First Earl of Stair, who died on this day in 1707, was a Scottish lord, one in a line of three generations who were seen by Scots to have betrayed their country, he by being one of those chosen to offer the crown of Scotland to William and Mary. Dalrymple signed the orders, it was said, for the Glencoe massacre (February 13, 1692). The Dalrymple family coat of arms features nine 'lozenges', or markings. It is thought to be for this reason that the Nine of Diamonds card is known as 'the curse of Scotland'.  

Metasymbology of the Nine of Diamonds

"Diamonds - Values
9 of Diamonds - Dissatisfaction in Money
Generosity - or Selfishness.
Challenge for the 9 of Diamonds - Faith in the Golden Calf"   Source

Other explanations

"The nine of diamonds playing card is often referred to as the 'Curse of Scotland' There are a number of reasons given for this connection: 

"1. It was the playing card used by Sir John Dalrymple, the Earl of Stair, to cryptically authorise the Glencoe Massacre. Certainly there is a resemblance between the nine of diamonds and his coat of arms. 

"2. The Duke of Cumberland is supposed to have scribbled the order for 'no quarter' to be given after the Battle of Culloden on a nine of diamonds playing card.. 

"3. It has also been suggested that it is a misreading of the 'Corse of Scotland' ie the "Cross of Scotland" or St Andrew's Saltire. There is a resemblance between the pattern of the nine of diamonds and the Saltire. 

"4. Nine diamonds were at one time stolen from the crown of Scotland and a tax was levied on the Scottish people to pay for them - the tax got the nickname 'The Curse of Scotland'.

"The first two explanations are the ones most commonly given."   Source

1775 English printer and type designer, John Baskerville (b. 1706), died. At his request he was buried in the family garden in Birmingham. Baskerville was printer to Cambridge University from 1758. He published his masterpiece, a folio Bible, in 1763.

1789 The first European child was born on Norfolk Island, and named Norfolk.

1800 The Wild Boy of Aveyron emerged from the forest near Saint Sernin sur Rance, France (near Toulouse).

"Victor of Aveyron (also The Wild Boy of Aveyron) was a boy who apparently lived his entire childhood alone in the woods before being found wandering the woods near Saint Sernin sur Rance, France (near Toulouse) in 1797. He was captured, but soon escaped. He was then captured again and kept in the care of a local woman for about a week before he escaped once more. 

"However, on January 8, 1800, he emerged from the forests on his own, perhaps habituated to human kindness after his second experience. His age was unknown but citizens of the village estimated that he was about twelve years old. His lack of speech, as well as his food preferences and the numerous scars on his body, indicated that he had been in the wild for the majority of his life ..."   Source: Wikipedia

Read about another 'wild boy', Kaspar Hauser

 

1800 The first soup kitchens in London were opened to serve the poor.

1810 The first newspaper published in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) began.

1815 General Andrew Jackson soundly defeated the British at New Orleans.

Battle of New Orleans

"Andrew Jackson and 6,000 Americans defeated a force of some 12,000 British soldiers. The British suffered the loss of their Gneral Packenham and over 2,000 men. American losses were 8 dead and 3 wounded."
Dunkling, Leslie, A Dictionary of Days, Routledge, London, 1988

The battle was actually fought two weeks after a treaty had been signed – but news hadn't reached either side.

1821 Ninety-six-year-old Mr Huddy, the postmaster of Lismore, Ireland, who had lost a bet, travelled from Lismore to Fermoy in an oyster-tub, drawn by a pig, a badger, two cats, a goose and a hedgehog, with a large red nightcap on his head, a pig-driver's whip in one hand, and a cow's horn in the other, which he blew to encourage his team. One can only wonder what bet he lost.

1849 In Rome, the Pope was deprived of his temporal power.

1856 A festival was held at Haarlem, the Netherlands, to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the town's newspaper (see above).

1867 African-American men were granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia, USA.

1877 Crazy Horse and his warriors fought their last battle with the United States Army Cavalry (Montana).

1879 Death of Don Joaquin BF Espartero, Field Marshal, viceroy of Navarre.

 

 

click

 

1880 Norton I (b. 1811), Emperor of the United States of America and Protector of Mexico, died.

America's greatest leader was on his way to a lecture at the Academy of Natural Sciences in San Francisco when he dropped dead on Grant Avenue.

When he died, the Chronicle newspaper featured the headline: 'Le Roi est Mort': 

On the reeking pavement, in the darkness of a moonless night under the dripping rain ... Norton I, by the grace of God, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, departed this life.

Norton I lay in state for two days, his body dressed in a new imperial uniform provided by the city fathers of San Francisco, and respectfully visited by more than 30,000 of his loyal subjects; the funeral cortege on January 10 was two miles long. Area flags were hung at half mast; businesses were closed. The funeral arrangements were the most elaborate San Francisco had ever seen. On January 11, the gods blackened the San Franciscan skies with a total solar eclipse.

The people of San Francisco erected a monument over his grave, with the epitaph:

NORTON I, EMPEROR OF THE UNITED STATES,
PROTECTOR OF MEXICO, JOSHUA A. NORTON, 1819-1880

In 1934, the remains of Emperor Norton I were transferred, again at the expense of the City of San Francisco, to a gravesite of moderate splendour at Woodlawn Cemetery.

In the religion of Discordianism, Emperor Norton is considered a Saint, Second Class, the highest spiritual honour attainable by an actual (non-fictional) human being.

Norton's Decrees    Le Roi Est Mort    More on Joshua Norton    More

 

1881 The Wreck of the 'Indian Chief': A shipwreck, famous in its day for the bravery of the rescuers, which was the subject of a poem by Scots poet, William Topaz McGonagall ('The Wreck of the "Indian Chief"'), and by Australian poet, Henry Lawson ('A Song of Brave Men').

More

1882 Oscar Wilde startled the literary establishment of New York by appearing at a reception in his honour dressed in a black velvet jacket, silk knee breeches and long black silk stockings.

1883 France: In Lyon the trial of the Internationale, against the anarchists known as 'The 66', began.

'The 66' were accused of promoting workers' strikes, and the abolition of the rights of property, family, fatherland, and religion – and thus attacking the public peace.

Stiff sentences were handed down: 'Leaders' such as Peter Kropotkin, Emile Gautier, Bernard, Pierre Martin, Toussaint Bordat received four years in prison; 39 of their companions received sentences ranging from six months to three years. See also January 9, 1883: Manifesto of the Anarchists.

Source: The Daily Bleed    Early progressives in the Book of Days

 

1889 Dr Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electric tabulating machine, an electrically operated computer to process data, forming a company to market it which later became IBM. In effect, this was the first patent for a computer.

1900 United States President William McKinley placed Alaska under military rule.

1920 Pilots R Parer and I McIntosh began the first single-engine aircraft flight from England to Australia.

1921 Lloyd George became the first British prime minister to take up residence at Chequers, a country mansion donated to the nation by Lord Lee of Fareham.

1925 Texas appointed an all-woman state supreme court.

1931 Australia: Jack Larcombe discovered the 15.6 kg Golden Eagle gold nugget, at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

1940 Food rationing began in the United Kingdom.

1942 German troops began to retreat from Leningrad, the Russian winter having defeated them.

1959 General Charles de Gaulle became President of the French Fifth Republic.

1962 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC).

1963 Fire broke out in seven storeys of New York's Empire State Building. A young George W Bush made plans to invade Poland.

1964 President Lyndon Johnson declared a 'War on Poverty' in the United States. Poverty is still putting up a good fight.

1971 Britain's ambassador to Uruguay was kidnapped by left-wing guerrillas.

1973 The Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men associated with President Nixon and accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate began.

1973 Elvis Presley sued his wife, Priscilla Presley, for divorce.

1974 Frank Searle sighted and photographed the Loch Ness monster.

1979 The Vietnamese army occupied Phnom Penh, having defeated the Khmer Rouge.

1986 The first liver transplant operation in Australia was performed, on a 14-year-old boy in Sydney.

1990 Five children drowned when the pleasure boat, N'Gluka, capsized in Nelson Bay, NSW, Australia.

 

1992 US President Bush the First became ill, collapsed during a state dinner in Tokyo, and chundered on Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa's lap.

Japan: Bush League?! Beloved and Respected Comrade Leader US President George Busharoonie spewed on the Japanese prime minister's lap during Japanese tour.

Members of the Skull and Bones Club [a clandestine, mumbo-jumbo fraternity George I and II belong to] continue throughout their lives to unburden themselves on their psycho-sexual thoughts to their Bones Brothers, even if they are no longer sitting in a coffin. This has been the case with President George Bush, for whom these ties are reported to have a deep personal meaning. Beyond the psychological manipulation associated with freemasonic mummery, there are very solid political reasons for Bush's strong identification with this cult.

In Japan, the event was such a huge deal that it spawned a new word: "Bushusuru".

Now, the literal meaning of this word is "do like Bush," but its real meaning is closer to "throw up a lot in a public place, even if it causes you to become a figure of fun all around the world".   Source: The Daily Bleed

 

1993 A European Community investigation revealed that Bosnian Serbs, in an orchestrated campaign, had raped up to 20,000 Muslim women.

1994 Australia: Sydney and New South Wales suffered the most extensive bushfires in their history.

1995 Russia: Mothers' March For Life and Compassion to Grozny, Chechnya, left Moscow. The Russian forces in Chechnya, by some estimates, outnumber the freedom fighters by 200 to one, in a seemingly intractable war of liberation.

Phony freedom websites

From the Blogmanac

With the Iraq crisis, it's easy to forget that Russia has its own Iraq, and it's called Chechnya.

The Russian government has a pretty propaganda site (with sweet pictures like the one shown at right) called Chechnya Free, to fool web searchers looking for info on the tragedy.

China pulls the same trick for Googlers of "human rights China"; see this phony site, http://www.humanrights.cn/en/. Then there is China's cutesy Tibet tourism site, which says that the era of Dalai lama rule: " ... basically ended in 1951 when Tibet was liberated and came to a complete end in 1959 when rebellion led by the Dalai Lama was pacified and the People's Government of the Tibet, Autonomous Region was set up", neglecting to mention that China killed one million people before turning Tibet into its new tourist resort.

On the other hand, if you find a genuine Chechnya-oriented site like this you will read things to make us weep, but which we should all know. For example:

"Estimates indicate that during the first and second war in Chechnya, on a Chechen population of 1 million, 150,000 - 200,000 civilians died or disappeared. This amounts to 15% - 20% of the entire population." [References]

One of the happy headlines in the phoney site is: "Builders are in demand in Grosny". Below is a picture from another genuine site, Free Chechnya, that will explain why.

 

A good site to bookmark is the official website of the Chechen separatist movement.

It is inconceivable that in Europe there hasn't been any movement of rebellion against all this, a rally, not a symbolic one, but a huge and imposing rally that says how all this is intolerable! The tragedy of Chechnya is the tragedy of Russia. Europe is a happy and thoughtless continent. A continent that doesn't think about it. About nothing. When it will be forced to think about it, it risks to pay a very high price. It's better it would begin to think about it.
Adriano Sofri, on Russia's occupation of Chechnya

There is nothing more dangerous in the war of ideas than the "realpolitik" approach which brought us so many disasters in the past. After all, was not Osama bin Laden a by-product of similar "marriage of convenience" at one point? Was it not true also in the case of Saddam Hussein? And is it not true that your new "partners" such as Russia secretly sell military equipment (including nuclear technology) to the Axis of Evil countries even now?
Will the United States ever learn this lesson, or will it continue forever to build up new enemies while fighting present ones?
Yelena Bonner (wife of Andrei Sakharov) and Vladimir Bukovsky; from an open letter on Chechnya to President George W Bush

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1998 Press in Melbourne, Australia, reported a strange 4-tonne creature (the Tasmanian Blob) washed up on Four Mile Beach between Ahrberg Bay and Granville Harbour, north-west of Zeehan, Tasmania, Australia's southernmost state. The creature was similar to an unidentified creature about the size of an elephant, nicknamed 'the Tasmanian Monster', that was found on a beach at Sandy Cape in 1960, amidst enormous national publicity and conjecture.

"Melbourne Herald Sun (Victoria, Australia): Thursday January 8th 1998
"Monster Mystery
Nearly 40 years after Tasmania's famous west-coast monster mystery, another hairy sea creature is baffling the experts.
"We have a big, smelly monster from the deep - it is a mystery," said Barry Bruce, a fisheries biologist with the CSIRO.
The stinking carcass washed up on Four Mile Beach between Ahrberg Bay and Granville Harbour, north-west of Zeehan, before the new year.
It bears an uncanny resemblance to the so-called monster washed up in 1960, and has come ashore on the same stretch of coastline.
It is five metres long, two metres wide and weighs up to four tonnes.
Experts yesterday said the decaying lump of tissue - apparently sporting white hair, a backbone and six long, fleshy lobes - could be whale blubber, a giant squid or something unknown."
Source

 

2000 The 4^th and final day of the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit.

Tomorrow: The healing pool of Fillan

 

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