Highly recommended:
Folklore of World Holidays
by Margaret Read MacDonald

The Elements of Ritual

The Spiral Dance
By Starhawk
20th Anniversary Edition

The Rule of Four

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Fasti
Roman calendar lore, by Ovid

Holiday Symbols

Holidays and Anniversaries of the World

War Crimes
Ramsey Clark

Spear of Destiny

The Mark of the Beast
(Spear of Destiny)

Women's Activism and Globalization

The Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites

Stand and Deliver
Hip Hop activism

The Clash of Civilizations

Imperial Crusades

Prehistory of Australia

The Spiritual Traveler

Peace Under Fire

Environmental Activism

American Folklore

Daily Everything

A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore


More books, calendars, T-shirts, mugs, music, posters, etc at  
Cafe Diem!

Celtic Daily Prayer

Poor Richard's Almanack
By Benjamin Franklin

Photo of the day

Mother Earth Spirituality

 
An Illustrated History of Australian Bushrangers

Australian Bushrangers

 
The Fatal Shore

Ned Kelly
Heath Ledger

 
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries

The World's Greatest Unsolved Mysteries

Secrets in the Fields

Crop Circles

Ultimate Crop Circles - Signs from Space

Crop Circles - The Best Evidence

Crop Circles and Aliens

The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles

Unsolved Mysteries of History

UFOs

Are We Alone in the Universe?

An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds ...
James Randi

 
Flim-Flam!
James Randi

The Survival of the Pagan Gods

Birthday of goddess Hemera, ancient Greece

The goddess of the dawn and daylight is celebrated on this day. Festivals in her honour begin at dawn and last until sunset. In Greek mythology, Hemera is the daughter of Erebus (darkness) and Nyx (night), daughter of Chaos. Hemera left Tartarus just as Nyx entered it; when Hemera returned, Nyx left. She and her brother Aether parented Thalassa, the sea. Hemera is often described as being part of the triple goddess Eos (dawn), Hemera (day), and Hespera (evening).

Family Tree of the Greek Gods    Festivals in ancient Greece

Ra, ancient Egypt
Ra goes forth to propitiate the Nun.

Runic New Year's Eve, final day of the runic year

Mnarja folk festival, Malta, Feast of Ss Peter and Paul (commemorated June 28 - 29)

Known in Maltese as 'Mnarja', this is a traditional folkloristic event. The festivities open on the eve of Mnarja with open-air folk-singing and a musical programme at Buskett Gardens which continues up till the early hours of the 29th day of June. Maltese dishes are served for the occasion with fried rabbit being a tradional speciality of the evening. On the 29th, activities at Buskett continue with band marches and an agrarian exhibition. During the afternoon, traditional horse races are held at Saqqajja Hill, Rabat. The word Mnarja is derived from Luminarja (illumination), when Mdina, Malta's medieval capital, was illuminated by bonfires for the occasion.   Source

"Mnarja is an old traditional feast and owes its origins back to the days when the Knights of the Order of St John ruled Malta (16^th /17^th Century)."  Source

Feast day of St Almus

Feast day of St Egilo

Feast day of St Heimrad

Feast day of St Heraclides

Feast day of St Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, martyr
(Blue cornflower, Centaurea cyanus, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

Saint Irenaeus (c. 130 - 202) was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyons, France. He is recognized as a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology. The Catholic Church considers him a Father of the Church. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who himself was a disciple of St John the Evangelist.

St Irenaeus at Wikipedia

Feast day of St John Southworth

Feast day of St Leo II, pope and confessor

Feast day of St Marcella

Feast day of St Paul I

Feast day of Ss Plutarch, Serenus, Heron and others
Feast day of the martyrs in the persecution of Septimus Severus.

Feast day of Ss Potamiaena and Basilides, martyrs

Feast day of St Theodichildis

Feast day of St Vincentia Gerosa

Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints

Niman Kachina, Hopi Pueblo (Jun 19 - 29)

The bonfires of San Juan, Alicante, Spain (Jun 20 - 28)

Inti Raymi, Incan Winter Solstice Festival of the Sun, Sacsayhuaman, Cuzco, Peru (Jun 24 - Jul 2)

M´sie Ghuimeh Sauveur; Mystére Gé Agoum´ Tonnerre; Table served for Maîtresse Erzulie, Maîtresse Ténaise, Maîtresse Mam´bo (common table), Voudon (Voodoo)   Source

Vidovdan

Vidovdan is a religious holiday, St Vitus's Day, observed on June 28 in the Serbian Orthodox calendar.

Vidovdan is also a date of historical importance:

• on June 28, 1389 the Ottoman Empire defeated Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo
• on June 28, 1914 the assassination in Sarajevo triggers the First World War
• on June 28, 1921 the Serbian king proclaimed the new Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution (Vidovdanski ustav)
• on June 28, 1989 — the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo — Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic held an oft-cited speech at the site of the historic battle
• on June 28, 2001 former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic was deported to The Hague to stand trial

On which day of the week were you born? Find out here

1476 Pope Paul IV

1490 Albert of Mainz, bishop and elector of Mainz

1491 Henry VIII (d. 1547), king of England

"Henry VIII, the king who destroyed the fabric of monastic England and most of its sacred shrines, was born today in 1491. It used to be thought that he died of syphilis, but it was malnutrition that did him, according to historian Susan Maclean Kybett; specifically he didn't eat his greens. It seemed that scurvy, caused by vitamin C deficiency, is the only disease that fits his symptoms – ulcerated legs, bad breath, collapsed nose etc. There was a prejudice at the time that only lower orders ate vegetables; the rich could afford more exiting things like venison."   Source

1577 Peter Paul Rubens (d. May 30, 1640), Flemish Baroque painter and designer, sent on a diplomatic mission to the English court where he was knighted by Charles I

1703 John Wesley, of Epworth, England, founder of Methodism

1712 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (d. July 2, 1778), Swiss-French philosopher, writer (A Dissertation On the Origin and Foundation of the Inequality of Mankind; Du contrat social ou principes du droit politique), political theorist, and self-taught composer

Rousseau's life and work - in postcards

1807 Anton Philipp Reclam (d. 1895), publisher

1831 Joseph Joachim (d. 1907), violinist

1867 Luigi Pirandello, Italian novelist and dramatist (Six Characters in Search of an Author)

1876 Clara Maass (d. August 24, 1901), American nurse who died as a result of volunteering for medical experiments to study yellow fever. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America commemorates her, with Florence Nightingale (1876 - 1910), as a 'Renewer of Society', on August 13.

Early progressives in the Book of Days

1902 Richard Rodgers (d. 1979), American composer

1902 John Dillinger (died 1934), American gangster

1906 Maria Goeppert-Mayer (d. 1972), physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1963

1913 Franz Antel, Austrian filmmaker

1914 Lester Flatt (d. 1979), bluegrass musician

1926 Mel Brooks, American producer, director and comic actor (The Producers; High Anxiety)

Trade marks

Frequently casts himself, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Rudy De Luca, and Madeline Kahn.

Almost always uses music by the composer John Morris.

Frequently uses the line: "we have much to do and less time to do it in".

His films usually contain many Jewish references and jokes.

Always features one scene in his movies in which the main character is seated and staring blankly, wondering what went wrong, while friends console him.

The main bad guy in his films is usually someone wearing a moustache or a beard.

Always features a scene where one character is explaining a plan to another, and the latter character repeats everything the former says, including something outrageous. After realizing this, the latter exclaims "what?"

Lead character in his films is always a male.

Known for parodying several films.

Constantly makes fun of Nazis.

His films often contain references to the film's sequel, which never come to pass. Good examples of this are History of the World Part I, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Is known for including in his movies a "walk this way" gag; one character says "Walk this way!" (as in "Follow me!"), and another character(s) copies the way he/she is walking. Examples include History of the World Part I, Young Frankenstein, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Frequently has a bust of his head on the poster of video/DVD cover of his movies.

Source: IMDB

1932 Pat Morita, American actor (The Karate Kid)

1936 John Inman, English actor

1946 Gilda Radner (d. 1989), actress

1948 Clarence Thomas, US Supreme Court judge

1948 Kathy Bates, actress

1954 Alice Krige, actress

Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section

Send a free e-card greeting for today's celebrations to a loved one

Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year.

Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Sky Day [ Jun 30 ] Birthdays Canada Day [ Jul 1 ] Summer

Varies Full Moon Day
Varies Friday the 13^th
Varies Hindu holidays
Varies Dragon Boat Festival (China)
Varies Graduation

June

27 Sunglasses Day
28 Treaty Day
29 Remote Control Day
30 Sky Day
30 Meteorite Day

July

1 Canada Day
1 International Joke Day
2 I Forgot Day
2 Mullet Day
2 Violin Lovers' Day
3 Chocolate Wafer Day
3 Eat Beans Day
3 Air Conditioning Day
4 Fourth of July (USA)
4 Barbecue Day
4 Country Music Day
5 Workaholics Day
7 Chocolate Day
7 Macaroni Day
7 Tanabata
7 Father And Daughter Take A Walk Together
8 Ice Cream Sundae Day
8 Be A Kid Day
8 Milk Chocolate With Almonds Day
8 Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Omelette Day
9 Rock N' Roll Day
9 Sugar Cookie Day
9 Barn Day
9 Martyrdom Of The Báb
10 Teddy Bears' Picnic Day
10 Intern Appreciation Day
11 Cheer Up Day
11 Swimming Pool Day

  ... More Events

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767 Death of Pope Paul I.  

1098 First Crusade: Angelic hosts helped Crusaders win in the Siege of Antioch

On June 10, during the long siege of Antioch during the Crusades, Pierre (Peter) Barthélemy, a low-born Frenchman, dreamt of the apostle Andrew, and also of a fine young man with Jesus Christ's wounds. Andrew showed Barthélemy the Holy Lance (Spear of Destiny; Spear of Longinus) and the wounds made by it. He told Barthélemy the lance would be found in the church of St Peter of Antioch.

The apostle said to him: "I am St Andrew, the apostle. Know, my son, that when thou shalt enter the town, go to the church of St Peter. There thou wilt find the Lance of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, with which He was wounded as He hung on the arm of the cross." Having said all this, the apostle immediately withdrew.

Soon Stephen, a priest, saw a vision of Christ and Mary. Christ told Stephen he was angered by the impiety of the Crusaders but if they repented he would show his mercy in five days. On the fifth day, June 14, the lance was found. The crusaders decided to attack the Saracens, and won the battle on June 28. Many Crusaders saw angelic warriors on white horses fighting alongside. Or, so it is said.

"But Peter, afraid to reveal the advice of the apostle, was unwilling to make it known to the pilgrims. However, he thought that he had seen a vision, and said: 'Lord, who would believe this?' But at that hour St Andrew took him and carried him to the place where the Lance was hidden in the ground. When we were a second time situated in such (straits) as we have stated above, St Andrew came again, saying to him: 'Wherefore hast thou not yet taken the Lance from the earth as I commanded thee? Know verily, that whoever shall bear this lance in battle shall never be overcome by an enemy.' Peter, indeed, straightway made known to our men the mystery of the apostle."   Source

The UnMuseum – The Holy Lance    Catholic Encyclopedia – The Holy Lance

The search for the real Holy Lance    Gesta Version    Version of Raymond d'Aguiliers  

Book about Hitler and the Spear of Destiny

1243 Innocent IV became pope.

1389 Ottoman forces crushed the armies of Christian Europe in Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of South-eastern Europe (see Vidovdan).

1519 Charles V was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

1598 Death of Abraham Ortelius, cartographer.

1635 Guadeloupe became a French colony.

1651 Battle of Beresteczko between Poles and Ukrainians, the biggest battle in the 17^th century, commenced.

1811 England: Sir John Throckmorton won a wager of a thousand guineas (a guinea being one pound and one shilling, or 21 shillings) that he could sit down to dinner in the evening in a woollen suit made from wool that was still on the sheep's back that morning.

1816 A Luddite attack was carried out on Heathcoat and Boden's Mill at Loughborough, England.

I won't slave for beggars' pay.
Likewise, gold and jewels.
But I would slave to learn the way
To sink your ship of fools.
The Grateful Dead, Ship of Fools

1836 Death of James Madison, president of the USA.

1836 First recorded snowfall in Sydney, Australia, and very nearly the last.

1838 The coronation of 19-year-old Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey, London.

1861 Robert O'Hara Burke, Irish-born Australian explorer, died of starvation on his return journey from the mouth of the Flinders River.

 

 

Ned Kelly's last stand

... the brutal and cowardly conduct of a parcel of big ugly fat-necked wombat headed big bellied magpie legged narrow hipped splaw-footed sons of Irish Bailiffs or english landlords which is better known as Officers of Justice or Victorian Police ...
From Ned Kelly's 'Jerilderie Letter', February, 1879

Text of 'The Jerilderie Letter' at Wikisource

 

1880 Dressed in home-made armour and with revolver blazing, Australian bushranger Ned Kelly burst out of the Glenrowan Inn, which was surrounded by about 30 State troopers. 

The most wanted outlaws the country has ever known, the four-member Kelly Gang, had £8,000 on their heads, at a time when a labouring man's wages were about 15 shillings a week. Their crime, among many others, was the murder of three policemen at Stringybark Creek.

At first the dumbfounded police could not understand why their bullets did not stop him. Even in the dawn light, they could see the helmet he was wearing, but when they aimed at his torso, nothing happened. Then they realized that under his long overcoat must be more armour, so they began firing at his legs. It wasn't long before he was brought down in a hail of bullets. Ned Kelly was hanged on November 11, 1880.

 

Ned was born in Beveridge, Victoria just north of Melbourne, probably in December, 1854. As a boy he attended school and risked his life to save another boy who was drowning. As a reward he was given a sash, which he would wear under his armour during his final showdown with police ...

Over sixty thousand Victorians signed a petition against Kelly's sentencing, and an inquiry was held in which all the police officers involved in Ned's exploits were either made redundant or demoted.

More

 

Glenrowan Siege events, 1880

June 27
Glenrowan, Victoria, Australia: The day after the June 26 shooting of gang associate-turned-informer, Aaron Sherritt, Ned and Steve Hart hold up the Jones family's small Glenrowan Inn, expecting the police to come for them. They take a large number of hostages; by day's end they are holding 60 men, women and children. [Not for the first time: at Jerilderie the gang had taken 60 hostages as well.] They cut the telegraph lines and force railway workers to tear up rails, so they can ambush the troopers at the derailment or at least engage them in a showdown and perhaps negotiate the release from prison of the Kellys' mother, Ellen. Joe Byrne and Ned's brother Dan Kelly arrive at Glenrowan from Beechworth

June 28
Sunday evening, police from Melbourne (capital of the State of Victoria) travel by train to Glenrowan. In the Inn after a few drinks, Ned foolishly not only divulges his train derailment plan to the hostages but sets some of them free. Thomas Curnow, the local schoolmaster is one of them, and in the midwinter pre-dawn, despite making himself a target for the bushrangers, he bravely stands on the railway line with a lit candle shining through a red scarf, and flags down the train. The Kelly Gang hears the train whistle but no derailment, so they quickly don their suits of armour, which they had hammered out of stolen ploughshares earlier that year ...

Read on at the Ned Kelly's Last Stand page in the Scriptorium    Kelly's 'Jerilderie Letter'

Did Ned Kelly's brother survive Glenrowan shoot-out?    Ned Kelly's World

Highwaymen, outlaws, bushrangers, pirates, gangsters, etc in the Book of Days

 

1894 Labor Day became an official USA holiday.

1902 The United States of America authorized the construction of the Panama Canal.

1911 Nakhla meteorite: A dog was killed by an 8kg (18 lb) meteorite, Nakhla, Egypt.

1914 Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophia were killed by a Serbian nationalist, the casus belli of World War I.

1919 Germany, after refusing for some time, finally signed the Peace Treaty of Versailles with the allies, following the devastation of World War I.

 

1929 Death of Edward Carpenter (b. 1844). He was a homosexual and early proponent of gay rights, a utopian and libertarian socialist, poet, songwriter, pacifist. He was influenced by William Morris. EM Forster described him as "a poet, a prose writer, a mystic, a manual labourer, an anti-vivisectionist, an art critic, etcetera".

"In 1893 Carpenter joined with Keir Hardie, George Bernard Shaw, Tom Mann, HH Champion, Ben Tillett, Philip Snowden, and Ramsay Macdonald to form the Independent Labour Party.

"After the House of Commons passed the Criminal Law Amendment Act that made all homosexual acts illegal, Carpenter had to abandon his campaign for sexual tolerance. In 1908 Carpenter returned to this theme with his book Intermediate Sex. Although the book created a great deal of hostility it had a strong influence on literary figures such as Siegfried Sassoon, DH Lawrence and EM Forster.

"Carpenter was a pacifist and opposed both the Boer War and the First World War. He played an active role in the No Conscription Fellowship and wrote important anti-war pamphlets such as Healing of Nations (1915) and Never Again! (1916)."

Source: The Daily Bleed and Spartacus

1936 The puppet state of Mengjiang was formed, with Demchugdongrub as the head.

1936 In the early hours of the day, unable to continue enduring the physical pain of a longstanding ailment, Alexander Berkman shot himself; the bullet lodged in his spinal column, paralysing him. Emma Goldman rushed to Nice to be at his side.

He sank into a coma in the afternoon and died at 10pm.

"Expelled again and again," Berkman once wrote. "Must get off the earth, but am still here."

Source: The Daily Bleed

1937 Soviet dictator Josef Stalin had 36 Germans shot for spying, after they had 'confessed'.

1940 Romania ceded Bessarabia (current-day Moldova) to the Soviet Union. Or Russia took Bessarabia, depending on perspective.

1950 Seoul was captured by troops from North Korea.

1960 US-owned oil refineries in Cuba were confiscated and nationalised.

1962 The last day of filming on the movie Cleopatra.

1967 Israel annexed East Jerusalem.

1975 Rod Serling (b. 1924), the creator of one of TV's most revered series, Twilight Zone, died, aged 50, while undergoing open-heart surgery.

"The original Twilight Zone was a remarkable breakthrough for its time. In an era of bland sitcoms and hokey horse operas, the show offered a break from conformity; a breath of fresh air, a sense of the limitless power of the human imagination. Unlike early fantasy series, which were aimed only at hardcore fans, The Twilight Zone made the fantastic accessible by taking the viewer across the boundary between light and shadow. It made the magical real by putting it in universal terms anyone could understand. This same principle is behind the work of many of today's most popular storytellers—from Steven Spielberg to Stephen King—who freely admit their debt to Rod Serling's genius."  Source

Aha! :: Synchronicity Central ::  log your coincidences, synchronicities and premonitions

 

1978 The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 438 US 265 1978, barred quota systems in college admissions but affirmed the constitutionality of programs giving advantage to minorities.

1988 The end of the 'toxic olive oil' trial in Spain, the longest trial in that country's history. Fifteen hundred witnesses were cross-examined over 15 months to determine who was responsible for the deaths of 600 people who consumed poisoned oil.

1990 Paperback Software, a company founded by Adam Osborne, was found guilty by a US court of copyright violation for copying the appearance and menu system of Lotus 1-2-3 in its competing spreadsheet program.

1994 The temperature at Charlotte Pass in the NSW snowfields dropped to an Australian record – minus 23 degrees Celsius.

1997 American boxer Mike Tyson was disqualified for biting off part of the ear of his opponent Evander Holyfield. Millions of fans voiced concern that boxing is becoming violent.

 

2003 Fifteen mysterious 'crop circles' appeared in a 32-ha (80-acre) wheat field on a farm near the small town of Suisun Valley, northern California, USA, the largest yet reported in that country.

"I guess some people have too much time on their hands," said farmer Larry Balestra, shaking his head.

A purported witness to the event, Mark Grant, told KRON-TV he heard strange noises on the overnight:

"It could have been a cat, but it was like a screaming, a whirrr. [It] sounded almost like a bigger cat was being cornered or something and was screaming to try to get out of it. I don't know what it was, but I know it was enough for me to grab my gun and sit there for a while and not go back to sleep for a while," Grant said.

College student Paul Bearden of Fairfield told the media that some months before he had seen strange objects in the sky. "They looked like a tube. One side was orange and the other blue. And now these – quite a coincidence," he said.

Local businesses reported boom times as thousands of visitors came to see the circles.

On July 11, The Vacaville Reporter broke the news that three 17-year-olds and one 18-year-old had confessed, under the condition of anonymity, to having made the circles. The last person to be surprised at the hoax would have been Diane Bingley, an amateur crop circle enthusiast who had examined the site and told The Vallejo Times-Herald, "I think this was man-made because in a real crop circle the stalks are broken higher up and you can feel the electro-magnetic energy. If you had a compass, it would screw up your compass and a watch wouldn't work."

Even though the circles did $500 damage to Balestra's wheat field, the farmer said that he would not press charges – his plan was to sell alien T-shirts to the many tourists for $12 each.

Ice circles?    More on crop circles (July 6, 1985) in the Book of Days

Skeptics: Make your own crop circle   More

2004 Sovereign power was handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the de jure US-led rule of that nation.

2004 Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism

2005 Canada's lower house paved the way for same-sex marriage to be legalised there, making it the third country to do so.

 

Tomorrow: R Gordon Wasson's trip

 

 Main calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search

 

 

Bill Gates dies and is at the pearly gates talking with Saint Peter. Saint Peter says, "Bill, you've done some wonderful things in your life and have earned the right to choose where you'll spend the rest of eternity. You can choose between Heaven or Hell, but choose wisely." 

Bill looks over Saint Peter's shoulder between the pearly gates and sees nothing but a lush green meadow. Deciding to heed Saint Peter's words, Bill asks if he could take a look at Hell. Saint Peter agrees and sends Bill to Hell. 

The Devil greets Bill at the gates of Hell and he is immediately taken aback. Much to his surprise, there's one heck of a party going on. People are dancing, the alcohol is flowing, music is non-stop and everyone is having a blast. 

Bill returns to Heaven to again discuss his decision with Saint Peter. He again looks over Saint Peter's shoulder and sees only a lush green meadow. Bill says to Saint Peter, "I've put a lot of thought into this decision and it may sound foolish, but I'd like to spend the rest of eternity in Hell." Saint Peter fulfils Bill's request and returns him to Hell. 

When Bill gets back to Hell there's been a big change. People are writhing in agony, flames are burning, moans of pain and despair are everywhere. Bill, being quite shocked at the sight asks the Devil, "What happened?? I was just down here a little while ago and everyone was having a great time!" 
The Devil says, "Oh that ... That was just the demo!"

 

 

Einstein dies and goes to heaven. At the Pearly Gates, Saint Peter tells him, "You look like Einstein, but you have no idea the lengths that some people will go to sneak into Heaven. Can you prove who you really are?" 

Einstein ponders for a few seconds and asks, "Could I have a blackboard and some chalk?" 

Saint Peter snaps his fingers and a blackboard and chalk instantly appear. Einstein proceeds to describe with arcane mathematics and symbols his theory of relativity. 

Saint Peter is suitably impressed. "You really are Einstein!" he says. "Welcome to heaven!" 

The next to arrive is Picasso. Once again, Saint Peter asks for credentials. 

Picasso asks, "Mind if I use that blackboard and chalk?" 

Saint Peter says, "Go ahead." 

Picasso erases Einstein's equations and sketches a truly stunning mural with just a few strokes of chalk. 

Saint Peter claps. "Surely you are the great artist you claim to be!" he says. "Come on in!" 

Then Saint Peter looks up and sees George W. Bush. Saint Peter scratches his head and says, "Einstein and Picasso both managed to prove their identity. How can you prove yours?" 

George W. looks bewildered and says, "Who are Einstein and Picasso?" 

Saint Peter sighs and says, "Come on in, George."

Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research.
I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude.
© My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply.

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