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Carpe diem! (Seize the day!)

Pip Wilson

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Carpe diem! 19 Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search Open links in a New Window

Today is

The willingness of the US courts to incarcerate Wilhelm Reich, burn his books, and in general treat him like a criminal, demonstrated how far legal technicalities and procedural issues had replaced the original intent and spirit of the law. Certainly, all the various judges who reviewed Reich's case and ruled against him, from the local and district court judges to the US Supreme Court judges, knew they were agreeing to censorship of speech and to the burning of books.
James DeMeo, PhD, Director of Research, Orgone Biophysical Research Laboratory; the US Government burned Wilhelm Reich's books on March 19, 1954

[I]t's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.
Judy Blume

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.
Benjamin Franklin, American scientist and statesman

Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.
Benjamin Franklin

Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles.
Abbie Hoffman, Yippie founder and activist, and member of the 'Chicago 8' who were indicted on March 19, 1969

I want to be tried not because I support the National Liberation Front – which I do – but because I have long hair. Not because I support the Black Liberation Movement, but because I smoke dope. Not because I am against a capitalist system, but because I think property eats shit. Not because I believe in student power, but that the schools should be destroyed. Not because I'm against corporate liberalism, but because I think people should do whatever the fuck they want, and not because I am trying to organize the working class, but because I think kids should kill parents. Finally, I want to be tried for having a good time and not being serious.
Abbie Hoffman

Free speech is the right to yell "theater" in a crowded fire.
Yippie proverb coined by Abbie Hoffman

Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit.
Abbie Hoffman

Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
Abbie Hoffman

I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.
Abbie Hoffman

Fantasy is the only truth.
Abbie Hoffman

I was probably the only revolutionary referred to as cute.
Abbie Hoffman

The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it.
Abbie Hoffman

There is no such thing as an innocent bystander.
Abbie Hoffman

When decorum is repression, the only dignity free people have is to speak out.
Abbie Hoffman

Morality seems to enter the picture only when individuals interact with each other. It's universally wrong to steal from your neighbor, but once you get beyond the one-to-one level and pit the individual against the multinational conglomerate, the federal bureaucracy, the modern plantation of agro-business, or the utility company, it becomes strictly a value judgment to decide who exactly is stealing from whom. One person's crime is another person's profit. Capitalism is license to steal; the government simply regulates who steals and how much.
Abbie Hoffman

Avoid all needle drugs. The only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon.
Abbie Hoffman

Supposing one day trucks travelled through the city announcing, "The war in Vietnam is over! The war is over! Turn on your radio for further information." Within two minutes everybody would be calling their mothers, "Hey Mom! The war's over!" Nixon would have to go on TV to reassure the American people that the war was still on.
Jerry Rubin, Yippie founder and activist, and member of the 'Chicago 8' who were indicted on March 19, 1969

We create revolution by living it.
Jerry Rubin

By the end, everybody had a label – pig, liberal, radical, revolutionary ... If you had everything but a gun, you were a radical but not a revolutionary.
Jerry Rubin

Spread ideas that undercut the content world of Amerika. We must alienate middle-class Amerika. All watches and clocks will be destroyed; barbers will go to rehabilitation camps where they will grow their hair long.
Jerry Rubin

Abbie Hoffman is something akin to an American prophet.
USA President Jimmy Carter

There was the Youth International Party (yippies), minions of the absurd whose leaders failed last fall to levitate the Pentagon but whose antics at least leavened the grim seriousness of the New Leftists with much-needed humor.
TIME, September 6, 1968

The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.
USA President George W Bush; misleading the people of the USA about Iraq in his address, March 19, 2003

Source: Bush Administration Officials' Lies about Iraq's Supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction in Their Own Words

March 19 is the 78^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (79^th in leap years), with 287 days remaining.
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First day of the Greater Quinquatria, Festival of Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom, Roman Empire (Mar 19 - 23)

The name of this festival to Minerva derives from its duration of five days. It was also known as the Minervalia. The Palladium* statue which had supposedly fallen from Olympus was carried in procession during the Quinquatria.

On this, the first day (the Quinquatrus), sacrifices and oblations were offered, though no blood was spilled.

Throughout the festival, plays would be enacted and public discussion of the arts openly encouraged. The festival was also associated with the opening of the campaign season; during this time the arms, horses and trumpets of the army would be ceremoniously purified at Rome.

During the following days the citizens enjoyed gladiatorial displays, and on the fifth and final day a solemn procession made its way through the streets of Rome. On these days the trumpets (tubae) were lustrated (purified by offerings); this seems to have been originally a separate festival called 'Tubilustrium'. Unlike today's instrument, a tuba was a long, straight trumpet, but we know that, like the tuba, it made a deep sound. These were were blown during sacrifices, funerals and public games, and Scipio Africanus used them to cause Hannibal's elephants to stampede at his final defeat at Carthage.

Sacrifices were offered to Minerva, the Roman goddess of war as well as wisdom, arts and crafts, dyeing, science and trade, and patroness of trumpet players. She was also the patroness of scholars and pedagogues (teachers), who enjoyed a holiday at this time, with the pupils giving their pedagogues gifts, dedicated to Minerva, at the close of the festival. We see her depicted in art with Juno and Jupiter on the Great Arch of Trajan, and she frequently appears on sarcophagi offering a new life beyond the grave.

The Roman goddess Minerva probably derived from the Etruscan goddess Menrva, and was later modelled on Greek Pallas Athena. Menrva was the Etruscan version of Athena, and depicted similarly (with helm, spear, and shield). Like Athena, Menrva was born from the head of a god, in her case Tinia, and she is part of a triad with Tinia and Uni. Minerva sprang fully armed from the head of Jupiter (Zeus), whose head had been split open with Vulcan's axe.

Modern Minervalias were held early in the 20^th Century in Guatemala City, Guatemala.  

*Palladium, from Wikipedia: 

In Greek and Roman mythology, a palladium was an image of immemorial antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend, especially the one that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy. It features in Graeco-Roman works such as the Aeneid. 'Palladium' also refers to the specific statue that Athena erected of Pallas, daughter of Triton.

The Trojan Palladium was said to be the image of Pallas, whom the Greeks identified with Athene and the Romans with Minerva, and to have fallen from heaven in answer to the prayer of Ilus, the founder of Troy. Since Troy could not be captured while it contained this image, the Greeks Diomedes and Odysseus carried it off during the Trojan War. According to various versions of this legend it found its way to Athens, or Argos, or Sparta (all in Greece), or Rome in Italy. To this last city it was either brought by Aeneas the exiled Trojan (Diomedes having only succeeded in stealing an imitation of the statue) or surrendered by Diomedes himself. It was kept there in the temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum.

According to myth, the importance of the Palladium to Troy was revealed to the Greeks by Helenus, the prophetic son of Priam, and Diomedes and Odysseus made their way to the citadel in Troy by a secret passage and took the image. In this way the Greeks were then able to enter Troy and lay it waste using the conceit of the Trojan Horse.

"The most ancient talismanic effigies of Athena," Ruck and Staples report ... "... were magical found objects, faceless pillars of Earth in the old manner, before the Goddess was anthropomorphized and given form through the intervention of human intellectual meddling."

In Late Antiquity, it was rumored that the Palladium was transferred from Rome to Constantinople by Constantine and buried under the Column of Constantine in his forum. Such a move would have undermined the primacy of Rome, and was naturally seen as a move by Constantine to legitimize his reign.

See also Quinquatrus Minusculae (Lesser Quinquatrus) of Minerva, kalends of June (Jun 13 - 15)

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

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Las Falles in Valencia, Spain Fallas (in Spanish), or Falles (Catalan/Valencian), started in the Middle Ages, when artisans put out their broken artefacts and pieces of wood that they had sorted during the winter and burned to celebrate the Spring Equinox. Today in Valencia, the Falles celebrates Saint Joseph's Day, and at about midnight the city will go up in flames – or so it will seem as about 300 massive fires are lit. The first written records of this now hugely popular festival date from the mid-18th Century and the early 19th, though it's thought that the Falles started in the Middle Ages*. A group called the Casal Faller meets, one in each neighbourhood of the city, and works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the famous regional seafood dish, paella. Formerly, much time would also be spent at the Casal Faller preparing the ninot (Valencian for puppet or doll) for the Falles. During the week leading up to today, each group takes its single favourite huge ninot out for a grand parade, and then mounts it, each on its own elaborate firecracker-filled cardboard and papier-mâché artistic monument in a street of the given neighbourhood – this complete assembly being the Falla proper. Locals dress in the regional costumes from different eras of Valencia's history, while traditional bands demonstrate the Celtic roots of Spain. Each day at noon, tourists and locals alike thrill to the mascletà, an explosive display fireworks. The crowds gather from all corners to the main square, the Plaça de l'Ajuntament, to hear one of the women (dressed in her fallera finery) call from the balcony of the City Hall Senyor pirotècnic, mestre, pot començar l'acte! ("Mr Pyrotechnic, you may commence!"). The two week long festival has spawned a huge local industry, such that that an entire suburban area has been designated the City of Falles – Ciudad Fallera. Here, crews of artists and artisans, sculptors, painters spend months producing elaborate constructions, fantastic paper and wax, wood and styrofoam tableaux towering up to five storeys. These falles, which often have a satirical theme, lampooning political scoundrels, scandals, world affairs, and so on, are filled with firecrackers and on the final night of Fallas, at midnight tonight, these falles are burned (cremà) as huge bonfires. Each year, just one ninot is saved from the flames by a popular vote. It is exhibited in the Museum of the Ninot together with winning ninoti from previous years. "The theory of the Ninot in the middle of Lent … relates that during the 17th century, effigies tied to a stick were burnt in the market place. It would seem that the first of these represented Mahomet."   Source *"The first documentation we have concerning the fallas is an official letter sent to the mayor of the city of Valencia prohibiting the placing of monuments (especially of a theatrical nature) in narrow streets close to facades."   Source More    More    And more     Feast day of St Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary (Yellow star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum luteum, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) St Joseph was the carpenter husband of the Virgin Mary, lawful father of Jesus. He's the patron saint of carpenters and represented in art as an old man with a budding staff in his hand. Pope Pius IX declared Joseph to be the patron of the Universal Church in 1870, and promoted the 'Patronage' (later Solemnity) feast of Saint Joseph on the third Wednesday after Easter. Since Joseph was a carpenter (or a builder), he is also the patron saint of workers. In 1955, Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of St Joseph the Workman on May 1, intentionally coinciding with the international labour day.   In the Orthodox Church the Feast of Saint Joseph falls on the Sunday after Christmas. A folk saying recorded in New Mexico, USA is that on St Joseph's Day, as well as on St  Anthony's Day (June 13, qv), one must give strangers food, since the strangers may be the saints themselves. Italian-Americans traditionally wear red today. Children born today are lucky and a Scottish Highland belief has it that they cannot be shot in battle. A clear St Joseph's day presages a fine and fertile year ahead. St Joseph's Day, Sicily People prepare their tavole di San Giuseppe, their 'St Joseph's tables', which display the earth's bounty and represent the householders' gratitude for the saint's continued protection. The foods are meant to be shared with the poor. Three disadvantaged children are invited into the home; often these three are dressed in bed sheets to represent the Holy Family and they are treated as guests of honour. Called virgineddi, they eat from the many dishes on the table, which include pastries and breads, because St Joseph is patron saint of pastry chefs and fry cooks. They always have maccu di San Giuseppe, a stew with five kinds of legumes and many other vegetables and herbs.       Swallows Day, Suan Juan Capistrano, California Las golondrinas: The Swallows of Capistrano Today marks one of the natural wonders of the world, though by no means unique as marvels of migration of insects and birds are around us every day, whether we notice or not. Having left on October 23 (traditional date), the swallows traditionally return to San Juan Capistrano Mission (founded November 1, 1776), Suan Juan Capistrano, California, USA, from Goya, Corrientes province, Argentina, on or around St Joseph's Day (March 19) each year, greeted by large numbers of locals and visitors from all over the world. It is one of the planet's best-known equinox (or near-equinox) events. In 1998, monks from the Mission had to entice the swallows with ladybugs and other insects, as renovations at Capistrano had frightened them away. The mission was originally built between 1776 and 1806, but was seriously damaged in 1812 by an earthquake and never fully rebuilt, but it is still the oldest building in California still in use today.   Origin of the Flight: Goya, Corrientes, Argentina Final destination. Capistrano, California, USA DATA Distance of total flight . . . 12,000 km.  Distance of each segment . . . 450 km.  Number of segments . . . 30  Type of flight . . . . . VFR (daylight)  Total Real time of flight. . 450 hours  Total calendar time . . . 30 days  Total fuel consumption . . . 120 gm.  Fuel performance . . . 0.01 gm. Grams per kilometer  Cruising velocity . . . . 30 km./hour  P.M.D. (maximum weight at takeoff). 280 gm.  Source The legend of the swallows    Swallows of Capistrano, image site and mpg   Farvardigan, The Ten Days of the Dead, ancient Persia, Zoroastrianism (Mar 10 - 20) Festival of the god Mars, ancient Rome (Mar 1 - 19) Festival of Hilaria, in honour of the Mother of Gods, ancient Rome (Mar 15 - 27) Eyvind Kinnrifi Eyvind Kinnrifi is one of Odin's martyrs. The symbol of these martyrs is the Valknut, or knot of the slain. Nigel Pennick, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 52 Goddess month of Moura ends Day of Aganyu, Cuba Source: The Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar Feast day of St Adrian of Maestricht Feast day of St Alkmund (Alcmund), of England, martyr Feast day of St Amantius Feast day of St Andrea Gallerani Feast day of St Apollonius Feast day of St Gemus Feast day of St John the Syrian of Pinna Solemnity of St Joseph, Anglican Church, Lutheran Church Feast day of St Lactali Feast day of St Landoald Feast day of St Leontinus Feast day of St Leontinus Feast day of St Mark Feast day of St Pancharius of Nicomedia Feast day of St Quartilla Feast day of St Quintilla Feast day of St Quintius Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints Saint Joseph (Expression of the jurisdiction of Legba), Voudon (Voodoo)   Source Fathers' Day in Spain, Portugal, Belgium Mojoday in Discordianism (See Today in the Discordian Calendar)       1434 Ashikaga Yoshikatsu (d. 1443), Ashikaga shogun of Japan 1684 Jean Astruc (d. 1766), French physician and scholar 1721 Tobias Smollett (d. 1771), Scottish novelist 1738 Túpac Amaru II (José Gabriel Condorcanqui; d. January 1780), Peruvian revolutionary, great-grandson of Tupac Amaru (d. September 24, 1572), who was the last leader of the Incan Empire 1813 David Livingstone (d. 1873), Scottish missionary and explorer. He was born 'Livingston' but added an 'e' to identify with Jesus Christ, the 'living rock'.   1821 Sir Richard Burton, British consul, explorer, translator, and orientalist. Burton travelled alone and in disguise to Mecca, translated Arabian Nights and the erotic classics Kama Sutra and The Perfumed Garden, journeyed with John Hanning Speke to discover the great lakes of Africa and the sources of the Nile, visited with Mormon leader Brigham Young in Salt Lake City, Utah, travelled far and wide, and wrote much. He later served as British Consul in Trieste, Damascus, and Fernando Po, and was knighted in 1866. Burton died on October 20, 1890. His widow, Isabel Arundel Gordon, allegedly burned many of his papers, because she prudishly believed they would be harmful to his (and her) reputation due to sexually explicit content. This, however, is disputed. Stone Talk (Lithophonema): Being Some of the Marvellous Sayings of a Petral Portion of Fleet Street, London, to One Doctor Polyglott, Ph.D., by Frank Baker, D.O.N. [Richard Francis Burton] (London: Robert Hardwicke, 1865). "This is Burton's pseudonymous foray into satire. He lampoons the British Empire, Victorian morals and, deliciously, the phony 'abolitionists' of his day. They were the 'wild-ass liberals' of the time that we later saw re-animated as 'civil rights activists' in the 1960s. Burton had an instinctive animosity toward such types. "This book by Burton is rare, having had an original printing of only 200 copies. It is known that Lady Burton 'bought up and destroyed a large number of the copies'; see Penzer, p. 77. One reprint is known:  No. 24 of Occasional Papers, Reprint Series (San Francisco: California State Library, 1940).  Casada (1990), p. 52 claims that this edition is 'widely available in the U.S.A.', but I have yet to see a copy for sale on the Web."   Source Novels and Accounts of Richard Burton    Burtonia   Shop Richard Burton    More The Life of Captain Sir Richard F Burton, 2 Vol. Set    The Illustrated Perfumed Garden   1836 David Scott Mitchell (d. July 24, 1907), Australian bibliophile and founder of the Mitchell Library in Sydney. His nickname to the hansom cab drivers was 'Old Four Hours' because of his regular Monday morning rides from his house at 17 Darlinghurst Rd to various booksellers in search of exciting finds and bargains. "His father, Dr James Mitchell, had come to Australia in 1821 as an army surgeon, and two years later was appointed assistant surgeon at the military hospital, Macquarie-street, Sydney. He afterwards became the owner of 50,000 acres in the Hunter River valley which included rich coal-bearing land. He married in 1833 Augusta Maria, daughter of Dr Helenus Scott. In 1837 he left the hospital and lived in Cumberland-street, Sydney. There his son grew up in an atmosphere of culture and learning, and at the age of 16 became a student in the first year of the university of Sydney. He graduated B.A. in 1856 with honours in classics, and M.A. in 1859. He was called to the bar but did not practise, and assisted in the management of the Hunter River estates. He was quite a normal young man, a good cricketer and dancer, a skilful whist player, and a good amateur actor. He was already forming a collection of books. His health, however, was not perfect, he felt the death of his mother very much, and after his father died in 1869, there was a lawsuit over the will and a publication of family affairs very distasteful to a man of sensitive disposition. He began to withdraw from the world, and the formation of his library became his chief interest. He built up a fine library of English literature, specializing in poetry and sixteenth and seventeenth century books, and gradually began to collect early Australian books and manuscripts. Once a week he went the round of the bookshops and his enthusiasm and perseverance were unbounded. He had a fine memory and great taste and discrimination, but as time went on he saw that even the most obscure and apparently worthless pamphlet might throw some light on its time. Though withdrawn from society he welcomed genuine students such as A. W. Jose (q.v.) and Bertram Stevens (q.v.), especially if they were interested in Australian problems. He was anxious that the state might have the benefit of his collections, but was in much doubt as to the best way of bringing this about. Eventually, after a conference with the Sydney public librarian, he informed the trustees in October 1898 that he was willing to bequeath his collection to the library, if a suitable building were provided and if the books would be available to students. The offer was accepted. There was, however, a long delay in starting a building, and Mitchell felt obliged to suggest that the bequest would be cancelled if the books were not housed a year after the owner's death. In June 1905 the premier, Mr J. H. Carruthers (q.v.), instructed the government architect to prepare designs for a library, and the work was begun early in 1906. Mitchell died on 24 July 1907 and his great collection became the property of the state. In addition a sum of £70,000 was bequeathed, the income from which has been spent in adding to the collection. It has since been found possible to add much additional material to the library, and it is now invaluable to all students of Australian history and literature. In 1936, in commemoration of the centenary of Mitchell's birth, the trustees of the public library of New South Wales published The Mitchell Library, Sydney, Historical and Descriptive Notes. Written by the librarian Miss Ida Leeson, this volume gives some suggestion of the wealth of original manuscripts and books that may be found in the library. "Mitchell's retiring nature would not allow him to agree to having his portrait painted. That prefixed to the centenary volume was done from a photograph, after his death. He would never be interviewed and his kindliness was only known to the few students who had the privilege of being associated with him. He never married but was glad to think that the library would be a permanent memorial of his family."   Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography Magnificent obsession: the story of the Mitchell Library, Sydney Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson    More   1848 Wyatt Earp (d. 1929), American Teamster, sometime buffalo hunter, officer of the law, gambler, and saloon-keeper in the Wild West and the US mining frontier from California to Alaska, one of the main participants at the famed gunfight at the OK Corral 1849 Alfred von Tirpitz (d. 1930), German soldier 1860 William Jennings Bryan, The Great Commoner, American lawyer and politician, presidential candidate but crushingly defeated by McKinley in  1896 and 1900 1864 Charles Marion Russell (d. 1926), artist 1865 William Morton Wheeler (d. 1937), US entomologist, myrmecologist, pioneer in ethology 1872 Sergei Diaghilev (d. August 19, 1929), often known as Serge, Russian ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes 1873 Max Reger, composer (d. 1916), composer/pianist/professor (Leipzig Univ) 1882 Gaston Lachaise (d. 1935), French-American sculptor (Standing Woman) 1883 Joseph Stilwell (d. 1946), US general 1888 Josef Albers, artist (d. 1976) 1891 Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1974) 1894 Joe Venuti (d. 1978), jazz musician and violinist 1894 Moms Mabley (d. 1975), comedienne 1900 Frédéric Joliot (d. 1958), physicist and winner of 1935 Nobel Prize in chemistry 1904 John J Sirica, US federal judge (Watergate scandal hearings) 1905 Albert Speer (d. 1981), Nazi official 1906 Adolf Eichmann (d. 1962), Nazi official 1909 Louis Hayward (d. 1985), actor 1913 Smokey Dawson (Herbert Charles Dawson), Australian country and western singer, and actor 1916 Irving Wallace (d. 1990), author (People's Almanac, The Man) 1917 Dinu Lipatti (d. 1950), pianist 1920 Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author 1921 Tommy Cooper (d. 1984), Welsh comedy magician. In a 2005 poll, The Comedians' Comedian, Cooper was voted by fellow comedians and comedy insiders the sixth greatest comedy act ever. Tommy Cooper videos at Google Video 1928 Hans Küng, theologian 1928 Patrick McGoohan, American actor (TV series: The Prisoner; Danger Man aka Secret Agent in USA) 1930 Ornette Coleman, musician 1931 Robert Trimbole (d. May 12, 1987), Australian businessman, alleged drug baron and organized crime boss. His alleged involvement in the disappearance of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay and involvement in drug trafficking in the Griffith, New South Wales area, led to a Royal Commission, a Coroner's inquest and an international chase by the Australian Federal Government seeking his arrest and capture after his escape to Ireland. The Fixer: The Rise and Fall of Australian Drug Lord Robert Trimbole 1933 Philip Roth, American novelist (Goodbye Columbus; Portnoy's Complaint) 1936 Ursula Andress, Swiss actress (She; Sensuous Nurse) 1937 Clarence 'Frogman' Henry, American musician ('You Always Hurt the One You Love') 1943 Mario Monti ('Super Mario'), European Commission member 1944 Sirhan Sirhan, Palestine-born, American-raised assassin of USA Senator Robert Kennedy. The official story was that Sirhan was enraged by Robert Kennedy's support for Israel and the young senator's repeated promises of arms for that country and its illegal occupation of Palestine. It has also been claimed that he was 'Manchurian Candidated', perhaps in the CIA's MKUltra program. The 25-year-old assassin might well have been executed were it not for a plea for leniency by the dead senator's brother, Senator Edward Kennedy. Was Robert Kennedy killed by a real 'Manchurian candidate'-style assassin? The Robert Kennedy Assassination: Unraveling the Conspiracy Theories    The Real Manchurian Candidate Was the CIA Involved in Bobby Kennedy's Assassination?    RFK assassination    More 1944 Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, daughter of Lyndon B Johnson 1944 Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize 1946 Ruth Pointer, singer, part of the Pointer Sisters ('I'm So Excited') 1947 Glenn Close, American actress (The Big Chill; Fatal Attraction) 1951 Derek Longmuir, rocker (Bay City Rollers) 1953 Ricky Wilson, guitarist in American New Wave rock band The B-52s ('Rock Lobster'; 'Love Shack') 1955 Bruce Willis, American actor (Moonlighting; Die Hard) 1957 Gumby, animated modelling clay character 1969 Connor Trinneer, actor   Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section Send free e-cards to friends & family for celebrations & any topic Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year. Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Smile Rejuvenation Day [ Mar 20 ] Birthdays Flower Day [ Mar 21 ]   Spring Equinox [ Mar 20 ] Varies Full Moon Day Varies Friday the 13th Varies Buddhist e-cards Varies Christian e-cards Varies Hindu e-cards Varies Jewish e-cards Varies Muslim e-cards Varies Pagan e-cards Varies Peace e-cards Varies Friendship e-cards Varies Purim Varies Mothers' Day (UK) Varies Ugadi Varies Gudi Padwa Varies Daylight Saving Time Begins / Ends March 16 St Urho's Day 16 Curlew Day 16 Hiccup Day 17 St Patrick's Day 17 St Patrick's Day Parade (New York) 17 Submarine Day 18 Paper Dress Day 18 Grandparents And Grandchildren Day 18 Quilting Day 19 Let's Laugh Day 19 St Joseph's Day 19 Chocolate Caramel Day 19 Swallows Day 20 Autumnal Equinox / Spring Equinox 20 Smile Rejuvenation Day 20 Astrology Day 21 Nowruz 21 Flower Day 21 Baha'i New Year 21 Single Parents Day 22 Sing Out Day 22 International Goof Off Day 22 Roller Coaster Day 22 World Water Day 23 Cuddly Kitten Day 23 Liberty Day 24 Chocolate Covered Raisins Day 24 Houdini Day 25 Pecan Day 25 Independence Day (Greece) 26 Birthday Of Robert Frost 27 Photography Day 27 Fly A Kite Day 27 World Theatre Day 28 Hot Tub Day 28 Respect Your Cat Day 30 Doctors' Day 31 Bunsen Burner Day April 1 April Fools' Day 1 Firefighters Day 1 World Catfish Festival (Mississippi, USA) 1 Taro Festival (Hawaii, USA) 2 Great Lovers Day 2 Reconciliation Day 2 Peanut Butter And Jelly Day 3 Find A Rainbow Day ... More Events Visit the Blogmanac, where today's Almanac is 'live' And I hope you will sign my GuestMap Your family and friends will get a kick when they hear their own name being sung in 'Happy Birthday'!! You can schedule your singing cards in advance, and even add your own face to funny animations. (Pay cards)         If you are enjoying this page, click to receive similar items daily with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine Webmaster, webmasters free content, or else articles at very reasonable rates Pip Wilson's articles are available for your website or publication, on application. Further details   721 BCE According to the Greek geographer, astronomer, and astrologer, Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus; Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαίος; c. 85 - c. 165; pictured), Babylonian astronomers noted history's first recorded eclipse: an eclipse of the moon (some sources say it was a solar eclipse). 624 Muhammad proclaimed the 'Day of Deliverance'. "Muhammad's companions heard of the advent of the Meccan army but, encouraged by Muhammad's declaration that Allah had promised him either the caravan or the army, the band of three hundred and fifty men marched on to Badr near the Red Sea where, in a swift engagement, the Muslims succeeded in destroying most of the Meccan leadership including Muhammad's great enemy Abu Jahl. The Meccans fled before the Muslim offensive leaving forty-nine of their number slain on the battlefield. The Muslim losses were only fourteen. Nothing more than a skirmish, surely? Perhaps – but one of the most fateful battles ever fought in history and to this day held in awe by the Muslims as Islam's finest hour on the battlefield."   Source "No event in the history of Islam was of more importance than this battle: the Koran rightly calls it the Day of Deliverance, the day before which the Moslems were weak, after which they were strong. Its value to Mohammed itself it is difficult to overrate; he possibly regarded it himself as a miracle, and when he declared it one, most of his neighbours accepted the statement without hesitation." (Margoliouth, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, p. 269)   Source   1279 The Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ended the Song Dynasty in China. 1286 Death of King Alexander III of Scotland, (b. 1241). 1355 Impressment (the act of coercing someone into government service) for seamen to man the English navy commenced on this date, according to Hone (Hone, William, The Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and Co., London, 1878; 1825-26 edition online). 1563 The Edict of Amboise granted a limited amount of freedom to French Protestants, thereby ending the First Huguenot War. 1623 Death of Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1556). 1641 A General Court ended which declared the Colony of Rhode Island a democracy. The Court also adopted a constitution granting religious freedom to all its citizens. 1687 Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, was murdered by his own men. 1719 At about 8 pm, a meteor blazed across London and nearby parts of England, appearing as a ball of fire as large as the moon, lasting for about thirty seconds. At Exeter its light was greater than that of the midday sun. 1721 Death of Pope Clement XI, (b. 1649). 1791 Equal rights were granted to French and English-speaking settlers in Canada. 1831 The City Bank of New York became the site of the first bank robbery in United States history ($245,000 taken). 1834 The Tolpuddle Martyrs, six English farm-workers who tried to establish a union, were sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia. 1842 A backfiring stunt French writer Honoré de Balzac's publicity stunt for his play Les Ressources de Quinola, a rumour that tickets were scarce, backfired when most of his public, on hearing it, stayed home. 1853 Chinese peasants led by the rebel Hong Xiu Quan (Hong Xiuquan) captured the city of Nanjing. 1861 The First Taranaki War ended in New Zealand. A truce was established between the Maoris and the government of New Zealand in the two-year war over the forced sale of Maori lands. 1865 American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville began. By the end of the battle two days later the Confederate forces had retreated from Greenville, North Carolina. 1870 The opera Guarany was produced (Milan). 1885 Louis Riel returned to Canada, proclaimed provisional government, Saskatchewan. 1892 J Palisa discovered asteroid #326 Tamara. 1892 M Wolf discovered asteroid #332 Siri. 1893 A Charlois discovered asteroid #364 Isara. 1895 Paddy Crick, Richard Meagher, Justice Sir William Windeyer and the Lemon Syrup Case.   More 1895 The Los Angeles Railway was established to provide streetcar service. 1913 Boris Gudunov, the Russian opera by Modest Mussorgsky, premiered in its full-length form in New York with Arturo Toscanini conducting. 1911 M Wolf discovered asteroid #712 Boliviana. 1915 Pluto was photographed for the first time. From its discovery by 24-year-old astronomer Clyde Tombaugh on March 13, 1930, until 2006, it was considered the ninth and smallest of the planets of the Solar System, both by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the general public. However, after much debate, the IAU decided on August 24, 2006 to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet. 1916 Eight American planes took off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history. 1917 In the US, the Adamson Act was ruled constitutional (eight-hour work day on railroads). 1918 US Congress established American time zones and approved daylight saving time. 1918 S Potter became the first US pilot to shoot down a German seaplane. 1919 K Reinmuth discovered asteroid #911 Agamemnon. 1920 The United States Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (first time was on November 19, 1919). 1920 F Gonnessiat discovered asteroid #931 Whittemora. 1926 M Wolf discovered asteroid #2732 Witt. 1928 USA: Amos and Andy debuted on radio. 1930 K Reinmuth discovered asteroid #1164 Kobolda. 1931 M Wolf discovered asteroid #1179 Mally. 1931 Nevada, USA, legalised gambling. 1931 Alka-Seltzer first went on sale in the US.   1932 Australia: At the height of the Great Depression which it is said hit Australia harder than any country but Germany, Sydney Harbour Bridge was officially opened by left-wing New South Wales Premier Jack Lang (brother-in-law of Australian author Henry Lawson). However, before Lang could do the honours of cutting the ribbon with scissors in the traditional fashion, an ex-soldier by the name of Francis Edward de Groot (pictured) charged ahead on a horse, in full military garb, and slashed the ribbon with his sabre on behalf of the New Guard, a right-wing paramilitary organization opposed to Lang's politics. According to Australian author and broadcaster Gerald Stone, in his book 1932, the New Guard had at that time 100,000 members, many of them armed, and constituted the largest militia in the world. Sydney Harbour Bridge is still the world's largest (but not longest as that's the New River Gorge Bridge in the USA) steel arch bridge. According to the Guinness World Records, it is the widest long-span bridge in the world and is the largest steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour. The arch span is 503 m (1,559 feet) and the weight of the steel arch is 39,000 tons. The construction project itself began in 1923, with the demolition of some 800 homes. The owners of these homes were compensated, but their tenants were not. Sixteen workers died during construction, mainly from falling off the bridge. The total financial cost of the bridge was £10,057,170.7s.9d (double the original quote). This was not paid off in full until 1988 – but the bridge road toll remains. I have in my possession autographs of both Lang and de Groot, as I wrote to them with requests for their signatures when I was a boy. These I offered in the 1990s on permanent loan to the museum which is housed in one of the bridge pylons, but had no reply to my letter so they remain with me. Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon lookout museum    More     Wilson's Webcam Watch The image at right, if it's appearing, is generated by a live webcam. Webcam images refresh at set intervals, so if you refresh this page it might show a changed image. If you click it, you'll go to an enlargement or the recommended webcam site. List of  featured webcams Recommend a webcam or report malfunction     1934 C Jackson discovered asteroid #1319 Disa. 1936 G Neujmin discovered asteroids #1379 Lomonosowa and #1434 Margot. 1937 Pope Pius XI declared in the encyclical Divini redemptoris: 'There would be neither Socialism nor Communism today if the rulers of the nations had not scorned the teachings and material warnings of the Church.' 1941 Jimmy Dorsey and Orchestra recorded Green Eyes and Maria Elena. 1941 L Oterma discovered asteroid #2291 Kevo. 1942 World War II: US President Franklin D Roosevelt ordered men between 45 and 64 to register for non-military duty. 1942 The US Thoroughbred Racing Association was established in Chicago, Illinois. 1944 World War II: Nazi forces occupied Hungary. 1945 World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 800 of her crew and crippling the ship. 1945 World War II: Adolf Hitler issued his 'Nero Decree' ('Demolitions on Reich Territory') a scorched earth policy document ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed. 1946 French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion became overseas départements of France. 1949 The first museum devoted exclusively to atomic energy opened in Oak Ridge, Tennesee, USA. 1951 Herman Wouk's Caine Mutiny was published. 1953 25th Academy Awards ceremony (first telecast). 1954 Nazi Germany: Soviet Russia: US: The Federal Government burned books by visionary/ratbag Wilhelm Reich, author of The Mass Psychology of Fascism and other works. 'Book burning' is still alive today in many, if not most of the countries of the world. Banned Books Week Celebrate Your Freedom to Read September 25 - October 2, 2004 The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books (USA) Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Source   1954 The first rocket-driven sled on rails was tested, Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA. 1962 Algerian War of Independence: A ceasefire took effect. 1965 Nicolae Ceausescu was appointed First Secretary of Romanian Communist Party. 1967 French Somaliland (Djibouti) voted to continue association with France. 1968 Howard University students seized the administration building. 1969 USA: The 'Chicago 8'  were indicted in the aftermath of their Yippie demo at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Party Convention.   The Chicago 8 were Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. During the trial, on November 5, 1969, Judge Julius Hoffman severed Seale from the case and sentenced him to four years in prison for contempt, so the Eight became the Chicago 7. Related items at March 22, 1968;  August 23, 1968; September 17, 1968; January 23, 1970; November 21, 1972.     Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman (seen here in the judicial robes they wore to the trial, when they weren't wearing American revolutionary uniforms, etc), perhaps the best-known and certainly the most flamboyant of the Chicago 8, are both now in Yippie heaven. (Some go-getter has registered and parked Abbiehoffman.com) FBI Files on Hoffman    Steal This Book! Free online    Steal This Movie (2000)    Quotes by Abbie Hoffman at Wikiquote    the abbie hoffman brigade More    Shop Abbie Hoffman    disinformation | abbie hoffman (lotsa linx) Spirit of 67 Library    Culture Jamming     Abbie Hoffman Webpage  Letters From the Underground    The Chicago Seven Conspiracy Trial Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list    CounterCulture Wiki    More 1970 Two hundred women seized the New York offices of Ladies Home Journal, demanding what they called a "Women's Liberated Journal". Led by author Susan Brownmiller, the group included members of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Redstockings, New York Radical Feminists and the Older Women's League. Their press release said the magazine "deals superficially, unrealistically, or not at all with the real problems of today's women … Though one out of every three adult women in America is single, divorced, or widowed, the Journal depicts no lifestyle alternative for the American woman, aside from marriage and family." The sit-in lasted into the evening. Eventually publisher John Mack Carter agreed to include a collectively written eight-page feminist supplement in the August 1970 issue. Source: The Daily Bleed   1972 India and Bangladesh signed a friendship treaty. 1974 Jefferson Starship began their first tour. 1976 After fifteen years of marriage, Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom and her husband, Lord Snowdon, separated. 1978 UN Security Council Resolution 425 and 426 were passed, calling upon Israel immediately to cease its military action and withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory (Operation Litani), and establishing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). 1978 Netherlands: 50,000 marched in Amsterdam to protest US deployment of the neutron bomb in Europe. 1979 The United States House of Representatives began broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN. 1979 A Mrkos discovered asteroid #3665. 1980 C Torres discovered asteroid #3114 Ercilla. 1980 Elvis Presley's autopsy was subpoenaed in the 'Dr Nick' drug case. 'Dr Nick' was Dr George Nichopoulous, Presley's personal physician who was soon found guilty of over-prescribing drugs to Presley and others, including Jerry Lee Lewis. My name's got 'evils' and 'lives.' It's probably better not to wonder too much about it. Elvis Presley 1981 Three workers were killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia. 1982 Falklands War: Argentines landed on South Georgia Island, precipitating war. 1982 A US National Guard jet tanker crashed killing 27. 1984 Mobil oil tanker spills 200,000 gallons into Columbia River, USA. 1985 Spin Magazine began publishing. 1987 American televangelist Jim Bakker resigned from his Praise the Lord ministry after confessing to sexual scandals that had been rumoured about him (involving involving Jessica Hahn), and in the public gaze around missing funds from the church. 1987 At his first press conference in four months, US President Ronald Reagan assured the American public he wouldn't be forgetting any more important things because "we now have quite a system installed of people taking notes, you know, at all our meetings and all our doings". 1989 Boeing B-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft made its maiden flight. 2002 US invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ended (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities and an unknown number of civilian casualties. 2003 For Americans, the invasion of Iraq began (with the time difference, it actually began on March 20 at 0100 UTC). The Big Lie "To justify the war, Bush informed Congress on March 19, 2003 that acting against Iraq was consistent with 'continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.' "As ThinkProgress has repeatedly documented, Vice President Cheney cited 'evidence' cooked up by Douglas Feith and others to claim it was 'pretty well confirmed' that Iraq had contacts with 9/11 hijackers. "More generally, in the lead-up to the war in Iraq, the administration encouraged the false impression that Saddam had a role in 9/11. Bush never stated then, as he does now, that Iraq had 'nothing' to do with 9/11. Only after the Iraq war began did Bush candidly acknowledge that Iraq was not operationally linked to 9/11."   Source (with video of Bush back tracking) 2004 A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian Mig-15 in the 1950s was finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the crew were left in place, pending further investigations. 2004 3-19 Shooting Incident: Taiwanese president Chen Shui-ban was shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.   Tomorrow: Equinox; Babylonian New Year    Main calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search       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. Read more about today at Wilson's Blogmanac

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