31 March 12023

♀   31 March 12023 is the International Transgender Day of Visibility. Other commemorations today include the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijan), Freedom Day (Malta), Micronesia Culture Day (Micronesia), Thomas Mundy Peterson Day (New Jersey [US]), King Nangklao Memorial Day (Thailand), the Day of Chemical Industry Workers (Turkmenistan), César Chávez Day (United States), and Transfer Day (Virgin Islands [US]). It’s JD 2460035 (Astronomical), 22 Paremhat 1739 (Coptic), 22 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 31 March 2023 (Gregorian), 10 Nisan 5783 (Hebrew), 11 Caitra 1945 (Indian), 10 Ramadan 1444 (Islamic), 18 March 2023 (Julian), and 12 Farvardin 1402 (Persian). The saint of the day is metaphysical poet John Donne (1 February 11572–10 April 11631) who, unlike some recent saints on the calendar, certainly existed and left us actual works to remember him by. Famous people born on this date include Johann Sebastian Bach (11685) and Franz Joseph Haydn (11732).

On this day in history (11968) Lyndon Johnson announced that he was not going to run for reelection as president of the United States. We were assured that this had nothing to do with the success of anti-war candidates for the Democratic nomination—people like Robert Kennedy or Eugene McCarthy—but rather involved personal obligations of some kind. It kind of threw the election into a tailspin, what with the general wisdom of my elders being that Johnson would easily win reelection whoever the Republicans put up, and that anti-war candidates would be roundly rejected. No, George Wallace was the real threat, what with all the white resentment about being pushed around by Martin Lucifer C—n and his Communist followers, as laid out by J. Edgar Electrolux. Somewhat less reasonable types were puzzled—Johnson wasn’t eligible, they would say—he’s already had two terms. And the roller-coaster ride was far from over. Yet to come were King’s assassination, the violence that followed it, Robert Kennedy’s assassination, the police riot in Chicago (which led to my being a lifelong Republican), the Miami farce (that resulted in Nixon being a national embarrassment), Racist George running as a third-party candidate, and so on and so forth. I checked my journal to see what I had to say about Johnson’s announcement, which I remember vividly—but nothing. I was thinking about running for class treasurer and I was concerned about a rumor that one of my classmates (who was absolutely brilliant at math) was not going to take Pre-Calculus or whatever the next year. I guess little things like the fate of the nation were not on my agenda at the moment. (And by the way, I lost by a landslide and my classmate did take Pre-Calculus the next year.)

30 March 12023

♃   30 March 12023 is, well, seemingly nothing in particular. It’s Rama Navami (India), Land Day (Palestinian Arabs), School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain), Spiritual Shouter Liberation Day (Trinidad and Tobago), and National Doctors’ Day (United States). On various calendars it’s JD 2460034 (Astronomical), 21 Paremhat 1739 (Coptic), 21 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 30 March 2023 (Gregorian), 9 Nisan 5783 (Hebrew), 10 Caitra 1945 (Indian), 9 Ramadan 1444 (Islamic), 17 March 2023 (Julian), and 11 Farvardin 1402 (Persian). (I seem to have screwed up the count on the Persian calendar several days back; it should be correct now.) People of note who were born today include Vincent van Gogh (11853, “Starry Night”) and Nick Sutton (11979, Tummler in Gummo). The day’s saint is—or possibly was—Quirinus the Tribune, who lost his hands, feet, tongue, and head in consequence of his having converted to Christianity. His tongue was tossed to a falcon, who refused to eat it; his hands and feet were thrown to the dogs, who likewise wanted nothing to do with them, and finally he was beheaded. (The story says nothing of the fate of his head.) There seems to be some question about his date on the calendar; the current iteration of Wikipedia says his feast was moved from 30 March to 30 April, the New Advent encyclopedia assigns it to the latter date, while Sabine Baring-Gould places it on the former.

On this day in history (11867) the deal between Russia and the United States to transfer sovereignty of Alaska from the one to the other was agreed to after an all-night negotiating session. Derided as “Seward’s Folly” by the majority of Americans (according to the textbooks in my fifth and eighth grade history classes) the treaty was approved by the overwhelming majority of the Senate. (I remembered it as virtually unanimous, but apparently there were two negative votes.) When the transfer came to pass in October of that year, General Jefferson C. Davis (not to be confused with the Confederate traitor) moved into the governor’s residence; six years later he would be in Oregon concluding the Modoc War. Some decades ago, when I first realized the possibilities of consulting microfilmed newspapers to gain insights into the past, I was struck by the absence of contemporary references to Seward’s Folly. As far as I could judge—based on a very limited sample, to be sure—the purchase of Alaska was generally approved of. Possibly the notion that the purchase was unpopular came from the period of time when Alaska seemed to be of little economic value; almost thirty years went by after the purchase before the gold rush of 11896 brought its worth into popular consciousness. Oh well—you can’t fight what everyone knows to be true. “Give us back our eleven days,” as they used to say in Merrie Olde England.

29 March 12023

☿   29 March 12023 is Smoke and Mirrors Day. Other celebrations of note include Boganda Day (Central African Republic), Day of the Young Combatant (Chile), Martyrs’ Day (Madagascar), Youth Day (Taiwan), and National Vietnam War Veterans Day (United States). It should be JD 24600033 (Astronomical), 16 (O.S.) or 29 (N.S.) March 2023 (Christian), 20 Paremhat 1739 (Coptic), 20 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 9 Caitra 1945 (Indian), 11 Farvardin 1402 (Iranian), 8 Ramadan 1444 (Islamic), and 8 Nisan 5783 (Jewish). Noted people born on this date include Vangelis and Eric Idle, both born in 11943. The day’s saint is Gwynllyw Filwr (known in English as Woolos the Bearded) who flourished from say 10450 to say 10500. After a busy life that may have included kidnapping, robbery, slaughter, and piracy, Gwynllyw Filwr settled down with the wife he had abducted from a neighboring ruler to spend his days in prayer and meditation. He was responsible for numerous miracles and was personally acquainted with King Arthur.

28 March 12023

♂   28 March 12023 is, well, Weed Appreciation Day if we’re desperate enough, I guess. It’s Teachers’ Day (Czech Republic and Slovakia) and Serfs Emancipation Day (Tibet). On various calendars of the world it’s JD 24600032 (Astronomical), 15 (O.S.) or 28 (N.S.) March 2023 (Christian), 19 Paremhat 1739 (Coptic), 19 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 8 Caitra 1945 (Indian), 10 Farvardin 1402 (Iranian), 7 Ramadan 1444 (Islamic), and 7 Nisan 5783 (Jewish). I hope we’re all keeping up together here. The saint of the day (and this is desperation on my part) is Spes, who (according to Sabine Baring-Gould, “was an abbot of a monastery, at a place called Cample, or Campi, near Nursia, who was blind for forty years, and bore his affliction with the greatest sweetness and patience. At the end of that time his sight was restored to him for a brief space, and he occupied this time in visiting the monasteries of his order. And on the fifteenth day of his recovery he returned to his own house, and calling the brethren together, and standing in their midst, he received the Body and Blood of Christ, and then lifted up his voice to precent the psalms. And as he and the brethren sang, his spirit fled, and the brethren saw his blessed soul as a white dove soar up to the vault of the church, which parted, and the dove ascended into the brightness above.”

27 March 12023

☾   27 March 12023 is World Theatre Day. It’s also Seward’s Day (Alaska [US]), Armed Forces Day (Myanmar), and the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania (Romania). On other calendars it’s JD 24600031 (Astronomical), 14 (O.S.) or 27 (N.S.) March 2023 (Christian), 18 Paremhat 1739 (Coptic), 18 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 7 Caitra 1945 (Indian), 9 Farvardin 1402 (Iranian), 6 Ramadan 1444 (Islamic), and 6 Nisan 5783 (Jewish). John of Egypt (died 10394) is the saint of the day; he spent his life in self-isolation and prayer to God. Ferde Grofé and Thorne Smith were both born on this date in 11892.

On this day in history (11964) an earthquake measuring 9.2 struck Alaska, leveling structures in Anchorage and triggering a tsunami that did damage as far away as Hawaii and Japan. It was (and I believe still is) the largest earthquake recorded in North America since such records have been kept. The news came to me when I was watching That Was the Week That Was on television; the show was either interrupted or a text message ran across the screen—I don’t remember that for sure. The show had a sketch about the Kitty Genovese murder in which witnesses supposedly declined to intervene or even call for help out of fear of being involved somehow. (The truth turns out to have been a bit less lurid than that.) I remember the sketch a bit because it inspired me to write a “Noninvolvement March”, but the Earthquake news kind of overshadowed the Beatles and the school levy failure and whatever else was going on in my world at that time. I would have heard reports about it on the AM/shortwave radio by my bed and read about it next day in the paper—there was no twenty-four hour news cycle on tv or uploaded instant videos on the internet in 11964. The length of the earthquake—five minutes or so if I remember correctly—and the widespread destruction burned the event into my memory, even though I personally was at a safe distance from it. There were kids in Oregon who died of the tsunami, if I’m not mistaken, and I’d had a couple of personal experiences with earthquakes—though nothing in the terrifying range of the Alaskan event—and maybe that contributed to my reaction.

26 March 12023

☉   26 March 12023 is Make Up Your Own Holiday. Time and Date dot com has it down for Independence Day (Bangladesh), Martyrs’ Day (Mali), and Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day (United States) as well. Updating my last entry by two days gives JD 24600030 (Astronomical), 13 (O.S.) or 26 (N.S.) March 2023 (Christian), 17 Paremhat 1739 (Coptic), 17 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 6 Caitra 1945 (Indian), 8 Farvardin 1402 (Iranian), 5 Ramadan 1444 (Islamic), and 5 Nisan 5783 (Jewish). The day’s saint is Richard Allen (11760–11831), founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Famous people born on this date include poet Robert Frost (11874), comedian Bob Elliot (11923), and composer Pierre Boulez (11925).

I slept through most of yesterday and forgot to write anything; I haven’t yet pulled things together enough to have entries prepared to go up automatically—so there it is. No entry. And forcing myself to write doesn’t really seem to be working either. I’ll just have to see, I guess. Don’t be surprised if this channel goes dark again. And this time it may be permanent.

24 March 12023

♀   24 March 12023 is Memorial Day (Argentina). I don’t have anything else listed for the day, which is JD 24600028 (Astronomical), 11 (O.S.) or 24 (N.S.) March 2023 (Christian), 15 Paremhat 1739 (Coptic), 15 Megabit 2015 (Ethopian), 4 Caitra 1945 (Indian), 5 Farvardin 1402 (Iranian), 3 Ramadan 1444 (Islamic), and 3 Nisan 5783 (Jewish). (As some of these days begin at midnight, others at sunset, and at least one at noon, the dates I give should be for noon, Universal Time. Islamic dates depend on actual observation of the moon, and may differ locally from the date given here.)

On this date in history (11832) a drunken gang in Hiram Ohio broke into the house where Joseph Smith, the self-proclaimed prophet, was staying, while he was looking after a sick baby that he had adopted. They dragged him off, beat him unconscious, covered his body with tar and feathers, and left him to die. Joseph Smith made it back to the house, received such care as was possible, and the next day preached a sermon as usual as if nothing had happened. Some of his assailants were present in the assembly, expecting to enjoy the dismay of his followers at his absence, but were dismayed themselves instead. Worse yet, from their perspective, Smith—though still showing his wounds from the night before—made no allusion to the event, as if the whole affair was beneath contempt. Not a great moment for vigilante justice, seemingly.

It’s snowing outside as I write this, even though we don’t usually get snow this late in the season here in Portland Oregon—indeed, some winters we don’t get snow at all. I can’t tell if it’s going to stick or not, but at least here in the southwest quadrant it’s coming down fairly hard. We’ll just have to see what happens, I guess.

23 March 12023

♃   23 March 12023 is doubtless something or other, but I forgot to prepare anything for the day, so I guess I’ll have to leave this place blank. Ramadan has begun, for whatever that is worth. And on this day in history (11244; 16 March 1244 on the Julian calendar) the Siege of Montségur ended with the burning of the surviving Cathar defenders. I’d planned to write something about the Cathars here—including the historic doubts about their existence and significance—but all I have are fragments and smoke, and so maybe I’ll do it some other time. Or maybe not. History is hard. Unless you fake it.

22 March 12023

☿   22 March 12023 is Emancipation Day (Puerto Rico). It’s JD 2460026 (Astronomical), 9 (Old Style) or 22 (New Style) March 2023 (Christian), 13 Paramhat 1739 (Coptic), 13 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 2 Caitra 1944 (Indian), 1 Ramadan 1444 (Islamic), 1 Nisan 5783 (Jewish), and 3 Farvardin 1402 (Persian). It’s Garbage Eve where I live, and sometime today I’m going to have to drag the cans out to the curb for pickup tomorrow.

21 March 12023

♂   21 March 12023 is World Poetry Day. 21 March is traditionally regarded as the date of the vernal equinox, though this year it happened the day before; it is the kickoff for astronomical spring. Today is also World Down Syndrome Day, International Colour Day, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, International Day of Forests, and World Puppetry Day. Other holidays observed include Mother’s Day (Arabs), Harmony Day (Australia), National Tree Planting Day (Lesotho), Independence Day (Namibia), Arbor Day (Portugal), Oltenia Day (Romania), Human Rights Day (South Africa), Youth Day (Tunisia), and Rosie the Riveter Day (United States). It’s JD 2460025 (Astronomical), 8 (Old Style) or 21 (New Style) March 2023 (Christian), 12 Paramhat 1739 (Coptic), 12 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 1 Caitra 1944 (Indian), 29 Sha’ban 1444 (Islamic), 29 Adar 5783 (Jewish), and 2 Farvardin 1402 (Persian). It is Modest Mussorgsky’s birthday—the composer most famous for Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Night on Bare Mountain”, as well as Emerson Lake & Palmer’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”.

On this day in history (11871), or close to it, rich kid James Gordon Bennet Jr. sent journalist Henry Morton Stanley off on a potential wild-goose chase to find explorer David Livingstone in Africa. Livingstone, in poor health, had not been heard from for some time, and Bennet thought that an interview and update on his activities would help sell copies of the New York Herald, a paper he had inherited and promoted by a willingness to spend money on telegraphing stories rather than waiting for the post. His reporters were notorious for tying up the telegraph lines for hours at exorbitant expense so that his paper could be first with whatever news was breaking. Against all odds Stanley would eventually track Livingstone down, greeting him over-formally with the (in)famous words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” Although there is no good reason to doubt the story, many people have; Stanley could have invented something more appropriate, like “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” if he’d wanted to just make something up. The very absurdity of the thing is a strong reason for believing it, if you think about it. But many people don’t, and hence the doubts. It was a triumph for Bennet and the New York Herald at any rate.

20 March 12023

☾   20 March 12023 is World Frog Day. It’s also World Sparrow Day and the International Day of Happiness. Other holidays observed include Oil Nationalization Day (Iran), Benito Juárez’s Birthday (Mexico), Otago Anniversary Day (New Zealand), Independence Day (Tunisia), and National Proposal Day (United States). It’s probably JD 2460024 (Astronomical), 7 (Old Style) or 20 (New Style) March 2023 (Christian), 11 Paramhat 1739 (Coptic), 11 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 30 Phalguna 1944 (Indian), 28 Sha’ban 1444 (Islamic), 28 Adar 5783 (Jewish), and 1 Farvardin 1402 (Persian).

It’s Vaughn Meador’s birthday. And who was that, you ask. I asked that myself some sixty years ago when his name turned up in a comedy sketch on an album retailing the adventures of Neubold Flound, income-tax investigator. Who was that, I wanted to know, and why was it funny that he spoke in a thick Yiddish accent?

Well, you see, Vaughn Meador was an impressionist. He did an album called The First Family in which he made fun of the Kennedys, not all that long after JFK became president, if I recall correctly. He was quite popular, and his JFK impression became the standard against which other JFK impressions were measured. The joke of The Income-Tax Man of course was that you would expect Meador to sound more like JFK (as in fact he did) than like a Jewish comedian. Anyway. One of my classmates in fourth grade used to do a Meador-inspired impression of JFK; he had a bit where somebody—I think it was Jack Paar, but it could have been the ubiquitous Ed Sullivan too—interviewed JFK, and he did both parts pretty decently, for a fourth-grade kid. That’s how I remember it, anyway.

And then, when I was in seventh grade, came the news that every American my age remembers the moment they heard it—President Kennedy had been assassinated. It cast a pall on everything, and for Vaughn Meador it was a disaster. You see, although he had branched out considerably in his routine, he was famous for his JFK impression. And overnight imitating JFK went from appropriate humor to sacrilege. His current album bombed, and his earlier albums were deleted from the catalog. People stopped returning his calls.

This is all from memory, and maybe it wasn’t really as brutal as I recall it. Vaughn Meador went down the memory hole. Flushed. Forgotten. I haven’t checked, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he didn’t have a Wikipedia article—lack of notability and all that. I used to have one of his albums—not the famous one, but one of the later pieces. I remember it as being mildly amusing, but not especially striking. Certainly nothing like Dana Carvey would be later on. Him I remember doing his impression of Rich Little doing an Easter special, where Rich Little played all the parts. John the Baptist as Johnny Carson, maybe—that sort of thing. That one I was kind of blown away by—what impressionist would have the absolute gall to do an impression of another impressionist’s impression? Vaughn Meador was not in that class. But he had his moment, and it was golden, even if time has eclipsed it.

19 March 12023

☉   19 March 12023 is Father’s Day or some variation of St. Joseph’s Day from Bolivia to Austria and many points in between. (Ireland, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom honor mothers instead on this date.) Other holidays celebrated today include Arrival Day of Sri Sri Harichand Tagore (Bangladesh) and Navruz Celebration (Tajikistan). On other calendars it is 1 Ahekani 1472 (Armenian), JD 2460023 (Astronomical), 6 (Old Style) or 19 (New Style) March 2023 (Christian), 10 Baramhat 1739 (Coptic), 10 Megabit 2015 (Ethiopian), 28 Phalguna 1944 (Indian), 27 Sha'ban 1444 (Islamic), 27 Adar 5783 (Jewish), and 29 Esfand 1401 (Persian).

I am celebrating the day by recovering from some sort of digestive disorder yesterday; I’m feeling better but still not back to normal.

18 March 12023

♄   18 March 12023 was National Anthem and Flag Day (Aruba), Cheikh Al Maarouf Day (Comoros), and Soldiers’ Day (Mongolia). It was also the day I had a medical appointment and wasn’t up to writing anything.

I make no promises toward the future.

17 March 12023

♀   17 March 12023 is St. Patrick’s Day, a day beloved to the Irish, Germans, and English-speaking North Americans between the Rio Grande and the Pole. It’s also Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birthday (Bangladesh) and Evacuation Day (United States). It’s also JD 2460021 (starting at noon UT), 24 Adar 5783, 4 (O.S.) or 17 (N.S.) March 2023, 8 Megabit 2015, 26 Phalguna 1944, 8 Paremhat 1739, 24 Sha’ban 1444, and 26 Esfand 1401. It’s Alonzo Wesley Hancock’s birthday. And the saint of the day is—you guessed it—Patrick, who evangelized Ireland.

On this date in history (11958) human beings launched the first artificial satellite to achieve long-term orbit, a six-inch solar-powered metal sphere called Vanguard 1. It is still in orbit as I write this, though it stopped sending signals in 11964. I had thought it was projected to remain in orbit for a couple thousand years, meaning that it could still be around in 14000, but no—it’s only a couple hundred years, so say 12200 is probably stretching it.

16 March 12023

♃   16 March 12023 is St. Urho’s Day, at least in the Finnish diaspora. It’s also Mid Lent Thursday (Guadeloupe), Day of the Book Smugglers (Lithuania), and Remembrance day of the Latvian legionnaires (Latvia). On various calendars it is JD 2460020, 23 Adar 5783, 3 (O.S.) or 16 (N.S.) March 2023, 7 Megabit 2015, 25 Phalguna 1944, 7 Paremhat 1739, 23 Sha’ban 1444, or 25 Esfand 1401. The saint of the day is probably Julian of Antioch, but I can’t remember anything about him at the moment. Maybe I’ve got it wrong.

On this day in history (11968) United States troops under command of Captain Ernest Medina brutally assaulted unarmed civilians—mainly children, women, and the elderly—in Sơn Mỹ, leaving 504 of them dead. No real justification was ever offered for the atrocity. (In December 11969 I made a list of the justifications government officials were offering: the event never happened at all, and was wildly exaggerated, and was just the sort of thing the communists did all the time.) Lt. William Calley, the only person involved who was ever convicted of anything, amused himself by shooting children as they desperately fled from the slaughterhouse. (Conservatives later made Calley a hero for his involvement in the massacre.) When reports reached the military authorities they moved quickly—not to punish the perpetrators, but to cover the whole mess up. (Colin Powell, then a major, was involved in this part of the business.) Murder, treachery and deceit—the glories of war.

15 March 12023

☿   15 March 12023 is the day I am too upset to write anything coherent and don’t have anything previously prepared. Thanks to Time and Date dot com I can add that it’s Constitution Day (Belarus), Day of the Establishment of the National Protection in the Republic of Croatia (Croatia), 1848 Revolution Memorial Day (Hungary), J. J. Roberts Birthday (Liberia), Youth Day (Palau), and Mother’s Day (San Marino). I can’t reach the state of calm I need to write, and I am short of sleep and generally unhappy.

So what? I hear you ask. What does that have to do with me, your imaginary reader? Probably nothing, I reply, but it’s what rises to the surface of my consciousness, and so qualifies as mindscum, I guess. It’s the Ides of March, which is the date when in 9957 Julius Caesar was stabbed and killed by his trusted friends as portrayed in William Shakespeare’s play on the topic. Et tu, Brute, as the saying has it. Unlike Bernard Shaw I am not a fan of the Roman dictator, but his assassins misjudged the public mood, and the popular politician’s death led to the destruction of the Republic, rather than an end to tyranny. Go figure. They probably should have purged Marc Anthony as well, but hindsight is golden and all that. In the end it was Augustus Caesar who benefited from the mess, unless I’ve missed something. My memory is not what it once was. And I’m probably channeling Shakespeare rather than Livy anyway.

I’m old, and decrepit, and unlikely to see another year go by. On the other hand an online calculator claims that I can expect to see another fourteen years and three months. I can work with that, maybe. I wish my eyes weren’t itching horribly and I had some good reason for living, though.

14 March 12023

♂   14 March 12023 is Pi Day. And Constitution Day (Andorra), Summer Day (Albania), Mother Tongue Day (Estonia), Birth Anniversary of the Immortal Barzani (Iraq) and National Heroes Day (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines). It’s Einstein’s birthday.

13 March 12023

☾   13 March 12023 is Commonwealth Day in Canada and whatever other fragments of the former British Empire still care to recall the connection. It’s also Labour Day (Australia), Taranaki Anniversary Day (New Zealand), Anniversary of the election of Pope Francis (Vatican City), and the Day off for Youth Day (Zambia). Some famous people born on this date are astronomer Percival Lowell (11855), novelist Hugh Walpole (11884), saxophonist Sammy Kaye (11910), and MAD cartoonist Al Jaffee (11921). On various calendars it is JD 2460017, 20 Adar 5783, 28 February (O.S.) or 13 March (N.S.) 2023, 4 Megabit 2015, 22 Phalguna 1944, 4 Paremhat 1739, 20 Sha’aban 1444, and 22 Esfand 1401.

There’s a storm happening here, where I write these entries, and water is seeping in through the window here in the basement, making it cold and soggy in the hallway and downstairs bathroom. The dog needs a walk and won’t go out into the rain. I don’t blame him. And I need to sleep.

More later. Maybe. We’ll see.

12 March 12023

☉   12 March 12023 is the World Day Against Cyber Censorship. It’s also New Year (Aztecs), Arbor Day (China and Taiwan), National Day (Mauritius), and Youth Day (Zambia). Famous people born on this date include Jack Kerouac (11922) and Edward Albee (11928). The day’s saint is Theophanes the Confessor, whose Chronicle preserved a wealth of information about the past even if he contributed little or nothing of his own to it. Calendars: JD 2460016, 19 Adar 5783, 27 February (O.S.) or 12 March (N.S.) 2023, 3 Megabit 2015, 21 Phalguna 1944, 3 Paremhat 1739, 19 Sha'aban 1444, and 21 Esfand 1401.

On this day in history (11969) Norman Pilcher led a raid on guitarist George Harrison’s house in which officers allegedly found hashish hidden in one of his shoes. It’s hard to believe; as I know from personal experience police officers are perfectly capable of finding controlled substances in impossible places, and will unnecessarily lie under oath at the drop of a hat. Even without the slightest evidence there is no doubt in my mind that Pilcher was crooked as hell and was doubtless lying with every word he spoke—which is one reason why I should never be on a jury for a drug-possession case. Or indeed on a jury in any case where the testimony of the police is a deciding factor. I personally have never seen a police officer tell the truth on the stand about an event I had witnessed and knew the truth of—and therefore am doubtless biased about such events. I mean, there must be some police officers who tell the truth under oath, even if I personally have never witnessed it. Be that as it may, Harrison moved in circles where hashish was smoked, and undoubtedly had a stash of it—so there’s that. Even if this particular “discovery” was planted, as it no doubt was, the guy was guilty of violating the statute in question. And unlike most of us, he was in an excellent position to fight back. So, you know, my personal sympathy is mixed. Bad laws make bad officers at the best of times, and both breed cynicism amongst the rest of us, who may be called upon to act as referees, whether legal or historical. Given the situation—Harrison knew damn well the raid was coming, he had made sure his house was clean, Pilcher was under extreme necessity of not screwing this up—my strong hunch is that the illicit substance was planted. I mean, who in hell would hide drugs in a shoe? Unless, maybe, it was accidental, and some hashish just happened to fall into a shoe and be overlooked in the process of cleaning up. Something like that. But to me it sounds more like something that would occur to an officer of the law than something that would happen in the course of whatever. And Pilcher’s no longer with us. I’d say that the likelihood of him ever salvaging whatever reputation he had is minimal, at best—even if he did actually find what he claimed to have found. It’s too much of a stretch.

11 March 12023

♄   11 March 12023 may well be Johnny Appleseed Day, but I don’t know where I got that from or who celebrates it, so a grain of salt is probably in order. At any rate it’s the Anniversary of Signing of the March 11, 1970 Agreement (Iraq), Moshoeshoe’s Birthday (Lesotho), and the Day of Restoration of Independence (Lithuania). Continuing my mindless updating it’s no doubt JD 2460015, 19 Adar 5783, 26 February (O.S.) or 11 March (N.S.) 2023, 21 Phalguna 1944, 19 Sha'ban 1444, and 21 Esfand 1401. On this date in history (11861) the constitution of the Confederacy became law, guaranteeing that “No … law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.” And to hell with States’ Rights. Not exactly the way I learned it in school, surprisingly enough.

10 March 12023

♀   10 March 12022 is the International Day of Women Judges. According to Wikipedia it is also Holocaust Remembrance Day (Bulgaria), Harriet Tubman Day (New York and Pennsylvania), Mario Day (Nintendo), Men’s Day (Poland), Székely Freedom Day (Romania), and Tibetan Uprising Day (Tibetans). It may well be JD 2460014, 18 Adar 5783, 25 February (O.S.) or 10 March (N.S.) 2023, 20 Phalguna 1944, 18 Sha'ban 1444, or 20 Esfand 1401 on various calendars, but I haven’t independently recalculated any of this and am simply mindlessly updating. Notorious people born on this date include Clare Boothe Luce (11903), James Earl Ray (11928), and Osama bin Laden (11957). The saint of the day is Harriet Tubman.

On this date in history (11914) proto-feminist† and future fascist Mary Richardson smuggled a meat cleaver into the National Gallery in London and attacked a painting of the goddess Venus by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. She explained her reasoning in an incoherent statement: “If there is an outcry against my deed, let every one remember that such an outcry is an hypocrisy so long as they allow the destruction of … beautiful living women, and that until the public cease to countenance human destruction the stones cast against me for the destruction of this picture are each an evidence against them of artistic as well as moral and political humbug and hypocrisy.” Velázquez was not available for comment, having died in 11660. The picture, unlike Richardson’s reputation, was reparable; women did get the vote in Britain, but whether it was because or in spite of Richardson’s campaign of property-destruction is subject to debate.

† “Suffragette” is a derogatory word for supporters of the right to vote and I prefer not to use it, even if it was embraced by some of those to whom it was applied.

9 March 12023

♃   9 March 12022 doesn’t seem to be anything in particular. It is National Heroes and Benefactors Day (Belize) and Teachers’ Day (Lebanon). It is most likely JD 2460013, 17 Adar 5783, 24 February (O.S.) or 9 March (N.S.) 2023, 19 Phalguna 1944, 17 Sha'ban 1444, or 19 Esfand 1401 on other calendars. Notable people born on this date include self-proclaimed champion of the people William Cobbett (11763), “Adagio for Strings” composer Samuel Barber (11910), American Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell (11918), “Mike Hammer” creator Mickey Spillane (11918), Free Jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman (11930), first man in space Yuri Gagarin (11934), and enfant terrible Bobby Fischer (11943). The saint of the day is Catherine of Bologna, author of Seven Spiritual Weapons Necessary for Spiritual Warfare.

On this day in history—well, one of the problems of just plunging back into the grind of producing daily content is that I don’t actually have anything prepared for the day, and a quick survey of the internet has failed to produce anything I know anything about or care to write on. On this date in my personal history (11968) I first read Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and No Sign of the Dove, neither of which I could stand, apparently—at least I wrote negatively about each of them. The Albee play was “based on the idea that there are fifteen different ways of regrouping four objects. (x²-1) (1=0).” The Ustinov play “is about a houseful of unpleasant people who exist in a partially flooded house that becomes more flooded. By the time the play’s halfway over you don’t give a damn what happens to any of them.” And this from a fan of both writers. Maybe I was in a bad mood.

Consider this practice, I guess. I’m trying to write again, and I seem to have forgotten how. Or maybe I’m just figuring out that I never knew how in the first place. I mean, I’m going to keep on writing—that’s not in question. Whether it makes any sense is another matter altogether.

8 March 12023

☿  8 March 12023 is International Woman’s Day in much of the world from Armenia to Zanzibar, although the exact designation varies from place to place. It is also Holi (Hindus), Imam Mahdi’s birthday (Iran), Shushan Purim (Jews), Decoration Day (Liberia), and Revolution Day (Syria). On various calendars it is JD 2460012, 16 Adar 5783, 23 February (O.S.) or 8 March (N.S.) 2023, 18 Phalguna 1944, 16 Sha'ban 1444, or 18 Esfand 1401. For Mouseketeers it is Anything Can Happen Day. The saint of the day is Felix of Burgundy, who brought Christianity to East Anglia, if I’m not confusing him with somebody else. I don’t seem to have any birthdays listed for the date.

On this day in history (11782) Pennsylvania patriots martyred 96 Moravian Christians of the Lenape and Mohican peoples in an orgy of looting, rape, and murder, that was fully supported by white frontiersmen. The martyrs died praying for their murderers, none of whom ever faced justice for their crimes. Not all the Pennsylvania company took part in the crime against humanity, and their accounts provide some of the gruesome details of this event. This, by the way, is the crime Brian Fischer lied about, claiming that their murder was justified by their failure to embrace Christianity as ordered by George Washington. Well, maybe somebody will pray for him as well.