Thi$ Day In Hi$tory

On August 5, 1861, the United States Government under President Abraham Lincoln levied the first ever income tax, which demanded 3% of the income of persons making $800 per year or more.

I wonder what my life would be like if I was able to keep 97% of my income...

A Windy Inheritance

On July 21, 1925, Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution and fined $100, perhaps the lowest price ever paid by any martyr for any cause.

Historically, the "Monkey Trial" of 1925 has been often used to pit science and religion against one another. Less understood is how much this trial represented the divisions in American society between rural and urban cultures, academia and the working classes, populists and elitists, conservatives and progressives, and North and South. And perhaps the biggest question at all posed by the trial is whether or not majority opinion is sufficent to define truth. None of these intricacies, by the way, are adequately or fairly explored in that lousy piece of big-city elitist propaganda known as Inherit the Wind.

(Longtime readers of this blog will recall that a couple of years back, I posted a six-part series on the historiography of this infamous event. Fun stuff.)

Gomer Pyle and Corpus Christi

I can connect the two in one move.

Since Today is Jim Nabors' 79th birthday, and Sunday is the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, it only seems appropriate to post the singing marine's rendition of "Panis Angelicus," the great Eucharistic hymn of Thomas Aquinas. Enjoy.

This Day In History

On May 9, 1950, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health was published by L. Ron Hubbard. This causes lingering feelings of sadness in me, but I can't put my finger on the reason why.

This Day In History

Waco, TX: On April 19, 1993, a 51-day U.S. Government standoff against the Branch Davidian compound led by cult founder David Koresh ended in a fire, killing 81 people.

Oklahoma City, OK: On April 19, 1995, The Alfred P. Murrah building is bombed by domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh, killing 168 people.

Thanks a lot, Dave and Tim, for getting moderately sane people like me put into consideration when it comes to things like this.

Everything's Bigger In...

On March 30, 1867, United States Secretary of State William H. Seward purchased Alaska for $7.2 million, which comes out to about $.02 an acre. What would $7.2 million buy in today's economy, you might ask? Here's a brief run-down:

-A donation from tbe Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to Seattle's public school system

-A Morgan Stanley bank error that wrongly hosed customers of the Xerox corporation

-The retirement stipend to the former head of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont

-How much stimulus money the VA Center in Syracuse is getting from the federal government

-How much in campaign contributions President Obama had received by "Super Tuesday"

-The 1999 salary that the Anaheim Angels paid to Mo Vaughn

...To name a few.

And to quote an Alaskan I met in my brief sojourn there just over a decade ago, if you were to cut it in half, Texas would be the third biggest state.

THE IDES.

Beware 'em!

Happy 155th Birthday, Republican Party

And even though you no longer exist, we sincerely hope that all those involved in your offshoots are as morbidly amused and bewildered as I am that your first president was Abraham Lincoln, and that the next "Abraham Lincoln" was a Democrat.

Happy 225th Birthday, Methodist Church

And even though you no longer exist, we sincerely hope that all involved in your offshoots find their hearts strangely warmed today.

This Day In History

February 26, 1970: National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit. Sales of granola skyrocket.

February 26, 1991: Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Sales of Rolls-Royces skyrocket.

February 26, 2004: The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya. Pretty much nobody goes.

This Day In History

On January 7, 1935, French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval and Benito Mussolini signed the Franco-Italian agreement. Some years earlier, on an unspecified date, Spaghetti-O's signed the Franco-American agreement.

This Day In History

On November 30, 1954, the Hodges Meteorite became the first extraterrestrial object on record to strike a human being, bouncing off a wooden radio console owned by Oak Hill, Alabama resident Ann Elizabeth Hodges, and deflecting onto her as she napped on her couch. Imagine the irony of being hit by a meteorite named after you...

This Day In History

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. On the same day, British authors C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley also died. That being said, allow us to recommend that the following Peter Kreeft dialogue be read in commemoration:

This Day In History

On November 13, 1775, American troops under the command of Ethan Allen attacked the city of Montreal with pieces of furniture that exhibited classic design with a modern perspective.

Happy Anniversary, Exploding Whale

Author's Note: We originally published this last year on this date. However, it's just so great that we'll probably publish it every year until the end of the digital age.

On November 12, 1970, the Oregon Highway Division set out to rid the beach near Florence of the 45 foot long rotting carcass of a sperm whale. Collaborating with the US Navy, ODOT crews stuffed the carcass with a half ton of dynamite, hoping to fragment it into pieces small enough to be cleaned from the beach by scavenging seaside beasts.

Upon the detonation of the explosive charges, one reporter was heard to remark that "the blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds." One hunk of whale was reported to have landed on a car, smashing it pretty good. A significant portion of sperm whale carcass remained on the beach, and had to be cheerfully hand-collected by ODOT employees.

In a related incident, a slightly annoyed bowl of petunias was reported also to have been exploded just up the beach.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, The Exploding Whale Incident.

This Day In History

On October 28, 1704, English philosopher John Locke died. However, since time and space related things work differently on The Island, he somehow ended up in a coffin in Los Angeles 300 years later, needing to go back.

This Day In History

On October 21, 1512, Martin Luther was appointed to the Theology faculty at the University of Wittenberg. Watch the hell out.

Also, on October 21, 1945, Argentinian politician Juan Peron married Madonna, the first of many high profile conjugal alliances for the actress and singer.

Also, on October 21, 1995, Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon died. Ten days later, every girl under the age of 16 dressed like a bumblebee and asked for candy.

Fatima, Schmatima.

In this, the 91st anniversary year of Our Lady's appearance at Fatima, the clever scoundrels at Creative Minority Report have compiled a list of the top ten scientific reasons that the whole event was faked by nature:

10. Stratospheric Dust. Steuart Campbell, writing for the 1989 edition of Journal of Meteorology, theorizes that a cloud of stratospheric dust altered the appearance of the sun on 13 October, making it easier to look at, and causing it to appear yellow, blue, and violet and to spin. In support of his hypothesis, Mr. Campbell reports that a blue and reddened sun was reported in China as documented in 1983.

9. Not everyone saw it so nothing happened. Oddly, this is the exact opposite of their argument that people in China saw it so it didn't happen. Astronomers, they say, noticed no dancing in the sky from all over the world. The dancing sun was a regional event thus disproving it. A quick question would be the fact that it was a regional event should prove that something out of the ordinary happened. If it happened worldwide it would be written off as simply an astronomical event because the whole world saw it.

8. ESP! (Always my favorite) Author Lisa Schwebel claims that the event was a supernatural form of extra-sensory phenomenon. God? no way! ESP? Yup! Schwebel has said that throughout the history of man there have been several reported cases of religious gatherings culminating in the sudden and mysterious appearance of lights in the sky so therefore it's ESP. The logic evades me a little but I guess if you're a believer in The Exorcist Part II, then it's as believable as Richard Burton as a priest.

7. Mock-Sun. Didn't even know this one existed but it's worth a listen. Joe Nickell, a self described skeptic and paranormal investigator, according to Wikipedia,
claims that the position of the phenomenon as described by the various witnesses, is at the wrong azimuth and elevation to have been the sun. He suggests the cause may have been a sundog. Sometimes referred to as a parhelion or "mock sun", a sundog is an atmospheric optical phenomenon associated with the reflection/refraction of sunlight by the numerous small ice crystals that make up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. A sundog is, however, a stationary phenomenon, and would not explain the reported appearance of the "dancing sun". So Nickell further suggests an explanation for this phenomena may lie in temporary retinal distortion, caused by staring at the intense light and/or the effect of darting the eyes to and fro so as to avoid completely fixed gazing (thus combining image, afterimage and movement).
So, in effect, 70,000 people all shook their heads and thought a mock-sun was dancing. All 70,000? Prety ridiculous, huh?

6. Dust cloud! Paul Simons, in an article entitled "Weather Secrets of Miracle at Fatima", said that it's possible that some of the optical effects at Fatima may have been caused by a cloud of dust from the Sahara.

5. The old mass hallucination theory. Author Kevin McClure is one of many on this claim which goes something like this: The crowd at Cova da Iria was expecting to see signs in the sun so they did. Yeah because that happens all the time. But McClure doesn't factor in that people several miles away who weren't thinking about the event also saw it.

4. UFO! The old alien craft pretending to be a sign from God trick. Happens all the time, didn't you know. Of course, the spaceship just happened to come on the day that the three children said a miracle would occur. Or perhaps the apparitions were all the works of little green men. This all sounds a lot more real than the Church's explanation.

3. Solar Storm. A gigantic coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred. Better known as the Northern Lights in Portugal. You see, solar flares emit high-speed particles that cause the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. Well that explains it all right there. Because we all know the Northern Lights look exactly like the Sun dancing. Or not.

2. Peer pressure. There was significant social pressure to see a miracle so everyone fooled themselves into believing they did. 70,000 people? That's some pretty strong peer pressure especially for the people who saw it 20 miles away.

1. An Eclipse. These fellas don't mind contradicting themselves. This would be a very very regional eclipse. Wouldn't astronomers have noted the eclipse?

Bonus Reason:
-1. Evolution. This is sadly from Institute of Physics, Catholic University of Louvain. Evolution has provided us with the infamous “zoom and loom effect”. It occurs when you see an image at some unknown distance. Your brain considers the possibility that it might come closer so without your knowledge your brain performs "an illusory mental zoom, where the apparent size of the object is progressively increased." Here's why this occurs, says scientists: Evolution forces us to be constantly worried that something dangerous is coming to eat us so we might need to skedaddle right quick so the brain zooms it in to scare us into skedaddling. When the “idea” of an approach does not lead to any real danger, the perceived object returns to its normal place. Thus the dancing sun. Amazing. 70,000 people thought the Sun was coming to eat them. When they realized the Sun had no teeth they "zoomed and loomed" it back to where it belonged. That might just be my favorite one.

It was too good not to re-post the whole thing. Where does one begin to dismantle the idea that a "sun-dog" sent messages to Portugese children to trick them into coming to a specific area at the specific day and time that it bore forth its solar "woof?"

If Fatima was merely a scientific phenomenon, I'm going to need better ideas than the above to go on.

And don't say it was Satan as an angel of light, because Satan doesn't tell you to say things like "forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven."

This Day In History

If Pope Paul VI were still alive, today would be his eleventy-first birthday.

Happy (posthumous) 111th, former Holy Father!

This Day In History

On September 13, 1224, St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata. Not exactly hippie or birdbath material...

Also, on September 13, 1609, Henry Hudson discovered the Hudson River. Imagine his surprise at reaching the New World and finding a river named after him.