Day of Valor

It's hard to believe that it's Wednesday(Bhud-waar, Chaharshanbeh, yawm-al-arba'a, Idal, Prickle-Prickle) for some reason. But it is. And that's really not a bad thing. It's amazing that the French are so angry at the Chinese or are so pro-Tibetan that they would cause the Olympic torch relay to be postponed. Now it seems there's some Americans who would like to follow suit in San Francisco. All of this anti-Chinese sentiment is great. China is probably one of the worst violators of human rights in the world. However, I find it doubtful that our government will allow for too much in the way of protests so as not to anger the Chinese too much. Our economy is so dependent upon China that if they dumped their holdings of the US dollar, we'd be FUBAR'd. The economic fallout of a breach in our relationship with China would be so devastating that it wouldn't even be funny. Imagine if China suspended imports to the US. We'd have nothing to buy. The shelves of Wal-Mart would be empty. Maybe then people would get angry and involved, maybe people would riot. Maybe someone would actually care about something other than the latest celebrity gossip because their life would be dramatically effected. Or, maybe the protesters in San Francisco will get tear-gassed and arrested and those in power will demonstrate to the Chinese that the US is also an oppressive police state that actually condones their human rights violations because it allows the American citizenry to continue to purchase happiness which 81% of the time is stamped with the words, "Made in China".

In 475 the Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issued an encyclical supporting the Monophysite position on the nature of Christ, which states that Christ had only one nature, divine. In 1241 the Mongol hordes defeated the Polish and German armies at the Battle of Liegnitz. In 1413 Henry V was crowned King of England. In 1682 Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovered the mouth of the Mississippi, claimed it for France, and called it Louisiana. In 1865 Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in VA pretty much ending the Civil War. Two years later the US Senate ratified a treaty with Russia authorizing the purchase of Alaska. In 1947 tornadoes killed 181 people in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. In 1953 the first 3D film premiered. And in 1957 the Suez Canal opened.

In the Philippines today is Araw ng Kagitingan, or the Day of Valor, in remembrance of the Bataan Death March. The Philippines is a nation made up of 7107 islands and its capital is Manila, so named because it is shaped like a folder. There are 89 million people who live there and 81% of them are Roman Catholic. Filipinos have a very interesting cultural heritage which blends traces of Spanish, Asian, and American cultures into a big ol' mess.

Happy Birthday: the French poet, Baudelaire; the founder of Playboy, Hugh Hefner; musician, Carl Perkins; actor, Dennis Quaid; and the wealthiest woman in porn, Jenna Jameson (pictured above from her appearance in Family Guy.

Enjoy the Day of Hump (which has nothing to do with Jenna, unless you want it to).