Just Say It

You're glad that it's Hump Day. The middle of the week offers us some time to reflect on what's passed, and provides us hope for what lies ahead. When I was living with my parents Wednesdays (Bhud-waar, Chaharshanbeh, yawm-al-arba'a, Idal, Sweetmorn) were the longest days of the week (other than Sundays). After the long, painful school day, we spent our Wednesday evenings at prayer service. Your typical prayer service resembled a regular church service only with an emphasis on Prayer and Testimony, which was church-speak for group participation. It was never fun, and rarely did it invoke any sort of desire to participate. We usually got home no earlier than 9pm, just in time to go to bed. Now, Wednesdays thankfully are my own (I use that term very lightly), and I haven't been to a prayer service in over 17 years, and have no plans on going to one. All I can really say is that, on this Wednesday, I instead get to go to an American Idol party to see who's going to win a contest that I could care less about... but at least I have a choice in the matter, don't I?

In 996 the 16-year-old Otto III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Can you imagine spending the morning at the DMV getting your driver's license and the afternoon in the Cathedral getting coronated as ruler of what's left of the Western Empire by the Pope himself? That's some year. In 1856 Lawrence, KS was captured and burned by pro-slavery forces. In 1871 today was the first day of what became known as the Bloody Week as French government troops clashed with Parisian citizens. 20,000 civilians were killed during the uprising, hence the term bloody. In 1881 the American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton. In 1904 FIFA, the governing body of international soccer (football) was founded in Paris. In 1927 Lindbergh completed his trans-Atlantic flight that he started yesterday. In 1934 in an Orwellian event, the town of Oskaloosa, Iowa became the first US city to fingerprint all of its residents. In 1996 7 Trappist monks were killed in Algeria by radical Muslim whackos. These men are collectively known as the Martyrs of Atlas. God got his revenge in 2003 as an earthquake killed over 2000 in Algeria.

Today is Navy Day in Chile. The origin of the name of this nation, which lies on the SW coast of S. America, is shrouded in mystery and has nothing to do with chili which is wonderful when eaten on top of french fries and smothered with cheese. It could possibly be from a Mapuche Indian word, "chilli", which means "where the land ends". The capital is Santiago and the country has about 16 million residents, 40% of which live around Santiago. Chile is the largest producer of copper and the 5th largest producer of wine in the world. 65% of Chileans are mestizo and 70% of them are Catholics.

Lots of Birthdays: Albrecht Durer, the German artist, who etched today's picture; King Philip II of Spain (dead); Alexander Pope, the English poet; the French artist, Henri Rousseau; Raymond Burr; Al Franken; Mr. T., I pity the fool; Judge Reinhold, don't know what happened to him; Jeffrey Dahmer, psycho; the Notorious BIG (dead); Fairuza Balk; Ricky Williams, dumb ass; my mom; and Belladonna, who was raised a Mormon but became a porn star.

Have a good day. There's still hope for the rest of the week.