O Quebec

Welcome to (Tuesday, Mangal-waar, Seshanbeh, yawm-ath-thalatha, Fidal, dydd Mawrth, Setting Orange). It's rained- again. Tomorrow they're saying that it's going to be our first 90 degree day. I'm not looking forward to that. What I am looking forward to is having a day off which won't be until next week. But, it's something to look forward to. I've always been of the opinion that there's not too many places in North America that I'd like to visit. Maybe this sounds a little uppity. I don't know. But if I had to pick one place that I'd like to see, it'd have to be Montreal. I've heard nothing but good things about the city. And today, there and in all of Quebec it is the Fete nationale du Quebec. The picture is that of the sacre coeur flag which Quebecois are flying today. Note the adaption of the Quebec flag and the presence of the Fleur-de-lis, which are apparently representations of irises, which seems quite fitting these days.

In 972 at the Battle of Cedynia the Polish won their very first battle. Before this they were generally known as horrible fighters. In 1314 the Scottish won a decisive battle at Bannockburn in the War of Independence. In 1374 in Aachen, Germany a sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance caused people to hallucinate and break out in spontaneous jumps and twitches until they collapsed. My guess is that someone spiked the punch with some mushrooms. That sounds like it would be incredibly entertaining. In 1441 Eton College was founded. In 1497 John Cabot landed in Canada, the first European to land in North America since the Vikings. That same day the Cornish traitors Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamanck were executed in London. In 1535 the Anabaptists were finally conquered and surrendered their City of God, Munster, Germany. In 1664 the colony of New Jersey was established in order to provide the colony of New York with a place to dump its garbage. In 1717 the first Freemasonic lodge was founded in London. In 1794 Bowdoin College was founded. In 1918 the first Canadian airmail service was established between Montreal and Toronto. In 1947 the first widely reported UFO sighting occurred on Mt. Ranier in Washington. Ten years later, the US Supreme Court ruled that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment. In 1975 an Eastern Airlines flight crashed in NYC killing 113. And six years ago a train crash in Tanzania killed 281.

Today is the boxer Jack Dempsey's birthday. He has a fish named after him. It is also the first day of the Baha'i month of Rahmat, or "Mercy".

Enjoy the day...I'll be here until five.