On this day in 480 BC, the Battle of Thermopylae began. The battle was part of a war between the Persian Empire under Xerxes I and a coalition of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Xerxes had amassed a massive land and naval force, and subsequently set out to conquer all of Greece. In response, the Athenian politician and general Themistocles proposed that the allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae while simultaneously blocking the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium.
When the invasion began, the Athenians consulted the Oracle at Delphi for guidance. The Oracle foretold disaster:
Wretches, why sit ye here? Fly, fly to the ends of creation, Quitting your homes, and the crags which your city crowns with her circlet. Neither the head, nor the body is firm in its place, nor at bottom Firm the feet, nor the hands; nor resteth the middle uninjur’d. All- all ruined and lost.
Discouraged, the Athenians sent another messenger to the Oracle and got this reply:
far-seeing Jove grants this to the prayers of Athene; Safe shall the wooden wall continue for thee and thy children. Wait not the tramp of the horse, nor the footmen mightily moving Over the land, but turn your hack to the foe, and retire ye. Yet shall a day arrive when ye shall meet him in battle. Holy Salamis, thou shalt destroy the offspring of women, When men scatter the seed, or when they gather the harvest.
When the Persian Army arrived at Thermopylae, they found the Greeks blocking the only pass. But a local shepherd told them about a secret path around the pass. Subsequently, Leonidas, aware that his force was being outflanked by the Persians, dismissed the bulk of the Greek army and remained to guard their retreat along with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians. these few Greeks fought to the death to delay the Persians. The Persians overran Boeotia and then captured the evacuated city of Athens.
The Greek fleet had already suffered heavy losses to the Persian fleet at the Battle of Artemesium. However they maneuvered to again bring the Persian fleet to battle in the Straits of Salamis. The Persian navy rowed into the Straits of Salamis and tried to block both entrances. In the cramped waters, the great Persian numbers were an active hindrance, as ships struggled to maneuver and became disorganized. Seizing the opportunity, the Greek fleet formed in line and achieved a victory. Unable to further supply his army without his fleet, Xerxes withdrew to Asia. Thus the Oracle’s prophecy about the wooden walls (the Greek ships) came true.
Léonidas aux Thermopyles – Jacques-Louis David
Found NEMO!!!
BADA BING!
Once you hit a certain age life is just a delicate balance of trying to stay awake and trying to fall asleep. While slowly getting worse at both.
The feeling that rushes over you when the teacher walks up to you during an exam, looks at your paper, then shouts out “guys please make sure you read the questions carefully”.
If you choose not to get vaccinated, it’s your decision. BUT when you get sick, DO NOT drag your infected ass to a hospital. Don’t make the rest of us pay for your choice to get sick. Be proud of your decision – whither & die at home with your freedom.
I started dating a weather girl. It’s nice to have a woman that’s wrong most of the time.
Looking back at all the successes and failures in my life, I can’t help but be proud that at least the potty training thing stuck.
When an army chaplain says a prayer before camouflage training is it a blessing in disguise?
Him: I would go all the way to hell and back for you. Her: You don’t have to come back.
Sign on front door…CAUTION Nudists live here. If this lifestyle offends you… DO NOT knock or ring the bell!
Stephen King predicts tRUMP supporters will deny ever voting for him.
Sign on the new ‘predator patio’ at the White House… Children under 16 must not be accompanied by parent or guardian.
It’s wild living in the information age and the dark age at the same time.
I have -sexdaily – dyslexia.
Aging is wild. One day you’re invincible, the next your knee makes a noise that sounds like bubble wrap. My warranty expired, the parts are backordered, and the user manual is in a language I don’t understand.
Why is “Dark” spelled with a K, and not a C? Because you can’t C in the dark!
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who prevent history from being taught intend to repeat it.
Trump said Epstein is a Democratic hoax from when Obama was president. But now Trump says he was an FBI informant on Epstein. So tell me… How did Obama get Trump to spy on a hoax?
For those struggling with English:
Don’t – do not.
Won’t – wo not.
Wind and solar are worthless when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. Also, I just threw away my bed because I realized I’m awake most of the time.
My wife yelled from upstairs and asked: “Do you ever get a shooting pain across your body, like someone’s got a voodoo doll of you and they’re stabbing it?” I replied: “No.” She responded: “How about now?”
Left over screws means you have reassembled your computer more efficiently.
I hate it when I leave stuff in my electronic cart and don’t buy it. Then the company emails me and says, “Forgot something?” Yeah, I forgot I don’t have $900.
Screenshot
On this day in 1978, the video for Queen’s single ‘Bicycle Race’ was filmed at Wimbledon Stadium, Wimbledon, UK. It featured 65 naked female professional models racing around the stadium’s track on bicycles, which had been hired for the day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt0V0_1MS0Q
Today is the putative birthday, in 1254, of Marco Polo. He famously traveled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione, c. 1300), a book that described the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China under the Yuan dynasty, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan, and other Asian societies.
Born in Venice, Marco learned the mercantile trade from his father and his uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, who travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. Marco’s father returned to visit his family in his hometown of Venice around 1269 and there found out that his wife, whom he had left pregnant, had died and left a 15-year-old son named Marco. During the rule of Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo, Marco Polo (at seventeen years of age), his father, and his uncle set off for Asia on the series of adventures that Marco later documented in his book.
They sailed to Acre and later rode on their camels to the Persian port Hormuz. They continued overland until they arrived at Kublai Khan’s palace in Shangdu, China. By this time, Marco was 21 years old. Impressed by Marco’s intelligence and humility, Kublai appointed him to serve as his foreign emissary to India and Myanmar. He was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout his empire and in Southeast Asia, (such as in present-day Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam), but also entertained the Khan with stories and observations about the lands he saw. As part of this appointment, Marco traveled extensively inside China, living in the emperor’s lands for 17 years.
Kublai initially refused several times to let the Polos return to Europe, as he appreciated their company and they became useful to him. However, around 1291, he finally granted permission, entrusting the Polos with his last duty: accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin, who was to become the consort of Arghun Khan, in Persia. When the Polos arrived to Persia, they learned that Arghun Khan died, and Kököchin eventually became a wife of his son Ghazan. After leaving the princess, the Polos travelled overland to Constantinople. They later decided to return to their home. They returned to Venice in 1295, after 24 years, with many riches and treasures.
Marco Polo became involved in the war between Venice and Genoa and was captured and imprisoned by the Genoans. He spent several months of his imprisonment dictating a detailed account of his travels to a fellow inmate, Rustichello da Pisa, who incorporated tales of his own as well as other collected anecdotes and current affairs from China. The book soon spread throughout Europe in manuscript form, and became known as The Travels of Marco Polo.
On this day in 1878, ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’ was erected on the Victoria Embankment in London. It is one of a pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks now in London and New York.
The obelisk was originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. It is of granite, brought from the quarries of Aswan, near the first cataract of the Nile. Thutmose III had a single column of text carved on each face. Other inscriptions were added about 200 years later by Ramesses II to commemorate his military victories: these are in two columns on each face, flanking the original inscriptions. The obelisks were moved to Alexandria and set up in the Caesareum, a temple built by Cleopatra in honor of Mark Antony or Julius Caesar by the Romans in 12 BC, during the reign of Augustus.
The removal of the obelisks from Egypt was presided over by Isma’il Pasha, who had greatly indebted the Khedivate of Egypt during its rapid modernization. The London needle was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819, but remained in Alexandria until 1877 when Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, a distinguished anatomist and dermatologist, sponsored its transportation to London. In the same year, Elbert E. Farman, the then-United States Consul General at Cairo, secured the other needle for the United States.
The obelisk was transported to London with great difficulty and erected on the Victoria Embankment on 12 September 1878. Cleopatra’s Needle is flanked by two faux-Egyptian sphinxes, designed by the English architect George John Vulliamy. The sphinxes are cast in bronze and bear hieroglyphic inscriptions that say netjer nefer men-kheper-re di ankh, which translates as “the good god, Thuthmosis III given life”. These sphinxes appear to be looking at the Needle rather than guarding it, due to the sphinxes’ improper or backwards installation. During World War I, a bomb from a German air raid landed near the needle. the damage remains unrepaired to this day and is clearly visible in the form of shrapnel holes and gouges on the western sphinx.
The western side of Cleopatra’s Needle in the City of Westminster, London.
Get ready for the world’s longest Pub Crawl!!!
Apparently not…
RULES!
and there’s petty revenge…
More headline fun…
Today is the birthday, in 1943, of American folk and blues singer Maria Muldaur, who had the 1974 US No.6 & UK No.21 single ‘Midnight At The Oasis’. The song was nominated for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bjzuSO27fA
Today is, of course, the anniversary of The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11 or Nine-eleven, four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, two of which were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the third into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field during a passenger revolt. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the global war on terror over multiple decades to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the governments purported to support them.
The attacks killed 2,977 people, injured thousands more[k] and gave rise to substantial long-term health consequences while also causing at least US$10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history as well as the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement personnel in American history, killing 343 and 72 members, respectively. The crashes of Flight 11 and Flight 175 were the deadliest aviation disasters of all time, and the collision of Flight 77 with the Pentagon resulted in the fourth-highest number of ground fatalities in a plane crash in history. The destruction of the World Trade Center and its environs, located in Manhattan’s Financial District, seriously harmed the U.S. economy and induced global market shocks. Many other countries strengthened anti-terrorism legislation and expanded their powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The total number of deaths caused by the attacks, combined with the death tolls from the conflicts they directly incited, has been estimated by the Costs of War Project to be over 4.5 million.
Explosion following the impact of flight UA 175 into the South Tower
He probably deserved that…
This aged badly…
Surprise!!
Today is the birthday, in 1957, of English drummer Jon Moss from Culture Club, who had the 1983 UK No.1 & 1984 US No.1 single ‘Karma Chameleon’, plus seven other UK top 10 singles. He has also played with other bands, including London, the Nips, the Damned and Adam and the Ants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw
Today is the birthday, in 1801, of Marie Catherine Laveau a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo, an herbalist, and a midwife who was renowned in New Orleans. She was known as The Voodoo Queen. Her daughter, Marie Laveau II (1827 – c. 1862), also practiced rootwork, conjure, and Native American and African spiritualism, as well as Louisiana Voodoo and traditional Roman Catholicism. An alternate spelling of her name, Laveaux (a plural), is considered by historians to be from the original French spelling.
Marie Catherine Laveau was born a free woman of color in New Orleans’s French Quarter, Louisiana. Her mother, Marguerite D’Arcantel, was a free woman of African, European, and Native American ancestry. Because Laveau’s mother was not married at the time of her birth, her father was not identified on her 1801 baptismal record. A possible candidate is Charles Laveau, the son of Charles Laveau Trudeau, a white Louisiana creole and politician. Other historians claim that Laveau’s father was a free man of color named Charles Laveaux.
Following the reported death of her husband, Jacques Paris, she entered a domestic partnership with Christophe Dominick Duminy de Glapion, a nobleman of French descent, with whom she lived until his death in 1855. Marie Laveau was a dedicated practitioner of Voodoo, a healer, an herbalist, and an entrepreneur. Laveau was also known as a prominent female religious leader and community activist. She also made money by selling her clients gris gris as charms to help their wishes come true.
In her role as a Voodoo practitioner, customers often appealed to Laveau for help with family disputes, health, finances, and more. Laveau performed her services in three main places – her own home on St. Ann Street, within Congo Square, and at Lake Pontchartrain. She was the third female leader of Voodoo in New Orleans. Of Laveau’s magical career, little can be substantiated, including whether or not she had a snake she named Zombi after an African god, whether the occult part of her magic mixed Roman Catholic saints with African spirits, and Native American spiritualism.
Laveau’s name and her history have been surrounded by legend and lore. She is generally believed to have been buried in plot 347, the Glapion family crypt in Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans. Tourists continue to visit and some draw X marks in accordance with a decades-old tradition that if people wanted Laveau to grant them a wish, they had to draw three Xs on the tomb, turn around three times, knock on the tomb, yell out their wish, and if it was granted, come back, circle their Xs, and leave Laveau an offering.
Numerous songs about Marie Laveau have been recorded, including “Marie La Veau” by Papa Celestin; “Marie Laveau” written by Shel Silverstein and Baxter Taylor and recorded by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (1972), and Bobby Bare (1974); “The Witch Queen of New Orleans” (1971) by Redbone; “Dixie Drug Store” by Grant Lee Buffalo; “X Marks the Spot (Marie Laveau)” by Joe Sample; “Marie Laveau” by Dr. John; “Marie Laveau” (2013) by Tao Of Sound; “Voodoo Queen Marie” to the minstrel tune “Colored Aristocracy” by The Holy Modal Rounders; “The Witch Queen of New Orleans” by Total Toly; “The Widow Paris” by The Get Up Kids; “Marie Laveau” by the Danish metal band Volbeat; and “The Widow Paris” by Lester T. Raww’s Graveside Quartet.
headline writers…
SIGNZ
Today is the birthday, in 1945, of Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer Jose Feliciano, best known for many international hits, including his rendition of The Doors’ ‘Light My Fire’. His 1968 album Feliciano! reached No. 2 on the US charts. Jose was born blind as a result of congenital glaucoma. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l145cg01O4k
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