Random Factoids and Tidbits about each day that will eventually converge to divulge the meaning of life.
AUGUST 25th - Unless You are the Black Sheep
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This day in 1835 was the beginning of The Great Moon Hoax. On August 25th, the first in a series of six articles was published in the N.Y. Sun and claimed that the most notable astronomer of the time, Sir John Herschel had discovered a civilization of bat people and a multitude of other strange creatures were inhabiting the lunar surface. A Dr. Andrew Grant wrote the series of articles as the traveling companion of Sir Herschel. But Grant was a fictitious creation of Richard Adams Locke (though Locke never admitted to writing the series of articles). Before you rush to judgement about what a kook Locke was, some people believe he was thumbing his nose at the stupidity of some Americans at the time. Locke was a Cambridge-educated reporter, so I’m guessing he wasn’t a complete dummy. Of course, you never know. You ever seen that Peter Sellers movie Being There? It’s from a Jerzy Kosinski novella, and Peter Sellers plays Chance, a simple gardener who doesn’t exactly have the most sophisticated inner-monologue ruminating through his brain, but people mistake his silent demeanor for wisdom, causing some powerful people to take his advice. It’s no Billy Madison, but it’s quite funny. I’m doubting Locke was playing that game though. He had just started working at The Sun that month, and his way to make a splash was to write a completely fabricated story. He obviously knew that such a sensational story would drive up sales--I still take a gander at The Inquirer to see what Bigfoot looks like each year. But more so than that, apparently people in the 1830’s were convinced there were other life forms among the stars. Rev. Thomas Dick had somehow computed that our Solar System contained 21.9 trillion inhabitants and that the moon itself had 4 million. How he supposedly determined this is lost on me. So Locke, most likely realizing that Rev. Dick was a whack-job, but that people are sheep, decided to create a race of bat-people who lived on the moon as way to say, “You people are stupid.” I mean our country was still trying to figure out how to build railroads, but they believed that we had discovered how many extraterrestrial being were floating around out there? Basically Locke tried to give the American public one giant slap across the face. But of course, people believed the story well after it was reported as a hoax. Because slapping sheep will not a wool sweater make. That makes no sense. But if you read it a certain way you might be able glean a glimmer of profoundness in the nonsense. Or you could just not be a sheep. Unless you’re the black sheep.
On this day in 1681, Christopher Monck, the 2nd Duke of Albemarle, organized the first recorded boxing match. He got (made) his butler fight his butcher for a prize. The butcher won. So the first boxing match was some bored, rich, royal making his servants fight each other? Kind of explains a lot about boxing. “You there, butler. You shall fight my butcher here in a series rounds until it is evident that one of you is the superior fighter. I shall give the winner one night’s sleep in the residence quarters. Pip-pip.” Now maybe this was not how it went down at all. Perhaps the good Duke was just trying to revitalize an ancient Greek sport and figured doing so under his own scrutinous eye would be the most prudent way to ensure its regulation and survival. I kind of think he was just bored and wanted to watch his butler fight his butcher. But is anyone surprised that the butcher won? I mean how many fighters have had the nickname “The Butcher?” It wasn’t Ron “The Butler” Strander, now wa...
On this day in 1617, the idea of the one-way street was supposedly introduced in London in the alleys near the River Thames. I’m not sure why London was on the cutting edge of traffic direction, though Albemarle Street, which is acknowledged as the first one-way street, was designated as such because the scientific lectures given there in the early 1800s were so popular. Why wouldn't they be? I can’t really imagine why a one-way street in 1617 would be necessary, but then I can’t really imagine what London in 1617 was like at all. I’m fresh out of people to interview too. Unless the Highlander is real. Just as well. Interviews take a long time. And the person inevitably goes off on tangents. Look, I’m sure the story of how you “accidentally” ingested psychedelic mushrooms while trekking across the Pacific Northwest in your hippie days and met your first wife, Wind Lover, is an incredible story, but I merely asked if you were currently married. It’s a yes or no question. Without the...
On this day in 1984, Harry Stevens got married to Thelma Lucas. Neither one of them was famous; they weren’t star-crossed lovers, or part of a political union. But this was not your garden variety wedding. In 1984, Harry Stevens had been breathing air since 1881. He became the oldest groom in recorded history when, at 103 years young, he married spring-chicken Thelma Lucas (84) at the Caravilla Retirement Home in Wisconsin. (Record was later broken by 106 year old Chinese man). Harry proved that love isn’t just for the young and that you’re never too old keep living. He also helped reinforce the stereotype/belief/scientific fact that men age better than women as well as the double standard that it’s perfectly fine for a male to be romantically involved with a woman 19 years his junior, but if you flip that script and reverse it? People would have had pitchforks ready if the Thelma had been the cradle-robber. But the main thing is that these two love birds found each other in the twili...
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