news stories and a little roman history lesson
Today in history: In 285, Diocletian appointed Maximian his co-ruler with the title of Caesar, taking the first step towards establishing the Tetrarchy and ultimately dividing the empire. This is important. Really. I can see that you care.
In 306, Constantine was acclaimed Emperor by his troops in Britain. He would establish Constantinople and become the first Christian emperor, profoundly altering the flow of Western history. Of course, the Great Man school of history is old school and reactionary, but whatever. It’s the symbolism, people.
Anyway, these days, it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople:
Today is also the Furinalia, a Roman festival honoring the goddess of robbers. Word, son. No furries were harmed in the making of this festival.
In honor of the Furinalia, we’ll kick off today’s news headlines with some crime stories:
Smugglers try to use Dolly for cover, officials say
Voodoo Doll Prompts Extra Security For Commissioners
And thanks to Pope Guilty for this one:
Police: Man Stole Miami-Dade Buses, Drove Them On Routes
According to Miami-Dade police, Harris would take the buses from several Miami-Dade Transit bus depots in the county and drive the buses on their routes, picking up and dropping off passengers along the way. He would then return the buses at the end of the day.
Danny Glover’s slavery film lacked “white heroes”, producers said
If you’ve never heard of Toussaint Louverture, then get thee to Wikipedia. I would totally send Danny Glover twenty bucks if it helped him make this movie.
Secret memo shows harsh CIA tactics approved
Hmm, I wonder if there’s a simple word that could be used in place of “harsh interrogations”?
Georgia:
INTERVIEW-U.S. in drive for Georgia-Abkhazia peace talks
Russian railway troops to quit Abkhazia in August
Peacekeepers Claim Georgian Drone Overflight in S.Ossetia
And finally, space:
Buzz Aldrin calls for reevaluation of NASA moon project
At least one of the parachutes works. That’s important, right?
Parachute Test For Ares Successful
And NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a new blog:
JPL Blog
Oh, wait. Here’s your token pirate story for today:
Piracy gets a crackdown from Estonia
Can’t skip the pirates on Furinalia.
OK, it’s the weekend. Likelihood of posts before Monday is inversely proportional to how much mayhem I get into.
