Daily Update

Weight: 218

Currently Reading (fiction): Sons and Lovers, DH Lawrence. Seems like I’ve been reading this forever, doesn’t it? I’m only 150 pages into it, too. Haven’t had much reading time in the last week.

Currently Reading (non-fiction): Nothing.

Currently Listening To: Joel, who sits next to me, has something filtering from his speakers, but I’m not sure what it is.

Rush Lyric of the Day: I’ve got idols and icons, unspoken holy vows.

Guns n’ Roses Lyric of the Day: Back off, back off bitch. It’s time to burn, burn the witch.

Sparrows Down Update: I cut the grass at Sparrows Down yesterday, then fertilized the lawn and watered it in. An hour later, it summarily began to rain. One way to ensure rainfall is to water the grass. No kidding, I think it’s rained exactly 3 times in the last 10 or 12 days, and I’ve also watered the grass 3 times in the last 10 or 12 days, and the days I’ve watered have been the days it later rained. Amazing.

Ankle-Biters Update: Sidney is still doing really well in terms of feeding and being generally calm and laid back. She’s gaining weight at a much quicker pace than Hailey did. Hailey has been remarkably bad for the last 6 weeks, and we have decided to sell her to Arab traders.

Food Update: Irish Breakfast tea today, and that’s it so far.

Today in History, June 23:

June 23rd is the traditional celebration date for Midsummer’s Eve, as Midsummer is traditionally celebrated on June 24th. However, the variance in our modern calendar, and the actual rotation of the earth around the sun, have since moved Midsummer (i.e. the Summer Solstice or the longest day of the year) to June 21st. Traditionalists still maintain the 24th as Midsummer, however.

47 BCE – Birth of Caesarian, son of Cleopatra and (so she claimed) Julius Caesar. He would be killed at age 17, in 30 BCE, by Octavian, in an attempt to ensure Octavian’s hold on the reigns of power in Rome.

79 CE – Death of Vespasian, Roman Emperor who brought stability back to the government after the Year of Four Emperors in 69 CE, and who founded the Flavian dynasty, which produced Titus and Domitian.

1314 – [WEIRD COINCIDENCE COMING] The Battle of Bannockburn begins, between Edward II of England and Robert the Bruce of Scotland. In an email to my parents and sister not 15 minutes ago, we were talking about how our uncle’s last name is Bruce, and debating whether or not he is of Scottish descent.

1611 – Henry Hudson, his son, and 7 crew members are set adrift in a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean by a mutinous crew. Hudson and all those aboard presumably drowned and were never heard from again.

1757 – At the Battle of Plassey, near Calcutta, India, a British army of only 3,000 defeats an Indian army of over 50,000, proving that white people are smarter and more highly evolved than people of color.

1758 – At the Battle of Krefeld during the 7 Years’ War, the British army defeats the French, proving that English speakers are smarter and more highly evolved than French speakers.

1810 – John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company. In 1912, at the astounding age of 149, he would die aboard the Titanic. Or, maybe that was his great-grandson.

1812 – Napoleon begins his offensive against Russia, which would fail horribly, proving that France sucks. (Note, this is merely a humorous commentary on French culture, not a suggestion that I support the anti-French sentiment associated with the Dumbshit Administration and its adherents.)

1865 – The last significant rebel army is surrendered at Ft. Towson, Oklahoma. Which was a good thing, since the war had ended fucking 2 months earlier. Also, this proved that people from the North are smarter and more highly evolved than "people" from the south.

1894 – Birth of Edward VIII, who would later give up the English throne in order to marry some divorced hobag from America.

1940 – Birth of Stuart Sutcliffe, the so-called "Fifth Beatle," the man who most likely named the band, and the original bassist for the Beatles. He left the band before they gained success, and then died unexpectedly in 1962, never to know the fame he missed out on.

1972 – Richard Nixon and his chief-of-staff, H.R. Haldeman, have a discussion about using the CIA to thwart the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate burglary. The discussion is recorded.