Today we celebrate Alexander Nevsky's defeat of the Crusaders & Teutonic Knights, but more on that later.
It is April 18, so today's number is 18 18 is a multiple of 9, 3, and 6, leading to suspicions that it will generate unending fractions (more later)
18 is the sum of 3 of its divisors, 3, 6, and 9 18 is argon, a noble gas I8 is the group containing noble (inert) gases in the periodic table
The Mahabarata has 18 books, (including the Bhagavad Gita which has 18 chapters) and concerns a war between 18 armies that lasted 18 days
OK, deep breath, but first recall that 1/3 is .333 repeated forever, 1/6 is .666 repeated forever and 1/9 is .111 repeated forever. 1/18 = 0.055 repeat 5 forever 2/18 = 0.111 repeat 1 forever (1/9) 3/18 = 0.166 repeat 6 forever (1/6) 4/18 = 0.222 repeat the 2 (2/9) 5/18 = 0.277 repeat the 7 6/18 = 0.333 repeat the 3 (1/3) 7/18 = 0.388 repeat the 8 8/18 = 0.444 repeat the 4 (4/9) 9/18 = .5 (1/2) 10/18 = 0.555 repeat 5 forever (5/9) 11/18 = 0.611 repeat 1 foreve 12/18 = 0.666 repeat 6 forever (2/3) 13/18 = 0.722 repeat the 2 14/18 = 0.777 repeat the 7 (7/9) 15/18 = 0.833 repeat the 3 (5/6) 16/18 = 0.888 repeat the 8 (8/9) 17/18 = 0.944 repeat the 4
In most countries, 18 is the age of majority In most countries, 18 is the voting age 18 is the age of sexual consent under the Mann Act (What famous performer was busted under the Mann Act?) 18 is 6 pm There are 18 chapters in Ulysses by James Joyce 18 BCE was Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Lentulus (That would be Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus) Caesar Augustus introduced two of the lex Julia, the Lex Iulia de Ambitu which punished bribery when acquiring political office and the Lex Iulia de Maritandis Ordinibus which restricted marriage between differing social classes Juba II was King of Mauretania and Lugaid Riab nDerg was High King of Ireland 18 CE was the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Caesar The Roman poet Ovid died
On this day in
1521 Martin Luther's trial went into day two during the assembly of the Diet of Worms.
1831 The University of Alabama was founded, providing a future alma mater for The Snake
1857 Allan Kardec is published "The Spirits Book" bringing about the birth of Spiritualism in France.
1906 An earthquake and fire destroyed much of San Francisco, California.
1909 Joan of Arc was beatified in Rome. Not bad for a heretic burned at the stake for her heresies.
1924 Simon & Schuster published the first crossword puzzle book.
1930 The BBC reported that there was no news and then played piano music.
1946 The International Court of Justice held its first meeting.
1958 A United States federal court ruled that Ezra Pound had to be be released from an insane asylum.
2007 The Supreme Court upheld the so-called "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act".
Born this day in
1480 Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI.
1648 Jeanne Guyon, a mystic and hence heretic of some acclaim in France
1772 David Ricardo, an economics
1857 Clarence Darrow, an attorney.
1882 Leopold Stokowski, a conductor
1901 Al Lewis, a songwriter
1918 Clifron Hillegass, the founder of CliffsNotes
1924 Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, a guitarist, singer and songwriter
1940 Mike Vickers, a guitarist, sax player and songwriter (Manfred Mann)
1946 Skip Spence, a singer, songwiter, drummer and guitarist (Jefferson Airpland, Moby Grape)
Died this day in
1945 Ernie Pyle, a journalist and soldier
1955 Albert Einstein, a patent clerk, physicist, inventor, and engineer
2012 Dick Clark, a television personality and tv producer
2013 Cordell Mosson, a bass player (Parliament, Funkadelic)
Holidays, Holy Days, Feasts, Observances and such The Evil Russkies celebrate Nevsky's victory over the glorious Crusaders at "The Battle of the Ice" on Lake Peipus. This particular sub-crusade of the Northern Crusades was led by the Teutonic Order, aka Teutonic Knights. Like the Albigensian Crusade, it was aimed at exterminating a European Christian sect that did not, in the minds of various Popes and lesser Catholic functionaries, properly follow prescribed dogma, doctrine, rite and ritual. (In this case, it was the Eastern Orthodox Church and its followers, as opposed to the Cathars, but it's all the same Crusader schtick of attempting to force Catholicism upon all humankind by the sword.) Unlike the Albigensian Crusade, it was also aimed at the extermination and/or conversion of all pagans.
Also unlike the Albigensian Crusade, this one failed. Nevsky hammered the living crap out of the Crusader invaders. This put pause to the northeastern thrust of the Catholic Church's quest for global religious hegemony and tyranny, and also took a big bite out of the Teutonic Knights, some of its most aggressive thugs and enforcers. It did, however, protect and preserve the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is becoming something of a tyranny of its own in Russia these days, but that is perhaps the nature of the beast.
So, we get: Al Lewis Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Mike Vickers Skip Spence Dick Clark Cordell MossonWritten by Al Lewis & Sylvester Bradford, sung by Little Anthony & The Imperials
x YouTube Video Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown x YouTube Video& x YouTube Video& x YouTube Video& x YouTube Video Mike Vickers x YouTube Video Skip Spence x YouTube VideoDick Clark's American Bandstand introduced a lot of acts to the broader public, like ...
x YouTube Video& x YouTube Video Cordell Mosson x YouTube VideoSo, it is an open thread, go for it
Crossposted from Caucus 99%