Open Thread for July 18, 2016; Nelson Mandela International Day

July 18 is the 199th day of the year. There are 166 days left.

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 18 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 = 3/9) 7/18 = 0.388 repeat the 8 8/18 = 0.444 repeat the 4 (4/9) 9/18 = .5 (1/2) etc.

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 18 is 6 pm There are 18 chapters in Ulysses by James Joyce 18 BCE was the 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: 0064 -- The Great Fire of Rome burned for six days, destroying half of the city. 1290 -- King Edward I of England issued the Edict of Expulsion, banishing the Jews 1870 -- The First Vatican Council erroneously decreed the dogma of papal infallibility 1925 -- Adolf Hitler published Mein Kampf. 1936 -- An army uprising started the Spanish Civil War. 1942 -- The Germans flew the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet aircraft. 1969 -- Chappaquiddick

1982 -- Two hundred sixty-eight campesinos were slain in Ríos Montt's Guatemala (the Plan de Sánchez massacre). Rios Montt was one of those darlings of the US government, a brutal, fascist dictator who received support from the CIA and assorted other agencies. He graduated from the US run School of Assassins in Panama (now WHINSEC at Ft. Benning) and cut his teeth in the 1954 CIA organized coup d'etat against then Predident Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.

1994 -- The Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of Gisenyi and NW Rwanda ending the genocide. 1995 -- The Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat erupted and over time pretty much destroyed the island. 1995 -- Selena's Dreaming of You was released posthumously & became the best-selling Latin album in the United States. 2013 -- The Government of Detroit, filed for bankruptcy.

Ahhh, Montserrat, an island paradise beloved of boat folk

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