PARACULTURAL CALENDAR FOR OCTOBER 7

On this day in 1763, King George III of Great Britain (Mad King George) issues British Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing aboriginal lands in North America north and west of Alleghenies to white settlements. This may or may not have had something to do with the fight for “independence”, which pretty much turned into the right to ignore all treaties with North America’s native peoples.

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On this day in 1916, Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222-0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history.

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On this day in 1933, Air France is inaugurated, after being formed by a merger of 5 French airlines. Their stewardesses are really freaking hot.

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On this day in 1940, the McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States. Its existence still spawns talk of conspiracy.

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On this day in 1955, American poet Allen Ginsberg performs his poem Howl for the first time at the Six Gallery in San Francisco.

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On this day in 1958, the U.S. manned space-flight project is renamed Project Mercury. This nomenclature has some interesting significance.

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Thanks to the USSR's Luna 3 lunar orbiter, mankind gets its first look at the far side of the moon on this day in the year 1959. Much to the disappointment of billionaire sex tourists and sexless science-fiction geeks the world over, there are no slutty Moon Chicks to be found.

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On this day in 1985, the Achille Lauro cruise ship is hijacked by Palestine Liberation Organization. One elderly Jewish man in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was murdered by the hijackers and thrown overboard.

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On this day in 1996, the FOX News Channel begins broadcasting. Shit journalism ensues.

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On this day in 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming.

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On this day in 2001, the US invasion of Afghanistan begins with an air assault and "covert operations" on the ground.

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On this day in 2003, a historic recall election takes place in the U.S. State of California in which the sitting Governor Gray Davis, a Democrat, is overwhelmingly voted out of office. Actor and bodybuilder (and Republican candidate) Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected to be the 38th Governor of California. This was the first recall election in the history of the State of California in which a sitting Governor has been successfully recalled from office.