Cryptozoology

Several Layman's Almanac staff writers are avid Cryptozoologists and we will continue to bring you as much news regarding interesting goings-on of unheard of creatures.

5 monsters you never heard of...

Corporations are people too

On this day March 27th, in 1866 President Johnson vetoed the civil rights bill guaranteeing protections for newly freed slaves. Johnson told then governor of Missouri, Thomas C. Fletcher, "This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men." His views on racial equality was clearly defined in a letter to Benjamin B. French, the commissioner of public buildings: "Everyone would, and must admit, that the white race was superior to the black, and that while we ought to do our best to bring them up to our present level, that, in doing so, we should, at the same time raise our own intellectual status so that the relative position of the two races would be the same."

This civil rights bill later becomes the 14th Amendment. Between 1890-1910, in a gross misappropriation of the amendment, 307 cases were brought before the Supreme Court under the 14th amendment. 288 of these were brought by corporations. 19 by African Americans.

Corporations are people too. Stuff white people like #82.

Cesare Borgia

Cesare Borgia was a brilliant tactician, treacherously cold hearted and greatly admired by Niccolo Machiavelli. He was so admired by Machiavelli in fact, that his exploits and tactics are used as examples in The Prince. In chapter VII, Machiavelli is impressed with how Borgia pacified the Romagna, and later he elates in Borgia's assassination of his captains on New Year's Eve of 1503 in Senigallia - just a few of the countless deaths at the hands of Borgia.

Interestingly, Leonardo da Vinci was very close with Borgia, and served as his military architect and engineer.

By most accounts, Jesus was not a white man. However, we are all familiar with the common images of a bearded Jesus depicted Caucasian. Alexandre Dumas, in Volume One of Celebrated Crimes, indicates that pictures of Jesus Christ produced around Cesare Borgia's lifetime were based on the likeness of Borgia, and that has influenced images of Jesus since that time - Killah Priest touches on this on the final track of the RZA's Liquid Swords.

On this day... January 28, 1495 Pope Alexander VI gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France.

Exit Wound

Billups Allen

Mildred Samson confirmed that the kitchen door was closed behind her, opened the refrigerator, and removed a small plastic sandwich bag from the rear of the crisper. She stuck her little finger into the bag and pulled it out with her fingernail covered in cocaine. She sniffed it quietly and wiped her nose. She held the bag contemplatively in her hand. She did not want to be too high at dinner, but she could not stand doing just one nostril. She dug again with her fingernail until she was confident that she had done just enough coke to get bright, and then folded the bag away in her pocket.

The past few weeks had found her covering for a host of lies. Her husband leaving had rendered her worn and tired. The decision to inform her mother was about to make the situation unbearable. Tiresome discussions about reconciliation were eminent, but these were the same types of discussions that permeated during any type of family crisis. Fed up with the notion that she was never able to talk frankly with her family, Mildred stared at her reflection in a hanging saucepan. In the reflection, she recognized her own facade. She stared dreamily at herself for several seconds, and then laughed. Her head began to numb as she recognized the impatient howl of her mother emanating from the dining room. The dining room seemed very far away at that moment. It occurred to her she must have been staring at herself for a while. She pulled the bag out of her pocket and replaced it in the crisper. She gathered all of her energy and swung the dining room door open dramatically.

Mildred lifted her arms like a circus presenter. "So-rry I was gone so long."

This story is concluded Here at BillupsAllen.com.com. Billups Allen is a writer of books, short stories, and comics as well as host of a most excellent radio program, The Groove Tomb on 91.3 KXCI. Webstreaming of The Goove Tomb can be found Here.

History of Electricity

Michael Faraday has been a hero of mine since childhood. Faraday is one of greatest experimentalists in the history of science, through his efforts electricity became a viable technology. Faraday was born in Newington Butts, near present-day Elephant and Castle, London. His family was poor and he had to educate himself, but he soon showed a talent for chemistry and physics that confounded educated scientists. Among many, many, other discoveries and inventions, Faraday constructed the first electric dynamo.

Fascinated with candles, he gave a successful series of lectures on the chemistry and physics of flames at the Royal Institution, entitled The Chemical History of a Candle. This lecture was the origin of the Christmas lectures for young people that are still given there every year, now known as the Faraday lectures.

He is famous for saying "nothing is too wonderful to be true."

Werewolves Of London

Werewolf If you hear him howling around your kitchen door
Better not let him in
Little old lady got mutilated late last night
Werewolves of London again
Werewolves of London

--Warren Zevon

"A police force is to put more officers on the streets during full moons because they believe the lunar cycle may be linked to violent behaviour, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Sussex Police have found that drinkers in the seaside city of Brighton and Hove are particularly aggressive during full moons, despite mixed findings from researchers who have examined the issue previously.

'I compared a graph of full moons and a graph of last year's violent crimes and there is a trend,' Inspector Andy Parr told the Brighton Argus newspaper.

'People tend to be more aggressive generally. I would be interested in approaching the universities and seeing if any of their post-graduates would be interested in looking into it further. This could be helpful to us.

The announcement has led some locals to joke that werewolves -- humans who, according to myth, turn into wolf-like creatures during a full moon -- may be loose on the city's streets..."

Link: The Raw Story | Police find 'werewolf' link to violence.

Link: Werewolves of London - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.