Freethought Almanac

Lighting a candle in toxic air.
2011-08-21
August 21: What Sainthood Means

Bernard Becomes a Saint (1153): What Sainthood Means It was on this date, August 21, 1153, that Bernard of Clairvaux, canonized a Catholic "saint" in 1170 by Pope Alexander III, died in the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux, in France. Bernard was born in 1090, at Fontaines, near Dijon, France, and at age 25 was entrusted […]

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2011-08-21
August 21: Jules Michelet

Jules Michelet (1798) It was on this date, August 21, 1798, that French historian Jules Michelet was born in Paris, into a family with a Huguenot past. Of his youth, under the post-revolutionary, reactionary French government, Michelet recalled, I remember that in the dire misfortunes of daily deprivation and fears for the future... unsure of […]

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2011-08-20
August 20: Bernardo O'Higgins

Bernardo O'Higgins (1778) It was on this date, August 20, 1778, that the Irish-Chilean soldier and statesman Bernardo O'Higgins was born Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme in Chillán, Chile. His father was an Irish engineer who refused to marry his mother, the daughter of an aristocratic Chilean family. His absent father at least saw that O'Higgins was […]

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2011-08-20
August 20: H.P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft (1890) It was on this date, August 20, 1890, that American author Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who wrote as H.P. Lovecraft, was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Fatherless from the age of three, Lovecraft was reared by his mother and grandparents, and it was his grandmother who held him spellbound with weird tales that […]

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2011-08-19
Visualize No Liberals

The following is a commentary in an ongoing series of “Reflections” by John Mill. John Mill is the radio persona of Ronald Bruce Meyer and can be heard on “American Heathen.” “The American Heathen” Internet radio broadcast is aired, live, on Friday nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm Central time on ShockNetRadio.com Visualize No Liberals A Reflection by […]

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2011-08-19
August 19: Gene Roddenberry

Gene Roddenberry (1921) It was on this date, August 19, 1921, that the creator of the Star Trek TV series, Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born in El Paso, Texas. The family moved to Los Angeles before Gene was two and his father became a career police officer. Roddenberry took classes in law enforcement but got […]

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2011-08-18
August 18: Superstition Eclipsed

King of Siam's Eclipse (1868): Churches and Eclipses It was on this date, August 18, 1868, that a total solar eclipse, called the King of Siam's Eclipse, Saros Series 133, was seen in what is now Thailand. This was during the reign of the very same King Mongkut who figures in the book by Anna […]

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2011-08-17
August 17: The Soul of Confession

Bill Clinton's "Map Room" Speech (1998): Churches and Confession It was on this date, August 17, 1998, that then-President Bill Clinton made his famous Map Room speech – a confession that he did indeed have inappropriate sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinski. Although not a Roman Catholic, President Clinton's simultaneously regretful and defiant […]

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2011-08-17
August 17: Sean Penn

Sean Penn (1960) It was on this date, August 17, 1960, that actor and director Sean Penn was born Sean Justin Penn in Santa Monica, California. As Penn himself put it, "I was brought up in a country that relished fear-based religion, corrupt government, and an entire white population living on stolen property that they […]

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2011-08-16
August 16: Wilhelm Wundt

Wilhelm Max Wundt (1832) It was on this date, August 16, 1832, that German psychologist Wilhelm Max Wundt was born. He studied at Tübingen University from 1851 and took his MD at the University of Heidelberg in 1856 (the year Sigmund Freud was born). He began as a professor of physiology, but from 1875-1917, Wundt […]

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Ronald Bruce Meyer

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Week in Freethought History (August 5-11)

Here’s your Week in Freethought History: This is more than just a calendar of events or mini-biographies – it’s a reminder that, no matter how isolated and alone we may feel at times, we as freethinkers are neither unique nor alone in the world. Last Sunday, August 5, but in 1850, French naturalistic writer Guy […]



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