Happy Birthday to Michael Phillip Jagger, my all-time favorite Rock & Roller!!!
He was born on this day, July 26th, 1943 in Dartford, Kent. He hails from a long line of teachers, but young Mick became enamored with music and singing at an early age.
Believe it or not, he started out as a choir boy, singing in his local church. This little tyke got no Sympathy from the Devil — or perhaps he did!
Mick Jagger first met Keith Richards when they were just little lads attending Wentworth Primary School in Dartford. The year was 1950. The two lost contact as children, but ten years later, as teenagers, they would reunite again in a chance encounter on a train platform in Dartford. They began a conversation about music. Each had a deep love for rhythm and blues — probably a bit unusual for English kids at that time. Needless to say, a life long friendship was born.
Jagger and Richards, along with Brian Jones would go on to form The Rolling Stones, arguably the best ever Rock & Roll band. Their first appearance was on July 12, 1962 at the Marquee Club in London. Their name ‘The Rolling Stones” was taken from a song by Blues legend Muddy Waters, a favorite of both Mick and Keith.
Years later, they would perform with Muddy himself (in my home town, Chicago! 🙂 )
To date, the Rolling Stones have released 30 studio albums, 24 live albums, 25 compilation albums, three extended play singles, and 120 singles. The band has been together for fifty six years! (So much for fickle break ups and the questionable longevity of rock bands…)
Reportedly, the relationship between Mick and Keith has not been without its stresses. Best friends are often constant competitors. Keith has called Mick “an unbearable snob” but also states: “I still love him dearly … your friends don’t have to be perfect.”
Whatever their relationship, no one can deny that these two are an amazing force of musical talent.
FUN FACTS:
Mick Jagger became an official “Sir” in 2003 when he received a Knighthood from Charles, Prince of Wales.
Yes — he received the Knighthood from Charles because Queen Elizabeth II refused to award him in person! (Sorry Mick, looks like you can only get so “Respectable”.)
Mick returned the snub by being absent from the Queen’s 50 -Year Golden Jubilee pop concert, which commemorated her 50 years on the throne. Ouch!
He is an avid supporter of music instruction in schools. His pet projects are The Mick Jagger Centre in Dartford and The Red Rooster Programme.
He has eight children by five women, five grandchildren, and one great- grandchild. Some of the Jagger family tree:
His oldest child, Karis Jagger, was born in 1970. His youngest to date, Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger, was born in 2016. Go Mick!
Regarding Mick’s Knighthood, drummer Charlie Watts sarcastically commented: “Anybody else would be lynched: 18 wives and 20 children and he’s knighted, fantastic!”
He has been immortalized in evolution! A 19 million year old species of long legged pig was named after Mick. In 2014, the “Jaggermeryx naida” (“Jagger’s water nymph.”) was officially christened by the scientific community.
Sir Mick is a very wealthy man, with a net worth of $360 million.
This rock legend has become the subject of many a pop song. Don McClean immortalized him in “American Pie” as did Carly Simon in “You’re So Vain.” He is the subject of Maroon 5’s “Moves like Jagger”, Kesha’s “Tik Tok” and the Black Eyed Peas’ hit “The Time (Dirty Bit)”.
He had tremendous respect for his parents, calling his father, Joe, “the greatest influence on my life.” Joe Jagger lived to the ripe old age of 93.
Still a fashion icon, Mick was listed as one of the “50 over fifty” best-dressed by the Guardian in March 2013.
Hey Mick, you’re seventy five! Recently back from tour in Europe and the U.K., “Moves Like Jagger” is showing no signs of slowing down yet!
And finally, here are the Stones performing their 1972 hit ‘Tumbling Dice’, which contains the best Rock & Roll line ever written —
Who doesn’t love the moon? She is our silver lady, a bright beacon in the dark night, the everlasting subject of mythos and folklore. She is the ruler of romance, fate, madness and lunacy. Mythology of every culture has at least one moon goddess.
The moon has always had a powerful effect on the Earth and its inhabitants. The phases of the moon, from wax to wane, take place within a 28 day cycle. These phases are believed to influence human and animal behavior. A woman’s menstrual cycle matches the 28 day moon phases.
The moon affects the oceans, the tides, and water retention in the human body. There are, statistically, more trauma and emergency room visits during the full moon, for humans as well as pets! Police departments report higher crime rates. Lions hunt more, sea creatures have exotic mating rituals, and scorpions are known to literally turn blue in the moonlight!
In spiritual and metaphysical terms, every Monday is really the moon’s day. Consider the etymology of the word ‘moon’ – Germanic Mond, and Latin luna. Hence, the word ‘Monday’ in most languages is some derivative of this — German, Montag, Danish Mandag, Swedish Måndag , Italian Lunedi, Spanish Lunes, and Welsh dydd Llun. The list goes on…
The moon is, no doubt, a very special planet, and today, July 20th, we have a national holiday to honor the moon! Or, more specifically, to commemorate the first walk on the moon.
On July 20, 1969, NASA spacecraft Apollo 11 landed the first humans, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on the moon. Six hours after landing, Neil Armstrong left the craft and stepped onto the lunar surface, forever changing our perceptions and notions of what was humanly possible in space exploration. He famously called his walk “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Armstrong was later joined by Buzz Aldrin. The third astronaut, Michael Collins, served as pilot, remaining at the wheel of the spacecraft while the other two explored. Together, Armstrong and Aldrin spent about five hours on the moon. They collected 47.5 pounds of lunar material to bring back to Earth.
Meanwhile, back on the home front, Americans were glued to their TV’s watching the live broadcast.
The moon landing was a huge achievement, the cumulation of the program initiated by President John F. Kennedy years before. It was also a milestone in the “space race” – the competition between the US and the Soviet Union to see who could get there first.
Reaching the moon placed the United States in a leadership role, with a duty to explore farther and deeper into the reach of the universe. In the years that followed, NASA and the Soviets both stepped up their game, continuing to fiercely compete for claims in space.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon proclaimed ‘National Moon Landing Day’ on July 20 to commemorate the mission. However, it seems the administration dropped the ball, never issuing a proclamation to follow.
A man named Richard Christmas, a Michigan native, took it upon himself to make the holiday official. He began what he called the “Christmas Card” campaign – tirelessly writing to congressmen and senators in all fifty states, urging them to create National Moon Day. By July of 1975, twelve states had sponsored bills observing Moon Day. Although Moon Day never became an official Federal Holiday (the kind we get a day off work for) many proponents continue to advocate for it, arguing that if we have a Christopher Columbus Day, we should have a Moon Landing Day as well.
Curiously, and suspiciously, after 1972 NASA stopped all missions to the moon. The supposed reason was because the undertakings were too expensive. However, some conspiracy theorists have other ideas. They believe NASA’s abrupt stop in moon exploration may actually be a cover up for the fact that they have made contact with Extra-terrestrials!
This theory is not so far-fetched as one might think. If NASA had made contact, the government, of course, would not want us to know. (Kind of like Roswell.) Some folks even believe that NASA has established secret space stations for further alien contact.
These stations would be on the “dark side” of the moon – that is, the side that never faces Earth, so nobody can know what is going on there.
Regardless of what we believe about Extra-terrestrial contact, today is a great day to celebrate all aspects of the moon! Here are some fun things you can do:
Conduct a ritual for the goddess of your choice. Light a silver candle, go outside and observe the moon. Meditate, pray, commune with nature. Be grateful for the vastness of our universe.
Take a moonlight bath! Throw in some traditional flowers of the moon, such as lily, lilac, violet or jasmine. Astrologically, the sun is now in the water sign of Cancer, the moon’s own home, so this is perfect. (Coincidence that the moon landing occurred in the sign of Cancer? I think not. )
If you happen to have a telescope, do some moon-gazin’!
Watch the movie “A Walk on the Moon”. This little gem stars Diane Lane and Viggo Mortensen in the story of a summer romance set against the backdrop of the 1969 moon landing and all the frenzy it created.
Have you ever noticed that notorious killers have 13 letters in their names?
JACK THE RIPPER (count ’em)
CHARLES MANSON (count ’em)
JEFFREY DAHMER (you guessed it!)
Cue eerie music.
Humankind has long associated the number 13 with evil. Some office buildings and hotels have been built without a 13th floor. Some airlines, including Continental and Air France, do not have a 13th row in their planes. Even Winston Churchill, the ultimate pragmatist, refused to sit in the 13th row in theaters.
But wait! Thirteen may not be as bad as we think.
Consider the ancient Aztecs. They were pretty smart, and they revered the number 13. The Aztec week lasted 13 days. They measured their year in 260 days. It was divided into 20 thirteen day periods. The thirteen day period was called a Trecena.
The Aztecs even had a goddess of the number 13.
In Aztec mythology, the goddess Tlazolteotl ruled the 13th Trecena. She was, to be fair, a bit of a bad girl — the goddess of sin and patron saint of adulterers. However, Tlazolteotl was also beneficent and wise. It was her place to forgive sins of a sexual nature. In Aztec culture, she was associated with the steam bath and encouraged it as a purification ritual.
In Tarot, although 13 is the Death card, it is not necessarily to be feared, as the card represents true change and reinvention that can only come about through symbolic death.
One of the reasons 13 got its bad rap was because of the Last Supper. Jesus had 12 disciples, so including himself there were 13 people attending the infamous dinner. Some say Judas Iscariot was the last to arrive (the 13th guest). Some say it was Jesus himself. Regardless, both men came to a bad end. Judas betrayed Jesus, resulting in his crucifixion. Later, in grief, Judas hung himself from a tree.
On the other hand — the events were necessary for the salvation of humankind. The Gospel of Judas speaks of these events as a Divine plan, conspired between Jesus and Judas, all necessary for the enlightenment of planet Earth. So maybe 13 turned out to be lucky in the long run.
Norse Mythology tells a similar tale of a Valhalla Banquet in which 12 gods were invited. Loki, the famous trickster, crashed the party. Using poison mistletoe, Loki then caused the death of Balder, one of the most beloved gods. Balder, unlike Jesus, did not resurrect. Despite numerous efforts by Odin and other gods, in the end Balder was not permitted to leave Hel.
On the other hand, Hel, the Underworld, was ruled by the goddess Hel. It could also be seen as a place of transformation and contemplation. Perhaps Balder found peace with Hel after all.
In 19th century America, a society was created to dispel the myth of unlucky 13, once and for all.
In 1881, Captain William Fowler, an American Civil War veteran, took it upon himself to form “The Thirteen Club”. Fowler had taken part in 13 major battles and had been forced to resign on August 13, 1863. On September 13, 1863 he purchased the Knickerbocker Cottage in New York. The cottage would later be used for his club dinners.
The first dinner of The Thirteen Club took place at 8:13 P.M. on Friday, January 13th, 1882, in Room 13. There were of course, 13 people in attendance. All subsequent meetings took place in room 13 on Friday the 13th.
On the December 13, 1886 meeting, Robert Green Ingersoll, a member and prominent lawyer, declared:
“We have had enough mediocrity, enough policy, enough superstition, enough prejudice, enough provincialism, and the time has come for the American citizen to say: “Hereafter I will be represented by men who are worthy, not only of the great Republic, but of the Nineteenth Century.”
By 1887, the Thirteen Club was 400-strong, over time gaining five U.S. Presidents as honorary members: Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Not bad pickings!
It should also be noted that the United States came from 13 original colonies. The 13 stripes on our flag represent these. (Count ’em!)
And what of Friday?
Friday got a bad rap because of its association with evil events in the Bible. Besides Jesus crucifixion, the Great Flood allegedly took place on a Friday, as well as Eve’s temptation of Adam. Back then of course, they didn’t have weekends!
For us, Friday marks the end of the work week and beginning of weekend fun. Besides that, Friday is the day of Freya, the Norse goddess of love, sex, beauty, fertility and gold. She was also fond of black cats. What’s not to like?
Born on this day, July 10, electronics engineer Nicola Tesla is perhaps one of the most overlooked inventors. Although we credit Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison with the discovery and implementation of electricity, it was really Tesla who had the most innovative ideas and contributed the most to modern electronics.
Although he later became a US citizen, Tesla was born in 1856 in what is now Croatia. Some biographers claim he was born — appropriately — in the middle of a lightening storm. He was educated at the Higher Real Gymnasium in Karlovac. There he became interested in demonstrations of electricity by his physics professor. He wrote that the demonstrations of this “mysterious phenomena” made him want “to know more of this wonderful force”.
As a child, Nicola reported having strange visions of light which he could reach out and touch. He had a vivid imagination and was never sure whether these light visions were real or not. He had an unusual ability to visualize his inventions in his head, and even claimed to see, with his inner eye, the entire electromagnetic field of electricity.
In his early years, Tesla showed signs of mathematical genius. He was able to perform integral calculus in his head. This prompted his teachers to believe that he was cheating.
Tesla finished a four-year term in three years, graduating in 1873.
The most famous of Tesla’s inventions is the alternating-current (AC) electric system. This provides a fast current of electricity, able to travel long distances, as opposed to the slower and weaker direct current( DC) system. Without the AC system we would not be able to power modern cities and our landscape would be quite different — cluttered with small power plants and electric chambers on every corner. In fact, AC is still the predominant electrical system used across the world today. He also created the “Tesla coil” which is still used in radio technology, and several other inventions.
Nicola came to the United States in 1884. He briefly worked with Thomas Edison, whom he had greatly admired, until the two parted ways. A case can be made for “good inventor/ bad inventor” with Edison in the latter role. While Tesla tried to develop his ideas for incorporating the AC system, Edison — who was already using the DC system — jealously guarded his own interests through aggressive marketing and slanderous propaganda.
Edison convinced the public that Tesla’s AC electronics were dangerous and impractical. He used underhanded and inhumane methods to prove this. In his efforts to instill fear in people, Edison even electrocuted a few animals, including elephants!
Tesla abandoned Edison and went to work for George Westinghouse.
Westinghouse Electric won the bid to light the Columbian Exposition of Chicago in 1893. They asked Tesla to participate. It would be a key event in the history of AC power.
At the Exposition, Tesla showed a series of electrical effects related to AC as well as his wireless lighting system, using demonstrations he had previously performed throughout America and Europe. These included using high-voltage, high-frequency alternating current to light a wireless gas-discharge lamp. He demonstrated to the American public the safety, reliability, and efficiency of a fully integrated AC system, thus proving that Edison was wrong.
Throughout his lifetime, Tesla suffered from mad/ genius syndrome and all the impulsiveness that went along with it. He was known to gamble and accrued several exorbitant debts. Sadly, to pay his debts he ended up selling several of his patent rights to Westinghouse, including those to his AC machinery. The success of the Westinghouse Electric company was almost entirely based upon Tesla’s work, although Tesla never got monetary credit for it.
Having become obsessed with the wireless transmission of energy, in around 1900, Nicola set to work on his boldest project yet: to build a global, wireless communication system — to be transmitted through a large electrical tower — for sharing information and providing free electricity throughout the world. Sounds familiar, right? But this was only 1900 🙂
With funding from a group of investors that included financial giant J. P. Morgan, in 1901 Tesla began work on the project in earnest, designing and building a lab with a power plant and a massive transmission tower on a site on Long Island, New York, that became known as Wardenclyffe.
However, doubts arose among his investors about the plausibility of Tesla’s system. As his rival, Guglielmo Marconi — with the financial support of Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison — continued to make great advances with his own radio technologies, Tesla had no choice but to abandon the project.
It’s too bad. Had investors believed in him, perhaps we would have had the Internet a lot sooner!
The closure of the project affected Tesla emotionally. He suffered a nervous breakdown. After that his work was mainly as a consultant. Radically ahead of his time, his interests after that were considered outlandish and a bit crazy. For example, he devoted much time to the care of wild pigeons in New York City’s parks. (Who knows what he had in mind — as carrier pigeons were a well known and reliable source of communication.) Tesla even drew attention from the FBI for some of his so-called dangerous ideas.
Tesla died on January 7, 1943 at the age of 86. Like many eccentric geniuses, he was poor and virtually unknown. Sadly, American education does not incorporate him into the curriculum, so most kids learn very little about him. Recently however, more attention has been brought to his name by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who named his electronic automobile company “Tesla”. According to Musk, the mission of Tesla is “To accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future.”
The legacy of the work Tesla left behind him lives on to this day. Every time we turn on radio, watch a live stream, plug in a device or use wifi, we should remember who we have to thank!
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” — William Shakespeare
Do you believe in life on other planets? Have you ever seen a UFO, been abducted, had a close encounter of the 3rd kind, or maybe just wish you had? If so, today, World UFO Day, is a great time to tell your story! This little holiday is in commemoration of the Roswell Incident, which occurred on July 2, 1947. It is also a time to challenge ‘accepted theories’ keep an open mind and let your imagination soar!
What happened at Roswell? A brief history:
On the morning of July 2, 1947, a New Mexico rancher named William Brazel found something peculiar in his sheep pasture. It appeared to be some kind of crashed vehicle, consisting large metallic hunks, streams of plastic, foil reflectors, and scraps of glossy, paper-like material. The ranch was located in a desert area, some 30 miles outside of Roswell.
Brazel was confused. The events of the next few days get a bit fuzzy. Some accounts have Brazel collecting part of the wreckage and storing it for future reference. He eventually called the local newspaper and the sheriff, who contacted the nearby Roswell Army and Air Force Base. Soldiers came to retrieve the debris. It was taken away in armored trucks never to be seen again, but luckily the newspaper had gotten some pictures.
On July 8, the Roswell Daily Record ran a story about the “flying saucer” that was found on the ranch.
The government immediately went into cover up mode. President Harry Truman declared the news must be kept a secret. On July 9, an Air Force official stated that the so-called flying saucer was really a crashed weather balloon.
A weather balloon is a huge high altitude balloon sent out to test temperatures, atmospheric pressure and the like. It is made of latex, filled with hydrogen and helium, and has measuring devices at the end of a long string. (But there is nothing metallic about it!)
So the question is, if this crashed vehicle was really a balloon, why did the debris consist of metallic material, plastic foil and reflectors? Anyone who had seen the crash or the pictures of it, agreed it had to be something different. Imaginations raced. Folk were more naive back then. (In 1938 Orson Welles performed a prank radio drama of War of the Worlds. People believed every word and ran to the streets in a panic.) At any rate, the citizens of Roswell thought the object did not come from Earth.
The Roswell Incident was hushed up and left for speculation for several years. Then, in 1994, the Pentagon finally declassified its files. The Federal Accounting Office produced a report called “Report of Air Force Research Regarding the Roswell Incident” which was designed to debunk the ET rumors.
It turns out the Army had a reasonable explanation — espionage and Russians! Apparently, a group of government geophysicists and oceanographers had been working on a top-secret atomic project called “Project Mogul”. The project, they claimed, used weather balloons launched from New Mexico’s Alamogordo Air Field. The balloons carried sound sensors into remote parts of the Earth’s atmosphere. The theory was the US Government could use these high tech microphones to spy on the Soviet Union. Officially, they were trying to gain information about nuclear arms. This was the beginning of the Cold War and all mistrusting eyes were on the Kremlin.
But people did not believe this story. Was the government lying? To this day, many people think the government, the military and NASA are covering up the truth about alien landings. Each year, hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Roswell site, hoping to find out the truth for themselves.
If Brazel’s ranch crash had been an isolated incident, we could perhaps accept the government story. But it was not. Not by a long shot. Many other sighting occurred around this time. (And continue to occur to this day!)
For example, on June 24, 1947, eight days before the the Roswell crash, Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot of Search and Rescue Mercy Flyer claimed to have seen something very strange — “nine unusual flying objects.” Arnold spotted them near Mount Rainier while on a reconnaissance flight in search of a missing military aircraft. He described the objects as “brilliant” and their flight as “irregular” with “extraordinary speed”. He told his story to the Associated Press but they dismissed it. (Or were they paid to dismiss it?) Why would a pilot, on a government reconnaissance mission, make up such a story, risking his own reputation?
Three months later, on September 23, 1947, in a report of Air Material Command, Air Force General Nathan Twining acknowledged the existence “flying disks”. In an official in depth government study, he reportedly described their performances and other information.
On February 12, 1948, Brigadier-General C.P. Cabell sent a memorandum to US Air Force Headquarters requesting that aircraft be placed on permanent alert in the United States and the territory of Alaska (not yet a state) to: “collect and develop information and actionable data about flying disks.”
Notice they are repeatedly using the name “flying discs”. This was not some sci fi, Twilight Zone creation, but terminology of the US government.
On March 25th, 1948, there was another “crash” of a ship of unknown origin near Aztec, New Mexico. The details and proof of this were not well established. Testimonies were few, and it seems much was done to stifle journalists who tried to report it.
The cover-ups got even more interesting as the year went on!
On July 25, 1948, the flight crew of Eastern Airlines indicated a “risk of collision with a flying object resembling a wingless fuselage.” This object was approximately 100 feet long and “twice the diameter of a B-29 Super-Fortress” — which meant around 300 feet wide! Captain Clarence Chiles and second pilot John Whitted described a “deep dark blue glow around the craft, with orange-red flames on the back.”
The drafting of the pilots’ report led to an investigation by air traffic services. As a result, the ATIC (Air Technical Intelligence Center) wrote a summary document on “flying disks” concluding they were of an “extraterrestrial origin.” This conclusion, however, was rejected without explanation by the commander-in-chief of the US Air Force, General H. Vandenberg. (Why? Again, there were professional pilots. Why would they risk their reputations and their livelihoods, just to report a crazy story?) Vandenberg then ordered that all copies of the document be destroyed!
Then… the FBI got involved!
On January 31, 1949, a memorandum was sent to J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, by one of his agents. The memo read: “During a recent weekly counterintelligence conference of the Office of Naval Intelligence, G-2, Office of Scientific Intelligence and the CIA, the subject of “unidentified aircraft”, also known as “flying disks”, was discussed and is considered TOP-SECRET by Army Intelligence Officers and the Air Force. “
What Hoover did with this material is anyone’s guess. Hoover was a notorious FBI bulldog. He later became Richard Nixon’s right hand man, an expert in wiretaps, break-ins, and general cloak and dagger spy vs. spy stuff.
In the meantime, the astronomy world was not far behind.
On August 20, the famous astronomer Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997) told a Time reporter how he observed a “strange flight of 6 to 8 rectangular lights flying over Las Cruces, New Mexico.” Tombaugh later stated in a letter to scientist Richard Hall (dated 10 September 1957): “I was not prepared for such an observation and was petrified and astonished”.
Since then, and up to the present date, there have been many recordings of strange incidents all over the world. However, the events occurring in New Mexico in 1947-49 indicate the US government took an active role in the investigation of UFOs and had a vested interest in keeping the public uninformed.
The universe is a big place. To my thinking, it would be extremely arrogant of humankind to assume that in this enormous cosmos, where our little planet is akin to a grain of sand on a beach, we are the ONLY intelligent life form. That seems impossible.
What do you think? Have you ever had experiences with UFOs or Extra-Terrestrials? Do you believe in the possibility? Let me know in the comments!
Have a Happy UFO Day, and don’t forget to watch the night sky! The Pleiadians just might give us a greeting.
a memorandum to US Air Force Headquarters requesting that aircraft be placed on permanent alert in the United States and Alaska to: “… collect and develop information and actionable data about flying disks “
Histories and Mysteries 