Sedition, Transmission, Murder, and Mystery

nd it was written, that on this day the muse would hand IGIF the duty, neigh Honour, to present to the townsbloggin’folk with pint-sized rations of events of the historical persuasion. For it is from these events that civilizations learn to adapt, it is with these individual shitstains on time’s neverending roll of toilet paper that we are able to revel in such monumental successes of circumstance, and it is with a slur, a grin, and utmost privilege that I present to you today… History Mixery of July the Fourteenth, Two-thousand Ten.

U.S. adopts Sedition Act, 1798

f you think the Patriot Act sucks, at least you didn’t have to live through the Sedition Act. Passed by Congress in 1798, it barred the public from the publication of “any false, scandalous and malicious writing” against the United States, which included, for example, former revolutionaries lamenting the injustices of the post-Revolution times. If convicted, one faced both imprisonment and a fine of up to $5000 — which would be over $150k today. Thankfully just two years later the law was repealed by Thomas Jefferson. What a guy.

[MP3] Owen Pallett – Keep The Dog Quiet (Simon Bookish Remix)
[MP3] Papercuts – The Machine Will Tell Us So

Space Probe Mariner 4 Photographs Mars, 1965

n this day, July 14th 1965, thousands of scientists and astronomers, both professional and amateur, simultaneously creamed themselves upon reception of several close-up photographs of the Martian surface, taken as the Mariner 4 space probe was performing a fly-by. We might take Mars for granted these days, with Google Mars all but allowing us to visit the red planet, but just 45 years ago these grainy black and white photos astonished the world.

[MP3] Chromatic Flights – The Planets Explode
[MP3] Lemon Jelly – Spacewalk

Eight Student Nurses Murdered in Chicago Dorm, 1966

errified and alone, on the night of July 14th, 1966, Cora Amurao found herself hiding under the bed of a friend at a local Chicago dormitory, listening to her eight friends being systematically murdeded one by one. Richard Speck had broken into the townhouse after a night of drinking and, in a drunken, lonely craze, reigned hell on the minuscule fragments of life that these unfortunate young women had left. He was found, convicted, jailed, and ultimately succumbed to a heart attack in 1991. Luckily this shit doesn’t happen too much anymore.

[MP3] M.I.A. – Lady Killer
[MP3] Weird Tapes – Nightstalking

U.S. Government Admits Existence of Area-51, 2003

odder for science fiction novelists and conspiracy theorists alike for decades, on this day in 2003 the existence of Area-51 was officially and reluctantly acknowledged by the U.S. government. It had always been known that the USAF had a base near the dried up Groom Lake, but until 2003 the USAF simply referred to it as a “testing site” and nothing more. This is little more than throwing a dog a bone, but it certainly continues to place Area-51 at the top of the last great unknown frontiers.