Joe Don Looney

From FB:

“Joe Don Looney achieved fame for two great reasons. He was a great fullback at the University of Oklahoma who played several years in the NFL and he was very well named.

In the Oklahoma locker room, there was a large trash can by the door with a sign on it reading, ‘Put your used tape here.’ Looney, however, continued to throw his used tapes on the floor.

When his coach rebuked him for this, and pointed out the trash can sign, which was in plain sight, Loony retorted:

‘I refuse to take orders from a trash can.'”

“At Day’s Close”

From FB:

“With the decline in magical beliefs, night time for most urban households became less menacing. Like the natural world generally, darkness lost most of its aura of terror and mystery. Formerly a source of fear within educated circles, night even became, for some observers, an object of awe and admiration. The very air at night, once thought perilous, now appeared sweet and refreshing. Celestial spectacles such as comets inspired rapture rather than dread, as unprecedented numbers delighted in using telescopes.

Artists, travelers, and poets all celebrated night’s beauty and grandeur. Visiting the Continent in 1787, a London bookseller exulted, ‘The evening was still & tranquil & the sky perfectly serene, enriched with millions of stars shining in perfect beauty.’ Similarly, a traveler in France opined, ‘Nothing could be more delightful than this journey by moonlight, in a serene night.'”

– “At Day’s Close: Night In Times Past” – A. Rogers Ekirch

Concordia

From FB:

“Concordia is the Roman Goddess of Harmony. Unlike many other Goddesses Who were deified qualities, Concordia was worshipped from early times in Rome. She especially symbolized peace and agreement between the two classes of Rome, the plebeians or commoners, and the patricians or nobles. In the early days of Rome the two classes had joined to drive out the tyrannical Kings and created a Republic; but it quickly became a Republic of the patricians who had all the wealth and power. The plebeians were barred from the Senate and other governmental and priestly offices, though they of course made up most of the army. In 494 BCE the plebeians had had enough, and, refusing to serve in the army anymore, deserted and camped out on a hill near the Anio River that they called the Mons Sacer, or the Sacred Mountain. The patricians, left defenseless, came to some kind of sense and reforms were instituted giving the plebeians more rights.

To commemorate the compromises worked out between patricians and plebeians, a temple to Concordia was built in the northwestern end of the Roman Forum.

In the later days of the Empire, Concordia was worshipped as the bringer of marital harmony within the imperial family, and as such was called Concordia Augusta. She was depicted as a matronly woman, veiled and heavily draped, holding an olive branch, emblematic of peace, and a cornucopia, to symbolize the abundance that can be achieved when people work together in harmony. She sometimes wore a crown and held a sceptre, caduceus, or patera, a small offering bowl from which libations were poured. She is associated with the stork, which symbolized family devotion to the Romans, and the dove, universally a symbol of peace and gentleness; and sometimes a star, as emblem of hope, is shown near Her. Another attribute of Concordia is the image of two clasped hands, both of which are right hands (like in a handshake), symbolizing two people agreeing.

She was identified with the Goddess Homonoia, the Greek personification of harmony.”

January 1, 2023

From FB:

“January is the open gate of the year, shut until the shortest day passed, but now open to let in the lengthening daylight, which will soon fall upon dim patches of pale green that show where spring is still sleeping.

The month takes its name from the Roman god Janus, guardian of doorways and bridges. Janus had two faces looking in opposite directions – one back towards the old year, one forward towards the new.

Although the shortest day is past and gone, January is a dark month in Northern Europe. The nights are still long an the weather often feels as if there is very little daylight at all. Once New year celebrations are over, it is time to return to work. Gone are the days when the festive season lasted for the full twelve days of Christmas.

The Anglo-Saxons called January ‘Wolfmonath’ because it was considered a time when these ravening beasts were more likely to take human prey.”