Comment

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 30, 2012 at 10:03am

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In order to achieve your goals, you have to try harder. Nothing will be handed to you but everything can be earned. You must, however, stay on top of documentation and of reliability.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You tend to rely on steadiness and reliability, not flashiness. You want results, not attention, but you have to be mindful about situations that require notice in order to get the proper results.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You are outspoken but also get others to speak their minds. You enjoy the give and take and information and opinions. You want to be pushed into thinking more clearly and more exactly.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Imagination and innovation are discouraged today. People insist you stay with a proven routine. Boring as it seems, it's probably for the best, but if you want to experiment do it on your own time.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): You need to communicate with people but you are slow in letting them in too close personally. You're comfortable talking about ideas and events, not so much about intimate matters and feelings.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You're prone to set up great expectations, yet be so afraid of failure that you're unwilling to try achieving them. Be willing to take the risk and to be willing to learn and readjust if you don't succeed at first.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You must narrow showing your range of talents today. Focus on a few strengths instead of spreading yourself out. Let others fill in instead of trying to do everything yourself.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You feel prepared today but may be unwilling to budge beyond a narrow role or a set range of tasks. You can be challenged to keep learning, and to be flexible about rules, roles and range of actions.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You have a deeper curiosity now and are more interested than usual in improving your knowledge. The sciences, philosophy and religion are primary areas of study. Law is also possible. Learn from people, not just books.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You prefer to stick with what you know today. You can be fortunate in being able to excel in a focused way. Your priority on job and money, however, can make you insensitive to social activities and non-verbal cues.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You need company but it can also serve to make you scatterbrained. You can get absorbed into other people's dramas and have no time or energy left to tend to your own business. Avoid this type of situation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You feel that you are ahead of the curve in response time and anticipation. Be personally prepared, while being forgiving and letting people catch up with you when they are able.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 30, 2012 at 10:03am

"I started drinking more seriously, seeking refuge, seeking death actually, from a world that was feeling more and more unnatural to me. Following a painful accident related to drinking, I finally realized that I must decide whether I want to follow my grandparents or truly take up this life. Circumstances that followed led me to choose life."

-- Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

My life is run by choices and decisions. Every choice I make today will carry with it the consequences of that choice. Every decision I make today will carry with it the consequences of that decision. The question I will ask myself today is, "Do I want to be happy or do I want to be right?" Which ever one I choose will have a lot to do with the consequences I will experience today. If today was the last day of my life, what choices and what decisions would I make?

Oh Great Spirit, guide my path today and help me see the value of choosing the Red Road

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 30, 2012 at 10:00am

Aug 30, 30 B.C.:
Cleopatra commits suicide

Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, takes her life following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome.

Cleopatra, born in 69 B.C., was made Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt, upon the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, in 51 B.C. Her brother was made King Ptolemy XIII at the same time, and the siblings ruled Egypt under the formal title of husband and wife. Cleopatra and Ptolemy were members of the Macedonian dynasty that governed Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. Although Cleopatra had no Egyptian blood, she alone in her ruling house learned Egyptian. To further her influence over the Egyptian people, she was also proclaimed the daughter of Re, the Egyptian sun god. Cleopatra soon fell into dispute with her brother, and civil war erupted in 48 B.C.

Rome, the greatest power in the Western world, was also beset by civil war at the time. Just as Cleopatra was preparing to attack her brother with a large Arab army, the Roman civil war spilled into Egypt. Pompey the Great, defeated by Julius Caesar in Greece, fled to Egypt seeking solace but was immediately murdered by agents of Ptolemy XIII. Caesar arrived in Alexandria soon after and, finding his enemy dead, decided to restore order in Egypt.

During the preceding century, Rome had exercised increasing control over the rich Egyptian kingdom, and Cleopatra sought to advance her political aims by winning the favor of Caesar. She traveled to the royal palace in Alexandria and was allegedly carried to Caesar rolled in a rug, which was offered as a gift. Cleopatra, beautiful and alluring, captivated the powerful Roman leader, and he agreed to intercede in the Egyptian civil war on her behalf.

In 47 B.C., Ptolemy XIII was killed after a defeat against Caesar's forces, and Cleopatra was made dual ruler with another brother, Ptolemy XIV. Julius and Cleopatra spent several amorous weeks together, and then Caesar departed for Asia Minor, where he declared "Veni, vidi, vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered), after putting down a rebellion. In June 47 B.C., Cleopatra bore a son, whom she claimed was Caesar's and named Caesarion, meaning "little Caesar."

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 29, 2012 at 6:42am

Upon Caesar's triumphant return to Rome, Cleopatra and Caesarion joined him there. Under the auspices of negotiating a treaty with Rome, Cleopatra lived discretely in a villa that Caesar owned outside the capital. After Caesar was assassinated in March 44 B.C., she returned to Egypt. Soon after, Ptolemy XIV died, likely poisoned by Cleopatra, and the queen made her son co-ruler with her as Ptolemy XV Caesar.

With Julius Caesar's murder, Rome again fell into civil war, which was temporarily resolved in 43 B.C. with the formation of the second triumvirate, made up of Octavian, Caesar's great-nephew and chosen heir; Mark Antony, a powerful general; and Lepidus, a Roman statesman. Antony took up the administration of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, and he summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus, in Asia Minor, to answer charges that she had aided his enemies.

Cleopatra sought to seduce Antony, as she had Caesar before him, and in 41 B.C. arrived in Tarsus on a magnificent river barge, dressed as Venus, the Roman god of love. Successful in her efforts, Antony returned with her to Alexandria, where they spent the winter in debauchery. In 40 B.C., Antony returned to Rome and married Octavian's sister Octavia in an effort to mend his strained alliance with Octavian. The triumvirate, however, continued to deteriorate. In 37 B.C., Antony separated from Octavia and traveled east, arranging for Cleopatra to join him in Syria. In their time apart, Cleopatra had borne him twins, a son and a daughter. According to Octavian's propagandists, the lovers were then married, which violated the Roman law restricting Romans from marrying foreigners.

Antony's disastrous military campaign against Parthia in 36 B.C. further reduced his prestige, but in 34 B.C. he was more successful against Armenia. To celebrate the victory, he staged a triumphal procession through the streets of Alexandria, in which he and Cleopatra sat on golden thrones, and Caesarion and their children were given imposing royal titles. Many in Rome, spurred on by Octavian, interpreted the spectacle as a sign that Antony intended to deliver the Roman Empire into alien hands.

After several more years of tension and propaganda attacks, Octavian declared war against Cleopatra, and therefore Antony, in 31 B.C. Enemies of Octavian rallied to Antony's side, but Octavian's brilliant military commanders gained early successes against his forces. On September 2, 31 B.C., their fleets clashed at Actium in Greece. After heavy fighting, Cleopatra broke from the engagement and set course for Egypt with 60 of her ships. Antony then broke through the enemy line and followed her. The disheartened fleet that remained surrendered to Octavian. One week later, Antony's land forces surrendered.

Although they had suffered a decisive defeat, it was nearly a year before Octavian reached Alexandria and again defeated Antony. In the aftermath of the battle, Cleopatra took refuge in the mausoleum she had commissioned for herself. Antony, informed that Cleopatra was dead, stabbed himself with his sword. Before he died, another messenger arrived, saying Cleopatra still lived. Antony had himself carried to Cleopatra's retreat, where he died after bidding her to make her peace with Octavian. When the triumphant Roman arrived, she attempted to seduce him, but he resisted her charms. Rather than fall under Octavian's domination, Cleopatra committed suicide on August 30, 30 B.C., possibly by means of an asp, a poisonous Egyptian serpent and symbol of divine royalty.

Octavian then executed her son Caesarion, annexed Egypt into the Roman Empire, and used Cleopatra's treasure to pay off his veterans. In 27 B.C., Octavian became Augustus, the first and arguably most successful of all Roman emperors. He ruled a peaceful, prosperous, and expanding Roman Empire until his death in 14 A.D. at the age of 75.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 29, 2012 at 6:40am

Aug 29, 1533:
Pizarro Executes Last Inca Emperor

Atahuallpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro's Spanish conquistadors. The execution of Atahuallpa, the last free reigning emperor, marked the end of 300 years of Inca civilization.

High in the Andes Mountains of Peru, the Inca built a dazzling empire that governed a population of 12 million people. Although they had no writing system, they had an elaborate government, great public works, and a brilliant agricultural system. In the five years before the Spanish arrival, a devastating war of succession gripped the empire. In 1532, Atahuallpa's army defeated the forces of his half-brother Huascar in a battle near Cuzco. Atahuallpa was consolidating his rule when Pizarro and his 180 soldiers appeared.

Francisco Pizarro was the son of a Spanish gentleman and worked as a swineherder in his youth. He became a soldier and in 1502 went to Hispaniola with the new Spanish governor of the New World colony. Pizarro served under Spanish conquistador Alonso de Ojeda during his expedition to Colombia in 1510 and was with Vasco Nunez de Balboa when he discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513. Hearing legends of the great wealth of an Indian civilization in South America, Pizarro formed an alliance with fellow conquistador Diego de Almagro in 1524 and sailed down the west coast of South America from Panama. The first expedition only penetrated as far as present-day Ecuador, but a second reached farther, to present-day Peru. There they heard firsthand accounts of the Inca empire and obtained Inca artifacts. The Spanish christened the new land Peru, probably after the Vire River.

Returning to Panama, Pizarro planned an expedition of conquest, but the Spanish governor refused to back the scheme. In 1528, Pizarro sailed back to Spain to ask the support of Emperor Charles V. Hernan Cortes had recently brought the emperor great wealth through his conquest of the Aztec Empire, and Charles approved Pizarro's plan. He also promised that Pizarro, not Almagro, would receive the majority of the expedition's profits. In 1530, Pizarro returned to Panama.

In 1531, he sailed down to Peru, landing at Tumbes. He led his army up the Andes Mountains and on November 15, 1532, reached the Inca town of Cajamarca, where Atahuallpa was enjoying the hot springs in preparation for his march on Cuzco, the capital of his brother's kingdom. Pizarro invited Atahuallpa to attend a feast in his honor, and the emperor accepted. Having just won one of the largest battles in Inca history, and with an army of 30,000 men at his disposal, Atahuallpa thought he had nothing to fear from the bearded white stranger and his 180 men. Pizarro, however, planned an ambush, setting up his artillery at the square of Cajamarca.

On November 16, Atahuallpa arrived at the meeting place with an escort of several thousand men, all apparently unarmed. Pizarro sent out a priest to exhort the emperor to accept the sovereignty of Christianity and Emperor Charles V., and Atahuallpa refused, flinging a Bible handed to him to the ground in disgust. Pizarro immediately ordered an attack. Buckling under an assault by the terrifying Spanish artillery, guns, and cavalry (all of which were alien to the Incas), thousands of Incas were slaughtered, and the emperor was captured.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 28, 2012 at 7:41am

Atahuallpa offered to fill a room with treasure as ransom for his release, and Pizarro accepted. Eventually, some 24 tons of gold and silver were brought to the Spanish from throughout the Inca empire. Although Atahuallpa had provided the richest ransom in the history of the world, Pizarro treacherously put him on trial for plotting to overthrow the Spanish, for having his half-brother Huascar murdered, and for several other lesser charges. A Spanish tribunal convicted Atahuallpa and sentenced him to die. On August 29, 1533, the emperor was tied to a stake and offered the choice of being burned alive or strangled by garrote if he converted to Christianity. In the hope of preserving his body for mummification, Atahuallpa chose the latter, and an iron collar was tightened around his neck until he died.

With Spanish reinforcements that had arrived at Cajamarca earlier that year, Pizarro then marched on Cuzco, and the Inca capital fell without a struggle in November 1533. Huascar's brother Manco Capac was installed as a puppet emperor, and the city of Quito was subdued. Pizarro established himself as Spanish governor of Inca territory and offered Diego Almagro the conquest of Chile as appeasement for claiming the riches of the Inca civilization for himself. In 1535, Pizarro established the city of Lima on the coast to facilitate communication with Panama. The next year, Manco Capac escaped from Spanish supervision and led an unsuccessful uprising that was quickly crushed. That marked the end of Inca resistance to Spanish rule.

Diego Almagro returned from Chile embittered by the poverty of that country and demanded his share of the spoils of the former Inca empire. Civil war soon broke out over the dispute, and Almagro seized Cuzco in 1538. Pizarro sent his half brother, Hernando, to reclaim the city, and Almagro was defeated and put to death. On June 26, 1541, allies of Diego el Monzo—Almagro's son—penetrated Pizarro's palace in Lima and assassinated the conquistador while he was eating dinner. Diego el Monzo proclaimed himself governor of Peru, but an agent of the Spanish crown refused to recognize him, and in 1542 Diego was captured and executed. Conflict and intrigue among the conquistadors of Peru persisted until Spanish Viceroy Andres Hurtado de Mendoza established order in the late 1550s.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 28, 2012 at 7:39am

"With prayer and good intentions, we make our lives sacred and come into balance."

-- Don Jose Matsua, HUICHOL SIERRA MADRE MEXICO

Only through prayer can we make spiritual changes that are permanent. You have told us that all life is sacred. Today I intend to serve you, my Creator. Allow me to overcome temptation, and if one comes along, let me see the lessons that will give balance. You have told us that all life is sacred. Let me see today with a sacred eye. Let me see beauty in all things.

My Creator, let me know what You would have me be today. Let my intentions be honest, respectful, humble, and loving.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 26, 2012 at 6:46am

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 26, 2012 at 6:44am

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You like to be assured that friends and associates remember and appreciate you. You reach out to relieve loneliness. You want to be involved personally or socially with the people you like now.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You are ambitious today but you don't suffer fools gladly. You want to cut out extraneous activities but your own volatile emotions are themselves a distraction from your goals. Follow your gut instincts but don't be controlled by them.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You need to do something today but, more important, you need to be paying attention to something practical. You like being busy and if you're not you're liable to waste time and act out of boredom.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): There is a lot for you to do today. You may not know where to begin. Start somewhere. Just doing that will help you see what needs to be done and the right order to do it in. Strong emotions interfere with effectiveness.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): You're apt to feel frustrated and angry today and to say so openly. It's important to keep idle grousing under control. Examine feelings of discontent for the reasons; is it a personal problem or is there something objectively wrong?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Someone is liable to take advantage of your weaknesses today. Resist the urge to make your vulnerabilities and misgivings known. They can be used against you now. Emphasize your dedication when speaking to others.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Members of clubs or organizations become active in them today, especially in advertising or promotional materials. You enjoy planning activities now, though mostly this is in the executive levels of you club.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You are liable to talk a lot about what you're going to do but then not do them. Make less advertising, do more action. Let your performance do the talking for you. There is also less interference that way.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You are ready to learn from advanced thinkers and from the most successful people. Today, you don't see why you should following the speculations of people who don't know anything. You want knowledge and you want results.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You are generally optimistic and are ready to take the necessary steps for making the most of your advantages. While not humorless, you are serious and dedicated to the path you have set.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You are alert to dangers and even to situations that aren't quite right. You keep control on everything, even petty infractions. People can resent your hard attitude, so be able to justify your approach.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You're apt to get into arguments that are basically philosophic in nature. The way you see the world, in comparison to the way others do, is at the root of all important disagreements that you enter into and should be approached that way.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on August 26, 2012 at 6:43am

"Those who live for one another learn that love is the bond of perfect unity."

-- Fools Crow, LAKOTA

To serve each other, to respect each other, to trust each other, to honor each other, to love each other, to cooperate with each other, to care for each other, to forgive one another, to focus on peoples' good, to laugh with one another, to learn from one another, to pray for each other; these are all acts of love. These values and actions will connect us to one another in the Unseen World. Nature is a good example of how we should get along with one another. Watch nature. She is our teacher. Nature lives to give to one another. The insects give to the birds, who give to the four legged, who give to the two legged. The Creator made all things perfect.

Oh Great Spirit, let me serve the people today. Let me see that it is better to give than it is to receive. Be with me today

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