18 March: Grover Cleveland Quotes

Former US president Grover Cleveland was born on this date in 1837. 10 quotes from the days when what presidents said made sense and weren’t just ramblings about dead people walking around with no legs.

1. In calm water every ship has a good captain.

2. A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.

3. Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters.

4. A cause worth fighting for is worth fighting for to the end.

5. Men and times change-but principles-never.

6. Above all, tell the truth.

7. What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?

8. Honour lies in honest toil.

9. What do you imagine the American people would think of me if I wasted my time going to the ball game?

10. Good ball players make good citizens.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

17 March: 76

 Today is the 76^th day of the year. 10 fun facts about the number 76:

1. “Seventy six trombones led the big parade, With a hundred & ten cornets close at hand.” so goes the song from the musical The Music Man. It’s basically a sales pitch to encourage parents in a small Iowa town to buy musical instruments for their kids.

2. Seventy-Six is a historical fiction novel by John Neal. Published in Baltimore in 1823, it is about the American Revolutionary War.

3. There are (or have been) at least four towns or communities in the US called Seventy-Six. Two in Iowa, one in Kentucky and one in Missouri.

4. 76 Freia is a large main-belt asteroid discovered by the astronomer Heinrich d'Arrest in 1862, in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was his first and only asteroid discovery. It is named after the goddess Freyja in Norse mythology.

5. '76, formerly Lions of '76, is a 2016 Nigerian historical fiction drama film directed by Izu Ojukwu about a young soldier mistakenly accused of taking part in a coup.

6. 76 is a chain of gas (petrol) stations in the US.

7. '76 is an eight-issue comic book series published by Image Comics, and written by B. Clay Moore and Seth Peck, and illustrated by Ed Tadem and Tigh Walker. It is set in the year 1976 and features storylines based in New York City and Los Angeles.

8. Fallout 76 is a multiplayer video game set in the post-nuclear wasteland of America.

9. 76 is the debut album of Dutch trance producer and DJ Armin van Buuren.

10. In numerology, a person influenced by this number is realistic, pragmatic, and family oriented. They are loyal and conscientious and able to focus on details. They build and plan for the future.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

16 March: James Madison Quotes

Another former US president, James Madison, was born on this date in 1751. 10 quotes from him:

1. If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within.

2. Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.

3. The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority's ability to harm a minority.

4. If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?

5. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

6. Conscience is the most sacred of all property.

7. Philosophy is common sense with big words.

8. If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

9. Democracy was the right of the people to choose their own tyrant.

10. Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

15 March: Andrew Jackson Quotes

10 quotes from Andrew Jackson, former US President, born this date in 1767.

1. It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

2. I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.

3. When the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.

4. Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.

5. Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.

6. The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.

7. You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessings.

8. There are only two things I can't give up; one is coffee and the other is tobacco.

9. Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.

10. People are my religion/Because I believe in them.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

14 March: Emeralds

On National Jewel Day: 10 facts about emeralds.

1. Emeralds are always Green (unlike Diamonds, Sapphires and Rubies which can be colours other than the one usually associated with them) although they might not be the exact shade of green known as emerald green. The shade of green varies according to the exact amount of the elements Chromium and Vanadium present in the stone.

2. Emeralds belong to the beryl family of stones.

3. They are actually rarer, and therefore more expensive per carat, than diamonds. An emerald is lower in density than a diamond and so would be larger than a diamond of the same carat value. Emerald measures between 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness.

4. Colombia is the world’s biggest emerald producer, accounting for around 90% of the world’s emeralds. Zambia is the second largest producer. Emerald miners in Colombia get an occupational perk called “picando” in which for one day each month they can keep any emeralds they find for themselves.

5. Emeralds are the birth stone for people born in May, or under the astrological sign of Taurus. 55 years is an emerald anniversary.

6. The largest flawless emerald in the world was known as the Rockefeller Emerald until it was sold in an auction to a man called Harry Winston for $5.5 million. Since then it has been known as the Rockefeller-Winston emerald.

7. The word emerald comes to us via Old French, Vulgar Latin and Ancient Greek, and possibly even further back to Sanskrit or Persian. The Ancient Greek word simply meant “green gem”.

8. In Ancient Egypt, emeralds symbolised eternal youth and were often buried with people. Cleopatra loved emeralds so much that she took ownership of all the emerald mines in Egypt. Elizabeth Taylor was another fan. One of her emerald necklaces sold for $6.1 million in 2011. They are also a feature of the British Crown Jewels.

9. There is folklore associated with emeralds. They were once said to counteract poison to the extent that if a venomous creature so much as looked at one it would go blind. It was also said that placing an emerald under the tongue would reveal truth, and grant a person the ability to foresee the future. They protected against evil spells, cured leprosy, improved memory and eyesight and was potentially even a contraceptive as ancient alchemists believed that if a person wearing an emerald ring had sex, the emerald would break.

10. The Emerald City is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L Frank Baum's Oz books.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

13 March: Pope Francis

On this date in 2013 Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina was elected as the new pope, taking the papal name Pope Francis. 10 facts about him:

1. His birth name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio and he was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (though his parents had emigrated there from Italy) on 17 December 1936. He was one of seven children. His father was a railway worker, his mother a housewife.

2. There were several firsts with his papacy. He was the first pope in centuries to replace another pope who was still alive, as his predecessor resigned. He was the first pope from the Western Hemisphere, the first from South America, the first from the Jesuit order and the first to take the name Francis (in honour of St Francis of Assisi).

3. Like his namesake, he was committed to helping the poor and living as simply as possible. He refused to wear the ermine-trimmed Red velvet mozzetta, the gold pectoral cross and the pair of red Shoes prepared for his inauguration. He stuck with a simple Silver cross and his own shoes. Then he chose not to live in the Vatican Palace but in an apartment, and would eat in the Vatican canteen. He would often remind his followers not to forget the poor, especially during the covid pandemic. A source in the Vatican once told the press that he’d go out at night dressed as a regular priest to help the poor of Rome in person.

4. He was first called to the priesthood on St Matthew’s day in 1953. He decided, on the spur of the moment, to attend confession and felt the call while he was there.

5. He got an education and worked at several jobs before taking up his vocation. He earned a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires and a liberal arts degree in philosophy. His jobs included scrubbing the floors of the company where his father worked, taught in schools and was, for a time, a bouncer at a nightclub.

6. He lost part of his lung during his youth due to a respiratory infection.

7. In his youth he was a great fan of Argentine Tango and once said, “Tango comes from deep within me.” He was also a fan of classical music as evidenced by the fact he snuck out during the pandemic to buy records of Bach and Mozart.

8. His favourite film was La Strada by Federico Fellini, winner of the Oscar for best foreign film in 1957. His favourite food was Bagna Cauda, a dish prepared with anchovies, oil, and Garlic, used as a sauce for vegetables.

9. He would say a prayer from St. Thomas More every day. The prayer goes: “Lord, give me a sense of humour. Grant me the grace to understand a joke, to discover in life a bit of joy, and be able to share it with others.”

10. Francis surpassed the record of Pope John Paul II in canonising the most new saints in a pontificate. These included: Mother Teresa, Óscar Romero, Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin (the first married couple to be named as saints together), and three of his predecessors: John XXIII, John Paul II and Paul VI.

See also:

Pope John Paul I 
Pope John Paul II

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

12 March: Jack Kerouac

Today, 10 facts about Jack Kerouac, who was born on this date in 1922.

1. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and given the name Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac. His father was an insurance salesman. He claimed that his family were originally from Ireland, but migrated to Cornwall and that was the origin of the name – Kernewek, meaning the Cornish language. Or it might have been a Celtic name meaning "language of the water". His ancestors would later flee to France and there was a baron among them: Baron François Louis Alexandre Lebris de Kerouac.

2. His first language was French, not English. He learned to speak English when he was six and had a French accent until his late teens.

3. When he was four, his older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever, aged nine. Jack believed that his brother became his guardian angel and was the inspiration for his book, Visions of Gerard.

4. His best friend at school was called Sebastian Sampas, who shared his love of literature and theatre. It was Sampas who encouraged Jack to join the “Scribbler’s Club” at school, so could be responsible for getting him into writing. Sampas was killed during World War II. His sister Stella became Jack’s third wife in 1966.

5. Jack served as a merchant mariner during the war. He served on the SS Dorchester before its maiden voyage. He wasn’t, however, on the ship when it was sunk during a Submarine attack while crossing the Atlantic. Kerouac joined the Navy Reserves, but military life really wasn’t for him and he only lasted eight days in active service before being honourably discharged on psychiatric grounds. He wrote his first novel at this time, called The Sea Is My Brother, but it wasn’t published until 40 years after he died.

6. One of his friends, Lucien Carr, killed a man called David Kammerer, who Carr claimed was gay and had made advances to him. He asked Kerouac and fellow author William S Burroughs to help him dispose of the body which resulted in Kerouac being arrested as a material witness. He appealed to his girlfriend Edie Parker to get her family to post bail. She said she would on condition that he married her and got a job to pay back the loan. He kept his promise, but the marriage didn’t last.

7. His second wife was Joan Haverty, with whom he had a daughter, but by the time the child was born they had already separated. Kerouac denied paternity and refused to pay child support.

8. He liked to incorporate haiku into his works. Fellow Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg said of him, “He’s the only one in the United States who knows how to write haiku… he talks that way, thinks that way.” Kerouac was also an artist and would paint people he met, having painted his first self portrait at the age of nine.

9. Despite being famous for writing a book called On the Road, he never learned to drive and envied people who had the skill.

10. The character Hank in David Cronenberg's 1991 film Naked Lunch is based on Kerouac. He also has a crater on Mercury named after him.

See also: quotes by Jack Kerouac.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/