Let the rhyming begin

June is the sixth month of the year and consists of thirty days. The ancient Romans gave it twenty-nine days until 46 BC, when Julius Caesar added the thirtieth for reasons known only to himself. The last day of the month is therefore referred to as its "Caesarian Section" by calendar insiders.

The month is believed to derive its name from either the Roman goddess Juno, patron goddess of marriage, or the Greek Juniko, god of charcoal briquettes.



June marks the transition from spring to summer in the northern hemisphere, and from fall to winter in the southern hemisphere. (It is not a transitional month in other hemispheres.)



June has traditionally been the most popular month for weddings, but it's commonly overlooked that it's also one of the top twelve months for bathtub drownings and spontaneous human combustions.



June is traditionally considered the poet's month because with the warming of the earth and the lengthening light of the fragrant evenings, thoughts inevitably turn to romance as hearts and passions swell. Also, June rhymes with a lot of words. For example: afternoon, aswoon, attune, baboon, balloon, bassoon, bestrewn, boon, buffoon, cartoon, cocoon, commune, croon, doubloon, dragoon, dune, entune, expugn, festoon, harpoon, hewn, honeymoon, immune, inopportune, impugn, jejune, lagoon, lampoon, loon, macaroon, maroon, monsoon, moon, noon, pantaloon, picayune, platoon, poltroon, pontoon, prune, raccoon, rune, saloon, soon, spittoon, spoon, strewn, swoon, tune, tycoon, typhoon, untune.


Iggy Pop has a great new album out, PRELIMINAIRES



Who knew Iggy spoke french?


Here is your Today in History -
June 1, 1571 -
The "Triple Tree" gallows is installed at Tyburn, England in time for the execution of John Storey, who is hanged, drawn, and quartered for committing treason. The Triple Tree consists of an equilateral triangle nine feet long on each side, 18 feet off the ground. It can hang as many as 24 prisoners at once, and will remain in place for almost 200 years.



June 1, 1660 -
After having received a last-minute reprieve seven months earlier, Mary Dyer is hanged for heresy after returning to Boston.



Dyer was a member of the Quakers, a subversive religious sect which had been banned by the Puritan colony under "pain of death."


June 1, 1926 -
Gladys Baker gives birth to Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles.



June 1, 1967 -
It was 41 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. The Beatles officially release their new album,



Remember to also catch the fantastic tribute album by the Easy Star All Stars - it the Beatles with a wicked Reggae beat.




June 1, 1968 -
Helen Keller -- America's all-time favorite deaf and blind Socialist -- dies in Westport, Connecticut at the age of 87.




June 1, 1980 -
Cable News Network (CNN) made its debut as the first all-news station.



How sad, Darth Vader had to do voice over work to rebuild the death star


It's Oscar the Grouch's birthday.



Remember to leave something nice out in the trash today. (Please note: when Oscar first moved into his trash can he was orange. The gangrene set in.)


It's also my sister's birthday



(My sister's name isn't Lisa and she's not older than me but the sentiment's nice just the same.)


And so it goes.