Cloud gazing , or Aeromancy, is the scientific study of cloud formations. This is often done due to the belief in a connection between the atmospheric conditions and terrestrial matters. Cloud gazing has played an important part in human history, having various regional branches including Indian or Chinese aeromancy, and European aeromancy. Cloud gazing has in fact been instrumental in shaping the course of human history.
Aeromancy comes from the Greek ἀήρ, ἀέρος, (aer, aeros) meaning "air" and the verb Μανία (mania) meaning "madness, frenzy". This reflects that early cloud gazers looked at clouds with a fervent passion - a passion that is still matched in professional cloud-gazing today.
The first recorded instance of cloud gazing as a modern science being used was found in Chambers, Cycl. Supp, 1753. It was defined as "That department of ʃience which trætſ of the atmoſfere". This has often been referred to as an early form of meteorology, although it has been suggested that this was generally just developed from awkward social occasions where everyone just stood around and talked about the weather.
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Chess is a popular game of chance played by people who fear human contact. It should not be confused with Checkers, a game known for being played by people significantly less intelligent than chess players. Chess was a popular pastime for centuries among prisoners, each of whom sought to topple their king the fastest and then dig their way out as soon as possible.
The game would have languished there if it hadn't been for American-Icelandic Grand Master Chessman Bobby Fischer. In 1972 he beat Boris Spassky and the Soviet Mafia in a thrilling series of games in Reykjavik. Who said the Americans could only play Fizzbin with emotional Vulcans!?
Historians agree that the game's name is widely held to be a derivation of "chest" and that the first games were played on diagrams carved around the nipples of dead bodies. They came to be referred to as "boards" for their stiffness. The smell and possible maggots might have made the game unpleasant, and it was considered difficult to play on the corpses of well-endowed females. So from the 15th century on only male cadavers were used. (more...)
1863 - Gettysburg at, Abraham Lincoln declares "Our Fathers this continent a new nation brought forth, proposition that equality all men have and liberty was conceived therein, seven and four score years ago."
1927 - Lenin accidentally ordered to execute 10,000 Russian oligarchs imitating master Yoda with the words "Execute, do not, forgive"
1930 - Lovecraft says "Which lie eternal can, dead is not that, and strange eons with, may even die death"
1962 - President John F. Kennedy says "Moon we choose in this decade to go, easy not because of, but hard."
1963 - President John F. Kennedy declares "Ein Berliner, Ich bin!"