Today

is the 484th anniversary of the Sack of Rome. Since there have been multiple Sacks of Rome (makes Rome sound a bit like potatoes?), I'm referring to the one where Charles V's troops ran amok after the death of their commander Duke Charles and pillaged Rome. (Duke Charles III and Charles V were not the same person; Charles V was the Holy Roman Emperor and Charles III was the Duke of Bourbon.) His second-in-command (sort of) Philibert de Châlon, Prince of Orange, was a bit of a wet blanket, and nobody listened to him, so there was no one to prevent the troops from doing as they pleased. Not to mention that Charles V, while outwardly condemning the lawlessness of his men, actually stood to benefit greatly from the Sack of Rome, as it put Pope Clement VII under Hapsburg control -- so I would imagine that Charles V didn't do much in the way of preventing the Sack.

Edit: I realize, upon re-reading it a day later, that this post is rather incoherent. I blame lack of sleep...

Today

is the 271st anniversary of the beginning of the War of Jenkin's Ear, which is possibly the strangest-ever name for a war that I've ever encountered. I shouldn't be amused, because a sailor's ear (Capt. Robert Jenkins of the Rebecca) was sliced off by his Spanish counterpart (Capt. Julio León Fandiño of the coast guard), but it's a little too ridiculous not to laugh.

Of course, that was merely the instigating incident, much as the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the spark, but not the underlying cause of the first World War. It was mostly a conflict between two colonial powers for control of the high seas and trading rights.

Paul the Psychic Octopus Predicts Spain over the Netherlands to Win the World Cup

Update: Paul is vindicated! No calamari after all.

I don't normally follow sports -- even the World Cup -- but this is pretty cool. Paul the Octopus has predicted the correct winner of seven out of seven World Cup matches thus far, and is apparently something of a celebrity in Europe. Here he is foretelling the result of tomorrow's game:



The Dutch are probably shaking in their cleats!

(My father told me about this one. He also suggested eating Paul if the Dutch end up winning. Go figure.)