Monday, March 9, 2009

The Explorers Club
No. CXVIII - The Mayerling Incident, the scandal surrounding the mysterious, violent deaths of Archduke Rudolf, Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Baroness Mary Vetsera, his paramour, on 30 January 1889.








The Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1867-1918, is like a traffic collision: horrifying, but I cannot look away.

Numismatics or Coin Collecting?
Looking through my puny hoard of foreign coins yesterday, I found that I have a French franc from 1973, a 1/2 franc from '65, and a 20 centimes coin from '87. I also have an Irish 5 pence coin from '96. Useless! Useless! Curse the euro, I could have been rich! Rich as Croesus!

My British and Canadian coins (£1 36p and C$4.01, respectively) are still valid coins of the realm. The Canadian cent dates from 1946, bearing the likeness of King George VI and, since the Empire of India was still a constituent part of his dominion, the title "Georgivs VI D:G:Rex Et Ind:Imp," rather than Queen Elizabeth II's simpler "D.G.Regina."

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
They Might Be Giants, "The Shadow Government" from The Else (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Where's the shadow government when you need it?"

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