Bonfire Night @blawgreview

Remember, remember the Fifth of November...

quoting Scott Leviant's Blawg Review #221

So I promised that I wouldn’t dwell on “that blawger,” the author of Charon QC and notorious host of several Blawg Reviews. But before I direct your attention to the best (or not necessarily so) of the blawgosphere over the last week, there is something I want to talk about first: Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night. It seems that some well-intentioned, but ever-so-slightly misguided gang of Catholics (including Guy Fawkes) planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London on November 5, 1605. They might have succeeded, too, if one of the conspirators hadn’t been so worried about the number of Catholics in line for collateral damage status that he sent a warning note to Lord Monteagle.

Why do I care about any of this, you ask? It has to do with the resulting holiday and an important lesson that we can draw from it. Until 1859, it was mandatory to celebrate the failed assassination attempt by lighting bonfires each November 5th. So, in England you need an official holiday and an order of the King to light a bonfire. Here, in America, all you need is for a professional sports team to win a championship. See, Man Charged for Arson in Lakers Melee. The child surpasses the parent. Keep your soccer hooligans, England. We have real idiots.

For example, this guy.

While our friends in the UK are celebrating Guy Fawkes, gunpowder plots and the like, we're still celebrating this week's Halloween edition, Blawg Review #236.