Closing

 Hello all,

I will be closing this site Sunday night.  My blog can be seen on my web site which is bigalsdailyhistory.blogspot.com  Come aboard, y'all. 

Friday

 

•   Musings and History
  

  
  

  Quote of the day:

  “The eyes are open and the mouth moves but Mr. Brain has long since departed.”

  W.C. Fields when speaking of Mae West

  
  

  Trivia question of the day:

  Who was the first European to step foot on North America that we know of? Answer at the end of the blog. (It ain't Christopher Columbus)

  
  

                                             This Date in History April 23

  
  

  1934 On this date the FBI thought they had the John Dillinger gang cornered at Little Bohemia Inn in central Wisconsin. As you might suspect, there was the mother of all shoot outs when the gang chose to fight their way out. Among the gang was George “Baby-Face” Nelson. Nelson had a pistol in each hand when he ran from the Inn toward a car he was going to use for escape. Two agents tried to intercept Nelson and he yelled “I know you wear bullet-proof vests so I will shoot high and low” and fire away he did. He was successful in reaching the car after killing FBI agent H. Carter Baum along the way. Nelson led what would be called a “normal” childhood but upon reaching adulthood he decided on the ways of the gun. He started of as a member of Al Capone’s gang in Chicago. The only problem here was that Nelson was so mean and brutal that he scared other members of the gang and he was kicked out. Can you imagine being too mean for Al Capone? He preferred to be called “Big George” Nelson but because of his juvenile appearance he was called “Baby Face” but not to his face. You would risk annihilation if you did. This man hated to be called “Baby Face”. Anyway after splitting with Capone he joined with some California bootleggers then he met his mentor, John Dillinger. He accompanied Dillinger on two bank robbing trips to Iowa and South Dakota with Nelson killing a bank employee in each. Dillinger perfectly understood Nelson’s rage and said nothing to him about it. However with Nelson killing someone at every stop, Dillinger finally had to put a stop to it. When Dillinger was killed in an ambush by the FBI in Chicago, Nelson became # 1 on the FBI’s most wanted list. Nelson was spotted in Illinois and two FBI agents cornered him on a remote dirt road. Nelson hid behind his car and the agents hid behind theirs and they blazed away at each other. Finally Nelson got fed up and jumped out from behind his car, Tommy gun in hand, and charged the two agents like John Wayne. He was successful in killing both of the agents and staggered back to his car. The next morning the FBI found the dead agents and the body of George “Baby Face” Nelson in a ditch beside his car. He had 17 bullet wounds. I guess the agents called him “Baby Face”.

  
  

  1002 In 963 Brian Boru from southern Ireland wrests away control of the Irish throne. By 1002 he had amassed all of the control in Ireland much to the chagrin of the Irish Vikings. King Sitric of the Dublin Norse gathered together other Vikings from Ireland, the Hebrides, the Orkney Islands and Vikings from Scandinavia and formed them up into an army to take control of Ireland by force. On this date Brian sent an army led by his son Muchan to meet Sitric and his Vikings. The Vikings were destroyed by Muchan’s army almost to the point of annihilation. There was just a handful of Vikings left. By some strange coincidence these few Vikings stumbled upon the tent of King Brian and killed his guards and the elderly King. The loss of commanding leadership plunged Ireland into anarchy for several years.

  
  

  1564 It is on this date and on this same date in 1616 that most historians name as the date that William Shakespeare was born and died. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on Avon, England. When he was 18 he got married to Anne Hathaway and 6 months later a daughter was born. It appears that William was doing more than writing plays. Anyway, he wrote most of his comedies in his younger days and his tragedies in his later years. In any event he became a member of one of the most envied acting troops called “Lord Chamberlain’s Men” and moved to London and acted and wrote many plays. He did the greatest majority of his acting in the Globe Theatre (been there) in London. There was a move afoot that it was impossible for a man of less than noble birth such as Shakespeare to have authored so many gems of plays and sonnets. They suggest it was a man of more noble birth like Sir Francis Bacon that chose to remain anonymous. The elitists can kiss my ass; I will take the beloved Bard of Avon every time.

  
  

  Born today:

  
  

  1524 English playwright William Shakespeare. He said “Many a good hanging stops a bad marriage.” William, methinks thee are a bit harsh.

  
  

  1791 US President James Buchanan. He said “I like the noise of a democracy”. Me too, like “Off with his head!”

  
  

  1818 English historian Edward Froude. He said “The superstition of science scoffs at the superstition of faith.” Hey Ed, how can science be a superstition, it does not require a leap of faith.

  
  

  1834 US senator Chauncey Depew. He said “I get my exercise acting as pallbearer to my friends that exercise.” Me too.

  
  

  1897 Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson. He said “Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.” I felt that was the case.

  
  

  1928 US actress Shirley Temple Black. She said “I quit believing in Santa Claus when I was six. My mother took me to a department store to see Santa and he asked for my autograph.” Notoriety is a heavy burden.

  
  

  1936 US musical legend Roy Orbison. He said “I may be a living legend but that does not help when changing a flat tire.” See item above.

  
  

  1954 US film maker and political activist Michael Moore when speaking of President George “Dubya” Bush he said “When the Pope and The Dixie Chicks are against you, your time is up.” Michael Moore is full of shit.

  
  

  Died today:

  
  

  1616 English playwright William Shakespeare. He said “I am basically not an honest man, but I am that way sometimes by mistake”. I love you, Bill

  
  

  Answer to the trivia question:

  The first European to step foot on North America was Leif Ericcson. Leif was a Norwegian Viking born in Iceland and the son of Eric the Red. Leif established a village in present day Newfoundland in about 1,000 AD. The National Historic site is known as L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland

  
  

                                     Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  

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Thursday

 

•   Musings and History
  

        

  
  

  Quote of the day:

  “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.”

                                    Confucius

  
  

  Trivia question of the day:

  Who was the British Commander at the D-Day invasion?  Answer at the end of the blog.

  
  

  I read something interesting. The absolute first written language yet found is called cuneiform. It originated in those ancient cities near the northern end of the Persian gulf in present day Iraq. This written language spread throughout the “Fertile Crescent” or the land between and near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This would include that area in the Jordan River valley known as Canaan. In addition to being mentioned many time in the Bible, the people of Canaan are responsible for modifying Cuneiform into a 40 character alphabet. It was the Arabs and the Greeks that are responsible for the modification of the Canaanite alphabet into the present day 26 character alphabet that we all are familiar with. Speaking of the Canaanites, a lot of the Bible is dedicated to the adventures of the Israelite army led by Joshua fighting its way to Canaan. All of this is supposedly dated to about 1,400BC. A problem arises because this time period is proven to be the absolute peak of Egyptian dominance throughout that area. It is very unlikely that Egypt would have allowed an Israelite army to capture lands that belonged to them, but we believe what we want to. By the way there is no mention of Joshua in any other historical document yet discovered other than the Old Testament. In fact there is no mention on anything of the Israelite people in that area until about 1040BC and that is on an Egyptian stone carving. It has been estimated that there were about 630,000 Hebrews that were released from Egypt at the behest of Moses and then wandered the thirsty Negev for 40 years. The is no archaeological evidence that his ever happened, not even evidence of one camp site or pottery shard...nothing. But anything that is believed and cannot be proven is called faith, humanity depends on it.
  

  
  

                                     This Date in History   April 22

  
  

  1886 On this date the state on Ohio passed a law against seduction. That’s right y'all, I said seduction. The law forbade any male over the age of 21 that was a teacher or instructor of women from having even consensual sex with women of any age that he was instructing. The penalty for breaking this statute was 2 to 10 years in the joint, believe it or not. This law was not unique. New York had a law that disallowed any male “from having illicit connection with a previously chaste woman” if the man previously promised to marry said woman. Georgia’s version made it unlawful for men to “seduce a virtuous unmarried female and induce her into his ‘lustful’ embraces, and allow him to have carnal knowledge of her.” These laws were essentially ignored by law enforcement but on one occasion a man in Michigan was brought up on three counts with the same woman. The judge did his best to get all the charges dismissed because he knew the law was unenforceable. The last two of the charges were dismissed because the judge reasoned that after the first encounter the woman was no longer “virtuous”. The first encounter supposedly took place in a buggy and a doctor testified that penetration was not possible in a buggy so the first charge was dismissed. However some unscrupulous women would use this law to capture a husband. In one case in 1867 a man was on trial for seduction and was looking at 5 years in the slammer so he proposed to the woman that he had “seduced” and she accepted. A parson was retrieved and the trial turned into a wedding ceremony. That ain’t fair, y'all.

  
  

  1889 At exactly 12:00 noon the legendary Oklahoma Land Rush begins. The United States Cavalry was present to ensure that no one left the demarcation line early. There were some that did anyway and were known as “Sooners” thus the name of the University of Oklahoma mascot. The Oklahoma territory was originally thought to be uninhabitable to Caucasians because of the aridity and the relative lack of water making the area not fit for farming. This made it ideal for reservation for the Native Americans like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache among others. Finally better farming techniques assured all that the great plains could be farmed for grain and the Federal Government opened up the “Cherokee Strip” which basically was the majority of Oklahoma for homesteading. All told between 50,000 and 60,000 settlers came into the area over a 24 hour period. Towns like Norman, Oklahoma City, Kingfisher and Guthrie were established and populated almost overnight. Did I mention that the already established Indian reservations were also over run? The settlers felt like the land owned by the Osage Indians was least arable and did not bother them. It was indeed not farmland but about 7,000 feet below the surface was an ocean of oil known as the Anadarko basin. This oil and gas field was discovered and explored making the Osage nation one of the wealthiest in the world.

  
  

  Born today:

  
  

  1766 French writer Germaine Stael. She said “The desire of men is women; the desire of women is the desire of men.” Does this mean that all that women want is to be desired? Does that mean that diamonds are NOT a girl’s best friend? Does that mean that there is no need for flowers, fancy candlelight dinners, remembrance of anniversaries and birthdays, candy on Valentine’s Day, etc? Who the hell are you trying to kid, Germaine?

  
  

  Answer to the trivia question:

  The British commander at the D-Day invasion was Sir Bernard Law Montgomery.

  
  

                    Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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Wednesday

        Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor is it the most intelligent, it is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

                                              Charles Darwin

When I was in Alaska I read about a hunting party with a guide, they were after grizzly. The guide was ahead of the group about 20 feet and disappeared behind a stand of trees. The hunting party heard something and when they rounded the trees the guide was on the ground dead from a bite to the neck delivered by a gigantic grizzly. The bear was glimpsed running away through the underbrush. They reenacted that scenario and determined that the guide was out of their sight for about nine seconds. Springtime in Alaska is a dangerous time. The females have cubs and the males are ganged up salmon fishing...both are very testy.

                 This Date in History   April 21

1836 After a couple of years of intimidation by Mexican dictator Santa Anna when he murdered over 400 Texans at Goliad that had surrendered not to mention the 226 at the Alamo, Santa Anna considered parts of Texas as part of Mexico and he was not about to part with it without a fight and the Texans were not going to settle for anything else other than total independence. During these losses for the Texans, Sam Houston had been training a small but fierce army. On this date, Sam unleashed his army against 2,000 of Santa Anna’s army southwest of what is now Houston, Texas near the San Jacinto River. The howling Texans came boiling out a forest onto the encamped Mexicans screaming “Remember Goliad” and “Remember the Alamo”. The Mexicans fought briefly and then ran like rabbits into the waist deep San Jacinto River where they were picked off unmercifully by the Texans. Among those Mexicans that surrendered and were not killed anyway was Santa Anna himself. He was brought before a malaria ridden Sam Houston and Sam said “I don’t want Santa Anna, I want Texas.” He then told Santa Anna to get his ass back to Mexico and never come back and recognize Texas as an independent nation. Santa Anna agreed and went back to Mexico. The Texans drew up a constitution and elected Sam Houston as the President of Texas. They then petitioned the United States to become a state. The United States initially refused because Texas was a “slave holding” state and the acceptance of Texas into the Union would upset the balance of “slave” and “free” states. Texas remained essentially an independent nation until Santa Anna began to show his butt again and the Mexican War broke out in 1848. It took the American army crossing into Mexico and kicked Santa Anna’s ass in his own country to put an end to it. An official treaty was signed by Mexico and the US giving the US the contested part of Texas.

1838 On this date John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland. He and his family moved to a farm in central Wisconsin when he was just a child. At the time Wisconsin was on the American western frontier. He stayed with his family on the farm until he was 23 years old. He traveled the Midwest for several years. Muir had a mechanical and inventive mind. He was working in a wagon factory when he slipped and scratched his left cornea with a file he was holding. His right eye dimmed in sympathy and he was temporarily blinded. During this period of retrieving his sight, Muir re-thought his mission in life. After getting his sight back, he departed on a 1,000 mile hike to the American West. During his travels he came upon the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and he was deeply moved. He knew then what his mission was the preservation of this pristine wilderness. He began studying transcendentalism as taught by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau saying that the wilderness is “a window open into heaven, a mirror reflecting the image of God”. He and several others formed the Sierra Club dedicated to preservation of wildernesses. He had his biggest fight when the issue of damming the river in the Hetch Hetchy canyon in Yosemite to provide water for San Francisco. In spite of Muir’s fight, the dam was built and exists to this day. Muir died in 1914 disappointed that he was unable to stop the dam but he lit a fire of wilderness stewardship that burns to this day.

Born today:

1828 French historian Hippolyte Taine. He said “I have made a study of philosophers and cats. Cats have wisdom that is infinitely superior.” They are also delicious, just joking.

1838 Scottish naturalist John Muir. He said “And surely God’s people, no matter how savage or serious, great or small, like to play. Elephants and whales dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small microbes, all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them.” Muir was one in million, y'all.

1958 US actress Andie McDowell. She said “In my next life I want to come back five foot, two inches with the finest ass and tits you have ever seen.” Andie is from Gaffney, SC and married her high school boyfriend a few years ago. As far as I know they are still together.

Died today:

1910 US writer Mark Twain. He said “Sometimes too much drink is barely enough”. Mark Twain is the hero of the most cynical of writers.

1924 English writer Marie Corelli. She said “No I never married. I never had to because I have three pets that serve the same purpose. I have a dog that growls all morning, a parrot that swears all afternoon and a cat that comes in late every night.”

Marie, that sounds a lot like my theory that a black Lab is better than a wife. They only eat once a day and will sleep outside if you want them to, will retrieve birds out of cold water and are eternally loyal. But if they do decide to run away from home it does not cost you half of everything you have ever owned.

Thanks for listening  I can hardly wait until tomorrow