Daily History

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."

Albert Schweitzer

As most of you know I have "adopted" a combat Marine in Afghanistan to communicate with and sent a "care" package to once in a while. I am ecstatic to do something positive for our troops that are in harm's way. My adoptee is from New Bern, NC and you may see some chatter about that area for his benefit.

I got a "care" package together today for my adoptee. He indicated that he would like to have baby wipes and beef jerky. I rounded those things up and included a bunch of Slim Jims, trail mix, canned nuts, and anything that was non-perishable. He wants the baby wipes to moisturize his face and hands when he is on a mission or patrol. It is very dry and dusty in certain places in Afghanistan.

A while back a couple stopped their car at a Conoco station in Pascagoula, Mississippi to ask directions. The man got out of the car and headed inside but was intercepted by three teens one of which was 15 years old. The wife saw the confrontation and some conversation then on of the teen pulled a gun and killed the man. At trial the 15 year old teen testified that he asked the man for a dollar to buy a drink and the man refused. The teen then shot him in the head. When asked why he shot the man, the teen answered "Because I was thirsty." I am going to let y'all think on that incredible disregard for human life.

That kid was tried and sentenced to life in the joint. In Mississippi that means at least 25 years. Think on what horror that kid is going to have to endure for the want of a dollar.

Over in New Bern, NC an argument broke out at the corner of 4th and Haven street between Brad Coward and Shawn Foskey. Shawn got tired of jawing and walked away. Brad did the honorable thin, he shot Shawn in the back. The cops are looking hard for Bradley Coward.

A college professor teaching at a community college in the state of Washington has published a comment about Boeing moving their 787 assembly plant to North Charleston, SC. He said "Why should Boeing leave an area of highly skilled and well paid workers and move to an area that has a work force the equivalent of Wal-Mart greeters." He said "It will cost Boeing $900 million for the move to save $9 million that would go to the union." The man is named T. M. Sell and he is on facebook. He has already gotten a large angry response, maybe he needs more.

Matt Stagner and a friend went hunting in a swamp in northern Mobile County, Alabama. They saw something big crossing a road and one of them said "That's a cow", the other one said "No, it is a black bear". They only had .22 rifle and knew that was not going to be enough no matter what the beast was so they hightail it back home and return on their four wheeler with a 30.06 with a scope. The beast was still there and they looked at it through the scope and it turned out to be a wild boar! The got as close as they could until the boar winded them and started moving off. Matt shot and the boar just trotted away. Matt knew he had hit the boar because he saw the hair fly. He chambered another round and shot again and the hog went down but was still alive. So they got real close and finished him off. The four wheeler could not pull the hog out so they got a front end loader which picked the hog up and put it into the bed of Matt's pickup. He took the hog to a feed and seed store and weighed it. It weighed 780 pounds, was 6'-11" long, had a neck circumference of 51 inches and tusks that were 3 1/2" long. Matt said that this animal would probably be the largest game he would ever kill. Indeed Matt, indeed.

Good news:

Up on Wausau, Wisconsin they hold an event called the "empty bowl". What happens is local artists make clay bowls designed by local children. The bowls are then put up for sale to the local residents for $10/ea. A group of local chefs donate soup to go in the bowls and all the buyers sit down and have a bowl of soup. The money is donated to a place called "My Neightbor's Place." It is a fancy name for a food bank. Wausau have noticed a 25% increase in requests for food in the last year. This neighbor helping neighbor. I makes me feel good.

This date in history October 31

1861    US General Winfield Scott retires from military service. Scott had been given command of all the US army by A. Lincoln at the outbreak of the Civil War in April. Lincoln’s detractors criticized Lincoln for this because of Scott’s advances years and ill health. Scott was the commander of the American Army during the Mexican War of 1846-1847. When asked how best to defeat the Confederacy he proposed what was called “The Anaconda Plan” whereby all of the Confederate naval ports would be blockaded to strangle them financially and gain control of the Mississippi River to starve them. This plan was scoffed at as being too sluggish but in the final analysis, that is exactly what happened. After his resignation Scott moved to West Point to write his memoirs. He died in 1866 at the age of 80.

1892    “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is published. Doyle had been writing about Sherlock Holmes in different magazines as a serial but this was the first time in a book. Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and attended Edinburgh University and became a doctor. One of his teachers at the university was renowned for his deductive reasoning and it is believed that Doyle used him as a model for Sherlock. After graduating from Edinburgh Doyle went to London and set up a medical practice that was moderately successful and gave him time to dive into more of his writing. After the success of the Sherlock Holmes novels, he dropped out of the medical profession and began writing full time. Doyle died in 1930 as an icon of creative writing.

1926    Escape artist Harry Houdini dies of peritonitis in Detroit. Twelve days earlier Houdini had been giving a speech at a university and told everyone there how hard his stomach muscles were. One of the students came up and blindsided him with two hard blows to the stomach before Houdini could prepare for it. The blows had ruptured his appendix. Houdini had a scheduled performance the next day and went through with it even though he was in severe pain. After another day or two the pain became unbearable and he went to a hospital and went into surgery almost immediately but it was too late, the poison had already taken its toll throughout his entire system. Houdini had made a pact with his wife and a close circle of friends that after the death of either one of them, they would try to contact the others from the spiritual world. A few of Houdini’s friends did indeed die but Houdini never received any contact. After he died his wife had heard nothing from Harry and declared the test a failure

1864    Nevada becomes a state. Even though the state only had 40,000 residents as opposed the normal requirement of 60,000 it was allowed into the fold for two reasons: The state was hard core Republican and Lincoln needed all the help he could get for the upcoming election. And the largest silver deposit ever found was discovered in Nevada in the Comstock Lode not to mention placer gold mining. Politics and money is a deadly combination.

Births and Deaths:

1988    Actor/Producer/Director John Houseman dies at the age of 86. John had a long and distinguished career in the entertainment industry. There aren’t many his equal.

1927    Actress Lee Grant is born in NYC. Lee once said “I have been married to a Marxist and a Fascist and neither one would take out the garbage.” I guess Lee just don’t understand men no matter their politics.

1948    Baseball player Mickey Rivers is born. Mickey once said “Me, George and Billy are two of a kind.” If Mickey wasn’t black I would think he was related to Yogi Berra.

1959    US writer Neal Stephenson is born. He once said “There are four good things we in America and that is music, movies, micro cube and fast pizza delivery.” This guy has his finger on the pulse of America, doesn’t he?

1993    US actor River Phoenix dies of a drug overdose outside a Los Angeles nightspot at the age of 23. River was a very talented actor but as many who achieve fame do, he thought he was ten feet tall and bulletproof. Wrong. Ironically he once said “I would rather quit while I am ahead, there is no use in overstaying your welcome.” What a waste of god given talent.

1960    Welsh artist Augustus John dies. He would walk down the street in Chelsea patting children on the head and saying “Just in case its mine.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow