Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What he leave behind is not as important as how we have lived."

                                 Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Today's weather here in paradise is a carbon copy of yesterday except the temperature will a bit higher and the wind has shifted and is coming from the north. That usually means a low pressure area is to the west.

The air show will begin soon and I will be out on the deck with a pair of binoculars. The Navy base is about three miles as the crow flies from my condo.

The University of Florida Gators defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks 24-14 but not before a titanic defensive struggle. It was the Florida defense that was responsible for one of the touchdowns. The Gamecocks played valiantly but were out manned. It was Florida defensive back Joe Haley and linebacker Brandon Spikes that make the difference.

Up in Hendersonville, NC there was murder/suicide. It seems that a man and a woman had been dating for quite awhile but eventually broke up. The woman moved on and soon had another boyfriend. Later on the man asked her ex-girlfriend and he new boyfriend to meet him so they could establish a friendship. The meet took place and the man got the new boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend in a car and they rode round a while. They stopped in front of a restaurant assuming they would go in and have a bite to eat. The man who was in the back seat, pulled out a pistol and capped the new boyfriend who was driving and then blew his own brains out. The woman was unhurt. Some people handle grief better that others.

Good news:

Doctors in Australia have developed a procedure to allow those women that have had mastectomies to grow new breasts. They form a biodegradable mold in the shape of a breast and implant it under the skin. Then they implant stem cells inside the mold and attach a blood supply. The stem cells will form fatty cells that will fill the mold an then the mold will disintegrate. This procedure has been tried successfully on pigs. A human test in on the near horizon.

This date in history November 15

1943    German official Heinrich Himmler issues an order that all Gypsies and those with Gypsy blood should be put “on the same level” as Jews and therefore be gathered up and sent to concentration camps. Himmler was following Hitler’s proclamation that all “inferior races” and “asocial” people should be eliminated. It was Hitler and his henchman that decided which races were inferior. They stated that an “asocial” person was one that had been convicted of a crime no matter how trivial or serious. It was Himmler that engineered the creation of death camps throughout eastern Europe. He also dictated how to organize a pool of slave laborers to be used by the German military to make weapons and/or other devices to the benefit of Hitler’s monsters. It is still hard for me to conceive of human beings that are so cruel and heartless. But on second thought, we killed about 230,000 Japanese civilians in the span of three months. I guess all that matters is who wins and who loses.

1984    An infant called Baby Fae was born without the left side of her heart. This condition is always fatal. Baby Fae was a fake name used to protect her parent’s privacy. The doctors at a Loma Linda, California hospital convinced the parents to allow them to try an experiment and transplant a baboon heart into little Baby Fae. The parents were very skeptical about non-human tissue being accepted by a human. On this date the heart was transplanted into the 14 day old Baby Fae and sure enough, her body eventually made concerted effort to reject this foreign tissue forcing the doctors to more and more increase the anti-rejection drug to the point that Baby Fae suffered kidney failure and died 20 days after the operation. But she survived longer than other infants that had received this transplant. The normal life span after this operation was 3 ½ days. I wonder if this experiment is still performed today.

1965    On this date drag racer Craig Breedlove broke the 600MPH barrier on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. He was driving his jet powered Spirit of America-Sonic II. His certified speed was 600.601MPH. It was Breedlove that broke the 400MPH barrier and the 500MPH barrier also. Not to be outdone, Gary Gableich built a vehicle not using a jet engine; this boy used a rocket engine for propulsion. He blistered the Salt Flats a while later going 633.330MPH. As I have stated previously, the sound barrier was broken by a land vehicle fairly recently. That speed is about 750MPH at sea level. That is really humming, ya’ll. Are you listening, Smitty?

1923    A mentally disabled white woman name Mamie Snow of Waukegan, Illinois told the police that a black man named James Montgomery had raped her. Montgomery was a World War I veteran, factory worker and homeowner but, on this date, he was immediately thrown in jail. He went from jail to trial and was convicted and given a life sentence. During the trial Montgomery’s lawyer was threatened by the local Ku Klux Klan and the lawyer presented a weak defense. Montgomery vehemently denied that he had raped Mamie and while in prison he studied the law and became very knowledgeable. He eventually raised enough hell that his case was re-examined and it was found out that a medical report on Mamie showed that she had not been raped and was probably a virgin. This information was discovered by the prosecution and was kept hidden from Montgomery’s lawyer. After this was discovered, Montgomery was released. He had been in prison 26 years.

Born today:

1741 Swiss theologian Johann Lavater. He said “The public seldom forgives twice”. Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton are prime examples.

1881 US writer Franklin P. Adams. When chatting with Robert Benchley about a very unpopular man Benchley said “That man is his own worst enemy”. Adams responded with “Not while I’m around.” Adams was a funny guy, so was Benchley.

1887    US artist Georgia O’Keefe. She said “I hate flowers. But I paint them because they are cheaper than a model and they don’t move.” This woman was responsible for an entirely different form of art.

Died today:

1932    US writer Charles Chestnutt. He said “Impossibilities are things yet to be learned, or which we do not wish to happen”. Sound wisdom, Charlie.

1958    US actor Tyrone Power. He said “The secret to charm is bullshit”. Damn Tyrone, lighten up.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow