Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate your mind on the present moment".

                                              Buddha

A friend sent me a few vignettes about memorable events in her life. A passage in one of these went as follows:

"An example of one of my most memorable experiences was going fishing at the lake with my father. The time we spent there took on a very special meaning. Every Saturday morning the two of us would grab the fishing poles and sneak off to the lake."

I think most of us have treasured moments and places that we have shared with our family and/or loved ones. I remember my father taking me fishing. We would go to a "pay lake" and fish from the bank for catfish. From that we graduated to a 12 foot boat and a 5 1/2 HP motor and on up to a 14 foot boat with a 50 hp motor. We had graduated from fishing from the bank for catfish to bass and crappie fishing by moving slowly down the bank via an electric motor and casting artificial lures. But it wasn't the fish I was after as much as spending that "special time" with my father. My father is no longer with us and I miss him...he was my best friend...my best friend ever.

Good News:

I guess all of you sports fans out there know that Bobby Bowden has retired from head football coach at Florida State. He went out in style by winning a bowl game. The best thing about that was there were over three hundred ex-Seminoles at that game to honor Bobby including all-pro footballers Warrick Dunn, Derrick Brooks, Deion Sanders, etc. Warrick Dunn showed up for his first day on the Florida State campus just a matter of days after his mother, a policewoman in Baton Rouge, was shot and killed in a gunfight. Warrick, among many others, consider Bobby Bowden as a father figure and contact him wanting his advice or guidance to this day. Bobby owns a condo in Panama City, Florida and he said that he and his wife will be spending a lot of time there. He deserves it, y'all.

Best quotes for 2009:

"The governor is hiking the Appalachian Trail".

"She is my soulmate".

"Yes, I had sex with one of my staff, let's move on"

"She used a five iron on the windows of my Escalade."

"I am taking an undetermined break from golf to try and save my marriage...actually I am trying to save my ass."

"I will not be staying Windemere, Florida...I am saying out of town with a couple of my friends...Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears."

To you gamblers out there...There is an "over and under" bet out there...How much money will Tiger's wife get in the divorce settlement? The number is $500 million. Will the amount she really gets be over...or under?

This date in history January 4

1999    On this date for the first time since Charlemagne in the 10th century most of Europe adopts a common currency and named it the “Euro”. The only nations that refused to go along were Great Britain and Denmark. At first it was only used in internal banking and stock and bonds then they came out with paper and coin currency. When I was in Europe in ’04 the Euro was worth about $1.20. Now the Euro is about twice the value of an American dollar making a visit to anywhere in Europe very expensive.

1964    On this date a young lady named Mary Sullivan is found dead in her Boston apartment, raped and strangled. There was a business card leaning against her foot with the words “Happy New Year” written on it. This girl was the last victim of the serial killer Albert DeSalvo also known as “The Boston Strangler”. Mary was his 13th victim. Albert started a life of crime at an early age and there was a reason for it. His father would bring prostitutes home and have sex with her in front of the entire family and then he would finish off the evening by beating the hell out of each and every one of them. His father sold little Albert and two of his sisters to become farm laborers. Albert acquired several nicknames. When very young he would knock on doors and proclaim himself as representative of a modeling agency and that he needed to take some “measurements” and then crudely fondle them. The cops labeled him “Measuring Man” and sent him to the slammer for a year. When he got out he kicked it up a notch and began to break into apartments, tie up and rape any women he ran across. He was always in a green handyman’s coveralls so the cops named him “Green Man”. In 1962 he began killing women after raping them. He always left a “signature”. He tied whatever he used to strangle his victims into a bow. In 1964 for reasons known only to Albert, he raped a woman but did not kill her and the cops were on his ass like a swarm of locusts and threw him in jail. Albert told his cellmate about his killings and his cellmate told the cops. The famous lawyer (and Marine Captain) F. Lee Bailey took Albert’s case and through a series of brilliant negotiations with the Boston District Attorney he got Albert’s case condensed to just the rapes he committed while in his “Green Man” phase. These charges would put Albert away for life without parole instead of death. It didn’t help though, Albert had a shank (homemade knife) driven into his liver and killed by another inmate in the Walpole Prison in 1973. What goes around......

1847    On this date, when within a hairs breadth of bankruptcy, Samuel Colt gets a contract to sell 1,000 of his .44 caliber revolvers to the US army. During this time handguns were not very popular in America because they were expensive and inaccurate. There was one exception and that was dueling pistols. In this formalized ceremony very well made and ornate pistols were used but again very expensive and inaccurate due to them being smoothbores. Most people preferred knives for personal protection especially the deadly Bowie knife. Mr. Colt’s .44’s had rifled barrels making them much more accurate but cost was still a problem. The .44 also was a revolver meaning it could be preloaded with 5 or 6 shots and be fired in rapid succession whereas guns like the dueling pistols had to be reloaded after every shot as did many of the rifles of the day. Anyway, Mr. Colt’s .44 proved to be very popular with the US troops and they made several more orders which allowed Colt to gather the advice of other industrialists like Eli Whitney and other inventors who helped him get a production line going and helped him design interchangeable parts which vastly lowered the price of his weapons. Although never really cheap, by 1850 the cost had reached a point that it could be afforded by many Americans that were headed west to settle new lands. Between 1860 and 1880 he sold nearly 270,000 pistols to the pioneers.

1965    On this date the giant broadcasting company CBS bought the Fender Guitar and Amplifier Company from the ailing Leo Fender. In 1940 Fender starting manufacturing sweet-singing Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars, along with a large variety of amplifiers and kick-ass bass guitars. Fender felt he had to get rid of the business because of failing health. CBS held onto Fender until 1985 when they decided to divest themselves of any non-broadcasting entity. The company was bought by a small group of employees and a few investors led by William Schultz. They still have some of the best “axes” out there.

Born today:

1896    US Senator Everett Dirksen. He said “I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to remain flexible at all times.” It was also Everett that said “In the Senate we spend a million here and a million there but sometimes we get into real money.”

1922    US journalist Phyllis Batelle. She said “A broken heart is what makes life so wonderful five years later, when you meet him in an elevator and he is fat, bald and smoking a cigar and says “Long time, no see”.

1930    US football coach Don Shula. He said “Luck is a big part of football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.” Shula used to be the head coach with the Miami Dolphins.

1937    US actress Dyan Cannon. After meeting Albert Einstein she said “He made me think differently....besides his smile made my tummy warm.” Dyan was Johnny Carson’s girl friend when he was between wives.

Died today:

1960    French writer Albert Camus. He said “People do not realize that some people struggle mightily just to remain normal.” I know some of these people.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow