Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"Many people had rather be sure they are miserable than take a risk being happy."

                                      Robert Anthony

Strange happenings in the decade:

Back in 2001 over in Cantonment, Florida two brothers named Derek and Alex King ages 13 and 12 respectively were left home alone a lot. They were being raised by their single father Terry. During their time alone they became acquaintances with a man next door who was an acknowledged homosexual. No one knows for sure what influence he had on those boys but strange things happened. One evening the boys killed their father with a crossbow and a baseball bat as he slept on the couch. The boys then ran next door and the neighbor hid them for a while. The boys were eventually caught, tried and convicted of murder. Alex received a prison sentence of 8 years and Derek got 9 years. By summer of 2009, both had been paroled. The general opinion on the street was that the neighbor wanted the boys for his own but the father was in the way so he talked the boys into killing the father. Like I say, it is only street smack but the father is indeed dead.

Back in July of 2009 little 8 year old Jesse Arbogast of Ocean Springs, Mississippi was playing in the surf near Fort Pickens near Pensacola, Florida. He and his family were there on vacation. Suddenly an 8 foot bull shark grabbed Jesse by the right arm above the elbow and bit that sucker right off. Jesse's father grabbed Jesse and was somehow able to hold on the shark. He took the arm out the sharks mouth and turned the shark loose. He took Jesse up on the beach and called for a rescue unit. A team of surgeons were able to re-attach the arm but little Jesse suffered brain damage from the loss of so much blood. What really happened was that Jesse's father had caught the shark on a fishing rod and cranked it into water about three feet deep. The father decided to wade out and try to drag the shark up on the beach with little Jesse helping. As you might suspect, the shark was not a happy camper and snapped at the first thing that got within range. That was Jesse's right arm reaching for the gills. Sharks are NOT afraid of people especially when really pissed off.

Good news:

We all know about Northwest flight 253 coming from Amsterdam to Detroit. Somehow an armed terrorist found his way aboard and tried to light off an explosive when the plane was over Detroit. It was a passenger that intervened and overwhelmed that son-of-a-bitch. What you may not know is that the person that leaped over a couple of seats was Jasper Schuringa, a Dutchman. In the past any trouble in the cabin was left up to the crew to handle, including belligerent drunks. Since 9/11 that has not been the case. There have many cases of the passengers taking the lead in stopping turmoil. A question was asked "Would you have acted to subdue a terrorist in this case?" The answer for me is "Yes!". I feel that I would not be able contain my anger and I would have tried to rip the bastard's throat out. After all, this maniac is trying to kill over 240 people on the airplane plus what may be killed on the ground. This means that he has no reason to be allowed to live because he is a constant danger to everybody else, human rights for him be damned.

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