Daily lesson

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

"Expecting life to treat you well because you are a good  person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge because you are vegetarian."

                                           Shari Barr

I am just recovering from the marathon at the Brown Street club in downtown Greenville Saturday night. The musician we came to see started at 6:30p and finished at 9:30p then a rock band came in and played until 1:30a. There was at least one of my acquaintances was there for the whole tour. That is seven hours of partying, y'all. I can't hold up to that now but there was a day....Wanda R. your stamina is admirable. It was a hoot, y'all. The musician we came to see was a guitarist/singer named Sabra Callas from Charlotte, NC. She has several venues she plays at mostly on Highway 51 in the Pineville/Mathews area. I have a good friend that lives in that area named Joanna. Joanna, she plays at a restaurant on Highway 51 near where Park Road crosses. She is worth a visit. The restaurant is called "Tiara Tria". That may be the wrong spelling but you will get the idea.

Early this morning some enterprizing people went to a busy branch bank on Woodruff Road in Greenville. They went to a Wachovia branch bank that had a construction site next door. The people were able to crank up a heavy duty front end loader on the construction site, drove over to the bank and tore the ATM out of the ground and took it to the house. The vehicle used to transport the ATM has not yet been identified but I am sure the dozens of security cameras will get that job done.

I have been asked to add the paragraph below at special request:

In addition to showing a dead heat between Brown and Coakley, a Suffolk University poll last week of 500 likely voters also revealed unhappiness with Massachusetts ' landmark health care law, which has been used in part as the blueprint for the national health care overhaul. Close to two-thirds of those polled said the state cannot afford the health care system.

This date in history January 18

1778    Earlier one of the greatest navigators in history had sailed from England and discovered Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. Captain James Cook was assigned the task of the exploration of the South Pacific and departed England in the spring of 1776 commanding two ships, the Resolution and the Discovery. On this date Captain Cook sighted the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Cook named these islands the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his patrons, the Earl of Sandwich. After seeking an appropriate harbor, Cook anchored at Waimea on the island of Kauai. The islanders thought the Englishmen were Gods and were fascinated by the iron used on the ships because there is no metal ores in the Islands. The English sailors traded iron nails for sex with the native women. During Cooks stay one of the sailors died proving that they were not gods and tensions increased. After exploration of the islands, Cook sailed north looking for the alleged western entrance to the “Northwest Passage”. The Northwest Passage was a supposed water passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific across North America. As we know, this passage has been proven not to exist. After a year of exploration Cook returned to the Hawaiian Islands. This time Cook was unfortunate in his choice of anchorages when he sailed into Lono Bay. Lono Bay was considered a holy place by the natives on certain days of the year, unfortunately for Cook; this was one of the days. The ships were met with a hail of curses and a shower of stones and coral. The natives were able to steal one of the small transfer boats from the Resolution. Cook was not going to sit still for that and he and thirty other sailors armed themselves and went ashore (or tried to) to negotiate getting the boat back. One of the sailors got nervous and fired his weapon killing a native whereupon the natives attacked and killed most of the sailors, Cook included. Six or seven of the sailors were able to return to the ship. The next morning the Resolution fired a broadside at the islanders still yelling and screaming on the shore killing 30 of them. After this the sailors sailed their young asses back to England.

1776     On this evening the Committee for Safety in the city of Savannah, Georgia commanded by Patriot Major Joseph Habersham goes to the home of Royal Governor James Wright and placed him under arrest. He stayed under house arrest until February 11 when he escaped and made his way to the British warship H.M.S. Scarborough. After failing in an attempt to negotiate a treaty with Habersham he sailed for London. On December 28, 1778 Wright returns to Savannah with a hell of a lot of troops and was able to re-take Savannah but he was never able to control the entirety of Georgia. He remained as governor until 1782 but he found out that Patriot General Anthony “Mad Anthony” Wayne was on his way to Savannah with a group of seasoned and battle hardened veterans that had recently kicked the living shit out a military group of Loyalist/British/Cherokees even though Wayne’s troops were outnumbered 2 to 1. Rather than risk being captured or killed by Wayne’s troops, Wright got aboard yet another British warship and sailed his young ass back to England never to return. He died in London of February 7, 1785. Georgia was one of the few colonies the British were able to enforce the hated Stamp Act which was one of the main reasons for the fire being lighted under the move toward independence. Georgia had the largest percentage of Loyalists in the colonies but in spite of that, they were one of the first to argue for independence. Go figure.

1990    As incredible as it seems, the Mayor of Washington, D.C. Marion Barry is captured on camera smoking crack cocaine given to him by a woman that had proposed that if she gave him some “crack” he would help her get a reduced prison sentence. The woman that made the proposal was a plant by the Washington PD and Barry was arrested on the spot. Barry was taken away while screaming “That bitch set me up”, “That bitch set me up”. Barry was convicted and spent 6 months in the slammer. While he was in prison, the control of the city was reverted to the Congress with an appointed administrator in control. That did not end the career of Marion Barry. Even after being convicted of a drug crime, Barry ran for a city council seat and was elected by a vote of 96%. That should give you insight as to the character of the residents of our nation’s capitol.

1803    On this date President Thomas Jefferson sends a secret monetary request of $2,500 to Congress to be used for the “exploration of the Missouri River basin” which turned out to be the Lewis and Clark expedition. Jefferson rationalized that trade for furs with the yet to be discovered Indian tribes in the “higher latitudes” would more than re-pay the costs. Jefferson specified that the expedition would be just one officer and 10 men involved so that the Indians would not think it was an invasion. The expedition ended up with a few more men that what was requested but that “Corps of Discovery” made inroads into the expansion of this nation that were never equaled.

Born today:

1200    Japanese spiritualist Dogen. He said “Do not expect that you will be aware when you achieve enlightenment.” Are you listening, Jaci?

1807    American military leader Robert E. Lee. He said “Whiskey---I like it and always have, that is why I never use it.” I don’t like it so I limit myself to only 7 or 8 drinks a day. That used to be the case but I am on the wagon now.

1809    American author Edgar Allen Poe. He said “I have great faith in fools---self confidence my friends call it.” Been there, done that, do not have a tee shirt.

1943    US singer Janis Joplin. She said “Fourteen heart attacks and that son-of-a-bitch had to croak on my week---MY WEEK! Janis was supposed to have been on the cover of Time magazine but it was preempted with the death of President Eisenhower.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow