Daily History

Good morning.


Quote of the day:

“Surround yourself with men (and women) of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better to be alone than in company of bad people.”

                             George Washington

Thursday evening I had dinner with an old friend that I had not seen for quite a while. In the interim she had endured a hip joint replacement so we had a lot to talk about since I am considering having the same surgery. We met at a pretty fancy restaurant called “Harry and Jean’s”. This is one of those places that have regular chair and sofas that would be in your house in the bar/waiting area. There was a pianist in a tuxedo playing songs like “Bring in the clowns” and an occasional vocalist with long dark hair wearing a matching long, dark and slinky dress who more heavily breathed the songs rather sang them. We both had a grilled salmon salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, and a “Jim’s Apple Crisp with Ice Cream” for dessert. I had the obligatory glass of the house cabernet and a few gin and tonics while waiting at the bar for our table. The price of the drinks and the dinner itself was within reason. Our server was too loud and to tense. When she read back our order she was almost screaming and had a frozen smile on her face. It was obvious that this was her first or second day. She needs to relax and calm down; perhaps time will take care of that. All in all the old friend and I had very pleasant dining experience. By the way, I asked for my salmon to be grilled rare and they did not fool around. If I had put some iodine on my piece it would have survived. It was not grilled salmon, y’all; it was sashimi, but I like that too.

Down in the Austin, Texas area a three year old girl was playing out in the yard when a dog that was a mix of a Labrador and an Australian herding dog (heeler) grabbed that child and dragged her over 90 feet before her Grandmother put a stop to it. The dog had bitten the child in several places all the way to the bone and is in quarantine to determine if the dog is rabid or just plain mean. In any even event I think the dog’s days are numbered.

Then down in Mobile, Alabama an elderly lady had locked herself out of the house and called the police for help. The cop showed up and was standing on the front porch with the lady when the lady’s pit bull showed up and grabbed the cop by the leg and began shaking his head. The cop pulled his pistol and capped the dog before it tore his leg off. An investigation showed that this was not the first time this dog had bitten someone and it is in quarantine also and his days are probably numbered also.

The members of the “Four o’clock club” that gathers at the Brick City Grill here in Greenville have been complaining that the price of chicken wings at “The Brick” have almost doubled in the last few weeks. As any of you imbibers know, chicken wings of various flavors and heats are popular at the bars. “The Brick” has exceptionally tasty wings thanks to Chef Melvin. We thought the owner was greedy but then I read that the price of chicken wings has risen all over the country because the chicken wholesalers are getting less and less demand for wings because of the economy. I guess people are not going out drinking like the used to because they don’t have the money. Two weeks ago you could get wings at The Brick for $.45 each, now they are about $.80.

Here is more on the trip across America. When I closed out yesterday I had just crossed into Oklahoma. Oklahoma has a definite two part terrain. Where we crossed into the state was part of the Great Plains and there was nothing growing taller than your knees as far as the eye could see in any direction with the exception of a rarely seen mesquite tree. But as we moved more and more eastward the more trees we saw. Finally we arrived in Oklahoma City which had plenty of trees. We stopped for the night there. We asked the desk clerk where was “the action” in that town. He said that there were lots of them but the closest was “The Talk of the Town” which was a bar right up the street. That evening my friend and I went in there, sat at the bar and scanned the herd. There was table of ladies sitting at a nearby booth with an ass-kicking red head at the end. After the next 3rd song began I went over to the redhead and said “Excuse me ma’am would you like to dance?” She said, “Would I care to dance? Well ain’t you polite!” I went back to bar and discussed what just happened with my partner and he suggested that I take the positive role and take command. The next song began playing and my partner was right, I went over to the red head and said,” Off your ass Red, we are going to dance.” This woman jumped up immediately we danced out asses off. What a magical night it was. Next stop Fort Smith, Arkansas.

This date in history March 14

1991    On November 21, 1974 bombs explode in two different Birmingham, England pubs killing 22 and injuring many more. From the forensic evidence the police know the bombs were manufactured by the Irish Republican Army. So the police round up known IRA members and take them in for “interrogation”. The problem with the friction between Northern Ireland and England goes back to the time of King James I of England in about 1604. To dilute the almost constant rebellions by the waspish Irish Catholics, King James took control of five “shires” or counties in Ireland and kicked out the Irish and the Catholic churches in those shires and brought over Scottish Lords and their tenants and Churches of England and repopulated that area with these people and called it Ulster. Later on the Irish gained their independence from England and stayed Catholic, all except Ulster. Ulster being totally Scottish and members of the Church of England (protestant) voted to stay under the umbrella of the King of England. So what you have here is most of the island of Ireland independent Catholics except for a section of the northeast corner being English protestant. That section is known to this day as Northern Ireland, an English protectorate. Over the years the law forbidding Irish to live and own lands in Ulster disappeared and now you have a volatile mix of Irish Catholics and Scottish Protestants living side by side, an even more volatile situation. The Irish in Northern Ireland want the British out and for Northern Ireland to join with the rest of independent Ireland. The British army ain’t leaving because Northern Ireland is an English state and the Protestants want the British army there to protect them. Anyway, after the police gather up the IRA guys who are yelling and screaming the whole time that they are innocent, finally three of the nine that are arrested confess but the other six still maintain their innocence but are put on trial anyway. Using the flimsiest of evidence like residue off their fingertips, they are convicted and sentence to long terms. On this date the so-called Birmingham six are released. Forensic experts had determined that the residue from their fingertips that the prosecution said came from bombs could have come from a cigarette wrapper or a deck of cards. It is my personal belief that the English authorities saw a chance to get some of the IRA off the street and fabricated evidence to get it done. The six stayed in prison for 14 years while being innocent, however. It is bad enough when you have friction between different political factions, but when you throw in a religious issue, there is no end to it. Look at the Sunnis and the Shiites. They have been at each others throats since about 880 AD with no end in sight to the violence.

1862    On this date US General Ambrose Burnside put ashore 12,000 troops about 10 miles south of New Bern, North Carolina and began an assault on the city from the south. The town has about 6,000 Confederate soldiers led by CSA General Lawrence Branch. There were considerable defenses around the city and the attacking Yankees had much difficulty overcoming these embrasures. But the Confederates did not have enough men to adequately defend and were eventually forced to retreat. One bright spot was that Confederate General Zebulon Vance ferried his troops across to an island by boat and then burned the bridge that connected it to the mainland preventing capture of his troops. Zebulon Vance ended up being a Governor of North Carolina.

1776    Alexander Hamilton is promoted to Captain in an artillery unit for the Continental Army in and around New York. His skill attracted the attention of George Washington and he was commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel and personal aide to Washington. He served Washington well and was present at the turning of the tide at the Battle of Yorktown. After the war Hamilton became the Secretary of the Treasury. During the campaign for the second term of John Adams, Hamilton backed Adams instead of his party’s nominee, Aaron Burr. Adams won probably because of Hamilton support. Then Burr ran for the Governor of New York and was again opposed by Hamilton. Well, Burr felt this was the final insult and challenged Hamilton to a duel. Duels were against the law in New York so the two went over to Weehawken, New Jersey and dueled. Hamilton was fatally wounded; Burr survived but was no longer a viable political entity in these United States.

1919    Perhaps the most prolific author of western novels of all published his first book, The Untamed. Max Brand cranked out novel after novel but he wasn’t the real thing. Max Brand was one of twenty pen names of Frederick Faust. Faust was born and raised in poverty in the San Joachim Valley of California. He used various pen names because he was not really proud of what he had written. He realized that most of his writings would end up at pulp fiction novels even though he became very wealthy. Faust claimed to hate the American west and lived most of his life in Europe. In his western novels there was a central character named Dan Barry who would essentially run from trouble but if he saw the innocent being wronged, he would jump in and kick ass, a familiar theme. Bad novels or not, it is estimated that he wrote 3 million words in his novels and short stories. He also created the character of Doctor Kildare that later became a TV series. Frederick “Max Brand” Faust went to that great publisher in the sky in 1944. I’ll take Louis L’Amour anytime.

Born today:

1681    German composer Frederick Handel. When asked about his composing of Hallelujah Chorus in his composition The Messiah he said “Whether I was inside my body or outside, only God knows.” That is concentration, ya’ll.

1920    US cartoonist Hank Ketchum. He said “Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don’t swallow it.” Good advice, but few can accept if for long without believing it.

1933 US songwriter Quincy Jones. He said “I don’t deserve to be in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, but a few years ago I got a brain operation, I didn’t deserve that either, so I will accept it.”

1945    British comic Jasper Carrott. He said “I am amazed at radio DJ’s today. I am convinced that AM stands for “Absolute Moron”. I am not going to being to tell you what FM stands for.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.