Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“Why do you have to break up with your girl friend? Be a man, just stop calling.”

                                        Dave Barry

I guess all of y’all know by now that Tiger Woods has decided to resume his golfing career by entering the upcoming Masters Golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. It is no secret why he chose Augusta. It is a private golf course and those that apply for a media pass are closely scrutinized and tightly controlled. The gallery at Augusta is a bit different than most of the others. They are very polite and follow a closely held tradition of no rowdiness. I can assure you that if anyone and I mean anyone begins hassling Tiger they will be immediately escorted to the gate and their ticket availability will be cancelled forever. The Board of Directors of the Augusta National Golf Course has stated more than once that they really don’t need money from sponsors if they want to dictate the way the Masters is governed. They are an independent bunch and I am glad of it. On one occasion a friend and I were sitting in the bleachers at “Amen Corner” when we started a conversation with a man in a suit sitting in front of us who had a brief case with him. We found out that he was the district representative for Seagram’s distillery. The brief case was jammed full of Crown Royal mini bottles. It got pretty foggy that warm, spring afternoon in Augusta, Georgia.

More on my trip across America way back when. After having a wonderful time in Oklahoma City, we went to Fort Smith, Arkansas for our next sleepover. Nothing spectacular happened in Fort Smith that I recall except we decided what we were going to do with the ’53 Chevy that had served us admirably. Both of us wanted the car and flipped a coin to see who would buy the other one out. It was also decided that whoever won would buy a bus ticket home for the other one once we reached Columbia, Tennessee. I lost. The next memorable event that I remember was when we stopped at a bar near Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. When we walked in there were two women in dresses standing on their heads leaning against a wall. I asked the bartender what was up, besides the women. He said that these two had made a bet on who could stand on their heads the longest. I said to myself, this is my kind of place but we moved on to Memphis. We went into two very famous “meat markets” in West Memphis known as Danny’s Place and the Cotton Club. I do not remember much about either visit except there were huge dance floors in both places and the bands were playing mostly blues. I danced a lot. Next stop Columbia, Tennessee.

This date in history March 18

1864    Abraham Lincoln was fed up with his wounded soldiers being disabled permanently or for extended periods simply because of the septic conditions at the treatment and convalescent areas. So on this date he decides to do something about it. He did the best possible thing in organizing a “Sanitary Commission” to oversee the treatment of the wounded soldiers. He gave the responsibility for forming this Commission to a few dependable men and in a moment of clarity, they hired a bunch of really hard-assed women nurses and gave them some authority and sent them into the field. Much to the chagrin of the field combat doctors, these nurses would show up almost immediately after a battle and oversee the treatment of the wounded and the sanitation of the operating and convalescent areas. On one occasion after the battle of Chattanooga, the nurses ordered the disassembly of the wooden embrasures that the Union soldiers were hiding behind to be used as fuel for fires to keep the wounded warm. But the “commission” did do one thing; they vastly decreased the time of recovery of the wounded and got the wounded back in the field much sooner.

1950    On this date the Nationalist Chinese army led by General Chaing-Kai-Shek and under the auspices of the United States, begins an assault on mainland China. Chaing and the Nationalist Chinese had been living on the island of Formosa since being kicked out of mainland China by the Chinese Communists led by the legendary Mao Zedong and his party named the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). The battle does not last long and the Nationalist Chinese and Chaing beat a hasty retreat back to Formosa. Chaing thought that the people of China would rise up against the Communists if they found that he was in country. It didn’t happen, Chaing always has been known for his overblown ego so he and his army retreat back to Formosa and there they remain until this day, except for Chaing, he has gone on to that great Sushi Bar in the sky.

1937    In the East Texas oil and Gas field near the town of New London there were about 10,000 oil and gas derricks, in fact there were 11 derricks on the grounds of the Consolidated Elementary School. It was not uncommon for the homes around New London to use the waste gas from the oil wells that is called “wet-gas”. Wet gas is a lot more unstable than regular natural gas from a strictly natural gas well. If ya’ll have ever seen oil derricks in operation you probably have seen a long pipe with fire coming out the end. That is “wet-gas” being burned off because it is so unstable. But in 1937 the instability of wet gas was not known. The Consolidated Elementary School had been using regular natural gas for cooking and heating and bought their gas from Union Natural Gas at the cost of $300 a month. The school decided to use “wet-gas” for free and save that $300. So Parade Gas Company began piping their waste gas to the school. On this date at 3:05P with the 694 students and 40 teachers eagerly awaiting the final bell at 3:15P, a horrendous explosion literally blows the roof off the school and kills 300 kids instantly. There were so many wounded that they had to be taken to four hospitals in the surrounding communities. The spark that set off the explosion was never determined but it could have been just static electricity, we will never know. But because of this disaster, wet gas is not allowed to leave a well site and thus the pipe with the flame.

1834    On this date six farm laborers from England are sentenced to 7 years of exile in the province of New South Wales, Australia. Their crime was after losing money for three years in a row, they organized a farm workers union called the Friendly Agricultural Laborers. The Union grew by leaps and bounds and the laborers agreed to not take less than 10 Shillings a week for their services. Parliament wanted a stop put to this but was hard pressed to find a law that these six founders had broken. So they chose to accuse them of taking an illegal oath. This law was meant for sailors in the Royal Navy to help head off mutinies. I am telling you; those in Parliament were desperate to stop the independence of farm workers. Anyway, two years after these six arrived at New South Wales, the English ministers of justice stepped in and put a stop to this outrage and set aside the sentences and they were released. Only one of them returned to England, the rest immigrated to Canada, and I don’t blame them.

1765    In this year Parliament had passed the hated Stamp Act which put a tax on nearly each and every piece of printed material coming into the American colonies. Parliament was trying to raise funds to help pay for the presence of the English military in the colonies. The instant the colonists heard about this, they raised almighty hell almost continuously. They boycotted anything coming from England and gave the English military a huge ration of shit. The colonies sent Benjamin Franklin over to London to plead their case. Ben did his usual good job speaking to Parliament and in this year the Stamp Act was nullified. However, soon thereafter Parliament passed the Declaratory Act. This abomination stated that Parliament had final legislative authority over the colonies. This was just a little more fuel to the fire that erupted into open warfare on the plains of Breeds (Bunker) Hill, Massachusetts ten years later.

Born today:

1837    US President Grover Cleveland. He said “No man has ever been hanged for breaking the spirit of the law.”

1901    Canadian writer Manly Hall. He said “A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed on this world.” Hey Manly, does this include Hillary?

1932    US writer John Updike. He said “A healthy adult male bore consumes in one year one and a half times his weight in people’s patience.” Do any of ya’ll know of such a person?

Died today:

1871    English mathematician Augustus de Morgan. When asked his age he said “I was x years old in the year x^2.” Gus, you are such a smart ass.

1980    US psychoanalyst Erich Fromm. He said “Man thinks that he loses something—time—if he does not do things swiftly and then he does not know what to do with the time he saved...except kill it.” Hey Erich, see my comment above.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow