Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Let your love come as the misty rains, coming softly, but flooding the river.”
Malagasy Proverb
A team of Christian archaeologists from Hong Kong claim to have discovered the remains of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. They even claim to have taken a sample of the wood and ran a carbon-14 test on it to find out its age. The test indicated the wood was about 4,800 years old. If you trace back the Holy Bible you will find that about 2,800 BC is the approximate date given for the Great Flood. We should all keep in mind that the Old Testament is simply a history of the Jews and their beliefs. As some of you may or may not know in Middle East mythology there was a hero named Gilgamesh. In the writings about the adventures of this man, there is mention of a great flood and those that survived it, among them was Gilgamesh. The legend of Gilgamesh is older than the adventures of Noah. There are those that believe the adventures of Noah were reaped from the Legend of Gilgamesh and added to the history of the Jews. I will not get into a religious discussion but rely on verifiable evidence to draw a conclusion. There is undeniable evidence that there were occupied city/states in the Middle East that date back to 7,000 years ago (Jericho, for instance). This means that if there was a flood, it did not flood the entire earth or the ruins of these older city/states would not exist. The first evidence of the rise of the Egyptians was about 2,400 BC. That is perilously close to the date of the flood as indicated in the Bible. It has been discovered that the Black Sea was at one time hundreds of feet shallower that it is today. The generally accepted reason for this that the Black Sea was a lake separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a narrow strip of land that is now known as the Bosporus and Dardanelles in western Turkey. Eventually the Mediterranean ate through the strip of land and flooded the Black Sea raising the surface by hundreds of feet. It there had been settlements on the shores of the Black Sea they would have been flooded very quickly. Not only that, Mount Ararat is a lot closer than any other acknowledged settlements. Perhaps when the Mediterranean broke through to the Black Sea, the inhabitants saw it as a Great Flood.
One person whose opinion I respect suggests that when Noah and company left the Ark they disassembled it and re-used it to establish a settlement and therefore there is nothing left of the Ark. The problem I have here is that there is no evidence of any settlement that high up in those mountains (13,000 to 17,000 feet). All other identifiable settlements were down in various river valleys in the Middle East and their buildings were made of mud brick baked hard by the sun. It is unseemly to me that Noah and the few people aboard would haul timbers down that mountain and across deserts to a place with potable water. All of the above is pure speculation on my part, but it allows me to blend things together to my satisfaction. Comments accepted.
To all of you that have sympathy for the illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America that have invaded the United States, if you enter Mexico illegally there is no trial per se, you go directly to jail for a minimum of five years. Why then, is our Federal Government so soft of enforcing the illegal immigrant laws that exist but rely on each state to fend for themselves? Then when the states initiate their own laws to repel this invasion the Feds call the actions “unfortunate”. By the way, a state Senator from Texas is formulating an illegal alien law structured on that one enacted by Arizona last week. I like it.
This date in history April 29
1992 A few months before the Los Angeles Police Department stopped a known felon after an extended vehicular chase. Only this time they were stopping him for a traffic violation. Rodney King led the police through a circuitous route through East LA before finally stopping. Rodney was not alone in his car, there were two others and all were yelled at by the police to get out and lay flat on their face. The other two immediately got out and hit the asphalt on their face, but not Rodney. He chose to go down on all fours and that was as far as he would go in spite a severe ass-whipping he got from 5 of LA’s finest. He never did go down and cops kept beating him with their fists and batons. Little did the cops know that the entire event was being taped by a guy across the street on the balcony of a hotel. The next day the cops, and Rodney from his hospital bed, saw themselves on the morning news. The photographer had sold the tape to the TV station. To make a long story short, the cops went on trial up in Simi Valley rather than in East LA and were acquitted. Almost as soon as the verdict was announced, riots began in Los Angeles and rioting and fires continued for four days and nights. The cops just stayed the hell out of the way. The blacks were really upset about the innocent verdict and well they should have been but burning their own town down ain’t the answer. Back when Martin Luther King was assassinated the blacks of Augusta, Georgia fell out into mid-town with torches aflame. A famous black man stood up and quieted the crowd down and he persuaded them not to burn their home town to the ground. It was the Godfather of Soul, ya’ll, it was the recently deceased James Brown.
1945 On this date the 45th division of the United States 7th Army (US General Alexander ‘Sandy’ Patch commanding) on its march across Europe to free the different nations from the hell of the Nazis, come upon an enclosed camp in Poland. General Patch was as an efficient commander as General George Patton, the commander of the 3rd Army, but was not as an egomaniac. The soldiers could detect the plant from afar because of the smothering stench that emanated downwind. It was Auschwitz, ya’ll. It was facility that had no other purpose that to kill Jews and Gypsies as fast and efficiently as possible. It is estimated that 3 million Jews that were literally exterminated as vermin by these Nazi beasts. When the Nazi camp commander and his staff determined that the Americans were within a day or two of liberating the camp, they went on a murder rampage hoping to eliminate all the prisoners that they could before running out of ammo and then scorched as many of the buildings with flamethrowers as they could and then they left hoping to blend in with the general population. The Americans were stunned at what they saw. There were heap and piles of emaciated copses including a nearby train with cattle cars full to capacity with the same. The Americans had no choice but to bury the corpses along with tons of quick lime to eliminate the chance of a cholera epidemic. It was the Russians that came upon the camp at Buchenwald, the worst of them all. Buchenwald had ovens, ya’ll, ovens. I will leave it to you to figure out what the ovens were for but when the Russians arrived the ovens were out of coal and had stopped working. The Russians had nothing on their minds but revenge for the Germans killing 26 million of their brethren, now upon seeing this, every Russian soldier was a razor, ya’ll, a razor. They left there and headed to Germany and were not to be denied their revenge. It turned out to be a 570 mile long bloodbath. It was nothing short of a massacre of the Germans by the Russians be it, man, woman, child, dog. cat, cattle or any other air breather, all were slaughtered. In the meantime the allies had sealed off the western side of Germany and would accept no surrender. They just saw to it that the Russians got their belly full of German blood. The Russians did not cut any slack, ya’ll, they indeed got a belly full.
1991 On this date a devastating cyclone come ashore in Bangladesh. The greatest majority of the population of Bangladesh on the Indian Ocean were poverty stricken and without nationwide communications so they were unaware of the approaching storm. The storm slammed ashore with a 20 tidal surge in the lead and 135,000 were drowned. The bad part was that there were so many dead that were not recovered, the tigers came out of the jungle and began a feast on the corpses. These tigers, as you might expect, developed a taste for human flesh and the humans became prey for the tigers no matter where they were. It took an entire generation of tigers to pass for this danger to subside.
1974 Earlier five men had broken into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. The men were captured and the world came to find out that they all were under the employ of the Republican Party Committee to re-elect the President (CREEP). President Richard Nixon undoubtedly knew about the break-in but told his staff to “circle the wagons” and “stonewall” the investigation. Even a Special Prosecutor named Archibald Cox was selected to investigate break-in. When he began insisting that the White House turn over certain documents and audio tapes, President Nixon had him fired. Then the US Senate formed a special sub-committee to seek impeachment of the President and another special prosecutor was named and it was Circuit Court Judge and notorious hard-ass John Sirica. On this date, President Nixon offered to turn over a transcript of the taped conversations in the Oval Office during the time immediately after the break-in. Judge Sirica said that would be OK but he wanted the tapes themselves also because they were “best evidence”. Nixon refused saying that he had “executive privilege”. Sirica went to the Supreme Court and they sided with Judge Sirica and the tapes were turned over to Sirica. The tapes revealed that Nixon had ordered the FBI to discontinue investigating the Watergate break-in. This was a “smoking gun” that proved Nixon knew of the break-in. A few days later Nixon had a conversation with senate leader Barry Goldwater and he told Nixon that he had nearly no support in the Senate and if an impeachment vote came he was sure Nixon would be kicked out of office. Two days later Nixon resigned office, the first President to do so. Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn into office as President the next day. Soon ex-President Richard Nixon flew to his compound in San Clemente, California and faded from view in disgrace.
Born today:
1897 English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham. When speaking to a female cellist in his orchestra he said “Madam, you have between your legs an instrument that is capable of giving pleasure to thousands, all you have to do is scratch it.” No Comment.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“We get neither better nor worse as we age; we simply become our true selves.”
Rebecca West
That oil well that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico and was leaking has begun to increase the leakage volume. It is really strange that this disaster occurred within weeks after the President signed legislation allowing oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and off the US eastern seaboard. I cannot remember but one oil exploring/drilling platform exploring. There have been a lot of fires but explosions are a rarity. In order for there to be an explosion there has to be an accumulation of explosive material in one place. As some of you may or may not know natural gas as it comes out of the ground is invisible and scentless and it is lighter than air. The only thing I can think of is there was a leak in the drill pipe and natural gas leaked out and gathered under the platform into a very large bubble. Then a spark of some kind lit it off which might have widened the leak and the resulting fire increased exponentially. There have been “experts” that have been assigned to monitor the escaping oil. They say the oil slick is not headed towards land but remember that the Gulf of Mexico is almost a bowl and that oil slick will eventually make landfall somewhere. I don’t know what effect this disaster will have on drilling for oil off the coast of Hilton Head, SC and other such places but the opponents will have plenty of ammunition.
Here in my home town area there had been a small railroad that serviced the northern part of our county down into the south central area. This railroad was known affectionately as “The Swamp Rabbit” and went out of business several years ago. The railroad bed caught the eye of several Greenville community groups to be used as a jogging/bicycle trail. The bed was cleared of rails and railroad ties and a clear trail about 25 miles long was created. It was a coup for the environmentalists and exercise fans at very little cost or chaos. This creation should spark interests in other communities.
Here is a Medal of Honor citation lest we forget. This particular Medal of Honor winner had a son that eventually became a Federal judge. One of my favorite people in the world works for this judge.
Medal of Honor
DAVIS, RAYMOND G.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps commanding officer, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Vicinity Hagaru-ri, Korea, 1 through 4 December 1950. Entered service at: Atlanta, Ga. Born: 13 January 1915, Fitzgerald, Ga.
Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Although keenly aware that the operation involved breaking through a surrounding enemy and advancing 8 miles along primitive icy trails in the bitter cold with every passage disputed by a savage and determined foe, Lt. Col. Davis boldly led his battalion into the attack in a daring attempt to relieve a beleaguered rifle company and to seize, hold, and defend a vital mountain pass controlling the only route available for 2 marine regiments in danger of being cut off by numerically superior hostile forces during their re-deployment to the port of Hungnam. When the battalion immediately encountered strong opposition from entrenched enemy forces commanding high ground in the path of the advance, he promptly spearheaded his unit in a fierce attack up the steep, ice-covered slopes in the face of withering fire and, personally leading the assault groups in a hand-to-hand encounter, drove the hostile troops from their positions, rested his men, and reconnoitered the area under enemy fire to determine the best route for continuing the mission. Always in the thick of the fighting Lt. Col. Davis led his battalion over 3 successive ridges in the deep snow in continuous attacks against the enemy and, constantly inspiring and encouraging his men throughout the night, brought his unit to a point within 1,500 yards of the surrounded rifle company by daybreak. Although knocked to the ground when a shell fragment struck his helmet and 2 bullets pierced his clothing, he arose and fought his way forward at the head of his men until he reached the isolated marines. On the following morning, he bravely led his battalion in securing the vital mountain pass from a strongly entrenched and numerically superior hostile force, carrying all his wounded with him, including 22 litter cases and numerous ambulatory patients. Despite repeated savage and heavy assaults by the enemy, he stubbornly held the vital terrain until the 2 regiments of the division had deployed through the pass and, on the morning of 4 December, led his battalion into Hagaru-ri intact. By his superb leadership, outstanding courage, and brilliant tactical ability, Lt. Col. Davis was directly instrumental in saving the beleaguered rifle company from complete annihilation and enabled the 2 marine regiments to escape possible destruction. His valiant devotion to duty and unyielding fighting spirit in the face of almost insurmountable odds enhance and sustain the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. By the way, Colonel Davis led his men into the safety of American lines singing the Marine Corps Hymn.
On this date in history April 28
1789 Earlier the Government of England has tasked ship Captain William Bligh to sail into the South Pacific with a ship load of breadfruit saplings. The idea was to plant the breadfruit sapling and see if the fruit grew in sufficient quantity to feed the slaves that were gong to be used in the area later on. The ship he was commanding was the HMS Bounty. The ship arrived in Tahiti in October of 1788 and remained five months doing research. But the Captain and his botanist was not the only people aboard doing research and planting. The ships crew had fallen for the warm weather, laid-back life style not to mention the beautiful and receptive Polynesian women. To make it worse, Captain Bligh was a notorious hard-ass and was unmerciful in the dispensing of his form of discipline, many unfair floggings included. Anyway, after leaving Tahiti the ship went to Tonga to plant some more saplings. It was during this trip that the shit hit the fan. The majority of the crew persuaded the second in command, Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, to take over the ship and stop this brutal treatment by Captain Bligh. On this date, the majority of the crew led by Fletcher Christian did indeed mutiny and took control of the ship. Christian chose to put Bligh and 18 of his loyal crew men adrift in a 25 foot sailboat and sailed away. In a superb show of seamanship, Bligh was able to navigate the boat using the stars alone to Timor Island, a distance of 3,600 mile and he made it there on June 24, 1789. After a brief stop at Tubuai Island looking for a place to settle, the crew of the Bounty set sail for the ever loving arms of Tahiti. After arriving at Tahiti Christian had second thoughts knowing the British Navy would be there soon looking for the Bounty because that was on Bligh’s pre-sailing log. So he gave his crew the choice of going with him to find another settlement or to stay here in Tahiti and risk the wrath on the British Navy. 16 of the crew chose to stay in Tahiti, the British Navy be damned. Fletcher Christian sailed off with eight of the crewmen, six Tahitian men and 12 Tahitian women looking for a remote island to settle. They chose Pitcairn Island about 1,000 miles north of Tahiti. After stripping the Bounty, Christian ordered it burned. The British navy never looked for them there but they were discovered in 1806 by a whaling vessel that saw smoke from a cooking fire. In 1825 a British ship finally arrived at tiny Pitcairn and those remaining crewmembers were granted amnesty and were taken to Tahiti. After a few year they decided that they had rather be at Pitcairn and went back home. To this day there are about 40 people on Pitcairn all of which can trace their ancestry to the British crewman of the Bounty. By the way, this was not the only mutiny Bligh had to endure, this one was the third. What a great leader.
1945 On the date the Fascist Leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini was caught trying to cross the Italian border into Switzerland with his mistress Clara Petacci and both were shot to death by Italian troops. This jackass had sided with Hitler early on and was hoping to bring Italy back to the glory of ancient Rome. The only problem here was that the present day Italian infantry were the worst fighter on the planet and Hitler was constantly having to bail them out an the smallest conflict. After the Allies landed on Sicily and Italy soon after and met with success against the defending Germans, although it was a bloody one, Mussolini saw that his days were numbered. It was then that he gathered up his girl friend and split for Switzerland. Mussolini had a wife and 6 children and apparently he just abandoned then to whatever the Allies chose to do with them. What a great husband and father. Anyway, after Mussolini and Petracci were killed they were transported to the town square of Milan and hanged upside down for all to see, spit upon and throw rocks at, etc. He was an arrogant bastard.
1955 On this date little Stephanie Bryan disappears from her neighborhood in Berkeley, California. The police were about to write this one off when something peculiar happened. The wife of one Burton Abbot found a strange pocketbook in their garage. After looking inside she found Stephanie’s student identification card and knowing the cops were looking for her gave them a call. The cops swarmed down on the garage and found a bra that same size and type of that worn by Stephanie. They interviewed Burton extensively but he denied everything and said that his garage had been used as a polling place in the past and that is where the evidence came from. The police were about to buy Abbot’s story then a radio news reporter hired a detective and a bloodhound and went to the Abbot’s mountain cabin and found the corpse of little Stephanie. Abbot was tried and convicted of murder and was sentenced to death. Abbot appealed his death penalty unsuccessfully several time but he was one too short when he was sitting in a chair when some pellets were dropped into a pan of acid under his seat and he was dead in four minutes. Two minutes later the Governor called and tried to issue a stop execution order. Too bad.
Born today:
1758 US President James Monroe. He said “A little flattery will support a man over great fatigue.” Women too.
1874 Austrian writer Karl Kraus. He said “The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people worse that they are already.” Sound wisdom there, Karl.
1930 US statesman James Baker. When speaking of Michael Dukakis he said “He is the only man that can look at the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and complain that the swimsuits are not fire retardant.”
1934 US writer Diane Johnson. She said “Men are normally better law abiders than women and that comes from the women not having any say so in enacting the laws.” Not any longer, Diane. There are Nancy Pelosi, Hilary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, etc. Even though they should stay home and bake pies, they are out there making laws. Just joking
1950 US comic Jay Leno. He said “You can say want you want but when Dan Quayle was in the National Guard, not one Viet Cong got past Muncie, Indiana.”
1945 Italian leader Benito Mussolini. He said “Basically the history of saints is the history of insane people.” Don’t we have a pot and a kettle here, Benito?
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“We get neither better nor worse as we age; we simply become our true selves.”
Rebecca West
That oil well that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico and was leaking has begun to increase the leakage volume. It is really strange that this disaster occurred within weeks after the President signed legislation allowing oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and off the US eastern seaboard. I cannot remember but one oil exploring/drilling platform exploring. There have been a lot of fires but explosions are a rarity. In order for there to be an explosion there has to be an accumulation of explosive material in one place. As some of you may or may not know natural gas as it comes out of the ground is invisible and scentless and it is lighter than air. The only thing I can think of is there was a leak in the drill pipe and natural gas leaked out and gathered under the platform into a very large bubble. Then a spark of some kind lit it off which might have widened the leak and the resulting fire increased exponentially. There have been “experts” that have been assigned to monitor the escaping oil. They say the oil slick is not headed towards land but remember that the Gulf of Mexico is almost a bowl and that oil slick will eventually make landfall somewhere. I don’t know what effect this disaster will have on drilling for oil off the coast of Hilton Head, SC and other such places but the opponents will have plenty of ammunition.
Here in my home town area there had been a small railroad that serviced the northern part of our county down into the south central area. This railroad was known affectionately as “The Swamp Rabbit” and went out of business several years ago. The railroad bed caught the eye of several Greenville community groups to be used as a jogging/bicycle trail. The bed was cleared of rails and railroad ties and a clear trail about 25 miles long was created. It was a coup for the environmentalists and exercise fans at very little cost or chaos. This creation should spark interests in other communities.
Here is a Medal of Honor citation lest we forget. This particular Medal of Honor winner had a son that eventually became a Federal judge. One of my favorite people in the world works for this judge.
Medal of Honor
DAVIS, RAYMOND G.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps commanding officer, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Vicinity Hagaru-ri, Korea, 1 through 4 December 1950. Entered service at: Atlanta, Ga. Born: 13 January 1915, Fitzgerald, Ga.
Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Although keenly aware that the operation involved breaking through a surrounding enemy and advancing 8 miles along primitive icy trails in the bitter cold with every passage disputed by a savage and determined foe, Lt. Col. Davis boldly led his battalion into the attack in a daring attempt to relieve a beleaguered rifle company and to seize, hold, and defend a vital mountain pass controlling the only route available for 2 marine regiments in danger of being cut off by numerically superior hostile forces during their re-deployment to the port of Hungnam. When the battalion immediately encountered strong opposition from entrenched enemy forces commanding high ground in the path of the advance, he promptly spearheaded his unit in a fierce attack up the steep, ice-covered slopes in the face of withering fire and, personally leading the assault groups in a hand-to-hand encounter, drove the hostile troops from their positions, rested his men, and reconnoitered the area under enemy fire to determine the best route for continuing the mission. Always in the thick of the fighting Lt. Col. Davis led his battalion over 3 successive ridges in the deep snow in continuous attacks against the enemy and, constantly inspiring and encouraging his men throughout the night, brought his unit to a point within 1,500 yards of the surrounded rifle company by daybreak. Although knocked to the ground when a shell fragment struck his helmet and 2 bullets pierced his clothing, he arose and fought his way forward at the head of his men until he reached the isolated marines. On the following morning, he bravely led his battalion in securing the vital mountain pass from a strongly entrenched and numerically superior hostile force, carrying all his wounded with him, including 22 litter cases and numerous ambulatory patients. Despite repeated savage and heavy assaults by the enemy, he stubbornly held the vital terrain until the 2 regiments of the division had deployed through the pass and, on the morning of 4 December, led his battalion into Hagaru-ri intact. By his superb leadership, outstanding courage, and brilliant tactical ability, Lt. Col. Davis was directly instrumental in saving the beleaguered rifle company from complete annihilation and enabled the 2 marine regiments to escape possible destruction. His valiant devotion to duty and unyielding fighting spirit in the face of almost insurmountable odds enhance and sustain the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. By the way, Colonel Davis led his men into the safety of American lines singing the Marine Corps Hymn.
On this date in history April 28
1789 Earlier the Government of England has tasked ship Captain William Bligh to sail into the South Pacific with a ship load of breadfruit saplings. The idea was to plant the breadfruit sapling and see if the fruit grew in sufficient quantity to feed the slaves that were gong to be used in the area later on. The ship he was commanding was the HMS Bounty. The ship arrived in Tahiti in October of 1788 and remained five months doing research. But the Captain and his botanist was not the only people aboard doing research and planting. The ships crew had fallen for the warm weather, laid-back life style not to mention the beautiful and receptive Polynesian women. To make it worse, Captain Bligh was a notorious hard-ass and was unmerciful in the dispensing of his form of discipline, many unfair floggings included. Anyway, after leaving Tahiti the ship went to Tonga to plant some more saplings. It was during this trip that the shit hit the fan. The majority of the crew persuaded the second in command, Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, to take over the ship and stop this brutal treatment by Captain Bligh. On this date, the majority of the crew led by Fletcher Christian did indeed mutiny and took control of the ship. Christian chose to put Bligh and 18 of his loyal crew men adrift in a 25 foot sailboat and sailed away. In a superb show of seamanship, Bligh was able to navigate the boat using the stars alone to Timor Island, a distance of 3,600 mile and he made it there on June 24, 1789. After a brief stop at Tubuai Island looking for a place to settle, the crew of the Bounty set sail for the ever loving arms of Tahiti. After arriving at Tahiti Christian had second thoughts knowing the British Navy would be there soon looking for the Bounty because that was on Bligh’s pre-sailing log. So he gave his crew the choice of going with him to find another settlement or to stay here in Tahiti and risk the wrath on the British Navy. 16 of the crew chose to stay in Tahiti, the British Navy be damned. Fletcher Christian sailed off with eight of the crewmen, six Tahitian men and 12 Tahitian women looking for a remote island to settle. They chose Pitcairn Island about 1,000 miles north of Tahiti. After stripping the Bounty, Christian ordered it burned. The British navy never looked for them there but they were discovered in 1806 by a whaling vessel that saw smoke from a cooking fire. In 1825 a British ship finally arrived at tiny Pitcairn and those remaining crewmembers were granted amnesty and were taken to Tahiti. After a few year they decided that they had rather be at Pitcairn and went back home. To this day there are about 40 people on Pitcairn all of which can trace their ancestry to the British crewman of the Bounty. By the way, this was not the only mutiny Bligh had to endure, this one was the third. What a great leader.
1945 On the date the Fascist Leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini was caught trying to cross the Italian border into Switzerland with his mistress Clara Petacci and both were shot to death by Italian troops. This jackass had sided with Hitler early on and was hoping to bring Italy back to the glory of ancient Rome. The only problem here was that the present day Italian infantry were the worst fighter on the planet and Hitler was constantly having to bail them out an the smallest conflict. After the Allies landed on Sicily and Italy soon after and met with success against the defending Germans, although it was a bloody one, Mussolini saw that his days were numbered. It was then that he gathered up his girl friend and split for Switzerland. Mussolini had a wife and 6 children and apparently he just abandoned then to whatever the Allies chose to do with them. What a great husband and father. Anyway, after Mussolini and Petracci were killed they were transported to the town square of Milan and hanged upside down for all to see, spit upon and throw rocks at, etc. He was an arrogant bastard.
1955 On this date little Stephanie Bryan disappears from her neighborhood in Berkeley, California. The police were about to write this one off when something peculiar happened. The wife of one Burton Abbot found a strange pocketbook in their garage. After looking inside she found Stephanie’s student identification card and knowing the cops were looking for her gave them a call. The cops swarmed down on the garage and found a bra that same size and type of that worn by Stephanie. They interviewed Burton extensively but he denied everything and said that his garage had been used as a polling place in the past and that is where the evidence came from. The police were about to buy Abbot’s story then a radio news reporter hired a detective and a bloodhound and went to the Abbot’s mountain cabin and found the corpse of little Stephanie. Abbot was tried and convicted of murder and was sentenced to death. Abbot appealed his death penalty unsuccessfully several time but he was one too short when he was sitting in a chair when some pellets were dropped into a pan of acid under his seat and he was dead in four minutes. Two minutes later the Governor called and tried to issue a stop execution order. Too bad.
Born today:
1758 US President James Monroe. He said “A little flattery will support a man over great fatigue.” Women too.
1874 Austrian writer Karl Kraus. He said “The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people worse that they are already.” Sound wisdom there, Karl.
1930 US statesman James Baker. When speaking of Michael Dukakis he said “He is the only man that can look at the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and complain that the swimsuits are not fire retardant.”
1934 US writer Diane Johnson. She said “Men are normally better law abiders than women and that comes from the women not having any say so in enacting the laws.” Not any longer, Diane. There are Nancy Pelosi, Hilary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, etc. Even though they should stay home and bake pies, they are out there making laws. Just joking
1950 US comic Jay Leno. He said “You can say want you want but when Dan Quayle was in the National Guard, not one Viet Cong got past Muncie, Indiana.”
1945 Italian leader Benito Mussolini. He said “Basically the history of saints is the history of insane people.” Don’t we have a pot and a kettle here, Benito?
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Men marry because they are tired, women because they are curious, both are disappointed.”
Oscar Wilde
I guess all of you know that the state of Arizona has clamped down on illegal aliens, especially Latinos from Mexico and other Central American countries. The Governor of Arizona stated that the state is fed up with the Mexican drug cartels setting up shop in Arizona along with a rash of faked auto crashes on their freeways and law suits being filed by illegal aliens for injuries along with kidnappings. I don’t know what the problem is. If an American goes to any other foreign country he/she must produce a Passport or a work Visa as proof of citizenship. The damned Latinos don’t want to do that. Is it fair that American must have proof of citizenship and they do not? It is federal law that anyone entering this country MUST have proof of citizenship…deal with it and quit you freaking whining. If you don’t, you must expect legal retribution…better still stay your bloodsucking ass out of my country.
Up in Obama’s home town of Chicago there were 138 homicides last week. Over in Iraq/Afghanistan there were 116 American soldiers killed last week. There is something wrong with that picture.
Over the weekend a blistering cold front stomped across the southeast kicking off thunderstorms and tornadoes. The hardest hit was the area of Yazoo City, Mississippi. I have been to Yazoo City and it is on the east bank of the Mississippi River. Here in an interesting fact or two about this town. In addition to being a regular stop for CSA General Nathan Bedford, one of the CSA ironclad ships was build but not quit finished in Memphis. The Union came close to capturing Memphis so the Confederate Navy moved the ironclad into Yazoo Creek, near Yazoo City to complete construction. The ship was finally completed and set sail downstream to attack the Union Navy that was bombarding the city of Vicksburg, Ms. The ship was very successful and passed through the Union flotilla virtually untouched and inflicting heavy damage. Unfortunately, the ship accidentally ran aground and was destroyed to keep it out of Union hands.
Recently a good friend of mine fell off of her porch and fell head first onto a concrete walkway. Apparently she hit head first on her right forehead and then fell on her left arm. She was unconscious for a period of time and when she was able to get up she went to bed. As most of y’all know, a severe head injury should be looked at immediately because a skull fracture, concussion or a blood clot could result. She went to her doctor the next day who immediately sent her to the hospital for an MRI. A serious injury was not found but the result was two black eyes and a black and blue and very sore left arm. She is a very lucky person. Keep all this in mind if you have an accident resulting in a head injury.
That oil well off the coast of Louisiana that exploded a few days ago is leaking about four semi-trailer loads of crude a day in spite of the BOP (blowout preventer). The BOPs that I have seen is actually three valves in one. The valves are “knife gate” types. This means that when a surge in pressure is detected or the valve is manually activated, three sheets of thick steel one on top the other slam across the opening sealing it. Apparently, all of the valves did not close and some of the crude is leaking by. The BOP is over a mile deep at the point where the drill pipe enters the ocean bottom. They are trying to send robot dive machines down to close the BOP manually. We shall see.
This date in history April 27
4977BC It is on this is the date that German mathematician/astronomer Johann Kepler named as the date the Universe came into being. It was Kepler, Galileo and Copernicus that promoted the idea that it was the planets orbiting the sun rather that the Earth being the center of the Universe as taught by the all powerful Catholic Church. Kepler was correct in determining that the sun was the center of the “universe” but he was wrong in supposing the earth was created on April 27, 4977BC. Anyone can go out into their backyard and pick up a rock that is a million years old without a whole lot of trouble. Kepler was fortunate in that he was able to study with another genius astronomer in Nicholas Copernicus. Kepler also came up with laws of motion one of which is that the orbits of the planets are ellipses and tend to speed up when closest to the sun and slow down as the travel away from the sun. Another law was that ratio to how long a planet takes to orbit the sun as to its distance from the sun. Kepler was able to continue his research unhindered because he joined the brilliant Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague. Brahe died and left all of his writings and notes about observations Brahe had made with the naked eye. Kepler became the chief astronomer for Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. Kepler and Copernicus had been communicating with Galileo and found that Galileo had improved upon a telescope and Galileo had sent them instructions on how to make one of their own and indeed Kepler had a telescope made for him. Galileo was forced to recant any teaching about the earth orbiting the sun because the Pope did not see it that way and promised Galileo a life of torture if he didn’t recant. After the telescope a light came on in the mind of Kepler. It was Kepler that described in detail the operation of the human eye. Kepler died in Regensburg, Germany in 1630. Then 13 years later the sun rose over the scientific and mathematical community with the birth of Isaac Newton. Newton utilized many of Kepler’s theories in defining his own laws of motion that are still in use to this day. Even though Kepler made gigantic contributions to the scientific world, he was wrong about the age of the earth. Since the universally accepted beginning of the universe is the so-called “Big Bang” theory, Kepler was only off by a mere 13.7 billion years.
1805 For the past few years a powerful leader in the North African country of Tripoli had been sending raiders out of his ports to prey upon American merchant ships crossing the Mediterranean. US President Thomas Jefferson got a belly full of this and tasked a company of the recently formed US Marines to put a stop to it. An American mercenary named William Eaton was put in charge and formed up a company of Marines and a few Berber tribesmen and landed about 500 miles east of Tripolania (in present day Libya), as it was called then. Eaton led the small force to Tripolania and sent in the Marines under the command of Lieutenant Pressley O’Bannon to take care of business. And take care they did. The Marines attacked from the southeast in two columns and two US gun ships in the Mediterranean, the USS Argus and the USS Hornet, open fire from the north. It was all over but the shouting in very short order when the Tripolania leader, Hemet Karamanli, had his ass handed to him by the Marines. Karmanli was so impressed with the bravery of Lieutenant O’Bannon that he presented him with a fancy-schmantsy sword that every Marine sword to this day is modeled after. It was from this expedition that the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” appears in the Marine Corp Hymn. By the way, the frequency of attacks on American shipping in the Mediterranean dropped precipitously.
1865 Just a few days after the end of the Civil War one of the worst marine disasters in history occurs. The steamboat Sultana had departed New Orleans headed for Cairo, Illinois via the Mississippi River. The Captain of the ship was offered money per person by the US Army to take Union soldiers that were in the south at the end of the war, especially those poor souls that endured the Andersonville Prison, back up north an let them off in Cairo. The Captain saw dollar signs and began loading more and more soldiers aboard his vessel at each stop. After a while he was more than doubly overloaded. His chief mechanic came and told the Captain that the steam boiler had a leak in the plating and they needed to stop, bleed off the steam and make repairs. The Captain could not see anything but dollar signs and ordered a temporary repair and he continued up the river. The temporary repair was made and on they went with about 2,100 people aboard on a boat made for 1,100 passengers and crew. Just above Memphis the Sultana’s boiler explodes and all but 400 are either scalded to death in the steam or drown in the swift river which was just under flood stage after heavy rains. Nearly all of the victims were Union soldiers from Andersonville prison.
1521 Earlier the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan had departed Spain in the search for a westward passage to the Molucca, or Spice Islands. He sailed south to West Africa, crossed over to South America and began searching for a passage west. He searched several South American rivers to no avail and finally he found a passage near the tip of South America that is named for him to this day, the Straights of Magellan. It took 38 days to make passage but Magellan wept when he sailed out onto the broad Pacific knowing he had succeeded. His first stop was Guam and just in the nick of time because the crews of the remaining two ships were near starvation. From there he sailed to the Philippines just 400 miles from the Moluccas. While in the Philippines he met with a friendly tribesman that requested his help in suppressing another nearby village that had been raiding his village. Magellan foolishly agreed. So the raiders appeared and Magellan took a poison dart in the leg and was dead in a matter of hours. Here he was, had sailed ¾ of the way around the world and is killed by a poison dart. Anyway, his navigator took command and sailed to the Moluccas, loaded spices to the gunnels, and sailed across the Indian Ocean, around the tip of Africa and back to Spain. This was one of the most important expeditions ever undertaken. It was too bad that Magellan was not there to accept the accolades.
Born today:
1822 US General Ulysses Grant. He said “I only know two tunes, one is ‘Yankee Doodle’ and the other one isn’t.” Grant was successful because he knew he could win a war of attrition, the other generals before him did not realize this.
1896 US baseball Hall of Fame inductee Rogers Hornsby. He said “I don’t want to play golf. When I hit a ball I want somebody else to go chase it.” Me too.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Men marry because they are tired, women because they are curious, both are disappointed.”
Oscar Wilde
I guess all of you know that the state of Arizona has clamped down on illegal aliens, especially Latinos from Mexico and other Central American countries. The Governor of Arizona stated that the state is fed up with the Mexican drug cartels setting up shop in Arizona along with a rash of faked auto crashes on their freeways and law suits being filed by illegal aliens for injuries along with kidnappings. I don’t know what the problem is. If an American goes to any other foreign country he/she must produce a Passport or a work Visa as proof of citizenship. The damned Latinos don’t want to do that. Is it fair that American must have proof of citizenship and they do not? It is federal law that anyone entering this country MUST have proof of citizenship…deal with it and quit you freaking whining. If you don’t, you must expect legal retribution…better still stay your bloodsucking ass out of my country.
Up in Obama’s home town of Chicago there were 138 homicides last week. Over in Iraq/Afghanistan there were 116 American soldiers killed last week. There is something wrong with that picture.
Over the weekend a blistering cold front stomped across the southeast kicking off thunderstorms and tornadoes. The hardest hit was the area of Yazoo City, Mississippi. I have been to Yazoo City and it is on the east bank of the Mississippi River. Here in an interesting fact or two about this town. In addition to being a regular stop for CSA General Nathan Bedford, one of the CSA ironclad ships was build but not quit finished in Memphis. The Union came close to capturing Memphis so the Confederate Navy moved the ironclad into Yazoo Creek, near Yazoo City to complete construction. The ship was finally completed and set sail downstream to attack the Union Navy that was bombarding the city of Vicksburg, Ms. The ship was very successful and passed through the Union flotilla virtually untouched and inflicting heavy damage. Unfortunately, the ship accidentally ran aground and was destroyed to keep it out of Union hands.
Recently a good friend of mine fell off of her porch and fell head first onto a concrete walkway. Apparently she hit head first on her right forehead and then fell on her left arm. She was unconscious for a period of time and when she was able to get up she went to bed. As most of y’all know, a severe head injury should be looked at immediately because a skull fracture, concussion or a blood clot could result. She went to her doctor the next day who immediately sent her to the hospital for an MRI. A serious injury was not found but the result was two black eyes and a black and blue and very sore left arm. She is a very lucky person. Keep all this in mind if you have an accident resulting in a head injury.
That oil well off the coast of Louisiana that exploded a few days ago is leaking about four semi-trailer loads of crude a day in spite of the BOP (blowout preventer). The BOPs that I have seen is actually three valves in one. The valves are “knife gate” types. This means that when a surge in pressure is detected or the valve is manually activated, three sheets of thick steel one on top the other slam across the opening sealing it. Apparently, all of the valves did not close and some of the crude is leaking by. The BOP is over a mile deep at the point where the drill pipe enters the ocean bottom. They are trying to send robot dive machines down to close the BOP manually. We shall see.
This date in history April 27
4977BC It is on this is the date that German mathematician/astronomer Johann Kepler named as the date the Universe came into being. It was Kepler, Galileo and Copernicus that promoted the idea that it was the planets orbiting the sun rather that the Earth being the center of the Universe as taught by the all powerful Catholic Church. Kepler was correct in determining that the sun was the center of the “universe” but he was wrong in supposing the earth was created on April 27, 4977BC. Anyone can go out into their backyard and pick up a rock that is a million years old without a whole lot of trouble. Kepler was fortunate in that he was able to study with another genius astronomer in Nicholas Copernicus. Kepler also came up with laws of motion one of which is that the orbits of the planets are ellipses and tend to speed up when closest to the sun and slow down as the travel away from the sun. Another law was that ratio to how long a planet takes to orbit the sun as to its distance from the sun. Kepler was able to continue his research unhindered because he joined the brilliant Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague. Brahe died and left all of his writings and notes about observations Brahe had made with the naked eye. Kepler became the chief astronomer for Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. Kepler and Copernicus had been communicating with Galileo and found that Galileo had improved upon a telescope and Galileo had sent them instructions on how to make one of their own and indeed Kepler had a telescope made for him. Galileo was forced to recant any teaching about the earth orbiting the sun because the Pope did not see it that way and promised Galileo a life of torture if he didn’t recant. After the telescope a light came on in the mind of Kepler. It was Kepler that described in detail the operation of the human eye. Kepler died in Regensburg, Germany in 1630. Then 13 years later the sun rose over the scientific and mathematical community with the birth of Isaac Newton. Newton utilized many of Kepler’s theories in defining his own laws of motion that are still in use to this day. Even though Kepler made gigantic contributions to the scientific world, he was wrong about the age of the earth. Since the universally accepted beginning of the universe is the so-called “Big Bang” theory, Kepler was only off by a mere 13.7 billion years.
1805 For the past few years a powerful leader in the North African country of Tripoli had been sending raiders out of his ports to prey upon American merchant ships crossing the Mediterranean. US President Thomas Jefferson got a belly full of this and tasked a company of the recently formed US Marines to put a stop to it. An American mercenary named William Eaton was put in charge and formed up a company of Marines and a few Berber tribesmen and landed about 500 miles east of Tripolania (in present day Libya), as it was called then. Eaton led the small force to Tripolania and sent in the Marines under the command of Lieutenant Pressley O’Bannon to take care of business. And take care they did. The Marines attacked from the southeast in two columns and two US gun ships in the Mediterranean, the USS Argus and the USS Hornet, open fire from the north. It was all over but the shouting in very short order when the Tripolania leader, Hemet Karamanli, had his ass handed to him by the Marines. Karmanli was so impressed with the bravery of Lieutenant O’Bannon that he presented him with a fancy-schmantsy sword that every Marine sword to this day is modeled after. It was from this expedition that the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” appears in the Marine Corp Hymn. By the way, the frequency of attacks on American shipping in the Mediterranean dropped precipitously.
1865 Just a few days after the end of the Civil War one of the worst marine disasters in history occurs. The steamboat Sultana had departed New Orleans headed for Cairo, Illinois via the Mississippi River. The Captain of the ship was offered money per person by the US Army to take Union soldiers that were in the south at the end of the war, especially those poor souls that endured the Andersonville Prison, back up north an let them off in Cairo. The Captain saw dollar signs and began loading more and more soldiers aboard his vessel at each stop. After a while he was more than doubly overloaded. His chief mechanic came and told the Captain that the steam boiler had a leak in the plating and they needed to stop, bleed off the steam and make repairs. The Captain could not see anything but dollar signs and ordered a temporary repair and he continued up the river. The temporary repair was made and on they went with about 2,100 people aboard on a boat made for 1,100 passengers and crew. Just above Memphis the Sultana’s boiler explodes and all but 400 are either scalded to death in the steam or drown in the swift river which was just under flood stage after heavy rains. Nearly all of the victims were Union soldiers from Andersonville prison.
1521 Earlier the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan had departed Spain in the search for a westward passage to the Molucca, or Spice Islands. He sailed south to West Africa, crossed over to South America and began searching for a passage west. He searched several South American rivers to no avail and finally he found a passage near the tip of South America that is named for him to this day, the Straights of Magellan. It took 38 days to make passage but Magellan wept when he sailed out onto the broad Pacific knowing he had succeeded. His first stop was Guam and just in the nick of time because the crews of the remaining two ships were near starvation. From there he sailed to the Philippines just 400 miles from the Moluccas. While in the Philippines he met with a friendly tribesman that requested his help in suppressing another nearby village that had been raiding his village. Magellan foolishly agreed. So the raiders appeared and Magellan took a poison dart in the leg and was dead in a matter of hours. Here he was, had sailed ¾ of the way around the world and is killed by a poison dart. Anyway, his navigator took command and sailed to the Moluccas, loaded spices to the gunnels, and sailed across the Indian Ocean, around the tip of Africa and back to Spain. This was one of the most important expeditions ever undertaken. It was too bad that Magellan was not there to accept the accolades.
Born today:
1822 US General Ulysses Grant. He said “I only know two tunes, one is ‘Yankee Doodle’ and the other one isn’t.” Grant was successful because he knew he could win a war of attrition, the other generals before him did not realize this.
1896 US baseball Hall of Fame inductee Rogers Hornsby. He said “I don’t want to play golf. When I hit a ball I want somebody else to go chase it.” Me too.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Monday, April 26, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I deal with it.”
Robert Maxwell
As some of you may or may not know the State of South Carolina has a Confederate flag on display on the capitol grounds. On occasion a non-native will get an editorial published in the local newspaper citing that they are ”embarrassed” because some "prestigious companies" will not come to South Carolina because of it. In South Carolina we have some companies like Lockheed-Martin, BMW, Michelin, Boeing and many, many others that do not have a problem with it but this non-entity in the piney woods of northwestern South Carolina wants the flag removed and that we should quit “flag-worshipping” and forget the past and look to the future.
Let’s me think, what things from the past should we forget? How about Jamestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Valley Forge, Ticonderoga, Montreal, Yorktown, Saratoga, the creation of the Constitution of the United States, Tripoli, New Orleans and Andrew Jackson, 680,000 Americans that died between 1861 and 1865 which is more Americans that were killed in all other wars combined, San Juan Hill, Belleau Wood, The Marne, Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Bastogne, Huertgen Forest, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Okinawa, New Guinea, Dachau, Belsen, Buchenwald and many other Nazi death camps, Chosin Reservoir, Pusan, La Trang Valley, Khe Sanh, Fallujah and many other nasty fights that we never hear of. Here is a message to the non-entity in the piney woods of northwestern South Carolina. You have your opinion about the disposition of the Confederate flag and I, along with thousands of others, have ours. I would rather remember the bravery, courage and the viability of the human spirit and that is what the Confederate flag reminds me to do. I will stay warm with my knowledge of the past and you can continue to wallow in your ignorance. Hey dummy, if the flag offends you don’t look at it.
Recently the city of Columbia, South Carolina elected the first black man as mayor. The next morning he was on his way to be interviewed when he was involved in an automobile accident. He collided with another car at an intersection. He was not hurt but the other person was seriously injured. There were several witnesses that stated the Mayor did not have his car lights on. It was about 5:30a and still dark. This is not a good way to start your tenure mister Mayor.
A friend of mine is a dedicated atheist. He recently stated that all those people on Facebook that are using this site for a gathering place to pray for the death of Obama should be disallowed from doing so. Let me understand this. You do not believe in God but you do not want others praying to an entity that you do not believe exists. It seems to me that you should watch with glee as others waste their time in this religious undertaking. I have never seen anything like that on my end of Facebook.
This date in history April 26
1986 Near a small village 65 miles north of Kiev, Ukraine the world was awakened to the possible dangers of nuclear power plants. The four reactor power facility at Chernobyl experienced the worst nuclear accident in history. Electrical engineers decided to perform an experiment on reactor #4. They wanted to see if the gigantic turbine could power the emergency pumps with inertia alone. These guys had hardly any experience with nuclear power and their experiment was not well thought out. Then a series of mistakes occurred. The engineers shut down all the emergency systems and reduced the power level in the reactor to where the nuclear reaction was unstable. So these geniuses decide that they should withdraw many of the control rods to heat up the reactor. They then continue with their experiment by disconnecting the turbine from its power source and waited to see of the now wind milling turbine could power the emergency pumps. It did not work; the pumps would not operate in that fashion. They finally realize that the reactor was on the edge of being out of control and slam nearly 200 control rods back into the reactor simultaneously causing an immense explosion and fire. A deadly cloud of radioactivity rises up and heads northwest. The Russian government originally tried to cover up this disaster but it was just a matter of hours that stations in Scandinavia began reporting radioactivity levels 200 times higher than normal so they knew something had happened. It was estimated that 50 tons of highly radioactive debris was blown into the atmosphere. The Russian immediately evacuated 30,000 people but not before 32 had died almost instantly and about 5,000 Russians died of cancer as a result of contact with the radioactivity. Needless to say there was hardly any way to get firefighters into that inferno with any degree of safety so the Russians asked for volunteers to go in and put the fire out and informed them that there was no doubt that they would die of radiation poisoning but the Russian government would take care of their families. So a group of walking dead firemen went in and put the fire out. Eventually the entire power plant was closed but there is a defined perimeter around that plant site that is uninhabitable to this day. By the way, all the firemen died.
1865 After killing US President Abraham Lincoln, actor John Wilkes Booth jumped down on the stage of the Ford Theater and yelled “Thus to all tyrants” except he yelled it in Latin. Booth broke his leg in the jump but was able to make his way out the back door to an awaiting horse and his fellow conspirator David Herold and they made good their escape southbound. Booth and Herold have no problem getting help because Maryland was a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers. He stopped at the home of a Dr. Mudd to get his leg set and the good doctor set and splinted Booth’s leg. Booth and Herold stayed on the run for 12 days and stopped by a farm and asked the farmer if they could sleep in his barn. The farmer agreed but after they were inside the farmer sent his son out to lock the barn door so his horses would not be stolen. As you might suspect, the countryside was swarming with Federal troops looking for these two. The funny part is that the soldiers would not exchange information with each other because there was a $20,000 reward on Booths head. Anyway, on this date a group of Federal troops figure out that Booth and Herold are in the barn, surround it, and demand their surrender. Herold surrenders only to be hanged soon thereafter. Booth refuses to surrender and the barn is set aflame to drive Booth out. Not only did the troopers set the barn on fire, they asked Herold where Booth was in the barn. They then fired fusillade of gunfire into that area of the barn killing Booth before the barn is consumed. By the way, Dr Mudd was captured as being part of the conspiracy but was released later when it became apparent that he was not.
1798 Future mountain man James Beckwourth is born on a plantation near Fredericksburg, Virginia the issue of a white man and a black slave woman. James was a slave also and ended up in St. Louis where his owner emancipated him. He joined in the third fur trapping expedition organized by William Ashley. James was green as grass when it came to surviving in the Rocky Mountains and he leaned heavily on others until he was educated. He developed a good relationship with the Crow Indians and eventually gave up his white man ways and moved in with the Crows and had several wives and children. Later on he hired himself out as a guide and scout for the US Cavalry and participated in the Seminole War. Beckwourth was a participant in the notorious Sand Creek Massacre where a whole village of peaceful Cheyenne was wiped out simply because they were Indians. After this James moved back in with the Crows. Beckwourth was a notorious braggart and liar especially about himself. In fact the date he gave for his birth date is in question. Some western writers say he was born in 1800. In any event he died in 1867 and some say he was buried in an unmarked grave near Denver and others say he died while with the Crows and they buried him in typical Crow fashion, on a platform in a tree and left to decompose into a skeleton. The Crows believed that it was an honor to be buried “in the sky”.
1865 On this date the Confederate Army in the Carolinas commanded by CSA General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to US General William T. Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina. This essentially was the last organized army in the Confederacy. That is all I have to say about that.
Born today:
1599 English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. He said “Do not trust the cheering crowd. They would cheer just as loud if you were being taken to the gallows.” Speaking of the gallows, here is an interesting story about Cromwell. He was part of the crowd that overthrew the King of England, Charles I, and the king was beheaded. Cromwell became the “protector” of England making him essentially the king. Cromwell eventually died and Charles II, the son of Charles I, was made king. Charles II was really pissed about his father being beheaded and had Cromwell’s corpse dug up and hanged even though he had been in the ground for 11 years.
1889 American blues singer “Ma” Rainey. One of her songs read “If you don’t like my ocean, don’t fish in my sea....Stay out of my valley and let my mountains be”. What a poet!
Died today:
1926 Swedish writer Ellen Key. She said “At every step the child should be allowed to meet the real experience of life; the thorns should not be plucked from his roses.” She is right. The best teacher in the world is getting your brains beat out.
1726 English Bishop Jeremy Collier. He said “Belief gets in the way of learning” Indeed it does. That is why religion has no place in academia.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I deal with it.”
Robert Maxwell
As some of you may or may not know the State of South Carolina has a Confederate flag on display on the capitol grounds. On occasion a non-native will get an editorial published in the local newspaper citing that they are ”embarrassed” because some "prestigious companies" will not come to South Carolina because of it. In South Carolina we have some companies like Lockheed-Martin, BMW, Michelin, Boeing and many, many others that do not have a problem with it but this non-entity in the piney woods of northwestern South Carolina wants the flag removed and that we should quit “flag-worshipping” and forget the past and look to the future.
Let’s me think, what things from the past should we forget? How about Jamestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Valley Forge, Ticonderoga, Montreal, Yorktown, Saratoga, the creation of the Constitution of the United States, Tripoli, New Orleans and Andrew Jackson, 680,000 Americans that died between 1861 and 1865 which is more Americans that were killed in all other wars combined, San Juan Hill, Belleau Wood, The Marne, Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Bastogne, Huertgen Forest, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Okinawa, New Guinea, Dachau, Belsen, Buchenwald and many other Nazi death camps, Chosin Reservoir, Pusan, La Trang Valley, Khe Sanh, Fallujah and many other nasty fights that we never hear of. Here is a message to the non-entity in the piney woods of northwestern South Carolina. You have your opinion about the disposition of the Confederate flag and I, along with thousands of others, have ours. I would rather remember the bravery, courage and the viability of the human spirit and that is what the Confederate flag reminds me to do. I will stay warm with my knowledge of the past and you can continue to wallow in your ignorance. Hey dummy, if the flag offends you don’t look at it.
Recently the city of Columbia, South Carolina elected the first black man as mayor. The next morning he was on his way to be interviewed when he was involved in an automobile accident. He collided with another car at an intersection. He was not hurt but the other person was seriously injured. There were several witnesses that stated the Mayor did not have his car lights on. It was about 5:30a and still dark. This is not a good way to start your tenure mister Mayor.
A friend of mine is a dedicated atheist. He recently stated that all those people on Facebook that are using this site for a gathering place to pray for the death of Obama should be disallowed from doing so. Let me understand this. You do not believe in God but you do not want others praying to an entity that you do not believe exists. It seems to me that you should watch with glee as others waste their time in this religious undertaking. I have never seen anything like that on my end of Facebook.
This date in history April 26
1986 Near a small village 65 miles north of Kiev, Ukraine the world was awakened to the possible dangers of nuclear power plants. The four reactor power facility at Chernobyl experienced the worst nuclear accident in history. Electrical engineers decided to perform an experiment on reactor #4. They wanted to see if the gigantic turbine could power the emergency pumps with inertia alone. These guys had hardly any experience with nuclear power and their experiment was not well thought out. Then a series of mistakes occurred. The engineers shut down all the emergency systems and reduced the power level in the reactor to where the nuclear reaction was unstable. So these geniuses decide that they should withdraw many of the control rods to heat up the reactor. They then continue with their experiment by disconnecting the turbine from its power source and waited to see of the now wind milling turbine could power the emergency pumps. It did not work; the pumps would not operate in that fashion. They finally realize that the reactor was on the edge of being out of control and slam nearly 200 control rods back into the reactor simultaneously causing an immense explosion and fire. A deadly cloud of radioactivity rises up and heads northwest. The Russian government originally tried to cover up this disaster but it was just a matter of hours that stations in Scandinavia began reporting radioactivity levels 200 times higher than normal so they knew something had happened. It was estimated that 50 tons of highly radioactive debris was blown into the atmosphere. The Russian immediately evacuated 30,000 people but not before 32 had died almost instantly and about 5,000 Russians died of cancer as a result of contact with the radioactivity. Needless to say there was hardly any way to get firefighters into that inferno with any degree of safety so the Russians asked for volunteers to go in and put the fire out and informed them that there was no doubt that they would die of radiation poisoning but the Russian government would take care of their families. So a group of walking dead firemen went in and put the fire out. Eventually the entire power plant was closed but there is a defined perimeter around that plant site that is uninhabitable to this day. By the way, all the firemen died.
1865 After killing US President Abraham Lincoln, actor John Wilkes Booth jumped down on the stage of the Ford Theater and yelled “Thus to all tyrants” except he yelled it in Latin. Booth broke his leg in the jump but was able to make his way out the back door to an awaiting horse and his fellow conspirator David Herold and they made good their escape southbound. Booth and Herold have no problem getting help because Maryland was a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers. He stopped at the home of a Dr. Mudd to get his leg set and the good doctor set and splinted Booth’s leg. Booth and Herold stayed on the run for 12 days and stopped by a farm and asked the farmer if they could sleep in his barn. The farmer agreed but after they were inside the farmer sent his son out to lock the barn door so his horses would not be stolen. As you might suspect, the countryside was swarming with Federal troops looking for these two. The funny part is that the soldiers would not exchange information with each other because there was a $20,000 reward on Booths head. Anyway, on this date a group of Federal troops figure out that Booth and Herold are in the barn, surround it, and demand their surrender. Herold surrenders only to be hanged soon thereafter. Booth refuses to surrender and the barn is set aflame to drive Booth out. Not only did the troopers set the barn on fire, they asked Herold where Booth was in the barn. They then fired fusillade of gunfire into that area of the barn killing Booth before the barn is consumed. By the way, Dr Mudd was captured as being part of the conspiracy but was released later when it became apparent that he was not.
1798 Future mountain man James Beckwourth is born on a plantation near Fredericksburg, Virginia the issue of a white man and a black slave woman. James was a slave also and ended up in St. Louis where his owner emancipated him. He joined in the third fur trapping expedition organized by William Ashley. James was green as grass when it came to surviving in the Rocky Mountains and he leaned heavily on others until he was educated. He developed a good relationship with the Crow Indians and eventually gave up his white man ways and moved in with the Crows and had several wives and children. Later on he hired himself out as a guide and scout for the US Cavalry and participated in the Seminole War. Beckwourth was a participant in the notorious Sand Creek Massacre where a whole village of peaceful Cheyenne was wiped out simply because they were Indians. After this James moved back in with the Crows. Beckwourth was a notorious braggart and liar especially about himself. In fact the date he gave for his birth date is in question. Some western writers say he was born in 1800. In any event he died in 1867 and some say he was buried in an unmarked grave near Denver and others say he died while with the Crows and they buried him in typical Crow fashion, on a platform in a tree and left to decompose into a skeleton. The Crows believed that it was an honor to be buried “in the sky”.
1865 On this date the Confederate Army in the Carolinas commanded by CSA General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to US General William T. Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina. This essentially was the last organized army in the Confederacy. That is all I have to say about that.
Born today:
1599 English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. He said “Do not trust the cheering crowd. They would cheer just as loud if you were being taken to the gallows.” Speaking of the gallows, here is an interesting story about Cromwell. He was part of the crowd that overthrew the King of England, Charles I, and the king was beheaded. Cromwell became the “protector” of England making him essentially the king. Cromwell eventually died and Charles II, the son of Charles I, was made king. Charles II was really pissed about his father being beheaded and had Cromwell’s corpse dug up and hanged even though he had been in the ground for 11 years.
1889 American blues singer “Ma” Rainey. One of her songs read “If you don’t like my ocean, don’t fish in my sea....Stay out of my valley and let my mountains be”. What a poet!
Died today:
1926 Swedish writer Ellen Key. She said “At every step the child should be allowed to meet the real experience of life; the thorns should not be plucked from his roses.” She is right. The best teacher in the world is getting your brains beat out.
1726 English Bishop Jeremy Collier. He said “Belief gets in the way of learning” Indeed it does. That is why religion has no place in academia.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“When once you see the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved one, you know that man has no other vocation that to awaken that light in the faces of others.”
Albert Camus
Some friends and I watched the NFL draft on Thursday night. To no one’s surprise the number one pick was Sam Bradford, a quarterback from the University of Oklahoma who went to the St. Louis Rams, and it also was not surprise that C.J. Spillers from Clemson was picked number 9 by the Seattle Seahawks. But what was definitely a surprise was Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, a quarterback from the University of Florida, was picked number 25 by the Denver Broncos ahead of highly touted quarterbacks Colt McCoy of the University of Texas and Jimmy Clausen of the university of Notre Dame. Tebow was interviewed later and his exuberance was obvious when he said that he would play any position they wanted with all his heart and ability and would not get into any trouble. I think he was pointing toward Big Ben with that statement.
As some of y’all may or may not know the state of Arizona has stood up on their hind legs and told everyone where they are coming from. The state legislature passed a law stating that before anyone can be on a presidential election ballot in the state of Arizona they must produce a valid birth certificate showing that he/she was born on American soil as required by the United States Constitution. The state legislature obviously thinks our President is a poser. I was astounded to discover the number of people that did not know that to be the President of the United States you must be born on American soil.
About a year ago the Arizona passed a law stating that if any company operating in the state is found using illegal immigrants they would be voided from doing any business with the state of Arizona. After this was passed hundred of companies using illegal immigrants began laying them off and a vast exodus back into Mexico and Central America was begun by the Latinos.
Arizona has pending legislation that allows law enforcement to stop anyone or enter any home they think may contain an illegal alien and demand documentation. That may be "over the top", y'all, it is periously close to illegal search and seizure.
Something happened Wednesday that neither I nor the majority of the population believed would ever happen. General Motors announced that they had paid back the loan with interest they received in the so-called “bailout” and did it five years early. Maybe there is a God after all.
Over in west side of Greenville a man approached his father for a loan and an argument ensued in the back yard. The argument escalated into a shouting match and the man’s sister came out and tried to break it up and was promptly knocked down and pummeled by her brother. At this point the father pulls a hogleg and shoots his son in the chest. This did not totally disable the man and he went into the father’s house and began breaking windows. The cops arrived and the man surrendered immediately. He is a brave devil isn’t he? Anyway, the man and his sister was taken to the hospital, treated and released. The man was immediately arrested and charged with attack with violence and malicious damage. There are some people out there that are just plain mean.
This date in history April 24
1916 On this date the so-called Easter Rebellion erupted in Dublin, Ireland. The rebellion was headed by James Connolly and Patrick Pearse along with 14 others. After centuries of repressive English control who favored Protestants and past unfair and prejudicial laws against the Catholics, a rebellion arose. The rebellion was successful at first when the followers of Connolly and Pearse were able to capture the British headquarters and the central post office in Dublin. From this position Connolly and Pearse declared that Ireland was no longer a vassal of England and was free. And they were free, for a little while anyway, until the British army and Navy showed up and crushed the rebellion. Pearse, Connolly and the other 14 were rounded up and hanged. But all that did was to drive the Catholics underground and they established a guerilla organization known now as the Irish Republican Army. The Catholics in Ireland had plenty to bitch about. It was almost an impossibility for a Catholic to gain public office. And a few years earlier during the great potato famine in 1846-1848 thousands of Irish Catholics starved to death while the Protestants survived with government assistance. Eventually all of Ireland became free and operated as an independent country, except Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is in the Northeast corner of Ireland and contains the ancestors of the Scot Protestants that were brought over by English King James I in the early 1600’s to dilute the Catholics in Ireland that had been rebellious for centuries. James founded five shires (counties) in Ireland and called it Ulster and imported Scottish lords and their tenant farmer and gave them the land which previously had been owned by Irish Catholics farmers and the Catholic Church. Needless to say, even more animosity was raised. It is that small section of Ireland known as Northern Ireland that is the problem. When the time came to vote to be independent the good people of Northern Ireland voted to stay under the wing of Great Britain which meant that the British army would on premises all the time there. The IRA hit the roof and there has been bloodshed between the British army and the IRA ever since. Actually there are two wars. The British army and the IRA and also between the Protestants (brought over to Ireland by James I) and the Irish Catholics and they have been squabbling ever since over who is going to hold political influence over the other. It has been this way for four hundred years and I see no end to it. By the way, Dublin was originally established as a waypoint village by the Vikings.
1781 On this date British General William Phillips accompanied by former American Colonel and now traitor British General Benedict Arnold along with 2,500 troops land at a spot on the James River with the intentions of attacking the Patriot encampment at Petersburg, Virginia. Fortunately the 1,000 encamped Patriots were commanded by that superb Prussian General Baron Von Steuben. Von Steuben knew he would not be able to hold his own being as outnumbered as he was so he began a slow and skillful retreat which gave the other encampments to time to deploy to the best advantage and Phillip’s attack ground to a halt, especially when he died of typhus a month later.
1863 On this date a German immigrant to the United States name Francis Lieber began writing notes about the treatment of prisoner-of-war. He had three sons, one of which joined the Confederacy and was killed at Shiloh. The other two sons fought for the Union and survived the war. After Lieber had finished his notes he compiled it into a pamphlet and presented it to US General of the Army Henry Halleck. Halleck was impressed and presented it to Lincoln and other officials of foreign countries. Lieber’s pamphlet became the basis for what is now known as the Geneva Convention whereby all signatories agree to treat their prisoners-of-war equally. It did not help in Vietnam because North Vietnam was not a signatory to the Geneva Convention and not only that North Vietnam did not consider themselves at war with the United States, they considered themselves at war with South Vietnam and the United States was a bunch of mercenaries. They may have been right.
1945 In 1939 US President Franklin Roosevelt had a meeting with Danish physicist Niels Bohr who stated that he believed the Germans were on the right track for the creation of an atomic bomb in a few short years and Roosevelt heard the same thing from Albert Einstein. It was then that Roosevelt tasked US General Leslie Grove with assembling a scientific community in total secrecy to formulate an atomic weapon. Grove chose the remote desert outpost of Los Alamos, New Mexico and hand picked the brilliant but eccentric nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to be lead scientist. Oppenheimer’s politics was way to the left and he might have been a Communist but he had the brains to get this job done and hand picked a staff to do the research. Roosevelt did not tell his Vice-President, Harry Truman about the project for fear of a leak to the press. After Roosevelt died, on this date Secretary of War Henry Stimson had no choice but to brief Truman on the “Manhattan Project” as the project to build the bomb was known. Truman was coming home from a meeting with Churchill, Stalin and himself when on July 16 he got word that “Trinity” was a success. Trinity was the code word for the testing of a nuclear weapon. Truman knew that they only had enough nuclear material for three bombs and they had already used one of them in this test. Truman responded that Stimson was free to use the bomb after August 2. Truman had negotiations that would end on that date. The first nuclear weapon used in anger was dropped of Hiroshima of August 6 and on Nagasaki on August 8. The Japanese government surrendered on August 14. The nuclear weapon attacks had a lot to do with the surrender but the Russians preparing to cross the Sea of Japan an attack Japans northern Islands was the convincer.
Born today:
1862 English writer A. C. Benson. He said “I hate authority, especially someone else’s authority.” Me too, that is why I did not do well in the military
1911 US comic Jack E. Leonard when speaking to Ed Sullivan he said “There is nothing about you that reincarnation won’t cure.”
1934 US actress Shirley MacLaine. She said “I have been cast as a hooker so many times that they don’t pay me the regular way anymore; they just leave it on the dresser.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“When once you see the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved one, you know that man has no other vocation that to awaken that light in the faces of others.”
Albert Camus
Some friends and I watched the NFL draft on Thursday night. To no one’s surprise the number one pick was Sam Bradford, a quarterback from the University of Oklahoma who went to the St. Louis Rams, and it also was not surprise that C.J. Spillers from Clemson was picked number 9 by the Seattle Seahawks. But what was definitely a surprise was Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, a quarterback from the University of Florida, was picked number 25 by the Denver Broncos ahead of highly touted quarterbacks Colt McCoy of the University of Texas and Jimmy Clausen of the university of Notre Dame. Tebow was interviewed later and his exuberance was obvious when he said that he would play any position they wanted with all his heart and ability and would not get into any trouble. I think he was pointing toward Big Ben with that statement.
As some of y’all may or may not know the state of Arizona has stood up on their hind legs and told everyone where they are coming from. The state legislature passed a law stating that before anyone can be on a presidential election ballot in the state of Arizona they must produce a valid birth certificate showing that he/she was born on American soil as required by the United States Constitution. The state legislature obviously thinks our President is a poser. I was astounded to discover the number of people that did not know that to be the President of the United States you must be born on American soil.
About a year ago the Arizona passed a law stating that if any company operating in the state is found using illegal immigrants they would be voided from doing any business with the state of Arizona. After this was passed hundred of companies using illegal immigrants began laying them off and a vast exodus back into Mexico and Central America was begun by the Latinos.
Arizona has pending legislation that allows law enforcement to stop anyone or enter any home they think may contain an illegal alien and demand documentation. That may be "over the top", y'all, it is periously close to illegal search and seizure.
Something happened Wednesday that neither I nor the majority of the population believed would ever happen. General Motors announced that they had paid back the loan with interest they received in the so-called “bailout” and did it five years early. Maybe there is a God after all.
Over in west side of Greenville a man approached his father for a loan and an argument ensued in the back yard. The argument escalated into a shouting match and the man’s sister came out and tried to break it up and was promptly knocked down and pummeled by her brother. At this point the father pulls a hogleg and shoots his son in the chest. This did not totally disable the man and he went into the father’s house and began breaking windows. The cops arrived and the man surrendered immediately. He is a brave devil isn’t he? Anyway, the man and his sister was taken to the hospital, treated and released. The man was immediately arrested and charged with attack with violence and malicious damage. There are some people out there that are just plain mean.
This date in history April 24
1916 On this date the so-called Easter Rebellion erupted in Dublin, Ireland. The rebellion was headed by James Connolly and Patrick Pearse along with 14 others. After centuries of repressive English control who favored Protestants and past unfair and prejudicial laws against the Catholics, a rebellion arose. The rebellion was successful at first when the followers of Connolly and Pearse were able to capture the British headquarters and the central post office in Dublin. From this position Connolly and Pearse declared that Ireland was no longer a vassal of England and was free. And they were free, for a little while anyway, until the British army and Navy showed up and crushed the rebellion. Pearse, Connolly and the other 14 were rounded up and hanged. But all that did was to drive the Catholics underground and they established a guerilla organization known now as the Irish Republican Army. The Catholics in Ireland had plenty to bitch about. It was almost an impossibility for a Catholic to gain public office. And a few years earlier during the great potato famine in 1846-1848 thousands of Irish Catholics starved to death while the Protestants survived with government assistance. Eventually all of Ireland became free and operated as an independent country, except Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is in the Northeast corner of Ireland and contains the ancestors of the Scot Protestants that were brought over by English King James I in the early 1600’s to dilute the Catholics in Ireland that had been rebellious for centuries. James founded five shires (counties) in Ireland and called it Ulster and imported Scottish lords and their tenant farmer and gave them the land which previously had been owned by Irish Catholics farmers and the Catholic Church. Needless to say, even more animosity was raised. It is that small section of Ireland known as Northern Ireland that is the problem. When the time came to vote to be independent the good people of Northern Ireland voted to stay under the wing of Great Britain which meant that the British army would on premises all the time there. The IRA hit the roof and there has been bloodshed between the British army and the IRA ever since. Actually there are two wars. The British army and the IRA and also between the Protestants (brought over to Ireland by James I) and the Irish Catholics and they have been squabbling ever since over who is going to hold political influence over the other. It has been this way for four hundred years and I see no end to it. By the way, Dublin was originally established as a waypoint village by the Vikings.
1781 On this date British General William Phillips accompanied by former American Colonel and now traitor British General Benedict Arnold along with 2,500 troops land at a spot on the James River with the intentions of attacking the Patriot encampment at Petersburg, Virginia. Fortunately the 1,000 encamped Patriots were commanded by that superb Prussian General Baron Von Steuben. Von Steuben knew he would not be able to hold his own being as outnumbered as he was so he began a slow and skillful retreat which gave the other encampments to time to deploy to the best advantage and Phillip’s attack ground to a halt, especially when he died of typhus a month later.
1863 On this date a German immigrant to the United States name Francis Lieber began writing notes about the treatment of prisoner-of-war. He had three sons, one of which joined the Confederacy and was killed at Shiloh. The other two sons fought for the Union and survived the war. After Lieber had finished his notes he compiled it into a pamphlet and presented it to US General of the Army Henry Halleck. Halleck was impressed and presented it to Lincoln and other officials of foreign countries. Lieber’s pamphlet became the basis for what is now known as the Geneva Convention whereby all signatories agree to treat their prisoners-of-war equally. It did not help in Vietnam because North Vietnam was not a signatory to the Geneva Convention and not only that North Vietnam did not consider themselves at war with the United States, they considered themselves at war with South Vietnam and the United States was a bunch of mercenaries. They may have been right.
1945 In 1939 US President Franklin Roosevelt had a meeting with Danish physicist Niels Bohr who stated that he believed the Germans were on the right track for the creation of an atomic bomb in a few short years and Roosevelt heard the same thing from Albert Einstein. It was then that Roosevelt tasked US General Leslie Grove with assembling a scientific community in total secrecy to formulate an atomic weapon. Grove chose the remote desert outpost of Los Alamos, New Mexico and hand picked the brilliant but eccentric nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to be lead scientist. Oppenheimer’s politics was way to the left and he might have been a Communist but he had the brains to get this job done and hand picked a staff to do the research. Roosevelt did not tell his Vice-President, Harry Truman about the project for fear of a leak to the press. After Roosevelt died, on this date Secretary of War Henry Stimson had no choice but to brief Truman on the “Manhattan Project” as the project to build the bomb was known. Truman was coming home from a meeting with Churchill, Stalin and himself when on July 16 he got word that “Trinity” was a success. Trinity was the code word for the testing of a nuclear weapon. Truman knew that they only had enough nuclear material for three bombs and they had already used one of them in this test. Truman responded that Stimson was free to use the bomb after August 2. Truman had negotiations that would end on that date. The first nuclear weapon used in anger was dropped of Hiroshima of August 6 and on Nagasaki on August 8. The Japanese government surrendered on August 14. The nuclear weapon attacks had a lot to do with the surrender but the Russians preparing to cross the Sea of Japan an attack Japans northern Islands was the convincer.
Born today:
1862 English writer A. C. Benson. He said “I hate authority, especially someone else’s authority.” Me too, that is why I did not do well in the military
1911 US comic Jack E. Leonard when speaking to Ed Sullivan he said “There is nothing about you that reincarnation won’t cure.”
1934 US actress Shirley MacLaine. She said “I have been cast as a hooker so many times that they don’t pay me the regular way anymore; they just leave it on the dresser.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”
Helen Keller
For the first time in history groups of Sherpa’s are going to climb Mount Everest and set up camp at the 26,000 foot level for the sole purpose of taking out the trash and debris left by previous climbers. The part of the mountain from the 26,000 foot level to the summit (29,060 feet) is known as the “death zone” and is where the majority of the trash and debris exists. Included in the cleaning will be the removal of the corpses of at least two know climber that died in the past. One of these is American Scott Fischer who died in 1998. Anyone that dies at this altitude is certainly going to stay intact because of the dryness of the air and the cold temperatures. What causes all the trash is the climbers see a need to carry food, shelter and oxygen tanks up the mountain with them. But they are so emaciated after the climb that they do not have the strength to bring their debris down with them, especially the oxygen tanks. The mountain doesn’t care; it has its own ways. It will let you live or not let you live, it does not matter.
A few months ago a 17 year old girl from Williamston, South Carolina (about 20 miles from Greenville) showed up missing. Her 37 year old mother filed a missing person report. A few days later the girl’s corpse was found in an abandoned house, she had been strangled. This murder is still under investigation. Two days ago the girl’s mother showed up missing, her corpse was found and she had been strangled also. I don’t know what is going on with this family but it is disconcerting to me.
I guess all of y’all read about President Obama being heckled at a fundraiser and lashed back angrily. The hecklers were Democrats that were advocates of equality for the gay community. The main bitch was that earlier the Federal Government had established the policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” for members of the gay community that were in the military. Obama had promised during his election campaign to change all of that. Everybody knows that it is not fair to expect a politician to make good on campaign promises, they are just a means to an end. Obama also said that he did not know the convicted criminal and ex-mayor Blagojevich of Chicago when there is a myriad of photos and other evidence with them together in at least an understanding if not collusion. It is this deception that makes me worry about my children’s future and y’all should too.
This date in history April 22
1886 On this date the state on Ohio passed a law against seduction. That’s right ya’ll, I said seduction. The law forbade any male over the age of 21 that was a teacher or instructor of women from having even consensual sex with women of any age that he was instructing. The penalty for breaking this statute was 2 to 10 years ion the slammer, believe it or not. This law was not unique. New York had a law that disallowed any male “from having illicit ‘connection’ with a previously chaste woman” if the man previously promised to marry said woman. Georgia’s version made it unlawful for men to “seduce a virtuous unmarried female and induce her into his ‘lustful’ embraces, and allow him to have carnal knowledge of her.” These laws were essentially ignored by law enforcement but on one occasion a man in Michigan was brought up on three counts with the same woman. The judge did his best to get all the charges dismissed because he knew the law was unenforceable. The last two of the charges were dismissed because the judge reasoned that after the first encounter the woman was no longer “virtuous”. The first encounter supposedly took place in a buggy and a doctor testified that penetration was not possible in a buggy so the first charge was dismissed. However some unscrupulous women would use this law to capture a husband. In one case in 1867 a man was on trial for seduction and was looking at 5 years in the slammer so he proposed to the woman that he had “seduced” and she accepted. A parson was retrieved the trial turned into a wedding ceremony. That ain’t fair, ya’ll.
1992 In spite of two weeks of warning with reports of foul smells in the center of Guadalajara, Mexico the local city government does nothing to discover the cause. On this date a gigantic, blocks long underground explosion occurs in the sewers killing 600 people and destroying thousands of houses. You guessed it; it was highly explosive methane gas from a broken sewer line. Twenty square blocks of Guadalajara were leveled or seriously damages. Holes were blown 300 feet deep swallowing entire buildings, street car and busses. The Mayor Enrique Dau Flores was indicted for ignoring the danger signals and the Federal Government went after PEMEX or the national petroleum corporation of Mexico. PEMEX had been dumping untreated corrosive materials down the sewer lines which ate holes in the pipes allowing sewer gas to escape. PEMEX was still reeling from a propane gas explosion earlier in Mexico City that killed 450. This latest disaster further accented the problem that Mexico has with industrial wastes and sewerage that exists to this day.
1889 At exactly 12:00 noon the legendary Oklahoma Land Rush begins. The United States Cavalry was present to ensure that no one left the demarcation line early. There were some that did anyway and were known as “Sooners” thus the name of the University of Oklahoma mascot. The Oklahoma territory was originally thought to be uninhabitable to Caucasians because of the aridity and the relative lack of water making the area not fit for farming. This made it ideal for reservation for the Native Americans like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache among others. Finally better farming techniques assures that the great plains could be farmed for grain and the Federal Government opened up the “Cherokee Strip” which basically was the majority of Oklahoma for homesteading beginning this day at 12 noon. All told between 50,000 and 60,000 settlers came into the area over a 24 hour period. Towns like Norman, Oklahoma City, Kingfisher and Guthrie were established and populated almost overnight. Did I mention that the already established Indian reservations were also over run? The settlers felt like the land owned by the Osage Indians was least arable and did not bother them. It was indeed not farmland but about 7,000 feet below the surface was an ocean of oil known as the Anadarko basin making the Osage Nation one of the wealthiest in the world.
1944 On this date Operation Persecution begins with the landing of allied troops in Hollandia, New Guinea. The Japanese held island was defended by 15,000 Japanese troops but they were mostly administrative types and not the savvy Japanese jungle fighters that had made themselves famous. But that did not stop the Japanese defenders from putting up a ferocious defense on spite of the ludicrous odds against them. Three months later the Japanese surrender with 12, 811 killed to 528 of the allies.
1945 On this date Adolph Hitler’s Generals tell him that there was no German defense offered against the advancing Russian army at the city Eberswalde about 30 miles south of Berlin. Hitler then admits that the war is lost and retreats to his underground bunker never to return to the surface alive.
Born today:
1707 English writer Henry Fielding. He said “Newspapers have the same number of words in them whether there is news or not.” Henry must have been reading the Greenville News, the Charlotte Observer or the Pensacola News-Journal.
1724 German Philosopher Immanuel Kant. He said “Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” Think on it, ya’ll.
1766 French writer Germaine Stael. She said “The desire of men is women; the desire of women is the desire of men.” Does this mean that all that women want is to be desired? Does that mean that diamonds are NOT a girl’s best friend? Does that mean that there is no need for flowers, fancy candlelight dinners, remembrance of anniversaries and birthdays, candy on Valentine’s Day, etc? Who the hell are you trying to kid, Germaine?
1904 US physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer when asked about Albert Einstein he said “Any man that it take 10 years to correct his mistakes is quite a genius.”
Died today:
1995 Gray Panther Maggie Kuhn. She said “The ultimate insult is to be handed a bedpan by someone that calls you by your first name.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”
Helen Keller
For the first time in history groups of Sherpa’s are going to climb Mount Everest and set up camp at the 26,000 foot level for the sole purpose of taking out the trash and debris left by previous climbers. The part of the mountain from the 26,000 foot level to the summit (29,060 feet) is known as the “death zone” and is where the majority of the trash and debris exists. Included in the cleaning will be the removal of the corpses of at least two know climber that died in the past. One of these is American Scott Fischer who died in 1998. Anyone that dies at this altitude is certainly going to stay intact because of the dryness of the air and the cold temperatures. What causes all the trash is the climbers see a need to carry food, shelter and oxygen tanks up the mountain with them. But they are so emaciated after the climb that they do not have the strength to bring their debris down with them, especially the oxygen tanks. The mountain doesn’t care; it has its own ways. It will let you live or not let you live, it does not matter.
A few months ago a 17 year old girl from Williamston, South Carolina (about 20 miles from Greenville) showed up missing. Her 37 year old mother filed a missing person report. A few days later the girl’s corpse was found in an abandoned house, she had been strangled. This murder is still under investigation. Two days ago the girl’s mother showed up missing, her corpse was found and she had been strangled also. I don’t know what is going on with this family but it is disconcerting to me.
I guess all of y’all read about President Obama being heckled at a fundraiser and lashed back angrily. The hecklers were Democrats that were advocates of equality for the gay community. The main bitch was that earlier the Federal Government had established the policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” for members of the gay community that were in the military. Obama had promised during his election campaign to change all of that. Everybody knows that it is not fair to expect a politician to make good on campaign promises, they are just a means to an end. Obama also said that he did not know the convicted criminal and ex-mayor Blagojevich of Chicago when there is a myriad of photos and other evidence with them together in at least an understanding if not collusion. It is this deception that makes me worry about my children’s future and y’all should too.
This date in history April 22
1886 On this date the state on Ohio passed a law against seduction. That’s right ya’ll, I said seduction. The law forbade any male over the age of 21 that was a teacher or instructor of women from having even consensual sex with women of any age that he was instructing. The penalty for breaking this statute was 2 to 10 years ion the slammer, believe it or not. This law was not unique. New York had a law that disallowed any male “from having illicit ‘connection’ with a previously chaste woman” if the man previously promised to marry said woman. Georgia’s version made it unlawful for men to “seduce a virtuous unmarried female and induce her into his ‘lustful’ embraces, and allow him to have carnal knowledge of her.” These laws were essentially ignored by law enforcement but on one occasion a man in Michigan was brought up on three counts with the same woman. The judge did his best to get all the charges dismissed because he knew the law was unenforceable. The last two of the charges were dismissed because the judge reasoned that after the first encounter the woman was no longer “virtuous”. The first encounter supposedly took place in a buggy and a doctor testified that penetration was not possible in a buggy so the first charge was dismissed. However some unscrupulous women would use this law to capture a husband. In one case in 1867 a man was on trial for seduction and was looking at 5 years in the slammer so he proposed to the woman that he had “seduced” and she accepted. A parson was retrieved the trial turned into a wedding ceremony. That ain’t fair, ya’ll.
1992 In spite of two weeks of warning with reports of foul smells in the center of Guadalajara, Mexico the local city government does nothing to discover the cause. On this date a gigantic, blocks long underground explosion occurs in the sewers killing 600 people and destroying thousands of houses. You guessed it; it was highly explosive methane gas from a broken sewer line. Twenty square blocks of Guadalajara were leveled or seriously damages. Holes were blown 300 feet deep swallowing entire buildings, street car and busses. The Mayor Enrique Dau Flores was indicted for ignoring the danger signals and the Federal Government went after PEMEX or the national petroleum corporation of Mexico. PEMEX had been dumping untreated corrosive materials down the sewer lines which ate holes in the pipes allowing sewer gas to escape. PEMEX was still reeling from a propane gas explosion earlier in Mexico City that killed 450. This latest disaster further accented the problem that Mexico has with industrial wastes and sewerage that exists to this day.
1889 At exactly 12:00 noon the legendary Oklahoma Land Rush begins. The United States Cavalry was present to ensure that no one left the demarcation line early. There were some that did anyway and were known as “Sooners” thus the name of the University of Oklahoma mascot. The Oklahoma territory was originally thought to be uninhabitable to Caucasians because of the aridity and the relative lack of water making the area not fit for farming. This made it ideal for reservation for the Native Americans like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache among others. Finally better farming techniques assures that the great plains could be farmed for grain and the Federal Government opened up the “Cherokee Strip” which basically was the majority of Oklahoma for homesteading beginning this day at 12 noon. All told between 50,000 and 60,000 settlers came into the area over a 24 hour period. Towns like Norman, Oklahoma City, Kingfisher and Guthrie were established and populated almost overnight. Did I mention that the already established Indian reservations were also over run? The settlers felt like the land owned by the Osage Indians was least arable and did not bother them. It was indeed not farmland but about 7,000 feet below the surface was an ocean of oil known as the Anadarko basin making the Osage Nation one of the wealthiest in the world.
1944 On this date Operation Persecution begins with the landing of allied troops in Hollandia, New Guinea. The Japanese held island was defended by 15,000 Japanese troops but they were mostly administrative types and not the savvy Japanese jungle fighters that had made themselves famous. But that did not stop the Japanese defenders from putting up a ferocious defense on spite of the ludicrous odds against them. Three months later the Japanese surrender with 12, 811 killed to 528 of the allies.
1945 On this date Adolph Hitler’s Generals tell him that there was no German defense offered against the advancing Russian army at the city Eberswalde about 30 miles south of Berlin. Hitler then admits that the war is lost and retreats to his underground bunker never to return to the surface alive.
Born today:
1707 English writer Henry Fielding. He said “Newspapers have the same number of words in them whether there is news or not.” Henry must have been reading the Greenville News, the Charlotte Observer or the Pensacola News-Journal.
1724 German Philosopher Immanuel Kant. He said “Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” Think on it, ya’ll.
1766 French writer Germaine Stael. She said “The desire of men is women; the desire of women is the desire of men.” Does this mean that all that women want is to be desired? Does that mean that diamonds are NOT a girl’s best friend? Does that mean that there is no need for flowers, fancy candlelight dinners, remembrance of anniversaries and birthdays, candy on Valentine’s Day, etc? Who the hell are you trying to kid, Germaine?
1904 US physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer when asked about Albert Einstein he said “Any man that it take 10 years to correct his mistakes is quite a genius.”
Died today:
1995 Gray Panther Maggie Kuhn. She said “The ultimate insult is to be handed a bedpan by someone that calls you by your first name.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Don't rely on someone else for your happiness and self worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can't love and respect yourself - no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are - completely; the good and the bad - and make changes as YOU see fit - not because you think someone else wants you to be different."
Stacy Charter
I read that some of the airlines are beginning to fly out of Italy and Greece because the ejecta from the Iceland volcano is not reaching some of the southern parallels. However, all the airlines in the British Isles and eastward are still grounded. Volcanologists are predicting this volcano will be active for several more months but worse yet they are saying that this present volcanic action may activate another much larger volcano nearby. What will happen to the European economy? The BMW assembly plant near Greenville, South Carolina has already begun to cut back production because all of their parts that are brought over from Munich by air are grounded. I suppose they could bring them to a seaport and ship them to Charleston and truck them up. But that would quadruple the assembly time and as we all know, time is money.
At about 2:30a Tuesday morning down in Pensacola, Florida the cops received a call about a suspicious car in a ditch. A deputy arrived and recognized that the car was stolen. A person got out of the car and pointed a yet unidentified weapon at the officer whereupon the officer fire one round into the car and the suspect surrendered. Before the officer could get the cuffs on, a fist fight erupted and the suspect ran away. A short while later the suspect was spotted driving yet another stolen car. The car was stopped by another officer and when the suspect was being cuffed, he made a lunge and tried to capture the officer’s sidearm and a struggle ensued. The weapon was fired several times during the struggle but the suspect was eventually overpowered and arrested. He is cooling his heels in the Escambia County jail. By the way, the suspect is a 14 year old boy. What the hell is a 14 year old boy doing stealing cars at 2:30 in the morning?
Back in 1789 the British merchant ship HMS Bounty was engaged in trade with the natives of Tahiti. The Captain of this ship was a cruel man named William Bligh. He was hard and severe with his crew including giving 20 lashes to a crewman that had already died of disease. The second in command was named Fletcher Christian who was sympathetic with the crew and led a mutiny which took control of the ship from Bligh. Bligh and a few loyal crewmen was set adrift in a 24 foot open boat with one sail and were not allowed any navigation instruments. Captain Bligh sailed that boat over 4,000 miles to the island of Timor where there was a British camp and survival was assured. That voyage was recognized to this day as a stupendous feat of navigation and seamanship by Bligh. There is a group of Australians that have constructed a boat the same size and shape of the one that Bligh and crew were on and will attempt to make the same voyage. They plan to eat only sea birds and fish and drink only rainwater as the crewmen of the Bounty did. Not me y’all, but Bon Voyage to the nutty Aussies.
This date in history April 21
1836 After a couple of years of intimidation by Mexican dictator Santa Anna when he murdered over 400 Texans at Goliad that had surrendered not to mention the 186 at the Alamo, Santa Anna considered parts of Texas as part of Mexico and he was not about to part with it without a fight and the Texans were not going to settle for anything else other than total independence. During these losses for the Texans, Sam Houston had been training a small but fierce army. On this date, Sam unleashed his army against 2,000 of Santa Anna’s army southwest of what is now Houston, Texas near the San Jacinto River. The howling Texans came boiling out a forest onto the encamped Mexicans screaming “Remember Goliad” and “Remember the Alamo”. The Mexicans fought briefly and then ran like rabbits into the waist deep San Jacinto River where they were picked off unmercifully by the Texans. Among those Mexicans that surrendered and were not killed anyway was Santa Anna himself. He was brought before a malaria ridden Sam Houston and Sam said “I don’t want Santa Anna, I want Texas.” He then told Santa Anna to get his young ass back to Mexico and never come back and recognize Texas as an independent nation. Santa Anna agreed and went back to Mexico. The Texans drew up a constitution and elected Sam Houston as the President of Texas. They then petitioned the United States to become a state. The United States initially refused because Texas was a “slave holding” state and the acceptance of Texas into the Union would upset the balance of “slave” and “free” states. Texas remained essentially an independent nation until Santa Anna began to show his butt again and the Mexican War broke out in 1848. It took the American army crossing into Mexico and kicked Santa Anna’s ass in his own country to put an end to it. An official treaty was signed by Mexico and the US giving the US the contested part of Texas. Shortly after this Texas became a welcome addition to these great United States.
1777 On this date a British army led by British General William Tryon attacked and begin sacking the city of Danbury, Connecticut. They trashed or burned everything in sight because there was very little if any resistance from the Continental army. This rampage continued for nearly a week until Patriot General Benedict Arnold, General David Wooster and General Gold Sillman gather an army of 500 Patriots and head to Danbury. Upon arrival at Danbury they Patriots launch a flank attack and the British begin a retreat. The Patriots did not have enough men to cut off the retreat and the British were able to march through Ridgefield and Campo Hills on the way back to the safety of their warships anchored in Long Island Sound. General Wooster was shot during this action and died of his wounds two weeks later. Benedict Arnold was a fine field commander for the colonies until 1780 when he got his feelings hurt about not receiving a promotion when he thought he should and tried to sell West Point to the British. General Sillman was kidnapped by his Loyalist neighbors and held to keep him out of the war. This put Mary Sillman, his wife, between a rock and a hard place. General Sillman was an astute businessman and had several irons in the fire, along with a farm, and it was up to Mary to keep the ball rolling. Mary was equal to the task and was able to negotiate the release of her husband along with all her other duties. She even served as mid-wife to her next door neighbor who was repeatedly raped by British soldiers because she would not give up her house to the soldiers. Great guys, huh?
1863 On this date US General Abel Streight began a raid from northern Alabama into northern Georgia with the intent of cutting the Western and Atlantic Railroad between Chattanooga and Atlanta. He also sent US General Greenville Dodge on a diversionary attack on Tuscumbia, Alabama. Dodge was successful and did indeed capture Tuscumbia. Streight on the other hand was not as fortunate. He encountered a Confederate cavalry unit led by Colonel William Forrest (Nathan Bedford’s brother) and set a trap which Forrest fell into and was defeated by Streight. After this Streight and his army of 2,000 continued toward the railroad. But little did he know that CSA Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest and his well trained and experienced cavalry were shadowing him. A few days later Streight discovered that he was surrounded by Forrest. Forrest called for a truce meeting to hammer out the terms of Streight’s surrender. At the meeting there was almost a continuous string of messengers reporting to Forrest which impressed Streight. Finally Forrest ordered Streight to surrender his and his troop’s arms which they did. Forrest then ordered them to fall into rank and file. After all of this was done, Forrest’s troops stepped out of the woods and Streight realized that Forrest only had 500 troops to his 2,000 but it was too late them, he had been outfoxed by the wily Forrest.
1930 The Ohio Penitentiary was built in Columbus in 1834. Almost from the git-go it was hell on earth. In 1840 a cholera epidemic swept through the prison, the number of deaths was never recorded. In 1893 a retiring prison superintendent wrote “Ten thousand pages of the history of the Ohio Penitentiary cannot give on an idea of the inward wretchedness of its 1,800 inmates. The real truth is known only to God,” The prison was built for 1,500 and at its peak it held 4,300. On this date a fire broke out on some wooden scaffolding that was being used to build additions. The fire quickly reached the roof and began to spread. During all this time the majority of the guards refused to open the cells to allow the prisoners to escape the fire and smoke. A few guards did open the cells and about 50 inmates got away from the fire but eventually the roof collapsed and 320 inmates were burned to death and 130 were injured. As you might suspect, the mother all riots broke out and understandably so. It took the National Guard to quell it. The state of Ohio raised almighty hell at the Prison Bureau and the Prison Bureau responded with paroling 2,300 of the prisoners which increased the crime rate exponentially. You can’t have it both ways.
1838 On this date John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland. He and his family moved to a farm in central Wisconsin when he was just a child. At the time Wisconsin was on the American western frontier. He stayed with his family on the farm until he was 23 years old. He traveled the Midwest for several years. Muir had a mechanical and inventive mind. He was working in a wagon factory when he slipped and scratched his left cornea with a file he was holding. His right eye dimmed in sympathy and he was temporarily blinded. During this period of retrieving his sight, Muir re-thought his mission in life. After getting his sight back, he departed on a 1,000 mile hike to the American West. During his travels he came upon the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and he was deeply moved. He knew then what his mission was the preservation of this pristine wilderness. He began studying transcendentalism as taught by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau saying that the wilderness is “a window open into heaven, a mirror reflecting the image of God”. He and several others formed the Sierra Club dedicated to preservation of wildernesses. He had his biggest fight when the issue of damming the river in the Hetch Hetchy canyon in Yosemite to provide water for San Francisco. In spite of Muir’s fight, the dam was built and exists to this day. Muir died in 1914 disappointed that he was unable to stop the dam but he lit a fire of wilderness stewardship that burns to this day.
1945 On this date the Russian army driving toward Berlin from the south, overrun the German High Command at Zossen. The only resistance left for the Germans is the 12 and 13 year old “soldiers” using 6 tank destroyer guns. The Russians merely brought up bulldozers and rolled over those kids, time and time again until there was nothing left that could be identified as human. How could Hitler expect kids to defend against a million wild-eyed Russian soldiers seeking revenge along with 4,000 tanks and assorted other heavy machinery? I guess the answer to that one is obvious, he was Satan incarnate.
Born today:
1828 French historian Hippolyte Taine. He said “I have made a study of philosophers and cats. Cats have wisdom that is infinitely superior.” They are also very delicious, just joking.
1838 Scottish naturalist John Muir. He said “And surely God’s people, no matter how savage or serious, great or small, like to play. Elephants and whales, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small microbes, all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them.” Muir was one in million, ya’ll.
1958 US actress Andie McDowell. She said “In my next life I want to come back five foot, two inches with the finest ass and tits you have ever seen.” Andie is from Gaffney, SC and married her high school boyfriend about five years ago. As far as I know they are still together.
Died today:
1910 US writer Mark Twain. He said “Sometimes too much drink is barely enough”. Mark Twain is the hero of the most cynical of writers.
1924 English writer Marie Corelli. She said “No I never married. I never had to because I have three pets that serve the same purpose. I have a dog that growls all morning, a parrot that swears all afternoon and a cat that comes in late every night.” Marie, that sounds a lot like my theory that a black Lab is better than a wife. They only eat once a day and will sleep outside if you want them to, will retrieve birds out of cold water and are eternally loyal. But if they do decide to run away from home it does not cost you half of everything you have ever owned.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Don't rely on someone else for your happiness and self worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can't love and respect yourself - no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are - completely; the good and the bad - and make changes as YOU see fit - not because you think someone else wants you to be different."
Stacy Charter
I read that some of the airlines are beginning to fly out of Italy and Greece because the ejecta from the Iceland volcano is not reaching some of the southern parallels. However, all the airlines in the British Isles and eastward are still grounded. Volcanologists are predicting this volcano will be active for several more months but worse yet they are saying that this present volcanic action may activate another much larger volcano nearby. What will happen to the European economy? The BMW assembly plant near Greenville, South Carolina has already begun to cut back production because all of their parts that are brought over from Munich by air are grounded. I suppose they could bring them to a seaport and ship them to Charleston and truck them up. But that would quadruple the assembly time and as we all know, time is money.
At about 2:30a Tuesday morning down in Pensacola, Florida the cops received a call about a suspicious car in a ditch. A deputy arrived and recognized that the car was stolen. A person got out of the car and pointed a yet unidentified weapon at the officer whereupon the officer fire one round into the car and the suspect surrendered. Before the officer could get the cuffs on, a fist fight erupted and the suspect ran away. A short while later the suspect was spotted driving yet another stolen car. The car was stopped by another officer and when the suspect was being cuffed, he made a lunge and tried to capture the officer’s sidearm and a struggle ensued. The weapon was fired several times during the struggle but the suspect was eventually overpowered and arrested. He is cooling his heels in the Escambia County jail. By the way, the suspect is a 14 year old boy. What the hell is a 14 year old boy doing stealing cars at 2:30 in the morning?
Back in 1789 the British merchant ship HMS Bounty was engaged in trade with the natives of Tahiti. The Captain of this ship was a cruel man named William Bligh. He was hard and severe with his crew including giving 20 lashes to a crewman that had already died of disease. The second in command was named Fletcher Christian who was sympathetic with the crew and led a mutiny which took control of the ship from Bligh. Bligh and a few loyal crewmen was set adrift in a 24 foot open boat with one sail and were not allowed any navigation instruments. Captain Bligh sailed that boat over 4,000 miles to the island of Timor where there was a British camp and survival was assured. That voyage was recognized to this day as a stupendous feat of navigation and seamanship by Bligh. There is a group of Australians that have constructed a boat the same size and shape of the one that Bligh and crew were on and will attempt to make the same voyage. They plan to eat only sea birds and fish and drink only rainwater as the crewmen of the Bounty did. Not me y’all, but Bon Voyage to the nutty Aussies.
This date in history April 21
1836 After a couple of years of intimidation by Mexican dictator Santa Anna when he murdered over 400 Texans at Goliad that had surrendered not to mention the 186 at the Alamo, Santa Anna considered parts of Texas as part of Mexico and he was not about to part with it without a fight and the Texans were not going to settle for anything else other than total independence. During these losses for the Texans, Sam Houston had been training a small but fierce army. On this date, Sam unleashed his army against 2,000 of Santa Anna’s army southwest of what is now Houston, Texas near the San Jacinto River. The howling Texans came boiling out a forest onto the encamped Mexicans screaming “Remember Goliad” and “Remember the Alamo”. The Mexicans fought briefly and then ran like rabbits into the waist deep San Jacinto River where they were picked off unmercifully by the Texans. Among those Mexicans that surrendered and were not killed anyway was Santa Anna himself. He was brought before a malaria ridden Sam Houston and Sam said “I don’t want Santa Anna, I want Texas.” He then told Santa Anna to get his young ass back to Mexico and never come back and recognize Texas as an independent nation. Santa Anna agreed and went back to Mexico. The Texans drew up a constitution and elected Sam Houston as the President of Texas. They then petitioned the United States to become a state. The United States initially refused because Texas was a “slave holding” state and the acceptance of Texas into the Union would upset the balance of “slave” and “free” states. Texas remained essentially an independent nation until Santa Anna began to show his butt again and the Mexican War broke out in 1848. It took the American army crossing into Mexico and kicked Santa Anna’s ass in his own country to put an end to it. An official treaty was signed by Mexico and the US giving the US the contested part of Texas. Shortly after this Texas became a welcome addition to these great United States.
1777 On this date a British army led by British General William Tryon attacked and begin sacking the city of Danbury, Connecticut. They trashed or burned everything in sight because there was very little if any resistance from the Continental army. This rampage continued for nearly a week until Patriot General Benedict Arnold, General David Wooster and General Gold Sillman gather an army of 500 Patriots and head to Danbury. Upon arrival at Danbury they Patriots launch a flank attack and the British begin a retreat. The Patriots did not have enough men to cut off the retreat and the British were able to march through Ridgefield and Campo Hills on the way back to the safety of their warships anchored in Long Island Sound. General Wooster was shot during this action and died of his wounds two weeks later. Benedict Arnold was a fine field commander for the colonies until 1780 when he got his feelings hurt about not receiving a promotion when he thought he should and tried to sell West Point to the British. General Sillman was kidnapped by his Loyalist neighbors and held to keep him out of the war. This put Mary Sillman, his wife, between a rock and a hard place. General Sillman was an astute businessman and had several irons in the fire, along with a farm, and it was up to Mary to keep the ball rolling. Mary was equal to the task and was able to negotiate the release of her husband along with all her other duties. She even served as mid-wife to her next door neighbor who was repeatedly raped by British soldiers because she would not give up her house to the soldiers. Great guys, huh?
1863 On this date US General Abel Streight began a raid from northern Alabama into northern Georgia with the intent of cutting the Western and Atlantic Railroad between Chattanooga and Atlanta. He also sent US General Greenville Dodge on a diversionary attack on Tuscumbia, Alabama. Dodge was successful and did indeed capture Tuscumbia. Streight on the other hand was not as fortunate. He encountered a Confederate cavalry unit led by Colonel William Forrest (Nathan Bedford’s brother) and set a trap which Forrest fell into and was defeated by Streight. After this Streight and his army of 2,000 continued toward the railroad. But little did he know that CSA Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest and his well trained and experienced cavalry were shadowing him. A few days later Streight discovered that he was surrounded by Forrest. Forrest called for a truce meeting to hammer out the terms of Streight’s surrender. At the meeting there was almost a continuous string of messengers reporting to Forrest which impressed Streight. Finally Forrest ordered Streight to surrender his and his troop’s arms which they did. Forrest then ordered them to fall into rank and file. After all of this was done, Forrest’s troops stepped out of the woods and Streight realized that Forrest only had 500 troops to his 2,000 but it was too late them, he had been outfoxed by the wily Forrest.
1930 The Ohio Penitentiary was built in Columbus in 1834. Almost from the git-go it was hell on earth. In 1840 a cholera epidemic swept through the prison, the number of deaths was never recorded. In 1893 a retiring prison superintendent wrote “Ten thousand pages of the history of the Ohio Penitentiary cannot give on an idea of the inward wretchedness of its 1,800 inmates. The real truth is known only to God,” The prison was built for 1,500 and at its peak it held 4,300. On this date a fire broke out on some wooden scaffolding that was being used to build additions. The fire quickly reached the roof and began to spread. During all this time the majority of the guards refused to open the cells to allow the prisoners to escape the fire and smoke. A few guards did open the cells and about 50 inmates got away from the fire but eventually the roof collapsed and 320 inmates were burned to death and 130 were injured. As you might suspect, the mother all riots broke out and understandably so. It took the National Guard to quell it. The state of Ohio raised almighty hell at the Prison Bureau and the Prison Bureau responded with paroling 2,300 of the prisoners which increased the crime rate exponentially. You can’t have it both ways.
1838 On this date John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland. He and his family moved to a farm in central Wisconsin when he was just a child. At the time Wisconsin was on the American western frontier. He stayed with his family on the farm until he was 23 years old. He traveled the Midwest for several years. Muir had a mechanical and inventive mind. He was working in a wagon factory when he slipped and scratched his left cornea with a file he was holding. His right eye dimmed in sympathy and he was temporarily blinded. During this period of retrieving his sight, Muir re-thought his mission in life. After getting his sight back, he departed on a 1,000 mile hike to the American West. During his travels he came upon the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and he was deeply moved. He knew then what his mission was the preservation of this pristine wilderness. He began studying transcendentalism as taught by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau saying that the wilderness is “a window open into heaven, a mirror reflecting the image of God”. He and several others formed the Sierra Club dedicated to preservation of wildernesses. He had his biggest fight when the issue of damming the river in the Hetch Hetchy canyon in Yosemite to provide water for San Francisco. In spite of Muir’s fight, the dam was built and exists to this day. Muir died in 1914 disappointed that he was unable to stop the dam but he lit a fire of wilderness stewardship that burns to this day.
1945 On this date the Russian army driving toward Berlin from the south, overrun the German High Command at Zossen. The only resistance left for the Germans is the 12 and 13 year old “soldiers” using 6 tank destroyer guns. The Russians merely brought up bulldozers and rolled over those kids, time and time again until there was nothing left that could be identified as human. How could Hitler expect kids to defend against a million wild-eyed Russian soldiers seeking revenge along with 4,000 tanks and assorted other heavy machinery? I guess the answer to that one is obvious, he was Satan incarnate.
Born today:
1828 French historian Hippolyte Taine. He said “I have made a study of philosophers and cats. Cats have wisdom that is infinitely superior.” They are also very delicious, just joking.
1838 Scottish naturalist John Muir. He said “And surely God’s people, no matter how savage or serious, great or small, like to play. Elephants and whales, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small microbes, all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them.” Muir was one in million, ya’ll.
1958 US actress Andie McDowell. She said “In my next life I want to come back five foot, two inches with the finest ass and tits you have ever seen.” Andie is from Gaffney, SC and married her high school boyfriend about five years ago. As far as I know they are still together.
Died today:
1910 US writer Mark Twain. He said “Sometimes too much drink is barely enough”. Mark Twain is the hero of the most cynical of writers.
1924 English writer Marie Corelli. She said “No I never married. I never had to because I have three pets that serve the same purpose. I have a dog that growls all morning, a parrot that swears all afternoon and a cat that comes in late every night.” Marie, that sounds a lot like my theory that a black Lab is better than a wife. They only eat once a day and will sleep outside if you want them to, will retrieve birds out of cold water and are eternally loyal. But if they do decide to run away from home it does not cost you half of everything you have ever owned.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Daily History
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“To be able to move on is easy; it is what you have to leave behind that is hard.”
Dave Mustaine
Thoughts:
What is money?
Money means many things to different people. To me it is a tool, an instrument to be used to secure the necessities or luxuries of life. It can secure food, clothing, shelter, transportation, a feeling of security, symbols of success and other tangibles.
What it cannot secure is one person’s loyalty to another. It cannot secure a person’s moral fiber. It cannot secure a self esteem. It cannot secure an enduring friendship. It cannot secure one person’s control over others without the acceptance of all persons involved. In spite of all of this, some people still believe they can secure social acceptance because of wealth or what wealth can buy when what they really gain is the ridicule of those they are trying to impress. All anyone has to do is treat each others as an equal, not less, not more. It is simple to me, maybe that is why I am not wealthy but very content with my self worth.
Down near Columbia, South Carolina the cops were called about a burglary in progress by two juveniles. A nearby cop saw two juveniles in a car speeding away and began a pursuit. The juveniles decided to stop the car, jumped out and ran into the nearby woods. The cops brought in Officer Renzo who quickly picked up the scent and tracked the kids to a nearby house where the kids had stopped and asked to use the phone. They were still on the porch when Officer Renzo burst out of the woods and the kids immediately surrendered. Officer Renzo is a 4 year old, 70 pound German shepherd.
Down near Gulf Breeze, Florida a 34 year old woman named Michelle Vasquez and her 8 day old baby showed up missing and her parents called the cops. An investigation discovered the corpse of the baby in a patch of woods. The coroner determined that the infant had been smothered. The cops interrogated Michelle and she readily admitted that she held the baby “real tight”. When asked if she knew what would happen if she held the baby “real tight”. She said “Yes, die”. They asked her why she did it and she said that she did not want to be a burden to her family. What about the baby? Did he ask to be born? Michelle is charged with first degree murder.
This date in history April 20
1999 Earlier two teenagers named Dylan Keibold aged 18 and Eric Harris aged 17 had planted two propane bombs in the cafeteria of Columbine High School in the city of Littleton, Colorado. They would detonate them during lunchtime hoping to kill as many students as they could and then wait outside with firearms to kill as many kids as they could when the school was evacuated. On this date at about 11:15A, they tried to detonate the bombs but nothing happened. So these boys dressed in trench coats come out of the woods near the school and began shooting the students outside the school and then went on inside and continued shooting. There did not appear to be any pattern as to who they shot, it seemed to be completely at random. On one occasion one of the shooters walked up to a girl that was lying on the floor and asked it she believed in God. The girl said that she did and was killed instantly. On another occasion they asked another girl that was injured if she believed in God and she said that she did and the shooters just walked away. After killing 13 and wounding 25 the two boys turned the guns upon themselves and committed suicide at 12:02P. No one really knew what caused this outburst. The two were members of a group known as the “Trench coat Mafia”. But there was no evidence that this group fostered the killing of innocents. The group studied Gothic philosophy and they played a lot violent video games but other than that, the authorities didn’t have a clue. As a result of this event, nearly all schools in America adopted a “zero tolerance” attitude toward weapons of any kind or anything that can be used as a weapon. It is too late now.
1698 Earlier the Catholic King of England, James II had been deposed by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. James goes to France and then to Ireland. He brought a small army with him from France and hoped to recoup the throne. He was able to capture Dublin and on this day his army encircled Londonderry. He ordered the city of Protestants to surrender. The city refused even though they did not have a reliable source of supplies. The city repelled one attack after another, but was soon running short of the necessities of life. Then the Protestant Mayor George Walker makes an inspiring speech and the people of Londonderry dug in their heels and delivered a ferocious defense. After 105 days of siege an army sent by William and Mary arrives and James and his army have to retreat. Eleven months later at the Battle of Boyne James and his army have their asses handed to them by the army of William and Mary and this was the end for James II. George Walker, the inspiring mayor of Londonderry was killed in this battle.
1978 On this date a Korean Air Line aircraft on a flight from Paris to Seoul, Korea flying an “over the pole” route shows up in Soviet airspace. It took a gigantic navigation error for this to happen and aviation experts doubted this could ever occur with the sophisticated navigation equipment aboard. Anyway, the Soviets sent up two fighters to intercept the aircraft and told the pilot to land at a particular Soviet airport but the Korean crew chose to land on a frozen lake south of Murmansk. The landing was a rough one and two passengers were killed and many injured but the Russians allowed an American aircraft to shuttle out the survivors. This a lot better than in 1983 when a Korean Air Line aircraft flying from Anchorage, Alaska to Seoul, Korea strayed 300 miles into Russian airspace and did not respond to commands by the Russian fighters that was sent to intercept. So the fighters shot the airliner out of the sky to the tune of 273 dead. Keep these facts in mind the next time you consider flying Korean Air Lines.
1906 Two days before a tremendous earthquake struck San Francisco. There were underground natural gas lines that were fractured and several fires erupted. The bad part was the wind; it was blowing at about 35 miles per hour. The fire fighting equipment of those days was not equal to the conflagration that resulted. The fire ran unchecked for two days burning an area ½ mile wide and four miles long but on this day the firefighters got a handle on this fire and extinguished it. There were about 700 killed and several thousands homeless.
1871 On this date Congress passes the Third Force Act which allowed President Ulysses Grant to declare martial law or even use military force to suppress the action of the KKK. The KKK was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee right after the end of the Civil War by Confederate veterans led by CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest. What caused this action was the influx of people from out of the south coming in and taking the lands previously owned by Confederate soldiers that were killed in the War, among other atrocities. The KKK went over the edge and began dictating how lives were supposed to be lived and what church to attend, etc. Most of this turmoil could have been avoided if the so-called Reconstruction had been administered justly. But as with any large scale US government program, it became corrupted and the Southerners paid the price.
1945 On this date Operation Corncob begins. This operation was to bomb all the bridges going from Italy to Germany to cut off the escape route of the German army in Italy. Also on this date Adolph Hitler has a birthday party celebrating his 56th birthday. It is hard for me to tell ya’ll this but also on this day the German Gestapo hangs 20 Russian captives and 20 Jewish children. Of these children at least 9 were under the age of 12. These children were brought from Auschwitz to Neuengamme, the place of execution, for the purpose of medical experiments. I do not believe in the death penalty for whoever hanged these children or performed the “medical experiments”, but I do believe in cruel and unusual punishment. My imagination is fertile when it comes to dealing with monster such as these.
Born today:
1889 The worst monster in history Adolph Hitler. He said “The greater the lie, the greater the chance it will be believed.”
1961 US baseball player Don Mattingly. He said of Dwight Gooden “His reputation preceded him before he got here.” As I have said in the past baseball players do not need a basic vocabulary to hit .300, steal 50 bases or win a Gold Glove.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Quote of the day:
“To be able to move on is easy; it is what you have to leave behind that is hard.”
Dave Mustaine
Thoughts:
What is money?
Money means many things to different people. To me it is a tool, an instrument to be used to secure the necessities or luxuries of life. It can secure food, clothing, shelter, transportation, a feeling of security, symbols of success and other tangibles.
What it cannot secure is one person’s loyalty to another. It cannot secure a person’s moral fiber. It cannot secure a self esteem. It cannot secure an enduring friendship. It cannot secure one person’s control over others without the acceptance of all persons involved. In spite of all of this, some people still believe they can secure social acceptance because of wealth or what wealth can buy when what they really gain is the ridicule of those they are trying to impress. All anyone has to do is treat each others as an equal, not less, not more. It is simple to me, maybe that is why I am not wealthy but very content with my self worth.
Down near Columbia, South Carolina the cops were called about a burglary in progress by two juveniles. A nearby cop saw two juveniles in a car speeding away and began a pursuit. The juveniles decided to stop the car, jumped out and ran into the nearby woods. The cops brought in Officer Renzo who quickly picked up the scent and tracked the kids to a nearby house where the kids had stopped and asked to use the phone. They were still on the porch when Officer Renzo burst out of the woods and the kids immediately surrendered. Officer Renzo is a 4 year old, 70 pound German shepherd.
Down near Gulf Breeze, Florida a 34 year old woman named Michelle Vasquez and her 8 day old baby showed up missing and her parents called the cops. An investigation discovered the corpse of the baby in a patch of woods. The coroner determined that the infant had been smothered. The cops interrogated Michelle and she readily admitted that she held the baby “real tight”. When asked if she knew what would happen if she held the baby “real tight”. She said “Yes, die”. They asked her why she did it and she said that she did not want to be a burden to her family. What about the baby? Did he ask to be born? Michelle is charged with first degree murder.
This date in history April 20
1999 Earlier two teenagers named Dylan Keibold aged 18 and Eric Harris aged 17 had planted two propane bombs in the cafeteria of Columbine High School in the city of Littleton, Colorado. They would detonate them during lunchtime hoping to kill as many students as they could and then wait outside with firearms to kill as many kids as they could when the school was evacuated. On this date at about 11:15A, they tried to detonate the bombs but nothing happened. So these boys dressed in trench coats come out of the woods near the school and began shooting the students outside the school and then went on inside and continued shooting. There did not appear to be any pattern as to who they shot, it seemed to be completely at random. On one occasion one of the shooters walked up to a girl that was lying on the floor and asked it she believed in God. The girl said that she did and was killed instantly. On another occasion they asked another girl that was injured if she believed in God and she said that she did and the shooters just walked away. After killing 13 and wounding 25 the two boys turned the guns upon themselves and committed suicide at 12:02P. No one really knew what caused this outburst. The two were members of a group known as the “Trench coat Mafia”. But there was no evidence that this group fostered the killing of innocents. The group studied Gothic philosophy and they played a lot violent video games but other than that, the authorities didn’t have a clue. As a result of this event, nearly all schools in America adopted a “zero tolerance” attitude toward weapons of any kind or anything that can be used as a weapon. It is too late now.
1698 Earlier the Catholic King of England, James II had been deposed by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. James goes to France and then to Ireland. He brought a small army with him from France and hoped to recoup the throne. He was able to capture Dublin and on this day his army encircled Londonderry. He ordered the city of Protestants to surrender. The city refused even though they did not have a reliable source of supplies. The city repelled one attack after another, but was soon running short of the necessities of life. Then the Protestant Mayor George Walker makes an inspiring speech and the people of Londonderry dug in their heels and delivered a ferocious defense. After 105 days of siege an army sent by William and Mary arrives and James and his army have to retreat. Eleven months later at the Battle of Boyne James and his army have their asses handed to them by the army of William and Mary and this was the end for James II. George Walker, the inspiring mayor of Londonderry was killed in this battle.
1978 On this date a Korean Air Line aircraft on a flight from Paris to Seoul, Korea flying an “over the pole” route shows up in Soviet airspace. It took a gigantic navigation error for this to happen and aviation experts doubted this could ever occur with the sophisticated navigation equipment aboard. Anyway, the Soviets sent up two fighters to intercept the aircraft and told the pilot to land at a particular Soviet airport but the Korean crew chose to land on a frozen lake south of Murmansk. The landing was a rough one and two passengers were killed and many injured but the Russians allowed an American aircraft to shuttle out the survivors. This a lot better than in 1983 when a Korean Air Line aircraft flying from Anchorage, Alaska to Seoul, Korea strayed 300 miles into Russian airspace and did not respond to commands by the Russian fighters that was sent to intercept. So the fighters shot the airliner out of the sky to the tune of 273 dead. Keep these facts in mind the next time you consider flying Korean Air Lines.
1906 Two days before a tremendous earthquake struck San Francisco. There were underground natural gas lines that were fractured and several fires erupted. The bad part was the wind; it was blowing at about 35 miles per hour. The fire fighting equipment of those days was not equal to the conflagration that resulted. The fire ran unchecked for two days burning an area ½ mile wide and four miles long but on this day the firefighters got a handle on this fire and extinguished it. There were about 700 killed and several thousands homeless.
1871 On this date Congress passes the Third Force Act which allowed President Ulysses Grant to declare martial law or even use military force to suppress the action of the KKK. The KKK was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee right after the end of the Civil War by Confederate veterans led by CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest. What caused this action was the influx of people from out of the south coming in and taking the lands previously owned by Confederate soldiers that were killed in the War, among other atrocities. The KKK went over the edge and began dictating how lives were supposed to be lived and what church to attend, etc. Most of this turmoil could have been avoided if the so-called Reconstruction had been administered justly. But as with any large scale US government program, it became corrupted and the Southerners paid the price.
1945 On this date Operation Corncob begins. This operation was to bomb all the bridges going from Italy to Germany to cut off the escape route of the German army in Italy. Also on this date Adolph Hitler has a birthday party celebrating his 56th birthday. It is hard for me to tell ya’ll this but also on this day the German Gestapo hangs 20 Russian captives and 20 Jewish children. Of these children at least 9 were under the age of 12. These children were brought from Auschwitz to Neuengamme, the place of execution, for the purpose of medical experiments. I do not believe in the death penalty for whoever hanged these children or performed the “medical experiments”, but I do believe in cruel and unusual punishment. My imagination is fertile when it comes to dealing with monster such as these.
Born today:
1889 The worst monster in history Adolph Hitler. He said “The greater the lie, the greater the chance it will be believed.”
1961 US baseball player Don Mattingly. He said of Dwight Gooden “His reputation preceded him before he got here.” As I have said in the past baseball players do not need a basic vocabulary to hit .300, steal 50 bases or win a Gold Glove.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Change is the essence of life. You must be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”
Mahatma Gandhi
I am back in Greenville after a fast and furious four days in Charleston, SC. We did not go farther than 8 miles from our hotel and had plenty to do every day. We went to Patriot’s Point Marina Saturday afternoon and watched a heart-stopping performance by the US Navy’s Blue Angels. The temperature was about 80 and the wind was 15 to 20 MPH making it very comfortable. I have seen the Blue Angels a number of times and each performance is as thrilling as the first time I saw them.
We went to a restaurant/museum named Queen Anne’s Revenge for a bite to eat. It is a museum whose theme is pirates and Edward Teach (Blackbeard) in particular and a high end restaurant. We ate outside on the deck with the typical gas lights and a musician playing and singing. It was not dark but getting there when all of a sudden my traveling companion yells “Look at that” and stood up and did started doing what I thought was a table dance and thought it was for my entertainment but when I looked around and saw the biggest rat I have ever seen heading our way realized that she was trying to avoid this beast. The table dance was very stimulating, though, I took a second look and it was not a rat, it was a Didelphia Virginiana, otherwise known as an opossum. The beast disappeared into the surrounding foliage. There is a substantial fence surrounding the deck with a solid concrete base under the entire fence so I could not figure out where the opossum went. The restaurant manager came out and said that this animal is well known and resides under the deck. It comes out to hunt at night which is why you see a lot of them as a road kill. Opossum is America’s only marsupial meaning they their young spend a substantial amount of time in a pouch on their mother’s belly and a lot of time clinging to their mother’s back once they get old enough. It was a little spooky.
After this we went to a famous biker bar named “Richard’s” to meet with some of my friends of yore. It was a pleasure to meet them again.
Sunday morning we went to the Slave Market once again and I waited in the “Noisy Oyster” once again. After the shopping trip we went to the Boone Hall Market for strawberries Boone Hall is a plantation site from the early 1700’s that has been converted to a truck farm. There are many, many acres of “you pick-em” strawberries, blueberries and blackberries all of which become ripe at different times of the year. We were going to pick some of them ourselves but the farm was such a zoo that we opted to buy them instead. The check-out girl at the Market said that the entire strawberry crop for the “self-pickers” was picked clean in an hour.
After about a four hour rest we decided to go get supper and opted for Italian and began a search. We looked on the web and the phone book. The one we selected was not open so I suggested an Italian restaurant named Andolini’s that I remember seeing near Shem Creek Inn. We found it and it was pizza and cannelloni only but went in anyway. I want to tell y’all, we got the “Andolini Special” and it was the most orgasmic pizza I have ever had in my short life. If y’all are ever near Mount Pleasant, South Carolina you need to give it a try. It is about 300 yards west of Shem Creek Inn.
We decided to spend the rest of Sunday evening resting by the pool…we needed it.
This date in history April 19
1993 Earlier in February agents from the Alcohol, Tax and Firearms attack the Branch Davidian Compound in Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas. The Branch Davidians were led by a charismatic man named David Koresh who taught that Armageddon was just around the corner and chaos would prevail meaning it would be cases of dog eat dog. Koresh felt that his flock needed to be heavily armed to protect themselves from this turmoil and indeed they were. There were many M-16’s, Glocks with plenty of ammo and fragmentation grenades. A delivery man was delivering a package to the compound and accidentally dropped it and grenades rolled out and he told the police about it. From then on the whole affair escalated with the FBI and the ATF taking command. The actual person in command was Attorney General Janet Reno. The FBI agents contacted Koresh and said that he would have to give up his weapons. Koresh said that he had a license for his weapons and indeed he did. That did not suit the FBI/ATF and they said they wanted to come in and inspect. Koresh read that as they were going to come in and take his weapons and refused them entry. The FBI/ATF tried an armed assault to get into the building and Koresh fought back which resulted in four agents being killed and six wounded. So the FBI/ATF backed off and set up a siege, cutting off the water and power to the compound. This did not bother Koresh too bad because in his preparation for Armageddon he included several thousands of gallons of fresh water and a diesel powered generator with an associated fuel tank. The FBI/ATF tried everything to get into that compound and nothing worked. So on this date they got a call from Janet Reno to put an end to it, they had spent too much money already. So they called in a US army tank with a grenade launcher and loaded it with tear gas canisters. The tank rolled in, poked a hole in the wall with its cannon and pumped in several tear gas canisters. The only problem here was that tear gas canisters in close quarters have a tendency to start fires and that is what happened here. The biggest problem was that on this day there was a forty mile and hour gale howling and the compound being made of wood went up in flames quickly and killed everyone inside, men, women and children. I cannot tell you what kind of shit was aimed at Janet Reno but to the credit of Janet, she said that “she was totally responsible, the buck stops here.”
1995 At about 9:00A a small moving van driven by a Timothy McVeigh, loaded with barrels of ammonium nitrate (fertilizer) mixed with fuel oil is parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As ya’ll may or may not know, fertilizer and fuel oil is a volatile mixture and very explosive. McVeigh lit a fuse and split. A couple of minutes later a thunderous explosion occurs and blows off the total front section of the building immediately killing 100 including several children in the day care center there, not to mention those that were buried in the rubble. The final total was 168 dead and many, many injured. McVeigh was a survivalist who was extremely upset at the US Government for the killing of Randy Weaver’s son and wife by US agents at Ruby Ridge and the killing of over 80 innocents at The Branch Dravidian compound in Waco, Texas as a result of FBI/ATF actions. McVeigh was captured and was quickly convicted of 12 murders and sentenced to death. Soon thereafter McVeigh requested that the judge stop all appeals and allow the sentence to be carried out. In June, 2001 the 33 year old Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in a Federal facility in Terre Haute, Indiana ending this the worst episode of terrorism in the United States up until that time. Three months later an even greater act of terrorism occurs in lower Manhattan, New York City.
1861 On this date the first blood is shed in the American Civil war and it did not occur on a battle field. The city of Baltimore was a hotbed of pro-Confederacy sentiments. The 6th Massachusetts Infantry was transferring from one train station to another in Baltimore on their way to Washington. There was a huge crowd of civilians yelling and jeering the soldiers including a shower of cobblestones. As we all know things will get out of hand at gatherings like this, shots rang out and after the smoke had cleared four soldiers and 12 civilians were killed and the Civil War was underway.
1824 George Gordon Byron, the 6th Baron Byron of Scotland dies in what is now Greece. Lord Byron led a very decadent life even though he was a gifted poet/writer. He was born with a club foot in1788 for which there was not cure in those days. He led a very difficult and impoverished life until the age of 10 when he inherited his great uncle’s fortune and title of Lord Byron. He attended Harrow and Cambridge and went into enormous debt by running hard with both women and men. It appears that Byron was seeker of fun as a bi-sexual. Byron had written two books of poetry both of which received uncomplimentary reviews. After he graduated with a master’s degree in 1809 he made trip to Portugal and on into the near east. Upon returning from this journey, he delivered some of greatest poetry ever written and was soon recognized world-wide for his talent. In 1815 he married Anne Mibanke and they had issue of one daughter. This girl proved to be a mathematical genius and was instrumental in the invention of the first computer by Charles Babbage. His marriage eventually collapsed and he was run out of England for allegedly having incest with his half-sister. He moved to Geneva and lived near Percy Bysse Shelly and his wife/lover Mary Wollenscraft. While there he sired a child out of wedlock with Mary’s sister. He then moved to Venice and began a life of wild debauchery that is legendary to this day. In 1819 he became involved with the Countess Marie Guiccioli the wife of an elderly Count. Byron and the Countess remained lovers for several years. Always a supporter of those fighting for independence, he moved to Greece to help in their fight for independence from Turkey. He helped train Greek troops until he died. He was 36 years old.
Born today:
1933 US actress Jayne Mansfield (mother of Marisa Hargitay of Law and Order SVU) she said “Men are creatures with two legs and eight hands.” She was a beauty.
1962 US racer Al Unser, Jr. He said “My father taught me everything I know. Unfortunately he did not teach me everything he knew.”
Quotable quotes:
“We live in a world of nuclear giants and moral infants.” US General Omar Bradley
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Quote of the day:
“Change is the essence of life. You must be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”
Mahatma Gandhi
I am back in Greenville after a fast and furious four days in Charleston, SC. We did not go farther than 8 miles from our hotel and had plenty to do every day. We went to Patriot’s Point Marina Saturday afternoon and watched a heart-stopping performance by the US Navy’s Blue Angels. The temperature was about 80 and the wind was 15 to 20 MPH making it very comfortable. I have seen the Blue Angels a number of times and each performance is as thrilling as the first time I saw them.
We went to a restaurant/museum named Queen Anne’s Revenge for a bite to eat. It is a museum whose theme is pirates and Edward Teach (Blackbeard) in particular and a high end restaurant. We ate outside on the deck with the typical gas lights and a musician playing and singing. It was not dark but getting there when all of a sudden my traveling companion yells “Look at that” and stood up and did started doing what I thought was a table dance and thought it was for my entertainment but when I looked around and saw the biggest rat I have ever seen heading our way realized that she was trying to avoid this beast. The table dance was very stimulating, though, I took a second look and it was not a rat, it was a Didelphia Virginiana, otherwise known as an opossum. The beast disappeared into the surrounding foliage. There is a substantial fence surrounding the deck with a solid concrete base under the entire fence so I could not figure out where the opossum went. The restaurant manager came out and said that this animal is well known and resides under the deck. It comes out to hunt at night which is why you see a lot of them as a road kill. Opossum is America’s only marsupial meaning they their young spend a substantial amount of time in a pouch on their mother’s belly and a lot of time clinging to their mother’s back once they get old enough. It was a little spooky.
After this we went to a famous biker bar named “Richard’s” to meet with some of my friends of yore. It was a pleasure to meet them again.
Sunday morning we went to the Slave Market once again and I waited in the “Noisy Oyster” once again. After the shopping trip we went to the Boone Hall Market for strawberries Boone Hall is a plantation site from the early 1700’s that has been converted to a truck farm. There are many, many acres of “you pick-em” strawberries, blueberries and blackberries all of which become ripe at different times of the year. We were going to pick some of them ourselves but the farm was such a zoo that we opted to buy them instead. The check-out girl at the Market said that the entire strawberry crop for the “self-pickers” was picked clean in an hour.
After about a four hour rest we decided to go get supper and opted for Italian and began a search. We looked on the web and the phone book. The one we selected was not open so I suggested an Italian restaurant named Andolini’s that I remember seeing near Shem Creek Inn. We found it and it was pizza and cannelloni only but went in anyway. I want to tell y’all, we got the “Andolini Special” and it was the most orgasmic pizza I have ever had in my short life. If y’all are ever near Mount Pleasant, South Carolina you need to give it a try. It is about 300 yards west of Shem Creek Inn.
We decided to spend the rest of Sunday evening resting by the pool…we needed it.
This date in history April 19
1993 Earlier in February agents from the Alcohol, Tax and Firearms attack the Branch Davidian Compound in Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas. The Branch Davidians were led by a charismatic man named David Koresh who taught that Armageddon was just around the corner and chaos would prevail meaning it would be cases of dog eat dog. Koresh felt that his flock needed to be heavily armed to protect themselves from this turmoil and indeed they were. There were many M-16’s, Glocks with plenty of ammo and fragmentation grenades. A delivery man was delivering a package to the compound and accidentally dropped it and grenades rolled out and he told the police about it. From then on the whole affair escalated with the FBI and the ATF taking command. The actual person in command was Attorney General Janet Reno. The FBI agents contacted Koresh and said that he would have to give up his weapons. Koresh said that he had a license for his weapons and indeed he did. That did not suit the FBI/ATF and they said they wanted to come in and inspect. Koresh read that as they were going to come in and take his weapons and refused them entry. The FBI/ATF tried an armed assault to get into the building and Koresh fought back which resulted in four agents being killed and six wounded. So the FBI/ATF backed off and set up a siege, cutting off the water and power to the compound. This did not bother Koresh too bad because in his preparation for Armageddon he included several thousands of gallons of fresh water and a diesel powered generator with an associated fuel tank. The FBI/ATF tried everything to get into that compound and nothing worked. So on this date they got a call from Janet Reno to put an end to it, they had spent too much money already. So they called in a US army tank with a grenade launcher and loaded it with tear gas canisters. The tank rolled in, poked a hole in the wall with its cannon and pumped in several tear gas canisters. The only problem here was that tear gas canisters in close quarters have a tendency to start fires and that is what happened here. The biggest problem was that on this day there was a forty mile and hour gale howling and the compound being made of wood went up in flames quickly and killed everyone inside, men, women and children. I cannot tell you what kind of shit was aimed at Janet Reno but to the credit of Janet, she said that “she was totally responsible, the buck stops here.”
1995 At about 9:00A a small moving van driven by a Timothy McVeigh, loaded with barrels of ammonium nitrate (fertilizer) mixed with fuel oil is parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As ya’ll may or may not know, fertilizer and fuel oil is a volatile mixture and very explosive. McVeigh lit a fuse and split. A couple of minutes later a thunderous explosion occurs and blows off the total front section of the building immediately killing 100 including several children in the day care center there, not to mention those that were buried in the rubble. The final total was 168 dead and many, many injured. McVeigh was a survivalist who was extremely upset at the US Government for the killing of Randy Weaver’s son and wife by US agents at Ruby Ridge and the killing of over 80 innocents at The Branch Dravidian compound in Waco, Texas as a result of FBI/ATF actions. McVeigh was captured and was quickly convicted of 12 murders and sentenced to death. Soon thereafter McVeigh requested that the judge stop all appeals and allow the sentence to be carried out. In June, 2001 the 33 year old Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in a Federal facility in Terre Haute, Indiana ending this the worst episode of terrorism in the United States up until that time. Three months later an even greater act of terrorism occurs in lower Manhattan, New York City.
1861 On this date the first blood is shed in the American Civil war and it did not occur on a battle field. The city of Baltimore was a hotbed of pro-Confederacy sentiments. The 6th Massachusetts Infantry was transferring from one train station to another in Baltimore on their way to Washington. There was a huge crowd of civilians yelling and jeering the soldiers including a shower of cobblestones. As we all know things will get out of hand at gatherings like this, shots rang out and after the smoke had cleared four soldiers and 12 civilians were killed and the Civil War was underway.
1824 George Gordon Byron, the 6th Baron Byron of Scotland dies in what is now Greece. Lord Byron led a very decadent life even though he was a gifted poet/writer. He was born with a club foot in1788 for which there was not cure in those days. He led a very difficult and impoverished life until the age of 10 when he inherited his great uncle’s fortune and title of Lord Byron. He attended Harrow and Cambridge and went into enormous debt by running hard with both women and men. It appears that Byron was seeker of fun as a bi-sexual. Byron had written two books of poetry both of which received uncomplimentary reviews. After he graduated with a master’s degree in 1809 he made trip to Portugal and on into the near east. Upon returning from this journey, he delivered some of greatest poetry ever written and was soon recognized world-wide for his talent. In 1815 he married Anne Mibanke and they had issue of one daughter. This girl proved to be a mathematical genius and was instrumental in the invention of the first computer by Charles Babbage. His marriage eventually collapsed and he was run out of England for allegedly having incest with his half-sister. He moved to Geneva and lived near Percy Bysse Shelly and his wife/lover Mary Wollenscraft. While there he sired a child out of wedlock with Mary’s sister. He then moved to Venice and began a life of wild debauchery that is legendary to this day. In 1819 he became involved with the Countess Marie Guiccioli the wife of an elderly Count. Byron and the Countess remained lovers for several years. Always a supporter of those fighting for independence, he moved to Greece to help in their fight for independence from Turkey. He helped train Greek troops until he died. He was 36 years old.
Born today:
1933 US actress Jayne Mansfield (mother of Marisa Hargitay of Law and Order SVU) she said “Men are creatures with two legs and eight hands.” She was a beauty.
1962 US racer Al Unser, Jr. He said “My father taught me everything I know. Unfortunately he did not teach me everything he knew.”
Quotable quotes:
“We live in a world of nuclear giants and moral infants.” US General Omar Bradley
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“What you see or what you seem is just a dream within a dream."
Edgar Allen Poe
As most of y’all know I am on hiatus in Charleston, SC for four days. I have not been keeping up with the local, regional or national news so I have no appreciable comment for either except for those greedy bastards at Goldman-Sachs finally are being sued by the SEC for fraud. I feel better now.
We stopped in the sleepy little town of Chapin, South Carolina for lunch on the way down. My traveling companion wanted some chicken wings from a place called Zesto’s. These wings were different that what all of us are used to. They were deep fried crispy brown with no sauce at all. I liked them better than those that are covered with s—t that sticks to your lips and fingers.
Thursday evening saw us at Soda Water Grill on Isle of Palms Freeway and then to Dunleavy’s Pub on Sullivan’s Island among other places. Friday were went an IHOP on US17 in Mount Pleasant for a late breakfast. We then made the obligatory trip to the slave market and while my traveling companion shopped in the market, I waited patiently in the Noisy Oyster Bar and Grill across East Bay Street from the market. My companion showed up and we had oysters on the half shell and then went back to Sullivan’s Island to pay a visit to Poe’s Tavern and yet another trip to Dunleavy’s. After a short rest we went to Queen Anne’s Revenge for dinner. I was supposed to meet up with some my old and dear friends Friday night but I suddenly realized how much of both ends of the candle we had been burning and I cancelled the Friday night drinking slugfest with my friends in the interest of our health. I will see them Saturday.
This date in history April 17
1745 On this date British Colonel James Colbert attacked a Spanish fort San Carlos on the Arkansas River near present day Gillett, Arkansas. Colbert was accompanied by 82 British partisans. If you will look at the date you will see that the peace plan for the end to the Revolutionary War had been submitted in Paris weeks before. But it took weeks for the news to reach the Mississippi Valley. Anyway the fort was defended by Spanish Colonel Jacobo Du Breuill and forty Spanish soldiers and an unnamed number of Quapaw Indian allies. After a couple of hours of attack, the Spanish Colonel got fed up and ordered a counter-attack and opened the gate and out poured a swarm of howling Spaniards and Indians. The English troops had to choice but to retreat. Why was the English attacking a Spanish military installation in North America you ask? It was because the Spanish had sided with the Colonies during the Revolutionary War. Almost twenty years later what is present day Arkansas and a hell of a lot more land was bought by the United States from France in the Louisiana Purchase.
1790 He was born in 1709 in the small settlement of Boston, Massachusetts. At a very young age he joined his half brother Jim in the printing and publishing business there in Boston. In 1723 he got into a cuss fight with Jim and went to Philadelphia to open his own printing business. Benjamin Franklin decided he needed to see some of the other parts of the world and went on a sojourn to London. He came home in 1728 and opened his own printing and publishing business with a friend as a business partner. In 1729 he gained a contract to print a local paper money and he started his own newspaper known as the Pennsylvania Gazette. From 1732 to 1757 he published Poor Richard’s Almanack which was an amalgam of wise sayings, seasonal time to plant or reap, phases of the moon, etc. but it was very popular. As his wealth and prestige grew he became more involved in Philadelphia civic affairs. He was involved in helping form a traveling library, a volunteer fire department, police department and formed an academic group that eventually became the University of Pennsylvania. From 1737 to 1753 he was postmaster of Philadelphia. In 1753 he became Postmaster General of the northern colonies. Being deeply interested in science and technology he conducted several experiments and made several inventions among which was the Franklin stove, which is still in manufacture to this day, and bifocal lens eyeglasses among other things. In 1748 he sold his printing business so he could spend more time with his other avocations. He wrote several scientific papers especially about electricity. He was one of the very few American scientists that were recognized in Europe. In 1754, the colonies decided to become united which was rejected by England. In 1764 he went to London to plead several cases for the colonies and when the heat of war began rising he decided to stay in London to try and get a handle on the interests of the colonies. He came home in 1775 right at the outbreak of hostilities. This man was instrumental in so many aspects of the success of this great experiment in freedom that there are too many to mention in this short essay. On this date the soul of Benjamin Franklin departed this earth. Just take it from me, this man is included in the elite group of people that were in the right place at the right point in time to our benefit, it cannot be happenstance.
1961 On this date a CIA financed and trained “army” lands on the south coast of Cuba in the Bay of Pigs. Their intent was to topple the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro. Castro had taken control of Cuba in 1959 in a military coup. Almost immediately Castro began moving his government to the left and in just a few days he said that he was a dedicated Communist and began courting other Communist countries, especially the Soviet Union. In March of 1960 United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the training of an army by the CIA to be used to depose Castro. President John Kennedy inherited this program and when the CIA reported the army was ready, he ordered the attack. The only problem was that when the attack began to fall apart under a ferocious counter-attack by the Fidel led Cubans, the expected air cover never materialized because Kennedy would not authorize it. Nearly all of the invading army was either killed or captured. A very few escaped in life rafts but most of them died anyway from sunstroke and/or thirst. It was one of the worst debacles in CIA history.
1945 On this date United States army Colonel Boris Pash commandeers 1,100 tons of German uranium to keep it out of the hands of the Russians. Even then our scientists knew that they were just weeks from “Trinity” or the first test of a nuclear device in New Mexico and they also knew that the Germans were very close to inventing a nuclear weapon also. Our federal officials could foresee that Russia would be our next enemy and we did not want them to get a leg up on nuclear development from the Germans. It helped a little. We detonated a nuclear device on the New Mexico desert in July of this year and delivered the first nuclear weapon used in anger in August on Hiroshima. The Russians detonated their first nuclear device in 1952. After that, fear on both sides prevailed.
1815 On this date, after a series of thunderous explosions of the volcano Tamboro in Indonesia, things began to calm down only after the direct and indirect death of over 100,000. The first explosion occurred on April 5 and was the most powerful ever recorded. Probably the most powerful of all was the explosion of the volcano Santorini in the central Mediterranean in about 1,400BC but it was not sufficiently documented. Pliny the elder was on one of his merchant ships at the explosion of the volcano Vesuvius on the peninsula of Italy and sent his ships to rescued those that waded out into bay to try and save themselves from the hot fire and hot ashes: The ship got far as it could but had to turn back because the ash falling from the air was still hot enough to set fires on the ships
1882 Austrian pianist Arthur Schnabel. He said “I pretty much handle the notes like any other pianist, but the rests between the notes, that is where the art lies.”
1885 Danish writer Karen Blixen. She said “What is man, when you begin think upon him, but minutely set, an ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, a red Shiraz into urine.” Hey Karen, stop drinking that rotgut wine and get into Maker’s Mark bourbon like the good lord intended.
1894 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. He said “Politicians are all the same. The promise a bridge where there is no river.” That is a great observation, Nikita.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“What you see or what you seem is just a dream within a dream."
Edgar Allen Poe
As most of y’all know I am on hiatus in Charleston, SC for four days. I have not been keeping up with the local, regional or national news so I have no appreciable comment for either except for those greedy bastards at Goldman-Sachs finally are being sued by the SEC for fraud. I feel better now.
We stopped in the sleepy little town of Chapin, South Carolina for lunch on the way down. My traveling companion wanted some chicken wings from a place called Zesto’s. These wings were different that what all of us are used to. They were deep fried crispy brown with no sauce at all. I liked them better than those that are covered with s—t that sticks to your lips and fingers.
Thursday evening saw us at Soda Water Grill on Isle of Palms Freeway and then to Dunleavy’s Pub on Sullivan’s Island among other places. Friday were went an IHOP on US17 in Mount Pleasant for a late breakfast. We then made the obligatory trip to the slave market and while my traveling companion shopped in the market, I waited patiently in the Noisy Oyster Bar and Grill across East Bay Street from the market. My companion showed up and we had oysters on the half shell and then went back to Sullivan’s Island to pay a visit to Poe’s Tavern and yet another trip to Dunleavy’s. After a short rest we went to Queen Anne’s Revenge for dinner. I was supposed to meet up with some my old and dear friends Friday night but I suddenly realized how much of both ends of the candle we had been burning and I cancelled the Friday night drinking slugfest with my friends in the interest of our health. I will see them Saturday.
This date in history April 17
1745 On this date British Colonel James Colbert attacked a Spanish fort San Carlos on the Arkansas River near present day Gillett, Arkansas. Colbert was accompanied by 82 British partisans. If you will look at the date you will see that the peace plan for the end to the Revolutionary War had been submitted in Paris weeks before. But it took weeks for the news to reach the Mississippi Valley. Anyway the fort was defended by Spanish Colonel Jacobo Du Breuill and forty Spanish soldiers and an unnamed number of Quapaw Indian allies. After a couple of hours of attack, the Spanish Colonel got fed up and ordered a counter-attack and opened the gate and out poured a swarm of howling Spaniards and Indians. The English troops had to choice but to retreat. Why was the English attacking a Spanish military installation in North America you ask? It was because the Spanish had sided with the Colonies during the Revolutionary War. Almost twenty years later what is present day Arkansas and a hell of a lot more land was bought by the United States from France in the Louisiana Purchase.
1790 He was born in 1709 in the small settlement of Boston, Massachusetts. At a very young age he joined his half brother Jim in the printing and publishing business there in Boston. In 1723 he got into a cuss fight with Jim and went to Philadelphia to open his own printing business. Benjamin Franklin decided he needed to see some of the other parts of the world and went on a sojourn to London. He came home in 1728 and opened his own printing and publishing business with a friend as a business partner. In 1729 he gained a contract to print a local paper money and he started his own newspaper known as the Pennsylvania Gazette. From 1732 to 1757 he published Poor Richard’s Almanack which was an amalgam of wise sayings, seasonal time to plant or reap, phases of the moon, etc. but it was very popular. As his wealth and prestige grew he became more involved in Philadelphia civic affairs. He was involved in helping form a traveling library, a volunteer fire department, police department and formed an academic group that eventually became the University of Pennsylvania. From 1737 to 1753 he was postmaster of Philadelphia. In 1753 he became Postmaster General of the northern colonies. Being deeply interested in science and technology he conducted several experiments and made several inventions among which was the Franklin stove, which is still in manufacture to this day, and bifocal lens eyeglasses among other things. In 1748 he sold his printing business so he could spend more time with his other avocations. He wrote several scientific papers especially about electricity. He was one of the very few American scientists that were recognized in Europe. In 1754, the colonies decided to become united which was rejected by England. In 1764 he went to London to plead several cases for the colonies and when the heat of war began rising he decided to stay in London to try and get a handle on the interests of the colonies. He came home in 1775 right at the outbreak of hostilities. This man was instrumental in so many aspects of the success of this great experiment in freedom that there are too many to mention in this short essay. On this date the soul of Benjamin Franklin departed this earth. Just take it from me, this man is included in the elite group of people that were in the right place at the right point in time to our benefit, it cannot be happenstance.
1961 On this date a CIA financed and trained “army” lands on the south coast of Cuba in the Bay of Pigs. Their intent was to topple the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro. Castro had taken control of Cuba in 1959 in a military coup. Almost immediately Castro began moving his government to the left and in just a few days he said that he was a dedicated Communist and began courting other Communist countries, especially the Soviet Union. In March of 1960 United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the training of an army by the CIA to be used to depose Castro. President John Kennedy inherited this program and when the CIA reported the army was ready, he ordered the attack. The only problem was that when the attack began to fall apart under a ferocious counter-attack by the Fidel led Cubans, the expected air cover never materialized because Kennedy would not authorize it. Nearly all of the invading army was either killed or captured. A very few escaped in life rafts but most of them died anyway from sunstroke and/or thirst. It was one of the worst debacles in CIA history.
1945 On this date United States army Colonel Boris Pash commandeers 1,100 tons of German uranium to keep it out of the hands of the Russians. Even then our scientists knew that they were just weeks from “Trinity” or the first test of a nuclear device in New Mexico and they also knew that the Germans were very close to inventing a nuclear weapon also. Our federal officials could foresee that Russia would be our next enemy and we did not want them to get a leg up on nuclear development from the Germans. It helped a little. We detonated a nuclear device on the New Mexico desert in July of this year and delivered the first nuclear weapon used in anger in August on Hiroshima. The Russians detonated their first nuclear device in 1952. After that, fear on both sides prevailed.
1815 On this date, after a series of thunderous explosions of the volcano Tamboro in Indonesia, things began to calm down only after the direct and indirect death of over 100,000. The first explosion occurred on April 5 and was the most powerful ever recorded. Probably the most powerful of all was the explosion of the volcano Santorini in the central Mediterranean in about 1,400BC but it was not sufficiently documented. Pliny the elder was on one of his merchant ships at the explosion of the volcano Vesuvius on the peninsula of Italy and sent his ships to rescued those that waded out into bay to try and save themselves from the hot fire and hot ashes: The ship got far as it could but had to turn back because the ash falling from the air was still hot enough to set fires on the ships
1882 Austrian pianist Arthur Schnabel. He said “I pretty much handle the notes like any other pianist, but the rests between the notes, that is where the art lies.”
1885 Danish writer Karen Blixen. She said “What is man, when you begin think upon him, but minutely set, an ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, a red Shiraz into urine.” Hey Karen, stop drinking that rotgut wine and get into Maker’s Mark bourbon like the good lord intended.
1894 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. He said “Politicians are all the same. The promise a bridge where there is no river.” That is a great observation, Nikita.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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