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