Daily history

Good morning,







Quote of the day:


“When I went to college I found out that if it squirms, is it biology; if it stinks, it is chemistry; if it doesn't work, it is physics; if you can't understand it, it is mathematics.”


Magnus Pyke






I recently found out that a treasured friend of mine has a physical condition that is very serious. He does not want anyone to know about it because he does not want a bunch of sympathy calls and people worrying about him. I understand that train of thought and will honor his desires. In my mind's eye I see him attending my funeral, not vice versa. Get well my friend.






It does not look good for that area of northeast Japan. They still do not have a handle on those four nuclear reactor buildings, three of which have experienced explosions. The United States has finally realized that the worldwide pattern of the jet stream is and has always been from west to east. This means that if enough of the dust from those out of control reactors could reach America aboard the jet stream and contaminate the west coast if not all of North America. There have been radiation detectors deployed in Hawaii, Guam, Alaska, western Canada and the west coast of America. I will be very interested in the increase (if any) of lung cancer and/or pancreatic cancer in the next year in the previously mentioned areas. This is what would happen in the event of a nuclear war except that the cancers would be way more frequent and severe because weapons grade plutonium, uranium, americium, curium, etc. are much more virulent than those fuels used in nuclear power plants. Keep in mind that our enemies are actively seeking possession of weapons grade nuclear weapons. They would not need tritium (trigger) to light it off, all they would need is about 30 pounds of the weapons grade material and wrap several sticks of powerful explosives like TNT or C4 around the package and blow it into dust in the middle of a large American city like Chicago. Millions would die in a matter of weeks and millions more that lived downwind. This had been called a “Scorpion in a bottle”...indeed.






I defy anyone to surf the channels on TV in the next few weeks and not find a basketball game. That's right, it is March Madness meaning the frenzy to find a NCAA basketball champion for this season through a series of tournaments nationwide. I personally think it will end up being the Kansas Jayhawks or the Duke Blue Devils. We shall see.






That great electronics God in the sky has chosen to frown upon me in the last couple of days. I normally have two laptops working. One is for my “creative” writing and the other is for personal and business communications. The one that I use for creative writing decided to power down and will not re-ignite. I press the “power on” button and the power on lights come on for about 6 seconds and then powers down. On top of that, my cell phone (the only phone of any kind that I have) decided to fall apart and will not cooperate in reassembly. So I am now saddled with only one laptop and a trip to Verizon yesterday provided me with a replacement for my four year old cell phone. It has the same features as my old phone but it has bigger and more readable letter/digits. Time marches on.










This date in history March 18






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






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






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






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






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






Born today:






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






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






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






Died today:






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






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






Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow