Good
morning,
Quote
of the day:
“Your
best friend is the one who lifts you up when the wings of your heart
forget how to fly.”
Golda
Meir
Here
is something to think about: There is evidence of Mayan villages on
the Mexican Pacific coast that are about 2,300 years old. These
villages and others like them further inland were agrarian societies
mostly raising a few small animals like dogs and chickens, maize
(corn), beans, yams and gathering fish and shellfish. The variety of
their take increased throughout history but all of a sudden they
started building stone edifices that would challenge those in Egypt.
They did NOT have any kind of metals, draft animals, engineering
skills, knowledge of basic machinery including the compound pulley,
transits, theodolites, squares, etc. There is no evidence that they
exchanged technical information with anyone from one area to another
like the Egyptians yet they constructed gigantic pyramids by beating
one rock with another harder rock to the point that they fit together
so tightly that a sheet of paper will not fit between them and mortar
is not required. Not only that, they were able to divert rivers,
construct fishing weirs, build irrigation ditches, remove trees and
jungle to make large avenues and plazas not to mention sports arenas
with seating for hundreds. They had a sport similar to soccer.
Remember they did all of this without draft animals and metal. Also
remember that 1,000 miles south people in the Amazon River basin were
living in grass shacks, killing game with snares and pointed sticks
used as spears and were cannibals. Then 1,000 miles north for the
most part the native Americans were living a nomadic existence
chasing the migration of the bison and other game. There were a few
agrarian societies but few and far between. I do not believe that
one day a corn farmer down in central Mexico raised up and said “Hey
y'all, even though we do not have draft animals and metal, lets erect
some four sided buildings that are bigger at the bottom that at the
top and etch images on the sides of the stones that emulate our kings
and Gods.” On top of that they were expert astronomers. Their
calender was the most accurate ever created for a thousand years.
They could predict eclipses of the moon and sun among other celestial
events. They erected some building that were obviously celestial
observatories that seemed to be focused on “Orion's Belt” (Little
Dipper) and the “Pleiades” (Seven Sisters). They oriented their
buildings within a degree or two of true north, south, east and west.
Their system of mathematics was based on 20 and included the
concept of zero. I would like to see a show of hands of those that
believe the Mayans did all of that totally on their on. Me neither.
A
county deputy in Mobile, Alabama was called to a domestic
disturbance. As he alit from his car a man came running out of a
house wielding a machete and struck the deputy on the shoulder. Soon
thereafter the deputy was able to retrieve his 9mm Glock and sent
that man to the Promised Land. The cops later found out that that
man’s parents had been found hacked to death with a machete like
weapon down in Palm Beach, Florida. The deputy saved us a lot of
money….no incarceration for years and years.
Recently
a group of New Zealanders built a 65 foot catamaran sailboat made
totally of plastic bottles. They were able to sail that puppy 4,000
mile across the Pacific Ocean successfully. They were demonstrating
the invincibility of the plastic bottles and stressed that they
should never be thrown into the ocean as trash. They last forever.
I
am still reading the history of the Comanche in the western United
States. I have changed my mind somewhat about their fate. When the
settlers began moving into west and southwest Texas the Comanche were
already the bullies of the southern plains because of their
possession of thousands of Spanish mustangs and their unparalleled
horsemanship. Not only that, their unbridled brutality was
legendary. The beginning of the end for them was the breech loading
Sharps .50 caliber used by the buffalo hunters. This rifle had and
effective range of 800 to 1,000 yards. 26 buffalo hunters armed with
the Sharps were able to hold off 300 Comanche at the battle of Adobe
Walls in central Texas. Then along came the repeating Henry and
Winchester rifles. But the Comanche were able to gather up many of
those weapons themselves. The final blow came in the form of a US
Cavalry officer name Ranald Mackenzie. This man decided that he was
not going after the Comanche themselves, he went after their horses
knowing that the Comanche could not exist without them. They had no
agrarian segment; they relied on the buffalo, and the slave trade.
Mackenzie was responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Comanche
and Kiowa ponies which put the warriors afoot. This horrible
campaign worked and eventually all the Comanche, Kiowa, Arapaho and
hundreds of other southern plains tribes surrendered to a life of
having to wait for a handout from Uncle Sam. It broke their spirit;
it would have broken mine too.
By
the way, I tried to find Adobe Walls exact location but the closest I
could find was fairly near Amarillo...in an event it must have been a
hell of a fight.
Tidbits:
Democratic
Congressman Charles Rangel of Harlem has become a liability to the
Democratic Party and they are leaning on the 80 year old legislator
to resign/retire. They are hitting him where he is the most
vulnerable...ethics. This influence peddler will go down in
history as having the hungriest pockets in the catalog of corruption.
Jack
"The Assassin" Tatum formerly of the Oakland Raiders has
died at the age of 61 from a heart attack. As far as I am
concerned he is among the top five hardest hitting defensive backs in
history.
Tim
Tebow former quarterback of the Florida Gators has signed a contract
to model underwear for Jockey. Tim had mention that after
college he was going to become a missionary. I suppose that to
some women seeing Tim Terrific in a pair of abbreviated briefs would
be a spiritual experience.
This
Date in History July 28
1976
On this date the most powerful earthquake in modern history occurs
in Shantung Province, China. The quake occurred at 3:50am while all
were asleep. The earth shook for 23 seconds and the city was
leveled. As you might suspect, the buildings were light years from
being earthquake proof and collapsed and crushed the people inside to
the tune of an estimated 500,000 killed. Not only that, the earth
rose and fell and ruptured many natural gas lines and enormous fires
erupted and thousands were incinerated. The strange thing was that
the people reported that a few days before the quake, large packs of
rats ran panic stricken through the streets in broad daylight. They
reported that they saw multi-colored lights and bright flashes in the
sky and wells would overflow and then the water would go so deep that
their rope and bucket would not reach it. Offers from all over the
world offered assistance and medical supplies but the arrogant
Chinese government refused saying that they would take care of their
own. They certainly were not prepared for a disaster of this
magnitude but they were not going to admit to the world that the
Communist Chinese government was not perfect. Thousands of Chinese
died from the lack of medical treatment and supplies. Shantung has
been rebuilt and the greater majority of the buildings were rebuilt
using earthquake proof technology. But even this disaster cannot
hold a candle to another earthquake that also occurred in China in
about 1760 that took the lives of over 800,000.
1868
On this date the 14th
Amendment to the Constitution is adopted. This amendment assured the
full American citizenship to blacks. One of the phrases in the
amendment stated that “all citizens shall have equal protection
under the law.” This was the hardest thing for our citizenry to
accept, both north and south. But it was the US government
implemented the Reconstruction Act that cause the most animosity and
polarized the northern states the southern states. This act made the
southerners just a hair short of vassals to agents that were sent to
oversee both legal and illegal transactions to cheat the southern
land owners after the Civil War. It was this behavior that gave
birth to the KKK that thrived as long as the Reconstruction Act was
in effect and for many years thereafter. Don’t get me wrong, the
KKK was/is a bunch of disgusting bigots but it was the Reconstruction
Act gave this organization the fire in its belly.
1973
On this date the bullet riddled, blood soaked Ford V8 in which
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were killed was auctioned off to a
collector from Nevada for the tidy sum of $175,000. When the Ford V8
first came out the gangster’s in America went across the
countryside looking for them. The car was the replacement of the
immortal Model A. After a couple of years, gangster/killer John
Dillinger sent a letter to Henry Ford extolling the ability of the V8
to outrun any “cop car” out there. Not to be outdone, Clyde
Barrow also sent a letter to Henry saying about the same thing. But
both of them were blown away by gunfire from law enforcement
officers. The car did not help them then. I wonder where they are
today.
1945
On this date an aircraft crashed into the Empire State building
killing 13. As you can tell from the date, this event occurred
during WWII. It was an American B-25 medium bomber. The aircraft
departed New Bedford, Connecticut enroute to LaGuardia airport
serving New York. There was a pea soup fog over New York and air
traffic controllers (I used to be one) told the B-25 to divert to
Newark, New Jersey about 30 miles away. Evidently the pilot got lost
in the fog and the collision happened. This was before the days of
radar and digital navigation. This was not the only aircraft to hit
the Empire State Building; I remember when a Cessna ran into it. But
these days that could not happen by accident. The air traffic
controllers that control that airspace do it with a very tight fist
because of the volume of aircraft involved in that area. There are
three of the major airports in the world are within a 20 mile radius.
There is LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark. But the busiest airport in
the United States is Atlanta or was the last time I checked.
1943
Earlier the British Air Force launched Operation Gomorrah the
mission of which was the destruction of the tools of war being
manufactured near Hamburg, Germany. The Brits had been bombing
Hamburg for a couple of days but on this night they dropped over 2,
600 tons of incendiary bombs creating a firestorm unparalleled in
history until Hiroshima. Some of the British pilots reported that
there was not a series of fires but one monster that scorched 8
square miles of the city and killed 40,000 civilians. The fire was
so hot that air was rushing into the middle the winds reached
hurricane force and literally sucked people into it if not
asphyxiated them by using up all the oxygen within a certain radius.
War is hell, literally.
Born today:
1807
Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz. He said “I cannot waste my time
making money.” Hey Louis, where did you go to eat and drink?
1908
English writer and creator of James Bond Ian Fleming. When
meeting Sean Connery the first time he said “I am looking for
Commander Bond, not an overgrown stunt man.” Ian, shut up. Sean
made you a fortune several time over.
1917
US professor Barry Commoner. He said “If you can see the light
at the end of the tunnel, you are looking the wrong direction.”
That’s depressing, Barry.
Died today:
1849
US writer Anne Bronte. She said “If a man is not ready to grab
the thorn, he should not crave the rose.” Sound wisdom.
1913
English naturalist Sir John Lubbock. He said “What we seek
mainly depends of what we look for.” A few years back I was
looking for a girl friend that looked like a 30 year old Elizabeth
Taylor and had the morals of an alley cat. Now I am looking for a
more comfortable couch to take naps on.
1937
Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler. He said “The chief danger
in life is that we may take to many precautions.” Hey Al, the best
precaution is to find a comfortable couch to take naps on.
Thanks for
listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
