Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“It is better to walk in the dark with a friend than to walk alone in the light.”

Helen Keller

One of my daughters apparently is close to entering that dark jungle of menopause. She sent out an item written by a woman giving 12 indicators that menopause is approaching. Here is two of them.

“I looked in the mirror one morning and realized I had become Tom Selleck.”

“I began to realize that my spouse chews. That's right his jaws move up and down and noises are heard. I understand that he has to chew to eat...Dammit to hell!

I have been reading about Josh Gordon who was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in a supplemental draft as a wide receiver. This man is very talented but has a problem. He was kicked out of Baylor for failing two drug tests. He went to Utah waited a year as required and showed some of his brilliance there, however he failed one drug test there. He has been suspended by the Browns for failing a drug test. Last week up in Raleigh he was stopped for speeding (50 in a 35) but the cop smelled something and tested him. Gordon blew a .09. He was arrested for a possible DUI with a court date in August. The legal limit in North Carolina is .08. That sounds like a bored cop to me but the last thing Gordon needs at this point is any kind of substance abuse. It is obvious that this man has no discipline but I do not think the Browns will have him back nor will any other team in the league. What a waste.

I read that there are only 350 Sumatran tigers in existence. Sumatra is an island in the Indonesian archipelago. Anyway, in addition to the tigers, there is a certain type of tree whose sap is used in the perfume industry. A group of six men were out in the jungle looking for these trees and had set a trap to capture a deer for food. They did not get a deer, but they did get a Sumatran tiger cub. Upon opening the cage to release the cub, the mother tiger showed up and she was not pleased, as most mothers in the wild kingdom are under these circumstances. She chased the men up trees to protect her cub. The problem was that she did not leave for five days constantly circling the base of the trees. One of the men fell out of his tree and was immediately killed and partially devoured. Over a period of time the story about the men up trees and the mother tiger below made its way throughout the jungle because soon there were seven tigers assisting the mother. Finally relatives of the treed men reported them missing and trained animal handlers showed up, scared off the tigers and rescued the men. Wild animals are exactly that...wild. Anyone that thinks animals that are of wild bloodlines can be trained to where the violence is overcome is stupid. A while back ago a 25 year old girl working for a tiger breeder went into the cage with a tiger that she had hand raised since the tiger was 6 weeks old. By then the tiger was about 2 years old and weighed about 400 pounds. This girl bent over to pickup something of the floor and the tiger attacked, grabbed this girl by the neck and killed her. The reason...for thousands of years tigers recognize their prey by something that is on four legs. When the tiger saw her bent over resembling something on four legs the instinct was to attack. That is also why surfers are attacked by sharks. From below a surfer lying on the surfboard with feet and arms off the board resembles a seal from below, prime food for sharks. Wild animals have relied on instinct to keep them alive for millennia, human influence be damned.

Before the present orgy of soccer there was a soccer game involving two teams from Brazil. As y'all know soccer fans are crazy as hell. Anyway, one of the referees threw out one of the players because of rough play (or something similar) and the player and the referee got into a fist fight. This rumble eventually turned bad when the referee pulled out a knife and stabbed the player who died on the way to the hospital. Fans of the player stormed out on the field and attacked the referee, killed him, cut off his head and cut his torso into quarters. They then impaled the head on a stake and stuck the stake into the ground at mid-field...and they call American football violent.

Two soccer teams from Mexico played in Las Vegas. There were several fan riots before, during and after the game. The game had to be stopped with several minutes to go because the fans of the losing team stormed out onto the field. Immigrants into the US?

                                This Date in History July 11

1804 Earlier Alexander Hamilton had immigrated to the United States after being born in the Island of Nevis in the Bahamas. Hamilton’s brilliance was unmistakable and obvious and he was soon recognized for it by those in the high end of the body politic. He eventually was recognized by George Washington and was made one of Washington’s aides. Almost at the same time another brilliant man named Aaron Burr began to surface. Burr was American born and Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) educated graduating at the age of 17. Burr was intensely interested in American politics but Hamilton saw him as an opportunist and fought against him at every step. Hamilton became the first Secretary of the Treasury and through skillful maneuvering was able to forestall a financial disaster in the fledgling United States. Burr had not been sitting still either and worked his way up to Vice President with Thomas Jefferson as President. After being elected as Vice President, Hamilton bore down even more with his criticism of Burr. Burr finally got fed up and challenged Hamilton to “an affair of honor” meaning a duel. Dueling was illegal in New York (Washington was not yet the capitol) so the duel was set for Weehawken, New Jersey. The weapons of choice were pistols at twenty paces (ten each). On this date Hamilton and Burr faced each other pistols in hand. At this point things get a little bit hazy. Hamilton’s “second” said that Hamilton suddenly realized that this was not the way to settle a beef and pointed his pistol up in the air and fired. Burr’s “second” said that Hamilton fired and missed. Burr was not that bad of a shot and put a round in Hamilton stomach and he died the next day. Later history proved that Burr was indeed an opportunist when he approached the commander of the American forces General James Wilkinson and tried to get him to take his forces over and capture the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase and make it a separate nation with Burr as president. They had the same thing in mind for the Spanish owned area of Florida which was in dispute. Burr was found out and discredited and his political ambitions went down the toilet. In 1807 he was arrested in Louisiana and sent back to face charges of treason. He was acquitted on a technicality but public opinion had convicted him of treason and he fled to Europe. He returned to the US a few years before his death in 1836.

1861 On this date the Battle of Rich Mountain in western Virginia occured. It was the Union army commanded by General George McClellan and General William Rosecrans as second in command. The Confederates were commanded by CSA General Richard Garnett and Colonel John Pegram. This area eventually became the state of West Virginia and at the time of the Civil War there were more people not in favor of secession as there was in favor. Not only that the Baltimore and Ohio railroad ran through this area and would prove to be a vital artery for supplies to the Union army in the western theater. The battle was fought during a raging downpour and Rosecrans was able to flank Pegram’s troops and block their retreat at the same time and the 565 man unit were forced to surrender. This proved to be a victory for the Union army and George McClellan but most experts give the credit to Rosecrans. In any event McClellan eventually became the commander of the gigantic Army of the Potomac, 100,000 strong. The small victories that McClellan gained in western Virginia in no way prepared him for the carnage he witnessed in the Peninsular Campaign and his first encounter with CSA General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia where McClellan’s troops were slaughtered right before his eyes. When he witnessed this massacre McClellan lost his nerve and Lee sensed it and pushed the timid McClellan right off the James River Peninsula and back onto his boats and back to wherever the hell he came from.

1937 Earlier the gifted Welch poet Dylan Thomas had met Caitlin MacNamara in a London pub. She did not like him at first but afterward she fell for his charms and on this date they were married. It was no rose garden right from the start. Dylan believed that Caitlin was cheating on him and it they squabbled often about it. Not only that, they both were heavy drinkers. Caitlin was acknowledged to be able to hang with anyone at a bar. In spite of this turmoil, they had issue of three sons and Dylan turned out three best selling books of poetry. He was also invited to the United States to join the speaking circuit to recite his poetry for a hell of a lot of money. His poetry was not what one would expect. His poetry was hard-hitting and violent but it was in great demand. In 1953 after a poetry reading session, Dylan went into the White Horse Pub on Hudson Street in New York City and knocked back several shots of scotch and promptly walked out onto the sidewalk and dropped dead. Caitlin re-married and this husband helped her stop drinking and they had issue of one son. She wrote two books about her experiences with him. She was forever bitter toward Dylan until her death at the age of 80.

Born today:

1767 US President John Quincy Adams. He said “Old minds are like old horses, you must exercise them to keep them in good working order.” My sentiments exactly.

1838 US merchant John Wannamaker. He said “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is that I don’t know which half.”

1849 Canadian physician Sir William Osler. He said “One finger in the throat and one finger in the rectum makes a good diagnostician.” What if I come in with a broke leg, Doc?

1854 US inventor George Eastman. His suicide note read “My work is done, why wait?” George was 88 at the time of his demise.

1920 US actor Yul Brynner. He said “Girls have an advantage over men. If they can’t get what they want by being smart, they can get it by being dumb.” I think I know several of each.

Died today:

1937 US composer George Gershwin. He said “Music should reflect the people and times. My people are Americans and my time is now.” The Gershwin brothers left us with a legacy of music that has yet to be equaled. George was 39 when he passed.

1966 US writer Delmore Schwartz. He said “Love is the most dangerous and difficult form of courage.” I am with you, Del.

                       Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow