Monday

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 14^th 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