Good
morning,
Quote
of the day:
“No
one has ever had a good idea while wearing a suit.”
Sir Frederick
Banting
I
have two daughters that live in Columbia, SC. Starting tomorrow they
will begin a trek back to where they spent the majority of their
formative years, they are moving to Pensacola, Florida (no state
income tax, by the way). At one time they both worked for the State
of South Carolina or a company that did business with the state. One
daughter has burned out and is just seeking serenity and I am sure
she will find it on the sugar white sands of the beach. The other
has landed a very lucrative position with a world renown company and
travels to many locations for her job meaning she can live wherever
she wants. She likes the beach also. They will be joining their
other sister who has lived in Pensacola for over 40 years. I am very
happy that they will be together once again. In addition to being
happy for them I am very envious. Have fun together Leslie, Mardy
and Jen.
Here
is a story of a friend. I met this man when I was on an engineering
project in Charlotte (MOX). I was a member of a social group that
met at this one particular watering hole located at near the
intersection of Woodlawn Road and Park Road. We met at 5:30p almost
every work day. My friend was a member of this group of about 15 men
and women. He was a golfer of substantial skill and loved to play
and was superb at remodeling houses and carpentry work. I told him
about several big jobs that he was qualified for but he said that he
could not work for anyone....he was too independent. I went to his
house several times and we went out to eat on regular
occasions...then he had a stroke. He recovered but was dragging his
left leg. I left the job in Charlotte and went on the road doing 3D
piping design work working for the highest bidder. I was working in
Goose Creek, SC and decided to see how he was doing. He was not
doing well. He could not do big remodeling jobs because he could not
climb stairs because of the leg. He was about to be evicted from his
house for lack of paying the rent, his pickup truck was without
brakes and a valid tag because he had no money. I went to see him in
Charlotte and got him ahead in his rent and fixed his truck. I
stayed a couple of days and went back to my place on Daniel Island,
SC and working in Goose Creek. I called him a few times after that
and he was staying at his parent's condo on the east side of
Charlotte. Both parents were dead. He had a son that he had lost
contact with since he went to college, if you can believe that.
After he had healed a bit from the stroke, he got a fair sized job on
a fancy-schmantzy condo in Litchfield Beach, SC that would take about
a week. He invited me to stay with him and we had a great time there
and at Pawleys Island and Murrell's Inlet. It has been a few years
since we have chatted even though he is on my address listing for my
daily blog. I called him once to catch up. He had just got out of
the hospital for pneumonia...and that ain't all. He had been living
in a tent in a park in Charlotte for about a six months and that is
probably where the pneumonia came from. He also is being treated for
a cancer of the kidneys and liver. He moved into a one bedroom
apartment on the west side with three other guys to get in out of
the rain and keep warm/cool. His doctors give him about a year to
live...he is about 66 years old. He sounded fairly upbeat in spite
of all of this. Think of my friend the next time you feel depressed
and think the world is against you. Remember how fortunate you
really are.
This
is the only comment I will make about the Mosque planned to be built
in New York. The argument made by Mayor Bloomberg and others is that
the 1st amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the right to
freedom of expression. This is certainly true here in the USA. But
let’s suppose that I felt the need to express my disapproval with
the outcome of the American Civil War and planted a Confederate
battle flag at the Lincoln Memorial, or maybe I was not happy with
the outcome of WWII and planted a Swastika flag at the Holocaust
Memorial or the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach, or I was not happy
with the outcome of the American Revolutionary War and planted a
British Union Jack at Valley Forge. All of these actions fall into
the purview of the 1st
Amendment as exercising my right of freedom of expression. The
difference is that these actions may be legal but they are
inflammatory and in incredibly bad taste and I can assure you that
there would repercussions.
In
addition to the history lesson I am adding a biography of one of the
most hard-assed women that ever existed. Here she is.
Boudicca
Queen
of the Iceni
The
place and time of Boudicca’s birth is lost in history but it is
believed that she was born about 35 AD. It was also believed by the
historians Tacitus and Dio that she was of royal descent. Historian
Dio said that Boudicca was “possessed of greater intelligence than
often belongs to women”. His words, y'all. She was described a
being tall with red hair down to her hips, having a harsh voice and a
piecing glare. She always wore a heavy gold necklace and a
multi-colored tunic and a thick cloak held together with a brooch.
Her husband was known as Prasutagus, King of the Iceni branch of the
Keltoi (Celts). His kingdom was in what is known today as Norfolk,
England but his kingdom was still a province of the Roman Empire.
Today Norfolk is in eastern England, north of Dover on the English
Channel. Prasutagus’ kingdom was not originally part of the Roman
Empire but he voluntarily allied himself with the Romans after the
conquest by Claudius in 43AD. The Iceni was a fiercely independent
bunch and revolted soon after the alliance in 43AD because the Roman
governor, Publius Scapula, threatened to disarm them. It was common
practice in those days for Rome to allow the independence of a
Kingdom if the client king willed his lands to Rome upon his death.
Prasutagus live a rich and sumptuous life primarily on money borrowed
from Roman citizens including the Roman senator Seneca the Younger.
After Prasutagus’ death, his debtors came calling including the
government of Rome. It was the responsibility of Prasutagas’
subjects to make good his debts. The Roman army moved in and
virtually enslaved the nobles and nearly all lands were confiscated.
It was reported by Dio that Boudicca was flogged while having to
watch her adolescent daughters being repeatedly raped. In about
60AD, while the Roman governor, Gaius Paulinus, was over in Angsley
in northern Wales leading an expedition against the British rebels
and the Druids, Boudicca called a conference with other Celtic
kingdoms such as the Trinovantes, and they decided to revolt and they
voted Boudicca as their leader. In those days the Roman army hated
to go into combat against the Celts because the Celtic women were
there standing with the men and swung and ax or sword with the best
of them which intimidated the Romans. They could not bear to think
that they could be defeated or killed by women. Boudicca used a form
of divination to decide the way of a battle. She would release a
rabbit from the folds of the cloak and interpret from the direction
it ran, and she invoked upon her goddess of victory, Andraste, for
advice. By the way her name Boudicca comes from the Celtic word
“bouda” meaning victory. Anyway, after doing all of these
rituals, she and her army that eventually grew to over 230,000, set
out to kick the Romans out of Britain. Their first target was
Camulodunum, which was the former capital of the Tranovantians but
was now occupied by the Romans as a colony. They burned that sucker
to the ground and massacred the Romans in residence. This city is
today known as Colchester. After this event the X Legion, Quintas
Cerialis commanding, came running to relieve the city but Boudicca’s
Army of men and women routed the vaunted Legion killing the entire
infantry to a man. Only Cerialis and few cavalrymen escaped. After
this debacle, Roman Governor Suetonius hurried down Watling Street
through hostile territory to the newly founded town of Londoninium
and briefly thought about organizing a stand there but reconsidered
when he counted the number of troops available to him and sacrificed
the town to save the province and pulled out and left the town to
Boudicca. As you might suspect that town is present day London.
Soon Boudicca and her army showed up and burned Londoninium to the
ground and killed any mammal that was still there. Archeologists
have found a layer of burnt debris in London that corresponds with
that time period. There next target was the town of Verulaminum and
the same fate fell upon that town and any person left. This town is
now St Albans. Between the three towns Boudicca’s army had killed
between 70,000 and 80,000 people. The historian Tacitus reported
that this Celtic army was not interested in prisoners, there were
only interested in killing by gallows, fire or cross. Let me tell
you, Boudicca wasn’t fooling around. Tacitus also reported that
“the noblest of women were impaled on spikes and had their breasts
cut off and sewn to their mouths, to the accompaniment of sacrifices,
banquets and wanton behavior.” In the mean time, Suetonius had
assembled the XIV Legion and the XX Legion and any other he could
find and decided to make a stand. The exact location is not known
but it was probably in the West Midlands. Before this battle
Boudicca made a speech saying that they had already met and defeated
a Roman Legion that this on they were facing was no different. She
said that she was not just a noble that had lost neither her lands
nor a woman seeking revenge for what had happened to her and her
daughters. She was a person that wanted her independence and freedom
from slavery. She ended her speech with this statement which I
paraphrase “I and my women warriors are resolved to win or die, If
the men want to live in slavery, that was their choice.” Well, her
army was so big it was unwieldy especially in close quarters and they
did not have training in this aspect of warfare. Suetonius had
wisely chosen a heavily wooded area with an open field for the
battleground. The Celts commenced a wild charge and were met with a
cloud of javelins from the Romans that killed thousands of the Celts.
After the Romans had run out of javelins they formed up into their
famous phalanx and waded into the screaming Celts. The Celts
attempted to flee but were cut off by a ring of supply wagons that
had the Celts had brought with them. The Celts were unceremoniously
and methodically massacred by the Romans. Tacitus tells us that over
80,000 Celts fell on that day to only 400 Romans. After this defeat,
Boudicca killed herself with poison confirming her oath to win or
die. She was given a very lavish hero’s funeral and burial. There
is a bronze statue of her aboard a chariot with her daughters at her
side near the Westminster Pier in London (been there). Boudicca
remains an important symbol in the culture of Great Britain.
This
Date in History August 27
1883
On this date the most powerful volcano explosions in recorded
history occurs in the Indonesian archipelago. The volcano was a
small uninhabited island named Krakatoa. The volcano had sent out
signals that it was restless because several cargo ships had reported
a column of ash and dust several miles high over the island. The
explosion was heard 3,000 miles away and produced a tsunami 120 feet
high that took the lives of over 36,000 people on nearby islands. An
additional 4,000 people were burned to death from the white hot ash
that rained down from the ejecta that was blown up to 50,000 feet in
the stratosphere and then came back down miles away on inhabited
islands. Krakatoa is still active ya’ll, as is an additional 136
active volcanoes in Indonesia. Indonesia has the most active
volcanoes in the world. There is evidence that an even larger
volcanic eruption that occurred in the Mediterranean in about 1300
BC. The present day name for the caldera is Santorini. I am sure
there were plenty of eyewitnesses but to our knowledge this event was
not recorded.
1979
On this date the Irish Republican Army makes its first strike
against British royalty when IRA member Thomas McMahon sneaks aboard
Lord Louis Mountbatten’s fishing boat, Shadow V, and planted 50
pounds of TNT in the hold of the boat with a remote control
detonator. Mountbatten and family came aboard and McMahon lit off the
explosive killing Mountbatten and two others. The Irish and the
British government have been squabbling since King James I formed the
community of Ulster which is now Northern Ireland in about 1612.
James got fed up with the irascible Irish Catholics being in almost
constant rebellion. James was a devout Protestant and no love in his
heart for the Catholics so he seized five shires (counties) in
Ireland, kicked out the Irish and brought in some Protestant Scottish
lords along with their tenant farmers. James believed that if he
could dilute the Catholic population in Ireland they would be easier
to control. They were....for a while. The problem in Ireland today
is that when Ireland had a chance to become independent from England
the overwhelming majority of the Catholics voted for independence but
what was originally Ulster and almost entirely Protestant
(Presbyterian) voted to stay under wing of England and that was the
birth of Northern Ireland. So what it boils down to is that the
majority of Ireland is Catholic and they want Northern Ireland to
become part of Ireland proper but the Protestants won’t hear of it
because they are afraid they will be discriminated against because
they are the religious minority in Ireland. The English Army is
present to prevent a violent takeover by the IRA. I don’t see an
end to it. When it comes to religion, everybody thinks God is on
their side.
1859
On this date Edwin Drake struck oil at a depth of 69 feet neat
Titusville, Pennsylvania. This discovery was a welcome replacement
for whale oil used in lamps world wide. Whale oil was expensive and
not always available. Petroleum was used for this purpose for a
several decades until the invention of the automobile then every
continent in the world began hunting for “black gold” not just
for the fuel but for the asphalt to build roads. But by far the most
lucrative find was the oil in the middle east known as “Arab light”
which means that there is not as much undesirable additives in the
oil that need to be refined out, especially sulphur, making it much
cheaper to refine adding to the profits.
1964
On this date 15 year Edmund Kemper decides to do something
exciting and shot and killed his grandparents. He isn’t done yet,
he called his mother and told her what he had done and said “I just
wanted to see what it felt like to kill Grandma.” Edmund was a
troubled youth. He began by cutting the heads off his sister’s
dolls and setting fire to the family cat. His parents knew he was
crazy as a loon but rather than getting him help, they just sent him
to stay with his grandparents. Edmund killed a few more people
before he was caught and sent to prison. Apparently prison agreed
with Edmund because he was finally paroled and he was 6’-9” and
weighed over 300 pounds. Very soon after being paroled he paid a
visit to his mother, beat her to death with a hammer, mutilated her
body and raped the corpse. I am telling y'all, this cowboy was a
lunatic. He called the police and told them what he had done but
they blew it off as a scam and did not respond. Two more people lost
their lives and heads to Edmund before the police decided to check of
the strange call about a man killing his mother and found out that it
was true. They started looking for Edmund in earnest. Edmund went
to Colorado and called the Santa Cruz police and confessed to the
latest two murders. The police picked him up and he was convicted of
8 murders and sentenced to life without parole. But Edmund himself
said that he should have been sentenced to “death by torture,” I
agree Edmund, let me select the torture.
Born today:
1871
US writer Theodore Dreiser. He said “In order to have wisdom we
must have ignorance.” Hey Ted, I can help you find the latter, it
is everywhere.
1770
German philosopher William Hegel. He said “What experience and
history has taught us is this...that nations and governments have
never learned anything from history, or acted upon the lessons they
may have learned from it.” I second that.....
1908
US football coach Frank Leahy. He said “Egotism is the
anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.” Frank knew what he
was talking about. He was a football coach at Army.
1910
Mother Teresa. She said “Loneliness is the most terrible part
of poverty.” But it was Mahatma Gandhi that said “The bed of
poverty is fertile.”
Died today:
1948
Supreme Court justice Charles Evans Hughes. He said “If there
is muck to be raked, it must be raked, and the people must know of
it, so justice can be given.” It was Justice Evans that also said
“It is better to release 1,000 guilty than to jail one innocent.”
I think we are on that path now, Judge.
1950
Italian writer Cesare Pavese. He said “Life is pain and the
enjoyment of love is the anesthetic.” Not when using a condom,
Cesare.
1964
US comedienne Gracie Allen and wife of George Burns. She said
“They laughed at Joan of Arc, but she went ahead and built it.”
Good night, Gracie.
Thanks for
listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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