Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“If you cannot be a poet, be a poem.”

              David Carradine

A few years ago I went to London and went on a tour of the city that included the Tower of London, Big Ben, Parliament, etc. When asked what the most popular tourist site was, our guide said it was the torture chambers. People seemed to be fascinated by the tools of pain. Across the street from the Tower of London (a prison, torture chamber and execution site for centuries) is a bar named The Drawn and Quartered Pub. I almost jumped out of the bus because I really wanted a tee shirt from that place.

I have renewed my fascination with those peoples in Central and South America including the Maya, Aztec Olmec and the Inca. These people were light years ahead of nearly everyone else within 3,000 miles. Why these people progressed so much more rapidly that anyone else nearby is not known. The capital city of the Inca empire was present day Cuzco, Peru. This city is high in the Andes on the western coast of South America. For generations the Inca king lived in a palace in Cuzco and had fresh seafood from the Pacific several times a week. It is over 200 miles from Cuzco to the Pacific ocean. How is this possible with no refrigeration? They had runners on the trail that would carry the fish by relay from the ocean to Cuzco. That was their job, carrying fresh fish to the king as fast as they could, y'all. Don't complain about your job...if you have one.

This Date in History   December 8

1914 A month earlier German Admiral Maximilian Von Spee had sunk two British cruisers with the loss of all hands off the south coast of Chile. This was the worst defeat for the British navy in a hundred years. On this date Von Spee arrived at the British held Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic with the expectation of annihilating whatever British naval forces that were there. He expected to have an easy time with the slow and sluggish British battleships he saw anchored in the harbor. Von Spee’s squadron was not in peak condition because of the previous battle and the transit of Cape Horn en-route to the Falklands. What Von Spee did not see until it was too late was the two British fast cruisers “Inflexible” and “Invincible”. The British sailors aboard these ships were eager for revenge for the ships previously sunk by Von Spee. The two cruisers opened on Von Spee’s flagship “Scharnhorst” at 16,500 yards which was out of the range of the “Scharnhorst”. That ship went to bottom with all hands in a matter of minutes. The British cruisers then turned their attention to the German cruisers “Gneisenau” and “Numberg” sent them to the bottom with all hands also. All told the Germans lost four ships and 2,000 men to 10 for the British. Military historians consider this the most important sea battle in WWI. It also has the distinction of being the last battle of sailors and their guns without the assistance of aircraft and/or submarines.

1980 Previously a maniac name Mark Davis Chapman decided that John Lennon is a phony and is going to do something about it. He tells his wife that he is going to New York and kill John Lennon but his wife blew it off as bravado. He went to New York with a .38 caliber revolver and no ammunition. Once there he discovers that ammunition of that sort is illegal and flew to Atlanta to get ammo. After arriving back in New York, he camped out outside Lennon’s luxury apartment and waited. On this date Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono arrive at the apartment. Chapman walked up and pumped four rounds into Lennon. Chapman then casually walked back to the wall of the building, and whipped out the book, “A Catcher in the Rye”, and begins reading while waiting on the police to arrive. Lennon, bleeding profusely, is put in an ambulance and taken to a hospital but died en-route. We never know what kind of maniac is out there, do we?

1775 Earlier Patriot General George Washington had sent General Robert Montgomery and 1,000 troops into Canada via Lake Champlain and General Benedict Arnold with another 1,000 into Canada via the Maine woods to capture the cities of Montreal and Quebec. Montgomery captured Montreal almost without firing a shot but Quebec was another story. The Governor General of Canada, Sir Guy Carleton, had been at Montreal but sneaked away to Quebec. Upon arriving at Quebec, Carleton whipped together a formidable defense and awaited the arrival of the Patriots. Arnold arrived at Quebec first and demanded that the Governor surrender which was denied. Arnold decided to wait for the arrival of Montgomery and the extra troops and artillery. The Patriots were on a schedule because the greatest majority of the troop’s enlistments ended on December 31. On this date, Arnold and Montgomery join forces and begin the siege of Quebec. The siege lasted until December 31 when Montgomery and Arnold, knowing their troops would be decimated the next day, launched an assault on the city. It was a disaster with Montgomery killed and Arnold suffering a severe leg wound. After this fiasco, the Patriots retreated down Lake Champlain into the United States and safety.

1894 American writer James Thurber is born in Columbus, Ohio. As with most kids he had no clue about what he wanted to do in life, until he went to Ohio State University. It was there that he discovered creative writing then he knew his calling. James lost an eye while playing with his brothers and his writings were signed with a caricature of a man with an eye patch. James wrote for the New Yorker magazine mostly short stories and whimsical essays. James gave us An Owl in the Attic, The Seal in the Bedroom and his most memorable The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In his later years, James’ health began to fail and he compensated by getting heavily into the sauce. As a result his whimsical humor left him and his work became darker and darker. He died in 1961 but he left us with some wonderful literature.

1860 On this date the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb angrily resigns his position in protest of the election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln. Some of you may not know this but the Republican Party was formed for the sole purpose of the elimination of slavery in America. Anyway, Cobb went back home to Georgia. Four months later when several state began seceding from the Union, Georgia being one of them, Cobb offered his services to the Confederate Army and was given the rank of General. It was Cobb and his brigade of Georgians that was behind the stone wall at the base of Marye’s Heights at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. These Georgians rose up and fired at the unsuspecting oncoming Union infantry at a range of less than fifty yards and one of the bloodiest massacres in the history of warfare was delivered. There is a county in Georgia named for Howell Cobb.

Births and deaths:

1542 Mary Queen of Scots is born. When she spoke of the lover the Earl of Bothwell she said “I would follow him around the earth in my underwear.”

1723 German philosopher Paul Holbach is born. He said “The hardest of stones, by degrees, give way to the touch of air.”

1889 US writer Hervey Allen is born. He said “Religions change, beer and wine remain”.

   Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow