Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“We cannot change the past. We cannot change the way others behave on a given day. We cannot change the inevitable. All we can do is play the one string that we have and that is our attitude. The longer I live I realize that life is 10% events and 90% how I react to them, and so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”

Charles Swindoll

According to nearly every archaeologist the Earth was wrapped up in an ice age about 13,000 years ago. Due to much of the Earth oceans frozen in the polar ice caps, sea level was at least 150 feet lower that it is now. This meant that in addition to a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska there was one from Indonesia to Australia. Recent DNA tests indicate that the Australian aborigine migrated from Indonesia to Australia during this time period. I am reading a book by a paleontologist who began a years long search as to why we are the way they are. (Yes CY it is more of the same) He began in New Guinea and a native asked him “Why do you have so much stuff and I don't?” The book begins by trying to answer this question. After doing a study in New Guinea he went to Australia and did a study of the aborigine. He wondered why the aborigine had not progressed any further than they had. They had no crops and very few domesticated animals absolutely no medical knowledge except herbs and roots. They had no concept of hygiene and their lives were much shorter that the Europeans that came later. He gave an example. He went with a group of aborigine on a hunt for almost anything they could eat. They had gone several miles when they stopped and dug up a plant that they had visited before. It was similar to a sweet potato and they took several tubers from the roots and carefully put the plant back in the same hole, sprinkled a little water on it and left. The author asked them why didn't they take the plant and put it closer to their village and try to duplicate it. They said that it never occurred to them. On another occasion he was in Indonesia and went out hunting with an indigenous tribe. They went several miles to a palm forest. Part of their diet was palm nuts. They scoured the ground for palm nuts but pulled up and discarded any palm nut that had sprouted saying they did not want them to take away from the big trees. When the author asked them why didn't they take the sprouted nuts and plant them closer to their village and raise another forest. The answer was that it never occurred to them. Go figure.

This Date in History May 12

1937 Earlier in December of 1936 the King of England, Edward VII abdicated the throne so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. As incredible as it sounds this man gave up a spot in history reserved for English monarchs for a woman he loved. Wallis Simpson could not be Queen because she was not of noble birth and was a divorcee. On this date Edward’s brother titled George VI and his consort Lady Elizabeth are crowned King and Queen of England in Westminster Abbey with a ceremony that was a thousand years old. King George VI and Winston Churchill were instrumental in maintaining the British morale during WWII and especially during the so-called Blitz. The Blitz was an air bombardment of England engineered by German General Herman Goering who convinced Adolph Hitler that Germany could break the morale of the English people with air power alone. It didn’t work. Thanks to King George and Winston Churchill who visited every bombed out region of London and other cities in England encouraging the citizenry and the bulldog attitude of the English prevailed. Not only that, King George and Elizabeth continued to live in Buckingham Palace in spite of the bombing as a show of defiance. King George fell ill in 1949 but continued to do his stately duties until his death in 1952. After his death, his eldest daughter was named Queen as Elizabeth II and was crowned in June 11, 1953. She is still with us and has attended the Kentucky Derby. She loves to play the ponies. I heard yesterday that a reserved box seat at the Derby is $200,000. It may be bullshit, but I would not doubt it.

1780 On this date the American army suffered its worst defeat in the Revolutionary war when the city of Charleston, South Carolina surrenders unconditionally to the 10,000 man British army led by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton. The Continental Army in Charleston was commanded by Major General Benjamin Lincoln. Clinton chose to surround the city on April 2 and establish a siege. After the surrender, the British captured 3,000 troops and an enormous quantity of equipment and supplies with the loss of only 250. But there was a price to be paid for their victory. American guerrilla leaders, Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter and Nathaniel Greene stepped up their attacks to a blistering pace and eventually the British forces were forced back into Virginia where they were trapped by General George Washington and the French navy at Yorktown, Virginia and were forced to surrender virtually assuring a Continental victory in the war. Washington showed some class at the surrender, he allowed General Benjamin Lincoln to accept British General Cornwallis’s sword as a symbol of surrender. What goes around.....

1864 This began the second day of combat at the Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. It began at the crack of dawn with US General Winfield Scott Hancock attacking the center of the Confederate lines and eventually broke through. They paused for a small celebration but were soon hauling ass back to where they came from after a ferocious Confederate counter-attack. The center of the Confederate lines was in the shape of an inverted “U” known later as the “Bloody Angle”. There was close quarters contact and hand-to-hand fighting at the peak of that angle for nearly 20 hours and the eventual result was a standoff. There were bodies five deep on both sides of the “angle” that have to be cleared out to make room for the living. When it became apparent to Grant’s superior, General Henry Halleck that this operation was going to be very costly in lives he asked Grant if he was going to re-deploy and Grant answered with “No sir, I plan to fight along this line if it takes all summer”, and stay he did. The fighting ended just before dawn on May 13. Eventually Lee had to withdraw toward Petersburg, Virginia where a grinding siege began.

Born today:

1828 English artist Dante Rossetti. He said “The worst time for an atheist is when he is very grateful and has no one to thank.”

1907 American actress Katherine Hepburn. She said “If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”

1925 US baseball great Yogi Berra. When asked about Joe DiMaggio marrying Marilyn Monroe he said “I don’t know if it is good for baseball or not but it sure beats the hell out of rooming with Phil Rizzuto.” I love Yogi. He also said “Baseball is 50% hitting, 50% pitching and 50% defense.” He also said “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow