Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Albert Einstein developed and proved the immortal formula of E=MC2 or energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. There is no doubt that Einstein was a genius.

He developed another little known formula that states if you strip naked and run in a circle at 186,282 miles/sec (speed of light) it would be possible to screw yourself.

If you feel that you are unable to attain this speed then you can get the same results by voting Democratic on November 8, 2016.”

                                                                  Dan

                      (one of my fellow bar flies from the Sandshaker)

Actress Julianne Moore has become an activist advocating the changing of the name of her high school in Virginia. The high school is James E. Brown Stuart High School. Of course that is JEB Stuart the famous career cavalry officer for the United States and the Confederacy. Miss Moore says that it represents racism...it also indicates how ignorant Miss Moore is of what the facts are. JEB is probably the finest horse cavalry officer this country has ever produced. He was born on a farm in southwestern Virginia and graduated from West Point. Before the Civil War he was with R. E. Lee when they stopped the attempted takeover of the U. S. military arsenal at Harper's Ferry by John Brown and company. Both Lee and Stuart were career military officers. When the 11 states seceded, including Virginia, and formed the Confederacy those officers that were from these states had a choice to make. Would they stay in the United States Army and make war on their friends and families...or would they defend their homeland? Lee and Stuart both stated that they could not “raise their hands in anger” toward their families and chose to defend their homeland. With this in mind, Miss Moore is suggesting the either JEB Stuart should have been prepared to kill his family and/or burn their crops and houses and/or kill their livestock, etc., etc., and because he didn't he is a racist. See how stupid that is. Miss Moore is just wallowing in her ignorance as is most of those that cry the loudest without one scintilla of knowledge of the history of this nation.

                                                      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.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow