Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“We are all captains of our own ships; if your ship sinks you go down with it.”

                                               Winston Churchill

Here is an interesting story:

Some of you may not know this but the Earth is not perfectly vertical on its axis relative to the sun, it is tilted about 16 degrees. This is what gives us our seasons. This tilt allows the northern hemisphere to be closer to the sun than the southern hemisphere during our summer. When the Earth moves to the other side of the sun, it is winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere. If the Earth was perfectly vertical we would have the same weather year round. Not only that the Earth wobbles on its axis like a whirling top when it is slowing down. It takes a thousand years for this recession (wobble) to complete one rotation. During the winter of 1697 the winter was especially harsh with the temperatures about 15 degrees colder than normal meaning a lot more snow possibly caused by the recession (wobble) making the northern hemisphere further away from the sun than normal for several years. This era was known as “The Little Ice Age”. The American colonies from Maryland through New England were especially hard hit. In the small village of Leonardtown, MD. there lived an aged spinster named Moll Dyer. The people of Leonardtown were really suffering...except for Moll Dyer. She lived alone in a small cabin out in the woods some distance from the village. She had an in depth knowledge of roots and herbs and sold them to the ailing residents of Leonardtown and kept herself up very well. The residents decided that the cause of the severe weather and Moll Dyer doing well was because she was a witch. They gathered together torches aflame on the shortest night of the year (Dec. 21) and burned her house down. Moll escaped and ran down a small creek so her footprints in the snow would not be seen and wearing nothing but the clothes on her back. She was pursued and they heard her shreiking a curse at her pursuers. They finally found her froze to death with her left hand on a large boulder and her right hand up in the air with a finger pointing skyward. It is legend that her hand print was embedded into the boulder. The patch of woods where her cabin was is still as it was in 1697. The present owner of this land says that on occasion she sees a faint figure walking through the woods and hears screams especially if there is snow on the ground. To this day no one in the town will go into those woods and stay any length of time. One elderly lady said that she and three other went walking in the woods and the deeper they went the more the wind blew and eventually there was thunder and lightning. They ran back to their car feeling for sure they were being followed...they all said they felt a presence. Once they reach their car the wind died and the thunder and lightning subsided. I do not believe in ghosts but I do believe in spirits of the soul...I also believe that you can communicate with those passed souls that you were bonded to. I know, if I believe in this then it is only a baby step to believing in ghosts...but a step none the less.

I saw J.J. Watt interviewed a few days ago. He is a monster of a man that is a defensive end for the Houston Texans. The interviewer eventually got around to all the bad news we are reading since the Ray Rice (beating his wife) episode came to light. J. J. acknowledged that domestic violence is not to be tolerated but he also said something that I have been crowing about for years. He said that all we see in the media is bad news and scandal because it improves ratings and that sells air time, magazines and newspapers, but hundreds of players in all professional sports sponsor many, many charities and worthwhile endeavors that are never mentioned. This is true to a a lesser extent at the local level. OK, I am off my soap box.

This Date in History September 22

1989 Irving Berlin died at the age of 101. What can be said that hasn’t been said already? He was a Russian immigrant and came to New York in 1893. His father died early and little Israel Balin (Irving Berlin) began trying to help his mother and his 7 siblings by doing a sidewalk entertainment show. He sang, danced, told jokes, etc. for whatever coins that were tossed his way. But later he changed his name to Irving Berlin and began writing song and plays and was soon recognized for the genius that he was. Just a few of the songs he gave us: God Bless America, Dancing Cheek to Cheek, Puttin’ on the Ritz, White Christmas, Blue Skies and many others. He was drafted during WWI and went uncomplainingly into the infantry. While in the army he wrote Oh How I hate to get up in the morning. He was a truly gifted individual.

1964 Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was running for president against LBJ and said that if the US is not willing to go in and conquer North Vietnam it would be better if the US withdraws completely. He also recommended using low yield nuclear devices at all country borders so they would be impassable for years to come. He called LBJ a liar and said that LBJ is indeed committing the US to what is essentially a private war. LBJ and the Democrats rose up in unison and called Goldwater a bloodthirsty warmonger. Within weeks after Johnson won the election he ordered the 1^st and 5^th Marines among others into Nam and very soon there 80,000 American troops on Nam and the numbers were still climbing. Maybe LBJ was indeed lying. But I ain’t sure low yield nuclear devices was the answer either.

1961 JFK brings the Peace Corps into existence. Originally thought to be used a weapon against Communism, it evolved into an agency to improve the education and well being of the less fortunate no matter who or where and that is what it is today.

1554 The Spanish conquistador Coronado died never having achieved his dream of finding the Seven Cities of Gold full of precious gems as told in mythology. He was lead on an expedition to what was said to be the city but it turned out to be a small Zuni village of adobe huts. Another Indian came and said that his tribe has a city like he was looking for and off they went on yet another trek. They went through what is now Texas, Oklahoma and on into what is now Missouri. No golden cities were found so Coronado returned to Vera Cruz, Mexico. Even though he found no gold, Coronado had the sense to map the areas he went through and these maps proved to be very valuable to those that followed.

Born today:

1791 English scientist Michael Faraday. When trying to explain the usefulness of electricity to Prime Minister Gladstone he said. “Why sir, it is likely that soon you will be able to tax it.” Hey Mike, you have no idea how accurate you were.

1958 US rocker Joan Jett. She said “I use to stand in front of a mirror and pretend I was Janis Joplin”. Janis sang not with her voice but with her heart and soul, Piece of My Heart in particular.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow