Wednesday OYSTERS

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Men have always been able to read maps better than women. It takes a male mind to understand the concept of 1 inch equals 5 miles.”

                                        Roseanne Barr

I had my normal 4 month “follow up” visit with my doctor yesterday morning. My height was measured (6'-0 1/2”) I was weighed (225), had my blood pressure taken (130/60), a blood sample taken for my diabetes (A1C 6.2), blood sample taken for liver, kidneys, cholesterol, PSA, etc., a flu shot, a pneumonia shot, a short conference with the doctor and was back in my car in 14 minutes. My doctors office is the epitome of efficiency and he ain't one for idle chatter, I ain't either. But he did say that I should be on the cover of an old people magazine for being in as good a shape as I am in spite of the torture I have put my body through....but it was a hell of a ride.

I received yet another treatise making fun of us southerners. I deleted it with much scorn. Here are a few of my thoughts. In spite of what is believed by many the sun does not rise in Long Island and set in Yonkers with Manhattan being the center of the universe. Anyone that automatically assumes that a person's intelligence is based upon the location of their birthplace relative to a degree of latitude and longitude is way more stupid than Junior Sample. If anyone would look into the history of this great nation they would realize that if it were not for those wild and crazy guys from the southern Appalachians taking care of business during the American Revolution we all would be speaking with an English accent. Back when I was working I was offered a job and a lot of money but the job was in New Jersey just across the river from Manhattan. I refused because I just did not want to endure the unmitigated arrogance that I have experienced in the past once my accent was detected. I had that problem when I took an engineering job in Reading, Pennsylvania. After a week or so the natives would say things like “Don't let his accent fool you, he is no dummy.” My accent? Someone's intelligence is determined by an accent? Who are the dumb-asses here? From this day on I am going to believe that anyone born north of the 42^nd parallel and east of the 103^rd meridian is a dumb-ass because of where they were born. That makes a lot of sense doesn't it?

Here is the completion of the rise of Mary I as Queen of England. She did indeed marry Phillip II of Spain and soon thereafter her appetite changed, her belly began swelling and had “morning sickness” and accordingly everyone thought she was knocked up. Later on even Princess Elizabeth was called into witness the birth. But Mary was not pregnant, it was a false pregnancy and her appetite returned to normal and her belly shrank back to normal. Mary was Queen until she died in 1558, probably of uterine cancer...remember the swelling of the belly?...It happened again but this time it was fatal. This would make one think that Phillip II would become King of England and he was indeed titled as the King of England and Ireland...but there was a provision. Phillip would retain this title for as long as he was married to Mary so when she died it was all over for Phillip. Before she died, Mary named her half-sister Elizabeth as heir to the throne since there was no issue of a son by her and Phillip, in fact they had no children at all but during her five years, Mary had about 250 protestant dissidents burned at the stake. Was Mary's illness and death karma for this? Bloody Mary, indeed.

This Date in History September 30

1955 Actor James Dean and his mechanic Rolf Wutherich are killed in a head on collision in Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder while enroute to a road race. Dean, even though only making 3 movies, became an icon of the restless generation and its convoluted lifestyle. He never could get a handle on his unbounded energy and lust for speed even trying motorcycle racing. I remember him best as Jett Rink in the movie Giant. What an amazing performance he gave us. But what made the movie especially good was that Elizabeth Taylor was co-starring. I have been in love with her for centuries. I guess he is best known for his first movie Rebel Without a Cause where he played a tortured man that is pretty much like himself. To me he seemed like a person going fast down a hill and don’t know how to stop. His death was a great loss for us all.

1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime minister Eduardo Daladier met with Hitler in Munich and sign a pact with this monster that they would not intervene when Hitler “annexed” Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain is elated that war between England and Germany had been averted even though Czechoslovakia was offered up as a sacrificial lamb. Daladier in really pissed off about it but he knew that the French army could not stand up to the German war machine and did not want to have his country destroyed. It happened anyway. The next day the German army rolled into Czechoslovakia. Shortly thereafter Germany invaded Poland and Chamberlain has to announce that England is going to war against Germany. The Germans also invade France and France capitulated without a fight. So what else is new? Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield one said “Going to war with France as an ally is like going duck hunting with an accordion.”

1924 Author Truman Capote is born in New Orleans. Truman was aflame but achieved much success and wealth from his writings primarily with In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s both of which were made into movies. He did not how to handle his fame very well and began a life of jet setting and party, party. Truman died at the age of 60 after a life of excesses.

1949. The Berlin Airlift ends. Let me tell you folks, as an ex-air traffic controller this was the greatest logistical operation ever conceived. Russia had blocked all ground accesses to West Berlin leaving those folks with no way to get anything for survival. So the allies, primarily the good old USA, began flying supplies to the beleaguered city. The Airlift began 15 months previous and those airmen flew 250,000 flights and hauled 2 million tons of supplies into West Berlin. I have seen movies on how this was done without planes running over each other. It was a miracle that there were very, very few instances of danger. After seeing that the allies could supply West Berlin indefinitely the Russian said “To hell with it” and opened the roads and rails.

1889. The state of Wyoming enacted a law that allowed women to vote and was the very first one to do so. There was a lot of speculation as to why a remote western state would be the first and the consensus of opinion was that this was a reward for the pioneer women that helped settle this wild frontier. By 1914 there was a definite pattern emerging because every state west of the Mississippi had woman suffrage and none of the states east of the Mississippi did. What’s up with that? Anyway, all is cool now.

Born today:

1207 Afghan mystic Jalal-ud-din-Rumi. He said “Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” Sounds like the stock market to me.

1921 Scottish actress Deborah Kerr. She said “I came over here (Hollywood) to act, but turned out that all I had to do was be high-minded, long-suffering, white gloved, and decorative.” This girl was dynamite in two movies, From Here to Eternity and An Affair to Remember.

1924 Playwright Truman Capote. He said “Life is a moderately good play with a poorly written third act.” Truman was a notorious homosexual who died at the age of 60 probably of AIDS but he burned the candle at both ends while alive.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow