Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
“As
you get older the more reviewing of your past life you do. You
remember the good times and smile but the events that never go away
are the things you said or did, or did not say or do, that hurt
another person. They are indelible. Keep this mind on this
journey.”
Al
Campbell
Another
example of a good leader:
I
was a 3D piping designer working as a contract worker. The job was
an addition to an oil refinery on the southern tip of Lake Michigan
near Chicago. The design office was in Goose Creek, South Carolina
and my employer was Jacobs Engineering. After I had been there for a
few days to orient myself, my supervisor brought over with some
drawings, laid them on my desk and pointed out my “area of
responsibility” and said: “I want you to model the equipment as
best you can until we get certified drawings, route the piping
including the supports. You will have to coordinate with electrical
(trays), HVAC (duct work), fire protection (sprinkler system) and the
other piping designers that have areas of responsibility adjacent to
yours. I want the piping drawings extracted and checked by July 15,
contact me if you need anything.” He left and I did not see him
again...unless I needed something.
This
Date in History April 19
1993
Earlier in February agents from the Alcohol, Tax and Firearms
attack the Branch Davidian Compound in Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas.
The Branch Davidians were led by a charismatic man named David
Koresh who taught that Armageddon was just around the corner and
chaos would prevail meaning it would be cases of dog eat dog. Koresh
felt that his flock needed to be heavily armed to protect themselves
from this turmoil and indeed they were. There were many M-16’s,
Glocks with plenty of ammo and fragmentation grenades. A delivery
man was delivering a package to the compound and accidentally dropped
it and grenades rolled out and he told the police about it. From
then on the whole affair escalated with the FBI and the ATF taking
command. The actual person in command was Attorney General Janet
Reno. The FBI agents contacted Koresh and said that he would have to
give up his weapons. Koresh said that he had a license for his
weapons and indeed he did. That did not suit the FBI/ATF and they
said they wanted to come in and inspect. Koresh read that as they
were going to come in and take his weapons and refused them entry.
The FBI/ATF tried an armed assault to get into the building and
Koresh fought back which resulted in four agents being killed and six
wounded. So the FBI/ATF backed off and set up a siege, cutting off
the water and power to the compound. This did not bother Koresh too
bad because in his preparation for Armageddon he included several
thousands of gallons of fresh water and a diesel powered generator
with an associated fuel tank. The FBI/ATF tried everything to get
into that compound and nothing worked. So on this date they got a
call from Janet Reno to put an end to it, they had spent too much
money already. So they called in a US army tank with a grenade
launcher and loaded it with tear gas canisters. The tank rolled in,
poked a hole in the wall with its cannon and pumped in several tear
gas canisters. The only problem here was that tear gas canisters in
close quarters have a tendency to start fires and that is what
happened here. The biggest problem was that on this day there was a
forty mile and hour gale howling and the compound being made of wood
went up in flames quickly and killed everyone inside, men, women and
children. I cannot tell you what kind of shit was aimed at Janet
Reno but to the credit of Janet, she said that “she was totally
responsible, the buck stops here.”
1995
At about 9:00A a small moving van driven by a Timothy McVeigh,
loaded with barrels of ammonium nitrate (fertilizer) mixed with fuel
oil is parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As y'all may or may not know, fertilizer
and fuel oil is a volatile mixture and very explosive. McVeigh lit a
fuse and split. A couple of minutes later a thunderous explosion
occurred blowing off the front section of the building immediately
killing 100 including several children in the day care center there,
not to mention those that were buried in the rubble. The final total
was 168 dead and many, many injured. McVeigh was a survivalist who
was extremely upset at the US Government for the killing of Randy
Weaver’s son and wife by US agents at Ruby Ridge and the killing of
over 80 innocents at The Branch Dravidian compound in Waco, Texas as
a result of FBI/ATF actions. McVeigh was captured and was quickly
convicted of 12 murders and sentenced to death. Soon thereafter
McVeigh requested that the judge stop all appeals and allow the
sentence to be carried out. In June, 2001 the 33 year old Timothy
McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in a Federal facility in
Terre Haute, Indiana ending this the worst episode of terrorism in
the United States up until that time. Three months later an even
greater act of terrorism occurred in lower Manhattan, New York City.
1861
On this date the first blood is shed in the American Civil war and
it did not occur on a battle field. The city of Baltimore was a
hotbed of pro-Confederacy sentiments. The 6th
Massachusetts Infantry was transferring from one train station to
another in Baltimore on their way to Washington. There was a huge
crowd of civilians yelling and jeering the soldiers including a
shower of cobblestones. As we all know things will get out of hand
at gatherings like this, shots rang out and after the smoke had
cleared four soldiers and 12 civilians were killed and the Civil War
was underway.
1824
George Gordon Byron, the 6th
Baron Byron of Scotland died in what is now Greece. Lord Byron led a
very decadent life even though he was a gifted poet/writer. He was
born with a club foot in1788 for which there was not cure in those
days. He led a very difficult and impoverished life until the age of
10 when he inherited his great uncle’s fortune and title of Lord
Byron. He attended Harrow and Cambridge and went into enormous debt
by running hard with both women and men. It appears that Byron was
seeker of fun as a bi-sexual. Byron had written two books of poetry
both of which received uncomplimentary reviews. After he graduated
with a master’s degree in 1809 he made trip to Portugal and on into
the near east. Upon returning from this journey, he delivered some of
greatest poetry ever written and was soon recognized world-wide for
his talent. In 1815 he married Anne Mibanke and they had issue of
one daughter. This girl proved to be a mathematical genius and was
instrumental in the invention of the first computer by Charles
Babbage. His marriage eventually collapsed and he was ran out of
England for alleged incest with his half-sister. He moved to Geneva
and lived near Percy Bysse Shelly and his wife/lover Mary
Wollenscraft. While there he sired a child out of wedlock with
Mary’s sister. He the moved to Venice and began a life of wild
debauchery that is legendary to this day. In 1819 he became involved
with the Countess Marie Guiccioli the wife of an elderly Count. Byron
and the Countess remained lovers for several years. Always a
supporter of those fighting for independence, he moved to Greece to
help in their fight for independence from Turkey. He helped train
Greek troops until he died. He was 36 years old.
Born today:
1962
US racer Al Unser, Jr. He said “When I was young we lived in
Kalamazoo, Michigan. Almost as soon as I learned to spell it we
moved to Albuquerque.”
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
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