Friday

                           Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“A psychiatrist is suing Mike Tyson for $45,000 in unpaid bills. I am with Mike on this one. If ever there was a guy that deserved a refund on his psychiatry bill it is Mike Tyson.”

                                                     Jay Leno

Near Spartanburg, South Carolina the County Sheriff was called about a vicious animal. When the cops arrived the turmoil was still underway. They finally saw what was identified as the owner covered in blood and laying on top of his pit bull trying to hold it down. Medical personnel were able to get a wire around the dog’s collar and tied the other end to a porch column. The owner had already been bitten in the face and when he tried to get up after the dog was restrained, the dog attacked again and grabbed him by the arm and refused to surrender. One of the cops shot the dog in the chest but the attack continued. Another round in the chest from the Glock got the job done and the dog was killed. The problem was not over. Even though the dog was dead, his jaws were still clamped and had to pried open with a tire tool. The owner went to the hospital and the viability of his arm was in serious question.

            This Date in History March 3

1776 On this date United States emissary Silas Deane departed Boston on a secret mission to France. He was going to meet with French Foreign minister Charles Gravier to convince him that the United States is indeed on the road to independence and tools of war from France is needed to assist in this endeavor. He is successful to some degree in that France offered 200 brass cannon, gunpowder and shot to match. Silas Deane also reminded the American Congress that that he had offered the Marquis de Lafayette the rank of Major General if he would come over to the United States and join with George Washington and use his considerable military expertise in our behalf. The confirmation of this rank for Lafayette had to come from Congress. Deane also complained that he was given not enough instructions so the American Congress sent three more emissaries to France to assist Deane. One of these was a man named Arthur Lee who accused Deane of lining his pockets with the gold that America had sent to pay for the French military hardware. This was a lie. Deane was a dedicated Patriot but the accusation stuck and Deane was forever branded as a greedy and unpatriotic man. Thirty years after the death of Deane, Congress donated a considerable amount to Deane’s granddaughter for the wrong her grandfather had suffered.

1865 The Freedman Bureau is established by Congress at the behest of the abolitionists. They were afraid that the freed slaves would not know what to do or who to contact to start a life of their own and they were right for the most part. The Freedman Bureau was administered by US General Oliver O. Howard from it conception to its disbandment 8 years later. The Bureau was supposed to assign “abandoned lands” to the poor blacks and poor whites as well. The only problem here was that there were soldiers in the field that still owned these lands and were not “abandoned”. Not to mention the Ku Klux Klan that held a special place in their hearts for freed blacks and were not much better to poor whites. The Klan held a huge sway in the days immediately after the Civil War and during “reconstruction”. The program of Reconstruction by the US Congress was intended to help the South get back on its feet from all the devastation brought on by the war. As with all programs of this sort it was riddled with corruption and most of those in power hated the South for various reasons and wanted the suffering to continue as a matter of spite and downright meanness. This was the reason the Klan was so successful. Anyway, the Freedman Bureau eventually became unnecessary because the surviving soldiers from both sides returned home and reclaimed their lands and there was very little “abandoned lands” to be administered and the Freedman Bureau went down the toilet along with US General O.O. Howard.

1974 In 1972 a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 departed Toronto, Ontario and upon reaching 12,000 feet a hatch blew of the side of the aircraft and knocked a gaping hole in the side and rapid decompression occurred. Gratefully there were not at a very high altitude. The debris and pieces of sheet metal flew throughout the aircraft and several important hydraulic lines were cut and the inside deck collapsed. The pilot was able to maintain enough control to make a safe landing at Detroit. The NTSB faulted McDonnell-Douglas for installing an improper latch on the hatch that had blown off. McDonnell-Douglas issued a bulletin to all to install an updated latch on all of their DC-10’s. McDonnell-Douglas sold one of their DC-10’s to a Turkish airline with the old latch but with a bulletin to update the latch on this particular hatch. The bulletin went unheeded and on this day a Turkish DC-10 departed Paris, France with 364 passengers and crew. Upon reaching 11,000 feet, the hatch in question blew off and ripped a gaping hole in the side. The six passengers in the rear seats were sucked out of the aircraft and were killed instantly when they landed in a field not far from the airport. The pilot was unable to maintain control and the gigantic aircraft crashed headed straight down at over 500 MPH. The crash was so destructive and powerful that all aboard were killed and only 40 bodies were found intact. McDonnell-Douglas pointed at the ground crew at the Paris Airport as not closing the hatch correctly. The ground crews responded with refusing to service or load baggage on any DC-10. McDonnell-Douglas was finally faulted for selling a DC-10 knowing it to have an unsatisfactory latch, bulletin not withstanding.

Born today:

1756 English writer Robert Godwin. He said “He that loves reading has everything in his reach.” Indeed he does, Robert.

1847 Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell. He said “When one door closes another opens; but we so often look regretfully at the closed one that we do not see what is open for us.” Sound wisdom.

1885 US sports writer Ring Lardner. He said of a baseball player “Although he is a poor fielder, he is a poor hitter.”

            Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow