Friday

                              Musings and History

Quote of the day:

On the TV show Hollywood Squares he was asked “As people get older who has the most trouble sleeping men or women?” He said “My worrying about which one I am is what keeps me up at night.”

                                                         Don Knotts

Thoughts on Harambe:

Harambe is that 450 pound gorilla that was killed in his Cincinnati zoo enclosure. A 3 year old kid escaped his parent(s) and somehow found his way into the gorilla enclosure. We all have seen the film where he seemed to be protecting the kid and all of a sudden drags the kid through a moat more than once. What the film does not show is the shrieks and screams for the people witnessing all of this which obviously scared the hell out of Harambe and caused him to panic. From this point on Harambe's actions are dangerously unpredictable. I have a friend that is a veterinarian and he said that even tame animals can be unpredictable under the right circumstances. The zoo personnel did the right thing by shooting Harambe, that kid's life was at stake. There are those that believe Harambe should have been darted. I believe a sudden pain would have panicked Harambe even more and it would have taken about 7 minutes for a tranquilizer to knock him down. It would not have been worth the risk. It is unfortunate that Harambe was killed but in the short run there was no other option. By the way, the workers in that zoo said that they had seen Harambe crush a coconut with one hand.

I am once again reading about the history of the Comanche. At one time they were the lower class of the plains tribes. That is until they were the first to capture and train the wild Spanish mustangs that had escaped from the conquistadors and bred unhindered on the great plains for 200 years. They were acknowledged as the best light cavalry in the world.

To them slavery was currency and a method of survival. They would buy and sell human beings for horses and firearms.

They would also keep a close watch on their tribe's census. If there were more people dying that being born they would capture women and make them members of the tribe to have children to keep pace with the deaths. They knew they would become extinct if they didn't. If there were more children being borne than could be given food and shelter they would sell or trade women and children down to a population that the tribe could provide for. Pragmatism at it's most basic.

              This Date in History   June 2

1935 George Herman Ruth was born in Baltimore in 1898. He parents were very poor and sent George was sent to a Catholic parochial school. He excelled at sports especially baseball. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles which was a farm club for the Boston Red Sox at the time. He quickly came into the major leagues as a pitcher and won 69 games before 1920 for the Boston Red Sox. For reasons known only to the Boston Red Sox front office, they traded Ruth to the New York Yankees. This stupid trade gave the Red Sox what was called “The Babe Ruth curse” meaning they did not win another World Series until 2004, while the Yankees won seven pennants and four World Series. It was not until Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in an extended season that Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in one season was broken and Hank Aaron broke his record of 711 home runs. But Ruth’s slugging percentage of .690 has never been equaled. In his later years Ruth was traded to the Boston Braves hoping he would become the manager but “The Babe” decided he liked gambling, girls and the sauce better and on top of that he developed cancer of the throat. Babe Ruth retired on this date and died in 1948 and his body was held in repose in Yankee Stadium for two days. His corpse was visited by over 150,000 people. Ruth was one of the most beloved sports figure in world history. Yes, his memory rests in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

1865 In spite of the CSA Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee commanding, surrendering two months earlier, the Civil War was not completely over. There were a couple of more organized Confederate armies in the field. There was the army under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston primarily in the Carolinas and Georgia. This army surrendered within days of Lee. Then there were the Confederate armies of General Kirby Smith and Sterling Price who were primarily in Arkansas and Missouri. On this date General Kirby Smith surrendered virtually eliminating any organized resistance for the Confederacy. There were still a few guerrilla bands but they were quickly subdued. There were 680,000 Americans killed in this war, y'all. That is more than all other wars combined...think about it.

1953 On this date Elizabeth II is crowned the Queen of the United Kingdom in a lavish ceremony dating back a thousand years. She was 27 years old and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh was 30. The ceremony was held in Westminster Abbey (been there). According to legend in 616 the site of the Abbey was determined by a fisherman who said that he saw an image of Saint Peter there and soon the river Thames was full of salmon. The actual first stones for the abbey were laid in about 950 AD and was completed and made into a home for Benedictine monks. The Abbey was used for the first coronation for King Harold and then later his successor King William the Conqueror in the year 1067 AD. Speaking of William the Conqueror, he was a Viking that had been living in France and could not speak English but this man was an awesome leader and organizer, not to mention a ruthless military leader. It was William that built the home of the present Queen Elizabeth II... Windsor Castle.

1823 Two years before William Ashley had set forth down the Missouri River on a fur trapping expedition. Included in this expedition were some of what would become the greatest explorers of the great American west. Names like Jim Bridger, the Sublette brothers, Jedediah Smith and Edward Rose among others. They had a hard go of it on the first expedition because of their lack of experience. They were not that much better off on this expedition two years later but the 70 trapper headed upriver. On this date they got to what is now the border of North and South Dakota and were set upon by about 600 Arikara Indians. The Arikaras were the chief fur traders among the Indians in that area and did not take kindly to others moving in on their livelihood. The 70 trappers were soon overwhelmed and 20 were killed and many more wounded before they hightailed it back to the safety of Saint Louis. The trappers told their tale and asked for military assistance and a Colonel Leavenworth organized a 200 man cavalry and headed out for the Arikara territory. Colonel Leavenworth and his cavalry caught sight of a few Arikara braves but they faded away and none of the other Arikaras were ever seen. Leavenworth headed back to Saint Louis. But the threat of an Arikara attack in the river persuaded Ashley to make his next expedition across country by horseback. It was in expeditions such as this that much of the exploration of the American west was accomplished thanks to the Arikara raids on the river.

1944 From his headquarter in England US General Eisenhower and his staff is putting the final touches on the invasion of Europe. It was on this date that June 5 was set as D-Day. As we all know the date ended up being June 6. Eisenhower himself said that he and his staff only got cat naps for the last four days before the actual launch of the mightiest amphibian assault in history.

Born today:

1947 US swimmer and gymnast Jocelyn Smith...She said “Live young”. She is one of my dearest friends and has been my pleasure to have known her.

          Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow