Monday

                            Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“Thanksgiving dinners take 18 hours to prepare. They are consumed 12 minutes. Half time in a NFL game is 12 minutes, this is no accident.”

                                            Erma Bombeck

I met a lady named Ronda while celebrating life with members of my east side social group. Unfortunately the conversation got to present day politics. She had me at a disadvantage because I have stopped watching/listening to the media because of their unreliability. She finally said that she thought that Hillary should be president because she is squeaky clean and has demonstrated leadership. She said that she knows how bad Donald is because she is in the real estate business herself. I had bid her good evening after that stunning display rock hard logic.

            This Date in History   July 24

1911 On this date American explorer Hiram Bingham is the first honky to lay eyes on one of the most spectacular sites in archaeological history. He had found Machu Picchu, an Inca city hidden in the Andes Mountains northwest of the capitol of Cuzco. After the rape of the Inca by the Spanish conquistadors, the Inca rulers no longer summered in Machu Picchu and its location was kept a secret for 350 years. Only the local natives knew of its existence. This magnificent city had surrounding lands that had been terraced for the raising of crops and the city had running water. It was built of huge stones that were cut so accurately that cement was not required and a razor blade could not be inserted in the seams. This is not the only Inca city that has been found in the Andes that was engineered so greatly. How these cities were build is still a mystery to the world. The Inca were very small in stature and had no draft animals other than the llama. There is no evidence that they had knowledge of the wheel. Machu Picchu was found high up on two peaks that had been leveled to allow construction and it is one of the most visited tourist sites in the world.

1567 Mary Queen of Scots had been imprisoned because of her unbending dedication to Catholicism in a land filled with Presbyterian Royalty. On this date she is forced to abdicate the throne and the crown goes to her infant son that would become James VI of Scotland and eventually James I the first king of England, Scotland and Ireland. Mary was an ambitious girl and tried to take back the crown of Scotland by force but her army was destroyed and she booked to England and asked her cousin Queen Elizabeth I to allow her to have safe haven. The Queen was acceptable to this. But Mary got the itch again and conspired with a bunch of Catholics in England and other countries to overthrow Elizabeth and then Mary would assume the throne. Mary paid for this indiscretion with her head. She just would not give up her religion.

1847 On this date Brigham Young tops a hill and looks down on the Great Salt Lake Valley and utters “This is the place”. Then he and 148 Mormons walk down into the valley and began to lay out a city for the throngs that would come in the future. Here is a short story about Mormons. When my oldest daughter was just a child, two well scrubbed young men rode up to my house astride bicycles. They knocked on the door and presented themselves as Mormons and would like to tell me about their religion. I asked if they had a bible and they said yes. I told them to leave the bible and come back in a week. It was the Book of Mormon. I read it cover to cover and I want to tell ya’ll, it was one of the most fascinating books of history I have ever read. But it was almost like reading science fiction because some of it was so unbelievable. But then I asked myself if these events happened before or after Moses turned the Nile River into blood, parted the Red Sea and had a flaming tornado to lead an estimated 7 million Jews into the thirsty Negev desert northeast of Egypt, stay 40 years and leave no physical evidence of it. It is all in what you choose to believe, isn’t it?

1864 Earlier CSA General Robert E. Lee had tasked General Jubal Early with clearing those damned Yankees out of the Shenandoah Valley. General Early left and made a feint toward Washington before entering the valley. Early was pursued hotly by a Yankee army commanded by US General George Crook. The two armies had skirmished somewhat but nothing heavy. Then when Early found that Crook and his army was in terrain that was to Crooks disadvantage then he turned and struck Crook with everything he had. It was a rout, ya’ll. Those Yankees headed their young asses back toward Washington as fast as they could and Early and company headed at a leisurely pace down the valley. By the way, it was General Crook that was at the head of one of the columns headed to Little Big Horn to capture the Sioux and Cheyenne. He was late. Then he was assigned the task of capturing that wily Apache Geronimo. He pursued Geronimo for five years and in all that time he only got a fleeting glance of him. Crook resigned because of this failure. He was a superb officer but was assigned tasks that were near impossible.

1915 The steamer “Eastland” was in the harbor in Chicago and had been hired by a church to take the congregation out to an island in Lake Michigan for a picnic. The crowd was about 2,500. The boat had originally been built to accommodate 800 but some marine engineers had made some “modifications” to where it would handle 2,500. Another marine engineer published a notice that the so called modifications were bogus and was dangerous. Well, all of the crowd got aboard and then ran to the starboard rail for a group photo. The Eastland began to list and it just kept on rolling trapping nearly all under the hull right there in the slip. Dock workers immediately got their torches working and began cutting holes in the hull and began pulling people to safety. But over 800 were drowned. What a nightmare.

Born today:

1878 English writer Lord Dunsany. He said “Logic, like whiskey is no good if taken in too large of doses.” Hey Lord, Plato, Aristotle and Socrates would beg to differ.

1947 US comic Gallagher. He said “I wish there was a knob on the TV labeled “Intelligence” but the closest I can find is “Brightness” and it don’t work either.” A lot of people like Gallagher but he ain’t my cup of tea.

1970 US actress Jennifer Lopez. Comedian Chris Rock said of her. “I saw Jennifer Lopez on TV the other night accepting some kind of award and she thanked her agent, her family her minister her make-up artist and a lot of other people. She needs to thank that ass, that’s what got where she is today.” Chris must be an ass and legs man like myself.

Died today:

1862 US president Martin Van Buren. He said “It is easier to do the job right than to have to explain why you didn’t.”

             Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow