Thursday

                         Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I don't want to endorse alcohol, drugs and violence but it has always worked for me.”

                                         Hunter S. Thompson

Recently a fellow piping designer working on a new nuclear power plant near Jenkinsville, SC sent me an item about the reactor core being placed inside the containment building. They had the most massive crane available to make that lift. The reactor core weighs as much as a fully loaded B-52 with 10,000 pounds to spare. Recently this plant was abandoned with a loss of billions that will be absorbed by the consumers.

The anniversary of 9/11 is coming. I was in the engineering business then but I still had contact with some of my air traffic control brethren. I contacted one of them and asked him what happened when the order came down to get every aircraft under their control on the ground in the next 15 minutes. He said that he just read them the message that was handed to him and that went something like “Attention all aircraft on this frequency. Our country is under attack by air, all aircraft are to land at the closest airport within the next 15 minutes. Any aircraft detected after that time will be considered hostile and will be attacked by aircraft from the Air Defense Command.”. He said that most of the aircraft he had at that time was US Navy turboprop trainers, jet fighters, jet transports and a few prop driven civilian aircraft. After he read the message they could not get on the ground fast enough.

The biggest problem nationwide was all the commercial aircraft crossing the north Atlantic headed to the USA. They were denied entry into American airspace and most did not have enough fuel to make it back to where they came from. Over 230 made unscheduled landings at Gander, Newfoundland. They had a problem finding a place for all of them to park...and a place for the 6,000 stranded passengers to eat and sleep.

Back last summer 46 year old Tommy Harrison was driving his pickup truck north on US 25 just north of Greenwood, SC. For unknown reasons Tommy crossed over into the southbound lane and collided head on with a motorcyclist. The rider was flown to a hospital in Greenville, SC where he expired on the operating table. Tommy, on the other hand, fled the scene of the accident while driving on a suspended driver’s license. He went on trial later. The jury was out for about 15 minutes and returned with a guilty verdict. He was sentenced for 20 years with a minimum of 85% being served. 17 to 20 years in a South Carolina prison will be like 100 years in hell.

This Date in History September 7

2004 The French Police raid the Paris hotel room of Lance Armstrong and search for illegal substances. He is arrested because three different outlawed substances were indeed found. It was soap, toothpaste, and deodorant. The police insisted on a full body search of Lance and found yet more things not seen or allowed in France and that being a set of balls and a spine which is unheard of in French men. I am being facetious.

1979 The Chrysler Corporation requests and got a loan of $1Billion dollars that is guaranteed by the US Treasury to save the company from bankruptcy. Under the leadership of Lee Iacocca Chrysler was able to cut costs and overhead and was able to repay this loan with interest early. Say what you want but Lee is a superb executive, unlike Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom fame and Ken Lay of 1977Enron fame. Bernie is in the slammer and Ken has gone to meet his maker in the knowledge that he lost millions of dollars from his employee’s retirement program to the point that is was lost forever. What a guy.

1977 President Jimmy Carter signed an agreement with the Government of Panama whereby the control and ownership of the Panama Canal will go to the Panamanians at the end of the century and this would also cancel the so called “Canal Zone” which was a US owned section that allowed a military presence. The agreement also says that the US had the right to keep the canal open by what ever means necessary. This was what the US used as an excuse to go capture Manuel Noriega.

1940 Germany put Operation Sea Lion into effect which was the attempt to conquer Great Britain by bombing alone. The Germans bombed for 57 straight nights but it had no effect on the bulldog type attitude and morale of the British people. That is one thing that Hitler never did understand. The English people were ready to defend their soil from invasion with their hearts and souls and with the zeal that had been bred into them for centuries. The British soldiers proved their gritty stubbornness in North Africa and in many battles during WWI not to mention many, many encounters with France and Spain in the Middle Ages. Speaking of the French...in WWII they surrendered Paris without firing a shot.

1876 The James/Younger gang rode into Northfield, Minnesota to rob a bank. Jesse James pulled his pistol on the bank clerk and ordered the vault to be opened. The clerk said that the vault is on a timer and he can’t open it. At the same time he makes a break for the back door and succeeded in getting it open and yelling for help before being shot in the shoulder by Jesse. The neighbors in Northfield come running out bristling with guns. Nearly all of the Younger brothers were killed but Frank and Jesse did escape and went into the Dakota Territory and started organizing another gang. By the way, Jesse went back and shot the bank clerk in the head.

Born today:

1533 Queen Elizabeth I, English monarch. She said “I would rather be a pauper and single than married and the Queen”. This girl was known as the “Virgin Queen” because she was never married. She did have two prominent boyfriends in the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Essex but it was never proven that she had carnal knowledge of either. She wanted to stay single so her power would not be “diluted”.

1932 English writer Sir Malcolm Bradbury. He said “God must not have been a liberal because he would not have given us the Ten Commandments; he would have given us the “Ten Suggestions.”

Died today:

1833 English writer Hannah More. She said “Obstacles are those terrible things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”

1951 US actress Maria Montez. She said “I see myself in the screen. I am so beautiful, I jump for joy.” Maria has gone from this earth still looking at a mirror.

1969 US Senator Everett Dirksen (D. Ill.). He said “We really have to watch it, a billion here, and a billion there, pretty soon you get into real money.” Senator Dickson since has gone to the great bank vault in the sky.

            Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow