Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
When
speaking of George W. Bush he said “His command of the English
language is somewhere between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Archbishop
Tutu.”
Richard Harris
Trivia
question of the day:
What
pitcher threw the only “perfect game” (no one on the opposing
team reached 1st
base) in the World Series?
Recently
a 12 year old boy was told that he could not fly the American flag on
the back of his bicycle when coming and going to school. The
abomination was issued by a middle school in central California. On
Monday about 40 bikers with the American flag on the back of their
motorcycles escorted this young patriot to school. When this ruling
by the school was sent across the countryside, the school was flooded
with e-mails, telegrams and phone calls protesting this inane ruling
and they rescinded the ban on the American flag. The school
officials said that they made the ruling because they were afraid the
Latino kids would be offended by the display of “Old Glory”. We
have gutless traitors like this teaching our children? I am glad I
was not there. At least the state of South Carolina has not bent to
minority pressure and removed the Confederate flag from the state
capitol grounds. It is not that I am a racist, but the majority of
the citizens of this state want the flag to stay. After all, this is
still a Democracy…for now.
This
Date in History January 12
1984
On this date an international restoration committee attempting to
restore the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, decide that modern day
building techniques were not working. The mixture of water and
limestone that was being used as a mortar was cracking the adjoining
original limestone blocks. They also were attempting to restore the
Sphinx and were successful using water and limestone. But on the
Pyramid the restorers had to resort back to the ancient method
interlocking blocks. It is believed that the Egyptians build over
100 pyramids with the majority of them during 2600 BC and 2200 BC.
The method used to build these behemoths has been in dispute but the
generally accepted method was a spiraling ramp built of sand and
rubble and this ramp was disassembled after the completion. The
three enormous pyramids on the plains of Giza were built by the
Pharaoh Khufu, his son and grandson. They all were built with
yellowish colored limestone and after completion coated with white
limestone. The Great Pyramid was as tall as a 50 story building and
had a burial chamber in the middle for the Pharaoh. What a sight it
must have been to see a shimmering white building rising out of the
Egyptian desert as you approached. It has been estimated that it
took 20,000 men 25 years to complete the Great Pyramid. The Great
Sphinx was built of one gigantic block of limestone in the quarry
that was used to extract the stone used in the pyramids. The Great
Pyramid is the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World.
1777
On this date one of the most colorful and important leaders in the
history of the United States died of seven bayonet wounds delivered
by the British at the Battle Of Princeton. Hugh Mercer was born in
Rosehearty, Scotland in about 1725. It is known that he studied
medicine at the University of Aberdeen and served King Bonnie Prince
Charles and his army in 1745. After this army was crushed at the
Battle of Culloden by the British, Mercer hauled ass to
Aberdeenshire, Scotland and hid out for a couple of years. After
this he secretly crossed the Atlantic and settled in Pennsylvania.
Surprisingly enough, after his arrival in 1747 he joined the army of
British King George III, the very king he was trying to overthrow two
years before. During the Seven Years War he was under the command of
British Edward Braddock. Braddock and company wandered into a
disastrous ambush and were all but annihilated with Mercer being
wounded also. After recovery he joined with Lt. Col. John Armstrong
and was involved in the brilliant raid of Kittanning in 1756. Peace
prevailed for a while and Mercer became a doctor and apothecary in
Fredericksburg, Virginia. When the Colonies decided to take up arms
against Great Britain and seek independence, Mercer’s warlike
nature arose and he offered his service to the Colonial Army. He
eventually ended up in command of the 3rd
Virginia regiment with such luminaries as James Monroe and John
Marshall under his command. General George Washington personally
requested his promotion to Brigadier General. Five months later
Mercer led a brigade into a line of British infantry at the Battle of
Princeton and was impaled seven times. Even though he was under the
care of one of the best doctors in America, Benjamin Rush, he died
nine days later in a house on the north end of the battlefield. He
was 52 years old. He did live long enough to know that The
Continentals had kicked the crap out of the British and this battle
turned out to be a pivotal battle in America’s pursuit of
independence. Hugh Mercer was a pure warrior, y'all. He was one of
many that showed up at the right place and the right time for
America.
1838
Earlier Joseph Smith had established a Mormon controlled bank in
Kirkland, Ohio along with a Mormon settlement. Due to the nationwide
run on banks called the Panic of 1837, Smith’s bank failed and he
felt that the had better get his ass out of Dodge so on this date he
headed into Missouri with the cops nipping at his heels. He and his
followers did not stay long because word got out about the Mormons
practicing polygamy and they were ran out of Missouri so they headed
on to the Illinois frontier and settled a town they called Nauvoo. A
little later on the word got out about the polygamy thing and a crowd
of people surrounded the town with blood in their eye. Not to
mention Joseph Smith had spread the word that he might run for
president. Joseph told the mob that he and his brother would
surrender if the rest of the town would be allowed to leave
peacefully. The mob allowed this and jailed Joseph and his brother.
Three days later, the mob got likkered up and raided the jail and
hanged Joseph and his brother. Everyone thought that with the death
of Smith the Mormon movement would collapse. They were wrong,
Brigham Young assumed command and the whole bunch headed west and did
not stop until Young saw the Great Salt Lake Valley and said the
immortal words “This is the place”. The Church of Latter Day
Saints based in Salt Lake City thrives to this day.
1943
Earlier Adolph Hitler decided that he wanted to conquer Russia
even though he had signed a non-aggression pact with them earlier.
Hitler sent three enormous armies into Russia to capture its three
largest cities, Leningrad, Stalingrad and Moscow. The three German
armies were named the Northern army, The Central army and the
Southern army. The Northern army headed a bee line toward Leningrad
thinking it would be an easy operation. They found out, as did the
other two armies, that these operations would be no walk in the park.
The Northern army ran up against a stone wall and was repeatedly
repulsed on any attack they tried. Hitler decided that siege would
be the best avenue so the Northern army surrounded the city and would
not let anyone or anything in or out. During the first year of the
siege 650,000 residents of the city died of exposure, starvation or
injuries from the almost constant bombardments. The Russian secretly
moved the very young and the very old out of the city and eventually
left only 2 million people to feed and this left enough open ground
to raise a modicum of crops and livestock. On this date during a
blizzard with temperatures in the -30’s, the Russian army broke
through the encirclement and surrounded the Germans themselves. The
Germans were then in deep shit because the Russians would cut off
their supply lines and they would wither without a constant supply of
high protein food and winter clothing to fight the worst Russian
winter in 50 years. The Germans saw the handwriting on the wall and
began a retreat back toward Germany on January 27 with the enraged
Russians right behind them. The siege was over after 827 days and
the sacrifice of millions upon millions of Russians. No one knows
for sure but it is estimated that the Russians lost over 26,000,000
soldiers and civilians in WWII. It is no wonder that when the
Russians finally began an offensive and when they entered Germany
they slaughtered every air breather they came across. They wanted
their pound of flesh, y'all.
Answer
to the trivia question.
The only perfect game
ever pitch in the World Series was by Don Larsen of the New York
Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodger in 5th
game in 1956.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait
until tomorrow
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