Wednesday

                            Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Propaganda is that branch of lying which often deceives your friends without ever deceiving your enemies.”

                                               Walter Lippman

Trivia question of the day:

How did Alexander Hamilton die? Answer at the end of the blog.

A while back for lunch I had “Reedy River,”and 8, 16 and 18. That is shorthand for fried flounder, potato salad, fried okra and sweet potato cobbler. I also had iced sweet tea and cornbread.

My server was a middle aged black man named James. He had on a black tee shirt with cross and “I Love My Church” on the front. He was occasionally singing ...”Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand...” and frequently saying “Lord, I am too blessed to be stressed”. I asked him where he was from and he said “I am from Georgia...I am a runaway slave.” James is a hoot.

              This Date in History   March 21

1778 Earlier Loyalist Colonel Charles Mawhood had successfully attacked the Patriot regiment at Quinton’s Bridge, Mass. with a mixture of Loyalist and British troops. On this night, he attacked the Patriot troops sleeping on the ground near Hancock’s Bridge, Mass. with the same regiment. He attacked with bayonet only to try and not arouse anyone unnecessarily. Finally, he yelled “Attack, Attack Give no quarter”, and several Patriots were killed with their hands in the air. The arrogant Mawhood also ran into the house of the nearby George Hancock house and killed everyone in it including Mr. Hancock who was a devoted subject of the King. He then threatened all the survivors with killing all of their families and burning down their houses, but changed his mind when the survivors told him that was a two way street and they would send people looking for him and his family very soon if that occurred. I cannot find any further reference to Mawhood other than he was present at the Battles of Princeton and Trenton and was also present at a murder trial where one of his officers was shot and killed by an English Ensign.

1980 On this date United States President Jimmy Carter announced that the American contingent of Olympic athletes would not be allowed to attend the games in Moscow. This was the first time the United States would not be in attendance since the revival of the modern games in 1896. Jimmy did not want to contribute to the economy of Russia who had just a few months before ruthlessly invaded Afghanistan (who is over there now) to try and prop up the Russian backed government that was having its ass handed to it by the Mujahadin or the independent warlords that are giving our troops in present day Afghanistan such a difficult time. The Afghani warlords owe their loyalty to no one and are fiercely independent. The system of independent warlords in Afghanistan has been in place since the days of Alexander the Great and I do not think it is going to change anytime soon. These guys love to fight and are not afraid of death and ended up sending the mighty Russian army home with its tail between its legs. The Russians had more than 70,000 casualties. How does the Untied States expect to change this system that has been in place for 2,300 years into a Democracy? I don’t get it.

1932  A surge of warm air rose out of the Gulf of Mexico and met up with an Alberta Clipper (a mass of really cold air) sweeping down from Canada. The meeting took place in lower and central Alabama and as you might suspect violent weather is the result, especially tornadoes. These people in rural Alabama and any other southern tier state were already suffering in the grinding Depression then here this monster comes. The first town hit with a tornado was Marion, Alabama which resulted in enormous damage and 18 killed and 150 wounded. This deadly front moved northeast, as they all do, and dealt death and destruction to Demopolis, Northport, and Sylacauga, Alabama before splitting into two divisions and one going into Tennessee and Kentucky and the other into the Carolinas and Georgia. The end result was millions in damage and 299 killed and thousands wounded. I don’t know but I would think those people that were already suffering under the yoke of the depression would have felt that this was the end of the world.

1960 On this date there was a peaceful demonstration in the South African town of Sharpeville. The demonstration was by blacks who had travel restrictions put on them that did not apply to the whites. Sharpeville is near Johannesburg, South Africa. The local police in Sharpeville waded into the crowd and opened fire with automatic weapons killing 69 and wounded 180. The next day in Cape Town, South Africa thousands of blacks hit the streets in protest and order was regained only after 10,000 were arrested. It was after this that Nelson Mandela, the president of the African National Congress decided that peaceful disobedience would not work and began raising an army. Mandela was captured, tried and convicted of treason and thrown in jail for life. After 27 years Mandela was released. He eventually became the first black President of South Africa. What an amazing display of perseverance.

1871 On this date American ex-patriot Henry Stanley departed Zanzibar after being tasked with locating the British explorer Davis Livingstone or proof of his death. Livingstone was in Africa trying to find the source of the Nile River and had not been heard from for six years. Stanley left with 2,000 porters and guides but the greatest majority of them had deserted shortly after the expedition began. Stanley searched for eight months and then one day he walked into the village of Ujiji on the banks of Lake Tanganyika, American flag flying. He spotted a white male in the middle of the village and walked up and uttered the immortal “Doctor Livingstone, I presume.” By the way, the source of the Nile River is Lake Victoria.

Born today:

1685 German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. He said When speaking of playing the harpsichord he said “There nothing to it, all one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.” It is simple, y'all.

1905 US writer Phyllis McGinley. She said “In Australia, not reading poetry is a national pastime.” I really think their national pastime is drinking Foster’s beer.

1946 US Director Russ Meyer. He said of his third marriage. “I am a serial bigamist.”

Quotable Quotes:

“I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”

Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens is my most favorite author of all time.

Answer to the trivia question:

Alexander Hamilton was killed in a pistol duel with Aaron Burr.

               Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow