Monday

                          Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“My feet are small for the same reason my waist is small—things don't grow well in the shade.”

                                                    Dolly Parton

Trivia question of the day:

Who is the only athlete to play in the Super Bowl and the World Series? Answer at the end of the blog.

              This Date in History   April 2

1516 On this date the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon landed on the Florida peninsula near present day Saint Augustine. Florida had been sighted by previous Spanish sailing vessels but Ponce de Leon was the first to step ashore. Believe it or not, he was looking for a legendary “fountain of youth” thought to be there. He thought that he was on an island instead of a peninsula and named it La Florida because of the Easter ceremony called Pascua Florida that was about to be celebrated. He left and continued to explore other areas of the southern part of what was to become America and the Bahamas. He returned to this site in 1521 with the intention of establishing a Spanish settlement. He and his party were met at water’s edge by hordes of hostile Creek and Seminole Indians and were driven back into sea. They retreated to Cuba to re-group. Ponce de Leon died there of wounds received at the encounter with the Indians. Another group of Spaniards arrived at the Florida site in 1565 and were successful in establishing a permanent settlement that exists to this day. The United States bought Florida from Spain in 1819 and soon thereafter the first retirement community was established and a bunch of bossy old Yankees from New York, Providence, New Haven, etc, descended upon the site and immediately began complaining that it was a lot better than this up north.

1982 In 1832 the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic became a British possession and became a British colony in 1852. The possession of this strategically important island group had been contested for years by Argentina. On this date a group of Argentine Marines easily overcomes the company of Royal Marines at the capitol of Stanley and captures the Falkland Islands. When word got back to London, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent word to Argentina that they had two weeks to get their ass back to Argentina. Two weeks would be about how long it wound take to mobilize the Royal Marines and get them down to the Falklands. The Argentinians blew it off as a bluff and continued to stay in Stanley and the rest of the Falklands. Two weeks later the Royal Navy arrived and a naval battle ensued. The Argentinians were able hold their own against the Royal Navy primarily because they had used the French Excocet and the Chinese Silkworm anti-ship missiles. But once the Royal Marines accompanied by Royal Ghurkas got ashore it was just a matter of time. The British Naval air arm swept the skies clear of Argentine fighter-bombers and anti-aircraft batteries. Once this was accomplished the Argentine Marines were ordered to surrender of they would unleash the Ghurkas. The Ghurkas are mainly from India and Pakistan and prefer to engage in combat by surrounding their enemy, forcing them to give up their firearms and then wade into them and take care of business with their long curved knives. This was not that appealing to the Argentinians and they did indeed surrender and got their asses back to Argentina.

1979 On this date near the Russian city of Yekaterinburg an epidemic of anthrax erupts. After all is said and done there were 65 dead and hundreds of head of livestock had perished. The official Russian report said that the people died from tainted meat. They chose not to explain the livestock deaths. The United States and nearly all the other free countries of the world knew this was bullshit because just outside Yekaterianburg was a well photographed and satellite viewed biological warfare laboratory ran by the Russian military. 13 years later the Russian government admitted that one of the operators in the plant had replaced a lid on a container of Anthrax spore incorrectly and some of the spore had escaped. Anthrax can be absorbed by various means but breathing in the spore almost guarantees death. The spores drifted downwind from the laboratory into a small village where the deaths occurred. Had the wind been blowing toward Yekaterinburg there would have been deaths of biblical proportions.

1800 On this date a trial occurred that gives us a peek at the way trials were conducted in the early days. On trial was a man name Levi Weeks. He was defended by Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr and Weeks was acquitted. The peculiar part here was that the acquittal verdict came at 3:00am. We came to find out that once a trial was started it did not stop until a verdict was achieved. Would that be better than a trial lasting as long as the one with O.J. Simpson? I don’t know. We want everyone to get the entire defense that was available for them but keeping the jury going that long would be impractical. I guess we had better not fool with the present judicial system. Even though it is not perfect I cannot imagine one better.

Born today:

1908 US actor Buddy Ebsen. He said “If brains were lard, Jethro couldn’t grease a pan”

Buddy played Jed Clampett on “The Beverly Hillbillies”

1928 French singer Serge Gainbrough. He said “Ugliness is superior to beauty because it lasts longer.”

1947 US singer Emmylou Harris. She said “Mediocrity is going to kill the world before Armageddon ever does.” I am sorry Emmylou, my money is on Armageddon.

1964 US baseball player Pete Incaviglia. He said “Most people think we baseball players make $3 to $4 million dollars a year. Most of them don’t realize that we only make $500,000”. Is that too much for working 6 or 7 months a year?

Died today:

1920 Pope Paul John II. He said “The truth is not necessarily the majority opinion.” He is right, y'all.

Quotable quotes:

“You are the worst entertainer since Saint Paul the Evangelist toured Palestine with a trampoline.” Paul Blackadder in a review of a Broadway actor.

Answer to the trivia question:

The only athlete to play in the Super Bowl and the World Series is Deion Sanders...the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Braves.

             Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow