Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
“Richard
, you know I love my family but that is no reason to speak to them in
public.”
Hyacinth
Bucket
Trivia
question of the day:
The
top selling music artists in US history was The Beatles and Elvis
Presley...who was 3rd?
Answer at the end of the blog.
A
while back I was on an engineering job whose office was near Reading,
Pa. but the actual site was the Harrison steam power plant near
Gypsy, West Virginia, about 300 miles southwest. This plant was
unique. It was a coal fired plant and within 100 yards was a coal
mine. There was a traveling ramp that brought the coal directly from
the mine to the hopper feeding the boilers. The problem was they
were not containing the fly ash and we went there to design and
install new stacks with electrostatic precipitaters inside. They
would capture the fly ash and a system of spray nozzles would wash
them down at regular intervals. That got the fly ash out of the air
but created a slurry that had to be put somewhere that did not
pollute the ground or ground water. That was not our problem...we
were hired to get it out of the air. It ever anyone of y'all wants
run away from home go to Gypsy, West Virginia. It is located in a
deep valley with almost sheer cliffs on both sides...city hall was a
double wide.
This
Date in History May 15
1756
On this date the Seven Years War begins. This war was known in the
Americas as the French and Indian wars. England declared war on
France but battles and skirmishes between the French and English
settlers in America and Canada had been happening for years. What
happened was that the French had been expanding into the Ohio Valley
which put them in constant hostile contact with the English settlers.
The French had many Indian allies that joined with them in many
battles and skirmishes. The English were never on friendly terms
with the natives. In 1756 the British suffered a series of defeats
primarily because of the Indian alliances with the French. British
Prime Minister William Pitt (the elder) saw how much land could be
gained with a British victory in this war and began financing Prussia
in her wars with the allies of France and reimbursed the British
colonists if they raised armies in North America. By 1760 France had
been kicked out of Canada and by 1763 all of France’s allies in
Europe had made peace with Prussia or were defeated. Even Spain’s
attempt at coming to the aid of France was defeated. In 1763 a
treaty was signed in Paris ending the war with France ceding all the
lands in Canada to Great Britain along with their lands in Spanish
Florida and gave Louisiana to Spain. The treaty ensured the colonial
and maritime supremacy of Great Britain and strengthened the American
colonies by removing hostile nations from their northern and southern
borders. Fifteen years later, the French were still smarting under
such an embarrassing defeat and loss of land jumped at the chance to
assist the American colonists in the fight for independence from
Great Britain. It is likely that the independence of the United
States would not have occurred without French military assistance,
especially their navy and military expertise in infantry tactics
(Lafayette and others).
1972
On this date a feisty little man, the Governor of Alabama was
campaigning for President of the United States in Laurel, Maryland.
George Wallace was one of the most controversial political figures in
American history. He stood on a rostrum and shouted “Segregation
now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.” He also swore
to stand in the door of the University of Alabama to stop integration
of the home of the Crimson Tide. Six months later he was indeed
standing in the door of the University when it was approached by five
or six black students accompanied by the Alabama National Guard as
ordered by the President of the United States. Wallace made a short
speech and then allowed the students to enter. Anyway, during a
handshaking walk after a speech in Laurel a man named Arthur Bremer
stepped out of the crowd and pumped two bullets into Wallace
paralyzing him from the waist down and wounding 6 others. Wallace
was able to get his name on all 50 ballots and garnered a substantial
number of votes especially in Maryland and Michigan. But he was
fighting for his life after the shooting which resulted in him being
bed and/or wheelchair ridden for the rest of his life and he was out
of the race. An interesting story: When I was married to my first
wife we took our politics seriously and examined all the candidates
in the upcoming 1972 elections and we jointly decided that Senator
Barry Goldwater of Arizona best suited our own political views. On
Election Day we went to our voting venue and cast our ballot. When
we met afterward I said “Well that’s two for Goldwater.” She
said “No it isn’t, I wrote in George Wallace, what I do in that
voting booth is my business.” She was right.
1864
Earlier US General Grant had tasked US General Franz Siegel to take
his army of 6,500 into the Shenandoah Valley and take control of the
food being produced there for the Confederate Army. Lee saw the
movement and sent CSA General John Breckinridge and a rag-tag army of
5,300 including 247 cadets from the Virginia Military Institute in
Lexington, some as young as 15. The two armies met at New Market,
Virginia and a battle ensued. A ferocious onslaught by the center of
the Confederate lines drove the Yankees back ½ mile. But Siegel
regrouped and began shelling the Confederate center and Breckinridge
had no choice but to send the VMI cadets to silence those guns. The
cadets were able to capture two of the guns at the cost of 8 killed
and 48 wounded but Seigel was defeated and was forced to retreat.
Seigel was extremely embarrassed by this defeat especially when
cadets were involved and were indeed courageous and contributed
greatly to the success of the Confederates. Seigel was never allowed
to forget this engagement. With the retreat of Seigel, Breckenridge
was able to send some of his troops to reinforce Lee.
1976
This is a story of trashy people y'all. Beware. On this date the
Elk Grove, Illinois PD arrests 20 year old Patricia Colombo and the
36 year old Frank Deluca for the massacre of Colombo’s entire
family. Two years earlier Patricia had moved away from home and
moved in with Deluca, his wife and five children. Patricia at the age
of 16 had taken a job at a local coffee shop and had met pharmacist
Frank Deluca and they began a vigorous sexual relationship. In fact
Frank was proud to show photos of Patricia engaged with Deluca’s
black lab. The Colombo family was relieved when they found out that
Patricia had moved into her own apartment but later they found that
Deluca had left his family and moved in with Patricia. Upon hearing
this Patricia’s father looked up Deluca and administered a severe
ass-whipping. After this Patricia and Deluca decided to kill her
family and collect the inheritance. So one night they sneak into
Patricia’s parent’s house and shoot her mother and father and
bludgeon her 15 year old brother to death with a bowling trophy and
stab him over 100 times with a pair of scissors. Little did they
know that Patricia’s father had written her out of the will years
before. A week later Deluca and Patricia were arrested and witnesses
told the police that they saw Deluca destroying blood-soaked clothing
the day after the murder. Eventually, Patricia and Deluca were tried
and convicted of murder. They were sentenced to 200 years and 300
year respectively. But Patricia was not out of the spotlight yet.
After a few years in prison she reveals that she engineered sex
orgies in prison with the inmates and the guards gamboling throughout
the prison. A great majority of the guard and the warden were
unceremoniously fired. What a bitch.
Born today:
1962
US Mayor Richard Daley (Chicago). He said “The police are not
here to create disorder; they are here to preserve disorder.”
Richard, shut up the hell up.
Answer
to the trivia question:
The
3rd
all time best selling music act in USA history is Garth Brooks.
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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