Tuesday

                         Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Never have more kids that you have car windows for.”

                          Erma Bombeck

Trivia question of the day:

What NFL football player had the nickname of “Bambi because of his graceful leaps and jumps? Answer at the end of the blog.

From a year ago:

Guess what is happening right here in Greenville. There are an estimated 200,000 visitors in our fair city just for today. That's right y'all, they are here for the total eclipse of the sun occurring today at 2:39p. It is the first total eclipse of the sun seen in North America in the last 99 years. The motel and restaurant owners are foaming at the mouth and I hope they did not jack the prices up like they do in other places. I will be observing it in the parking lot of Publix grocery store on Pelham Road. I will be there for a variety of reasons. It is wide open, the strip has a liquor store, supermarket, Oriental and Mexican restaurants, a Pizza Hut, a hero type sandwich shop and a hair salon. The Mexican place makes a kick-ass Margarita, too. That is just in case it gets really hot and we need some salt.

                 This Date in History   August 21

1831 On this date a slave named Nat Turner, believing he was directed by God to free the slaves, rose up and began gathering other slaves in Southampton County, Virginia and headed for the armory in Jerusalem, Virginia. Turner was educated and an ordained minister unlike the majority of the slaves in America. It was Turner’s intention to break into the armory in Jerusalem, gather as many weapons as possible and then head for the Great Dismal Swamp to hide from the eventual pursuers. On his way to the armory he gathered up seven other slaves and chose to slaughter his owner and all of his owner’s family. Over the next two days Turner assimilated 75 followers and they rampaged across the countryside killing about 60 honkies. Finally the whites gathered a defensive force and summoned the Virginia Militia who showed up with 3,000 soldiers and crushed the rebellion. Nearly all of the slaves in rebellion were caught and unceremoniously hanged. It was not until October that Turner himself was caught and hanged. The end result of this rebellion was the colonies passed laws that forbade the movement, gathering or education of slaves. These times were dark ones in the history of this great nation. But at the risk of being politically incorrect, I do not feel that I owe and apology to the blacks for what my ancestors may or may not have participated in. But I feel extremely guilty about the treatment of the Native Americans. It is estimated that at the time that Jamestown was founded there was about 28 million Native Americans in what is now the United States. By the year 1900 there were an estimated 750,000. We came within a hair’s breadth of genocide, y'all. Think on it.

1863 Earlier the state of Missouri became a slave holding state and next door was a hotbed of anti-slavery in Kansas. Needless to say there was much animosity that resulted in several skirmishes at the Kansas/Missouri border. Finally this fighting degenerated into guerilla warfare on of the pro-Confederate armies was known as Quantrill’s Raiders. This army had as part of their group, Frank and Jesse James, the Younger brothers, “Bloody Bill” Anderson among others. Their ferocity was legendary. For some reason a US army officer kidnapped William Quantrill’s wife and daughters and took them to Kansas City hoping to influence Quantrill to cool it. Unfortunately for all, the building Quantrill’s family was being held in collapsed killing them all. Needless to say what effect this had on Quantrill and his troops. On this date Quantrill, having gathered a huge army, kidnapped four Kansas farmers to lead him to Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence was long known as a hotbed of anti-slavery sentiment. After Quantrill found Lawrence, he killed the farmers and sent his troops on a rampage through the town. Quantrill’s troops dragged over 185 men from their houses and killed them, sometimes in front of the man’s family. After this they burned Lawrence to the ground and hauled ass back into Missouri with the US Cavalry in hot pursuit. Once back in Missouri the US Cavalry wisely chose to discontinue the pursuit. It is very unlikely that this atrocity would never have been even considered had Quantrill’s family had not been kidnapped and died.

1986 On this date near Lake Nyos in the African country of Cameroon four villages consisting of nearly 2,000 people are wiped out from the most mysterious of circumstances. The people and thousands of cattle, rodents and even insects were killed from carbon monoxide poisoning. The Cameroon government chose to cover up this disaster and it was easy to do because that area was very remote with very little means of communications. Eventually the government had to ask for help to determine the cause. It took a while but geologists finally determined that the water lever in Lake Nyos was down four feet from normal. Lake Nyos is a body of water in the cone of an extinct volcano and the scientists determined that a bubble of carbon monoxide had gathered under waters of the lake and eventually gathered enough pressure to force its way through the water and spread across the countryside. Since carbon monoxide is heavy than air, it hugged the ground and asphyxiated whatever animal it came in contact with. Since this event sensors and warning devices have been added to rim of Lake Nyos. I saw a TV show proposing that one of the plagues that were brought upon Egypt in the time of Moses and that being the death of the first born, was caused by something similar to what happened at Lake Nyos. It was known that the Egyptian young slept on the floor or close to it because it was the coolest spot in the house. If so and a bubble of carbon monoxide escaped from somewhere and spread out, it would kill all that was at the lowest elevations. But that is just speculation. However, it is a geological fact that one of the largest explosions in written history was the eruption of the volcano Santorini in the central Mediterranean in about 1300 BC. This is the approximate time of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt if you are a follower of the Old Testament. Santorini is about 800 miles northwest of Egypt and such a shock COULD have opened a crevasse in the Nile Delta and released carbon monoxide not to mention a tsunami. I said could have.

Born today:

1921 US TV producer Gene Roddenberry. He said “The funny thing is that everything was science fiction at one time or another.” Gene was the genius that envisioned “Star Trek”.

1952 English musician Joe Strummer. He said “I smoked so much dope I am lucky I did not turn into a bush.” In that case I am lucky I have not turned into a Budweiser brewery.

1967 Canadian actor Carrie Ann Moss. She said “Since I was in “The Matrix” I cannot wear sunglasses. As soon as I put them on everybody recognizes me”.

Died today:

1904 US writer Kate Chopin. She said “The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.” Kate was a great wordsmith.

Answer to the trivia question:

Wide receiver Lance Alworth of the Chargers was known as “Bambi”.

          Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow