Friday

                                       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“The Broadway musical Cats closed today after 18 years. Any cast members not adopted after four weeks will be put to sleep.”

                                                         Jay Leno

Trivia question of the day:

Where did the mutineers on the HMS Bounty end up? Answer at the end of the blog.

What is the worst case of terrorism in the United States beside 9/11? It is the Oklahoma City bombing. Over 150 killed and 600 wounded including children under the age of two. The perpetrators were Timothy McViegh and Terry Nichols...both Catholics. This means that the world is not safe in the presence of Catholics. Now ain't that stupid?

                   This Date in History January 18

                         

1778 Earlier one of the greatest navigators in history had sailed from England and discovered Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. Captain James Cook was assigned the task of the exploration of the South Pacific and departed England in the spring of 1776 commanding two ships, the Resolution and the Discovery. On this date Captain Cook sighted the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Cook named these islands the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his patrons, the Earl of Sandwich. After seeking an appropriate harbor, Cook anchored at Waimea on the island of Kauai. The islanders thought the Englishmen were Gods and were fascinated by the iron used on the ships because there is no metal ores in the Islands. The English sailors traded iron nails for sex with the native women. During Cooks stay one of the sailors died proving that they were not gods and tensions increased. After exploration of the islands, Cook sailed north looking for the alleged western entrance to the “Northwest Passage”. The Northwest Passage was a supposed water passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific across North America. As we know, this passage has been proven not to exist. After a year of exploration Cook returned to the Hawaiian Islands. This time Cook was unfortunate in his choice of anchorages when he sailed into Lono Bay. Lono Bay was considered a holy place by the natives on certain days of the year, unfortunately for Cook; this was one of the days. The ships were met with a hail of curses and a shower of stones and coral. The natives were able to steal one of the small transfer boats from the Resolution. Cook was not going to sit still for that and he and thirty other sailors armed themselves and went ashore (or tried to) to negotiate getting the boat back. One of the sailors got nervous and fired his weapon killing a native whereupon the natives attacked and killed most of the sailors, Cook included. Six or seven of the sailors were able to return to the ship. The next morning the Resolution fired a broadside at the islanders on shore still yelling and screaming killing 30 of them. After this the sailors sailed back to England.

1776 On this evening the Committee for Safety in the city of Savannah, Georgia commanded by Patriot Major Joseph Habersham went to the home of Royal Governor James Wright and placed him under arrest. He stayed under house arrest until February 11 when he escaped and made his way to the British warship HMS Scarborough. After failing in an attempt to negotiate a treaty with Habersham he sailed for London. On December 28, 1778 Wright returned to Savannah with a hell of a lot of troops and was able to re-take Savannah but he was never able to control the entirety of Georgia. He remained as governor until 1782 but he found out that Patriot General Anthony “Mad Anthony” Wayne was on his way to Savannah with a group of seasoned and battle hardened veterans that had recently kicked the living shit out a military group of Loyalist/British/Cherokees even though Wayne’s troops were outnumbered 2 to 1. Rather than risk being captured or killed by Wayne’s troops, Wright got aboard yet another British warship and sailed back to England never to return. He died in London of February 7, 1785. Georgia was one of the few colonies the British were able to enforce the hated Stamp Act which was one of the main reasons for the fire being lighted under the move toward independence. Georgia had the largest percentage of Loyalists in the colonies but in spite of that, they were one of the first to argue for independence. Go figure.

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1990 As incredible as it seems, the mayor of Washington, D.C. Marion Barry is captured on camera smoking crack cocaine given to him by a woman that had proposed that if she gave him some “crack” he would help her get a reduced prison sentence. The woman that made the proposal was a plant by the Washington PD and Barry was arrested on the spot. Barry was taken away while screaming “That bitch set me up”, “That bitch set me up”. Barry was convicted and spent 6 months in the slammer. While he was in prison, the control of the city was reverted to the Congress with an appointed administrator in control. That did not end the career of Marion Barry. Even after being convicted of a drug crime, Barry ran for a city council seat and was elected by a vote of 96%. That should give you insight as to the character of the residents of our nation’s capitol.

1803 On this date President Thomas Jefferson sent a secret monetary request of $2,500 to Congress to be used for the “exploration of the Missouri River basin” which turned out to be the Lewis and Clark expedition. Jefferson rationalized that trade for furs with the yet to be discovered Indian tribes in the “higher latitudes” would more than re-pay the costs. Jefferson specified that the expedition would be just one officer and 10 men involved so that the Indians would not think it was an invasion. The expedition ended up with a few more men that what was requested but that “Corps of Discovery” made inroads into the expansion of this nation that were never equaled.

Born today:

1200 Japanese spiritualist Dogen. He said “Do not expect that you will be aware when you achieve enlightenment.” Are you listening, Jaci?

1807 American military leader Robert E. Lee. He said “Whiskey---I like it and always have, that is why I never use it.” I don’t like it so I limit myself to only 7 or 8 drinks a day.

1809 American author Edgar Allen Poe. He said “I have great faith in fools---self confidence my friends call it.”

1943 US singer Janis Joplin. She said “Fourteen heart attacks and that son-of-a-bitch had to croak on my week---MY WEEK! Janis was supposed to have been on the cover of Time magazine but it was preempted with the death of President Eisenhower.

Answer to the trivia question. Some of the mutineers of the HMS Bounty ended up on Pitcairn Island with their Tahitian wives and several others stayed on Tahiti.

                    Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow