Monday

                            Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“I have decided to stop drinking. I developed an allergy to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs.”

                                                   Robert Downey, Jr.

Trivia question of the day:

In the Steve McQueen movie “Bullitt” there was a ferocious car chase sequence. Steve “Bullitt” McQueen was driving a fastback Mustang, what was the other car? Answer at the end of the blog.

There was yet another dog attack up in Charlotte. A five year old little girl and her grandmother were walking around in their front yard when two pit bulls walked by and decided to attack. Both the grandmother and the little girl were severely mauled, the grandmother will survive, the little girl died. The cops came and the dogs were still there. They capped one of the dogs and the other one fled. The cops used one of their dogs to track the animal down and capped it also. When will people realize that pit bulls and Rottweilers have an inbred tendency to attack, “Daddy” of the Dog Whisperer notwithstanding.

Here is another incident in my hunting and fishing career. I went to visit with a friend named Joe in Columbia, South Carolina quite a while ago. He was a more devoted fisherman than I and suggested that we go to the river about a mile below the Lake Murray dam and fish for whatever ever is there. For those of you that are interested, we were fishing with a 1 ½ inch inch Rapala on a spinning rod with 8 pound test line. The river has a considerable current and wading around in the cataracts was a struggle. After a while we heard a klaxon horn blow three short blasts three times as I best recall. We did not know exactly what it was so we kept fishing. Very soon we saw the water rising very rapidly, about a foot a minute. I was on the side of the river where we had parked the car and I just stepped out on the bank and yelled at Joe to get his ass out of there. Joe was on the other side of the river (about 40 yards). He started back across and soon realized that the water would be at least up to his chest before he could get back across. He got out on the opposite bank, stripped naked, folded his clothes and shoes into a small bundle, put his fishing rod on top and put the bundle on top of his head and started wading across. We figure out that the klaxon was a warning that the dam operator was going to open the outlets. He got most of the way across with the water up to his neck. He threw his bundle onto the bank, grabbed an overhanging tree limb and pulled himself out. What a sight that was. He begged me not to tell his wife because she would be giving him crap about it for years. He was the ultimate outdoorsman but when he got the right amount of vodka in him, he was a wife beater. Joe drank himself to death several years ago.

The executives at CBS were about to pee their pants because of Charlie Sheen. A while back Charlie went on a vodka-soaked bender in Las Vegas accompanied by three porn stars. He almost did not show up for the shooting of Two and a Half Men, a very popular and profitable TV series for CBS and Charlie. Before that Charlie got into a squabble with his ex-wife and was arrested for domestic violence, and he did the same thing with the vodka and the porn stars in Vegas. The executives want Charlie to attend board meetings and Charlie refused saying that it was not in his contract. Charlie’s attorney has threatened to sue the pants off CBS if they try to kick Charlie off the show because of anything that is not is his contract. The way Charlie sees it is that all he has to do is show up on time for the shooting of the show and know his lines, Charlie is a free spirit, y’all.

I read about a Canadian soldier that was a sniper in Iraq. It has been confirmed that he made a kill with a .50 caliber sniper rifle at a range of 2,500 meters. That is about 1 ½ miles, y’all. It is estimated that the bullet was in the air for about 4 seconds, as incredible as it seems.

            This Date in History January 14

1875 On this date one of the most perfect humans ever to walk this earth was born in Upper-Alsace, Germany. Albert Schweitzer was the son and grandson of ministers. He studied at the Universities of Paris, Strasburg and Berlin and gained degrees in philosophy and theology. Albert was also an accomplished musician and would play the organ in concerts to supplement his income. In 1905 he entered medical school in the hopes of becoming a medical missionary in Africa. In 1913 with M.D. degree in hand, he and his wife Helene Bresslau moved to the village of Lamberene’, Gabon in West Africa and established a medical treatment facility and hospital. Albert had his hands full at the hospital because Leprosy and African sleeping sickness was rampant in that area. Albert made long strides in the treatment of leprosy and the sleeping sickness and then World War I broke out. In spite of the obvious good works being done by Albert, the British arrested Albert and Helene and put them in a concentration camp simply because they were German. He and Helene were released in 1918 and eventually returned to Lamberene’ in 1924 and opened up the treatment facility and hospital again. For the next 30 years Albert ran his medical facility and hospital and frequently went to Europe to lecture on his philosophy of “a reverence for life”.  This was the idea that all life is to be respected and loved and everyone should enter into a personal and spiritual relationship with the Universe and all its creations. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 which carried a monetary reward of $33,000. Albert returned to Lamberene’ and used that money to build a hospital dedicated to the treatment of leprosy. From the early 1950’s to his death in 1965 he wrote tirelessly about the evils of nuclear testing and nuclear weapons adding his voice to other Nobelists like Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell. It was reported and verified that while Albert was walking around his facility he was on constant alert for any living thing like ants and spiders and would walk around them or carefully move them. Albert was in touch with the Universe.

1639 The first constitution written in the American colonies was signed on this day in Hartford, Connecticut. The Connecticut River valley had been discovered earlier by the Dutch in 1614 but it was the Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay Colony that moved in and established the settlements of Harford, Wethersfield and Windsor. They got together and came up with the “Fundamental Orders”. This document was the first that fostered the concept that “it is the welfare of the community that is more important than that of an individual” and also the idea of the “Orders” must be approved by those it governed. This document was superseded by another set of “Orders” written in 1662. However, some of the laws written in the original “Orders” were maintained until 1818.

1784 On this date the Second Treaty of Paris is signed and ratified. It was called the Second Treaty of Paris because there was a Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years war. This treaty ended the American Revolutionary War that had begun 8 years before. The Treaty designated the boundaries between the United States and British possessions in North America. It also designated who was responsible for what debts and what and where were the fishing rights for the United States. But the most important statement was that Great Britain recognized the United States as a free and independent nation. This simple statement was paid for by blood and tears of our ancestors and I for one will never forget them.

Born today:

1875 German physician Dr. Albert Schweitzer. He said “There are two ways of refuge from the miseries of life, music and cats.” Albert, serenity is discovered in the mind of the seeker, too.

1919 Italian Prime Minister Guilio Andreotti. He said “I understand my limitations but when I look around me I see that I am not in a land of giants.” Hey Guilio, quit looking around.

Died today:

1957 US actor Humphrey Bogart. His alleged last words were “I should have not switched from scotch to Martinis.” You are right Bogie, Martinis can be lethal.

Answer to the trivia question:

The other car in the “Bullitt” chase sequence was a Dodge Charger.

                 Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow