Thursday

                         Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“A nymphomaniac is a woman as obsessed with sex as the average man.”

                                          Mignon McLaughlin

Trivia question of the day:

In the book and movie “Gone With The Wind” where was Rhett Butler from?

Up near Charlotte, NC a 31 year old woman was arrested for allowing her boyfriend to beat her 4 year old daughter with an extension cord. The little girl was allowed to carry a 5 month old baby around and accidentally dropped it causing no injuries. The mother examined the little girl and saw many bruises and abrasions consistent with a beating with an extension cord and did nothing. The boyfriend called his ex-wife to come over and babysit while he and the mother went out on the town. The ex-wife asked why the little girl was walking peculiarly and got no response. After the couple left the ex-wife examined the child more thoroughly and immediately took her to the emergency room. The ER personnel took one look and called the cops. The mother was arrested along with her boyfriend. The mother is facing a larger penalty than the boyfriend. I can assure you, if I was given 10 minutes with either one or both of them they would never touch a child in anger again. That little girl depends on her mother to love and protect her and not to be fodder for her boyfriend’s decadence. My attitude remains resolute to this day when it comes to my children. Anyone that physically hurts my kids will have to deal with me; they can hold their own with anyone mentally. I hope no one tests me.

Up in a Junior High School in Greenburg, Indiana a 14 year old boy was kicked off the basketball team because the coach did not like his hair cut. The coach decreed that his boys could not have hair below their eyebrows, ears and collar. The boy was also told that if he or his parents objected he would be kicked off the team. The parents objected and sure enough he was ejected. The parents sued saying it was his son’s right to play basketball, hair notwithstanding. The coach responded with it was the kid’s right to get an education but extracurricular activities was a “privilege” and subject to a different set of criteria. He mentioned the “Steinbrenner rules” that were established for players on the New York Yankees. Steinbrenner declared that there could be no facial hair nor outlandish haircuts, etc. The parents said that this man paid his player’s extraordinary salaries and they were professionals. Then the parents hit them with a bombshell that put them in an untenable position when they asked if the same rules applied to the girl basketball players.

          This Date in History   January 10

1776 On this date the Governor of North Carolina, Josiah Martin, speaking from exile aboard the British warship HMS Cruiser anchored near Cape Fear, North Carolina, implored the Loyalists to gather an armed force and fight the Rebels (Patriots). Governor Martin was not elected by the people of North Carolina; he was placed in that position by the British. In his message Governor Martin stated that everyone knew what an honor it was to be a British subject and enjoy the freedom and blessings from the King. The people could not relate to that message because Governor Martin had allowed government employees known as “Regulators” to go throughout the countryside and levy taxes at their discretion and put that money in their pockets. The Loyalists were supposed to meet British General William Howe at the waterfront and he was supposed to supply the Loyalists better arms and ammunition plus additional troops. The Loyalists were only able to gather but 1,500 troops and when they arrived at the waterfront, it wasn’t General Howe waiting on them; it was an army of Patriots. The commander of the Loyalists, British General Donald McDonald, knew that he could not engage the heavily armed Patriots with a Loyalist army that was nearly unarmed. But McDonald fell ill and the command of the Loyalists fell to British General Donald McLeod. McLeod did not see a problem with attacking with the army as presently armed and attack they did. The Patriots were prepared and delivered a major ass-kicking. They killed 80 of the Loyalists and captured 880 while suffering only 2 killed. Martin had fled to the umbrella of a British warship after the Patriots burned his house down. After this defeat of the Loyalists, Josiah Martin made two more attempts to gain his power back was both attempts were turned back. He then sailed to Long Island and then to London where he died in 1786.

1901 On this date on a small hill named Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas at 10:30am a deep rumble was heard under the oil drilling derrick. A few seconds later the drill string began backing out of the hole and it was followed by oil gushing out of the well to a height twice as high as the derrick. This “gusher” ran wild for nine days at a rate of an estimated 100,000 barrels per day before it was brought under control. This was the first discovery of a major oil field in United States history. Earlier oil was found in Pennsylvania but not in the quantity of this oil field. Oil is still being extracted from this oil field to this day. Had this oil field and others like it had not been found, it is unlikely the internal combustion engine as we know it today would have ever developed. There is speculation that automobile would have continued to develop but the power would have been steam or electricity.

1941 On this date US President Franklin Roosevelt signs a “lend-lease” with Great Britain. It was called a “lend-lease” but what it really did was promise Great Britain that the US would provide them with the “tools of war”. The United States was not yet involved in WWII. England had been taking a beating from the Germans who had been stockpiling armaments for years and England was severely outgunned. This program was to help even the odds. But it did not matter that much because the United States declared war on Germany, Japan and Italy on December 8 of this year, the day after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. After this, the United States went full bore into the most devastating war in history.

Signs you are on a bad date:

She seems to know a hell of a lot about your shower routine.

Her multiple personalities began arguing after dinner about splitting the check.

You spend an inordinate amount of time lifting his/her head out of the soup.

After two beers she starts calling you “Daddy.”

Every place you mention for dinner she says “Nah, there might be cops in there.”

Quote I like:

“No matter how great you become or how much good you do for mankind, the number of people that attend your funeral is determined by the weather”

Lily Tomlin

Answer to the trivia question: In the book “Gone With The Wind” Rhett Butler was from Charleston, SC.

              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow.