Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
“When
you want to know the difference between “involved” and
“committed” think of ham and eggs. The chicken was involved but
the pig was committed.”
Ogden Nash
Trivia
question of the day:
What
celebrity was known as “Broadway Joe”. Answer at the end of the
blog.
A
couple of days ago a man went into a Wal-Mart on a very busy
thoroughfare here in Greenville, picked up three butcher knives and
began threatening the customers. Soon four of Greenville’s finest
sheriff’s deputies were on the scene. Let’s stop at this point
and take inventory of the weaponry involved. On one side there are
three butcher knives with an effective range of about 6 feet. On the
other side we have four Glock .40 caliber handguns, effective range
about 40 yards. Then we have four laser aimed Tasers, effective
range about 15 feet. Four metal batons, effective range is arm’s
length. Four cans of pepper spray, effective range about 10 feet.
Add to this the ability to have reinforcements on site in a matter of
seconds. A man has to be insane to challenge this definitely
out-manned and out-gunned situation. But challenge he did by
throwing one of his knives at one of the deputies causing a cut on
his leg that required 30 stitches. At this point one of the deputies
decided that the Taser and/or the pepper spray were not enough and
the situation required deadly force. He fired his trusty Glock
three times and all three slugs struck the knife-thrower, two in the
legs and one in the abdomen. The drama was over at that point and
the crazy man was transported to a local hospital to get patched up.
By the way, the man was roaming around inside Wal-Mart yelling “She
should have never treated me that way! I did not deserve all of
this!”
This
Date in History February 18
1885
On this date a masterpiece of American literature “The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” authored by Samuel Clemens, better
known as Mark Twain, is published. Twain looked at the novel as a
sequel to another blockbuster of his called “The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer.” Even though the novel is recognized as a masterpiece it
proved to be very controversial even to this date. What made it
controversial was that it was a story about Huck Finn helping a
runaway slave named Jim escape to Ohio by drifting the Mississippi
River on a raft. The novel was essentially the observations of Huck
and Jim of the people they met on their adventure. Even though Twain
portrayed the Caucasian people they met as being dumb, stupid and
prejudicial and Jim as being brave, generous and trustworthy many
people were offended by the association of a white boy and a black
man. Later on the black community objected to the portrayal of Jim
as being a “Jim Crow” image, or kowtowing to the whites. The
book was taken from the shelves of most libraries as being “tawdry”
and too controversial. Even up to 1997 this book was banned by
several American communities as being a possible cause of racial
unrest. I don’t get it. All one has to do is read the liner notes
and if they don’t like what they read then put the damned book back
on the shelf and pick another, but don’t prevent others from
reading it. Who the hell do the censors think they are? They are
behaving like Nazis, nothing less. Don’t get me started on
censorship.
1776
On this date James Murray, the 4th
Earl of Dunmore and the Royal Governor of Virginia, sends a note to
William Legge, the 2nd
Earl of Dartmouth stating his “inexpressible mortification” that
the British military commander in the colonies, Sir Henry Clinton,
had decided to by-pass Virginia and go to the “insignificant
colony” of North Carolina to crush the rebellion there. Dunmore
had already been kicked out of office by the Patriots and was aboard
a British warship in Norfolk harbor. Sir Henry was accompanied by
British General Charles Cornwallis and his army but upon reaching
Cape Fear, North Carolina they decided to wait on the British navy
commanded by Admiral Peter Parker that was just leaving Cork,
Ireland. The British navy arrived in early May but Admiral Parker
convinced Clinton and Cornwallis that the best tactic was to capture
Charleston, South Carolina and blockade that important harbor. Upon
arriving at Charleston, the Patriot shore batteries were aimed, armed
and ready and delivered the mother of all ass-kickings to Admiral
Parker’s navy. So Parker, Clinton and Cornwallis said “to hell
with it” and sailed their young asses back to New York. By the
way, the state of South Carolina is known as the “Palmetto State”
because of this engagement. The shore batteries at Charleston were
surrounded by palmetto tree logs. The palmetto tree trunk is very
soft and the artillery shells from Parkers ships just buried up in
the logs and did not explode with any intensity and the victory was
ours, thus the mighty and sovereign Palmetto State.
1817
On this date Lewis Armistead is born in New Bern, North Carolina
and his family moved to Virginia soon thereafter. Lewis came from a
long line of American military. He had five uncles that were in the
War of 1812. One of his uncles, George Armistead, was in command at
Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor in the War of 1812 when the “Star
Spangled Banner’ was written by Francis Scott Key. Lewis went to
West Point but did not graduate because of low grades but most
believe that he did not graduate because he got into a fight with a
classmate named Jubal Early who became an important Confederate
General. In spite of that he joined the US Army as a 2nd
Lieutenant and was in the Seminole war and the Mexican War. During
this time he developed a deep friendship with Winfield Scott Hancock
who became a Union General and Corps commander during the Civil War.
Armistead and Hancock would meet again but on opposite sides. When
Virginia seceded he resigned his commission and joined the
Confederacy and was assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia, R.E.
Lee commanding. He was given the rank of Brigadier General and
commanded the 57th Virginia
Infantry Division. He was involved in the “Seven Days” but
played a minor role in Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
His role in history was fulfilled at Gettysburg. He led the center
of the Confederate infantry assault known as “Pickett’s Charge”
on that fateful 3rd
day attacking the center of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge. As
fate would have it, the center of the Union lines there was commanded
by US General Winfield Scott Hancock, Armistead’s best friend.
Before Lewis made it to the Union lines, Hancock was seriously
wounded. The troops led by Armistead breached the Union lines but
reinforcements soon arrived and drove them back. Armistead was
mortally wounded in this hand-to-hand struggle. He died two days
later but according to legend he told the person that found him on
the field that he was sorry for what he had done to everyone and
Hancock in particular. He is buried in the family cemetery in
Baltimore.
Born today:
1838
German physicist Ernst Mach. He said “The Theory of Relativity
is just unacceptable to me as the presence of atom or any such
dogma.” Ernst discovered the speed of sound which is named for
him, but he obviously was a dumb-ass otherwise.
1932
Czech movie director Milos Foreman. He said “What I like about
masturbation is that you don’t have to talk afterward.” Hey
Milos, what I hear/heard is “just hold me.”
Answer
to the trivia question:
The
celebrity known as “Broadway Joe” was QB Joe Namath when he was
drafted out of Alabama by the New York Jets.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait
until tomorrow
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