•     Musings and History


    Quote of the day:

    “I once made love for an hour and 15 minutes but it was on the night that the clocks were set ahead.”

                                                     Gary Shandling


    Trivia question of the day:

    When SEAL team 6 went in capped Osama Ben Laden they had a war dog with them. What was it's breed and what was its name? Answer at the end of the blog.


    I have never bought the premise that Moses and the Hebrews were lost for 40 years in the deserts east and southeast of Egypt.
    The Egyptians for centuries had been squabbling with the Assyrians (present day Syria) or the Hittites (present day Turkey) for the control of present day Israel, Lebanon, Syria, the Jordan River valley and surrounding lands. There is no doubt that the Hebrews knew of this during their Egyptian bondage and knew that these lands were north of Egypt. North is easy to find, y'all, all you have to do is see the sunrise, put the sun on your right shoulder and you are facing north. Not only that, Moses was a soldier in the Egyptian army and without a doubt knew where these lands were. I read an explanation by a Hebrew scholar that made sense. He maintained that Moses knew that it would be imperative that they have a substantial army before beginning a campaign to capture “The Promised Land”, present day Israel. In fact, God through Joshua instructed the Hebrews to not leave anyone alive that they encountered so there would be no attacks from the rear. Right after the Exodus the Hebrews had no army at all and if they tried to invade, yes invade, up the Jordan river valley they would be slaughtered wholesale by the resident tribes. The scholar says that Moses camped in the desert 40 years to at least double the size of his army, manufacture weapons and train the army in combat tactics and discipline. After this was accomplished they began their campaign and was successful. Works for me...Moses was no dummy.


                         This Date in History   November 20


    1820 On this date the whaling vessel Essex based in Nantucket, Rhode Island encountered an enraged bull sperm whale 2,000 mile off the west coast if South America. The 80 ton whale rammed the 280 ton ship twice causing it to capsize. All of The 20 man crew escaped to three smaller boats but their troubles were not over. The crew spent 83 days adrift and ran out of food and soon chose to draw straws to see who would be shot to provide food for the others. After the boats were spotted near the west coast of South America and picked up by other boats there were only five survivors. There were three others that were marooned on an uninhabited Pacific island but they were eventually rescued. The first capture of a sperm whale was in 1711 and it was then that the value of whale oil and ambergris was discovered. From then on the whaling industry ballooned to 800 ships that traveled the entire globe looking for these giants. It was this event that inspired Herman Melville to give us the immortal Moby Dick the next year. To my knowledge whaling has been banned or severely restricted. I believe that if they had not the whale would have gone the route of the Moa and the Dodo bird.

    1947 On this date Princess Elizabeth, the heir apparent to the English throne, is married to Phillip Mountbatten. Phillip was a Prince of Greece and Denmark and he renounced his titles to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth was 21 years old and Phillip was 26 and had fought with the British Navy during WWII. He was given the title of Duke of Edinburgh just before the wedding. As you might suspect, the wedding was a lavish one held in Westminster Abbey in London. This event raised the spirits of the British people who were suffering personally and financially from the effects of WWII. As expected, Elizabeth’s father King George VI died in 1952 and Elizabeth rose to the throne of Great Britain where she remains to this day. The coronation of Elizabeth, also held in Westminster Abbey, was also a lavish event. It is not very often that there is a change in the monarchy of England and the ceremony is the same as it was with the crowning of William the Conqueror in December of 1066. The English are big on tradition. I forgot, Phillip is Elizabeth’s cousin.


    1843 On this date a major trading post on the Mississippi River named Blacksnake Hills trading post has a name change to Saint Joseph’s trading post. The post had been wisely established in 1826 by French fur trader Joseph Robidoux right in the mouth of the Platte River valley. This valley was a major artery for the fur trappers returning from the far west and the Rocky Mountains. Eventually the fur trade dried up but the pioneers heading west stopped at Saint Joseph to gear up for their trip to Oregon and California. The Platte River was again a major avenue for those traveling west. The trail split near present day Beatrice, Nebraska with some heading northwest on the Oregon Trail and others heading southwest on the Santa Fe and several other trails. What an adventure that would have been.


    1945 On this date the Nuremberg war crimes trial begins in Nuremberg, Germany. The trial was judged by a tribunal of the French, United States and Russia. There were 24 Germans on trial for war crimes; of those half were eventually hanged. The others received sentences from life to twenty years. Naturally the root of the charges of “crimes against humanity” was what happened to the Jew, Gypsies and various other minorities throughout Europe during WWII. The trial took a year. Most of the Germans defended themselves by claiming they were just doing what they were ordered as good soldiers do. One of the most famous of the accused was Field Marshal Herman Goering who was the second in command of the German military after Adolph Hitler. Herman was sentenced to the gallows but on the day before the hanging, Herman got his hands on a cyanide capsule and committed suicide. No one knows how he came by the capsule but the rumor was that he bribed one of his guards to get him one. We will never know.


    Born today:

    1884 US social reformer Norman Thomas. He said “If you want a symbolic gesture, don’t burn the flag, wash it.” Norman was a famous communist.


    1908 British social commentator Alistair Cooke. He said “A professional is one that does their best even when they do not feel like it.” That sounds like a prostitute to me.


    1919 US actress Evelyn Keyes. She said “I always took up with the man of the moment, and I had many moments.” Life is a smorgasbord isn’t it Evelyn?



    1923 South African writer Nadine Gordimer. She said “Truth is not always beauty, but the hunger for it is.”


    1925 US politician Robert F. Kennedy. He said “One fifth of the people are against everything all the time.” Most of them are the Democrats these days.


    1954 US actress Bo Derek. She said “Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness just doesn’t know where to shop.” Bo, get in touch with reality.


    Answer to the trivia question:

    The war dog that was with SEAL team 6 on the Osama Ben Laden raid was a Belgian Malinois named Cairo.


    Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow