Thursday

  Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Professionals built the Titanic; amateurs built the ark.”

                                   Anonymous

Trivia question of the day:

Where did Doc Holiday live before moving out west?  Answer at the end of the blog.

Here is a true story:

A friend of mine was born near Manning, SC. Manning is in the low country where cotton and tobacco farms prevail. My friend was the son of a tobacco farmer. They lived a hand to mouth existence while working a backbreaking routine day in and day out. My friend decided that he did not want to live this way and knew he would need an education to escape. Shortly after high school he and a friend of his left home with very little money and hitchhiked to Anderson, SC. There was a junior college there (it is now a four year university). He went in and asked to speak with the president of the college. He and his friend were escorted into his office where they told him that they had no money but wanted an education. The president reached for his phone, asked them to leave the office and wait outside. He called them back in and said that their tuition and books were being paid for. The college would give them jobs in the cafeteria to get pocket money. The only stipulation was that they had to keep their nose clean and not make less than a B on any subject. He and his friend accomplished this in the two years and just after graduation the president called them in once again. He said that if they wanted to continue their education to a bachelor's degree they would get the same deal at Furman University in Greenville, SC. My friend jumped at that offer but his friend opted to go to a seminary. My friend graduated with a degree in business. He is very successful and lives a comfortable life with his wife and family. He went on a search to try and find who his benefactor was so he could thank him but was unsuccessful, his benefactor wanted to remain anonymous. A few years ago a wealthy banker in Greenville died and my friend learned that it was he that was his benefactor.

                       This Date in History  May 23

1934 A few years earlier a small time crook named Clyde Barrow met up with a girl named Bonnie Parker in a small Texas town coffee shop. Bonnie was 19 years old and her husband of three years was in prison. Right from the git-go Bonnie and Clyde had a thing going. Clyde went to prison soon after their meeting; Bonnie visited him everyday and even smuggled a pistol to him which Clyde used to escape from prison. But he was caught soon after and sent back to the slammer. He did three years and after he got out this time he hunted up Bonnie, his brother Buck and his wife and they set out on a crime spree seldom equaled. Clyde had a penchant for two things. The 30.06 caliber Browning Automatic Rifle better known as the BAR and the V-8 Ford sedan, the fastest car of the time. The gang went on a bank robbing spree across four states with the police hot on their ass most of the time. Clyde took on several different members as part of his gang to give him even more places to hideout. They also would not hesitate to kill anyone they thought was a threat including the police. Bonnie had killed several people herself. The Barrow gang made a raid on a Texas prison to break out one of their gang killing two prison guards in the process. The Texas prison officials hired retired Texas Ranger Frank Hamer to hunt down Bonnie and Clyde and put a stop to them by whatever means he saw fit. Hamer proved to be a relentless pursuer and finally tracked Bonnie and Clyde to Louisiana. One of Clyde’s gang had kin people that lived near the small town of Sailes, Louisiana. Hamer went to Sailes and located the gang member’s father and promised him that there would be easy treatment for his son if he helped them catch Bonnie and Clyde. The father helped Hamer prepare an ambush and on this date Hamer and five other heavily armed police were hiding in the bushes waiting for Bonnie and Clyde. The gang member’s father was on the side of the road, his truck apparently broke down. Eventually, Bonnie and Clyde did indeed come by driving their stolen V-8 Ford and stopped beside the broken down truck. At this time the father dove for cover and Hamer and the others opened up with everything they had, including their own BAR. Bonnie and Clyde were literally chopped to pieces and were killed almost instantly. In the car the police found an arsenal of pistols, shotguns, rifles and yes, a BAR. It was the end of Bonnie and Clyde.

1960 In 1906 Adolph Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany. In 1932 he joined the German elite SS intelligence service and rose in rank and esteem and after Adolph Hitler rose to power, in 1938 he assigned Eichmann to plan the execution of Jews in the newly annexed city of Vienna, Austria. Eichmann did not stop there, he did the best he could in eliminating Jews from several towns by execution squad, or sending them to concentration camps. After it became apparent that Germany had lost the war, Eichmann disappeared. Soon thereafter the establishment of the state of Israel came into being; they began a search for all the German war criminals that were never found including Eichmann. Eichmann wandered the Middle East and ended up in Argentina in 1950. There was a lot of ex-German military living in Argentina so it was easy for him to find residence there. Keep in mind that Israeli intelligence was scouring the world looking for these monsters. Finally the Israelis located Eichmann at his address in the little town of San Fernando, Argentina. They knew the Argentine government would never extradite Eichmann so they decided to kidnap him. The Israeli secret police set up an ambush and on this date, they captured Eichmann by injecting him with enough tranquilizer to knock down a mule and hid him out several days drugged to the gills. They then flew him to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity. Argentina raised almighty hell because Eichmann had become an Argentine citizen but Israel said “no deal” and put Eichmann on trial. He was convicted of murder and crimes against humanity. His defense was that he was just obeying orders. The Israelis said “That dog won’t hunt, Adolph” and they hanged him, cremated the corpse and threw the ashes into the Mediterranean to eliminate any scrap of that rotten animal from existence. Good riddance.

1923 About 1859 a Crow Indian that was eventually called Curley was born in the Rosebud Valley of Montana. At a young age Curley participated in wars against the Crow enemies, the Sioux and the Cheyenne. When the US cavalry began warring against the Sioux and Cheyenne he considered the US cavalry as allies so Curley became a scout. Curley was with Custer and the 7^th Cavalry in his excursion into The Little Bighorn River Basin in 1876. The scouts without exception told Custer that there was much sign that there was a huge gathering of hostile Indians not far away. Custer blew it off so the scouts wanted time to sing their death songs. At this, Custer released all of his scouts and they rode away to the east, all except Curley. Curley decided that with so many Sioux and Cheyenne out there he would be safer with the troopers. After the battle heated up, Curley changed his mind and rode out toward the east and hid in various coulees and creeks. Finally he went to the top of a hill about 1 ½ miles from where Custer made his last stand and watched action with field glasses. Curley was the only non-hostile person to witness the massacre. Very little is known about what happened to Curley after he rode off to warn the other cavalry commanders headed that way and gave them a description of what happened to the 7^th Cavalry. What we do know is that he died of pneumonia in a Crow agency in Montana in 1923. Two days later he was taken to the National Cemetery at Little Bighorn and buried.

1960 On the day before an earthquake that registered 8.5 on the Richter scale occurs off the coast of Chile causing gigantic tsunamis headed north and west. The Pacific Tsunami warning System had been in effect for several years so the word was flashed to Hawaii that a tsunami was on the way six hours in advance. The wave was coming at 400 miles and hour. As you might suspect, some people blew it off and others went to the beach to watch the Tsunami arrive. Sometimes people are just lacking in good sense. I almost said they act like dumb asses but some people don’t like those words. Anyway, the tsunami arrived in Hilo Bay one minute late and piled up to a height of 35 feet before crashing ashore. As you might suspect, the water ran inland for quite a long way and drowned 65 people. Pay attention next time, y'all.

Answer to the trivia question:

Doc Holiday lived in Griffin, Georgia before moving out west.  Griffin is about 50 miles southeast of Atlanta.

                             Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Its amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.”

                                                           Jerry Seinfeld

Trivia question of the day:

Who was the only casualty on the Lewis and Clark expedition and how did he die?  Answer at the end of the blog.

Here is some things to consider:

How does an aircraft tell how high it is? It is done with an altimeter. This devise is set at the atmospheric pressure on the surface and as the aircraft climbs the pressure is reduced and the difference is displayed as altitude. Commercial aircraft can fly over several areas with different pressures making them have to climb or descend slightly to maintain their prescribed altitude...that is until they reach 18,500 feet and above then they set their altimeter to 29.92. This means that all aircraft above 18,500 have the same altimeter setting and there is no climbing or descending. Not only that, all airspace above 18,500 in the continental US, Canada and Alaska is a PCA or Positive Controlled Airspace. This means if you are flying above 18,500 you will be required to be at an assigned altitude and route of flight designated by an air traffic control facility and in radio contact at all times. If not, you will be paid a visit by fighters sent by the Air Defense Command.

What about flights that cover several time zones? Do they have to keep changing their clocks? To avoid all of this confusion every clock in every long range commercial, private and military aircraft and all air traffic control facilities worldwide have the same time on their clocks. It is known as Greenwich Mean Time or as it is known in the business “Zulu time”. Greenwich mean time is based on the zero meridian which runs through Greenwich, England...and now you have the rest of the story.

                          This Date in History May 22

1843 On this date one of many wagon trains departed near Independence, Missouri headed for Oregon to take advantage of free lands. There were over 1,000 settlers and 1,000 head of cattle. They followed the Santa Fe Trail for about 40 miles and then turned right and followed the Platte River to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. From there they went through the South Pass across the Rocky Mountains. The South Pass was courtesy of that famous mountain man/explorer Jim Bridger who discovered this wide and shallow rising meadow making it easy for heavily laden wagons. From there they stopped at Fort Hall in present day Idaho for a rest and supplies in preparation for the final push across the Cascades into Oregon. In October of this year they arrived in Oregon. It had taken them five months to make the 2,000 mile trip. This trail was used many times by several wagon trains until the advent of the coast-to-coast railroad. The last wagon train into Oregon was in the early 1870’s. There are still wagon wheel ruts visible to this day along the famous Oregon Trail. What a thrill it would have been to make such a trip. Let me change that to an exciting trip because I would be crossing the lands of the ferocious Pawnee, Sioux, Cheyenne and Blackfoot among many others who did not take kindly to us honkies, or anyone else for that matter, encroaching on their lands. I went to Oregon a few years ago to do some salmon fishing in the breathtaking Rogue River near Medford and Apple Valley. The guys I met and provided guide service were rough and ready, y'all. They were just what I imagined the pioneer spirit to be like. Most of the guides that I met guided for salmon fishing in the summer and elk hunting in the winter.

1455 Today was the first battle in what was called the War of the Roses. It was essentially a power struggle between the House of York and the House of Lancaster for control of England. In this particular battle the victory went to the soldiers of the House of York which forced the Lancastrian King to accept the rule of his cousin Richard of York. A great many of the Lancastrian royalty were killed in this battle which diluted the power of this House. House of York and Lancaster were closely related. Both were blood kin to the late King Edward II and claimed the throne because of it. It was called the War of the Roses because the symbol of the House of York was the white rose and it was the red rose for the Lancastrians. These two groups squabbled for 30 years over who would be King until finally a marriage between a York and Lancaster essentially ended the war. But the marriage began another powerful succession kings and queens with the origination of the House of Tudor. Henry VIII was a Tudor as was Queen Elizabeth I.

1781 On this date Patriot General Nathaneal Greene (Greenville, SC is named for him) attempted to take the British encampment of Star Fort in the village of Ninety-Six, South Carolina. Greene soon realized that he cannot take the Fort with an assault so on this date he surrounds the fort and begins a siege. The Fort and 550 Loyalists were under the command of British Lieutenant Colonel John Crugar. Greene sustained the siege until he found out on June 18 that British reinforcements commanded by British Colonel Francis Rawdon were on the way. Greene tried one more assault which failed and he was forced to withdraw. Star Fort held great importance because it controlled most of northwestern South Carolina. But in response to this the other Patriot leaders in South Carolina, Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter captured five other British forts in South Carolina which isolated Star Fort. On July 1 the British pulled out of Star Fort of their own volition. Star Fort was the last Loyalist fort in South Carolina. This was the beginning of the end of British in America. The war was over two years later thanks to Greene, Marion, Sumter and thousands of other dedicated lovers of freedom.

2002 On this date the remains of 24 year old Chandra Levy was found by hikers in Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC... The significance of this discovery is that it had been found that she had been having an affair with California congressman Gary Condit, a 53 year old grandfather. Chandra was an intern working for the Bureau of Prisons and was from Modesto, California which was in the constituency of Condit. Chandra’s remains were gone over with a fine toothed comb looking for clues but no reliable clues were found and the case remains to this date a “cold case”. Congressman Condit was not re-elected because of the scandal about his affair with Chandra. I haven’t heard a word about him since, but I almost can assure you that his wife (or maybe ex-wife) has. Since I wrote this item the murderer of Chandra has been found and arrested...it wasn't Condit.

Born today:

1802 US first lady Martha Washington. When speaking of the White house she said “I have a very dull life here, I feel more like a state prisoner than anything else.”

Answer to the trivia question:

The only casualty on the Lewis and Clark expedition was Sgt. Charles Floyd.  He died of acute appendicitis and was buried near Sioux City, Iowa.

                 Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

                             Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except for herpes, that sh-t comes home with you.”

                                        Jeffrey Tabor in the movie “The Hangover”

Trivia question of the day:

Who played Fred Haise in the movie "Apollo 13" and who played Morgan Earp in "Tombstone"?  Answer at the end of the blog.

Here is a thought from me:

Why is it that people will classify anyone as being ignorant or stupid because they do not believe as they do but will rebel indignantly if they are lumped into a similar category? One must be very careful in not believing certain concepts simply because it make one feel more comfortable with preconceived prejudices. Worse still is fostering certain concepts because it is expected from the social group that you wish to meld into. In either case the learning process stops and others will be your decision makers because you are too cowardly to do it yourself.

As some of you may or may not know there was a very advance civilization known as the Minoans on the Mediterranean Island of Crete. This civilization disappeared about 1,400BC for reasons yet to be determined. The ruins of their structures are still with us and in 1908 an archaeological team investigating these ruins discovered a small clay tablet with symbols arranged in a clockwise spiral ending in the middle. Every so often there would be a perpendicular mark obviously meant to separate the symbols into groups. The tablet was a disc about 6 ½ inches in diameter and there were 45 different symbols. The really strange thing is the symbols were not carved into the tablet using an instrument like a stylus or a pencil, they were stamped using a carved block with a raised surface like is used with a printing press. These symbols used have never been seen anywhere else and therefore are undecipherable. Not only that, some of the symbols were very detailed and if these stamps were man made today it would take the skill of a watchmaker using a magnifying device to get the job done. The making of this disc remains an unsolved mystery to this day. My opinion about the disappearance of the Minoans is this. The island of Crete is located about 70 miles south of the Greek island of Santorini. This island was at one time known as Thera and was a very active volcano. About 1,400BC this volcano erupted in one of the most cataclysmic explosions in history. The middle of the island disintegrated and sank into the ocean. The remains of Thera is present day Santorini. When the island sank there had to be a gigantic tsunami and probably flooded Crete or most of it.  I think this disaster encouraged the survivors to get the hell out of Dodge making the Minoan civilization vulnerable to invasion and annihilation. But this is just an opinion.

          This Date in History   May 21

1539 About 1500 a man later known as Estevan was born on the west coast of Morocco. At an early age he was sold into slavery and then to the Spanish explorer Andre de Carranza. Carranza was the leader of an ill-fated expedition to Florida in 1527 where through a series of disasters reduced the original force of 300 to only four men: Dorantes de Carranza, Cabeza de Baca, Alonzo Del Castillo and Estevan. These guys decided to live with the Indians on the Florida Gulf Coast for several years. They finally decided to head west with the hopes of reaching Mexico City. With the help of Spanish slave hunters; they reached Mexico City in 1536. Their tale of survival caused a sensation and the Spanish Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza decided to take advantage these men’s knowledge of the southwest area and organized an expedition looking for the alleged “cities of gold” in Pueblo country. The three white men said hell no. They had been gone for nine years and they wanted to go home. Estevan had no choice because he was a slave and off he went back where he came from. Estevan was leading the expedition commanded by Fray Marcos de Niza. As usual their was a Catholic friar along and several slaves to carry their supplies and they left Mexico City on March 7, 1539 headed into present day Arizona and New Mexico. The pious Marcos was irritated by Estevan’s penchant for turquoise and native women but he sent Estevan to scout ahead. Six days later Estevan sent word back to Marcos that he had encountered some Indians that had told him that wonderful things lay ahead. Marcos assumed that the “wonderful” things ahead were the fabled cities pf gold. On this date an Indian contacted Marcos to tell him the Estevan was dead. Marcos found out that on his previous transcontinental crossing, Estevan had found out that a gourd filled with pebbles and rattled was big medicine with the plains tribes. He tried that with the Pueblos and demanded women and treasure. The Pueblo were very suspicious of anything to do with the plains tribes, especially a black man demanding treasure. They held him for three days and then killed him on the present day Arizona border near Zuni, New Mexico. Upon hearing this, Marcos got his young ass back to Mexico City. Everybody thinks it was the Spaniard Coronado that was the first to penetrate the southwestern area of the present day United States, it wasn’t, it was a black slave named Estevan. If I was Estevan I would have just reported myself killed and been a free man. In fact, I would not choose to believe that baloney about a gourd filled with pebbles.

Born today:

427BC Greek philosopher Plato. He said “An empty vessel makes the loudest noise.”

That reminds me of this date I had once. We met at a seafood house in Birmingham, Al. We were trying to chat but she must have received 10 cell phone calls in 30 minutes. That ain't all, she also made several calls. I went to the bartender and explained to him was was happening and to cash me out as of this minute and anything after will be on her. He laughed out loud and said he had been watching and didn't blame me. I paid and walked out. Was I wrong?...maybe...but she was mega-rude...great legs, though.

A couple of days ago I was at a meeting of the Four O'clock Club and a couple came in and sat at the bar. The woman was typing on her I-Pad when she came in the door and had to be helped up on the bar stool because she would not take her eyes off the f—king I-Pad. She order her drink without taking her eyes off the I-Pad and was still at it when I left 45 minutes later...Great date, huh?

Died today:

1983 US philosopher Eric Hoffer. He said “Non-conformists normally travel in bunches. You rarely find a non-conformist that travels alone. And woe to him in the non-conformist clique who does not conform to non-conformity.” Eric, you were a hell of a philosopher.

Answer to the trivia question:

Bill Paxton played both Fred Haise and Morgan Earp...may he RIP.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

          Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends on the tides of the mind.”

                                            Alice Meynell

Trivia question of the day:

How does a Pakistani pilot of a commercial aircraft operate Russian airspace?  How is the language barrier overcome?  Answer at the end of the blog.

Here is some things to consider:

How does aircraft pilots tell how high they are? It is done with an altimeter. This devise is set at the atmospheric pressure on the surface. The aircraft has a “rate of climb indicator” that changes the altimeter reading accordingly until reach a prescribed altitude. When they reach 18,500 feet and above then they set their altimeter to 29.92. This means that all aircraft above 18,500 have the same altimeter setting. Not only that, all airspace above 18,500 in the continental US, Canada and Alaska is a PCA or Positive Controlled Airspace. This means if you are flying above 18,500 you will be required to be at an assigned altitude and route of flight designated or cleared by an air traffic control facility and in radio contact at all times. If not, you will be paid a visit by fighters from the Air Defense Command. I do not believe there is anywhere above the continental US that is not under radar coverage.

What about flights that cover several time zones? Do they have to keep changing their clocks? To avoid all of this confusion every clock in every long range commercial, private and military aircraft and all air traffic control facilities worldwide have the same time on their clocks. It is known as Greenwich Mean Time or as it is known in the business “Zulu time”. Greenwich Mean Time is based on the zero meridian which runs through Greenwich, England...and now you have the rest of the story. This is the way it was when I was in the business...perhaps there is a change or two by now.

1563  On this day the wife of the king of England, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded by order of her husband Henry VIII. The supposed reality of the situation was that Henry wanted a divorce from Anne but the Catholic Church disallowed it. Henry then accused Anne of adultery and sentenced her to death by beheading with the broad ax. A few women later Henry wanted another divorce and the church disallowed it again so Henry told the Catholic Church to take a hike and formed his own church, thus the end of the divorce issues.

1066  This is the day that William of Normandy, later to be known as William the Conqueror, with his infantry and cavalry engaged the army of King Harold of England. A few days before Harold had been in northern England defeating to the point of annihilation an army of Vikings led by the king of Denmark and William’s brother Tostic. Harold found out that William and company had arrived at Pevensy in southern England. He began a forced march for the intervening 225 miles gathering volunteers along the way and made the trip in nine days. On May 19 he arrived in southern England and established a defensive position near the town of Hastings and awaited William’s attack. William did not disappoint. What happened after this is worthy of a history lesson and will follow at a later time. By the way, William was a French speaking Viking.

This Date in History May 20

1873  Earlier Loeb Strauss emigrated with his family from Bavaria to the United States. In 1847 his father died and he changed his first name to Levi and took control of his father’s dry goods business in New York. In 1853 Levi was drawn west by the gold rush and settled in San Francisco and established his own dry goods business. He primarily dealt in imported dry goods. One of his customers was Jacob Davis who manufactured work pants in Reno for the nearby miners. The only difference here was that Davis made his “waist overalls” out of denim and put brass rivets at all the stress points including the bottom of the fly. Davis was one of Strauss’ customers and on one particular visit Davis showed a pair of his work pants to Strauss. Davis made his work pants virtually one at a time and did not have the money to expand. Davis suggested to Strauss that they get together and manufacture the work pants on a much larger scale with Strauss providing the capital. Strauss agreed and moved Davis to San Francisco and they set up business and the Levi’s 501 jeans were born. On this date both Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were awarded a patent for the now famous jeans. According to nearly every worldwide poll ever taken in the last 50 years, Levis is the most recognized brand name in the world beside Coca-Cola.

1927  On this date at 7:52A a monoplane departed Roosevelt field on Long island headed for Paris, France. The difference here was that there was only one person aboard and the trip was going to be non-stop. The airplane almost did not clear the telegraph lines at the end of the runway it was so loaded with fuel. As you know by now the pilot was Charles Lindberg and the plane was named “The Spirit of Saint Louis” because the Saint Louis Chamber of Commerce sponsored him. Lindberg’s trip was as a result of a contest of who could make a solo airplane trip from New York to Paris non-stop with the prize being $25,000. Lindberg designed the aircraft himself using every spare square inch of space for fuel. In fact there was no windshield that space was taken by a fuel tank. Lindberg got what information he needed from a small side window. The biggest problem that he would have is trying to stay awake but 33 ½ hours and 3,610 miles later he landed at Le Bourget airport in Paris. The success of this trip instilled a confidence in people world-wide for travel by air and the race was on and continues to this day.

1969  After 10 bloody days and 10 even more bloody assaults on Hill 937 in Vietnam the United States and South Vietnam forces finally capture the crest. The soldiers that took the hill renamed it “Hamburger Hill” because it was such a meat grinder. On the same day, US Senator Edward Kennedy raised hell with the Nixon military policies in Nam and Hamburger Hill in particular saying that the American loss of life was unnecessary. Hill 937 was only 1 mile from the Laotian border and appeared to be necessary for watching the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail but after two days, the US army ordered the hill abandoned, saying it was just a diversion. It appears that Edward Kennedy was right after all. The next day the North Vietnamese soldiers moved back into their original position on hill 937 in a hell known as Vietnam and American soldiers were sent home in body bags.

1778  On this date the Battle of Barren Hill, Pennsylvania occurs. Barren Hill is known today as Lafayette Hill just northwest of Philadelphia. Earlier George Washington had tasked the Marquis de Lafayette and 2,200 Continental soldiers to keep watch on the English occupation of Philadelphia. The Marquis recruited 50 Oneida Indians to help him on this expedition. The Oneida much preferred the French over the English so it was easy for this Frenchman to recruit them. The down side was that the English found out about the observation post and sent 7,000 to 8,000 troops to surround and capture the Continentals. By superior maneuvering Lafayette put the Oneidas as a rear guard with several cannon and began crossing the Continentals back across the Schuylkill River to safety. The Oneida rear guard action was successful and all the Continental soldiers made it safely across followed by the Oneidas in their canoes. Lafayette and the soldiers he trained this coming winter emerged from Valley Forge a damn fine fighting machine that was instrumental in the success of this pursuit of freedom and independence.

Born today:

1919 US comic George Gobel. He said I have never been drunk, but I have damn sure been over served.” Me too.

Answer to the trivia question:

ICAO rules that every international flight and every air traffic control facility must have an English speaking person on the active crew.  ICAO is the international governing body over commercial flights. 

                 Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

                            Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“We have no faith in ourselves. I have never met a woman who, deep down in her core, really believe she has great legs. But if she does believe she has great legs she thinks she has a shrill voice and no neck.”

                                                          Cynthia Heimel

Trivia question of the day:

What is the largest mammal on Earth? Answer at the end of the blog.

I read where there is a movement to change the names of all the schools that were named after any Confederate leader. Here are some questions:

Assume you are a professional soldier in the United States army like Robert E. Lee (Va. Born), Stonewall Jackson (WVa. Born), James Longstreet (SC born), D.H. Hill (SC born), A. P. Hill (Va. Born) and many others from the southern tier. You realize that one day soon your superiors are going order you to go into your home state, your home town and kill your family and friends, destroy their livestock and burn their houses, barns and crops. If you did not do these things as ordered you would be labeled a traitor. What would be your response? Would you resign, go home and and hide in the woods and watch an army come and totally destroy your family and friends...or would you try to defend them? Well, what?

Do you believe that a 17 year old boy from a small farm on the Pee Dee river area of South Carolina and many, many others like him would fight with a ferocity that is still legendary so that a plantation owner in Alabama could keep his slaves? Well, would you?

This is an event that was documented. A group of about 15 Confederate soldiers were surrounded by a Union Infantry unit. The Confederates fought bitterly until they were out of ammo. They then came from behind their cover swinging their rifles like baseball bats but eventually they were all subdued or killed but one. The surviving Confederate was asked why he fought so hard...he did NOT say it was so that those that have slaves can keep them...he DID say “Because y'all are down here.” He and most of the rank and file Confederate soldiers in their diaries felt they were being invaded which indeed they were. After all, 95% of all battles were fought on southern soil. As usual it was the old that start wars, and the young that suffer and die to end them.

                        This Date in History   May 17

1954 This date heralded the spotlighting of racial strife in the United States that is not really over to this day. Previously the school systems in the United States were based on the Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court decision stating that racially separate but equal Pullman cars was Constitutional. The school boards of the time used that decision in fashioning their schools. On this date the Earl Warren led United States Supreme Court ruled on the Brown v The Board of Education case that separate but equal was inherently unequal, which in effect struck down the Plessy v Ferguson decision. What happened was this. In Topeka, Kansas a black family moved into a particular neighborhood where the closest school was three blocks away but it was a “white” school. The black family took their little girl there anyway and tried to enroll her. The school, backed by the Board of Education, would not accept the girl’s enrollment and told the black family that they would have to enroll their little girl in a “black” school that was over an hour away. The black family sued and had their case plead to the Supreme Court by a young lawyer from the NAACP named Thurgood Marshall. As we all know Marshall ended up as a Supreme Court Justice.

1970 On this date Norwegian ethnologist/adventurer Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Morocco on the way to proving that Mediterranean civilizations could have, and probably did, sail across the Atlantic and exchange information with the great civilizations that arose in Central and South America. Heyerdahl fashioned his boat the Ra II out of Egyptian papyrus reeds and in the shape of ships depicted on the walls of Egyptian tombs. 57 days later Heyerdahl and crew landed at Barbados in proving that it was indeed possible that such an exchange of information could have taken place. There is no doubt in this redneck’s mind that it happened. But I do not believe it was the Egyptians, I think it was the Phoenicians from present day Lebanon. The Phoenicians were the master traders in the ancient Mediterranean meaning that they saw everything from the pyramids to Greece to Crete to Carthage to Gibraltar. Everything they saw could be passed on to the knowledge of to the Maya, Olmecs, Aztecs and the Inca. The Maya crawled out of the Central American jungle about 800BC and built a civilization that was second only to the Egyptians, Greeks and Cretans at the time and it lasted 2,300 years. In fact, the largest pyramid in land area in the world is the Pyramid of the Moon at Chichen Itza in the Mexican Yucatan peninsula. How did the Maya come up with the idea of a building that is smaller at the top than it is at the bottom? They built all of this without draft animals and without the wheel. How did this happen without even the basic Archimedes ideas of leverage and pulleys? I think they had help. After all, 800 miles north, the North American Indians were living in hogans and tepees, and 1,000 miles south the Indians in the Amazon rain forests were eating each other. I went to the town of Coba in the Mexican Yucatan a few years ago. There was a pyramid there that had yet to be explored but you could walk right up to it through the jungle. There were several smaller pyramids beside the main one. The most amazing part was that Coba was on one end of a 60 mile long causeway that went from Coba to Yaxuna, a trading center. This road went through a jungle, y'all. It was so thick that you could not even see through it and the road was about 5 feet above the swamp. These people built this thing again without draft animals and the wheel.  I am sorry y'all, someone had to have helped them. The second most amazing thing about Coba was that there was a Club Med there. I ate there, it was first class, meaning the waiters all spoke English and had on tuxedos and black ties.

1974 The day before a kid in a quiet neighborhood in Compton, California saw a bunch of guys in the living room in the house next door playing around with a bunch of automatic weapons and went and told Mama. Mama called the cops and the cops figured out that it is a safe house for members on the Symbionese Liberation Army. The SLA was a violent anti-governmental outfit. It was the SLA that supposedly kidnapped the super-rich spoiled child Patty Hearst and brainwashed her into a follower of the SLA led by Donald Defreeze. The police found out that there were six member of the SLA in the house including Defreeze. On this date, the cops surrounded the small house on Compton and ordered everyone out. That order was met with a barrage of gunfire from within. There were about 500 cops that had the house surrounded and they opened up themselves, killing everyone inside. The cops thought that Patty Hearst was inside, but she wasn’t. She was captured in the following September. Patty was photographed helping rob a bank and went to jail for two years then she was let loose at the direction of President Jimmy Carter. She later was pardoned by President Bill Clinton. I am not going to guess what Bill’s reward was.

Born today:

1873 English writer Dorothy Richardson. She said “All this misery will continue as long as women continue to bring men into this world.” Dorothy shut up, there was a man involved in your creation.

1965 US boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. He said “I consider myself blessed, you are blessed. We all have been blessed with God given talents. Mine just happens to be knocking dudes out.” His matches with Roberto Duran were some of the most vicious in boxing history.

Answer to the trivia question:

The largest mammal on Earth is the Blue Whale. A mature Blue Whales is about 98 feet long and weighs 200 tons. It is the largest animal that has ever existed on planet Earth.

                              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow