Monday

       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Men can read maps better than women...because only the male mind could conceive of one inch equaling a hundred miles.”

                                                      Roseanne Barr

Trivia question of the day:

Who has the most receiving yards in NFL history? Answer at the end of the blog.

A TV station in Atlanta, using the Freedom of Information Act, got their hot little hands on a summary of who is crossing our southern borders in addition to the Mexicans. It turns out that in addition to the Guatemalans, Panamanians, Salvadorans, etc there are Afghanis, Pakistanis, Jordanians, Syrians and Iraqis all of which have flown into a Central American country, learned to speak Spanish and blend in with the river of illegal aliens crossing into America in Texas, Arizona and California. What are these Muslims up to? I think all of you know what is going on. So the next time you think about those poor little Mexicans that are crossing into America just to see if they can make a better life for their families and we should cut them a little slack, think about who is coming with them. In addition to the genuine day workers, we have Muslim Jihadists and “mules” for the Mexican drug cartel coming along for the ride. Our government has refused time and time again to seal our borders and allowed this avalanche of garbage that have dedicated their lives to the demise of America to set up camp on our soil.

                     This Date in History   May 25

1660 On this date the people of the English Commonwealth invited the exiled King Charles II to return to England and assume the throne. Earlier the father of Charles II, Charles I had engaged his army of Royalist against the army of Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians and was defeated. Cromwell became the ruler of England. He could not be King because he was not of royal blood. He was a very militaristic leader and demanded puritanical behavior from everyone. After the defeat of his father, Charles II handed Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, a blank sheet of paper meaning that he would concede nearly everything Parliament wanted. But that wasn’t good enough for Cromwell, he wanted the head of Charles I and sure enough, Charles I was beheaded. After the death of Charles I, royalist in England and Ireland proclaimed Charles II as King but Cromwell still prevailed and Charles II fled to Germany and the Netherlands living in exile. Cromwell ruled until his death and then his son Richard assume command. Richard proved to be an ineffectual ruler and the people were fed up with the Puritanical military leadership. General George Monck met with Charles II and assured him that he and his army would assure his return to the English throne if Charles would grant amnesty and religious toleration for his former enemies. Charles agreed and sailed across the English channel to Dover (been there) and four days later he made a triumphant entrance to London and was restored as King of England. This event is known as the English Restoration. Eleven years later Charles II decided that Oliver Cromwell had been a traitor and dug him up and hung his corpse in Tiburon, a suburb of London designated for the execution of traitors. What a sight that must have been. I am here to tell y'all that the medieval English were a mean and spiteful bunch and they were very inventive in their machines of torture.

1787 On this date, four years after the United States had won its independence from Great Britain, the first Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia. It was attended by George Washington, James Monroe and Ben Franklin among other luminaries. This meeting was the defining moments of these United States and what makes it great. The country had been operating under what was called the Articles of Federation. This document did nothing but assure each state of its sovereignty. The people of America were so fearful that another monarchy might raise its ugly head here that they nailed down that as being impossible. But the Articles were unwieldy and did not work for the benefit of the entire nation and they all knew it. After three weeks of deliberation these heroes delivered brilliant document that is the spine of our present day Republic. However, several states felt that there were not enough guarantees of personal rights and refused to sign unless something was done about this. Then they delivered another document of pure brilliance called the Bill of Rights that contained 10 articles. After this enough states signed it and it became the law of the land. There was a story that while all of the discussions were going on, Ben Franklin walked out for a break and a woman asked him what form of government was being sculpted and he said “Madam, it appears that it will be a Republic, if we can hold it.” Our government is a finely balanced, well oiled machine that does not allow any one branch to over power another. It is a miracle that all of this was conceived out of mid air because nothing like it had ever existed in the past, a miracle indeed.

1862 On this date the first Battle of Winchester, Virginia occurred. This battle was part of CSA General Stonewall Jackson’s brilliant Shenandoah Valley campaign that made Jackson recognized as one of the most brilliant military minds in history.  The Union army of Nathaniel Banks was right outside Winchester when Jackson struck. The Confederates were originally repulsed but Jackson brilliantly ordered a simultaneous attack on both flanks of the Yankees with devastating effect and Bank’s army broke and retreated in panic through Winchester. The good citizens of Winchester took this opportunity to shoot at them from the windows of their homes. Banks retreated all the way into Maryland and safety. This allowed Jackson to continue his unprecedented rampage against the other two Union armies in the valley. He kicked their asses too.

1944 On this date Adolph Hitler initiated Operation Knights Move. In this operation Hitler sent in a group of paratroopers to capture or kill the leader of Yugoslavia Marshall Tito. Tito had been leading his country to resist the German occupation. The paratroopers landed in a village where they thought Tito was but never found him, he had escaped. In exasperation the paratroopers shot and killed each and every air breather in the village meaning, men women, children, dogs, cats, cattle, horses, etc.

Also on this date in 1942 a riot broke out in one of the sections of the infamous concentration camp of Auschwitz. This section was known as Birkenau. Several hundred Polish Jews realizing what would happen to them, rioted at night and were able to get through the fence and fled into the nearby woods. What they did not know was that the Germans had installed floodlights throughout the woods and when the turned them on it illuminated like daylight. The German prison guards casually walked into the woods an unceremoniously killed them all to a man.

Born today:

1803 US philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said “The more he talked about his honor, the faster we counted our silver.” Sounds like Ralph knew Harry Reid.

1897 Canadian statesman Lord Beaverbrook. He said “Buy old master paintings. They are cheaper in the long run than a young mistress.”

1898 American columnist Bennett Cerf. He said “The Detroit String Quartet played Brahms last night. Brahms lost”

Answer to the trivia question:

The man with the most receiving yards in NFL history is Jerry Rice of the 49ers.

          Thanks for listening   I can hardy wait until tomorrow.

Friday

 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

Thursday

      Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except for herpes that shit 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 (RIP) played both Fred Haise and Morgan Earp.

               Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

  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 in 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