Today in History – October 6
1683 – William Penn brings 13 German immigrant families to the colony of Pennsylvania, marking the first German people to immigrate to America. They found a settlement, oddly named “Germantown”.
1939 – Hitler announces plans to regulate Jewish problem, denies he intends to go to war against France & Britain. One truth, one lie. And today the leaders of ISIS make Hitler sound sane and Obama makes Chamberlain sound statesmanlike.
1965 – Supremes release “I Hear a Symphony”:
1973 – 80,000 Egyptian troops cross the Suez Canal, destroying the fortified Israeli Bar-Lev Line and starting the Yom Kippur War. Israel got a bit complacent and this is the result. I lost a tank in the Yom Kippur War. They took my brand new M60A1 tank from the yard where we were commissioning it and sent it to Israel. I hope it did some good.
1976 – New Premier Hua Guofeng orders the arrest of the Gang of Four and associates and ends the Cultural Revolution in the People’s Republic of China. So what if a few million Chinese die? They had those neat uniforms and red posters and that little red book. Our own Left has similar aspirations.
1981 – President of Egypt, Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated. Apparently he pi*sed off some folks by signing a treaty with Israel. Those people deposed Mubarak and tried running Egypt. Obama’s vaunted ‘Arab Spring’ created more problems than it solved and eventually Egypt shoved “Arab Spring” over the cliff and elected adults. We should do the same.
Rolling through the countryside
I had to teach an electrical safety class in north Louisiana on Tuesday. That’s not a bad deal for me. I got to make the Monday morning staff meeting, do a few office things, then get on the road for a four hour drive up to the town nearest the training site.
whereas my normal path through Louisiana takes me through a lot of farm country, this route takes me through timber country. Timber is a big deal in much of central and western Louisiana. We produce a lot of lumber, plywood and paper, and this is the area it comes from. Means that scenery is lots and lots of trees. I can ignore the GPS and take the scenic route that puts me through the Red River plain. That’s a lot of hardwood forest – a bit more scenic, but then it turns to the $$$ tree – pine. Very little old-growth pine is still out there. don’t fear, though. Those nasty lumber people, when they cut a stand of pine down, they’re very good about replacing it with – you guessed it – MORE pine trees. Your supply of wood products is assured for the future.
Of course, that wood moves from the forests where it’s harvested to facilities that turn it into something else, and that movement is via the roads – big, semi trucks with trailers stacked high with fresh logs. some of those trucks aren’t that well maintained or driven, either. My trip home yesterday was impeded by a little accident that dumped twenty tons of forty-foot logs onto US 171. They were picking them up when I inched past.
I got a chuckle, as well, when I say the first “Hillary for Prison” sign. The hinterlands of Louisiana are NOT dimmocrat strongholds.
All things considered, it wasn’t a bad trip. The cats were indifferent to my return, but each one made a point of climbing on me while I was watching TV last night, so I know that the studious indifference is a display. Cats are cats.
In the next couple of weeks I get to go back up the OTHER path, though farmlands during harvest season, to do yet MORE training.
I love this job.
Food for Thought – 5 October 2016
Food for Thought – 4 October 2016
Today in History – October 5
1789 – French Revolution: Women of Paris march to Versailles in the March on Versailles to confront Louis XVI about his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread, and have the King and his court moved to Paris. His wife shows people how to eat healthy foods and shop at Target.
1793 – French Revolution: Christianity is disestablished in France. “Enlightment” is supposed to fill the void that is left, dispensed by men “educated” past the need for “superstition”. It isn’t up to the task. Wasn’t then. Isn’t now. Man demands gods. And the new gods demand blood.
1905 – Wilbur Wright pilots the Wright Flyer III in a flight of 24 miles in 39 minutes, a world record that stood until 1908.
1914 – World War I: first aerial combat resulting in a kill. Not part of this incident, Britain’s first aerial wound results when a flight officer is shot “in the fleshy part of his rear”.
1944 – Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over France.
1944 – Suffrage is extended to women in France. It’s amazing how free France can be with Allied armies pushing the Germans out.
1947 – The first televised White House address is given by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
1962 – Dr. No, the first in the James Bond film series, is released.
1969 – The first episode of the famous comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired on BBC.
1970 – The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is founded. 2008 – the letters stay the same, but the meaning changes to Purely Barack Stations.
Today in History – October 4
1537 – The first complete English-language Bible (the Matthew Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale. Important? yes. Letting the PEOPLE read the book on their own instead of relying on the interpretations of a special group is part and parcel of freedom.
1795 – Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence with a “Whiff of Grapeshot”, using cannon to suppress armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the French Legislature (National Convention). Uh, that was people opposing the nutcases that took the idea of “revolution” to mean “everybody that doesn’t agree with us is gonna die”. Napoleon was taking care of people who opposed “change” as defined by the whackjobs in charge.
1824 – Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic. With long tradition of despot, king and strongman, the idea of a ‘republic’ doesn’t catch on.
1830 – Creation of the state of Belgium after separation from The Netherlands. In German, the name translates to “Gateway to France”. The Belgian army is like the German’s “practice dummy” for the big game with France.
1876 – Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas becomes Texas’s first public institution of higher education in that state. “Aggie jokes” make A&M the blondes of the college world.
1957 – USSR launches Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. Its beeps could be received by shortwave receivers worldwide.
1958 – Fifth Republic of France is established. The Sixth Republic may well be under sharia law.
2003 – Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded. Nothing like blowing up families and random innocent folks to show the world how you should be allowed to govern your own country. Some of that Religion of Peace stuff.
Food for Thought – 3 October 2016
Now THIS is a loss…
Neville Marriner, who led renowned Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, dies at 92
By Tim Page October 2 at 11:22 AM
Neville Marriner, the British violinist-turned-conductor who founded the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and built it into one of the most popular and widely recorded chamber orchestras in the world, died Oct. 2. He was 92.
The academy announced the death in a statement on its website. No other details were immediately available.
The ensemble began as a group of 13 friends playing baroque music for strings in Mr. Marriner’s living room, but it quickly grew larger and more ambitious. Its first public concert took place at its namesake church in London’s Trafalgar Square in 1958, and shortly thereafter, the group was invited to make its first recording.
It would turn out to be the first of several hundred albums credited to “St. Martin’s,” as it was customarily abbreviated. At least 200 of these were led by Mr. Marriner, initially with nods and gestures as he played the leading violin part and later from the podium.
The group’s soundtrack for the Oscar-winning Milos Forman film “Amadeus” (1984), devoted mostly to works by Mozart, became one of the best-selling classical recordings of all time, selling in the millions. “In those days, we were so rich we thought about building our own concert hall, converting an old power station in East London,” Mr. Marriner later recalled.
If I have one Neville Marriner piece, I have hundreds… For most of my classical music life, Neville Marriner has been a centerpiece. Trying to pick one work to act as a pale memoriam is near impossible, but here’s something:Words fail…
Today in History – October 3
1789 – George Washington makes the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Today he’d be taken apart by the Left and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) over the incorporation of religion into public life.
1795 – General Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence being named to defend the French National Convention against armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the three year old revolutionary government. Nothing like blowing apart a few dissenters with cannon fire to cement your position in the public eye.
1906 – SOS adopted as warning signal by first conference on wireless telegraphy. dididit dahdahdah dididit. Morse code is gone. Dead. The only vestiges around are in its use by radio amateurs (hams) where they recognize that a Morse signal is easily transmitted from a simple transmitter, easily received with a simple receiver, needs no special equipment to decode besides a human ear, and can cut through interference better than just about any other form of signal.
1908 – The Pravda newspaper founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles in Vienna. Its function today has been taken over by the New York Times, CNN and MSNBC..
1913 – Federal Income Tax signed into law (at 1%). As one of those “patriotic” Americans who now is “privileged” to be “contributing” in the 20% bracket, I can tell you this is a fine example of allowing the camel to stick his nose in the tent.
1942 – Spaceflight: First successful launch of a V-2 /A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany: the first man-made object to reach space. In a few months, they’d be re-entering the atmosphere above targets in England and continental Europe.
1955 – The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on ABC. Today the equivalent group is ru(i)nning the country. (Actually, there’s a difference. The Mickey Mouse Club had adult guidance.)
1964 – In a culinary milestone, the first Buffalo Wings are made at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York. Nothing like the business model of serving spicy food at a place that also sells beer.
1990 – Re-unification of Germany. The German Democratic Republic ceased to exist and its territory became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. East German citizens became part of the European Community, which later became the European Union. Now celebrated as German Unity Day. “Mister Gorbachev, tear down THIS wall.”
1995 – O. J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The nation burns for weeks as white people riot over what they see as an unfair verdict. Wait — what? No riots? Darn!
Somewhat Italian Pot Stickers
I happen to LOVE pot stickers. You know – Chinese restaurant, these neat little packages of wonton wrap holding treasures of meat of dubious origin, steamed, then fried so that there’s a bit of crunch to the wonton. Like these:
Well this is sort of headed in that direction. In yesterday’s grocery run, I found that I didn’t feel like cooking, so I bought a package of Bertolli cheese-filled tortellini and some pesto. Makes a nice meal. I did the normal thing – pot of boiling, salted water, a glug of olive oil, boil the tortellini for six or seven minutes, they’re done. Put ’em in a bowl, drop a glop of pesto, sprinkle with fresh black pepper and some red pepper flakes – done! Good meal, especially with a decent beer.
I can’t eat the whole package. Half of them went in a plastic tub in the fridge.
So it’s lunchtime today. I’m considering that tub of leftover tortellini and there’s the default – microwave it until it’s heated. That’s certainly an option, but I’ve had a dearth of potstickers in my life of late, so a lightbulb went off.
I put a skillet on the stove over medium heat, did another glug of olive oil, waited until the oil was shimmering and just beginning to smoke, then I dumped the tortellini in there. Sizzle. Let it sit there. Toss, to get teh bottoms on the top, do the fresh pepper and red pepper flakes thing. Let is sizzle. Toss. Sizzle. A couple more times and I’m seeing the brown evidence of cooking.
Damned good!
One of these days I may get ambitious enough to make my own potstickers, but in the interim, this works.
Food for Thought – 2 October 2016
The Name Game #457
Rolled out of bed this morning at 0800. Seventy-seven degrees outside. We actually dipped below sixty a couple of mornings ago for the first time since last spring. That’s good. I love cool temperatures.
Opened the morning paper to find that the big hospital across the river reports twenty-nine new babies from between September 16 and 27. Fifteen are to unwed parents and two new mommies don’t bring a corresponding daddy with the news.
Sadly, we’ll call this the new ‘normal’ and dive in:
Robert R. & Marqueta(!) A. apostrophicate a new son, little O’marray Wayne.
Alex & Emily G. triple up on their son, little Atticus Amadeus Dresden.
Nick & Diana name their daughter Addison Claire. “Dude! You named you DAUGHTER ‘son’.”
Cody K. & Michelle W. call their son Cash Marquie.
Gilbert D. & Sonya L. name their son Kyson John. Whose son?
Another triple shows up as Miss Amy C. tags her baby boy with Eeston Michael Leonard.
D’Aaron(!) S. & Anissia(!) M. apostrophicate their son A’Darrien Keon, thereby conferring upon him all the poise and sophistication if gave his father.
Mikel(!)H. & Andrea C. present their son Amarion Rhyland.
And that’s the list today. See you in another week. Or if these people spell it, a “we’eque”.
Today in History – October 2
1535 – Jacques Cartier discovers Montreal, Quebec. You mean it was ALREADY there?
1835 – The Texas Revolution begins with the Battle of Gonzales: Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, Texas, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia. I figure Hillary gets elected, it’ll either secede, or in another ten years it’ll be Mexico again…
1866 – J Osterhoudt patents the tin can with key opener.
1924 – The Geneva Protocol is adopted as a means to strengthen the League of Nations. With this one momentous and visionary step, peace is spread abroad on the wings of doves. Bloody-handed despots everywhere see the error in their ways and repent, and the world eases into an age of peace, love and harmony. Oh, wait! That DIDN’T happen with the League of Nations. We needed the United Nations to bring worldwide love and harmony. I’m STILL waiting…
1941 – World War II: In Operation Typhoon, Germany begins an all-out offensive against Moscow. These are the same two parties that only two years before had signed a pact NOT to fight each other, meanwhile divying Poland up between them.
1944 – World War II: German troops end the Warsaw Uprising. Why didn’t the Russians intervene? Because the Germans were killing Polish FIGHTERS, finishing what the commies started in the Katyn Forest in 1940 – slaughtering anyone who might be a hindrance to the Soviet takeover of Poland after the Germans left.
1968 – A peaceful student demonstration in Mexico City ends in the Tlatelolco massacre. Dead number in the hundreds. Makes that bunch of smelly hippies singing “Four dead in Ohio” sort of a sad thing…
2002 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin, extending over three weeks. Everybody knows that serial killers are always white guys.