Edward D. Baker was a one-time Illinois lawyer and an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln. He went west during the California gold rush and wound up in Oregon in 1860, where he was elected to the United States Senate.
When the Civil War broke out, no one was more pro-Union than Senator Baker. "I want a sudden, bold, forward, determined war," he proclaimed after the firing on Fort Sumter. So intent was he on punishing the South that he joined the army as a colonel while holding on to his seat in the Senate. Colonel/Senator Edward Baker divided his time between the Army and the Senate. From time to time he would return from the field, appearing in full uniform on the floor of the Senate, where he would unbuckle his sword, lay it across his desktop, and launch into an oratorical attack upon those of his fellow lawmakers who appeared to favor any compromise with secession.
Then on October 21, 1861, he took leave of his Senate desk to lead his regiment up Ball's Bluff, on the Potomac. His task was to cross the river and disperse the Confederate snipers who fired at will from the brush and timber atop the bluff. There was no doubt in Baker's mind that his troops would carry the day. He reckoned, however, without the tenacity of the Mississippi and Virginia soldiers who commanded the bluff.
For the Rebels it was a turkey shoot. panic quickly ran through the Union ranks, and in short order they were frantically sliding back down the bluff and heading toward the Maryland side. as telegraphic accounts of the rout reached the president, both he and Congress awaited the fiery report from Baker that was sure to come, but this was not to be. Baker had taken the Senate floor for his last time. His body lay back up on the bluffs, the victim of the deadly snipers fire that took 200 other lives.
Thus the senator who had so dramatically prodded his fellow legislators while adorned in his military garb, had fallen victim to his own rhetoric. It was one thing to harangue the halls of Congress in favor of military action. it was quite another to put one's own words into action. As a senator and a soldier, Edward Baker did both and paid for it with his life.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
"17-Vietnam" Memorial
He had the guts to fight and die,
he paid the price, what did he buy?
He brought you life by giving his,
who gives a damn what a soldier gives?
You watch your TV from your easy chair,
but you don't know what it's like out there.
You burn the kids for marching at dawn,
to plant their flags on the White House lawn.
You knock our ways but have your fun,
and then you teach us to use a gun.
There's nothing else that you can do,
yet, I'm supposed to die for you.
I'll hate it 'til the day I die,
you made me hear my buddy cry.
I saw his arm, a bloody shred,
I heard them say, "This one's dead."
Copyright 1972
Dedicated to childhood friends: www.mrmulcahy.com
PFC Johnny Mailloux, USMC, K.I.A., casualty of war on 24 Nov 68. Found on panel 38 on the west wall, line #50.
CPL Billy Flint, US Army, K.I.A., casualty of war on 01 Sep 68. Found on panel 45 on the west wall, line #18 of the "Vietnam Veteran's Memorial."
Denny Gray, dying later from problems stemming from the war. We grew up in the projects of East Lynn, MA, the po side of town.
Also, to the men and women K.I.A. and P.O.W./M.I.A. in Southeast Asia.
Some gave all!
PFC Michael "Yank" Mulcahy RA 71-73
"17-Vietnam" was composed when I was a young soldier at Fort Hood, Texas
HHC 1st Bn (M) 50th Inf "PLAY THE GAME" 2d Armd Div, "HELL ON WHEELS"
he paid the price, what did he buy?
He brought you life by giving his,
who gives a damn what a soldier gives?
You watch your TV from your easy chair,
but you don't know what it's like out there.
You burn the kids for marching at dawn,
to plant their flags on the White House lawn.
You knock our ways but have your fun,
and then you teach us to use a gun.
There's nothing else that you can do,
yet, I'm supposed to die for you.
I'll hate it 'til the day I die,
you made me hear my buddy cry.
I saw his arm, a bloody shred,
I heard them say, "This one's dead."
Copyright 1972
Dedicated to childhood friends: www.mrmulcahy.com
PFC Johnny Mailloux, USMC, K.I.A., casualty of war on 24 Nov 68. Found on panel 38 on the west wall, line #50.
CPL Billy Flint, US Army, K.I.A., casualty of war on 01 Sep 68. Found on panel 45 on the west wall, line #18 of the "Vietnam Veteran's Memorial."
Denny Gray, dying later from problems stemming from the war. We grew up in the projects of East Lynn, MA, the po side of town.
Also, to the men and women K.I.A. and P.O.W./M.I.A. in Southeast Asia.
Some gave all!
PFC Michael "Yank" Mulcahy RA 71-73
"17-Vietnam" was composed when I was a young soldier at Fort Hood, Texas
HHC 1st Bn (M) 50th Inf "PLAY THE GAME" 2d Armd Div, "HELL ON WHEELS"
FIFTH US ARMY
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
The Drummer Boy of Shiloh
In 1932, a dottering old man dressed in an old army uniform asked for quiet.
A crowd of well-wishers had gathered to celebrate his eightieth birthday. Everybody present, including the press, referred to him as Major John L. Clem, but wanted to be remembered as "the Drummer Boy of Shiloh."
Johnny Clem was one of the youngest soldiers of the Civil War. He was just ten years old when he served as a drummer boy for the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry.
The soldiers of Johnny's unit saw a little action in 1861, but it wasn't until the battle of Shiloh in early April of 1862 that they received their baptism by fire, and it just so happened that the young drummer boy got caught in the middle.
On April 6, Johnny's unit was caught off guard and was almost pushed into the Tennessee River. During the fighting a Union soldier dropped right at his feet, nailed by a sharpshooter. Ten-year-old Johnny picked up the dead man's rifle and drew a bead on a Rebel colonel who had failed to see the small lad with the big gun. In the next instant, the Confederate officer was on the ground. Johnny Clem had killed him with one shot.
The battle of Shiloh lasted two days and up to that time was the bloodiest conflagration that had ever been fought on the American continent. The North lost 13,000 men, while the South counted 10,700 casualties.
An account of the battle of Shiloh of course made the newspapers, and in every piece, the story of Johnny Clem's bravery was told. Soon the entire nation knew about him.
Johnny ended the war as a teen-age sergeant and sported a medal given to him by the secretary of the treasury. He remained in the army and retired at the age of sixty-five with the rank of major. When Clem died at the age of eighty-two, his military tombstone was inscribed with the usual information: name, regiment, company, and state, but in Johnny's case it also carried an epitaph: "Here lies the Drummer Boy of Shiloh." Now no one would forget.
A crowd of well-wishers had gathered to celebrate his eightieth birthday. Everybody present, including the press, referred to him as Major John L. Clem, but wanted to be remembered as "the Drummer Boy of Shiloh."
Johnny Clem was one of the youngest soldiers of the Civil War. He was just ten years old when he served as a drummer boy for the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry.
The soldiers of Johnny's unit saw a little action in 1861, but it wasn't until the battle of Shiloh in early April of 1862 that they received their baptism by fire, and it just so happened that the young drummer boy got caught in the middle.
On April 6, Johnny's unit was caught off guard and was almost pushed into the Tennessee River. During the fighting a Union soldier dropped right at his feet, nailed by a sharpshooter. Ten-year-old Johnny picked up the dead man's rifle and drew a bead on a Rebel colonel who had failed to see the small lad with the big gun. In the next instant, the Confederate officer was on the ground. Johnny Clem had killed him with one shot.
The battle of Shiloh lasted two days and up to that time was the bloodiest conflagration that had ever been fought on the American continent. The North lost 13,000 men, while the South counted 10,700 casualties.
An account of the battle of Shiloh of course made the newspapers, and in every piece, the story of Johnny Clem's bravery was told. Soon the entire nation knew about him.
Johnny ended the war as a teen-age sergeant and sported a medal given to him by the secretary of the treasury. He remained in the army and retired at the age of sixty-five with the rank of major. When Clem died at the age of eighty-two, his military tombstone was inscribed with the usual information: name, regiment, company, and state, but in Johnny's case it also carried an epitaph: "Here lies the Drummer Boy of Shiloh." Now no one would forget.
A Blow to Southern Womanhood
The Sanctity of Womanhood:
Every southern male was taught to respect it, and when Yankees invaded their homeland during the Civil War, they fought for it almost as fiercely as they did to keep slavery. Then along came Captain John Dowdy. On Christmas Day, 1864, one woman put him to the test, and all of his fine upbringing couldn't save her life.
Captain Dowdy rode with Morgan's Raiders. He and his comrades raised such havoc in Tennessee and Kentucky that a $1,000 bounty was put on their heads. On September 4, 1864, Dowdy was encamped with the rest of the troopers about two miles outside of Greenville, Tennessee. General Morgan was headquartered in Greenville proper, at the Williams home. He thought he was safe there, but he had reckoned without Mrs. Williams, who had dollar signs in her eyes.
Captain Dowdy rode in to the Williams home at four o'clock in the morning to receive orders from the general for troop movements that day. Morgan sent a directive to the troops to be ready to move by 7 a.m. Dowdy saluted smartly and took his leave. He never saw his commander again.
At 6 o'clock over eighty Yankees came out of nowhere and surrounded the Williams home. The general grabbed his pants and boots and ran, still in his night clothes, into the garden to hide, but it was futile. His betrayer, yelled out, "There he goes," pointing to the shrubbery in which Morgan had secreted himself. His pursuers quickly found him and put several bullets in his chest.
Meanwhile, the camp was also attacked, and Captain Dowdy was captured and taken to an Ohio prison. He remained a prisoner of war for almost four months and managed to escape. After crossing the Ohio River, the captain rode through Kentucky and Tennessee. He was headed back to Greenville to settle a score.
On December 25, 1864, Captain Dowdy arrived at the Williams home. He didn't have to go to the house; he spotted Mrs. Williams coming up from the cow pen. With his arms folded, Dowdy blocked the path.
"Oh Captain Dowdy," a stunned Mrs. Williams exclaimed. Dowdy responded with a terse, "Correct Ma'm."
Sensing that she was in trouble, the woman cried out, "Captain, don't kill me. I'll give you a thousand dollars." Dowdy calmly replied, "If you have anything to say, you have five minutes to talk."
The shaken woman dropped to her knees, preferring at that point to address the Almighty. When the five minutes expired, so did Mrs. Williams. Captain Dowdy shot her at point blank range, killing her instantly. He picked her up and carried her to the front porch. After crossing her hands, he rode off without looking back.
Notwithstanding the fact that Captain Dowdy shot an unarmed woman in cold blood, chivalry remained alive for many years after. Women continued to be the objects of manly affections and respect, except for those rare instances when circumstances, such as Captain Dowdy faced, tore the mantle of virtue off the fairer sex, and they came tumbling down from their pedestal to a more level playing field.
Every southern male was taught to respect it, and when Yankees invaded their homeland during the Civil War, they fought for it almost as fiercely as they did to keep slavery. Then along came Captain John Dowdy. On Christmas Day, 1864, one woman put him to the test, and all of his fine upbringing couldn't save her life.
Captain Dowdy rode with Morgan's Raiders. He and his comrades raised such havoc in Tennessee and Kentucky that a $1,000 bounty was put on their heads. On September 4, 1864, Dowdy was encamped with the rest of the troopers about two miles outside of Greenville, Tennessee. General Morgan was headquartered in Greenville proper, at the Williams home. He thought he was safe there, but he had reckoned without Mrs. Williams, who had dollar signs in her eyes.
Captain Dowdy rode in to the Williams home at four o'clock in the morning to receive orders from the general for troop movements that day. Morgan sent a directive to the troops to be ready to move by 7 a.m. Dowdy saluted smartly and took his leave. He never saw his commander again.
At 6 o'clock over eighty Yankees came out of nowhere and surrounded the Williams home. The general grabbed his pants and boots and ran, still in his night clothes, into the garden to hide, but it was futile. His betrayer, yelled out, "There he goes," pointing to the shrubbery in which Morgan had secreted himself. His pursuers quickly found him and put several bullets in his chest.
Meanwhile, the camp was also attacked, and Captain Dowdy was captured and taken to an Ohio prison. He remained a prisoner of war for almost four months and managed to escape. After crossing the Ohio River, the captain rode through Kentucky and Tennessee. He was headed back to Greenville to settle a score.
On December 25, 1864, Captain Dowdy arrived at the Williams home. He didn't have to go to the house; he spotted Mrs. Williams coming up from the cow pen. With his arms folded, Dowdy blocked the path.
"Oh Captain Dowdy," a stunned Mrs. Williams exclaimed. Dowdy responded with a terse, "Correct Ma'm."
Sensing that she was in trouble, the woman cried out, "Captain, don't kill me. I'll give you a thousand dollars." Dowdy calmly replied, "If you have anything to say, you have five minutes to talk."
The shaken woman dropped to her knees, preferring at that point to address the Almighty. When the five minutes expired, so did Mrs. Williams. Captain Dowdy shot her at point blank range, killing her instantly. He picked her up and carried her to the front porch. After crossing her hands, he rode off without looking back.
Notwithstanding the fact that Captain Dowdy shot an unarmed woman in cold blood, chivalry remained alive for many years after. Women continued to be the objects of manly affections and respect, except for those rare instances when circumstances, such as Captain Dowdy faced, tore the mantle of virtue off the fairer sex, and they came tumbling down from their pedestal to a more level playing field.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Southern Charm from the Chamber Pot
Resistance to what Southerners called the War of Northern Aggression took many forms. In addition to armed conflict, the citizens of the South stood ready to show their contempt for the Union army in ways that were almost as vexatious as drawn swords, especially down in New Orleans.
By the summer of 1862, the Union Navy, under Admiral David G. Farragut, had made possible the occupation of New Orleans by General Benjamin F. Butler, who, in addition to holding the city, announced his determination to force its citizens to bend their knees to his occupying forces. Unfortunately for the general, that was easier said than done.
While Union soldiers were apparently safe to walk the streets of New Orleans, their flag could not go unattended. On June 7, 1862, one fellow by the name of Mumford decided to haul down the stars and stripes and cut the flag of the United States up into lapel stickers. This was too much for the general. He ordered Munford executed.
If Butler thought, however, that a hanging would elicit better manners from the Confederates, he was mistaken. Now it was the women's turn. The southern belles developed the habit of congregating on the hotel balconies dressed in all of their fineries. Whenever a Yankee soldier passed by, they would all whirl around and flirt out their skirts, causing one officer to comment that "Those women evidently know which end of them looks the best."
The greatest insult to northern dignity, however, was yet to come. On one occasion Admiral Farragut himself, walking to a dinner engagement, passed beneath the balcony of a hotel. Suddenly he was drenched in a downpour from above. Several women had emptied the contents of the hotel's slop jars directly on the heads of the admiral and his party.
Butler was livid and issued his famous General Order Number 28, which said that any female showing contempt for the United States shall be held liable to be treated as a woman of the night.
Butler always claimed that General Order Number 28 put an end to such loathsome expressions of contempt, but it was also noted that while performing patrol duty, the Union soldiers did so from the middle of the streets. They no longer seemed willing to subject themselves to the possibility of a vengeance from above, which often reeked to high heaven.
By the summer of 1862, the Union Navy, under Admiral David G. Farragut, had made possible the occupation of New Orleans by General Benjamin F. Butler, who, in addition to holding the city, announced his determination to force its citizens to bend their knees to his occupying forces. Unfortunately for the general, that was easier said than done.
While Union soldiers were apparently safe to walk the streets of New Orleans, their flag could not go unattended. On June 7, 1862, one fellow by the name of Mumford decided to haul down the stars and stripes and cut the flag of the United States up into lapel stickers. This was too much for the general. He ordered Munford executed.
If Butler thought, however, that a hanging would elicit better manners from the Confederates, he was mistaken. Now it was the women's turn. The southern belles developed the habit of congregating on the hotel balconies dressed in all of their fineries. Whenever a Yankee soldier passed by, they would all whirl around and flirt out their skirts, causing one officer to comment that "Those women evidently know which end of them looks the best."
The greatest insult to northern dignity, however, was yet to come. On one occasion Admiral Farragut himself, walking to a dinner engagement, passed beneath the balcony of a hotel. Suddenly he was drenched in a downpour from above. Several women had emptied the contents of the hotel's slop jars directly on the heads of the admiral and his party.
Butler was livid and issued his famous General Order Number 28, which said that any female showing contempt for the United States shall be held liable to be treated as a woman of the night.
Butler always claimed that General Order Number 28 put an end to such loathsome expressions of contempt, but it was also noted that while performing patrol duty, the Union soldiers did so from the middle of the streets. They no longer seemed willing to subject themselves to the possibility of a vengeance from above, which often reeked to high heaven.
From Bull Run to Appomattox
The American Civil War was a watershed in our nation's history. It redefined the character of the United States and sent the population of the South reeling, especially people like Wilmer McClean, who always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Wilmer McClean was one of the more prosperous residents of Manassas Junction, Virginia, in July of 1861, when the Northern and Southern armies began to gather around his place. His 1,400-acre plantation straddled Bull Run, so the Confederates occupied his house and used it as its headquarters in this, the first real, full-fledged battle of the Civil War.
After the first battle of Bull Run, McClean sold his farm and moved further west, out of the line of fire between the two contending armies. He assured his family that "the sounds of battle would never again reach them" in their new home.
In the meantime, battle followed battle: Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and hundreds of others. For four years Billy Yank and Johnny Reb pounded each other, and as they did, they got closer and closer to Wilmer McClean 's new home.
Finally in April, of 1865, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Grant's Army of the Potomac faced each other, and where do you think they were? Somehow the center of this horrific conflict, which began at his Bull Run farm four years earlier, had sought McClean out and found him once more. The Union and Rebel forces were camped once again, almost in his front yard.
On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, and since they were so close, the combatants took over McClean's home once again---to agree upon and sign the terms of the capitulation. When he left his home on Bull Run to find that safe haven from the ravages of war, McClean settled near Appomattox Courthouse, never dreaming that he was jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Wilmer McClean was one of the more prosperous residents of Manassas Junction, Virginia, in July of 1861, when the Northern and Southern armies began to gather around his place. His 1,400-acre plantation straddled Bull Run, so the Confederates occupied his house and used it as its headquarters in this, the first real, full-fledged battle of the Civil War.
After the first battle of Bull Run, McClean sold his farm and moved further west, out of the line of fire between the two contending armies. He assured his family that "the sounds of battle would never again reach them" in their new home.
In the meantime, battle followed battle: Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and hundreds of others. For four years Billy Yank and Johnny Reb pounded each other, and as they did, they got closer and closer to Wilmer McClean 's new home.
Finally in April, of 1865, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Grant's Army of the Potomac faced each other, and where do you think they were? Somehow the center of this horrific conflict, which began at his Bull Run farm four years earlier, had sought McClean out and found him once more. The Union and Rebel forces were camped once again, almost in his front yard.
On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, and since they were so close, the combatants took over McClean's home once again---to agree upon and sign the terms of the capitulation. When he left his home on Bull Run to find that safe haven from the ravages of war, McClean settled near Appomattox Courthouse, never dreaming that he was jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Dying for the Stars and Bars
Symbols---they can make one swell with pride, or wretch in disgust. Take that flap about flying the Confederate flag above the state house in South Carolina, for instance. That may have been the most recent fight over that symbol, but it won't be the last, and it certainly wasn't the first.
The guns had barely quieted at Fort Sumter when President Lincoln ordered that Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac, be taken from the Rebel hands. After all, there staring him in the face each morning was the Confederate flag flying atop the Marshall House, and he wanted it taken down.
The soldier who was placed in charge of this detail was Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, one of the four soldiers who formed the president's body guard. Ellsworth's orders were simple. Take the town and remove that flag. the former was easy, but the latter had its price.
Ellsworth's troops landed early in the morning of May 24, 1861. There was no resistance, so the Colonel marched directly to the Marshall House, where the offending bit of bunting waved in the breeze. Flanked by a quartet of soldiers, Ellsworth climbed to the second story of the hotel unmolested.
From one of the top windows he clambered out onto the roof and cut the flag from its staff. With the emblem in hand, Ellsworth then made his way back to the stairs from which he intended to descend and make secure his occupation of Alexandria.
He had no more than reached the top step when from out of the shadows lurched an enraged Rebel who would not stand for such an abominable sacrilege as the desecration of the Confederate flag. He raised a gun to Ellsworth's heart and fired, killing him instantly. Needless to say, the assassin was quickly dispatched as well.
They brought Ellsworth to Washington where Lincoln mourned the fallen soldier, calling him the "greatest little man I ever met." In the meantime, the Confederate flag went back up on the Marshall House, but it flew in thousands of other places, and as recent events show, it still stirs the emotions of partisans, almost 140 years after that first forced removal of the stars and bars.
The guns had barely quieted at Fort Sumter when President Lincoln ordered that Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac, be taken from the Rebel hands. After all, there staring him in the face each morning was the Confederate flag flying atop the Marshall House, and he wanted it taken down.
The soldier who was placed in charge of this detail was Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, one of the four soldiers who formed the president's body guard. Ellsworth's orders were simple. Take the town and remove that flag. the former was easy, but the latter had its price.
Ellsworth's troops landed early in the morning of May 24, 1861. There was no resistance, so the Colonel marched directly to the Marshall House, where the offending bit of bunting waved in the breeze. Flanked by a quartet of soldiers, Ellsworth climbed to the second story of the hotel unmolested.
From one of the top windows he clambered out onto the roof and cut the flag from its staff. With the emblem in hand, Ellsworth then made his way back to the stairs from which he intended to descend and make secure his occupation of Alexandria.
He had no more than reached the top step when from out of the shadows lurched an enraged Rebel who would not stand for such an abominable sacrilege as the desecration of the Confederate flag. He raised a gun to Ellsworth's heart and fired, killing him instantly. Needless to say, the assassin was quickly dispatched as well.
They brought Ellsworth to Washington where Lincoln mourned the fallen soldier, calling him the "greatest little man I ever met." In the meantime, the Confederate flag went back up on the Marshall House, but it flew in thousands of other places, and as recent events show, it still stirs the emotions of partisans, almost 140 years after that first forced removal of the stars and bars.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Bible: True or False
1. The miracle of Gideon's fleece (Judges 6:36-40) is the most remarkable event in the Bible
that was announced by shepherds.
2. Faith, hope, charity, forbearance, and tolerance are five things to which we are commanded
in the Bible to hold fast.
3. The Ark of the Covenant contained only the staff of Moses.
4. A gentle and quiet spirit is the most beautiful ornament of a Christian woman, according to
1 Peter 3:3-4
5. "Jesus" is the one word in Scripture that is said to contain the whole law.
6. James compares the Word of God to a mirror.
7. Felix is an example of one stifling religious convictions.
8. Festus, the governor of Damascus, endeavored to take St. Paul and make him a prisoner.
9. The color of the sky in the morning is mentioned by Jesus as a sign of the coming rain.
10. Thirty pieces of silver was the value of the books burned at Ephesus by those who practiced
magic.
that was announced by shepherds.
2. Faith, hope, charity, forbearance, and tolerance are five things to which we are commanded
in the Bible to hold fast.
3. The Ark of the Covenant contained only the staff of Moses.
4. A gentle and quiet spirit is the most beautiful ornament of a Christian woman, according to
1 Peter 3:3-4
5. "Jesus" is the one word in Scripture that is said to contain the whole law.
6. James compares the Word of God to a mirror.
7. Felix is an example of one stifling religious convictions.
8. Festus, the governor of Damascus, endeavored to take St. Paul and make him a prisoner.
9. The color of the sky in the morning is mentioned by Jesus as a sign of the coming rain.
10. Thirty pieces of silver was the value of the books burned at Ephesus by those who practiced
magic.
Death by Friendly Fire at Fort Sumter
In 1861, The Confederate Army fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. As fate have it, the enemy commanders were well acquainted with one another, and this fact had fatal consequences for a private, Donald Hough.
Before the Rebels began their attack on Fort Sumter, General P.G.T. Beauregard sent a message out to Major Anderson, his old artillery instructor at West Point. The Confederate general, sure that he was going to be successful in taking the fort, informed Anderson that when the inevitable occurred, the Union commander would be given the opportunity to salute the Stars and Stripes before it was replaced with the Stars and Bars. With this understanding between the two former comrades, the ball began.
The Confederate batteries opened fire first, while Anderson and his troops remained sheltered in the covered casements, unable to do much damage to the Confederate gun positions. Finally, when it became obvious to everyone that the fort was going to fall, Anderson signaled his intention to surrender, but before he did, he was going to take advantage of his past relationship with his adversary.
So Anderson ordered his guns to make ready for the salute that Beauregard had promised. Halfway through the observance, however, one heavy gun exploded and killed Private Donald Hough instantly.
During that siege of Fort Sumter, not one soldier lost his life, but in this one act of military courtesy extended by Beauregard to Anderson as he was surrendering his position, Donald Hough was accidently killed by "friendly fire" and became the first man to die in a war that would see the deaths of more than 600,000 other men and boys. In retrospect, it seems a pity, at least for Hough, that his commanding officer was on such friendly terms with the enemy.
Before the Rebels began their attack on Fort Sumter, General P.G.T. Beauregard sent a message out to Major Anderson, his old artillery instructor at West Point. The Confederate general, sure that he was going to be successful in taking the fort, informed Anderson that when the inevitable occurred, the Union commander would be given the opportunity to salute the Stars and Stripes before it was replaced with the Stars and Bars. With this understanding between the two former comrades, the ball began.
The Confederate batteries opened fire first, while Anderson and his troops remained sheltered in the covered casements, unable to do much damage to the Confederate gun positions. Finally, when it became obvious to everyone that the fort was going to fall, Anderson signaled his intention to surrender, but before he did, he was going to take advantage of his past relationship with his adversary.
So Anderson ordered his guns to make ready for the salute that Beauregard had promised. Halfway through the observance, however, one heavy gun exploded and killed Private Donald Hough instantly.
During that siege of Fort Sumter, not one soldier lost his life, but in this one act of military courtesy extended by Beauregard to Anderson as he was surrendering his position, Donald Hough was accidently killed by "friendly fire" and became the first man to die in a war that would see the deaths of more than 600,000 other men and boys. In retrospect, it seems a pity, at least for Hough, that his commanding officer was on such friendly terms with the enemy.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
The Bible's Oldest Men, Oldest Woman, Heaven without dying, and Noah's Ark
The usual lifetime of men of that period ranged from 6 to 9 hundred years:
Moses died at 120 years of age.
Jacob died at 147 years of age.
Abraham died at 175 years of age.
Isaac died at 180 years of age.
Terach died at 205 years of age.
Enoch (family of Cain) died at 365 years of age.
Shem died at 600 years of age.
Lamech died at 777 years of age.
Mahalalel died at 895 years of age.
Enosh died at 905 years of age.
Kenan died at 910 years of age.
Seth died at 912 years of age.
Adam died at 930 years of age.
Noah died at 950 years of age.
Yered died at 962 years of age.
Methuselah died at 969 years of age (oldest).
The oldest woman was Sarah/Sarai/Sara, died at 127 years of age.
It took Noah and his family 120 years to build the Ark.
Enoch walked with God for 300 years, and he disappeared and went straight to Heaven, did not see death.
A flaming chariot descended from Heaven, drawn by horses of fire in a whirlwind brought Enosh (father to Methuselah), straight to Heaven, did not see death.
Moses died at 120 years of age.
Jacob died at 147 years of age.
Abraham died at 175 years of age.
Isaac died at 180 years of age.
Terach died at 205 years of age.
Enoch (family of Cain) died at 365 years of age.
Shem died at 600 years of age.
Lamech died at 777 years of age.
Mahalalel died at 895 years of age.
Enosh died at 905 years of age.
Kenan died at 910 years of age.
Seth died at 912 years of age.
Adam died at 930 years of age.
Noah died at 950 years of age.
Yered died at 962 years of age.
Methuselah died at 969 years of age (oldest).
The oldest woman was Sarah/Sarai/Sara, died at 127 years of age.
It took Noah and his family 120 years to build the Ark.
Enoch walked with God for 300 years, and he disappeared and went straight to Heaven, did not see death.
A flaming chariot descended from Heaven, drawn by horses of fire in a whirlwind brought Enosh (father to Methuselah), straight to Heaven, did not see death.
The Real Beginning of the Civil War
The American Civil War began under the administration of Abraham Lincoln, or so history books tell us. We have been taught that the first shots of that terrible conflict were fired on April 12, 1861, when the North attempted to reinforce Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. A closer look, raises some doubts as to precisely when the war began, and who was president at the time.
With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union and was soon followed by six other Southern States. The fat was in the fire, but it was President James Buchanan who had to cook it, not Abraham Lincoln. The president-elect wouldn't take office until March.
Buchanan would have loved to just let things simmer until the inauguration of the new president, but he was backed into a corner. The recently occupied garrison of Fort Sumter was badly in need of supplies.
So, in early January, he ordered the Star of the West, a merchant ship, to deliver the much needed provisions. Down the coast it went to Charleston. on January 9, it reached its destination. Unfortunately South Carolina was ready.
Buchanan's secretary of state, John Floyd, a southern sympathizer, had warned the Rebel authorities that the Star of the West was on its way, and a battery of anxious cadets from the Citadel positioned several guns at the shore. When the supply ship entered the harbor they let loose with the first shots of the Civil War, three of which hit the Star of the West.
With that, the Star retreated to open waters and returned to its home port. She had been driven off by hostile fire, but as we said, the fat was in the fire.
When Lincoln was sworn in, one of his first acts was to re-order the provisioning of Fort Sumter. This second attempt was likewise repelled by the Rebels, and there was no turning back. The war may have begun in earnest on April 12, 1861, but the first shots over Fort Sumter were fired months before, while James Buchanan, not Abraham Lincoln , in the White House.
With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union and was soon followed by six other Southern States. The fat was in the fire, but it was President James Buchanan who had to cook it, not Abraham Lincoln. The president-elect wouldn't take office until March.
Buchanan would have loved to just let things simmer until the inauguration of the new president, but he was backed into a corner. The recently occupied garrison of Fort Sumter was badly in need of supplies.
So, in early January, he ordered the Star of the West, a merchant ship, to deliver the much needed provisions. Down the coast it went to Charleston. on January 9, it reached its destination. Unfortunately South Carolina was ready.
Buchanan's secretary of state, John Floyd, a southern sympathizer, had warned the Rebel authorities that the Star of the West was on its way, and a battery of anxious cadets from the Citadel positioned several guns at the shore. When the supply ship entered the harbor they let loose with the first shots of the Civil War, three of which hit the Star of the West.
With that, the Star retreated to open waters and returned to its home port. She had been driven off by hostile fire, but as we said, the fat was in the fire.
When Lincoln was sworn in, one of his first acts was to re-order the provisioning of Fort Sumter. This second attempt was likewise repelled by the Rebels, and there was no turning back. The war may have begun in earnest on April 12, 1861, but the first shots over Fort Sumter were fired months before, while James Buchanan, not Abraham Lincoln , in the White House.
Monday, April 20, 2015
The Suicide Rate Is Highest Among The Elderly
If you judge buy the media and the public education programs, you might be inclined to think that teenagers and young adults (aged 25-24) are the age group most likely to kill themselves. Actually, they have the second-lowest rate of suicide. (The absolute lowest rate is among kids aged 5 to 14; children younger than that are apparently deemed incapable of consciously choosing to end their lives.) It is the elderly, by far, who have the highest rate of suicide.
In the US, of every 100,000 people aged 75 to 79, 16.5 kill themselves. For those 80 and over, the rate is 19.43. This compares to a rate of 8.15 per 100,000 for people between the ages of 15 and 19, and 12.84 for people aged 20 to 24.
As with every age group. men are far more likely to kill themselves, but among the elderly this trend reaches extreme proportions. Of people 65 and older, men comprise a staggering 84 percent of suicides.
Because men commit the vast majority of hara-kiri among old people, looking at these male suicide rates makes depressing reading. For guys aged 75 to 79, the suicide rate is 34.26 per 100,000. In the 80 to 84 group, men's suicide rate is 44.12. When you look at men 85 and older, the suicide rate is a heart-breaking 54.52. Compare this to the suicide rate for dudes in their mid to late teens: 13.22 per 100.000.
It is true that suicide ranks as the second or third most common cause of death in young people (depending on age group), while it is number 15 and under for various groups of the elderly. Still, the suicide rate among the young is equal to their proportion of the population, while the elderly are way overrepresented as a group. And older people are cut down by a great many diseases and disorders unknown to the young, which naturally pushes suicide down in the rankings.
The reasons why this suicide epidemic are highly speculative and would be too lengthy to get into here. However, we can rule out one seemingly likely explanation --- suicide among the aged is invisible because they usually O.D. on prescription drugs or kill themselves in other ways that could be easily mistaken for natural death in someone of advanced years. This doesn't wash, primarily because guns are the most common method of dispatch. Of suicides over 65, men used a gun 79.5 percent of the time, while women shot themselves 37 percent of the time. It's hard to mistake that for natural causes.
The sky-high suicide rate among the elderly applies to the entire world, not just the US. Plotted in a graph, suicide rates by age group around the globe gently curve upward as age increases. When the graph reaches the final age group, the line suddenly spikes, especially for men. Worldwide, men 75 and over have a suicide rate of 55.7 per 100,000, while women in the same age group have a rate of 18.8. This rate for older men is almost three times the global rate for guys aged 15 to 24, while the rate for older women is well over three times the rate for young gals in that age group.
In the US, of every 100,000 people aged 75 to 79, 16.5 kill themselves. For those 80 and over, the rate is 19.43. This compares to a rate of 8.15 per 100,000 for people between the ages of 15 and 19, and 12.84 for people aged 20 to 24.
As with every age group. men are far more likely to kill themselves, but among the elderly this trend reaches extreme proportions. Of people 65 and older, men comprise a staggering 84 percent of suicides.
Because men commit the vast majority of hara-kiri among old people, looking at these male suicide rates makes depressing reading. For guys aged 75 to 79, the suicide rate is 34.26 per 100,000. In the 80 to 84 group, men's suicide rate is 44.12. When you look at men 85 and older, the suicide rate is a heart-breaking 54.52. Compare this to the suicide rate for dudes in their mid to late teens: 13.22 per 100.000.
It is true that suicide ranks as the second or third most common cause of death in young people (depending on age group), while it is number 15 and under for various groups of the elderly. Still, the suicide rate among the young is equal to their proportion of the population, while the elderly are way overrepresented as a group. And older people are cut down by a great many diseases and disorders unknown to the young, which naturally pushes suicide down in the rankings.
The reasons why this suicide epidemic are highly speculative and would be too lengthy to get into here. However, we can rule out one seemingly likely explanation --- suicide among the aged is invisible because they usually O.D. on prescription drugs or kill themselves in other ways that could be easily mistaken for natural death in someone of advanced years. This doesn't wash, primarily because guns are the most common method of dispatch. Of suicides over 65, men used a gun 79.5 percent of the time, while women shot themselves 37 percent of the time. It's hard to mistake that for natural causes.
The sky-high suicide rate among the elderly applies to the entire world, not just the US. Plotted in a graph, suicide rates by age group around the globe gently curve upward as age increases. When the graph reaches the final age group, the line suddenly spikes, especially for men. Worldwide, men 75 and over have a suicide rate of 55.7 per 100,000, while women in the same age group have a rate of 18.8. This rate for older men is almost three times the global rate for guys aged 15 to 24, while the rate for older women is well over three times the rate for young gals in that age group.
Work Kills More People Than War
The United Nations' International Labor Organization has revealed some horrifying stats:
The ILO estimates that approximately two million workers lose their lives annually due to occupational injuries and illnesses, with accidents causing at least 350,000 deaths a year. For every fatal accident, there are an estimated 1,000 non-fatal injuries, many of which result in lost earnings, permanent disability and poverty. The death toll at work, much of which is attributable to unsafe working practices, is equivalent of 5,000 workers every day, three persons every minute.
This is more than double the figure for deaths from warfare (650,000 deaths per year). According to the ILO's SafeWork program, work kills more people than alcohol and drugs together and the resulting loss on Gross Domestic Product is 20 times greater than all official assistance to the developing countries.
Each year 6,570 US workers die because of injuries at work, while 60,225 meet their maker due to occupational diseases. (Meanwhile, 13.2 million get hurt, and 1.1 million develop illnesses that don't kill them.) On an average day, two or three workers are fatally shot, two fall to their deaths, one is killed after being smashed by a vehicle, and one is electrocuted. Each year, around 30 workers die of heat stroke, and another 30 expire from carbon monoxide.
Although blue collar workers face a lot of the most obvious dangers, those slaving in offices or stores must contend with toxic air, workplace violence, driving accidents, and (especially for the health-care workers) transmissible diseases. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration warns that poisonous indoor air in nonindustrial workplaces causes "thousands of heart disease deaths and hundreds of lung cancer deaths" each year.
But hey, everybody has to go sometime, right? And since we spend so much of our lives in the workplace, it's only logical that a lot of deaths happen---or at least are set into motion---on the job. This explanation certainly is true to an extent, but it doesn't excuse all such deaths. The International Labor Organization says that half of workplace fatalities are avoidable. In A Job to Die For, Lisa Cullen writes:
In the workplace, few real accidents occur because the surroundings and operations known; therefore, hazards can be identified. When harm from those hazards can be foreseen, accidents be prevented...
Most jobs have expected, known hazards. Working in and near excavations, for example, poses the obvious risks of death or injury from cave-ins... When trenches or excavations collapse soil was piled right up to the edge, there is little room to claim it was an accident.
The ILO estimates that approximately two million workers lose their lives annually due to occupational injuries and illnesses, with accidents causing at least 350,000 deaths a year. For every fatal accident, there are an estimated 1,000 non-fatal injuries, many of which result in lost earnings, permanent disability and poverty. The death toll at work, much of which is attributable to unsafe working practices, is equivalent of 5,000 workers every day, three persons every minute.
This is more than double the figure for deaths from warfare (650,000 deaths per year). According to the ILO's SafeWork program, work kills more people than alcohol and drugs together and the resulting loss on Gross Domestic Product is 20 times greater than all official assistance to the developing countries.
Each year 6,570 US workers die because of injuries at work, while 60,225 meet their maker due to occupational diseases. (Meanwhile, 13.2 million get hurt, and 1.1 million develop illnesses that don't kill them.) On an average day, two or three workers are fatally shot, two fall to their deaths, one is killed after being smashed by a vehicle, and one is electrocuted. Each year, around 30 workers die of heat stroke, and another 30 expire from carbon monoxide.
Although blue collar workers face a lot of the most obvious dangers, those slaving in offices or stores must contend with toxic air, workplace violence, driving accidents, and (especially for the health-care workers) transmissible diseases. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration warns that poisonous indoor air in nonindustrial workplaces causes "thousands of heart disease deaths and hundreds of lung cancer deaths" each year.
But hey, everybody has to go sometime, right? And since we spend so much of our lives in the workplace, it's only logical that a lot of deaths happen---or at least are set into motion---on the job. This explanation certainly is true to an extent, but it doesn't excuse all such deaths. The International Labor Organization says that half of workplace fatalities are avoidable. In A Job to Die For, Lisa Cullen writes:
In the workplace, few real accidents occur because the surroundings and operations known; therefore, hazards can be identified. When harm from those hazards can be foreseen, accidents be prevented...
Most jobs have expected, known hazards. Working in and near excavations, for example, poses the obvious risks of death or injury from cave-ins... When trenches or excavations collapse soil was piled right up to the edge, there is little room to claim it was an accident.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
The Bayer Company Made Heroin
Aspirin isn't the only "wonder drug that works wonders" that Bayer made. The German pharmaceutical giant also introduced heroin to the world.
The company was looking for a cough suppressant that didn't have problematic side affects, mainly addiction, like morphine and codeine. And if it could relieve pain better than morphine that was a welcome bonus.
When one of Bayer's chemists approached the head of the pharmacological lab with ASA --- to be sold under the name "aspirin" --- he was waved away. The boss was more interested in something else the chemists had cooked diacetylmorphine. (This narcotic had been created in 1874 by a British chemist, who had never done anything with it.) Using the tradename "Heroin" --- because early testers said it made them feel heroisch (heroic) --- Bayer sold this popular drug by the truckload starting in 1898. Free samples were sent to thousands of doctors; studies appeared in medical journals. The Sunday Times of London noted: "By 1899, Bayer was producing about a ton of heroin a year, and exporting the drug to 23 countries," including the US Medicines containing smack were available over-the-counter at drug stores, just as aspirin is today. The American Medical Association gave heroin its stamp of approval in 1907.
But reports of addiction, which had already started appearing in 1899, turned into a torrent after several years. Bayer had wisely released aspirin the year after heroin, and this new non-addictive painkiller and anti-inflammatory was well on its way to becoming the most popular drug ever. In 1913, Bayer got out of the heroin business.
Not that the company has kept its nose clean since then:
A division of the pharmaceutical company Bayer sold millions of dollars of blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs --- medicine that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS --- to Asia and Latin America in the mid-1980s while selling a new, safer product in the West, according to documents obtained by The New York Times...[l] Hong Kong and Taiwan alone, more than 100 hemophiliacs got HIV after using Cutter's old medicine, according to records and interviews. Many have since died.
The company was looking for a cough suppressant that didn't have problematic side affects, mainly addiction, like morphine and codeine. And if it could relieve pain better than morphine that was a welcome bonus.
When one of Bayer's chemists approached the head of the pharmacological lab with ASA --- to be sold under the name "aspirin" --- he was waved away. The boss was more interested in something else the chemists had cooked diacetylmorphine. (This narcotic had been created in 1874 by a British chemist, who had never done anything with it.) Using the tradename "Heroin" --- because early testers said it made them feel heroisch (heroic) --- Bayer sold this popular drug by the truckload starting in 1898. Free samples were sent to thousands of doctors; studies appeared in medical journals. The Sunday Times of London noted: "By 1899, Bayer was producing about a ton of heroin a year, and exporting the drug to 23 countries," including the US Medicines containing smack were available over-the-counter at drug stores, just as aspirin is today. The American Medical Association gave heroin its stamp of approval in 1907.
But reports of addiction, which had already started appearing in 1899, turned into a torrent after several years. Bayer had wisely released aspirin the year after heroin, and this new non-addictive painkiller and anti-inflammatory was well on its way to becoming the most popular drug ever. In 1913, Bayer got out of the heroin business.
Not that the company has kept its nose clean since then:
A division of the pharmaceutical company Bayer sold millions of dollars of blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs --- medicine that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS --- to Asia and Latin America in the mid-1980s while selling a new, safer product in the West, according to documents obtained by The New York Times...[l] Hong Kong and Taiwan alone, more than 100 hemophiliacs got HIV after using Cutter's old medicine, according to records and interviews. Many have since died.
Aristotle Set Back Science For Around 2,000 Years
Aristotle may have been a genius when it came to philosophy---especially logic---but he didn't know squat about science. Sure, we can't excel in every field we try our hand in, but Aristotle's massive errors aren't just a personal embarrassment to him---they directly hampered scientific progress for 1,800 to 2,000 years.
The problem is that from the time he was alive (the fourth century BC) until the Enlightenment, when Aristotle said something, that was the end of the argument. Isaac Asimov notes, perhaps with a tinge of jealousy: "No matter who disagreed with them, even other philosophers, Aristotle's ideas --- whether right or wrong --- usually won out." Chemist John Appeldoorn writes that "Aristotle's teachings were unquestioned. After eighteen centuries accepted them as if they had been written in stone.
For example, Aristotle didn't believe that plants were divided into male and female sexes, so there the matter stood for two millennia, until botanists stated the obvious in the 1700s.
He was also wrong about inertia, and again the world had to wait --- this time for Galileo, followed by Newton --- to speak the truth that objects in motion stay in motion, while objects at rest stay at rest, unless acted upon by outside forces.
Like most Greeks, Aristotle championed the view that the Sun and planets revolved around the Earth. Copernicus (in the early 1500s) and Galileo (100 years later) had to risk their reputations and their lives to put the kibosh on that nonsense.
He further surmised that outer space was made up of 54 spheres and that there were only seven heavenly bodies, which were fixed and unchanging. This meant, for one thing, that comets had to be in Earth's atmosphere. Only in 1577 was this notion put out to pasture. Over the next 50 years, belief in the heavenly spheres faded.
Aristotle declared that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones, an error that could've been exposed with simple experiments. It wasn't until 1,900 years later that Galileo dropped objects off the Tower of Pisa, proving that all things obey gravity at the same rate. By that time, Galileo already had been kicked out of the University of Pisa for daring to question Aristotle's theory.
Some Greeks, including Democritus and Hippocrates, surmised that the brain was the seat of thought, intelligence, and emotion. Tish tosh, said Aristotle, it's the heart --- and that became the accepted wisdom. Aristotle wrote: "The brain is an organ of minor importance, perhaps necessary to cool the blood." Because Greek physicians primarily held brain-centered views, that remained a strong undercurrent, yet Aristotle's heart view dominated until the 1500s.
A fellow Greek philosopher, Democritus, postulated that the physical world was made up of tiny pieces of matter, which he called atoms. But Aristotle pooh-poohed this ridiculous notion, causing it to languish in obscurity until the second half of the 1600s, when scientists began to resurrect it. It wasn't until the first years of the 1800s that the existence of atoms was universally accepted.
Who knows how much further science would've progressed if Aristotle had stuck to syllogisms?
The problem is that from the time he was alive (the fourth century BC) until the Enlightenment, when Aristotle said something, that was the end of the argument. Isaac Asimov notes, perhaps with a tinge of jealousy: "No matter who disagreed with them, even other philosophers, Aristotle's ideas --- whether right or wrong --- usually won out." Chemist John Appeldoorn writes that "Aristotle's teachings were unquestioned. After eighteen centuries accepted them as if they had been written in stone.
For example, Aristotle didn't believe that plants were divided into male and female sexes, so there the matter stood for two millennia, until botanists stated the obvious in the 1700s.
He was also wrong about inertia, and again the world had to wait --- this time for Galileo, followed by Newton --- to speak the truth that objects in motion stay in motion, while objects at rest stay at rest, unless acted upon by outside forces.
Like most Greeks, Aristotle championed the view that the Sun and planets revolved around the Earth. Copernicus (in the early 1500s) and Galileo (100 years later) had to risk their reputations and their lives to put the kibosh on that nonsense.
He further surmised that outer space was made up of 54 spheres and that there were only seven heavenly bodies, which were fixed and unchanging. This meant, for one thing, that comets had to be in Earth's atmosphere. Only in 1577 was this notion put out to pasture. Over the next 50 years, belief in the heavenly spheres faded.
Aristotle declared that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones, an error that could've been exposed with simple experiments. It wasn't until 1,900 years later that Galileo dropped objects off the Tower of Pisa, proving that all things obey gravity at the same rate. By that time, Galileo already had been kicked out of the University of Pisa for daring to question Aristotle's theory.
Some Greeks, including Democritus and Hippocrates, surmised that the brain was the seat of thought, intelligence, and emotion. Tish tosh, said Aristotle, it's the heart --- and that became the accepted wisdom. Aristotle wrote: "The brain is an organ of minor importance, perhaps necessary to cool the blood." Because Greek physicians primarily held brain-centered views, that remained a strong undercurrent, yet Aristotle's heart view dominated until the 1500s.
A fellow Greek philosopher, Democritus, postulated that the physical world was made up of tiny pieces of matter, which he called atoms. But Aristotle pooh-poohed this ridiculous notion, causing it to languish in obscurity until the second half of the 1600s, when scientists began to resurrect it. It wasn't until the first years of the 1800s that the existence of atoms was universally accepted.
Who knows how much further science would've progressed if Aristotle had stuck to syllogisms?
Thursday, April 16, 2015
The World's Museums Contain Innumerable Fakes
The next time you're marveling at a painting, a statue by Michelangelo, or a carving from ancient Egypt, don't be absolutely sure that you're looking at the genuine article. Art fakery has been around since ancient times and is still in full swing---museums, galleries, and private collections around the world are stocked with phonies. This fact comes to us from an insider's insider---Thomas Hoving, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In his book False Impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes, he writes:
The fact is that there are so many phonies and doctored pieces around these days that at times, I almost believe that there are as many bogus works as genuine ones. In the decade and a half that I was with the Metropolitan Museum of Art I must have examined fifty thousand works in all fields. Fully 40 percent were either phonies or so hypocritically restored or so misattributed that they were just the same as forgeries. Since then I'm sure that the percentage has risen. What few art professionals seem to want to admit is that the art world we are living in today is a new, highly active, unprincipled one of art fakery.
Ancient Egyptian objects are particularly likely to be bogus. Furthermore, Hoving estimates that the fraud rate for religious artifacts from pagan and early Christian times is literally 99 percent. As many as 5,000 fake Durers were created after the master's death, and half of Vienna master Egon Schiele's pencil drawings are fakes.
But it isn't just current con artists making this junk; the ancients did it, too. For around a millennia, Romans couldn't get enough of Greek statues, gems, glasses, and other objects, so forgers stepped in to fill the demand. Hoving writes:
The volume was so great that Seneca the Elder (ca. 55BC - AD 39) is recorded by a contemporaneous historian as remarking that there were no fewer than a half dozen workshops in the first century AD working full time in Rome on just colored gems and intaglios. Today it's almost impossible to tell what's genuinely ancient Greek and what's Roman fakery, because those gems and intaglios are made of material that dates to ancient times and the style is near perfect.
Art forgery isn't the realm of nobodies, either. During certain periods of all their lives, Renaissance masters Donatello and Verochio put bread on the table by creating faux antiquities. Rubens painted copiers of earlier artists. El Greco's assistants created five or six copies of their boss' work, each of which was then passed off as the original (and they're still wrongly considered the originals).
Hoving reveals that pretty much every museum has at one time or another been suckered into buying and displaying fakes, and many are still showing them. Of course, most of the examples he uses are from the Met, but he also says that phony works still sit in the Louvre, the Getty, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Vatican, among others. (Hoving estimates that 90 percent of the ancient Roman statues in the Holy See's collection are actually eighteenth-century European knock-offs.)
Revealing further examples, the Independent of London catalogs three Goyas in the Met that are now attributed to other artists: Rodin sketches actually done by his mistress; Fragonard's popular Le baiser a la derobee (The Stolen Kiss), which seems to have been painted by his sister-in-law; and many Rubens works actually created by the artist's students. According to the newspaper: "The Rembrandt Research Committee claims that most works attributed to Rembrandt were in fact collaborative studio pieces."
It's enough to make you question the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
The fact is that there are so many phonies and doctored pieces around these days that at times, I almost believe that there are as many bogus works as genuine ones. In the decade and a half that I was with the Metropolitan Museum of Art I must have examined fifty thousand works in all fields. Fully 40 percent were either phonies or so hypocritically restored or so misattributed that they were just the same as forgeries. Since then I'm sure that the percentage has risen. What few art professionals seem to want to admit is that the art world we are living in today is a new, highly active, unprincipled one of art fakery.
Ancient Egyptian objects are particularly likely to be bogus. Furthermore, Hoving estimates that the fraud rate for religious artifacts from pagan and early Christian times is literally 99 percent. As many as 5,000 fake Durers were created after the master's death, and half of Vienna master Egon Schiele's pencil drawings are fakes.
But it isn't just current con artists making this junk; the ancients did it, too. For around a millennia, Romans couldn't get enough of Greek statues, gems, glasses, and other objects, so forgers stepped in to fill the demand. Hoving writes:
The volume was so great that Seneca the Elder (ca. 55BC - AD 39) is recorded by a contemporaneous historian as remarking that there were no fewer than a half dozen workshops in the first century AD working full time in Rome on just colored gems and intaglios. Today it's almost impossible to tell what's genuinely ancient Greek and what's Roman fakery, because those gems and intaglios are made of material that dates to ancient times and the style is near perfect.
Art forgery isn't the realm of nobodies, either. During certain periods of all their lives, Renaissance masters Donatello and Verochio put bread on the table by creating faux antiquities. Rubens painted copiers of earlier artists. El Greco's assistants created five or six copies of their boss' work, each of which was then passed off as the original (and they're still wrongly considered the originals).
Hoving reveals that pretty much every museum has at one time or another been suckered into buying and displaying fakes, and many are still showing them. Of course, most of the examples he uses are from the Met, but he also says that phony works still sit in the Louvre, the Getty, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Vatican, among others. (Hoving estimates that 90 percent of the ancient Roman statues in the Holy See's collection are actually eighteenth-century European knock-offs.)
Revealing further examples, the Independent of London catalogs three Goyas in the Met that are now attributed to other artists: Rodin sketches actually done by his mistress; Fragonard's popular Le baiser a la derobee (The Stolen Kiss), which seems to have been painted by his sister-in-law; and many Rubens works actually created by the artist's students. According to the newspaper: "The Rembrandt Research Committee claims that most works attributed to Rembrandt were in fact collaborative studio pieces."
It's enough to make you question the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
James Audubon Killed All The Birds He Painted
One of America's great naturalists, John James Audubon painted highly realistic portraits of practically every type of bird in North America. The self-taught artist's resulting four-volume collection of life-size paintings, The Birds of America (1827-38), is regarded as both an artistic and an ornithological masterpiece, and reproductions of his work are still brightening walls around the world.
But exactly how Audubon was able to capture our feathered friends' likenesses so completely is usually glossed over. The Encyclopedia Britannica fails to even broach the subject. The Audubon Society's page on their namesake mentions that he loved the hunt, but the connection is never explicitly made. Audubon shot all the birds he painted. He then used wires to pose the corpses of these hawks, falcons, partridges, sparrows, woodpeckers, and other winged creatures before putting brush to canvas. In one diary entry, he writes about sneaking up on a large group of sleeping pelicans and blasting two of them before his gun jammed and the awakened survivors took off (he was disappointed that he didn't get to kill them all). And when hunting snoozing avians in the wild was too much trouble, he resorted to other methods. He once bought a caged eagle, killed it, then captured its likeness.
One of Audubons biographers, Duff Hart-Davis, reveals: "The rarer the bird, the more eagerly he pursued it, never apparently worrying that by killing it he might hasten the extinction of its kind."
Over 1,000 individual birds appear in Audubon's paintings, but we know that the body count is much higher. He didn't feel some kills worthy of being painted. Others were put on canvas, but the artist was dissatisfied with his work and never displayed it. In other cases, he had already painted a specific type of bird but then found an intriguing individual variation, so he just had to blow it away.
He once wrote: "I call birds few when I shoot less than one hundred per day."
But exactly how Audubon was able to capture our feathered friends' likenesses so completely is usually glossed over. The Encyclopedia Britannica fails to even broach the subject. The Audubon Society's page on their namesake mentions that he loved the hunt, but the connection is never explicitly made. Audubon shot all the birds he painted. He then used wires to pose the corpses of these hawks, falcons, partridges, sparrows, woodpeckers, and other winged creatures before putting brush to canvas. In one diary entry, he writes about sneaking up on a large group of sleeping pelicans and blasting two of them before his gun jammed and the awakened survivors took off (he was disappointed that he didn't get to kill them all). And when hunting snoozing avians in the wild was too much trouble, he resorted to other methods. He once bought a caged eagle, killed it, then captured its likeness.
One of Audubons biographers, Duff Hart-Davis, reveals: "The rarer the bird, the more eagerly he pursued it, never apparently worrying that by killing it he might hasten the extinction of its kind."
Over 1,000 individual birds appear in Audubon's paintings, but we know that the body count is much higher. He didn't feel some kills worthy of being painted. Others were put on canvas, but the artist was dissatisfied with his work and never displayed it. In other cases, he had already painted a specific type of bird but then found an intriguing individual variation, so he just had to blow it away.
He once wrote: "I call birds few when I shoot less than one hundred per day."
Gandhi Refused To Let His Dying Wife Take Penicillin, Yet Took Quinine To Save Himself
Gandhi is often ranked, directly or subtly, alongside Jesus Christ, and Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the greatest peacemakers---indeed, one of the greatest human beings---of all time. The mythology that surrounds him---which he built, leaving his followers, admirers, and hagiographers to reinforce and embellish---has almost completely smothered the many unflattering facts about him. In such a compact book, space doesn't permit a full exploration of Gandhi's numerous, consequential skeletons---his racism toward blacks and whites, his betrayal of the Untouchables, his acquiescence toward the Nazis. Instead, lets focus on something more personal and, in fact some ways, more upsetting.
In August 1942, Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, among others, were imprisoned by the British in Aga Khan Palace near Poona. Kasturba had poor circulation, and she'd weathered several heart attacks. While detained in the palace, she developed bronchial pneumonia. One of her four sons, Devadas, wanted her to take penicillin. Gandhi refused. He was okay with her receiving traditional remedies, such as water from the Ganges, but he refused her any medicines, including this newfangled antibiotic, saying that the Almighty would have to heal her.
The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi quotes him on February 19, 1944: "If God wills it, He will pull her through." Gandhi: A Life adds this wisdom from the Mahatma: "You cannot cure your mother now, no matter what wonder drugs you may muster. She is in God's hands now." Three days later, Devadas was still pushing for the penicillin, but Gandhi shot back: "Why don't you trust God?" Kasturba died that day.
The next night, Gandhi cried out: "But how God tested my faith!" He told one of Kasturba's doctors that the antibiotic wouldn't have saved her and that allowing her to have it "would have meant the bankruptcy of my faith." (Emphasis mine.)
But Gandhi's faith wasn't much of an obstacle a short time later when it was his ass on the line. A mere six weeks after Kasturba died, Gandhi was flattened by malaria. He stuck to an all-liquid diet as his doctors tried to convince him to take quinine. But Gandhi completely refused and died of the disease, right? No, actually, after three weeks of deterioration, he took the diabolical drug and quickly recovered. That stuff about trusting God's will and testing faith only applied when his wife's life hung in the balance. When he needed a drug to stave off the Grim Reaper, down the hatch it went.
In August 1942, Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, among others, were imprisoned by the British in Aga Khan Palace near Poona. Kasturba had poor circulation, and she'd weathered several heart attacks. While detained in the palace, she developed bronchial pneumonia. One of her four sons, Devadas, wanted her to take penicillin. Gandhi refused. He was okay with her receiving traditional remedies, such as water from the Ganges, but he refused her any medicines, including this newfangled antibiotic, saying that the Almighty would have to heal her.
The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi quotes him on February 19, 1944: "If God wills it, He will pull her through." Gandhi: A Life adds this wisdom from the Mahatma: "You cannot cure your mother now, no matter what wonder drugs you may muster. She is in God's hands now." Three days later, Devadas was still pushing for the penicillin, but Gandhi shot back: "Why don't you trust God?" Kasturba died that day.
The next night, Gandhi cried out: "But how God tested my faith!" He told one of Kasturba's doctors that the antibiotic wouldn't have saved her and that allowing her to have it "would have meant the bankruptcy of my faith." (Emphasis mine.)
But Gandhi's faith wasn't much of an obstacle a short time later when it was his ass on the line. A mere six weeks after Kasturba died, Gandhi was flattened by malaria. He stuck to an all-liquid diet as his doctors tried to convince him to take quinine. But Gandhi completely refused and died of the disease, right? No, actually, after three weeks of deterioration, he took the diabolical drug and quickly recovered. That stuff about trusting God's will and testing faith only applied when his wife's life hung in the balance. When he needed a drug to stave off the Grim Reaper, down the hatch it went.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Play That Funky Music II
In every show Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks) wrote, there was at least one song about rain.
Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady" was written about Vince Neil of Motley Crue.
Andy Warhol created The Rolling Stones' emblem depicting the big tongue. It first appeared on the cover of the Sticky Fingers album.
"Happy Birthday to You" is the most often sung song in America.
The band Steely Dan got its name from a sexual device depicted in the book Naked Lunch.
Al Kooper played keyboards for Bob Dylan before he was famous.
Frank Sinatra was once quoted as saying that rock 'n' roll was only played by "cretinous goons."
Jim Morrison of the Doors was the first rock star to be arrested onstage.
Mr. Mojo Risin is an anagram for Jim Morrison.
Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison were all twenty-seven years old when they died.
Karen Carpenter's doorbell chimed the first six notes of "We've Only Just Begun."
Madonna once did a commercial for Pepsi.
Mick Jagger attended the London School of Economics for two years.
Shannon Hoon, the late lead singer of the group Blind Melon, was a backup singer for Guns N' Roses on their Use Your Illusion I album.
Sheryl Crow's two front teeth are fake. She knocked them out when she tripped onstage earlier in her career.
Michael Jackson is black.
Long Live The King of Rock
Elvis Presley had a twin brother named Garon, who died at birth. Elvis's middle name was spelled Aron in honor of his brother.
Elvis loved to eat meatloaf and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. He weighed 230 pounds at the time of his death.
Elvis failed music class in school.
Elvis never gave an encore.
Elvis was once appointed Special Agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. According to Elvis's autopsy, he had ten different drugs in his body at the time of his death.
Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady" was written about Vince Neil of Motley Crue.
Andy Warhol created The Rolling Stones' emblem depicting the big tongue. It first appeared on the cover of the Sticky Fingers album.
"Happy Birthday to You" is the most often sung song in America.
The band Steely Dan got its name from a sexual device depicted in the book Naked Lunch.
Al Kooper played keyboards for Bob Dylan before he was famous.
Frank Sinatra was once quoted as saying that rock 'n' roll was only played by "cretinous goons."
Jim Morrison of the Doors was the first rock star to be arrested onstage.
Mr. Mojo Risin is an anagram for Jim Morrison.
Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison were all twenty-seven years old when they died.
Karen Carpenter's doorbell chimed the first six notes of "We've Only Just Begun."
Madonna once did a commercial for Pepsi.
Mick Jagger attended the London School of Economics for two years.
Shannon Hoon, the late lead singer of the group Blind Melon, was a backup singer for Guns N' Roses on their Use Your Illusion I album.
Sheryl Crow's two front teeth are fake. She knocked them out when she tripped onstage earlier in her career.
Michael Jackson is black.
Long Live The King of Rock
Elvis Presley had a twin brother named Garon, who died at birth. Elvis's middle name was spelled Aron in honor of his brother.
Elvis loved to eat meatloaf and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. He weighed 230 pounds at the time of his death.
Elvis failed music class in school.
Elvis never gave an encore.
Elvis was once appointed Special Agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. According to Elvis's autopsy, he had ten different drugs in his body at the time of his death.
Play That Funky Music I
At age forty-seven, The Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with thirteen-year-old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill's thirty- year-old son, Stephen, married Mandy's mother, age forty-six. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father's father-in-law and his own grandfather.
The music hall entertainer Nosmo King derived his stage name from a NO SMOKING sign.
Jonathan Houseman Davis, lead singer of Korn, was born a Presbyterian but converted to Catholicism because his mother wanted to marry his stepfather in a Catholic church.
Nick Mason is the only member of Pink Floyd to appear on all the band's albums.
The naked baby on the cover of Nirvana's album Nevermind is named Spencer Eldon.
The 1980s song "Rosanna" was written about Rosanna Arquette.
The B-52s were named after a 1950s hairdo.
The band Duran Duran got their name from a character in the 1968 movie Barbarella.
The Beach Boys formed in 1961.
The bestselling Christmas single of all time is Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."
The first CD pressed in the United States was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
The Grateful Dead were once called The Mugwumps.
The only member of the band ZZ Top to not have a beard has the last name Beard.
There is a band named "A Life-Threatening Buttocks Condition."
The song with the longest title is " I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-O-Beat-O Flat-On-My- Seat-O, Hirohito Blues," written by Hoagy Carmichael. He later claimed the song title ended with "Yank" and the rest was a joke.
Tommy James got the inspiration to write his number-one hit "Mony Mony" while he was in a New York hotel looking at the Mutual of New York buildings neon sign flashing repeatedly: M-O-N-Y.
ABBA got its name by taking the first letter from each of the band members' names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, and Anni-frid).
The opera singer Enrico Caruso practiced in the bath, while accompanied by a pianist in a nearby room.
Enrico Caruso and Roy Orbison were the only tenors in the twentieth century capable of hitting the note E over high C.
The music hall entertainer Nosmo King derived his stage name from a NO SMOKING sign.
Jonathan Houseman Davis, lead singer of Korn, was born a Presbyterian but converted to Catholicism because his mother wanted to marry his stepfather in a Catholic church.
Nick Mason is the only member of Pink Floyd to appear on all the band's albums.
The naked baby on the cover of Nirvana's album Nevermind is named Spencer Eldon.
The 1980s song "Rosanna" was written about Rosanna Arquette.
The B-52s were named after a 1950s hairdo.
The band Duran Duran got their name from a character in the 1968 movie Barbarella.
The Beach Boys formed in 1961.
The bestselling Christmas single of all time is Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."
The first CD pressed in the United States was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
The Grateful Dead were once called The Mugwumps.
The only member of the band ZZ Top to not have a beard has the last name Beard.
There is a band named "A Life-Threatening Buttocks Condition."
The song with the longest title is " I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-O-Beat-O Flat-On-My- Seat-O, Hirohito Blues," written by Hoagy Carmichael. He later claimed the song title ended with "Yank" and the rest was a joke.
Tommy James got the inspiration to write his number-one hit "Mony Mony" while he was in a New York hotel looking at the Mutual of New York buildings neon sign flashing repeatedly: M-O-N-Y.
ABBA got its name by taking the first letter from each of the band members' names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, and Anni-frid).
The opera singer Enrico Caruso practiced in the bath, while accompanied by a pianist in a nearby room.
Enrico Caruso and Roy Orbison were the only tenors in the twentieth century capable of hitting the note E over high C.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Bible Talk
Almost all the villains in the Bible have red hair.
The last word in the Bible is Amen.
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalms 119.
There are more than 1,700 references to gems and precious stones in the King James Version of the Bible.
The Bible is the number-one shoplifted book in America.
The book of Esther in the Bible is the only book that does not mention the name of God.
The term devil's advocate comes from the Roman Catholic Church. When deciding if someone should be sainted, a devil's advocate is always appointed to give an alternative view.
The Bible has been translated into Klingon.
It is believed that Skakespeare was forty six around the time the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the forty-sixth word from the first word is shake, and the forty-sixth word from the last word is spear.
Every minute, forty-seven Bibles are sold or distributed throughout the world.
According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.
All Hebrew-originating names that end with the letters "el" have something to do with God.
A seventeenth-century Swedish philologist claimed that in the Garden of Eden God spoke Swedish, Adam spoke Danish, and the serpent spoke French.
The last word in the Bible is Amen.
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalms 119.
There are more than 1,700 references to gems and precious stones in the King James Version of the Bible.
The Bible is the number-one shoplifted book in America.
The book of Esther in the Bible is the only book that does not mention the name of God.
The term devil's advocate comes from the Roman Catholic Church. When deciding if someone should be sainted, a devil's advocate is always appointed to give an alternative view.
The Bible has been translated into Klingon.
It is believed that Skakespeare was forty six around the time the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the forty-sixth word from the first word is shake, and the forty-sixth word from the last word is spear.
Every minute, forty-seven Bibles are sold or distributed throughout the world.
According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.
All Hebrew-originating names that end with the letters "el" have something to do with God.
A seventeenth-century Swedish philologist claimed that in the Garden of Eden God spoke Swedish, Adam spoke Danish, and the serpent spoke French.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
In Case You Were Wondering III
Sekkusu means "sex" in Japanese.
Spain literally means "the land of rabbits."
The "You Are Here" arrow on a map is called the IDEO locator.
The third year of marriage is the leather anniversary.
The abbreviation "e.g." stands for "exempli gratia," or "for example."
The abbreviation for pound "lb.," comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning "balance."
The French term bourrage de crane for wartime propaganda means "brain stuffing."
The infinity character on the keyboard is called a lemniscate.
The Japanese translation of switch is pronounced suitchi.
The name for fungal remains found in coal is Sclerotinite.
The phrase "jet lag" was once called boat lag, back before airplanes existed.
The Sanskrit word for war means "desire for more cows."
The slang word crap comes from T. Crapper, the man who invented the modern toilet.
The slash character is called virgule, or solidus. A URL uses slash characters, not backslash characters.
The word karate means "empty hand."
The word byte is a contraction of "by eight."
Trabant is the German word for "satellite."
Zorro means "fox" in Spanish.
A coward was originally a boy who took care of cows.
A group of officers is called a mess.
The next-to-last event is the penultimate, and the second-to-last is the antepenultimate.
SEMANTICS
Naked means "to be unprotected"; nude means "unclothed."
A hamlet is a village without a church, and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral.
Spain literally means "the land of rabbits."
The "You Are Here" arrow on a map is called the IDEO locator.
The third year of marriage is the leather anniversary.
The abbreviation "e.g." stands for "exempli gratia," or "for example."
The abbreviation for pound "lb.," comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning "balance."
The French term bourrage de crane for wartime propaganda means "brain stuffing."
The infinity character on the keyboard is called a lemniscate.
The Japanese translation of switch is pronounced suitchi.
The name for fungal remains found in coal is Sclerotinite.
The phrase "jet lag" was once called boat lag, back before airplanes existed.
The Sanskrit word for war means "desire for more cows."
The slang word crap comes from T. Crapper, the man who invented the modern toilet.
The slash character is called virgule, or solidus. A URL uses slash characters, not backslash characters.
The word karate means "empty hand."
The word byte is a contraction of "by eight."
Trabant is the German word for "satellite."
Zorro means "fox" in Spanish.
A coward was originally a boy who took care of cows.
A group of officers is called a mess.
The next-to-last event is the penultimate, and the second-to-last is the antepenultimate.
SEMANTICS
Naked means "to be unprotected"; nude means "unclothed."
A hamlet is a village without a church, and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral.
In Case You Were Wondering II
Women who wink at men are known as nictiting women.
A necropsy is an autopsy on animals.
A poem written to celebrate a wedding is called an epithalamium.
A scholar who studies the Marquis de Sade is called a Sadian, not a Sadist.
According to author Douglas Adams, a salween is the faint taste of dishwashing liquid in a cup of fresh tea.
Alma mater means "bountiful mother."
An animal epidemic is called epizootic.
Degringolade means "to fall and disintegrate."
Dendrology is the study of trees.
Dibble means "to drink like a duck."
EEG stands for electroencephalogram.
EMI stands for electrical and musical instrument.
Groaking is to watch people eating in the hope that they will offer you some.
"Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word seppuku, which means, literally, "belly splitting."
It is possible to drown and not die. Technically, the term drowning refers to the process of taking water into the lungs, not to death caused by that process.
Karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese.
Kemosabe means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.
Koala is Aboriginal for "no drink."
Lead poisoning is known as plumbism.
Scatologists are experts who study feces.
A necropsy is an autopsy on animals.
A poem written to celebrate a wedding is called an epithalamium.
A scholar who studies the Marquis de Sade is called a Sadian, not a Sadist.
According to author Douglas Adams, a salween is the faint taste of dishwashing liquid in a cup of fresh tea.
Alma mater means "bountiful mother."
An animal epidemic is called epizootic.
Degringolade means "to fall and disintegrate."
Dendrology is the study of trees.
Dibble means "to drink like a duck."
EEG stands for electroencephalogram.
EMI stands for electrical and musical instrument.
Groaking is to watch people eating in the hope that they will offer you some.
"Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word seppuku, which means, literally, "belly splitting."
It is possible to drown and not die. Technically, the term drowning refers to the process of taking water into the lungs, not to death caused by that process.
Karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese.
Kemosabe means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.
Koala is Aboriginal for "no drink."
Lead poisoning is known as plumbism.
Scatologists are experts who study feces.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
In Case You Were Wondering l
A prestidigitator is another word for magician.
A castrated rooster is called a capon.
A conchologist studies mollusks and shells.
A deltiologist collects postcards.
A fingerprint is also known as a dactylogram.
A funambulist is a tightrope walker.
A horologist measures time.
A klazomaniac is someone who feels like shouting.
A librocubicularist is someone who reads in bed.
A phrenologist feels and interprets skull features.
A sultan's wife is called a sultana.
An anthropophagite eats people.
Killing a king is called regicide.
Spat-out food is called chanking.
The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck.
A fox's tail is called a brush.
The two ends of a magnet are called poles.
The word diastima refers to having a gap between your teeth.
The word lethologica describes the state of not remembering the word you want to say.
The word samba means to rub navels together.
When your sink is full, the little hole that lets the water drain, instead of flowing over the side, is called a porcelator.
A castrated rooster is called a capon.
A conchologist studies mollusks and shells.
A deltiologist collects postcards.
A fingerprint is also known as a dactylogram.
A funambulist is a tightrope walker.
A horologist measures time.
A klazomaniac is someone who feels like shouting.
A librocubicularist is someone who reads in bed.
A phrenologist feels and interprets skull features.
A sultan's wife is called a sultana.
An anthropophagite eats people.
Killing a king is called regicide.
Spat-out food is called chanking.
The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck.
A fox's tail is called a brush.
The two ends of a magnet are called poles.
The word diastima refers to having a gap between your teeth.
The word lethologica describes the state of not remembering the word you want to say.
The word samba means to rub navels together.
When your sink is full, the little hole that lets the water drain, instead of flowing over the side, is called a porcelator.
What Are You Afraid Of?
A phonophobe fears noise.
Carcinomaphobia is the fear of cancer.
Paedophobia is a fear of children.
Nyctohylophobia is a fear of dark wooded areas, or forests at night.
Pyrophobia is the fear f fire.
Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.
Telephonophobia is the fear of telephones.
Papaphobia is the fear of popes.
Nycrophobia is the fear of darkness.
Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables.
Entomophobia is the fear of insects.
Eosophobia is the fear of dawn.
Clinophobia is the fear of beds.
A gynaephobic man fears women.
Arnold Schonberg suffered from triskaidecphobia, the fear of the number thirteen. He died thirteen minutes from midnight on Friday the thirteenth.
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
Zoophobia is the fear of animals.
Tonsurphobia is the fear of haircuts.
Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners.
Phobatrivaphobia is the fear of trivia about phobias.
Carcinomaphobia is the fear of cancer.
Paedophobia is a fear of children.
Nyctohylophobia is a fear of dark wooded areas, or forests at night.
Pyrophobia is the fear f fire.
Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.
Telephonophobia is the fear of telephones.
Papaphobia is the fear of popes.
Nycrophobia is the fear of darkness.
Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables.
Entomophobia is the fear of insects.
Eosophobia is the fear of dawn.
Clinophobia is the fear of beds.
A gynaephobic man fears women.
Arnold Schonberg suffered from triskaidecphobia, the fear of the number thirteen. He died thirteen minutes from midnight on Friday the thirteenth.
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
Zoophobia is the fear of animals.
Tonsurphobia is the fear of haircuts.
Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners.
Phobatrivaphobia is the fear of trivia about phobias.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Bible Journalism
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Who was Simon Peter's brother?
A. James
B. Andrew
C. John
D. Simple Simon
2. For the miracle at the wedding in Cana, how many stone jars did Jesus tell the servants to fill with water?
A. five
B. six
C. seven
D. seven times seventy-seven
3. Sick people waited at the Pool of Bethesda for the angel to:
A. cure them
B. dry up the water
C. Touch the water
D. perform show tunes
4. When Jesus told the weeping people that Jairus' daughter was not dead, they:
A. laughed at him
B. continued crying
C. went home
D. did back flips
5. How many times did Jesus say we should forgive others?
A. seven
B. never, if they are unrepentant
C. always
D. only if they are sorry
6. Jesus said that when we pray we must:
A. ask twice
B. ask for things only once
C. never give up
D. pretend to be using a phone
7. Lazarus died in what town?
A. Jerusalem
B. Nazareth
C. Bethany
D. Funky town
8. After His resurrection, how many disciples did Jesus talk to on the road to Emmaus?
A. Two
B. Five
C. Twelve
D. All of them
9. Whom did the apostles choose to replace Judas?
A. Jude
B. Joseph
C. Mathias
D. Alf
10. When the blind man told the leaders that Jesus had cured him, they:
A. believed him
B. said Jesus was not from God
C. wanted to know more
D. blinded him
1. Who was Simon Peter's brother?
A. James
B. Andrew
C. John
D. Simple Simon
2. For the miracle at the wedding in Cana, how many stone jars did Jesus tell the servants to fill with water?
A. five
B. six
C. seven
D. seven times seventy-seven
3. Sick people waited at the Pool of Bethesda for the angel to:
A. cure them
B. dry up the water
C. Touch the water
D. perform show tunes
4. When Jesus told the weeping people that Jairus' daughter was not dead, they:
A. laughed at him
B. continued crying
C. went home
D. did back flips
5. How many times did Jesus say we should forgive others?
A. seven
B. never, if they are unrepentant
C. always
D. only if they are sorry
6. Jesus said that when we pray we must:
A. ask twice
B. ask for things only once
C. never give up
D. pretend to be using a phone
7. Lazarus died in what town?
A. Jerusalem
B. Nazareth
C. Bethany
D. Funky town
8. After His resurrection, how many disciples did Jesus talk to on the road to Emmaus?
A. Two
B. Five
C. Twelve
D. All of them
9. Whom did the apostles choose to replace Judas?
A. Jude
B. Joseph
C. Mathias
D. Alf
10. When the blind man told the leaders that Jesus had cured him, they:
A. believed him
B. said Jesus was not from God
C. wanted to know more
D. blinded him
Thursday, April 9, 2015
The Virginia Colonists Practiced Cannibalism
During the harsh winter of 1609-1610, British subjects in the famous colony of Jamestown, Virginia, ate their dead and their shit. This fact doesn't make it into very many US history textbooks, and the state's official Website apparently forgot to mention it in their history section.
When you think about it rationally, this fact should be a part of mainstream history. After all it demonstrates the strong will to survive among the colonists. It shows the mind-boggling hardships they endured and overcame. Yet the taboo against eating these two items is so overpowering that this episode can't be mentioned in conventional history.
Luckily, an unconventional historian, Howard Zinn, revealed this fact in his classic A People's History of the United States. Food was so nonexistent during that winter, only 60 out of 500 colonists survived. A government document from that time gives the gruesome details:
Driven thru insufferable hunger to eat those things which nature most abhorred, the flesh and excrements of man as well of our nation as of an Indian, digged by some out of his grave after he had lain buried three days and wholly devoured him; others, envying the better state of the body of any whom hunger has not yet so much wasted as their own, lay wait and threatened to kill and eat them; one among slew his wife as she slept in his bosom, cut her in pieces, salted her and fed upon her till he had clean devoured all parts saving her head.
When you think about it rationally, this fact should be a part of mainstream history. After all it demonstrates the strong will to survive among the colonists. It shows the mind-boggling hardships they endured and overcame. Yet the taboo against eating these two items is so overpowering that this episode can't be mentioned in conventional history.
Luckily, an unconventional historian, Howard Zinn, revealed this fact in his classic A People's History of the United States. Food was so nonexistent during that winter, only 60 out of 500 colonists survived. A government document from that time gives the gruesome details:
Driven thru insufferable hunger to eat those things which nature most abhorred, the flesh and excrements of man as well of our nation as of an Indian, digged by some out of his grave after he had lain buried three days and wholly devoured him; others, envying the better state of the body of any whom hunger has not yet so much wasted as their own, lay wait and threatened to kill and eat them; one among slew his wife as she slept in his bosom, cut her in pieces, salted her and fed upon her till he had clean devoured all parts saving her head.
Around One Quarter Of "Witches" Were Men
The word "witch" has become synonymous with "woman accused of working magic," and the consensus tells us that the witch trials in Europe and Colonial America were simply a war against women (ie, "genocide"). Most popular works on the subject ignore the men who were accused and executed for supposedly practicing witchcraft. Academic works that don't omit male witches usually explain them away, as if they were just a few special cases that don't really count.
Into this gap step Andrew Gow, an associate professor of history at the University of Alberta, and one of his grad students, Lara Apps. Their book Male Witches in Early Modern Europe scours the literature and finds that, of the 110,000 people tried for witchcraft and the 60,000 executed from 1450 to 1750, somewhere between 20 to 25 percent were men.
This is an average across Europe, the British Isles, and the American Colonies; the gender ratios vary widely from place to place. The lowest percentages of males were persecuted in the Basel region of Switzerland (5 percent) and in Hungary (10 percent). Places that hovered around the 50/50 mark were Finland (49 percent) and Burgundy (52 percent). Men were clear majority of "witches" in Estonia (60 percent) and Norway (73 percent). During Iceland's witch craze, from 1625 to 1685, an amazing 110 out of 120 "witches" were men, for a percentage of 92. As for America, almost a third of those executed during the infamous Salem witch trials (six out of nineteen) were men.
Besides bringing these numbers to light, professor Gow and pupil Apps present serious challenges to the attempts to erase male witches from the picture. For example, some writers claim that the men were caught up in the hysteria solely because they were related to accused women. In this scenario, the men were only "secondary targets" ("collateral damage," perhaps?). But in numerous instances men were persecuted by themselves. In other cases, a woman became a secondary target after her husband had been singled out as a witch.
Although women were the overall majority of victims, the "burning times" were pretty rough for men, too.
Into this gap step Andrew Gow, an associate professor of history at the University of Alberta, and one of his grad students, Lara Apps. Their book Male Witches in Early Modern Europe scours the literature and finds that, of the 110,000 people tried for witchcraft and the 60,000 executed from 1450 to 1750, somewhere between 20 to 25 percent were men.
This is an average across Europe, the British Isles, and the American Colonies; the gender ratios vary widely from place to place. The lowest percentages of males were persecuted in the Basel region of Switzerland (5 percent) and in Hungary (10 percent). Places that hovered around the 50/50 mark were Finland (49 percent) and Burgundy (52 percent). Men were clear majority of "witches" in Estonia (60 percent) and Norway (73 percent). During Iceland's witch craze, from 1625 to 1685, an amazing 110 out of 120 "witches" were men, for a percentage of 92. As for America, almost a third of those executed during the infamous Salem witch trials (six out of nineteen) were men.
Besides bringing these numbers to light, professor Gow and pupil Apps present serious challenges to the attempts to erase male witches from the picture. For example, some writers claim that the men were caught up in the hysteria solely because they were related to accused women. In this scenario, the men were only "secondary targets" ("collateral damage," perhaps?). But in numerous instances men were persecuted by themselves. In other cases, a woman became a secondary target after her husband had been singled out as a witch.
Although women were the overall majority of victims, the "burning times" were pretty rough for men, too.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
When Was Lipstick Invented And What Was It's Original Purpose?
Lipstick has been in existence for thousands of years, first appearing near Babylon in the city of Ur in 3000 BC. In ancient Egypt, Cleopatra wore lipstick made from crushed red beetles, while the women of ancient Greece also painted their lips. There are numerous accounts of it being manufactured in ancient times from dyes extracted from certain plants.
Elizabeth I was the main instigator of lipstick in England during the Middle Ages, after which it didn't become prevalent again until after the French Revolution. The wearing of lipstick was previously thought to be uncouth, and any woman using it was considered a fake attempting to capture her lost youth. In fact, in 1770 a law was proposed to the British Parliament that any marriage could be annulled where it could be shown that the woman had used cosmetics prior to the wedding day. If she lured a man into matrimony through her use of cosmetics, she could be tried for witchcraft.
In modern times, lipstick is commonplace and is currently made from oils, fats, pigments and waxes, while moisturizers and sunscreen are also found as ingredients.
Elizabeth I was the main instigator of lipstick in England during the Middle Ages, after which it didn't become prevalent again until after the French Revolution. The wearing of lipstick was previously thought to be uncouth, and any woman using it was considered a fake attempting to capture her lost youth. In fact, in 1770 a law was proposed to the British Parliament that any marriage could be annulled where it could be shown that the woman had used cosmetics prior to the wedding day. If she lured a man into matrimony through her use of cosmetics, she could be tried for witchcraft.
In modern times, lipstick is commonplace and is currently made from oils, fats, pigments and waxes, while moisturizers and sunscreen are also found as ingredients.
Is Using A Tanning Bed Bad For Your Skin?
Many people use tanning beds (also known as sun beds or solariums) to attain a tan all year round. They operate by producing ultraviolet radiation, which darkens a pigment in the skin called melanin to provide a tan. Sun beds produce mainly UV-A rays, along with some UV-B rays. For years scientists thought that UV-A radiation didn't damage the skin, but it's now known that these rays are harmful and result in long-term damage, penetrating the deep layers of the skin to destroy the collagen and elastin fibers, which causes the skin to age more rapidly and results in wrinkles and freckles on the skin. The rays can also bring about an increased risk of contracting skin cancer.
While the UV-A undoubtedly provide a tan, they don't stimulate skin cells to produce a thicker epidermis, unlike UV-B rays from the sun, which means that the tan from UV-A rays doesn't provide any extra protection from further exposure to ultraviolet radiation. In fact, by prematurely aging the skin, UV-A rays damage the regenerative cells in the skin, causing it to be more susceptible to the harmful UV-B rays when the skin is later exposed to the sun.
It has recently been suggested that using tanning beds might be addictive, in that the rays they use increase the production rate of endorphins in the brain, providing the user with a pleasurable sensation.
Because sun beds have been in use for only a few years, the extent of the damage they cause is not yet fully known. However, skin specialists claim that no tan is healthy and that sun beds should be avoided, especially by people with fair complexions.
While the UV-A undoubtedly provide a tan, they don't stimulate skin cells to produce a thicker epidermis, unlike UV-B rays from the sun, which means that the tan from UV-A rays doesn't provide any extra protection from further exposure to ultraviolet radiation. In fact, by prematurely aging the skin, UV-A rays damage the regenerative cells in the skin, causing it to be more susceptible to the harmful UV-B rays when the skin is later exposed to the sun.
It has recently been suggested that using tanning beds might be addictive, in that the rays they use increase the production rate of endorphins in the brain, providing the user with a pleasurable sensation.
Because sun beds have been in use for only a few years, the extent of the damage they cause is not yet fully known. However, skin specialists claim that no tan is healthy and that sun beds should be avoided, especially by people with fair complexions.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
How Do People Count Cards In Casinos?
Card counting is a practice that has been occurring in casinos since the 1960s, when books were first published on the topic. Some people, particularly teams of mathematically minded MIT students, made millions by using card counting techniques. The practice of card counting involves the player counting cards to gain an advantage over the casino, enabling them to beat the odds and increase their winnings. Many people think that card counting involves memorizing every card that is played so that the next card to be played is definitively known, but this is inaccurate; card counting is actually the process of remembering how many high-numbered cards have been played in relation to low-numbered cards, which gives the player an indication of the type of cards that are left in the deck.
There have been more than a hundred card-counting techniques, although complex systems of card counting are prone to human error. The most common and successful simple method used is the "Hi-Lo Count." In this system, only one number needs to be remembered at any time. "Plus one" is assigned to cards two, three, four, five and six and "minus one" is assigned to cards ten, jack, queen, king and ace. "Zero" is assigned to seven, eight and nine, which are known as neutral cards. The player counts the cards as they are played by adding or subtracting one for each card, depending on it's assigned value. A overall positive value means that there is likely to be a greater proportion of high cards in the deck. This gives the player an advantage in blackjack, for instance---a game in which counting systems are most commonly used---because the dealer is more likely to receive a high card and go bust above twenty-one (the dealer being required by the rules not to sit below seventeen). When the decks are reshuffled, the count begins again from zero.
Card counting does not help a player to win more hands; it simply means that he or she alter the size of his or her bet, depending on the count. If the count is low (i.e., below zero), the player will bet low. If the count is high (generally plus two or more), the player will bet high. In the long run, this should result in the player winning more money than he or she loses.
While card counting isn't illegal, unless a hidden mechanical device is used, the casino environment makes counting more difficult. The number of decks used per shuffle has increased, the casinos are noisy and full of distractions, and surveillance systems monitor notorious card counters, who, once spotted, are then removed or refused entry to casinos.
There have been more than a hundred card-counting techniques, although complex systems of card counting are prone to human error. The most common and successful simple method used is the "Hi-Lo Count." In this system, only one number needs to be remembered at any time. "Plus one" is assigned to cards two, three, four, five and six and "minus one" is assigned to cards ten, jack, queen, king and ace. "Zero" is assigned to seven, eight and nine, which are known as neutral cards. The player counts the cards as they are played by adding or subtracting one for each card, depending on it's assigned value. A overall positive value means that there is likely to be a greater proportion of high cards in the deck. This gives the player an advantage in blackjack, for instance---a game in which counting systems are most commonly used---because the dealer is more likely to receive a high card and go bust above twenty-one (the dealer being required by the rules not to sit below seventeen). When the decks are reshuffled, the count begins again from zero.
Card counting does not help a player to win more hands; it simply means that he or she alter the size of his or her bet, depending on the count. If the count is low (i.e., below zero), the player will bet low. If the count is high (generally plus two or more), the player will bet high. In the long run, this should result in the player winning more money than he or she loses.
While card counting isn't illegal, unless a hidden mechanical device is used, the casino environment makes counting more difficult. The number of decks used per shuffle has increased, the casinos are noisy and full of distractions, and surveillance systems monitor notorious card counters, who, once spotted, are then removed or refused entry to casinos.
Who Wrote The BIBLE, And When?
The question of who wrote the Bible and when has been debated by scholars for centuries. Most people agree that the current version of the Bible is based on older written sources that have been lost. It is also generally accepted that the Bible is an accurate, factual account of events written in the time that they took place.
A common view is that the Old Testament was written at various times between approximately 1500 BC and 500 BC. The different books are likely to have been written by the different people to whom they are attributed, such as Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Some books of unknown origin, such as Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, are thought to have been written by Moses or Ezra the scribe, who studied official records and made books from them. It is thought that the New Testament was written between about AD 50 and AD 100. As with the Old Testament, many believe that the different books and chapters of the New Testament were written by those to whom they are attributed, such as Mark, Mathew, John, Luke and Paul, men who are said to have been contemporaries of Jesus.
The men who wrote the Bible came from many walks of life. Peter and John, for instance, were fishermen, while David was the king of Israel and Mathew was a tax collector.
In total, it is thought that over forty people contributed to the writing of the Bible over a period of about 1,500 years.
A common view is that the Old Testament was written at various times between approximately 1500 BC and 500 BC. The different books are likely to have been written by the different people to whom they are attributed, such as Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Some books of unknown origin, such as Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, are thought to have been written by Moses or Ezra the scribe, who studied official records and made books from them. It is thought that the New Testament was written between about AD 50 and AD 100. As with the Old Testament, many believe that the different books and chapters of the New Testament were written by those to whom they are attributed, such as Mark, Mathew, John, Luke and Paul, men who are said to have been contemporaries of Jesus.
The men who wrote the Bible came from many walks of life. Peter and John, for instance, were fishermen, while David was the king of Israel and Mathew was a tax collector.
In total, it is thought that over forty people contributed to the writing of the Bible over a period of about 1,500 years.
Monday, April 6, 2015
How Did The Word "SHIT" Originate?
It is claimed by some that the word "shit" originates in the sixteenth century, when manure was transported by ship. The dry manure weighed little and was stowed below deck. When mixed with water, however, it gained in weight and began to ferment, producing methane gas, which, when exposed to a naked flame (that of a lantern, for instance), would ignite, causing explosions and fires. Because of these accidents, crates of manure were labeled "Ship High In Transit" to indicate that the crates were to be stowed above the deck, so that any water that the ship took on would not come into contact with them. It was assumed by many that the word "shit" was an acronym derived from this labeling convention. However, this theory has since been discovered to be a complete falsehood that can be traced to an Internet posting in 1999 and that has been perpetrated ever since. The word "shit" is from the Middle English word 'shitten" which in turn derived from the Old English word "scitan," from besciten, which meant "to be covered with excrement" and is in turn thought to originate from the Indo-European root skei. The word can also be traced back to Germanic languages at the time of the Roman Empire. The word "shite," meanwhile, is a variant form of the word that is found in some dialects in Ireland and Scotland, as well as in colloquial English.
Why Do Bottles Of TEQUILA Contain WORMS?
It's a common misconception that tequila bottles contain worms; indeed, it is legally forbidden for bottles of tequila to contain worms. In fact, it is the drink mescal---similar to tequila and also made in Mexico---that contains the worm. A number of brands of brands of mescal contain worms.
The worm traditionally used for such a purpose is actually the caterpillar Hipopta agavis, which lives in the stems of agave plants, from which mescal is made. These reddish-colored worms can be quite rare and at times white worms from the leaves of the plant are used instead.
The practice of adding such worms to bottles of mescal has been in existence since the 1940s, when a Mexican named Jacobo Lozano Paez, while tasting the drink, found that the addition of the worm changed the taste and color. He then decided to include the worm as a marketing gimmick. Despite popular belief, this practice hasn't been a Mexican tradition for centuries.
The worm is supposed to be eaten, traditionally being considered a delicacy by Mexicans, and is thought by some to have aphrodisiac qualities, while others believe that the worm gives strength to those who eat it and that it is an hallucinogenic. Apart from any psychological effects the worm might have, however, in reality it's merely a worm filled with alcohol.
The worm traditionally used for such a purpose is actually the caterpillar Hipopta agavis, which lives in the stems of agave plants, from which mescal is made. These reddish-colored worms can be quite rare and at times white worms from the leaves of the plant are used instead.
The practice of adding such worms to bottles of mescal has been in existence since the 1940s, when a Mexican named Jacobo Lozano Paez, while tasting the drink, found that the addition of the worm changed the taste and color. He then decided to include the worm as a marketing gimmick. Despite popular belief, this practice hasn't been a Mexican tradition for centuries.
The worm is supposed to be eaten, traditionally being considered a delicacy by Mexicans, and is thought by some to have aphrodisiac qualities, while others believe that the worm gives strength to those who eat it and that it is an hallucinogenic. Apart from any psychological effects the worm might have, however, in reality it's merely a worm filled with alcohol.
What is COCA-COLA Made From And Did It Contain COCAINE?
Since its invention, the ingredients of Coca-Cola have been kept a long-guarded secret, which has both prevented others from copying the exact formula and, over the years, enhanced the public's perception of what a unique product Coca-Cola is.
Coca-Cola was named in 1886 because of its two main ingredients: kola nuts and extract of coca leaves---i.e, cocaine, which the drink did contain until 1929, although in very small amounts.
The exact balance of the recipe, however, has never been disclosed to the public, and the original copy of it is locked in the vault of the Sun Trust Bank in Atlanta. It has commonly been said that only two executives originally knew the formula, and that each of them knew only half of it. In fact, Coca-Cola Company does have a rule that only executives can know the formula, but each knows the entire formula. When air travel became popular, it became company policy not to allow both of the executives to fly on the same plane.
While the exact recipe of Coke remains a mystery, it is generally accepted that it comprises the following key flavorings: cinnamon, nutmeg, lime, lemon, orange, coriander, caramel, cocoa, neroli aand vanilla.
Coca-Cola was named in 1886 because of its two main ingredients: kola nuts and extract of coca leaves---i.e, cocaine, which the drink did contain until 1929, although in very small amounts.
The exact balance of the recipe, however, has never been disclosed to the public, and the original copy of it is locked in the vault of the Sun Trust Bank in Atlanta. It has commonly been said that only two executives originally knew the formula, and that each of them knew only half of it. In fact, Coca-Cola Company does have a rule that only executives can know the formula, but each knows the entire formula. When air travel became popular, it became company policy not to allow both of the executives to fly on the same plane.
While the exact recipe of Coke remains a mystery, it is generally accepted that it comprises the following key flavorings: cinnamon, nutmeg, lime, lemon, orange, coriander, caramel, cocoa, neroli aand vanilla.
Why is New York City called "THE BIG APPLE"?
The origin of New York City's most famous nickname has been the subject of conjecture for many years. One view is that one New York gentleman's guidebook to the houses of ill repute in the nineteenth century referred to New York as having the best "apples" (in this usage, a euphemism for prostitutes) in the world. Given that New York claimed to have the most and best brothels, it was inevitably called "the Big Apple." A second view is that the name was derived from a 1909 book by Edward S. Martin entitled The Wayfarer In New York, which made a reference to New York being the Big Apple and receiving more than its share of the "national sap." However, there is no evidence to suggest that either of these two sources had any influence on the popularity or spread of the term.
Many people believe that the name stems from a term used by jazz musicians to refer to New York, although it is thought that they did not begin the trend. That honor is believed to fall to John Fitzgerald, a horseracing journalist for the New York Morning Telegraph, who in 1921 wrote an article in which he referred to New York races around "the Big Apple." Fitzgerald claimed that he overheard the term being used by some African-American stable hands in New Orleans, who referred to every jockey's dream being to race in New York because "there's only one Big Apple. That's New York." The name was then popularized by jazz musicians in the 1930s because New York---and, in particular, Harlem---was the best place to perform and thought to be the jazz capital of the world.
In 1971, a New York advertising campaign adopted the name "The Big Apple" (using a logo featuring red apples) in an attempt to increase tourism to the city by portraying it as a bright and lively place rather than an urban netherworld rife with crime. Since then, the city officially been known as the Big Apple throughout the world. In 1997, the corner of Fifty-fourth Street and Broadway, where John Fitzgerald lived for twenty-nine years, was named Big Apple Corner as a tribute to the man.
Many people believe that the name stems from a term used by jazz musicians to refer to New York, although it is thought that they did not begin the trend. That honor is believed to fall to John Fitzgerald, a horseracing journalist for the New York Morning Telegraph, who in 1921 wrote an article in which he referred to New York races around "the Big Apple." Fitzgerald claimed that he overheard the term being used by some African-American stable hands in New Orleans, who referred to every jockey's dream being to race in New York because "there's only one Big Apple. That's New York." The name was then popularized by jazz musicians in the 1930s because New York---and, in particular, Harlem---was the best place to perform and thought to be the jazz capital of the world.
In 1971, a New York advertising campaign adopted the name "The Big Apple" (using a logo featuring red apples) in an attempt to increase tourism to the city by portraying it as a bright and lively place rather than an urban netherworld rife with crime. Since then, the city officially been known as the Big Apple throughout the world. In 1997, the corner of Fifty-fourth Street and Broadway, where John Fitzgerald lived for twenty-nine years, was named Big Apple Corner as a tribute to the man.
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