Archive for April, 2009

On this day in 1931, Louis Armstrong recorded “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South”.

On this day in 1775, the American Revolution began.

Acting on orders from London to suppress the rebellious colonists, General Thomas Gage, recently appointed royal governor of Massachusetts, ordered his troops to seize the colonists’ military stores at Concord. En route from Boston, the British force of 700 men was met on Lexington Green by 77 local minutemen and others who had been forewarned of the raid by the colonists’ efficient lines of communication, including the ride of Paul Revere. It is unclear who fired the first shot. Resistance melted away at Lexington, and the British moved on to Concord. Most of the American military supplies had been hidden or destroyed before the British troops arrived. A British covering party at Concord’s North Bridge was finally confronted by 320 to 400 American patriots and forced to withdraw. The march back to Boston was a genuine ordeal for the British, with Americans continually firing on them from behind roadside houses, barns, trees, and stone walls. This experience established guerrilla warfare as the colonists’ best defense strategy against the British. Total losses were British 273, American 95. The Battles of Lexington and Concord confirmed the alienation between the majority of colonists and the mother country, and it roused 16,000 New Englanders to join forces and begin the Siege of Boston, resulting in its evacuation by the British the following March.

When all is said and done, people knew how to treat the injured. Illnesses were difficult to treat, but for the most part they knew what the problem was and they didn’t have to go through years of Mesothelioma treatment to find out. Of course, they didn’t live as long either, so it really didn’t matter back then either, right?

On this day in 1937, Daffy Duck made his debut.

Who doesn’t love Daffy Duck?

On this day in 1889, Charlie Chaplin was born.

On this day in 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was born.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (it-Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.ogg pronunciation (help·info), April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention.[1] He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.[2] Helen Gardner says “The scope and depth of his interests were without precedent…His mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote”.

Born as the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, at Vinci in the region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice and spent his last years in France, at the home awarded him by Francis I.

It sure would have been nice to be around back then. He could test his ideas and vehicles without worrying about car insurance.

On this day in 1865, President Lincoln became the first U.S. President to be assassinated.

Originally, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, had formulated a plan to kidnap Lincoln in exchange for the release of Confederate prisoners. After attending an April 11 speech in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks, an incensed Booth changed his plans and determined to assassinate the president.[66] Learning that the President and First Lady would be attending Ford’s Theatre, he laid his plans, assigning his co-conspirators to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward.

Without his main bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon, to whom he related his famous dream regarding his own assassination, Lincoln left to attend the play Our American Cousin on April 14, 1865. As a lone bodyguard wandered, and Lincoln sat in his state box (Box 7) in the balcony, Booth crept up behind the President and waited for what he thought would be the funniest line of the play (“You sock-dologizing old man-trap”), hoping the laughter would muffle the noise of the gunshot. When the laughter began, Booth jumped into the box and aimed a single-shot, round-slug 0.44 caliber Derringer at his head, firing at point-blank range. Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth but was cut by Booth’s knife. Booth then leaped to the stage and shouted “Sic semper tyrannis!” (Latin: Thus always to tyrants) and escaped, despite a broken leg suffered in the leap.[67] A twelve-day manhunt ensued, in which Booth was chased by Federal agents (under the direction of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton). He was eventually cornered in a Virginia barn house and shot, dying of his wounds soon after.

Is it wrong to wonder if they had term life quotes around back then?

On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 ran into some problems.

Apollo 13 was intended to be the third manned lunar-landing mission, part of Project Apollo under NASA in the United States, that would look more closely into the surface of the moon.[3] The crew members were Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module pilot John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Lunar Module pilot Fred W. Haise.

It launched on April 11, 1970 at 13:13 CST. Two days after the launch, an electrical fault caused an explosion in a Service Module oxygen tank. The explosion also damaged the other oxygen tank or its plumbing, resulting in a complete loss of the 2 oxygen tanks, as well as electrical power. The command module remained fully functional on its own batteries and oxygen tank – but they were sufficient only for the last hours of the mission during re-entry and landing. The crew shut down the Command Module and used the Lunar Module as a “lifeboat” for the return to earth. Despite great hardship caused by severely limited power, cabin heat, and potable water, the crew successfully returned to Earth and the mission eventually became known as a “successful failure”, meaning that, although the crew failed to meet their objective, they had survived the trip and returned to Earth.[4] A radio transmission from Lovell[5] during the mission, “Houston, we’ve had a problem”, spawned the misquoted phrase in popular culture, “Houston, we have a problem”.

A real problem, much like choosing the best auto insurance coverages, only much more life threatening.

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

Happy Easter!

On this day in 1961, Bob Dylan made his singing debut with “Blowing In The Wind”.

He wasn’t selling anything, he wasn’t trying to make you believe anything. He wasn’t advertising the best diet pills. He was simply singing. Singing and sending a message to the world that had absolutely nothing to do with money.

Don’t you miss the good ol’ days?