Sunday - October 08, 2006
Trivial Pursuit
Nearly two hundred years ago in September-October of 1814, the British sailed away from Baltimore after failing to breach the defenses at Fort McHenry. The British had however, been successful at sacking Washington and burning the capitol to the ground. President James Madison barely escaped capture.
A Washington lawyer, Francis Scott Key, watched the bombardment of the Baltimore fort from aboard a British warship where he had gone to secure the release of a Maryland doctor captured by the British during the raid on Washington. Key was released by the British and hurriedly penned a poem that eventually became “The Star Spangled Banner”, our national anthem.
Today’s History Trivia is in four parts. Answering all four will require a little research. Good luck ....
1- How many stars and how many stripes were on the flag that flew over Fort McHenry and which states had been added to the original thirteen by this point in time?
2- “The rockets red glare” refers to what kind of rocket? Where did the inventor of these rockets get the idea for them?
3- Who commanded the British naval forces and what historic voyage did he make upon returning to England after the war?
4- What family connection is there between the defenders of Fort McHenry and another bloody battle that occured on July 3, 1863?

Posted by The Skipper
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Wednesday - October 04, 2006
Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest
The first “Oktoberfest” took place on October 12, 1810: For the commemoration of their marriage, Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (hence: “Theresienwiese") organized a great horse race (the marriage took place on October 12th, the horse race on October 17th, therefore there are different dates named as being the first Oktoberfest).
In the year 1813, the Oktoberfest was called off as Bavaria was involved in the Napoleonic war. In 1816, carnival booths appeared. The main prizes were silver, porcelain, and jewelry. In 1819, The town fathers of Munich took over festival management. They decided that the Oktoberfest should be celebrated every year without exception.
In 1854, 3,000 residents of Munich succumbed to an epidemic of cholera, so the festival was canceled. Also, in the year 1866, there was no Oktoberfest as Bavaria fought in the Austro-Prussian War. In 1870, the Franco-German war was the reason for cancelation of the festival.
In the year 1880, the city government approved the sale of beer. The electric light illuminated over 400 booths and tents. In 1881, booths selling bratwursts opened. In 1892, beer was first served in glass mugs.
At the end of the 1900’s, a re-organization took place. Until then, there were games of skittles, large dance floors, and trees for climbing in the beer booths. They wanted more room for guests and musicians. The booths became beer halls.
From 1914 through 1918, World War I prevented the celebration of Oktoberfest. In 1919 and 1920, the two years after the war, Munich celebrated only an “Autumn Fest.” In 1923 and 1924, the Oktoberfest was not held due to inflation. In 1933, the Bavarian white and blue flag was replaced with the standard swastika flag
From 1939 to 1945, due to World War II, no Oktoberfest took place. From 1946 to 1948, after the war, Munich once again celebrated only the “Autumn Fest.” The sale of proper Oktoberfest beer was not permitted. The guests had to make do with beer that had an alcohol content under 2%. Since its beginnings the Oktoberfest has thus been canceled 24 times due to war, disease and other emergencies.
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Wednesday - August 23, 2006
If Only, If Only - Updated
I saw this referenced a couple of times this morning. Tell me, dear readers, what you find wrong in this picture:
Dorling Kinderly: Presidents - The Ultimate Sticker Book
This is a test of your keen observation skills. Put your answers in the comments
***Update ***
As some of you noticed, John F***ing Kerry is on the cover of this book of Presidential stickers. Well, DK must have seen the massive upswing in traffic we provided today and updated the picture. But never fear dear readers, BMEWS is always here to provide the real news. We found the same book available on Amazon.com. Prey tell, what cover do they have?
Heh, heh, heh.
Unbelievable.
Posted by Mr. Christian
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Wednesday - August 02, 2006
On This Day In History
AUGUST 2, 1876 - “Wild Bill” Hickok Murdered
Wild Bill Hickok, one of the greatest gunfighters of the American West, was murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota. Born in Illinois in 1837, James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok first gained notoriety as a gunfighter in 1861 when he coolly shot three men who were trying to kill him.
A highly sensationalized account of the gunfight appeared six years later in the popular periodical Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, sparking Hickok’s rise to national fame. Other articles and books followed, and though his prowess was often exaggerated, Hickok did earn his reputation with a string of impressive gunfights.
After accidentally killing his deputy during an 1871 shootout in Abilene, Texas, Hickok never fought another gun battle. For the next several years he lived off his famous reputation, appearing as himself in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show.
Occasionally, he worked as guide for wealthy hunters. His renowned eyesight began to fail, and for a time he was reduced to wandering the West trying to make a living as a gambler. Several times he was arrested for vagrancy.
In the spring of 1876, Hickok arrived in the Black Hills mining town of Deadwood, South Dakota. There he became a regular at the poker tables of the No. 10 Saloon, eking out a meager existence as a card player. On this day in 1876, Hickok was playing cards with his back to the saloon door. At 4:15 in the afternoon, a young gunslinger named Jack McCall walked into the saloon, approached Hickok from behind, and shot him in the back of the head. Hickok died immediately. McCall tried to shoot others in the crowd, but amazingly, all of the remaining cartridges in his pistol were duds. McCall was later tried, convicted, and hanged.
Hickok was only 39 years old when he died. The most famous gunfighter in the history of the West died with his Smith & Wesson revolver in his holster, never having seen his murderer. According to legend, Hickok held a pair of black aces and black eights when he died, a combination that has since been known as the Dead Man’s Hand.
Source: The History Channel
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Tuesday - July 25, 2006
Through The Looking Glass

“Bonneville Salt Flats”
All that is left of a once huge system of fresh-water lakes in the American West
Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America’s Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada.
Like most, if not all of the ice age pluvial lakes of the American West, Lake Bonneville was a result of the combination of lower temperatures, decreased evaporation, and higher precipitation that then prevailed in the region, perhaps due to a more southerly jet stream than today’s. The lake was probably not a singular entity either; geologic evidence suggests that it may have evaporated and reformed as many as 28 times in the last 3 million years.
About 14,500 years ago, the lake level fell catastrophically as Lake Bonneville overflowed near Red Rock Pass, Idaho and washed away a natural dam formed by opposing overlapping alluvial fans. The lake level fell some 105 m (~350 ft.) to what is now the next lower bench (the “Provo level") in a flood that geologists estimate to have lasted up to a year. It is estimated that this breach released 1,000 cubic miles of water in the first few weeks. The Provo level is the most easily recognized shoreline feature throughout the valley (Utah Valley?) and is distinguished by thick accumulations of tufa that formed near shore during the 500 years that the lake was at this level.
About 14,000 years ago, the lake started to drop again due to changing climate conditions, and by 12,000 years ago, the lake reached a level even lower than that of the modern day Great Salt Lake. A slight transgression or rise in lake level occurred about 10,900 to 10,300 years ago and formed the Gilbert shoreline. The Gilbert shoreline is the least conspicuous of the major shorelines but evidence of it remains at Antelope Island and in large coastal features, such as the Fingerpoint Spit near the Hogup Mountains.
(Source: Wikipedia)
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Tuesday - July 11, 2006
America’s Forgotten War
I’d heard of the Utah War of 1857-58 but never any details. Enjoy.
America’s forgotten war: LDS raiders kept Army at bay in 1857-58
By Lee Davidson
Deseret Morning News
John Eldredge’s smile shows he loves this. Technically, he is leading a Jeep caravan into the wilds of western Wyoming, but it is more like the expedition has traveled back in time, to when Utah changed forever as the territory became the stage for what could be called America’s first civil war.
Eldredge tells stories at a bleak spot called the “Camp of Death,” where a race for survival began for U.S. soldiers harassed by Mormon militia during the so-called “Utah War” of 1857-58. A flock of buzzards is perched just down the trail, almost as if, by chance, age-old events might repeat to their benefit. The wind seems to carry echoes of suffering ghost soldiers.
“It’s absolutely fascinating — and almost nobody knows about it,” historian Eldredge says about the Utah War and the sites where most hostilities occurred, in an area of Wyoming that was then still part of Utah Territory.
A state-appointed group of historians is working to publicize that often-forgotten military encounter as the war’s sesquicentennial approaches next year, and the group used a caravan to “battle” sites this past week to help.
It is a story worth telling. The Utah War showed how the American nation would deal with perceived rebellion and how an invaded people would react, foreshadowing events of the real Civil War that would follow just four years later.
Emphasis added. Continue reading or click here for the article with photos and maps.
Posted by Christopher
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Saturday - June 24, 2006
Remember When ….

“A Chance To Lead”
TIME Magazine
August 16, 1968
As they start on the road to November, the Republicans are united. Now what will they do with their unity? Richard Nixon is clearly in tune with his party. Will he be in tune with the country?
These are the chief questions that emerge from the Republican Convention and will dominate the political scene for the next 2½ months. The American party system allows a measure of plasticity every four years.
The Republicans are making the most of this chance. The painful ruptures of the past have been treated and very nearly healed—almost in a spirit of harmony or bust.
More confident than ever of his party's nomination, Humphrey felt more at leisure to consider his choice for the No. 2 spot. The Vice President could ill afford the eupepsia.
The Democratic Party is as badly split as ever over the war. In fact, South Dakota Senator George McGovern's belated entry into the race can only increase intraparty factionalism.
Robert Kennedy was once asked to name the most decent man in the Senate. "George McGovern," he replied. "He's the only decent man in the Senate." South Dakota's junior Senator felt much the same way about Kennedy.
The two were close friends for years, from the time that McGovern took over John F. Kennedy's Food for Peace program in 1961. Since Robert Kennedy's death, McGovern, 46, has been an unofficial rallying point for disenchanted R.F.K. forces who are unwilling to accept either Hubert Humphrey or Eugene McCarthy.
In November of 1968 I was 19 years old but couldn’t vote. The 26th Amendment to the Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18, was passed three years later in 1971. In 1972 I voted for Nixon. I have voted in every Presidential election since.
Posted by The Skipper
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Sunday - June 18, 2006
On This Day In History

Paul McCartney Turns 64
James Paul McCartney was born to a working class family on 18 June, 1942, at Walton Hospital in Liverpool. His mother, Mary, had been a nursing sister at the hospital, and was given a bed in a private room for the birth. Sir Paul was baptised as a Roman Catholic, his mother’s faith, but religion did not play a strong part in his upbringing.
His father, Jim, was a gifted musician who played with a jazz band in the evening while holding down a day job as a cotton salesman. Both Sir Paul and his younger brother Michael received piano lessons during their early years, but neither kept up the instrument. The McCartneys moved several times during Sir Paul’s early life, but eventually settled in a terraced house in Liverpool’s Forthlin Road in 1955.
Just one year later, the family was struck by tragedy when Sir Paul’s mother died of breast cancer, aged 47. Her death had a huge impact on Sir Paul. He referred to her in the lyrics of Let It Be, singing: “When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me”. Soon after she passed away, Sir Paul asked his father to buy him a guitar, and the young musician learnt to play by imitating American R&B hits he heard on the radio.

In October 1957, Sir Paul auditioned for John Lennon’s band, The Quarrymen, at a church fair and was asked to join as the group’s third guitarist. The pair began writing songs together and several of their earliest hits were composed in the house on Forthlin Road, including Love Me Do and I Saw Her Standing There. It was also about this time that Sir Paul wrote When I’m 64, and the band are reported to have played it early concerts.
After decamping to West Germany to play a residency in the Indra Club in Hamburg, the band - now rechristened The Beatles - returned to Liverpool in 1960. It was at a gig in the Cavern nightclub that they were seen by Brian Epstein, who offered to become their manager. Epstein secured The Beatles an audition with Decca on New Year’s Day 1962, but the record company decided not to offer the band a contract.
However, the manager eventually persuaded producer George Martin to sign the group to Parlophone Records in May 1962. Beatlemania was not long coming. The group’s first single, Love Me Do, reached number four in October, and by August 1963 they spent seven weeks on top of the charts with She Loves You. By then, The Beatles were household names, with Sir Paul as the band’s main pin-up.
Will you still be sending me a Valentine,
birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I’d been out ‘till quarter to three, would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I’m sixty-four?
“When I’m 64” by John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Album: “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
Biography Text Courtesy BBC: “The Seven Ages Of Paul McCartney”
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Sunday - June 04, 2006
On This Day In History
June 4, 1989 - Tiananmen Square Massacre
Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States.
In May 1989, nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and call for the resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders deemed too repressive. For nearly three weeks, the protesters kept up daily vigils, and marched and chanted. Western reporters captured much of the drama for television and newspaper audiences in the United States and Europe.
On June 4, 1989, however, Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds of protesters. Turmoil ensued, as tens of thousands of the young students tried to escape the rampaging Chinese forces. Other protesters fought back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to military vehicles. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested.
The savagery of the Chinese government’s attack shocked both its allies and Cold War enemies. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that he was saddened by the events in China. He said he hoped that the government would adopt his own domestic reform program and begin to democratize the Chinese political system.
In the United States, editorialists and members of Congress denounced the Tiananmen Square massacre and pressed for President George Bush to punish the Chinese government. A little more than three weeks later, the U.S. Congress voted to impose economic sanctions against the People’s Republic of China in response to the brutal violation of human rights.
Source: The History Channel
Tank Man
I was watching it from the Beijing Hotel, where we had rented a room that looked onto the north side of the square. That morning, I remember, my husband said to me, “You’d better get out here.” I rushed out onto the balcony, and I saw this lone person standing in front of this long column of tanks. … The young man—… I couldn’t see his face but I think he was young because of the way he moved, he was very fluid, he didn’t move like an older person. … He tried to step in front of the tank. … The tank turned to go around him; the tank did not try to just run him over. I thought, “Wow!” So the tank is turning and then the young man jumps in front of the tank, and then the tank turns the other way, and the young man jumps down this side. And I thought, “What’s going on?”
They did this a couple of times, and then the tank turned off its motor. … And then it seemed to me that all the tanks turned off their motors. It was really quiet; there was just no noise. And then the young man climbed up onto the tank and seemed to be talking to the person inside the tank. … After a while the young man jumps down and the tank turns on the motor and the young man blocks him again. … I started to cry because I had seen so much shooting and so many people dying that I was sure this man would get crushed. [And] I remember thinking, “I can’t cry because I can’t see; I want to watch this, but I’m getting really upset because I think he’s going to die.”
But he didn’t. … I think it was two people from the sidelines ran to him and grabbed him—not in a harsh way, almost in a protective way. … Then he seemed to melt into the crowd. Then the tanks, after a moment, just started up the engines again, and then they kept going down the Boulevard of Eternal Peace. That was the end. It was amazing. …
… I think that the people who took the Tank Man away—I call him the “Tank Man”—were concerned people. I’ve thought about this, and given the timing, I don’t think the security forces had kicked in that fast. … I think that was still too early. That’s one reason … the timing. The second reason is the body language. If you’ve ever seen security people manhandle a Chinese citizen, they’re really brutal. … They twist your arm, they make you bend over, they punch you a few times, they kick you. … So to me, I think he was helped to the side of the road. He wasn’t being arrested.
I think that he is [still alive] … I think the chances are pretty good … that he’s in China because if he had left—and many people have left China—he might have felt free to talk. The fact that we have not heard from him since that amazing incident tells me he’s still alive, he’s still there. He has not been caught, and he’s certainly not telling anybody.
Jan Wong - Author and former Toronto Globe and Mail Beijing correspondent.
Security Tight for Tiananmen Anniversary
June 4, 2006, 11:56 AM EDT
BEIJING (AP)—Chinese police tore up a protester’s poster and detained at least two people on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Sunday as the country marked 17 years since local troops crushed a pro-democracy demonstration in the public space. An elderly woman tried to pull out a poster with apparently political material written on it, but police ripped it up and then took her away in a van.
A farmer tried to stage a protest apparently unrelated to the 1989 crackdown, but he also was taken away in a van. After dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them to put the nonpolitical material away. They were not detained. Discussion of the crackdown is still taboo in China outside of the semiautonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese television news and major newspapers did not mention the anniversary.
In Hong Kong, several hundred people holding candles gathered at Victoria Park, creating a sea of lights covering four soccer fields. They observed a brief silence and organizers laid wreaths at a makeshift shrine dedicated to “martyrs of democracy.” China’s authoritarian government has stood by the suppression of what it has called “counterrevolutionary” riots, saying it preserved social stability and paved the way for economic growth.
Chinese police monitored Tiananmen Square closely Sunday. About 2,000 police were on guard in and around Beijing’s “petitioner’s village,” a cluster of cheap hostels popular with people from the provinces who have come to the capital to complain to the central government.
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Sunday - May 21, 2006
On This Day In History
Today is a great day in the history of aviation. Charles Lindbergh proved that transatlantic flight was not only possible but could be easily accomplished. Five years later, Amelia Earhart proved that women could do it too. Seven years after her flight, Pan-Am started flying regularly scheduled flights between the US and Europe.
Twelve years is all it took to go from dream to commercial application. This was the same kind of spirit and grit that later put a man on the moon. I sometimes wonder what happened to that kind of drive and intestinal fortitude. We seem to be lacking in it nowadays as we sit on our backsides, watch crap on TV and get fatter and fatter.
Speaking of “lacking”, check out the accomodations on the Dixie Clipper and compare that to the cattle cars we fly in today with cramped seats, stale food and miniature unisex bathrooms. Is that really progress ... ?
1927 - Lindbergh Lands In Paris
American pilot Charles A. Lindbergh lands at Le Bourget Field in Paris, successfully completing the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight and the first ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris. His single-engine monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, had lifted off from Roosevelt Field in New York 33 1/2 hours before.
At 7:52 a.m. EST on May 20, The Spirit of St. Louis lifted off from Roosevelt Field, so loaded with fuel that it barely cleared the telephone wires at the end of the runway. Lindbergh traveled northeast up the coast. After only four hours, he felt tired and flew within 10 feet of the water to keep his mind clear.
As night fell, the aircraft left the coast of Newfoundland and set off across the Atlantic. At about 2 a.m. on May 21, Lindbergh passed the halfway mark, and an hour later dawn came. Soon after, The Spirit of St. Louis entered a fog, and Lindbergh struggled to stay awake, holding his eyelids open with his fingers and hallucinating that ghosts were passing through the cockpit.
At the Le Bourget Aerodrome in Paris, tens of thousands of Saturday night revelers had gathered to await Lindbergh’s arrival. At 10:24 a.m. local time, his gray and white monoplane slipped out of the darkness and made a perfect landing in the air field.
The crowd surged on The Spirit of St. Louis, and Lindbergh, weary from his 33 1/2-hour, 3,600-mile journey, was cheered and lifted above their heads. He hadn’t slept for 55 hours. Two French aviators saved Lindbergh from the boisterous crowd, whisking him away in an automobile. He was an immediate international celebrity.
1932 - Amelia Earhart Completes
Transatlantic Flight
Five years to the day that American aviator Charles Lindbergh became the first pilot to accomplish a solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, female aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first pilot to repeat the feat, landing her plane in Ireland after flying across the North Atlantic. Earhart traveled over 2,000 miles from Newfoundland in just under 15 hours.
Unlike Charles Lindbergh, Earhart was well known to the public before her solo transatlantic flight. In 1928, as a member of a three-person crew, she had become the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an aircraft.
Although her only function during the crossing was to keep the plane’s log, the event won her national fame, and Americans were enamored with the daring and modest young pilot. For her solo transatlantic crossing in 1932, she was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross by the U.S. Congress.
1939 - Regular Trans-Atlantic Air Service Begins
Pan-American Airways made the first regularly scheduled mail flight to Europe. A month later, after its return, Pan Am’s Dixie Clipper inaugurated the first regular transatlantic passenger service on June 28th.
Before long, the B-314 Flying Clippers were to be found at destinations all over the world. The Dixie Clipper had plush seating for 74 (sleeping berths for 36), a separate dining room where passengers were served full-course meals, separate men’s and women’s bathrooms, a deluxe compartment for VIPs, dressing rooms, and a dedicated lounge.
Credit: The History Channel, Wikipedia, Amelia Earhart Website, Flying Clippers Website.
Posted by The Skipper
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Monday - April 10, 2006
On This Day In History

April 10, 1865 - Robert E. Lee’s Farewell Address
One day after surrendering to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, General Robert E. Lee addresses his army for the last time.
“After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard-fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to the result from no distrust of them...I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen...I bid you an affectionate farewell.”
This closed the book on one of the most remarkable armies in history. The Army of Northern Virginia had fought against long odds for four years and won most of the battles in which it engaged the Union’s Army of the Potomac. Along the way, Lee was lionized by his troops as few military leaders ever have been. The final surrender was a bitter pill for Lee to swallow, but the grace of his final communique to his troops exhibited the virtues that made him the single most enduring symbol of the Confederacy.
Credit: The History Channel. Painting by Mort Künstler.
Posted by The Skipper
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Wednesday - February 01, 2006
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Whaddya know, Western Union gives up on the telegram. No more “candygram for Mongo”. It seems like it was just yesterday I was helping Sam Morse think up a message to send over the first wire. Or was that Al Bell and his “phone”? I’m gettin’ too old ....
Era Ends: Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams
31 January 2006 10:17 pm ET
(LIVESCIENCE)
After 145 years, Western Union has quietly stopped sending telegrams. On the company’s web site, if you click on “Telegrams” in the left-side navigation bar, you’re taken to a page that ends a technological era with about as little fanfare as possible: “Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative.”
The decline of telegram use goes back at least to the 1980s, when long-distance telephone service became cheap enough to offer a viable alternative in many if not most cases. Faxes didn’t help. Email could be counted as the final nail in the coffin. Western Union has not failed. It long ago refocused its main business to make money transfers for consumers and businesses. Revenues are now $3 billion annually. It’s now called Western Union Financial Services, Inc. and is a subsidiary of First Data Corp.
The world’s first telegram was sent on May 24, 1844 by inventor Samuel Morse. The message, “What hath God wrought,” was transmitted from Washington to Baltimore. In a crude way, the telegraph was a precursor to the Internet in that it allowed rapid communication, for the first time, across great distances. Western Union goes back to 1851 as the Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. In 1856 it became the Western Union Telegraph Company after acquisition of competing telegraph systems. By 1861, during the Civil War, it had created a coast-to-coast network of lines.
Posted by The Skipper
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Sunday - January 22, 2006
IS THE BLACK HELICOPTER CROWD FOR YOU?
This Fitness Exam should tell the tale.
INSTRUCTIONS: In the following multiple-choice questions, select the answers that most logically explain the questions.
If the questions refer to incidents or things you never heard of, blame this on the conspirators who skimped your education, NOT the conspirators who created this examination!
Posted by Tannenberg
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Sunday - January 08, 2006
Victory At Sea, Part IV

SPURLOS VERSENKT: OPERATION PAUKENSCHLAG
About 2200 hours on 14 JAN 1942, Type IX U-boat U-123, under Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Hardegen, crept toward New York Harbor. On the surface. The Ambrose Channel lightship had been temporarily removed to Cape Cod, but Hardegen knew its former location and was quickly able to orient himself. There was the low, thin peninsula of Sandy Hook to port, and there was Rockaway Beach, visible as a necklace of lights right ahead.
”The sky at 330 degrees was ablaze from the incandescence of Manhattan and its neighbor boroughs. The huge silver scrim thrown up by a million lights dazzled the waning moon. Though from where they stood Hardegen and the forward bridge watch could not see any of the city’s tall buildings—their boat was well below the Narrows—they sensed the presence of the skyscrapers and neon-splendored avenues. Having seen the city once up close, Hardegen could appreciate better than anyone else on board the feat that they had just accomplished: they were an enemy force on the very front doorstep of the greatest city in the world.””
--Michael Gannon, Operation Drumbeat
Didn’t the Americans know a war was on?
”The defending forces! They were virtually nonexistent. In spite of the British experiences; in spite of ample warning of what might happen…in spite of intelligence intercepts warning of the movements of the Paukenschlag boats, the United States Navy was caught completely unprepared. U-boat skippers could hardly believe it. Ships were fully lighted. They chattered on their radios. Lighthouses and buoys gave out their navigational information after dark just as usual. It was, as the Germans called it themselves, U-boat paradise.
“To protect ships in the area of his responsibility from the St. Lawrence River down to Cape Hatteras, some 280,000 square miles of ocean, Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews had a total of twelve surface vessels—four small yard patrol craft, four sub-chasers, one Coast Guard cutter, and three Eagle boats dating back to World War I…..”
--Capt. Henry H. Adams USNR, 1942: The Year that Doomed the Axis
Finding no targets, Hardegen retraced his course, still slipping along on the surface, hardly able to believe his luck. Surely there were USN units around somewhere! But none appeared, and in fact, the east-west approach channel was empty of all large vessels. What happened? Did the USN or the Port Authority divert traffic to other ports?
Posted by Tannenberg
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Tracked at Macker's World
Rosie O'Donnell, prominent member of the Film Actors’ Guild, has had her "variety show" cancelled after just one airing! Not that that's an unusual thing, it happens quite often in…
On: 11/29/08 12:57
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsew







