Sunday - October 17, 2010

Today in History

539 BC – Cyrus the Great takes Babylon, releases the Jews from 70 years of exile.
1777 – American troops defeat the British at Saratoga.
1781 – Cornwallis surrenders to Washington at Yorktown.
1814 – Nine drown in the London Beer Flood.
1973 – OPEC oil embargo begins.
1979 – Department of Education created. (FYI, I graduated in ‘78. Can’t imagine how I did it without DepEd.)

Posted by Christopher     on 10/17/2010 at 03:47 PM   
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   Thursday - October 14, 2010

17 YEARS TO BUILD A MODEL SHIP AND WORTH EVERY YEAR ….

Found this tonight and got caught up in it. Take a look at what this fellow did.

Took 17 years and he worked with very old wood indeed.

Around 1980 the wife and I had a private tour of this great ship. That was the thrill of a lifetime.  One of a few I’ve had.

Sculptor completes a model of HMS Victory after 17 YEARS… using a piece of wood from Nelson’s flag ship

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:27 PM on 14th October 2010

Dedicated sculptor Ian Brennan has spent 17 years carving a perfect replica of HMS Victory - out of a block of wood from the famous ship.

The artist has put in over 5,000 man-hours into creating an exact copy of Lord Nelson’s flagship that helped defeat the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in 1805.

It contains 200 feet of tiny wooden rope, 104 guns, 37 wind-filled sails, and flags spelling out Nelson’s famous battle cry ‘England expects every man to do his duty.’

Detail: The 1:66 scale ship is accurate right down to the 37 billowing sails and 200ft of rigging, giving a marvellous impression of the ship racing to Trafalgar

Mr Brennan, the official sculptor for the British Royal Household, had hoped to finish the model by 2005 - the bi-centenary of the battle.

But the oak wood from Victory’s lower gun deck was so hard it was like carving concrete and the labour of love took far longer than expected.

Having worked on Victory some years ago Mr Brennan was given a beam from above a cannon - it even had the hook in it from where the mess table hung.

Within the 400-year-old oak the 60-year-old found enough good timber to create the 47 inch ship - a 1:66 scale model.

It weighs 44lbs and during its creation Mr Brennan has worn out four sets of overalls and cut himself numerous times.

READ MORE AND SEE LOTS MORE PHOTOS HERE

Posted by peiper     on 10/14/2010 at 11:54 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • History • Talented Ppl. • UK •  
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   Sunday - October 10, 2010

Weekend YouTube Vids

I never have understood this song. Is Lola some early trans-gendered person?

Morningside. Possibly one of Neil Diamond’s best. This one is chess-related.

The next video shows the origins of David Letterman. Sad.

I still like the song. My wife knows if I’m playing it… well…

Posted by Christopher     on 10/10/2010 at 11:05 AM   
Filed Under: • CHESS • History • NOSTALGIA •  
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   Thursday - September 30, 2010

double mulligan?

“According to opinion polls at the time taken directly after Tet and a few weeks after Tet, the American people wanted to escalate the war,” Robbins says. “They understand that the enemy had suffered a terrible defeat, so there was an opportunity if we had taken concerted action to actually win this thing.”

In fact, a majority of those polled after Tet considered themselves “hawks,” Robbins found. He adds that in the summer of 1967, hawks outnumbered doves on college campuses. “The notion that young people were long-haired dope smoking draft resisters in 1967-68 is not true. The ‘Forrest Gump’ view of history is wrong.”

One of Tet’s flaws, Robbins says, was that the North Vietnamese believed that if they attacked countrywide in the south with their tripwire forces, the south would rise up in revolt against Saigon and join the communists.

“And the reason they believed that was because they were reading the New York Times,” Robbins says.
...
To Robbins, the Vietnam narrative must be reclaimed from the “ruling class of hippies and leftists, who went from protests to the U.S. Senate in some cases” and those who “went from dope-smoking teach-ins to teaching from tenured positions on college campuses.”

Yes, there’s a whole book about it too.

h/t to Roger

Posted by Drew458     on 09/30/2010 at 10:04 AM   
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   Tuesday - September 14, 2010

Today in History

Events

81 AD: Domitian succeeds his brother Titus as Emperor of Rome.
1752 AD: The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar–skips eleven days. (Glad the Brits caught up to the rest of the world!)
1814 AD: Francis Scott Key writes ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’.
1847 AD: American General Winfield Scott captures Mexico City. (Wouldn’t you love to wear that t-shirt to school on ‘Cinco de Mayo’?)
1901 AD: President William McKinley succumbs to wounds suffered during an assassination attempt on September 6. Succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.
1960 AD: OPEC is founded.
1990 AD: Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. become the first father-son duo to hit back-to-back home runs.

Births
1769 AD: Alexander von Humbolt
1849 AD: Ivan Pavlov
1879 AD: Margaret Sanger (who really should have been aborted. )
1936 AD: Walter Koenig, (Ensign Chekov)

Deaths
1321 AD: Dante
1851 AD: James Fenimore Cooper
1898 AD: William Seward Burroughs (I only include this because during high school I used my grandmother’s old Burroughs typewriter.)
1901 AD: President McKinley
1996 AD: Juliet Prowse
2009 AD: Patrick Swayze

An interesting thing I’ve noticed when I peruse the ‘Today in History’ info is that the closer you get to today, the more often really dumb things/people are highlighted. Far more actors/actresses and sports figures pop up. The more distant from today you get, the more likely that they actually had some impact on your life, whether you know it or not. Honestly, the Griffey’s ‘accomplishment’ has not only never effected my life, I didn’t even know about it until I read it this morning.

Posted by Christopher     on 09/14/2010 at 08:44 AM   
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   Thursday - September 02, 2010

Just a guy with a metal dectector, ancient lantern found , estimated to be 1700 years old ..

Here we go again.  The Romans sure left a lot to be found.  Photo at the link source below.

This is for us who dig this stuff. 

Metal detector find was 1,700 year old Roman lantern

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 5:33 PM on 2nd September 2010

An Roman lantern made of bronze, believed by experts to be the only one of its kind in Britain, has been unearthed in a field by a metal-detecting enthusiast.
Although rather battered on discovery it has been painstakingly restored and is now on display in Ipswich Museum.

The unique artefact, which dates from between the 1st and 3rd century AD, was discovered by 21-year-old Danny Mills at a detecting rally near Sudbury, Suffolk. Mills reported the find to local archaeologists and the landowner later donated it to the regional museum.

Conservator at Colchester and Ipswich Museums, Emma Hogarth, who restored the object said it is a rare and exquisite example of craftsmanship.
Archaeologists say the British Museum in London holds only fragments of similar finds and its closest complete double was found at the Roman city of Pompeii in southern Italy.

Suffolk is known to have been dotted with plush Roman villas and country estates in the 2nd century and experts speculate it could have been used by a rich landowner to move between his villa and its outhouses at night.

photo and more

There’s that name again. Pompeii.  My neighbor was there and suggests Oct. as a good time to go.  Giving it lots of thought. Health permitting.

Posted by peiper     on 09/02/2010 at 01:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • Archeology / Anthropology • History • UK •  
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   Tuesday - August 24, 2010

health and safety in a risk adverse culture … can’t mow the castle lawn due to steep slopes ..

In an article today in the Telegraph is a mind numbing story of complete stupidity for which there is NO link. As usual.  So you will simply have to take this on faith that I am not making it up.

Something tells me however that Richard Littlejohn of The Mail will have this in the next couple of days with a link.  But I can’t wait till then.  Nor can I take the time to copy word for word the entire article.  So, I will give you the simple nut and bolt (there’s only one) and photos and history of a place called Carlisle Castle which is absolutely awesome.  While searching for the story link I discovered news on a BBC site of a decade long dig at the castle site, uncovering some 80,000 Roman artefacts including a human louse, 2,000 yrs old.  Unbelievable, huh?

For centuries and especially after it came under control of The English Heritage folks, there have been grounds keepers.  No surprise there. Right? We’re talking castle here.  And keeping the grounds means mowing lawns. Does it not?  The castle survived wars and sieges and was also one place where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned.  It is as you would expect it to be, a major tourist attraction.

The center of countless wars and battles, guarding England’s northern border against Scottish invasion, under siege during the English civil war, the folks who look after this historic place have found something that is … “too dangerous” to do around it’s walls.
MOW THE FREEKIN GRASS ON THE SLOPING BANKS OF IT’S MOAT!

Yup … there ya go BMEWS.  HEALTH and SAFETY officials now say mowing the grass on the banks of either side of the moat is “too perilous for workmen due to the steep inclines.” And so cutting the grass has now ceased. 

There isn’t any info on the numbers injured or killed over the last few hundred years while keeping the slopes trimmed.  It occurs to us doesn’t it, that had the Health and Safety Executive been around 900 years ago, this place might never have been built.
Or if it had, there’d have been no slopes and maybe no moat either.

These idiots are killing their country with their risk adverse politically correct everyone is equal left wing socialistic libtard bs.  Their embrace of diversity which they have turned into a religion and their romantic ideal of multi-culture as a cure all and a standard to be enshrined. 
They don’t deport plane hi-jackers on grounds of human rights, they can’t deport a killer to a country of his birth because he no longer speaks that language he’s been here so long, and it would violate his right to have a family.  Meanwhile of course, he’d destroyed another’s family.  The former govt. turned their police into social workers, or they tried anyway, and I have no idea if the rope that tied their hand is now loose.

And oh btw ... I forget.  Someone was hurt there .....  here’s an example of the sort of lunatic bs they’ve brought down on their own heads.

Concern was heightened after an out-of-court settlement earlier this year to a woman who was injured when she fell into the moat at 2am, when the castle was closed. In spite of the closure and warning notices, she won £15,000 compensation and English Heritage also paid her legal fees of £37,250.

Another article on her said she was trespassing.  Well I guess so. At 2 in the morning?  What else?  See, according to my barbaric belief, trespassers at 2am need to be shot dead.  Problem solved, no law suits, no courts, no public expense. 

The ppl responsible for the mess this country is dealing with, have betrayed their history and their ancestors.  They shame the generation that stood firm in ’39 and before that 1914 and before that their entire history.
Shame on them and a pox as well.  They don’t deserve this country.  If things aren’t turned around soon, they will surely deserve what they’ll end up with.

Carlisle Castle’s decade dig is completed

It is thought the Roman army lived in tents at first
An internationally important archaeological dig in Carlisle has unearthed rare articulated armour and a nit comb, with a louse still in it.
The dig, which took place over a decade in front of Carlisle Castle, has uncovered about 80,000 Roman artefacts.
The evidence provides Carlisle with almost 2,000 years of documented history.

Experts say the city is now ranked as one of the most important settlements in the north of England.
Senior executive officer for Oxford Archaeology North, Rachel Newman, said: “The area was very damp 2,000 years ago, and therefore rare evidence survived for how the Romans and their medieval successors lived, in the form of the foundations for their timber buildings, as well as parts of Roman tents and saddles, their shoes, and wooden and leather possessions.

“Many thousands of objects were excavated, including less fragile material, such as pottery, metalwork, both jewellery and everyday utensils, coins, and stone objects.”
“All this evidence provided a wonderful glimpse into how people lived 2,000 years ago, and also in medieval Carlisle, more than 1,000 years later.
“For instance, several nit combs very like the ones we sometimes have to use today were found, one with a human louse in it!

“We could also see from the numbers of bones that the Romans liked beef, and particularly shoulders of meat, that had perhaps been salted or smoked.”
She said the evidence suggested that the Roman army arrived in Carlisle, living in tents to begin with, until the first fort was built.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/8659355.stm

Carlisle Castle guards the western end of the border between England and Scotland. William II built the first timber castle at Carlisle in 1092, and thirty years later his brother, King Henry I, ordered the building of a castle in stone which included the keep that now remains as the oldest part of the castle.

The keep and castle walls were eventually completed by the Scottish king, David I, who took control of northern England during the troubled reign of King Stephen (1135-54). By 1157 the castle was back in English hands, but its location at the border between two frequently warring nations meant it would be battled over for many more centuries. The last time the castle came under siege was in 1745 when the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stewart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) successfully captured the castle, only to be forced to surrender the following month.

The oldest surviving buildings, other than the keep, are the inner and outer gatehouses, both built in the 1160’s and substantially altered in the late 14th century. Most of the other medieval buildings have been lost under the 19th century barracks and other army buildings that line the inner and outer bailey. The castle remains the headquarters of the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment and it houses the Regimental Museum.

http://www.visitcumbria.com/car/carlcas.htm For lots of photos of this place.

Posted by peiper     on 08/24/2010 at 01:12 PM   
Filed Under: • Archeology / Anthropology • CULTURE IN DECLINE • History • UK •  
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IT’S AUGUST 24, THE YEAR IS 79 AD … AND ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY …

On August 24, A.D. 79, the Roman city of Pompeii was buried by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The pumice and thick volcanic ash that ended the lives of so many also encased the city in a virtual time capsule for the next 17 centuries. The city remained largely lost and forgotten until rediscovered by archaeologists in the early 1700s, resulting in Pompeii today being one of the most complete and intact archaeological sites in the world.

There is so much info and so many photos available on the net I hardly know where to begin.  So I begin here and if you’re interested I know you can do further research on the subject.  I have long been interested in Pompeii and the history.  One of these days health permitting, I want to visit the site.

We are not that far away actually.  After all, it isn’t like having to fly from the USA or Australia. Is it?  Damn, age and health are so freekin limiting at times.
I never had a hankering to see the Alps or climb Everest much less view the thing.  But I’d like to visit the Tower of London and hell, I haven’t done that yet either. Ain’t that a shame on me?  But my number one place I think is Pompeii.  I wanna see this place.  Till I do, thank heaven and the geeks who have made the internet possible.

The unexpected catastrophe

It is certain that when the eruption of Vesuvius started on the morning of 24 August, AD 79, it caught the local population utterly unprepared. Although at the same time, as we now know in retrospect, all the tell-tale signs were there to warn them.

It is mainly thanks to the vivid eye-witness account of the younger Pliny (a Roman administrator and poet, whose many vivid letters have been preserved), that we have some understanding of what happened. And it is through him that we can gain insight into the reactions and feelings of the people caught up in the drama of this natural catastrophe.

Pliny’s account leaves no doubt that everyone was caught unprepared. His uncle, known as Pliny the Elder, was stationed in command of the imperial naval base at Misenum, on the north-west extremity of the Bay of Naples. He was not only the senior military officer in the district, but possibly the most well informed living Roman on matters of natural science. His 37-volume Natural History is the longest work on science in Latin that has survived from antiquity.

But for all his science and his seniority, his nephew tells us that the elder Pliny was relaxing, after a bath and lunch, when Vesuvius started to erupt. And the sighting of a column of smoke ‘like an umbrella pine’ on the far side of the Bay triggered a response more of curiosity than of alarm in him. He and his companions were evidently not anticipating such an event.

The same account reveals, however, that the signs were there. Pliny’s casual reference to earth tremors ‘which were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania’ reveals the Roman’s comprehensive ignorance of the link between seismic activity (earth tremors) and volcanic activity.

The volcanologists of today constantly monitor any changes in levels of seismic activity from the observatory on Vesuvius, because they know that the same increase of activity in the deep reservoir of magma (molten or partially molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface) causes both earth tremors and volcanic eruptions. Through measuring seismic activity, these scientists expect to predict an approaching eruption months in advance.

BBC HISTORY - LOTS MORE

There is so much more I could have added to this post. But my problem would be, where to end it with a subject like this.  I’d be tempted to post every photo I find and every word written.  And heck ... you can do that on your own depending on your own passions. So I’ll leave ya with this morsel.

Posted by peiper     on 08/24/2010 at 09:52 AM   
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   Saturday - August 21, 2010

ADD or PC?

Ex-fighter pilots and relatives of war heroes joined commemorations as Sir Winston Churchill’s stirring ‘’so much owed by so many to so few’’ speech was read out, prompting tears in the crowd.

The actor Robert Hardy began reading out the speech at 3.52pm, exactly 70 years after the wartime prime minister delivered it in Parliament.
...
Speaking afterwards, Dame Vera, the singer of We’ll Meet Again, said: ‘’It brought it all back.

‘’So much was owed to so few - and it is wonderful that some of those brave men are here.’’

Lady Soames, 88, said: ‘’It is very moving because 70 years ago I was in the House of Commons to hear my father deliver the speech.

‘’For me it has particular meaning but I find it wonderful that I look around this crowd and for all of us somehow the speech rang a bell.’’

The crowds waving Union flags cheered as the world’s oldest Spitfire and a Hurricane fighter emerged over the trees to fly low over London’s Government buildings.

For veterans it brought back ‘’vivid’’ memories of the Battle of Britain, which began on July 10 1940 and ended on October 31 that year.

More than 2,900 British, Commonwealth and Allied aircrew took part and successfully fought off the Luftwaffe.

The triumph helped wreck Hitler’s plans to invade Britain and lay the foundations for Allied victory five years later.

It was celebrated in Churchill’s speech of August 20 1940, when he told MPs: ‘’Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’’

Phil Reed, director of Churchill War Rooms, said: ‘’In this speech Churchill epitomised his ability to capture in the most stirring way the spirit of a nation fighting for its existence, as Britain stood firm against the Nazi war machine.

‘’Now part of the general folklore of the battle, the speech is today considered a defining moment of the conflict and one of Churchill’s most emotive and stirring pronouncements.’’

The Spitfire, a Mark IIa, flew in the Battle of Britain, and crashed in October 1940 in a dogfight. It was repaired and saw service throughout the war but still carries the marks of bullet holes in the left wing.

The Hurricane was the last to enter service with the RAF – ­joining the fray on New Year’s Day 1944. It was flown by Polish pilots and even went on to have a career in the cinema, appearing in the films Reach For The Sky and ­Battle Of Britain.

The conflict became a turning point in the war, because the RAF prevented Hermann Goering’s Luftwaffe winning the air superiority Adolf Hitler needed for an invasion.

And Churchill’s speech summed up the mood of a nation that was standing alone against Hitler and facing the threat of becoming the next victims of the Nazis’ terrifying Blitzkrieg.

Video of the speech can be found in the Times here, and another video of the fly over can be found here.  An even more heavily edited video can be watched here in the Express.

From what I can gather, the 5 planes in the flyover included only one original Spitfire and only one original Hurricane. Two other modern built replica Spitfires took part, along with some sort of thoroughly modern propeller driven airplane. I can accept that; there are just about none of these old warbirds left. And the very very few that there are, the ones that can reliably fly, tend to charge very much for their presence.

Nor was this a national ceremony. This was a commemoration at the Churchill War Rooms, a museum. Limited funds and all that. But why such a severe chop job on the great man’s words? The original speech, given old Winnie’s flair for the dramatic, probably took nearly half an hour to deliver. Hardy’s rendition took less than 6 and a half minutes. Because he only recited a quarter of the speech at most. Go figure.

This speech and that battle are the pivotal moment in modern British history. True grit, hope, defiance and courage at their very darkest hour. How would you feel if you went to a special anniversary gathering to hear Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and it was cut down to just “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth a government that shall not perish from the earth.”? You’d be rightly miffed, that’s for sure. Now consider how you would feel if nobody in the press bothered to point this out.

The original text of Churchill’s speech are here and here, among others.  You can try to read along while you listen to Hardy make his rendition at the first link above, but he leaves so much out that it’s difficult to follow. So I copied the speech on the overleaf, with Hardy’s meager words highlighted. I don’t get it. Does all of Britain suffer from ADD these days? Has the speech been trimmed for non-violence, political correctness, anti-Americanism, and pro-EU-ism? Could be. Your guess is as good as mine, and welcome in the comments.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/21/2010 at 11:59 AM   
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   Wednesday - August 18, 2010

Find in Britian believed to be Villa of a future Roman emperor

This appeared less then an hour ago .... just had to post it.  There’s lots more at the link.

They keep finding new evidence of history here. Awesome.  Wish I were up going around the country with a camera visiting all these sites and museums. Who knows, maybe one day I might. Would like to. There’s so much to see and learn here.

Notice the Swastikas on the tile.  We have it in mosaics here too.  It appears to be a design that was liberally used by the Romans, but my guess is that is was purely as decoration.  Reason I say that is because the one in our museum here has a bit of Roman flooring with the design running all the way around what was a floor, all attached to form a decorative ring. 

Treasures found at second century villa in Britain reveal it was once home to future Roman Emperor

By Tony Bassett

August 18, 2010

Historians are becoming increasingly convinced that a villa uncovered 20 miles from London was once home to Britain’s Roman Governor.
Since Lullingstone Roman Villa was first uncovered in the 1930s experts believed it was once the home of a leading Roman or wealthy Briton, but archaeologists were unsure of the owner’s identity.

Now experts have re-examined treasures found at the site, near Orpington in Kent, and say it was almost certainly the home of Publius Helvius Pertinax.
He was governor of Britain between AD185 and 186 and went on to become Roman Emperor in AD193.

A high-quality intaglio, or seal, found just outside the villa during excavation is now believed to have been the Governor’s personal seal.
This finely-engraved victory gem was found next to some discarded coins.

The governor is known to have fled the villa at the end of the second century amid a mutiny by his soldiers. The men then looted it for gold and silver.
Roman experts believe the looters prised the seal from a gold signet ring and then left it behind as worthless. There are signs the seal has been gouged with a knife.

An elaborate mosaic at Lullingstone Roman villa near Orpington, Kent. Experts believe it was the home of Pertinax, a former Roman Emperor

MORE STORY AND PHOTOS HERE

Posted by peiper     on 08/18/2010 at 10:11 AM   
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   Saturday - August 14, 2010

Study finds Roman charioteers were very big earners ….

Found this today and was totally fascinated.  Who would ever have thought?

Leaving the computer for the rest of the day.  Persistent cough, pharmacy told me this stuff would make me drowsy.  I didn’t believe it coz every time I have seen that on a bottle or box it has never been true where I was concerned.  But not today.  All I can do to keep head upright and besides, I don’t think I actually shook off that damn bug I had two weeks ago.  Hmmm.  Maybe I shouldn’t have followed the cough liquid with the anti cough pills I took.
Hey ... desperate times call for desperate measures.  Damn cough really bothersome.  Damp cold wet day all day.

Not sure about tomorrow gang so have a good weekend ....and stay tuned.

Wealth of today’s sports stars is ‘no match for the fortunes of Rome’s chariot racers’
Roman charioteers earned far more than even the best-paid footballers and international sports stars of today, according to academic research.

By Murray Wardrop

While golfer Tiger Woods was heralded last year as the first athlete to earn over $1 billion, the figure would apparently have been small beer for the fearless entertainers of the Circus Maximus.
One charioteer, named Gaius Appuleius Diocles, amassed a fortune 35,863,120 sesterces in prize money – the equivalent of $15 billion (£9.6 billion), claims Peter Struck, a professor of classical studies.

The 2nd century “champion of all charioteers” made his fortune even without the sponsorship and marketing fees that bolster the pay of his modern counterparts in the sporting world.
The extent of his riches is recorded on a monumental inscription erected in Rome in 146AD by his fellow charioteers and fans.
Prof Struck, from the University of Chicago, calculated that Diocles’s wealth would have been enough to fund the entire Roman Army for more than two months at the height of its imperial reach.

“By today’s standards that last figure, assuming the apt comparison is what it takes to pay the wages of the American armed forces for the same period, would cash out to about $15 billion,” said Prof Struck.
“Even without his dalliances, it is doubtful Tiger could have matched it. Tiger was never all that well paid when compared with the charioteers of ancient Rome.”
The higher level of pay did not come without its perils for Diocles and his contemporaries. With little more than a leather helmet, shin guards and simple chest armour for protection, racers endured seven gruelling laps of competition, which often ended in the deaths of rivals unfortunate enough to be upended.

Competitors were affiliated to teams – not dissimilar to those of today’s Formula 1 – which invested in training and development of horses and equipment. Like Diocles, who retired aged 42, they were usually drawn from the lower orders of society.
Writing in the history magazine Lapham’s Quarterly, Prof Struck, undergraduate chair of classical studies, says: “The very best paid of these – in fact, the best paid athlete of all time – was a Lusitanian Spaniard named Gaius Appuleius Diocles.

“Twenty-four years of winnings brought Diocles – likely an illiterate man whose signature move was the strong final dash – the staggering sum of 35,863,120 sesterces in prize money.
“His total take home amounted to five times the earnings of the highest paid provincial governors over a similar period—enough to provide grain for the entire city of Rome for one year, or to pay all the ordinary soldiers of the Roman Army at the height of its imperial reach for a fifth of a year.”

ROME SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 08/14/2010 at 10:55 AM   
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   Thursday - August 05, 2010

Ouch

One of those little bits of history that many would prefer to sweep under the rug. From today’s post at Grand Old Partisan, written by Chuck Devore (R-CA) who takes Ron Paul to task for some really stupid remarks he made about Lincoln and the Civil War.

Note: South Carolina voted for secession on December 20, 1860. The steamship Star of the West, acting as a supply vessel for Fort Sumter, was fired on by both The Citadel and by Fort Moultrie on January 9, 1861. Lincoln became President on March 4, 1861. By that time 7 states had seceded and formed the Confederacy before he took office. 17 days after Lincoln’s Inauguration, Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy, gave what is called ”the cornerstone speech”, and in it he said:

“The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution—African slavery as it exists amongst us—the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization.  This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution… The prevailing ideas entertained by (Thomas Jefferson) and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically… Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong.  They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races… Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition.”

Fort Sumter was shelled April 12, 1861. Stephens’ claim to a bloodless revolution didn’t last even four weeks.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/05/2010 at 08:22 AM   
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   Sunday - July 18, 2010

The American Minute

A new (to me) site I stumbled across today. I particularly liked the subject. I’ve read three bios of George Washington in the past year. I was mostly impressed by his character. He was not a military genius. Competent, yes, but no genius. It was his honor and personal integrity that made men follow him. Several times during the Revolution he led the troops into battle. No, I mean he was at the front! Not waiting back at the staff tent for updates.

Anyway, today’s American Minute says of George Washington:

American Minute for July 18th:

Prior to the Revolution, British troops were marching toward Fort Duquesne when they were ambushed by the French and Indians. Not accustomed to fighting unless in an open field, the British soldiers were annihilated.

23-year-old Colonel George Washington rode back and forth during the battle delivering orders for General Edward Braddock. Eventually, Braddock was killed and every officer on horseback was shot, except Washington.

George Washington wrote of the Battle of Monongahela to his younger brother John, JULY 18, 1755:

“As I have heard, since my arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet composed the latter. But by the All-Powerful Dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!”

An Indian warrior later declared: “Washington was never born to be killed by a bullet! I had seventeen fair fires at him with my rifle and after all could not bring him to the ground!”

H/T American Minute

Posted by Christopher     on 07/18/2010 at 10:25 AM   
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   Sunday - June 20, 2010

Today in History, June 20th

Events

1756 – A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
1787 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government of the United States.
1837 – Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.
1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Posted by Christopher     on 06/20/2010 at 09:37 AM   
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