Over at Q & O (happy birthday guys!), McQ posts a moving and devastatingly effective rebuttal to a comment that I thought cut right to the heart of the matter concerning the Swift Boat Veterans ads.

Until I read the comments, where one Viet Nam veteran summed it all up in as perfect a way as I could ever imagine:

"If Kerry loses, that will be the parade that we never had."

Posted by: Ted at 01:23 PM | category: Politics
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Two recent discoveries that pegged my cool-o-meter:

Archaeologists exploring the bottom of the sea off the island of Capri have found the wrecks of three ancient ships that once plied the Mediterranean between Rome and northern African colonies.

Also announced was this:

A Viking body, believed to be that of a woman who was buried 1,100 years ago, has been discovered at an undisclosed site north of Dublin, Ireland's National Museum said.

Posted by: Ted at 07:52 AM | category: History
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August 31st is celebrated by most Baltic states as the official end of World War II, because on that date Russia withdrew her troops.

That's August 31, 1994.

Posted by: Ted at 08:12 AM | category: History
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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." -- Thomas Jefferson

Posted by: Ted at 09:19 PM | category: History
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1 Dam straight.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at August 17, 2004 10:02 PM (YEg2u)

2 Penn and Teller

Posted by: Mookie at August 17, 2004 10:51 PM (ZjSa7)

3 Humbug!

Posted by: Ted at August 18, 2004 05:52 AM (blNMI)

4 Ted,

You keep up this kind of posting behavior young man & they'll think you're one of them thar revolutionary anti-revenuer types.

(BTW, welcome to the family. I'll send a carrier pigeon with the time & location of our next meeting.)

Posted by: Publicola at August 18, 2004 11:44 PM (Aao25)

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Growing up in northern California you learn different things than you do in other parts of the country. Of course, you learn about the Revolutionary War and The Civil War, and all those tiny states up in the corner where America first began, but you're more exposed to western history and geography. Things like the missions along the El Camino Real, Father Junipero Serra, redwoods and the '49 Gold Rush. Also, you hear about the Donner Party.

The Donner Party were settlers coming to California to homestead. After making a series of bad decisions, they wound up stranded up in the Sierra Nevada mountains for the winter. The winter was harsh and food was scarce, and before the spring thaw arrived half of the original eighty had died, and some had reverted to cannibalism to survive.

My uncle had a wonderful collection of books in his home, and one was about the Donner Party. In this book, diary entries and personal recollections from survivor interviews were gathered to tell their tragic story. These people literally went through frozen hell trying to keep their children and each other alive. Over the years I've read everything I could find on the subject, for it holds a morbid fascination for me.

Archeologists have discovered what they believe to be one of the camps used by the Donner party.

Here's an excellent site that shows the original route and timetable, using quotes from the original sources to create a daily log.

This is a nice resource, with tons of links to related materials.

Posted by: Ted at 08:06 AM | category: History
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George "Machine Gun" Kelly (he's the guy wearing the bracelets).

(in the extended entry) more...

Posted by: Ted at 05:27 PM | category: History
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(courtesy of Sporting News)

This season, Barry Bonds has more intentional walks (67) than any hitter in the AL has total walks.

Back in 1934, NY Giants southpaw Carl Hubbell struck out five straight batters in the All-Star game. Those five were Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. All five were easily elected to the Hall of Fame upon retirement.

The starting NL outfield (Bonds, Griffey [doh!] and Sosa), has combined for 1,735 career home runs. The entire AL starting lineup has a total of 1,799 career homers.

Posted by: Ted at 06:51 PM | category: History
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1 Bonds also has scored more runs than he has hits... how many times has that ever been done?

In USA Today, Henry Aaron claims that Bonds is a better hitter than Ruth... I say no way jose... Ruth is the best hitter ever - bar none... what are your thoughts on that?

Posted by: Madfish Willie at July 12, 2004 08:59 PM (yN46R)

2 I have no unbiased opinion. In my heart, Barry Bonds and the Babe don't hold a candle to Willie Mays.

My head tells me it's Barry, Babe and Willie, in that order.

Posted by: Ted at July 13, 2004 10:05 AM (ZjSa7)

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Don Rudolph pitched for the Chicago White Sox. On the back of his 1959 baseball card (in the extended entry), besides his stats they note that Don's wife is a professional dancer. Her name was Pat Wiggin, and professional dancer was a delicate way of saying 'stripper'.

I'm trying to track down a picture of her, but there's a bit of a flame war going on in the vintage erotica newsgroup, hence requests for help are getting lost in the mayhem. I remain hopeful. more...

Posted by: Ted at 05:38 AM | category: History
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I noticed a license plate frame announcing the fact that the driver was a Civil War Reenactor.

I can't believe that it's strictly an American phenomenom, but I've never heard of it happening anywhere else. Are there groups in other parts of the world that reenact historical battles? Waterloo? Agincourt?

I'm curious, gonna go Google...

...found a couple. Here's a site that talks about an annual reenactment of a battle between Christian and Muslim forces in 1091, but it looks to be a small-scale representation held in the city square.

Here's a site that talks about an annual event that includes a reenactment of the WWII D-Day landings, from Lake Erie onto the shore at Conneaut, Ohio. This sounds cool.

I like this next one! The Californian Made Up Battle Reenactment Society recreates historically accurate battles which never actually happened. Among their recent reenactments were: Egyptians vs. Aztecs- The Battle of the Credit for Inventing the Pyramid, England vs. USA - The 1899 Battle of the 'Z' Pronuciation, and France vs. Itself - The 1986 Battle of No Point.

I found a site from the Ukraine that seems to be about a group of military history enthusiasts, but it's heavily under construction and I couldn't find a way to their reenactment pages. It appears that they do a reenactment of the 1812 battle of Borodino between Russian forces and Napoleon's invading army.

And of course, as often happens when Googling, I stumbled across some unexpected treasure: the site for the magnificent State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Very impressive online collection, well worth some time spent browsing.

Search results showed that the vast majority of the reencactments are American Civil War era, although I did find a few from the American Revolutionary War and some from other countries.

Posted by: Ted at 07:11 AM | category: History
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Yep, he was a cowboy, both in the movies and in real life.

My military service was essentially under two presidents: President Carter and President Reagan. There was a brief period at the beginning under President Ford, and an even shorter time under the senior President Bush.

When President Reagan took the helm, there was a noticable difference in the armed forces. Our Commander in Chief truly believed in us, and we had to live up to his expectations. To him, the military wasn't the backup plan or last option to be played, it was another tool for implementing policy, and few Presidents ever wielded a tool with greater precision or confidence.

Besides the material measures of the strengthening of the US Military, I think his greatest achievment was the rejuvination of the spirit of the armed forces. That may also be, ultimately, the longest lasting effect, because despite the advanced technology and methods employed, the future of the United States rests, as it always has, directly on the shoulders of the men and women who make up the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard. A realistic look at history will show that America has never been more secure than it is right now. We can still be hurt, but we are farther from the possibility of our complete downfall than at any previous time in our 200+ years.

Well done, President Reagan.

Posted by: Ted at 07:34 AM | category: History
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Iraq isn't Vietnam all over again, but there's more in common with WWII than you might realize. Check out this interesting piece from Alan E. Brain (posted at The Command Post too).

Posted by: Ted at 11:48 AM | category: History
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About 35 miles south of Arlington National Cemetery is another National Cemetery, at Quantico, Virginia. Quantico is the headquarters of the US Marine Corps, and is located on the other side of the interstate from the cemetery itself. There actually is a town called Quantico that is completely within the base perimeter, you have to go through the front gate of the base in order to get there. It's a nice enough little town, mostly small apartment buildings and businesses like laundromats for military personnel and featuring an honest-to-Landry Dallas Cowboys bar, smack dab in the middle of Redskins country.

At the main gate of Quantico base is a slightly smaller replica of the monument depicting the second raising of the US flag at Iwo Jima, just like the one in Washington, DC.

But if you go west on the interstate exit, heading away from the base, you'll come to a turnoff for the National Cemetery. Neither as celebrated nor as large as Arlington, Quantico is nevertheless a beautiful and peaceful place. Naturally, being in the heart of Marine country, many of the monuments and markers are dedicated to the Corps. Unlike Arlington, most of the grave markers are horizontal, facing up to the sky, leaving long stretches of perfectly-maintained grass divided by gently curving roads. There are also many wooded areas, and some decent walking trails through the woods, complete with benches and 'reflection stops' that have been built and maintained by Eagle Scout candidates over the years.

It's far from a sterile place because that area of Virginia still maintains huge tracts of undeveloped land. Sit quietly for a while and you'll see multitudes of birds and squirrels, rabbits, deer and the occasional red fox. In fact, one of the problems the staff has is hunters coming onto the grounds at night and poaching deer.

Four times a year, Quantico National Cemetery dresses up. The Avenue of Flags is an impressive thing to see. Hundreds of donated veteran's flags are raised along the roads on Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Flag Day.

I went to Quantico National Cemetary early yesterday morning and spent a quiet hour walking around, taking pictures and talking to a few other folks who were there. I added my own silent thanks to those who've served this country that I love.

(pictures are in the extended entry, click the links to open in their own window for the bandwidth-impaired) more...

Posted by: Ted at 11:29 PM | category: History
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The National Hockey League had survived many years with teams being created and fading away, but the "original six" always survived. They were:

Boston Bruins
Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
Montreal Canadiens
New York Rangers
Toronto Maple Leafs

In 1967, the NHL gambled on a major expansion and doubled their size to 12 teams. In the extended entry is a list of those teams, along with pictures of their original sweaters. more...

Posted by: Ted at 12:12 AM | category: History
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More cool archeological news from Mayan ruins. And it's from a different dig than mentioned here.

Posted by: Ted at 10:44 AM | category: History
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The National World War II Memorial will assume its central place among Washington's defining landmarks today, opening to the public after nearly two decades of debate and anticipation.

The chain-link fences surrounding the $172 million project are to come down early this morning, and visitors will be allowed to enter the 7.4-acre site at 9:30 a.m. -- a month before the memorial is to be officially dedicated Memorial Day weekend.

You can read the rest here, and there are several hi-res renderings of the monument here. The memorial home page can be found here.

Posted by: Ted at 06:22 AM | category: History
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In 1926, a syndicate of buyers purchased the Victoria Tigers, moved them to Detroit, and renamed them the Cougars. In 1930 the name changed again to the Falcons, and in 1932 they became the Red Wings.

Madison Square Garden was built primarily for boxing by Tex Rickard, but he got a lot of financing from the Barnum and Bailey Circus. In exchange, he made a deal that allowed the circus to come in every year at a certain time, in perpetuity. That time coincided with the NHL playoffs, and later, when the New York Rangers club formed, they played some playoff series with no home games because of scheduling conflicts.

In 1928, the New York Rangers met the Montreal Maroons in the Stanley Cup finals. During the second period of game 2, a shot hit the Rangers goalie in the eye and he was taken to the hospital (they didn't wear masks in those days). There was no backup goalie available, so the Rangers coach/general manager donned the pads and took the net. He wasn't entirely unfamiliar with it since he sometimes played goal during team practice, and the Rangers won the game in overtime. For the rest of the series the Rangers used a goalie who'd spent most of the season in the minors, and they went on to win the hard-fought best-of-five series. Long time hockey fans may recognize the coach's name: Les Patrick.

Patrick was hired to coach the fledgling Rangers, but he inherited a team built by Conn Smythe, who was fired before they played a single game. Bitter over his treatment, Conn Smythe vowed to build a team that would beat the Rangers. In 1927 he purchased the Toronto St. Pats, changed their name to the Maple Leafs and their colors from green and white to blue and white. In 1932 the Leafs won the Stanley Cup.

When Chicago was awarded a franchise, the Black Hawks signed most of the players from the powerhouse Portland franchise of the newly-defunct Western Canadian Hockey League. In 1934 the Black Hawks won their first Stanley Cup behind the stellar play of goalie Chuck Gardiner. Gardiner had been ill all season and died eight weeks after winning the Cup.

More later as the playoffs progress.

Posted by: Ted at 05:14 AM | category: History
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The Vezina trophy is awarded each year to the top goaltender of the season. It's named for George Vezina, the first great goalie to play the game. He started his career in 1910, playing for a mediocre Montreal team. Despite that, he led the league in goals-against average his first two seasons, took Montreal to the Stanley Cup finals in his fourth season, and won it all for the first time in his fifth season.

In the early days, goalies were not allowed to fall to the ice to make a stop, making it much harder to prevent scoring. George Vezina developed a stand-up style that influenced other goalies in the league for decades.

In November, 1924, Vezina was obviously not in good health. Despite a high fever he was in net for the Canadiens' season opener versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. He collapsed during the first period, and was diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis. He passed away four months later.

George Vezina was one of the original dozen players elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame when it opened in 1945.

Posted by: Ted at 07:57 PM | category: History
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In 1892, the British Governor General of Canada Sir Frederick Stanley donated the Stanley Cup as "an outward and visible sign" of an annual championship among hockey teams in Canada.

The Cup is unique among championship trophies in that each member of the winning team is allowed to take the Cup home for a day to share with friends and family.

That tradition started in the 1980's, a few years after Montreal Canadiens player Guy Lefleur "stole" the Cup from the team's victory party. He drove the Cup to his boyhood home in Quebec, and placed it in the front yard where his father had built a makeshift rink where he first learned the game.

The very first winners of the Cup were the Amatuer Athletic Association of Montreal, in 1893, and for reasons unclear today refused to accept the trophy. They topped the league again in 1894 and that time accepted the Cup.

I'll post more little tidbits as the playoffs continue.

Posted by: Ted at 06:42 AM | category: History
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Here's the story of how the San Jose Sharks hockey franchise got its name, from the official Sharks website.

(in the extended entry, for those bored by sports stuff.) more...

Posted by: Ted at 11:48 AM | category: History
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Here's a neat page about the oldest-surviving McDonalds (the third one built), with pictures. Growing up, we had one very much like this in our town. Not real close, it was a treat for us every time we went.

Thanks to Transterrestrial Musings for the pointer.

Burger King sucks.

Posted by: Ted at 09:57 AM | category: History
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1 I am a lifelong Burger Thing hater. And usually surrounded by fans of the abominable franchise. Thank God Mrs. Buckethead is not a BK fan.

btw, thanks for the compliment on the space history post.

Posted by: buckethead at April 01, 2004 05:34 PM (ztNrs)

2 Always been a McD's person myself, too. BK's fries are gross. Always cold. Even when they're not cold, they're gross. IMHO. Aren't you glad I stopped by to participate in the discussion? Heh.

Posted by: topdawg at April 01, 2004 07:18 PM (JMaAr)

3 On two different occasions, in two different states, we were driving on vacation and the only thing on the interstate was BK. I ordered a burger and TWICE we got on the road and discovered there was no top bun. That's not incompetence, that's malice.

Plus their commercials insult my intelligence.

Posted by: Ted at April 01, 2004 08:16 PM (ZjSa7)

4 Oh, and Topdawg, I'm enjoying the hell out of TND! You keep me smiling.

Posted by: Ted at April 01, 2004 08:17 PM (ZjSa7)

5 At least in Australia, Burger King/Hungry Jack burgers are far superior to the pallid offerings purveyed by Mackers.

Of course the local greasy-spoon burgers are better still, with pineapple, beetroot, lettuce, egg, bacon, onions, tomato, and ketchup. Oh yes, and something vaguely meat-like in there too. (We find the idea of Pickles or Mayo on burgers ... disturbing.)

Mackers, OTOH, does have Party Rooms and Ice Cream cakes, so for those of us who have toddlers underfoot, they have certain advantages on birthdays.

My 2-year old son Andrew summed it up yesterday:
"Mackies! Chippies!"
"OK Andrew, you've been a Good Boy, what do you want?"
"Burger King Chidren Mee!"
(No, I'm not joking, and it's vaguely worrying...)
The nearest Mackers is about 2 km away, the nearest Hungry Jack's is at the other end of the city. *SIGH*

Posted by: Alan E Brain at April 01, 2004 10:13 PM (JtN0G)

6 I must confess to a loathe of McDonald's, though I don't eat so much fast food. I like BK, and even Wendy's, but I do have a thing for Popeye's, when I'm in the mood for it.

Although I was eating Jack in the Box out west and that works for me.

Posted by: Scott at April 06, 2004 04:28 PM (zL4bg)

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