The Christmas Story You Probably Never Heard

You may have seen this but if not it is worth the time to read.

After you read this, you will realize there is a Santa Claus (Bennett & Vivian Levin)

Here's a 'today' Yule story that occurred 3 weeks ago ~ AND NOW, in time for the holidays, I bring you the best Christmas story you never heard.

It started last Christmas, when Bennett and Vivian Levin were overwhelmed by sadness while listening to radio reports of injured American troops. "We have to let them know we care," Vivian told Bennett. So they organized a trip to bring soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital to the annual Army-Navy football game in Philly, on December 3.

The cool part is, they created their own train line to do it. Yes, there are people in this country who actually own real trains. Bennett Levin - native Philly guy, self-made millionaire and irascible former L&I commish - is one of them. He has three luxury rail cars. Think mahogany paneling, plush seating and white-linen dining areas. He also has two locomotives, which he stores at his Juniata Park train yard. One car, the elegant Pennsylvania, carried John F. Kennedy to the Army-Navy game in 1961 and '62. Later, it carried his brother Bobby's body to D. C. for burial. "That's a lot of history for one car," says Bennett.

He and Vivian wanted to revive a tradition that endured from 1936 to 1975, during which trains carried Army-Navy spectators from around the country directly to the stadium where the annual game is played. The Levins could think of no better passengers to reinstate the ceremonial ride than the wounded men and women recovering at Walter Reed in D. C. and Bethesda, in Maryland . "We wanted to give them a first-class experience," says Bennett. "Gourmet meals on board, private transportation from the train to the stadium, perfect seats - real hero treatment."

Through the Army War College Foundation, of which he is a trustee, Bennett met with Walter Reed's commanding general, who loved the idea. But Bennett had some ground rules first, all designed to keep the focus on the troops alone:

No press on the trip, lest the soldiers' day of pampering devolve into a media circus.

No politicians either, because, says Bennett, "I didn't want some idiot making this trip into a campaign photo op"

And no Pentagon suits on board, otherwise the soldiers would be too busy saluting superiors to relax.

The general agreed to the conditions, and Bennett realized he had a problem on his hands. "I had to actually make this thing happen," he laughs.

Over the next months, he recruited owners of 15 other sumptuous rail cars from around the country - these people tend to know each other - into lending their vehicles for the day. The name of their temporary train? The Liberty Limited.

Amtrak volunteered to transport the cars to D. C. - where they'd be coupled together for the round-trip ride to Philly - then back to their owners later.

Conrail offered to service the Liberty while it was in Philly. And SEPTA drivers would bus the disabled soldiers 200 yards from the train to Lincoln Financial Field, for the game.

A benefactor from the War College ponied up 100 seats to the game - on the 50-yard line - and lunch in a hospitality suite.

And corporate donors filled, for free and without asking for publicity, goodie bags for attendees: From Woolrich, stadium blankets. From Wal-Mart, digital cameras. From Nikon, field glasses. From GEAR, down jackets.

There was booty not just for the soldiers, but for their guests, too, since each was allowed to bring a friend or family member. The Marines, though, declined the offer. "They voted not to take guests with them, so they could take more Marines," says Levin, choking up at the memory.

Bennett's an emotional guy, so he was worried about how he'd react to meeting the 88 troops and guests at D.C.'s Union Station, where the trip originated. Some GIs were missing limbs. Others were wheelchair-bound or accompanied by medical personnel for the day. "They made it easy to be with them," he says. "They were all smiles on the ride to Philly. Not an ounce of self-pity from any of them. They're so full of life and determination."

At the stadium, the troops reveled in the game, recalls Bennett. Not even Army's lopsided loss to Navy could deflate the group's rollicking mood.

Afterward, it was back to the train and yet another gourmet meal - heroes get hungry, says Levin - before returning to Walter Reed and Bethesda. "The day was spectacular," says Levin. "It was all about these kids. It was awesome to be part of it."

The most poignant moment for the Levins was when 11 Marines hugged them goodbye, then sang them the Marine Hymn on the platform at Union Station.

"One of the guys was blind, but he said, 'I can't see you, but man, you must be beautiful!' " says Bennett. "I got a lump so big in my throat, I couldn't even answer him."

It's been three weeks, but the Levins and their guests are still feeling the day's love. "My Christmas came early," says Levin, who is Jewish and who loves the Christmas season. "I can't describe the feeling in the air."

Maybe it was hope.

As one guest wrote in a thank-you note to Bennett and Vivian, "The fond memories generated last Saturday will sustain us all - whatever the future may bring."

God bless the Levins.

And bless the troops, on each and every occasion.

Ronnie Polaneczky of the Philadelphia Daily News
December 22, 2005.

Best comeback ever

Major General Peter Cosgrove is interviewed about teaching Boy Scouts how to shoot guns.

Things you probably didn't know about Jingle Bells

It was originally written for a Thanksgiving Sunday school program. And the last verse, tells you to "go it, while you're young, take the girls tonight and....."

You'll just have to read the rest here.

Mathematical Art

The 2011 Joint Mathematics Meetings Exhibition of Mathematical Art

xkcd meets FoxTrot

Bill Amend stands in for Randall Munroe leading to nerdly goodness.

TSA stickers

Obama administration unravelling?

Obama conducting Reign of Terror (← click for full story)

President Obama was urged by the few White House insiders from whom he still takes advice to leave the country on his ten-day Asian trip, his longest trip abroad since becoming president, in order to not inflict any more damage to the Democratic Party in the wake of one of the worst electoral defeats for the party of an incumbent president in recent history. According to sources close to the White House, who put themselves in great danger by even talking to members of the media, the plans to have Obama leave for a visit to India, Pakistan, Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan are an attempt to get Obama out of the country while top Democrats can sort through the political disaster created for the party by Obama's increasingly detached-from-reality presidency.

Virtual political guerrilla warfare has broken out between Obama's inner circle on one hand and senior Democratic officials, including outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Party strategist James Carville, former Demcratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, and, behind-the-scenes, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton, on the other.

White House leaks about the ineffectiveness of Obama's presidency are expandng beyond the revelations attributed to a former high-level Obama administration insider and which have been reported by a blogger named "Ulsterman." Some White House staffers have described a "reign of terror" in the White House over continued leaks and a troika of leadership that is making decisions without any input from the president. The troika reportedly consists of First Lady Michelle Obama, presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, and the president's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, who resides in the White House.

Vice President Biden, under intense pressure from some Democratic Party officials and Cabinet members to invoke Article 25, Section 4 of the Constitution and have Obama temporarily or permanently removed as president because of his mental incapacity to fulfill his constitutional oath as president is reluctant to take such drastic action. Biden feels that the country would "become unglued" after such action and he doesn't want to be the one who would be responsible for "picking up the pieces," according to a source who works within Biden's office.

White House staff exodus - signs of disarray (← click for full story)

More senior White House staff are to leave in the next few months, adding to the high exit rate from President Barack Obama's administration.

Political analysts attribute the attrition rate to exhaustion, but Republican opponents blame disarray inside the White House, with an insular team responsible for too many policy failures.

"The exhaustion rate for this administration is more accelerated due to the problems they encountered in January 2009. There was no presidential 'honeymoon'," Baker said today. He added that some of them had been working intensively on economic policy in the six months before Obama took over.

"These are worn-out, depleted people who are not waiting for the fire alarm to be sounded before heading for the emergency exit," Baker said.

Late-night comedians on Obama's trip to Asia

"President Obama went to India, South Korea, then Japan. He’s going to keep traveling until he finds his birth certificate."
– David Letterman

"President Obama was in India yesterday visiting our jobs. Tomorrow he goes to China to visit our money."
– Jay Leno

"President Obama is still out of the country but he's keeping in contact with Vice President Joe Biden to find out when it's safe to come back home."
– Jay Leno

"The president’s trip was cut short due to volcanic ash. That’s the second time his plans have been disrupted by ash. The last time was when the Democrats went down in flames."
– Jay Leno

A message to HP Product Support

This soldier in Iraq had an HP printer which quit working. He contacted HP tech support for help to fix it. HP told the soldier that he would have to pay them for their advice. Watch this 60 second video for his response.

A Veteran's Day story

On a morning in September 2009 that he will never forget, John C. Wright, a longtime professor of chemistry at UW-Madison, was getting ready to walk from his office to the class he was scheduled to teach when his telephone rang.

That call, and a fax that followed a short time later, directing him to a website, knocked Wright for a loop. He is not an emotional person, but Wright teared up reading an article on the website.

"I was astonished," he said recently. He needed a little walk to calm down before teaching his class.

What Wright, 67, learned that September morning set in motion a series of events that culminated last month when he and his family flew to England for the unveiling ceremony of a memorial plaque honoring the father Wright never knew.

Full story here.

Kama'aina Birthday Remembrance

About 1970 the Marines accepted the first all-Hawaiian training platoon to go to San Diego en masse from the Islands. They would be kept together until graduation. The Star Bulletin had a great cartoon of the boys boarding the plane in their Hawaiian shirts and zoris lustily singing

From the slopes Mauna Kea,
To the shore at Waikiki,
We eat saimin and cracker seed,
And sometimes opihi...

Happy 236th!

Happy birthday, Marines! Exactly 41 years ago, I was attending the (very formal) Marine Ball held in Spaso House, The US Ambassador's residence in Moscow. The night when a British Cavalry Brigadier General stabbed Mrs. Beam (the ambassador's wife) in the calf with his spur out on the dance floor. My father, a (real, horse-type) army cavalryman from the 1930's, was appalled. "Everyone knows you take your spurs off before dancing!"

Larry

As we Marines – active, Reserve, retired, and former – celebrate the 235th anniversary of our birth in a Philadelphia alehouse during the American Revolution (specifically Nov. 10, 1775), three things come to mind.

First: Yes, we Marines boast. We always have – things like “it’s hard to be humble when you’re the finest” – but much of this boasting stems from the pride in our organization’s amazing successes and our hard-won reputation over the past two centuries. And it also comes from the fact that – because we are the smallest, most unique kid on the block – the bigger kids have always tried to knock us down, put us in our place, dismiss us as cult-like and unnecessary, and either absorb us into their own ranks or disband us entirely.

One example of this was Army Gen. Frank Armstrong, who in the late 1940’s – even after the Corps’ stunning performance in World War II – proposed absorbing Marines into the Army, and referred to us as “a small bitched-up army talking Navy lingo.”

Decades later, in 1997, Assistant Secretary of the Army Sara Lister proclaimed before a Harvard University audience, “I think the Army is much more connected to society than the Marines are. Marines are extremists. Wherever you have extremists, you’ve got some risks of total disconnection with society. And that’s a little dangerous.”

So you see we’ve had to boast a bit, if for no other reason than to counter our detractors.

Second: I’m reminded of the words of pro-Marine outsiders (non-Marines), who heap praise on us because they are secure enough in their own skins and we are so extraordinarily good at what we do (though some might wish we weren’t so good) that it would be insincere to deny us that praise.

Third: I’m reminded of the enemies of America who praise us in the expression of their fears.

So since this week is our birthday, let me share with everyone – the sheer point of this article – some of that praise from the big kids on the block (who aren’t always thrilled that we exist), the pro-Marine outsiders, and America’s enemies.

We begin with a bit of unintentional praise.

During the 1983 invasion of Grenada, Army Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, picked up a telephone and demanded to know why “two companies of Marines [are] running all over the island and thousands of Army troops [are] doing nothing. What the hell is going on?”

We continue with a bit of matter-of-factness.

James Adams, former CEO of United Press International, describes in his 1989 book, SECRET ARMIES, "Marines with 20 percent of the [American] force ended up occupying 80 percent of the island [Grenada]"

Then in a 1992 study conducted by the Heritage Foundation, it was determined that “for every [U.S.] Army soldier in a combat position, one soldier is behind the lines in such supporting roles as administration and supply; for Marines the ratio is two combatants to one administrator or supplier. As a result, the Marine Corps delivers the most firepower in the quickest time when responding to a crisis. … The Marine Corps’ greatest advantage over other services is the speed and muscle with which it can respond to a crisis.”

In 2006, national defense and economics historian Dr. Larry Schweikart – in his book, AMERICA'S VICTORIES – WHY THE U.S. WINS WARS AND WILL WIN THE WAR ON TERROR – describes the performance of U.S. troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq: “The Marines, given their superiority in combat training and despite their youth (Marines are the youngest, on average, of the enlisted troops) generally fared far better than the regular Army in combat situations.”

Now let’s look at some of the subjective praise based on pure observation.

"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle."
— U.S. Army Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing

"The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight!"
— U.S. Army Major Frank Lowe

"U.S. Marines have the swagger, confidence, and hardness that must have been in Stonewall Jackson's Army of the Shenandoah."
— A British military observer's report

"Marines have it [pride] and benefit from it. They are tough, cocky, sure of themselves and their buddies. They can fight, and they know it."
— U.S. Army General Mark Clark

"Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They're aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense. They've got really short hair and they always go for the throat."
— Rear Admiral J.R. Stark, U.S. Navy

And lastly, let’s look at a few examples of how America’s enemies have traditionally perceived us.

During the Korean War, Chinese premier Mao Tse Tung was so-concerned about the combat prowess of the 1st Marine Division that he issued a death contract on the entire division, which he stated, “has the highest combat effectiveness” of any division in the U.S. armed forces. “It seems not enough for our four divisions to surround and annihilate [the 1st Marine Division’s] two regiments,” Mao said in orders to the commander of the 9th Chinese Army Group. “You should have one or two more divisions as a reserve force.”

During the same war, a captured North Korean officer confessed, “Panic sweeps my men when they are facing the American Marines.”

Years later during the first Gulf War, Iraqi soldiers nicknamed their U.S. Marine foes, “Angels of Death.”

And during the 2004 U.S. assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah, an intercepted radio transmission revealed the enemy’s utter fear of America’s few good men.

“We are fighting, but the Marines keep coming,” shouted a panic-stricken Al Qaeda insurgent to his commander. “We are shooting, but the Marines won’t stop.”

Happy Birthday, Marines, and Semper Fi!

Semper Fi

Daylight Saving Time quote

Winning the World Series with math

To run the bases faster, baseball players just need a bit of mathematics, according to research by an undergraduate math major and his professors. Their calculations show that the optimal path around the bases is one that perhaps no major-league ball player has ever run: It swings out a full 18.5 feet from the baseline.

Read more here.

Post-election musings

Daylight Saving Time song

The Daylight Saving Time song

Only the Brits...

Notice posted at a golf course in war-torn Britain in 1940 for golfers...

Woody Allen algebra

"In summing up, I wish I had some kind of affirmative message to leave you with; I don't. Would you take two negative messages?"

The Politician

Behold the politician.
Self-preservation is his ambition.
He thrives in the D. of C.,
Where he was sent by you and me.

Whether elected or appointed
He considers himself the Lord’s anointed,
And indeed the ointment lingers on him
So thick you can’t get your fingers on him.

He has developed a sixth sense
About living at the public expense,
Because in private competition
He would encounter malnutrition.

He has many profitable hobbies
Not the least of which is lobbies.
He would not sell his grandmother for a quarter
If he suspected the presence of a reporter.

He gains votes ever and anew
By taking money from everybody and giving it to a few,
While explaining that every penny
Was extracted from the few to be given to the many.

Some politicians are Republican, some Democratic,
And their feud is dramatic,
But except for the name
They are identically the same.

When a politician talks the foolishest,
And obstructs everything the mulishest,
And bellows the loudest,
Why his constituents are the proudest.

Wherever decent intelligent people get together
They talk about politicians as about bad weather,
But they are always too decent to go into politics themselves and too intelligent even to go to the polls,
So I hope the kind of politicians they get will have no mercy on their pocketbooks or souls.

Ogden Nash

How much math do we really need?

Interesting discussion at Slashdot.org.

American private enterprise

In case you didn't know, American companies had a lot to do with the rescue of those miners in Chile.

Far be it for an American President to publicly congratulate (let alone even mention) AMERICAN ingenuity and AMERICAN PRIVATE ENTERPRISE for the miracle rescue of the Chilean Miners.

1. Schramm Inc. of West Chester, Pennsylvania built the drills and equipment used to reach the trapped miners.
   
2. Center Rock Company, from Berlin, Pennsylvania, built the drill bits used to reach the miners.
   
3. UPS, the US shipping company, delivered the 13-ton drilling equipment from Pennsylvania to Chile in less than 48 hours.
   
4. Crews from Layne Christensen Company of Wichita Kansas and its subsidiary Geotec Boyles Bros. worked the drills and machinery to locate and reach the miners and then enlarge the holes to ultimately rescue them.
   
5. Jeff Hart of Denver Colorado was called off his job drilling water wells for the U.S. Army's forward operating bases in Afghanistan to lead the drilling crew that reached the miners.
   
6. Atlas Copco Construction Mining Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin provided consulting on how to make drilling equipment from different sources work together under differing pressure specifications.
   
7. Aries Central California Video of Fresno, California designed the special cameras that were lowered nearly a mile into the ground sending back video of the miners.
   
8. Zephyr Technologies of Annapolis, Maryland, made the remote monitors of vital signs that miners will wear during their ascent.
   
9. NASA Engineers designed the "Phoenix" capsule that miners would be brought to the surface in, and provided medical consulting, special diets and spandex suits to maintain miners' blood pressure as they're brought back to the surface.
   

Oh, and Canadian-based Precision Drilling Corp. and South-African company Murray & Roberts, drilled backup rescue shafts in case the American rig failed. Which it didn't.

AND – Oakley supplied the sunglasses for the miners free of charge!!!!

Math in today's comics

Obama: A modern U.S. President

Whoa, nice parachute!

Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (EO DAS) for the F-35

A must see! This is way better than "check six o'clock".

Magic by numbers

I recently wound up in the emergency room. Don’t worry, it was probably nothing. But to treat my case of probably nothing, the doctor gave me a prescription for a week’s worth of antibiotics, along with the usual stern warning about the importance of completing the full course.

I understood why I needed to complete the full course, of course. What I didn’t understand was why a full course took precisely seven days. Why not six, eight or nine and a half? Did the number seven correspond to some biological fact about the human digestive tract or the life cycle of bacteria?

My doctor had recommended seven. Where in the world had seven come from?

Read the rest of the story

Elk and Cat

From a buddy from Battle Creek, Michigan.

This is freaking scary. As you know I was alone when I downed this elk in ND. I was using my camera’s timer attached to my shooting stick to give me enough time to get into the picture. I knew there were a lot of cats in the area but had no idea they would come in this close to people. He had to be within 10 feet of me and I didn’t even know it. I about crapped my pants when I looked at the pictures the next morning and saw he was there.

The Ten Commandments, Hawaiian Style

Obama: a different analysis

From my email inbox:

One 82-year-old lady loves Obama and she may have a very good point. She says that Obama is amazing, and is rebuilding the American dream! She gives us an entirely new slant on the "amazing" job Obama is doing, and she says that she will thank God for the President. Keep reading for her additional comments and an explanation.

When discussing Obama, she says:

1. Obama destroyed the Clinton Political Machine, driving a stake through the heart of Hillary's presidential aspirations - something no Republican was ever able to do.
   
   
2. Obama killed off the Kennedy Dynasty - no more Kennedys trolling Washington looking for booze and women wanting rides home.
   
   
3. Obama is destroying the Democratic Party before our eyes! Dennis Moore had never lost a race. Evan Bayh had never lost a race. Byron Dorgan had never lost a race. Harry Reid - soon to be GONE! These are just a handful of the Democrats whose political careers Obama has destroyed. By the end of 2010, dozens more will be gone. Just think, in December of 2008 the Democrats were on the rise. In the last two election cycles, they had picked up 14 Senate seats and 52 House seats. The press was touting the death of the Conservative Movement and the Republican Party. However, in just one year, Obama put a stop to all of this and will probably give the House - if not the Senate - back to the Republicans.
   
   
4. Obama has completely exposed liberals and progressives for what they are. Sadly, every generation seems to need to re-learn the lesson on why they should never actually put liberals in charge. Obama is bringing home the lesson very well:
   
   
   
   • Liberals tax, borrow and spend.
     
   • Liberals won't bring themselves to protect America.
     
   • Liberals want to take over the economy.
     
   • Liberals think they know what is best for everyone.
     
   • Liberals are not happy until they are running YOUR life.
     
   
   
5. Obama has brought more Americans back to conservatism than anyone since Reagan. In one year, he has rejuvenated the Conservative Movement and brought out to the streets millions of freedom loving Americans. Name one other time when you saw your friends and neighbors this interested in taking back America!
   
   
6. Obama, with his "amazing leadership," has sparked the greatest period of sales of firearms and ammunition this country has seen. Law abiding citizens have rallied and have provided a "stimulus" to the sporting goods field while other industries have failed, faded, or moved off-shore.
   
   
7. In all honesty, one year ago I was more afraid than I have been in my life. Not afraid of the economy, but afraid of the direction our country was going. I thought, Americans have forgotten what this country is all about. My neighbors and friends, even strangers, have proved to me that my lack of confidence in the greatness and wisdom of the American people has been flat wrong.
   
   
8. When the American people wake up, no smooth talking teleprompter reader can fool them! Barack Obama has served to wake up these great Americans!

Again, I want to say: "Thank you, Barack Obama!" After all, this is exactly the kind of hope and change we desperately needed!!

Author unknown

Short field landing

I give him a "10" on the "short field" part and a "0" on the "landing" part. Or maybe a "1" or "2". Any landing you walk away from isn't exactly a bad landing.

Where graph theory meets fast food

So how far can you get from a McDonalds? That would be the McFarthest Point.


“If you want to know what men look for in that land or why men go where there is such danger to their lives, it is the threefold nature of men which lures them on. On one part a man wants fame, for man goes where there is great danger to make himself famous. Another part of man wants knowledge, wants to see those places he has heard of and find out if they are as he has been told. The third part is the desire for riches, for man pursues wealth wherever he thinks he can find it, even though he must pass through great dangers.”

–Mirror of the King, c 1300

Terrorist emeritus

Robert F. Kennedy's killer, a fanatic named Sirhan Sirhan, still resides at Pleasant Valley State Prison in California. Permanently, one hopes, in lieu of the death penalty he received but that was never carried out. (The state of California would rule capital punishment unconstitutional.)

William Ayers, the once prominent terrorist who now leads a second and quieter life as a professor at the University of Illinois, dedicated a book to this same Sirhan Sirhan in 1974. A cofounder of the Weather Underground, the professor would go on to have it both ways -- describing himself a kind of freedom fighter while denying that he was ever into violence. It's debatable which claim is the more dubious.

But the professor's rise in academe has been undeniable. He found his niche at the university in education, of course, one of the more nebulous academic specialties. After a long and well-paid career, he was due for routine promotion to professor emeritus on his retirement.

But as luck (or maybe justice) would have it, Christopher Kennedy turned up on the university's board of trustees. And noticed that it was about to honor the professor who'd dedicated a book to his father's assassin. And blew the whistle. The whole board backed him up by turning down Bill Ayers' designation as professor emeritus, a title that hasn't been taken this seriously in years.

Full story here.

I cahn't believe this!

Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

Reading David McCullough’s 1776, I found myself wondering: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents? If so, when did American accents diverge from British accents?

The answer surprised me.

If you go to Rhode Island, the river Thames there is pronounced "Thaymes" not "Timms". George I the German could not pronounce "Thaymes"; he called the Thames River the "Timms" River so all the other Brits started doing it too.

Remember November's latest video

Paris Panorama

Click here

I was going nuts trying to find Le Tour Eiffel, scrolling all over la place. I mean, surely that is the Field of Mars we are seeing. Then I remembered...Paris Match thirty years ago did an article about a guy who had eaten lunch on top of the Eiffel Tower every day for fifty years. "You must really love it" the reporter said. "I should say not. It's the only place in Paris I can't see the d----- thing!"
Go to full screen and scroll the picture down...you are seeing the panorama at the exact top of the tower!

Man invents machine to turn plastic into oil

Pretty smart for a dead white guy

"The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would ... assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it."

Adam Smith

Lessons from the Plymouth Plantation

From my friend, Tom:

The following is a short piece from an interminably long document by William Bradford ("History of Plymouth Plantation").

The History (attached) contains [numbers] that correspond to the below sections, if you wish to see them in context.

Several interesting items occur to me:

1. These people had not yet immersed themselves in the King James Bible, and therefore, had not yet accepted the spellings that would become standardized by the KJV.

2. They started out, as provided in their original contract, as a commonwealth...and learned that that form of "government" caused laziness and equal misery.

3. Their misery caused them to abandon their commune and go for free enterprise.

4. Free enterprise encouraged them to work for their own benefit.

5. The last paragraph explains why people in a commune don't want to work.

(10li means 10 pounds worth of money, whatever. )

Tom

---

Ano: 1620. July 1.

1. The adventurers & planters doe agree, that every person that goeth being aged 16. years & upward, be rated at 10^li., and ten pounds to be accounted a single share. [57]

2. That he that goeth in person, and furnisheth him selfe out with 10^li. either in money or other provissions, be accounted as haveing 20^li. in stock, and in y^e devission shall receive a double share.

3. The persons transported & y^e adventurers shall continue their joynt stock & partnership togeather, y^e space of 7. years, (excepte some unexpected impedimente doe cause y^e whole company to agree otherwise,) during which time, all profits & benifits that are gott by trade, traffick, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means of any person or persons, remaine still in y^e com̅one stock untill y^e division.

4. That at their com̅ing ther, they chose out such a number of fitt persons, as may furnish their ships and boats for fishing upon y^e sea; imploying the rest in their severall faculties upon y^e land; as building houses, tilling, and planting y^e ground, & makeing shuch com̅odities as shall be most usefull for y^e collonie.

5. That at y^e end of y^e 7. years, y^e capitall & profits, viz. the houses, lands, goods and chatles, be equally devided betwixte y^e adventurers, and planters; wch done, every man shall be free from other of them of any debt or detrimente concerning this adventure.

[29] 6. Whosoever cometh to y^e colonie herafter, or putteth any into y^e stock, shall at the ende of y^e 7. years be alowed proportionably to y^e time of his so doing.

7. He that shall carie his wife & children, or servants, shall be alowed for everie person now aged 16. years & upward, a single share in y^e devision, or if he provid them necessaries, a duble share, or if they be between 10. year old and 16., then 2. of them to be reconed for a person, both in trāsportation and devision.

8. That such children as now goe, & are under y^e age of ten years, have noe other shar in y^e devision, but 50. acers of unmanured land. [58]

9. That such persons as die before y^e 7. years be expired, their executors to have their parte or sharr at y^e devision, proportionably to y^e time of their life in y^e collonie.

10. That all such persons as are of this collonie, are to have their meate, drink, apparell, and all provissions out of y^e com̅on stock & goods of y^e said collonie.

The cheefe & principall differences betwene these & the former conditions, stood in those 2. points; that y^e houses, & lands improved, espetialy gardens & home lotts should remaine undevided wholy to y^e planters at y^e 7. years end. 2^ly, y^t they should have had 2. days in a weeke for their owne private imploymente, for y^e more comforte of them selves and their families, espetialy such as had families. But because letters are by some wise men counted y^e best parte of histories, I shall shew their greevances hereaboute by their owne letters, in which y^e passages of things will be more truly discerned.

All this whille no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expecte any. So they begane to thinke how they might raise as much corne as they could, and obtaine a beter crope then they had done, that they might not still thus languish in miserie. At length, after much debate of things, the Gov^r (with y^e advise of y^e cheefest amongest them) gave way that they should set corne every man for his owne perticuler, and in that regard trust to them selves; in all other things to goe on in y^e generall way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcell of land, according to the proportion of their number for that end, only for present use (but made no devission for inheritance), and ranged all boys & youth under some familie. This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corne was planted then other waise would have bene by any means y^e Gov^r or any other could use, and saved him a great deall of trouble, and gave farr better contente. The women now wente willingly into y^e feild, and tooke their litle-ons with them to set corne, which before would aledg weaknes, and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression.

[163]

The experience that was had in this com̅one course and condition, tried sundrie years, and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanitie of that conceite of Platos & other ancients, applauded by some of later times;—that y^e taking away of propertie, and bringing in com̅unitie into a comone wealth, would make them happy and florishing; as if they were wiser then God. For this comunitie (so farr as it was) was found to breed much confusion & discontent, and retard much imploymēt that would have been to their benefite and comforte. For y^e yong-men that were most able and fitte for labour & service did repine that they should spend their time & streingth to worke for other mens wives and children, with out any recompence. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in devission of victails & cloaths, then he that was weake and not able to doe a quarter y^e other could; this was thought injuestice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and [97] equalised in labours, and victails, cloaths, &c., with y^e meaner & yonger sorte, thought it some indignite & disrespect unto them. And for mens wives to be commanded to doe servise for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloaths, &c., they deemd it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands well brooke it. Upon y^e poynte all being to have alike, and all to doe alike, they thought them selves in y^e like condition, and one as good as another; and so, if it did not cut of those [164]relations that God hath set amongest men, yet it did at least much diminish and take of y^e mutuall respects that should be preserved amongst them. And would have bene worse if they had been men of another condition. Let none objecte this is men's corruption, and nothing to y^e course it selfe. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in his wisdome saw another course fiter for them.

Bradford's History of 'Plimoth Plantation'
From the Original Manuscript. With a Report of the Proceedings Incident to the Return of the Manuscript to Massachusetts
Author: William Bradford

Need math help?

From Nothing to Do with Arbroath.

Cash-strapped California awards millions to illegal alien child molester

California is so broke it is being compared to Greece. But the Orange County Board of Supervisors gave away 4.3 million real dollars to an illegal Mexican alien who is also a child molester. Why did the supervisors do it? Answer: “The lawyer made me do it!”

The first chapter in this distasteful story begins with Fernando Ramirez, a 24-year-old illegal alien, being caught molesting a 6-year-old girl in a park. He was duly convicted and sent to the Orange County Central Jail.

Inmates in prison for murder, bank robbery, mugging old ladies, and other assorted thuggery agree on at least one thing: They hate child molesters. They beat him to within the proverbial inch of his life.

...a California lawyer takes over. Attorney Mark Eisenberg...was mysteriously advised about Fernando being roughly used by the other gents in the Orange County lockup.

Bringing a case before the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the kindly attorney claimed that Ramirez had suffered brain damage because of the beating, that he needs help walking, and that he now has the intellect of a four-year-old child.

...the supervisors take stock of the dire financial straits of Orange County, then conclude that county taxpayers can still find it in their hearts to hand the child molester and his lawyer the largest settlement ever given to anyone in county custody: $3.75 million, plus $900,000 for medical expenses. With a wave of their wands, Orange County Supervisors made Fernando one of the richest non-citizens in the country!

Full story here.

Update:
from The Examiner:
If anyone would like to contact the Orange County Board of Supervisors to discuss the Ramirez settlement, I have included the following contact list for your convenience:

-Board Chair Patricia C. Bates, Supervisor Fifth District (ph #: 714-834-3550)
-Vice Chair Janet Nguyen, Supervisor First District (ph #: 714-834-3110)
-John M.W. Moorlach, Supervisor Second District (ph #: 714-834-3220)
-Bill Campbell, Supervisor Third District (ph #: 714-834-3330)
-Chris Norby, Supervisor Fourth District (ph #: 714-834-3440)

Reporter’s note: Except for one story carried by the Orange County Register, there has been no press coverage of this matter. One would think that an illegal alien child molester becoming a millionaire through taxpayer funding would be big news.

100 Important Mathematical Equations

From http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~taylor/

I see one little error in the bottom left corner. Euler's theorem should be:

e^ix = cos x + i sin x

The amazing B-52

During a downtime in Wichita, I worked with Dale Felix in flight simulation in the 10-65 building in Renton years ago. Really cool guy who talked about all of the cable stretch in the B-52. Sluggish controls!

Gerry Marra
A Canadian-now-American friend in WA state.


"If its not Boeing, I'm not going."


January 10, 1964, started out as a typical day for the flight test group at Boeing's Wichita plant. Pilot Chuck Fisher took off in a B-52H with a three-man Boeing crew, flying a low-level profile to obtain structural data.

Over Colorado, cruising 500 feet above the mountainous terrain, the B-52 encountered some turbulence. Fisher climbed to 14,300 feet looking for smoother air. At this point the typical day ended. The bomber flew into clear-air turbulence. It felt as if the plane had been placed in a giant high-speed elevator, shoved up and down, and hit by a heavy blow on its right side.

Fisher told the crew to prepare to abandon the plane. He slowed the aircraft and dropped to about 5,000 feet to make it easier to bail out. But then Fisher regained some control. He climbed slowly to 16,000 feet to put some safety room between the plane and the ground. He informed Wichita about what was happening. Although control was difficult, Fisher said he believed he could get the plane back in one piece.

Response to the situation at Wichita, and elsewhere, was immediate. An emergency control center was set up in the office of Wichita's director of flight test. Key Boeing engineers and other specialists were summoned to provide their expertise. Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control centers at Denver and Kansas City cleared the air around the troubled plane. A Strategic Air Command B-52 in the area maintained radio contact with the crew of the Wichita B-52.

As Fisher got closer to Wichita, a Boeing chase plane flew up to meet him and to visually report the damage. When Dale Felix, flying an F-100 fighter, came alongside Fisher's B-52, he couldn't believe what he saw: The B-52's vertical tail was gone.

Felix broke the news to Fisher and those gathered in the control center. There was no panic. Everyone on the plane and in the control center knew they could be called upon at any time for just such a situation. In the emergency control center, the engineers began making calculations and suggesting the best way to get the plane down safely. The Air Force was also lending assistance. A B-52, just taking off for a routine flight, was used to test the various flight configurations suggested by the specialists before Fisher had to try them.

As high gusty winds rolled into Wichita, the decision was made to divert the B-52 to Blytheville Air Force Base in Northeastern Arkansas. Boeing specialists from the emergency control center took off in a KC-135 and accompanied Fisher to Blytheville, serving as an airborne control center.

Six hours after the incident first occurred, Fisher and his crew brought in the damaged B-52 for a safe landing.

"I'm very proud of this crew and this airplane," Fisher said. "Also we had a lot people helping us, and we're very thankful for that." The B-52, Fisher said, "Is the finest airplane I ever flew."

Maxine's right

We need to show more sympathy for these people.

• They travel miles in the heat.
  
• They risk their lives crossing a border.
  
• They don't get paid enough wages.
  
• They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do.
  
• They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak
  a different language.
  
• They rarely see their families, and they face adversity all day ~
  every day.

I'm not talking about illegal Mexicans. I'm talking about our military
troops! Doesn't it seem strange that many Democrats and Republicans
are willing to lavish all kinds of social benefits on illegals, but don't
support our troops, and are even threatening to defund them?

‘Haus Der Deutschen Wissenschaft:’ The Hotel Paradise For Nazi Scientists

Tom Lehrer: Wernher von Braun

The lighter side of CERN

The Particle Physics Song

Pensée du jour

"Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke."

--American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935)

Ole the wrestler

A Russian and Ole, the Norwegian wrestler, were set to square off for the Olympic Gold medal.

Before the final match, the Norwegian wrestling coach came to Ole and said, "Now, don't forget all the research we've done on this Russian. He's never lost a match because of this 'pretzel' hold he has. Whatever you do, do not let him get you in that hold! If he does, you're finished."

Ole nodded in acknowledgment.

As the match started, Ole and the Russian circled each other several times, looking for an opening. All of a sudden, the Russian lunged forward, grabbing Ole and wrapping him up in the dreaded pretzel hold. A sigh of disappointment arose from the crowd and the coach buried his face in his hands, for he knew all was lost. He couldn't watch the inevitable happen.

Suddenly, there was a scream, then a cheer from the crowd and the coach raised his eyes just in time to watch the Russian go flying up in the air. His back hit the mat with a thud and Ole collapsed on top of him making the pin and winning the match.

The crowd went crazy. The coach was astounded.

When he finally got his wrestler alone, he asked, "How did you ever get out of that hold? No one has ever done it before!"

Ole answered, "Vell, I vas ready to give up ven he got me in dat hold, but at da last moment, I opened my eyes and saw dis pair of testicles right in front of my face. I had nuttin' to lose, so vid my last ounce of strength I stretched out my neck and bit dose babies just as hard as I could."

So the trainer exclaimed, "That's what finished him off!"

"Vell, not really. You'd be amazed how strong you get ven you bite your own nuts!"