Alexander Graham Bell

Old Photos

Old black and white photographs were the first ones I remember seeing as a child. My grandmother had these old photo albums with heavy black paper pages. The pages had these little glue on corners that held the photos in place. The covers were highly polished wood, beautifully finished. My relatives looked so very formal as they posed for the camera back then. No one smiled.

Some of the photos shown in the video gave me a pause. At the 2:53 mark there's a picture of American tanks attacking German positions during WWII. My FIL served in an armored unit for the invasion of Nazi Germany; he was eighteen.

At the 3:55 mark there is a picture of a boxing match held on the deck of a supply ship returning American soldiers from France after the end of WWI. My grandfather was a US Navy cook on board several ships that ferried supplies and soldiers to and from France after the end of the Great War.

Towards the end of the video (13:04 mark) you'll see large dinosaur models being moved to the 1964 World's Fair held in Queens, NY. I remember seeing them there; I was fifteen. From our house in Smithtown (Suffolk County) it was about a thirty minute drive to the World's Fair.

The 1964 World Fair towers used in the first MIB movie.

When Colts Made The Jump

I have several black powder pistols, a Remington New Army in 44 cal. and a Colt model 1851 Navy in .36 cal.; these are replicas. I like history, especially American history and the Civil War. Firing these weapons (I also have a Springfield model 1861 rifle) gives me an appreciation for the types of action experienced during this War. I can't imagine standing there with your mates and reloading one shot at a time while hell is erupting all around you. It staggers the mind.

Every now and then I see a western where an actor is carrying what appears to be a Colt model 1860 that is designed for cartridges rather than percussion cap. Now I know why.

Colt produced conversion kits for their model 1860 percussion revolvers until S&W's patent for using metallic cartridges expired in 1871.The actual patent used by S&W was issued in 1859 to Rollin White who designed the cylinder that S&W used for their revolvers.

In 1873 Colt produced the Single Action Army revolver in .45 cal., the iconic handgun of the West.

This video demonstrates an actual Richards Conversion for the Colt model 1860 revolver produced around 1870.

H/T tacticalshit

Today: 101 Years Ago

On August 1, 1914, four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers—Russia and Germany—declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called “Great War” that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the deaths of some 20 million soldiers and civilians and the physical devastation of much of the European continent.

Source

Two days later Germany declares war on France.

Unbelievable Accuracy From 18th Century Clock

A clock based on a design from 300 years ago has stunned experts by keeping accurate to a second for 100 days.

The modern-day Martin Burgess Clock B is based on John Harrison's 18th century clock, which he thought up to solve the problem of determining longitude at sea.

It has been part of a 100-day trial at the Royal Observatory, in Greenwich, to see if the claim - that the clock would neither lose nor gain more than a second in 100 days - was true.

[...]Jonathan Betts, a member of the Antiquarian Horological Society, said: 'As soon as we set the clock running it was clear that it was performing incredibly well, so then we got the case sealed because nobody was going to believe how well the clock was running.'

He added that the clock was not a replica of Harrison's, but used his design and concept.

'It is important to realise his design goes against everything the establishment has claimed is the best throughout history,' Mr Betts added.

Story here.

The accurate measurement of time was and is incredibly important to navigation, even today.

Our present system of satellite GPS communications is utterly dependent on the accurate measure of time.

Sharia Chic

As Europe stumbles its way into the heathen worship system of Mohammedism, it is best that we  anticipate, perhaps even embrace, some of the benefits that will accompany this change.

One of the accrued benefits of Mohammedism will be a return to a historic exterior decorating style formerly employed by the likes of such men as King Henry VIII, namely the positioning of heads on spikes on the London Bridge.

With the proper placement of brunettes, blondes and gingers amid floral patterns defined by wrought iron borders, a striking visual ensemble can be created in a few hours and last for days, even weeks if the weather remains cool. There is no lack of skilled Muslim exterior decorators who are willing to work for a pittance.

This decorating style  can also help reduce the appalling incidence of English obesity by stimulating vigorous physical exercise as witnessed by this account:

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1473-1541) The Countess of Salisbury was the last direct descendant of the Plantagenet line - she was a descendant of King Edward III. The countess made the mistake of appearing to side with Katherine of Aragon against the king and he declared her a traitor. She was arrested two years before her execution and badly treated and neglected as a prisoner in the Tower of London. She was not given a trial. She was small, frail and ill. 

But she was a proud noble. She was dragged to the block, but refused to lay her head on the block. She was forced down and struggled. The inexperienced executioner made a gash in her shoulder rather than her neck. She leapt from the block and was chased by the executioner, with his axe. She was struck eleven times before she died. There were 150 witnesses to her execution. She was 68 years of age.

While never losing its appeal in the Mid East, this style is seeing a dramatic resurgence as Sharia Chic sweeps out of the Fertile Crescent and takes Europe by storm.

Obama Thinks He's in Rome

One of Rome's most famous orators, M. Tullis Cicero, delivered a speech against Lucius Sergius Catilina a mere 2,078 years ago - on November 8, 64 BC.

Yesterday, Sen. Ted Cruz resurrected Cicero's speech.
From Breitbart's Big Government:

On the floor of the Senate this morning, Sen. Ted Cruz read aloud the text of Cicero’s First Oration Against Catiline, subbing in President Obama’s name in the context.

“When, President Obama, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end to that unbridled audacity of yours swaggering about as it does now?” Cruz asked.

Cruz continued reading the Cicero selection, citing Obama for dictating “by his pen and his phone.” 

“He won't even come into the Senate,” Cruz continued. “He will not take part in the public deliberations. He ignores every individual among us.”

I had to memorize the first section of this oration in my Latin III class in high school. I still remember (kinda) the first few sentences in Latin.

Catiline was a corrupt politician from a wealthy noble Roman family. Considered by his contemporaries as immoral and ruthless, he murdered his own brother and was suspected of killing his wife and son. Due to his family's powerful political connections, he enjoyed several government positions and in 67 BC was made the propraetor (governor) of Africa.

In 66 BC he returned to Rome and was prohibited from being considered for the consulship because of his ongoing prosecution for corrupt government practices in Africa.

Standing trial in 65 BC, Catiline escaped judgement by bribing the judges and prosecutor. He again ran for consul in 64 BC (in the Roman Republic, there was no higher political office than that of consul; it was a one year term - two were elected every year).

M. Tullius Cicero was one of seven candidates for consul that year. This, his first oration against Catiline, was an indictment of Catiline's corruption and a warning to the Roman Senate of the danger to the State posed by this despicable man.

What makes Cruz's use of this Oration so interesting is that Cicero sincerely believed that Catiline was a serious threat to the Roman Constitution. And indeed he was. Catiline and his accomplice, Antonius, conspired to overthrow the Roman Republic by bribes and mob violence not once, but twice.

As a high school student I never appreciated the significance of Cicero's concern for Rome. Memorizing his words was an unwelcome assignment.

In high school I never appreciated how men of ill intent could pose such a clear and present danger to life and liberty. I do now. And so does Sen. Ted Cruz.

More here.

"Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia?"

As Cicero sayeth:

When, O Catiline, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now?Do not the nightly guards placed on the Palatine Hill—do not the watches posted throughout the city—does not the alarm of the people, and the union of all good men—does not the precaution taken of assembling the senate in this most defensible place—do not the looks and countenances of this venerable body here present, have any effect upon you? Do you not feel that your plans are detected? Do you not see that your conspiracy is already arrested and rendered powerless by the knowledge which every one here possesses of it? What is there that you did last night, what the night before— where is it that you were—who was there that you summoned to meet you—what design was there which was adopted by you, with which you think that any one of us is unacquainted?

Shame on the age and on its principles! The senate is aware of these things; the consul sees them; and yet this man lives. Lives! aye, he comes even into the senate. He takes a part in the public deliberations; he is watching and marking down and checking off for slaughter every individual among us. And we, gallant men that we are, think that we are doing our duty to the republic if we keep out of the way of his frenzied attacks.

You ought, O Catiline, long ago to have been led to execution by command of the consul. That destruction which you have been long plotting against us ought to have already fallen on your own head.

The rest of the oration here.

Medieval Armored Combat Tactics

H/T Geekologie

Operation Dragoon

I never heard of this second invasion of France.

From the American Spectator:

August 15 marks the 70th anniversary of the Allies’ amphibious invasion of Marseilles and southern France in 1944. Though it stands as a historical footnote to the acclaimed D-Day invasion of Normandy, it played a vital role in the liberation of France and the ultimate defeat of German forces. The operation, codenamed Dragoon, got off to a dreadful start with the suicide of one of the key Allied leaders shortly before the invasion launched.

[...]Operation Dragoon was controversial from the time it was first proposed. The American military leadership and their British counterparts disagreed on the operation. Churchill argued against it on the grounds that it diverted military resources that were better deployed in the on-going Allied operations in Italy; instead, he favored an invasion of the oil-producing regions of the Balkans. Churchill reasoned that by attacking the Balkans, the western Allies could deny Germany oil, forestall the advance of the Red Army of the Soviet Union, and achieve a superior negotiating position in postwar Europe, all at a single stroke.

Legacies Of World War I

The Wall Street Journal has produced a 100 Year Anniversary site commemorating World War I by collecting 100 inventions, developments and events that continue to effect our lives. It is a fascinating study that involves short, easy to understand essays for each category.. The following is one of them - "Mass Production."

A year before World War I erupted in Europe, Henry Ford saw the first of his Model Ts built using a moving assembly line.

While the assembly line concept had been in use previously, Mr. Ford’s perfection of the moving-belt technique transformed manufacturing. Soon he cut the construction time of the Model T chassis from 12-and-a-half hours to just over 90 minutes.

The production technique not only revolutionized the auto industry, it changed the way wars were fought. World War I was the first conflict to benefit from this fast and efficient means of mass production, with the outcome of the war heavily influenced by the industrial coordination of the countries in conflict.

For the Allies in particular, the production of tanks, airplanes, ambulances and munitions sped up dramatically thanks to the implementation of the assembly line.

When the U.S. entered the war, it brought with it much-needed manpower and the means of mass production. The U.S. government enlisted auto manufacturers to help crank out airplanes and engines, spearheading the production of the groundbreaking 12-cylinder Liberty aviation engine.

Assembly lines increased production in France too. The man sometimes referred to as the “French Henry Ford,” André-Gustave Citroën, left his position at the front as an artillery officer to open an assembly-line based munitions factory in Paris.

Drawing on lessons gleaned from an earlier fact-finding trip to U.S. auto plants, Mr. Citroën’s factory was eventually able to crank out tens of thousands of shells a day at the hands of its mostly female staff. France’s Renault employed assembly lines to accelerate the roll out of trucks and tanks.

The Great War is known by some as the war of production.

And here's another surprise, the legacy of Joseph Pilates:

Pilates a legacy of World War I? That’s a bit of a stretch, surely.

Well no. Turns out this form of fitness beloved by celebrities and mainstream gym-goers alike was conceived by a German boxer and bodybuilder while he was interned in Britain as an enemy alien during the war.

[...]In 1912, Pilates left Germany for Britain, where he worked as a circus performer and boxer. At the outbreak of World War I he was picked up by the British authorities and interned at a camp at Knockaloe Moar on the Isle of Man. It was while he was locked up that he developed his system of mind and body strengthening through physical exercise–and “Contrology,” as Pilates termed his method, was born.

Conditions in the camps were poor, and he encouraged his fellow inmates to exercise as a means of staying healthy. Some of the internees were bed-bound, so Pilates took springs and straps from the beds and attached them to the head and footboards, creating an early type of resistance-training machine. These were forerunners of the spring-based equipment for which the Pilates method is known today.

Penny Jones, a board member of the not-for-profit Pilates Foundation, based in Britain, said: “The Cadillac (one of the pieces of equipment he designed) looks like a hospital bed with springs attached, and that's what it originally was.

Laptops Of The Gods

Bas relief in marble depicting the Greek goddess Hera logging into her Facebook account

This was actually crafted circa 100 BC.
Story here.

H/T DRB.

Herod Antipas And John The Baptist

As our pastor has been in the Book of Matthew for over a month now, I was doing some research on the circumstances regarding the imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist. John was related to Jesus; Mary being a "kinsman" of John's mother Elizabeth as seen in Luke, chapter 1:

35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

In Matt. 11, John is in prison for speaking against Herod Antipas, King of Galilee - well, parts of Galilee and Perea. Things got kind of rowdy in the royal line and you can blame some of it on Alexander the Great who made the terribly inconsiderate mistake of dying at an early age. His generals got greedy...

And Herod Antipas (Herod is a title that means hero or heroic) was not really a king, he was a tetrarch - ruler of a quarter - due to his father, Herod the Great, changing his mind about his succession just before he died in 4 BC. Also terribly inconsiderate.

But first, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade...

Look familiar? This is where the Holy Grail was hiding out for all those centuries until Indie and his father found it.

Actually this was the tomb of King Aretas IV Philopatris of Nabataea, a former Edomite kingdom which abutted Herod Antipas' kingdom on the south. Aretas had a daughter, Phasaelis, who as a teenager married Herod Antipas . The marriage lasted for thirty years.

And they were joyfully married right up until Antipas got a look at his brother Philip's wife, Herodias, who was actually their niece. Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus IV, son of Herod the great, and his wife (also his cousin) Berenice.

Aristobulus IV and his brother, Alexandros, were both strangled as punishment for unspecified treachery (rumors of which were initiated by their half-brother Antipas). Just days before his death Herod also has his oldest son, Antipater, executed. His mother was Herod's first wife, Doris.

Herod the Great had five wives: we already met Doris, who Herod divorced in order to marry Mariamne, a Hasmonean princess possibly related to the Maccabees. As mentioned previously, her sons Aristobulus and Alexandros, were strangled; Herod also had her executed.

Herod Antipas' mother was Malthace who also had another son, Herod Archelaus. Philip's mom was Cleopatra (no, not that one! Cleopatra of Jerusalem).

Herod the Great also had a sister,  Salome, whose granddaughter was Herodias, who married Philip, then his brother, Antipas. Oh well.

When Herod the Great died, Antipas wanted the whole kingdom as his father's previous will (written after he killed his two sons by Mariamne) had stated. The Roman Emperor Augustus decided against that and insisted that the later will and testament stay in effect.

So the kingdom was divided among the three surviving sons - therefore Herod Archelaus became ethnarch (ruler of a kingdom but not a king, he was subject to Rome) of Judea, Herod Antipas became tetrarch (literally ruler of a quarter of a province)  of Galilee and Perea (this was land west of the Dead Sea and extended south to Nabataea), and Herod Philip became tetrarch of a good chunk of land east of the Jordan River which included parts of Syria but north of Nabataea.

But before we go back to Herod Antipas, who still has a real bad case of happy pants for Herodias, let's visit with Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great died suddenly in  323 BC at the age of 33. He did not name a successor to his vast Macedonian kingdom; instead, murder, intrigue and war was to be his legacy for many years. Two generals were murdered outright. Another commander, Antigonus, became ruler of what is now Turkey and Syria; Antipater had control of  Thrace (Bulgaria) but he was getting on in years and died in 319 BC. Antigonus was killed by two other generals, Ptolemy (he got Egypt) and Seleucus (controlled much of Asia). Seleucus got most of Antigonus' land holdings and established what we now call the Seleucid Empire. It lasted until about 64 BC. These are the people who really pissed off the Jews (not a hard thing to do, they were a contentious lot to begin with)and helped set the stage for John the Baptist's beheading and even the crowd greeting Christ's entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

The Seleucid rulers were Hellenistic to the bone. They were everything Greek and loved it. They also sought to impose Greek culture on their subjects which did not endear them  to the Jews. But the Jews kept a wrap on it ... until Antiochus IV, or Antiochus Epiphanes as he liked to be called.

Gaining the throne in 175 BC, Mr. Call Me Epiphanes was a solid gold jerk.  Antiochus forbade the observance of Jewish religious rituals and instituted animal sacrifices to Greek gods in public places.. Circumcision became punishable by death.  Then on December 25, 168 BC, he rededicated the Jewish Temple to the Greek god Zeus  Quite a few Jews had become Hellenistic by now; the Seleucid rulers encouraged and rewarded those who did. But there were still many, many Jews who were infuriated by this. Enter the Macabees.

Starting in 167 BC, the five sons of a Jewish priest named Mattathias followed their father's example and raised a bit of hell for the Seleucids. So much in fact that their followers routed various armies sent by The Seleucid and Ptolemaic Emperors to defeat them. The sons of Mattathias were given the title "Maccabee" which means Hammer or Extinguisher. The name stuck.

The Jewish festival, Hanukkah, commemorates the cleansing of the Temple in 164 BC. When the Maccabean soldiers entered Jerusalem, the crowds cheered their saviors "with a chorus of praise and the waving of palm branches" (1 Macc 13.51). Even the praise "Hosanna!" means literally "Save us now!" and it is the same praise that was used to welcome Jesus.

But when the Maccabee brothers died, their successors were not as enthralled of their Jewish traditions as their fathers. The rebellion's strength was in their conservative Jewish following which slowly turned against them. The Maccabees turned into the Hasmonean dynasty which ruled Judea. The Hasmonean rulers did not adhere to the strict Jewish doctrine of the ultra conservative Jews who originally supported them. These conservative Jews became an opposition party to the Hasmoneans. Ultimately this opposition became the core of the conservative Pharisee sect who hated Jesus and plotted His death.

The Seleucid Empire collapsed in 129 BC and Israel was an independent nation under the Hasmoneans. Israel became a vassal state again in 63 BC when the Romans became dominant in the region and things got even worse when Herod the Great began his kingship in 37 BC.

Herod was an incredibly cruel man who would not hesitate to destroy anyone he perceived as a threat. Modern psychologists have examined his public actions as recorded by Josephus and other contemporary historians and concluded that he was a psycho. He was also enamored of Greek culture which was reflected in his architecture and dealings with the Jews.

The Jews welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem expected the same kind of deliverance that the Maccabees had delivered. They completely ignored His teachings and the Old Testament prophesies. This is just my opinion, but when they saw Jesus standing before Pilate, bound, beaten and bloodied, they were completely disappointed and perhaps even angry, reasoning that He had deceived them into believing that He would be their king. The pathetic mess before them was not worthy of consideration. So the cry "Give us Barabbas" echoed through the courtyards. Barabbas was a notorious criminal, a fierce rebel who fought against the Romans. He was the type of man the crowd was looking for, not some meek, forgiving carpenter from Galilee.

Herod the Great became ruler over Judea because of his father, Antipater, a powerful government official from Idumaea (Edom) who assisted Julius Caesar in the civil war against Pompey, 49 to 45 BC. Antipater was given Roman citizenship and appointed regent in 47 BC. Eventually he appointed his sons as governors in the region; Herod becoming Governor of Judea. Herod was elected "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate seven years later in 40 BC. It was as King of the Jews that Herod ordered the slaughter of Jewish children (more of that here) shortly before his death.

Returning to the execution of John the Baptist. Herod Antipas marries Herodias and John loudly proclaims that it is evil for a Jew (Herod considered himself a Jew, most likely of the Sadducee persuasion) to divorce and remarry and that it was an incestuous relationship as Herodias was his niece. It is reported in the Gospels that Antipas did not want to execute John, but reluctantly did so after he promised his step daughter, Salome, that she could have anything she wanted after dancing for him at his birthday celebration (Mark 6:14-29). Herodias wanted John dead for obvious reasons and seizes this opportunity. She prompts her daughter to ask for John's head. This occurs circa 28 AD.

So who was this murderous woman?

Remember Aristobulus IV? The one strangled by Herod the Great? Herodias was his daughter; her mother was Berenice, daughter of Salome, Herod's sister.
Yes, Herodias' parents were first cousins.
Her grandfather was Costabarus, governor of Idumea - also executed by Herod the Great in 28 BC.
She was also the sister of Herod V (king of Chalkis), Herod Agrippa (king of Judea), Aristobulus V, and Mariamne III (who was engaged to her uncle Crown Prince Antipater who was killed by Herod the Great, she later married another of her uncles, Herod Archelaus).
What a family.

Herod Antipas' first wife, Phasaelis, moved back to Nabataea before the divorce. Antipas' brother, Philip, dies in 34 AD and his tetrarchy is no longer under his control.

Jump ahead to 36 AD; Phasaelis' father, Aretas IV, is angry over the mistreatment of his daughter and there are some other issues with Herod Antipas, territorial disputes. War ensues. Herod gets his ass kicked by Nabataea and implores the Roman Emperor Tiberius for military assistance. Emperor Tiberius authorizes his Syrian legate to provide an army, but then dies in March of 37 AD. The Roman legate, Vitellius, hates Antipas, is slow to provide assistance and then completely withdraws his troops upon hearing of the death of Tiberius.

The next Emperor, Caligula, is persuaded by Antipas' nephew, Agrippa, that Antipas is plotting against him. In 39 AD Caligula removes Antipas as tetrarch of Galilee. All his possessions and his tetrarchy are given to Agrippa. Now it gets cloudy as to Herod Antipas' fate. A few sources state he dies in 39 AD at the hands of the Emperor, but most reliable texts indicate that he is exiled to Gaul (France) with his wife Herodias. Born sometime prior to 20 BC, at his exile he is at least 60 years old.

I know have omitted Herod Antipas' role in the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior. That is deliberate.

The Wisdom Of Napoleon

Emperor Bonaparte made some pretty profound observations that are still pertinent today.

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.

Napoleon had a horse named Biden.
He shot it.

If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.

Napoleon looked into the future and saw American lofo voters.

Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.

The cultivation and maintenance of America's vices is now the sole concern of our politicians.

Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.

Blogs are the bayonets of today. Fear them.