July 2010 archive

Aaron Burr slays Alexander Hamilton in a Duel

On this day in 1804, Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States slays Alexander Hamilton, former Secretary of the Treasury, in a duel in Weehauken, NJ. There are accounts that Hamilton, who had been involved in several other duels that had been settled without shots, decided at the last minute that the duel was immoral and fired his weapon in the air. Burr, whose seconds said that Hamilton did indeed fire at Burr and missed, shot Hamilton in the abdomen. The bullet lodged near Hamilton’s spine, and he was taken back to New York City where he died the next day.

The irony is that this was the same place that Hamilton’s son, Philip, had died two and a half years prior defending his father’s honor.

Few affairs of honor actually resulted in deaths, and the nation was outraged by the killing of a man as eminent as Alexander Hamilton. Charged with murder in New York and New Jersey, Burr, still vice president, returned to Washington, D.C., where he finished his term immune from prosecution.

In 1805, Burr, thoroughly discredited, concocted a plot with James Wilkinson, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army, to seize the Louisiana Territory and establish an independent empire, which Burr, presumably, would lead. He contacted the British government and unsuccessfully pleaded for assistance in the scheme. Later, when border trouble with Spanish Mexico heated up, Burr and Wilkinson conspired to seize territory in Spanish America for the same purpose.

In the fall of 1806, Burr led a group of well-armed colonists toward New Orleans, prompting an immediate U.S. investigation. General Wilkinson, in an effort to save himself, turned against Burr and sent dispatches to Washington accusing Burr of treason. In February 1807, Burr was arrested in Louisiana for treason and sent to Virginia to be tried in a U.S. court. In September, he was acquitted on a technicality. Nevertheless, public opinion condemned him as a traitor, and he fled to Europe. He later returned to private life in New York, the murder charges against him forgotten. He died in 1836.

Well, since I’m skipping the night when I’d normally be getting dog therapy I thought I’d at least mention America’s Cutest Dog and World’s Ugliest Dog Competition on Animal Planet.  Frankly I’m highly suspicious of the motivations of both, I don’t think animals should be framed by human perceptions of beauty.

They drink out of toilets, how cute can they be?

• AMC– Blood Work
• ESPN– World Cup Prime Time (Germany v. Uruguay)
• ABC Family– Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• TBS– Men in Black
• Turner Classic– My Darling Clementine, Sergeant Rutledge
• Discovery– Dirty Jobs
• TNT– Lifelock.com 400

Scary Movie is hard to get away from but I advise you to try.  History has The Lost Pyramid and Egypt: Engineering an Empire, both really good documentaries if you haven’t already seen them.

Later-

Boondocks, 2 Episodes.

• ABC Family– Van Helsing
• FX– Alien vs. Predator

SNL from 3/13/10, Jude Law, Pearl Jam.

GitS: SAC 2nd Gig, Fabricate Fog, Embarrassment.

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Work begins to replace cap on ruptured Gulf oil well

by Mira Oberman, AFP

1 hr 36 mins ago

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

Beets you say? Ugh! Well, they are nutritious and when prepared well in hot and cold dishes quite tasty. They come in a number of varieties besides red, such as chioggas (pictured above: white striated), pink and golden. When buying fresh beets, buy them with the greens still attached. The greens are an excellent source of beta-carotene, calcium, iron and vitamin C. The beets themselves are rich in folate, magnesium and potassium. So if you eat well, you won’t need those vitamin supplements.

Round ’em up. Pour your favorite beverage and put your feet up.

Paul Krugman asks us to Pity the Poor C.E.O.’s

Job creation has been disappointing, but first-quarter corporate profits were up 44 percent from a year earlier. Consumers are nervous, but the Dow, which was below 8,000 on the day President Obama was inaugurated, is now over 10,000. In a rational universe, American business would be very happy with Mr. Obama.

Who ever said American business was rational?

David Sirota wonders if Are low taxes exacerbating the recession?

As the planet’s economy keeps stumbling, the phrase “worst recession since the Great Depression” has become the new “global war on terror” – a term whose overuse has rendered it both meaningless and acronym-worthy. And just like that previously ubiquitous phrase, references to the WRSTGD are almost always followed by flimsy and contradictory explanations.

Republicans, who ran up enormous deficits, say the recession comes from overspending. Democrats, who gutted the job market with free trade policies, nonetheless insist it’s all George W. Bush’s fault. Meanwhile, pundits who cheered both sides now offer non-sequiturs, blaming excessive partisanship for our problems.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…

About 500 years ago, Cortez landed in Mexico. He told the people who were already living there that they had to become subjects of the King of Spain. But, they told him, they were already subjects of Montezuma, the Emperor who was in Tenochtitlan. Cortez told them that Montezuma had to become a subject of the King of Spain, too, and he took Montezuma prisoner. As if that weren’t enough, he told the People that they had to give up their Old Gods and accept his God. Cortez’s God, he told them, was far more powerful than their Gods, and if they didn’t accept his God and abandon their own Gods and abandon their practice of having idols and human sacrifices and ceremonies and dances to their Gods, they would be killed. Also, Cortez told them, they had to deliver to Cortez all of their gold and silver. So it was that the Spanish foothold came to what is now Mexico in 1517.

What did I tell you about these ‘Sprint’ finishes?

After what are basically 5 of 7 no results, Armstrong and Team Radio Shack are 2:30 out of the race lead and :50 behind his main rival, Alberto Contador of Team Astana (Schleck and Cancellara the race leader of Saxo are also considered contenders to watch).

Justin Davis of AFP thinks Armstrong is looking at week 3 to make his move but I don’t know, age and guile may suggest otherwise.

It’s not that today’s stage is particularly hard climbing, but tomorrow is and then there is a day off Monday and more mountains Tuesday.

And goodbye Alps.

That recovery day sure looks tempting and if I were a team boss I’d have a plan for it I’d have to reveal today- am I going to bring it or keep up and hope for the best?

Today’s special extended coverage (wtf?) is 103 miles of Tournus to Station des Rousses with 6 climbing sections, most of them 2s and 3s.

Armstrong- “I think there’ll be some guys attacking on Sunday, and Tuesday could be a complicated day, difficult and right after a rest day which is sometimes deceiving for guys.

But this race is so weighted towards the last week that my impression and my opinion would be to wait (to attack)”

I wouldn’t wait too long.  It’s not that Tiger is such a good player, but he’s bringing his A game on Thursday not playing for the cut.

The official commentary–

An initial cull

This medium-altitude mountain terrain will be more difficult than Liège-Bastogne-Liège, because the climbs last for between 6 and 12 kilometres, starting at the 40 km mark. Thereafter, there is not even a single centimetre of flat road; it will be up, down, up, down and so on and so forth. At the finishing line, there may still be around thirty riders together. The slopes are not massively difficult, so it is not necessarily a stage for a major climber, more so for a rider like Cadel Evans or David Moncoutié. However, an initial cull will take place and those who are not on form, who will not reach the front of the race, may already be looking at a Tour that is lost.

Monkey Trial Begins

In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called “Monkey Trial” begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law.

The law, which had been passed in March, made it a misdemeanor punishable by fine to “teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.” With local businessman George Rappalyea, Scopes had conspired to get charged with this violation, and after his arrest the pair enlisted the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to organize a defense. Hearing of this coordinated attack on Christian fundamentalism, William Jennings Bryan, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate and a fundamentalist hero, volunteered to assist the prosecution. Soon after, the great attorney Clarence Darrow agreed to join the ACLU in the defense, and the stage was set for one of the most famous trials in U.S. history.

On July 10, the Monkey Trial got underway, and within a few days hordes of spectators and reporters had descended on Dayton as preachers set up revival tents along the city’s main street to keep the faithful stirred up. Inside the Rhea County Courthouse, the defense suffered early setbacks when Judge John Raulston ruled against their attempt to prove the law unconstitutional and then refused to end his practice of opening each day’s proceeding with prayer.

snip

In front of several thousand spectators in the open air, Darrow changed his tactics and as his sole witness called Bryan in an attempt to discredit his literal interpretation of the Bible. In a searching examination, Bryan was subjected to severe ridicule and forced to make ignorant and contradictory statements to the amusement of the crowd. On July 21, in his closing speech, Darrow asked the jury to return a verdict of guilty in order that the case might be appealed. Under Tennessee law, Bryan was thereby denied the opportunity to deliver the closing speech he had been preparing for weeks. After eight minutes of deliberation, the jury returned with a guilty verdict, and Raulston ordered Scopes to pay a fine of $100, the minimum the law allowed. Although Bryan had won the case, he had been publicly humiliated and his fundamentalist beliefs had been disgraced. Five days later, on July 26, he lay down for a Sunday afternoon nap and never woke up.

Oh my goodness.  On August 7, 2010, my little blog, the Dream Antilles will be five years old.  Time flies on the web.  Blogging is probably passe now.  There are probably millions upon millions of abandoned blogs strewn across the Internet like beer cans on an Alabama roadside.  Today’s was the 794th post.

I have no idea how many people may have seen my blog.  Or who read it.  I admit that I’m defensive about all of that..  I disconnected all the counters (they didn’t work anyway) and took the position that it didn’t matter how many readers there were.  Also, that small was good.  That the writing is an exercise you do, like breathing, because it’s what you do.  If you stop, you’re dead.

Join me below.