The Catholic New American Bible on This Day in History

 

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This Day in History: The Catholic New American Bible was published on this day in 1970. The 1986 Revised NAB is the basis of the revised Lectionary, and it is the only translation approved for use at Mass in the Latin-rite Catholic dioceses of the United States and the Philippines, and the 1970 first edition is also an approved Bible translation by the Episcopal Church in the United States.

The NAB was a reworking of the the Confraternity Bible, a translation of the Vulgate by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. The Vulgate however was based on the Latin, not the Greek and Hebrew original languages of the Bible.  Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu changed all that and the New American Bible is the first popular Catholic Bible published using the Greek and Hebrew. It should be noted that James A. Kleist, SJ, and Joseph L. Lilly, SJ produced a Catholic New Testament that was published in the 1950's, using the Greek Text. 

It is interesting to note that many Traditional Catholics reject the New American Bible, preferring either the old Douay-Rheims Bible or, oddly enough, the Protestant Revised Standard Version. The primary complaint was that the New American Bible did not have "Hail, full of grace" at Luke 1:28 as it reads in the Douay Rheims Bible (see also Knox and the Confraternity Bible).

The Douay-Rheims Bible uses the Latin Vulgate which has Gratia Plena here, of which "full of grace" is a proper translation. But the NAB Bible text of Luke, like most modern Bibles, is translated from the Greek, and the Greek word here is KECARITWMENH which most Bibles translate as "favored." The Douay Bible does often translate Gratia(m) as "favor" (see Acts 2:47, 7:10, 25:3 and numerous times in the Old Testament).

The NAB does however have "full of grace" at Acts 6:8, but, this reading is different in the Greek than it is at Luke 1:28. Acts 6:8 has PLHRHS CARITOS* while Luke 1:28 has KECARITWMENH. From even a cursory examination PLHRHS CARITOS lends itself better as a translation of "full of grace" which leads one to wonder why those two words were not used at Luke 1:28 if the text was really meant to say "full of grace" in regards to Mary.

Additionally, the closing words at Luke 1:28, "blessed art thou among women" (Douay, KJV) appear to be a later interpolation. To go even further, some do not even consider the first 2 chapters of Luke authentic at all:

"The first two chapters of Luke were wanting in the gospels of the first century. They were also wanting in the Gospel of the Hebrews, or Nazarenes, about A. D. 125, as well as in the Gospel of Marcion, A. D. 145. They first appeared in the Protevangelion, about A. D. 125, and were probably not deemed by Marcion, authentic." History of the Christian Religion By Charles Burlingame Waite 1881

Another criticism of the NAB Bible is that it translates Genesis 1:2, "the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters" as opposed to the text in the Douay Bible: "And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters." Many do not like that the word "spirit" is not in the NAB. Did you notice that the word "spirit" in the Douay-Rheims Bible is not capitalized. Why is this? Becomes something other than the Holy Ghost is referred to here.

John L. McKenzie S.J., who was once regarded as "the best Catholic theologian...in the United States" wrote of the Spirit:

"In summary, the spirit in the OT [Old Testament], originally the wind and the breath, is conceived as a divine dynamic entity by which Yahweh accomplishes his ends, it saves, it is a creative, charismatic power, and as an agent of His anger it is a demonic power. It remains impersonal. Like the wind, neither its origin nor its course can be discovered..." Dictionary of the Bible by John L. McKenzie S.J. (1965)

Monsignor Ronald A. Knox, who translated from the Latin Vulgate renders Genesis 1:2 as "Earth was still an empty waste, and darkness hung over the deep; but already, over its waters, stirred the breath of God."

Another complaint levied against the New American Bible is that has replaced the word "virgin" at Isaiah 7:14 with "young woman." That's not true for older editions, and the footnotes in the newer editions give "virgin" as an alternate rendering.

The NAB seemingly translated texts that went contrary to their own theology but retained a fidelity to the best Greek Testaments at hand. Some argue that that Catholics can be freer with the details of the text because they don’t have to pretend to find their theology in it in full-blown form. 

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*Many Greek mss have PISTEWS here instead of CARITOS, but the NAB remained true to better Greek texts.

The Tylenol Murders on This Day in History

 

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This Day in History: Seven people died near Chicago after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules on this day in 1982. The Tylenol murders case - the most extensively covered news story since the assassination of John F. Kennedy - has perplexed federal, state, and local authorities for decades. This crime remains one of the biggest unsolved murder cases in the U.S., a case that has had more than 100 police investigators, more than 6,500 leads and 400 possible suspects. Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was actually a suspect at one time.

Author Scott Bartz theorized that the perpetrator might have been a disgruntled employee who worked at or with Johnson & Johnson? This person knew that what he did could have destroyed the company in lost revenue and lawsuits.

This incident inspired the pharmaceutical, food, and consumer product industries to develop tamper-resistant packaging, such as induction seals and improved quality control methods. Moreover, product tampering was made a federal crime. The new laws resulted in a 90 year prison sentence in an Excedrin tampering case.

Also, this crime prompted the pharmaceutical industry to move away from capsules, which were easy to contaminate as a foreign substance could be placed inside without obvious signs of tampering. Within the year, the FDA introduced more stringent regulations to avoid product tampering. This led to the eventual replacement of the capsule with the solid "caplet", a tablet made in the shape of a capsule, as a drug delivery form and with the addition of tamper-evident safety-seals to bottles of many sorts.

Tylenol's market share plummeted, but after a few years the company was back on top again. 

Hundreds of copycat attacks involving Tylenol and other over-the-counter medications took place around the United States immediately following the Chicago deaths. Product tampering is nothing new. Product tampering began in the 1890s. An especially bad case was the cyanide poisoning of Bromo Seltzer containers that led to a media sensation in 1899. In April 1985, 12 people died in Japan after consuming popular drinks that were dispensed from vending machines. As late as 1991, Kathleen Daneker and Stanley McWhorter died in Washington state after taking cyanide-laced Sudafed. A Joseph Meling was arrested in this case. According to the prosecution, Meling's tried to kill his wife with the sudafed in order to collect insurance money. Worried he would be a suspect in the poisoning, he planted the other five bottles to deflect suspicion. Meling was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Thomas Crapper and the Toilet on This Day in History

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This Day in History: English businessman and plumber, Thomas Crapper, was baptized on this day in 1836. It is tempting to say that he invented the toilet (which he didn't), but he did invent improvements for the toilet. One of these inventions has the unfortunate name of the floating "ballcock", better known to many of us as “that floating thing in the toilet tank that stops the tank from overfilling.”

It has often been claimed in popular culture that the profane slang term for human bodily waste, crap, originated with Thomas Crapper because of his association with lavatories. A common version of this story is that American servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it as army slang, i.e. "I'm going to the crapper".

There are actually 563 synonyms for the world Toilet, including: bathroom, commode, lavatory, restroom, pot, privy, john, washroom, potty, throne, stool, can, latrine, rest room, lav, loo, receptacle, powder room, water closet, facilities, ladies' room, dunny, facility, jakes, pissoir, washbasin, waste bin, chamber pot, amenity, wc, washstand, earth closet, johnny, pisser, steam room, thunderbox, honey bucket, little boy's room, corporation, dumpster, flowerpot, hammamet, kitty, boudoir, bowl, cludgie, comfort room, cottage, devil's back roads, ditchwater, domus, dubby, fairy glen, hopper, the jacks, khazi, kybo, little house, jerry, oval office, house of ease, little boy's room, reading room, and the bomber to name but a few.  

Wikipedia actually has an entry for people who died on the toilet.

                                              

The Warren Commission & the JFK Assassination on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: The Warren Commission report was released on this day in 1964. The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson through Executive Order 11130 on November 29, 1963, to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy that had taken place on November 22, 1963. It concluded that President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald and that Oswald acted entirely alone. It also concluded that Jack Ruby acted alone when he killed Oswald two days later. The Commission's findings have proven controversial and have been both challenged and supported by later studies.

Only 61 percent of Americans believe JFK was not killed by Oswald alone and that others were involved, according to a survey carried out by website FiveThirtyEight. Only 33 percent of people think Oswald acted alone. Other polls suggest that up to 76% of Americans do not believe the official narrative.  

"Over a decade later, Kennedy’s death was once again investigated – this time by the US House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA). Established in 1976, the committee issued its final report in 1979, which agreed with the Warren Commission’s findings, though it added there was a 'high probability' that two gunmen fired at Kennedy. The HSCA also found that Kennedy was 'probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy,' although it did not go into details."~Tyler Durden

The HCSA stated that instead of just 3 rounds fired from the 6th floor of the School Book Depository, another shot came from the Grassy Knoll.

Conspiracy theorists consider four or five groups, alone or in combination, to be the primary suspects in the assassination of Kennedy: the CIA, the military-industrial complex, organized crime, the government of Cuba led by Fidel Castro, and Cuban exiles. Other domestic individuals, groups, or organizations implicated in various conspiracy theories include Lyndon Johnson, George H. W. Bush, Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello, J. Edgar Hoover, Earl Warren, the FBI, the United States Secret Service, the John Birch Society, far-right wealthy Texans and the Jesuits. Some other alleged foreign conspirators includes, the KGB and Nikita Khrushchev, Aristotle Onassis, the government of South Vietnam, and international drug lords, including a French heroin syndicate. 

Former Los Angeles District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi estimated that a total of 42 groups, 82 assassins, and 214 people had been accused at one time or another in various conspiracy scenarios.

According to author John C. McAdams, "[t]he greatest and grandest of all conspiracy theories is the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory." Others have often referred to it as "the mother of all conspiracies". The number of books written about the assassination of Kennedy has been estimated to be between 1,000 and 2,000. According to Vincent Bugliosi, 95% of those books are "pro-conspiracy and anti-Warren Commission".

The Death of the Segway, and its President on This Day in History

This Day in History: Jimi Heselden, 62, owner of Segway Inc., died on this day in 2010, after riding a Segway Personal Transport System off a cliff in Thorp Arch, England. The coroner came to the conclusion that Heselden had likely fallen from the cliff with the Segway after 'getting into difficulty' reversing to allow a man walking his dog to pass him.

A Segway Personal Transporter is a two-wheeled transportation device related to a scooter. Steve Jobs thought the Segway would revolutionize mobility, and was quoted in 2001 as saying the machine was as big as the personal computer.

90 Seconds of Segway Crashes

Now, however, the Segway is no longer in production. Segway had initially planned to sell as many as 100,000 units in the first 13 months, but the company only ever sold around 140,000 vehicles in total. The cost may have been a factor. It started out with a $5000 price-tag, which eventually became $10,000. 

The Segway has also been known to be dangerous. "According to a George Washington University study, Segways are impressively dangerous. The study took place in Washington, D.C., which does not require Segway riders to wear helmets. The study examined the medical records of 41 patients who were admitted to emergency rooms at the university hospital from 2006 to 2008..The study noted that, of the 41 accidents, 24 percent were for serious injuries that involved admission to the hospital...Of the ten people admitted to the hospital, four were for traumatic brain injuries and required intensive care. Two other people underwent surgery. One suffered facial fractures and another suffered a fractured tibia. There were also a variety of broken and/or fractured clavicles, ribs, ankles and arms." Source

The Segway had more problems when high-profile people had accidents with them, notably George W. Bush, Ellen, and Usain Bolt.

When the manufacturing plant in Bedford, New Hampshire shut down, its 21 employees were laid off. That's not a lot of staff for a well known brand. In contrast, Razor Scooters has 123 employees. 

However, you can still buy Segway products online.

Led Zeppelin Drummer John Bonham on This Day in History

 

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This Day in History: One of the greatest and most influential rock drummers in history, John Bonham, died on this day in 1980. On September 24, Bonham stopped for breakfast, where he drank quadruple vodka screwdrivers (16 shots between 400 and 560 ml, also equivalent to 9–13 American standard drinks). He then continued to drink heavily after arriving at rehearsals. The inquest on 27 October 1980 showed that in 24 hours, Bonham had consumed around 40 shots (1–1.4 litres) of 40% ABV vodka, after which he vomited and choked (a condition known as pulmonary aspiration). The finding was accidental death.

Often labelled as Death by Misadventure, he joins a long list of artists who died in such a way. Jimi Hendrix died after consuming red wine with amphetamines. AC/DC frontman Bon Scott choked on his vomit after a heavy drinking binge. The Who drummer Keith Moon "was prescribed a sedative to alleviate his alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and according to reports, he mixed the drug with his drinks. Clomethiazole, the drug he was prescribed, can be deadly when mixed with alcohol, which is why it is normally only given in a clinical setting. Unfortunately, the singer took thirty-two pills in a rage, twenty-six of which didn’t even dissolve. Six pills, combined with alcohol, were enough to kill him." Source

Rory Gallagher died after a liver transplant which he was performed due to a long history of drinking while using prescription medication. 

Others who died of alcoholism (or something alcohol related) are Billie Holiday, Brian Connolly (Sweet), Clyde McPhatter (the Drifters), Hank Williams, Jim Morrison (The Doors), Keith Whitley, Michael Clarke (The Byrds), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (Grateful Dead), Townes Van Zandt, Elvis, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy), Steve Clarke (Def Leppard) and many more.

RollingStone magazine has listed John Bonham the greatest drummer of all time, ahead of Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, Neil Peart, Hal Blaine, Clyde Stubblefield, Gene Krupa, Mitch Mitchell, and Al Jackson Jr., ...ALL OF WHOM ARE NOW DEAD! 

John Bonham's son, Jason Bonham is a fine drummer in his own right, and has recorded or toured with Sammy Hagar and The Circle, Black Country Communion, UFO, Foreigner, and Bonham. On 10 December 2007, Jason played with Led Zeppelin on the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert, as well as their reunion at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show on 15 May 1988.

 

Gothic Horror Writer Horace Walpole on This Day in History

 

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English writer and politician Horace Walpole was born on this day in 1717. He is best known for his Gothic novel "The Castle of Otranto." [Gothic fiction is largely a subgenre of Gothic horror, and is a mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance.]

This book initiated a literary genre which would become extremely popular in the later 18th and early 19th century, with authors such as Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe [The Mysteries of Udolpho], William Thomas Beckford, Matthew Lewis, Mary Shelley [Frankenstein], Bram Stoker [Dracula], Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and George du Maurier.

"Professing to be a translation of a mysterious Italian tale from the darkest Middle Ages, the novel tells of Manfred, prince of Otranto, whose fear of an ancient prophecy sets him on a course of destruction. After the grotesque death of his only son, Conrad, on his wedding day, Manfred determines to marry the bride to be. The virgin Isabella flees through a castle riddled with secret passages. Chilling coincidences, ghostly visitations, arcane revelations, and violent combat combine in a heady mix that is both chilling and terrifying."~Source

The Castle of Otranto was the first supernatural English novel and one of the most influential works of Gothic fiction, and it established many of the plot devices that would become typical of the Gothic novel: secret passages, clanging trapdoors, pictures beginning to move, and doors closing by themselves.

One of the oldest ghost stories comes from a lawyer in ancient Rome called Pliny the Younger, and it was a ghost story with rattling chains no less. 

It is my pleasure to share this here:

"There was at Athens a large and roomy house, which had a bad name, so that no one could live there. In the dead of the night a noise, resembling the clashing of iron, was frequently heard, which, if you listened more attentively, sounded like the rattling of chains, distant at first, but approaching nearer by degrees: immediately afterwards a spectre appeared in the form of an old man, of extremely emaciated and squalid appearance, with a long beard and dishevelled hair, rattling the chains on his feet and hands. The distressed occupants meanwhile passed their wakeful nights under the most dreadful terrors imaginable. This, as it broke their rest, ruined their health, and brought on distempers, their terror grew upon them, and death ensued. Even in the day time, though the spirit did not appear, yet the impression remained so strong upon their imaginations that it still seemed before their eyes, and kept them in perpetual alarm. Consequently the house was at length deserted, as being deemed absolutely uninhabitable; so that it was now entirely abandoned to the ghost. However, in hopes that some tenant might be found who was ignorant of this very alarming circumstance, a bill was put up, giving notice that it was either to be let or sold. It happened that Athenodorus* the philosopher came to Athens at this time, and, reading the bill, enquired the price. The extraordinary cheapness raised his suspicion; nevertheless, when he heard the whole story, he was so far from being discouraged that he was more strongly inclined to hire it, and, in short, actually did so. When it grew towards evening, he ordered a couch to be prepared for him in the front part of the house, and, after calling for a light, together with his pencil and tablets, directed all his people to retire. But that his mind might not, for want of employment, be open to the vain terrors of imaginary noises and spirits, he applied himself to writing with the utmost attention. The first part of the night passed in entire silence, as usual; at length a clanking of iron and rattling of chains was heard: however, he neither lifted up his eyes nor laid down his pen, but in order to keep calm and collected tried to pass the sounds off to himself as something else. The noise increased and advanced nearer, till it seemed at the door, and at last in the chamber. He looked up, saw, and recognized the ghost exactly as it had been described to him: it stood before him, beckoning with the finger, like a person who calls another. Athenodorus in reply made a sign with his hand that it should wait a little, and threw his eyes again upon his papers; the ghost then rattled its chains over the head of the philosopher, who looked up upon this, and seeing it beckoning as before, immediately arose, and, light in hand, followed it. The ghost slowly stalked along, as if encumbered with its chains, and, turning into the area of the house, suddenly vanished. Athenodorus, being thus deserted, made a mark with some grass and leaves on the spot where the spirit left him. The next day he gave information to the magistrates, and advised them to order that spot to be dug up. This was accordingly done, and the skeleton of a man in chains was found there; for the body, having lain a considerable time in the ground, was putrefied and mouldered away from the fetters. The bones being collected together were publicly buried, and thus after the ghost was appeased by the proper ceremonies, the house was haunted no more."

* A Stoic philosopher and native of Tarsus. He was tutor for some time to Octavius, afterwards Augustus, Caesar.

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Two Forgotten Giants of Literature on This Day in History

 

This day in history: Icelandic Historian Snorri Sturluson was assassinated on this day in 1241 by men claiming to be agents of the King of Norway. Most of what we know about Valhalla and the Valkyries, Odin and the Well of Wisdom, Thor and the twilight of the Gods, and the world tree Yggdrasil was written and preserved by Snorri Sturluson. His sagas represent a literary achievement which rivals Greek poems and epics which laid the foundation for J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy, which thus laid the foundation for today's fantasy literature. His Eddas have become, over time, the holy books of the Viking Gods. Think of how different the days of the week would be named had it not been to Snorri Sturluson.

He also provided an early account of the discovery of Vinland, which was perhaps Greenland or eastern Canada 1000 years ago. A place so warm they could grow grapes, hence the name Vinland.

Also, English novelist and playwright Wilkie Collins died on this day in 1889. He is best known for his books, The Woman in White (1859), and for The Moonstone (1868), which has been posited as the first modern English detective novel.

Agatha Christie lists Wilkie Collins as one of her influences. "Wilkie Collins is often considered the father of the modern detective novel. Although he wrote under the genre of 'sensation fiction' at his time, many scholars believe that Collins’s plot-focused, suspenseful, thrilling tales built the groundwork for detective fiction/crime fiction to come. The famous Sherlock Holmes series and character (1887) created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is said to have drawn influences from The Moonstone. Sherlock Holmes, a detective with almost fantastical abilities, is based off the real-life Jack Whicher, and Collins’s Sergeant Cuff (and Mr. Murthwaite). Although Edgar Allen Poe is sometimes a competitor for first mystery author, there is no denying that Collins left a 'sensational' legacy in this genre of fiction." Source

A 1902 article in The Speaker describes Collins' work nicely: "The Moonstone has been called the best detective story ever written. It is, at once, much more and much less than that. The detective part of it is not only secondary, but, on the whole, ineffective. Sergeant Cuff is an admirable figure, but he is beaten in a way that would have shamed Sherlock Holmes. The power of the story lies in the suggestion of mystery, wonderfully sustained. The unaccountable disappearance of the diamond; the feeling of hostile influences around the chief persons of the story; the way in which the various points of view are expressed by Wilkie Collins’s favourite method-—not then out worn-—often trusting the telling of the tale to first one, then another of the characters—-these are the elements which give the novel its attractiveness. The story does not stand or fall by the complexity of its machinery; it has the interest of character. The heroine is excellently sketched, and there is real pathos in Rosanna Spearman and the luckless doctor‘s assistant who is successful in unravelling the many-sided puzzle. But it is in The Woman in White that we find Wilkie Collins’s greatest triumph in characterisation. The book grips one from the start; the touch of a hand laid slightly and suddenly on the shoulder of Walter Hartright as he was walking home from Hampstead at night thrills the reader as it thrilled him. We are held in the bonds of the mystery throughout. But even more than in the story are we interested in Count Fosco, a creation or which the greatest novelist might be proud. There is not a false touch in the conception. A magnificent, terrible villain, who yet cultivates the courtesies of life, the love of the arts, and has a true tenderness for his white mice and his canaries—he reminds us of the dark chronicles of the Latin race, of the suave criminals of fifteenth century Italy. Armadale is, perhaps, Wilkie Collins’s maturest work. In no other of his novels do we find the same ease, deftness of execution, and sureness of touch in dealing with his men and women. The fascinating adventuress Miss Gwilt——a near relation of Becky Sharp’s-—the country solicitor, Pedgift, Senior, and the easy-going 'hero,' Allan Armadale—-these present three distinct types, each drawn with equal power and fidelity to life. Allan Armadale, especially, is worthy of George Eliot."

Witches and Unitarians on This Day in History

 

The last hanging of a convicted witch during the Salem Witch Trials happened on this day in 1692, and today is the day that Unitarian John Biddle died in 1662 from an illness contracted during his fourth term in prison.

Some estimate that there may have been 40,000 to 50,000 executions for witchcraft in Europe in the past, and 19 so-called witches were hung in Salem. Some like to say that 50-68 million heretics were killed by the Church, but that number is grossly over-blown. Also, most Unitarians (people who denied the Trinity teaching) were killed by Protestant authorities, or at least with the recommendation of Protestant clergy.  One Unitarian, Norbert Capek, founder of the Czech Unitarian Church was even killed at the Dachau concentration camp in 1942.

Perhaps the first witch executed was Theoris of Lemnos (before 323 BC) in ancient Greece. Using magic was not prohibited in Greece at the time, but she was condemned as a murderer in a poisoning death.

The first Unitarian martyred was possibly William Sawtrey in 1401 (that's if we are not including any anti-Trinitarians killed during the Arian controversy of the 4th century). 

See also: Twelve Arguments Refuting The Deity Of The Holy Spirit by John Biddle

Peter Gunther, Unitarian Martyr

The Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) in a Nutshell

Accusations of Witchcraft in History

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Automobile Visionary Preston Tucker on This Day in History

 

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This Day in History: American automobile entrepreneur Preston Tucker was born on this day in 1903. He is most remembered for his Tucker 48 sedan, initially nicknamed the "Tucker Torpedo", an automobile which introduced many features that have since become widely used in modern cars. Production of the Tucker '48 was shut down amidst scandal and controversial accusations of stock fraud on March 3, 1949. The 1988 movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream is based on Tucker's spirit and the saga surrounding the car's production. 

While the movie romanticized the man and his car, many have pointed out that the "Tucker '48" simply was not feasible or affordable: "Another myth is that Tucker did have a revolutionary car which foretold Detroit’s future. Newspaper articles recently extolled some of the unusual features of the Tucker car: a pop-out windshield, a rear engine, a Cyclops light in the center which turned with the front wheels, a padded dash, and an aerodynamic body style. But were these really the way Detroit went in the future? No carmaker adopted the pop-out windshield, for example, and the Libbey-Owens-Ford engineers who supplied it to Tucker thought it was a bad idea. Few carmakers have adopted a rear engine; and the front-wheel drive has helped eliminate the long drive train. The Cyclops light is a gimmicky idea that intrigues onlookers, but apparently hasn’t been considered an automotive selling point. Credit Tucker with the padded dash and the leap into aerodynamic design, but neither was beyond Detroit’s capabilities."~Melvin D. Barger

Some comments online are insightful: "In '48, Tucker only made 51 "Torpedos, " before the whole thing shut-down. Never saw one outside a museum. Flawed car, but innovative and way ahead of its time in a lot of ways (Rear engine, rear-wheel drive, recessed doors, seat-belts, and a ‘cyclops-eye’ headlight that turned with the car's front tires, padded dash, windshield made of shatterproof glass and designed to pop out in a collision, hemispherical combustion chambers, fuel injection, and overhead valves operated by oil pressure rather than a camshaft, suspension with NO springs, instead rubber torsion tubes with shock absorbers)....Its 589 - cu.in. engine and its two torque converters wouldn't work. Nor did the disc brakes. Tucker substituted an opposed, six-cylinder Franklin helicopter engine converted to water cooling. Tucker employees, meanwhile, scoured the nation’s salvage yards for transaxles from wrecked 1936-’37 Cords. These four-speed, pre-selector gearboxes were refurbished and installed in prototype Tuckers. Finally, its $2,450 asking price, would have never have returned a profit for its investors (the engine alone cost Tucker $1,500 to buy). As well, the one fatal engineering flaw, its massive oversteer, or a tendency for the rear wheels to want to break loose, no doubt caused by the weight of the engine hanging off the rear of the car."~thedealer 777

"...historical evidence suggests that the demise of the Tucker Corporation was the result of two problems. First, the company’s lack of financial planning led to continual crises. Tucker’s refusal to utilize conventional bank loans combined with the company’s attempt to sell dealerships and stock before building a car prototype scared away normal venture capital. Second, unable to sell additional stock or dealerships, the Tucker Corporation needed money to start producing cars. With no inventory to sell and the SEC’s determination that pre-selling car features was illegal, the Tucker Corporation was financially bankrupt."~George Langelett

However, not everyone is critical of the Tucker car: "The Tucker remains such an enduring legend because of its brief moment in the spotlight, high-profile failure, and unique 'what if' status in automotive history. As a result, most 48s have been museum pieces from the moment they were auctioned off. They rarely change hands, but when they do, it’s major automotive news. In 2014, the car pictured was sold by RM Sotheby’s for a whopping $1,567,500. For a brief moment in postwar America, Preston Tucker occupied the same space in culture that Elon Musk does with Tesla today. Unlike Tucker however, Musk has vast resources at his disposal, and Tesla’s advancements are advancing electric car technology every few months. But this comparison only makes the Tucker more tantalizing; the idea of a car laden with disruptive technology transforming the automotive world back in 1948 is just too tantalizing not to think about. That’s why surviving Tuckers are so valuable – they’re a vision of a future that never was."~James Derek Sapienza

"A little view of how safe the tucker 48 was...The entire front end from the headlights to the doors was a crumple zone (like in modern cars) the motor mounts where designed to send the engine under the rear seat, and it had airbags that came out of the doors in case of a side collision (not as safe as thought because the bags where covered in asbestos dust to keep from sticking) integrated roll cage, suspension bench seats attached via vulcanized rubber to absorb some force, pop out glass."~Big Fella

The Sinking of the White Star Line's "Olympic" on This Day in History

 

This day in history: The White Star Line ship RMS Olympic collided with the British warship HMS Hawke on this day in 1911. The White Star Line, a British shipping company, also owned the Titanic, which would famously sink months later in April 1912. These are actually two of many mishaps the White Star Line would have. Their RMS Tayleur, described as "the first Titanic", sank on her maiden voyage in 1854. Of more than 650 aboard, only 280 survived. The SS Royal Standard hit an iceberg in 1864. The RMS Atlantic sank in 1873, killing 562 passengers. The RMS Republic collided with another ship in 1909. This ship was equipped with a new Marconi wireless telegraphy transmitter, and issued a CQD distress call, resulting in the saving of around 1,500 lives. The HMHS Britannic suffered an explosion on 1916 with a loss of 30 lives. The SS Naronic went missing in 1911.

Despite all of this, the White Star Line still prospered. 

Also, on September 20: The steamboat Dean Richmond collided with the steamboat Cornelius Vanderbilt and sank in the Hudson River at Rondout, New York with the loss of two of her 150 passengers and crew in 1867.

The Fanny collided with the steamship Colombia and sank in the River Mersey with the loss of four of her crew in 1866.

The Challenge was reported missing in 1876 and never seen again while travelling from Ireland to Brazil.

The British Lady was run into by the steamship Risca in 1871 off Porthcawl, Glamorgan (Wales) and was severely damaged.

The Falcon was run into by the steamship Rotterdam at Harwich, Essex in 1871 and was beached. 

The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was launched in Clydebank, Scotland in 1967.

Singer Jim Croce, songwriter and musician Maury Muehleisen and four others died when their light aircraft crashed on takeoff at Natchitoches Regional Airport in Louisiana in 1973.

At least 161 people die after a ferry capsized close to the pier on Ukara Island in Lake Victoria and part of Tanzania in 2018.

See also: Mysteries of the Sea - 200 Books on DVDrom

Maritime Superstitions by H.R. Woestyn 1906

The Sea and its Legends by Benjamin Taylor 1900

The Mystery of the "Mary Celeste" by John E Watkins 1919

The Flying Dutchman and Other Legends of the Sea 1897

The Phantom Ship by Elliott O'Donnell 1911

The Story of the Haunted Ship by Wilhelm Hauff 1890

The Secondhand Lions Movie on This Day in History

 

Watch Secondhand Lions for FREE on Tubi

This Day in History: The movie "Second-hand Lions" was released on this day in 2003. This movie had one of the best speeches ever in a film: "Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most: That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."

Of course, there have been many great lines and speeches in movies over the years. Here are just a few:

The Big Chill: Don't knock rationalization; where would we be without it? I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex.

Tuck Everlasting “Don't be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don't have to live forever, you just have to live.” “If there's one thing I've learned about people, it's that many will do anything, anything not to die. And they'll do anything to keep from living their life.”

A Beautiful Mind: I've always believed in numbers and the equations and logics that lead to reason. But after a lifetime of such pursuits, I ask: 'What truly is logic?' 'Who decides reason?' My quest has taken me through the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional -- and back. And I have made the most important discovery of my career, the most important discovery of my life: It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found.

I'm only here tonight because of you [referring to his wife, Alicia]. You are the reason I am. You are all my reasons. Thank you.

Iris: Education doesn't make you happy. And nor does freedom? We don't become happy just because we're free, if we are. Or because we've been educated, if we have. But because education may be the means by which we realize we are happy. It opens our eyes, our ears. Tells us where delights are lurking. Convinces us that there is only one freedom of any importance whatsoever: that of the mind. And gives us the assurance, the confidence, to walk the path our mind, our educated mind, offers.

Love Actually: Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.

.............................

The Devil Wears Prada: 'This... stuff'? Oh, ok. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select, I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.

Rush: “A wise man can learn more from his enemies than a fool from his friends.”

Hitch: “Life is not the amount of breaths you take. It’s the moments that take your breath away.”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: “Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.”

All the King’s Men: “To find something, anything, a great truth or a lost pair of glasses, you must first believe there will be some advantage in finding it.”

The Bucket List: “You know, the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven, the guards asked two questions. Their answers determined whether they were able to enter or not. ‘Have you found joy in your life?’ ‘Has your life brought joy to others?’”

Kung Fu Panda: "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift. That's why it is called the present."

"One often meets his destiny in the road he takes to avoid it."

Ratatouille: "The only thing predictable about life, is its unpredictability"

Spy Kids 2: "Do you think God stays in heaven because he lives in fear of what he's created?"

United States Capitol on This Day in History

This Day in History: President Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol building on this day in 1793.

The United States Capitol cornerstone laying was the ceremonial placement of the cornerstone of the United States Capitol on September 18, 1793. The cornerstone was laid by president of the United States George Washington, assisted by the Grand Master of Maryland Joseph Clark, in a Masonic ritual.

Washington, accompanied by three Worshipful Masters carrying sacrifices of corn, wine, and oil, then struck the stone three times with a gavel, as prescribed by Masonic custom. Washington exited the trench to ritual chanting by the assembled Masons and a 15-gun salute (one gun for each U.S. state) from the Alexandria Volunteer Artillery. Clark then delivered a short invocation, after which a 500 pounds ox was slaughtered and roasted. According to Frazer in his The Golden Bough, "The object of the sacrifice is to give strength and stability to the building." 

The Capitol Building has often been the scene of violence over the years:

Not long after the completion of both wings, the Capitol was partially burned by the British on August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812.

On January 30, 1835, President Andrew Jackson was almost assassinated while stepping outside the Capitol Building. 

On April 23, 1844, House-Speaker John White was involved in a physical confrontation on the House floor with Democratic Congressman George O. Rathbun. During the disturbance, an unknown visitor fired a pistol into the crowd, wounding a police officer.

On July 2, 1915, prior to the United States' entry into World War I, Eric Muenter (aka Frank Holt), a German professor who wanted to stop American support of the Allies of World War I, exploded a bomb in the reception room of the U.S. Senate.

Many like the point out that the January 6 riot at the Capitol was the worst event to ever happen at the Capitol, but there are have been far more serious attacks to happen there.

"A Puerto Rican terrorist group opened fire during debate in the House of Representatives in 1954, wounding five members in 'the most severe assault in the history of the Capitol building.' The Weather Underground exploded a bomb in the Senate in 1971; another left-wing group carried out a similar attack in 1983; and a gunman opened fire at a Capitol checkpoint in 1998, killing two Capitol Police officers. In 2017, a left-wing gunman opened fire on Republicans during a baseball practice, wounding several, including a Capitol Police officer; though the attack did not take place at the Capitol building itself, it was the most serious political violence in recent years. And earlier this month, a radical Nation of Islam follower drove into two Capitol Police, killing Officer William Evans." Source

Freemasonry and Other Secret Societies - Over 120 PDF Books to Download

The Offensive US Constitution on This Day in History

 

Today in History: Today is Constitution Day. The US Constitution has been considered one of the greatest documents ever written, alongside the Magna Carta and the Gutenberg Bible.

The US Constitution is the oldest working constitution in the world. It was a model for the concept of constitutionalism, which has been almost universally accepted. It is one of the most difficult constitutions to amend. The result is that it usually changes by interpretation rather than by amendment. It is revered in a way that is unknown in other countries.

This is what British Prime Minister William Gladstone had to say about the United States Constitution:

“As the British Constitution is the most subtile organism which has proceeded from the womb and the long gestation of progressive history, so the American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off by the brain and purpose of man.”

— William Ewart Gladstone, Kin Beyond Sea, North American Review (1878)

In the words of Fredrick Douglas, “Take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.”

However, despite all this, if you view the Constitution online at the National Archives, the NARA has a "Harmful Language Alert" trigger warning above it. It has attached this warning to all the founding documents.

The agency added in a statement that “some items may … reflect racist, sexist, ableist, misogynistic/misogynoir, and xenophobic opinions and attitudes; be discriminatory towards or exclude diverse views on sexuality, gender, religion, and more; include graphic content of historical events such as violent death, medical procedures, crime, wars/terrorist acts, natural disasters and more; [and] demonstrate bias and exclusion in institutional collecting and digitization policies.”

Earlier this year, the National Archives released a task force report on racism. "The report determined that the National Archives Rotunda in Washington, D.C., which houses the founding documents of the U.S., reflects 'structural racism' because it 'lauds wealthy White men in the nation’s founding while marginalizing BIPOC, women, and other communities.'" Source

I don't know who could be offended by historical documents, but I imagine it is probably the same people who need MPAA warnings before movies alerting people that the film has scenes with "historical smoking."

Railroad Tycoon James J. Hill on This Day in History

 

Read more of James J Hill Here

"Give me Swedes, snuff and whiskey, and I'll build a railroad through hell."

This Day in History: Canadian born railroad executive James J. Hill was born on this day in 1838. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest. Because of the size of this region and the economic dominance exerted by the Hill lines, Hill became known during his lifetime as "The Empire Builder". 

There have always been two types of businessmen: Free-market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs. Hill was the lone Free-market entrepreneur in the railroad game at the time. The government-subsidized companies were paid by the mile, so they "sometimes built winding, circuitous roads to collect for more mileage." (Burton Folsom) Sometimes they even built on top of snow and ice, which meant they had to be rebuilt later. By contrast, James J. Hill built his rail lines to last, he picked the shortest routes. Also, "what distinguishes Hill from the other railroad magnates of his age is the fact that once he had acquired the land for the Great Northern Railroad, he did not continue to lobby the government for financial subsidies, cartel regulations, and other political privileges. For this reason, Hill is rightly remembered by libertarians as a remarkable market entrepreneur whose talents transformed a failed, politically-supported railroad (St. Paul and Pacific) into a thriving commercial success (Great Northern)."

"What we want," Hill is quoted as saying, "is the best possible line, shortest distance, lowest grades, and least curvature we can build. We do not care enough for Rocky Mountains scenery to spend a large sum of money developing it." Hill got what he wanted, and in January 1893 his Great Northern Railway, running from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington — a distance of more than 1,700 miles — was completed. The Great Northern was the first transcontinental built without public money and just a few land grants, and was one of the few transcontinental railroads not to go bankrupt.

"Hill chose the best routes, built the sturdiest tracks, and paid the Indians and other landowners free-market prices for rights-of-way across their property." ~Thomas Dilorenzo

Railroads played a major part in making America an economic powerhouse at the time. Railroad construction spawned new industries in steel, iron, and coal. No other business so dramatically stimulated and embodied industrialization in the late part of the 19th century.

"It made commerce possible on a vast scale. In addition to transporting western food crops and raw materials to East Coast markets and manufactured goods from East Coast cities to the West Coast, the railroad also facilitated international trade."~Source

James J. Hill was at the forefront of this wealth expansion...he was a most significant factor in moving the world and creating wealth for countless millions.

The Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, On This Day in History

 

"If you’re one of the few who haven’t experienced the genius of Agatha Christie, this novel (And Then There Were None) is a stellar starting point." — DAVID BALDACCI, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

This Day in History: The "Duchess of Death", the "Mistress of Mystery", and the "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie, was born on this day in 1890. Christie wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She is the only crime writer to have created two equally famous and much loved characters. Poirot was so loved, he was given a full page obituary in the New York Times when he died.

Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies. According to Index Translationum, she remains the most-translated individual author. Her novel And Then There Were None is one of the top-selling books of all time, with approximately 100 million copies sold. Her book, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, was voted the best crime novel ever by 600 professional novelists of the Crime Writers' Association.

Christie wrote during an era in what came to be called, "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", mostly during the 1920's and 1930's. Most of the authors of the Golden Age were British: Margery Allingham (1904–1966), Anthony Berkeley (aka Francis Iles, 1893–1971), Nicholas Blake (1904–1972), G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936), Dame Agatha Christie (1890–1976), Edmund Crispin (1921–1978), Freeman Wills Crofts (1879–1957), R. Austin Freeman (1862–1943), Joseph Jefferson Farjeon (1883–1955), Cyril Hare (1900–1958), Georgette Heyer (1902–1974), Anne Hocking (1890–1966), Michael Innes (1906–1993), Msgr. Ronald Knox (1888–1957), E. C. R. Lorac (1894–1958), Philip MacDonald (1900–1980), Gladys Mitchell (1901–1983), John Rhode (1884–1964), Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957), Josephine Tey (1896–1952), Patricia Wentworth (1877-1961), Henry Wade (1887–1969), and many more. Dame Ngaio Marsh (1895–1982), was a New Zealander but was also British, as was her detective Roderick Alleyn. Georges Simenon was from Belgium and wrote in French; his detective, Jules Maigret, was a Frenchman. Some writers, such as Mary Roberts Rinehart, S. S. Van Dine, Earl Derr Biggers, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, Erle Stanley Gardner and Elizabeth Daly, were American but had similar styles. 

If you noticed the name of Monsignor Ronald A. Knox above, you might know him from his translation of the Bible. Knox also came up with ten rules (commandments) for writing detective fiction at this time:

The criminal must be mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to know.

All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.

No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.

No [Chinese man] must figure in the story.

No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

The detective himself must not commit the crime.

The detective is bound to declare any clues which he may discover.

The "sidekick" of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal from the reader any thoughts which pass through his mind: his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

Agatha Christie was a fan of detective fiction long before this time though, having enjoyed Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White and The Moonstone, and Arthur Conan Doyle's early Sherlock Holmes stories. Much like Doyle did with Holmes, she tired of Poirot. By the end of the 1930s, Christie wrote in her diary that she was finding Poirot "insufferable", and by the 1960s she felt he was "an egocentric creep". Unlike Conan Doyle though, she resisted the temptation to kill her detective off while he was still popular.