George Washington dies on December 14, 1799

George Washington dies: George Washington, the American revolutionary leader and first president of the United States, dies of acute laryngitis at his estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia. He was 67 years old.

George Washington was born in 1732 to a farm family in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His first direct military experience came as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia colonial militia in 1754, when he led a small expedition against the French in the Ohio River valley on behalf of the governor of Virginia. Two years later, Washington took command of the defenses of the western Virginian frontier during the French and Indian War. After the war’s fighting moved elsewhere, he resigned from his military post, returned to a planter’s life, and took a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses.

During the next two decades, Washington openly opposed the escalating British taxation and repression of the American colonies. In 1774, he represented Virginia at the Continental Congress. After the American Revolution erupted in 1775, Washington was nominated to be commander in chief of the newly established Continental Army. Some in the Continental Congress opposed his appointment, thinking other candidates were better equipped for the post, but he was ultimately chosen because as a Virginian his leadership helped bind the Southern colonies more closely to the rebellion in New England.

With his inexperienced and poorly equipped army of civilian soldiers, General Washington led an effective war of harassment against British forces in America while encouraging the intervention of the French into the conflict on behalf of the colonists. On October 19, 1781, with the surrender of British General Charles Lord Cornwallis’ massive British army at Yorktown, Virginia, General Washington had defeated one of the most powerful nations on earth.

After the war, the victorious general retired to his estate at Mount Vernon, but in 1787 he heeded his nation’s call and returned to politics to preside over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The drafters created the office of president with him in mind, and in February 1789 Washington was unanimously elected the first president of the United States.

As president, Washington sought to unite the nation and protect the interests of the new republic at home and abroad. Of his presidency, he said, “I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn in precedent.” He successfully implemented executive authority, making good use of brilliant politicians such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in his cabinet, and quieted fears of presidential tyranny. In 1792, he was unanimously reelected but four years later refused a third term.

In 1797, he finally began a long-awaited retirement at his estate in Virginia. He died two years later. His friend Henry Lee provided a famous eulogy for the father of the United States: “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / White House.gov / Biography / Mount Vernon.org George Washington Full Documentary (YouTube)” 25 Interesting Things About George Washington (YouTube)”

Understanding Military Terminology - Maritime pre-positioning ships

(DOD) Civilian-crewed, Military Sealift Command-chartered ships that are usually forward-deployed and loaded with pre-positioned equipment and up to 30 days of supplies to support Marine expeditionary brigades. Also called MPSs. See also Navy cargo handling battalion. Joint Publications 3-02.1 (Amphibious Embarkation and Debarkation - BITS)

The Old Salt’s Corner

“Requiem”

(from Underwoods, 1887)

Under the wide and starry sky,

Dig the grave and let me lie.

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies where he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson (from Underwoods, 1887)

(Note: Stevenson wrote this poem long before he died and always intended it for his own epitaph.

After he was taken from life suddenly by a cerebral hemorrhage at his home at Vaiilima in Samoa in 1894, the poem was inscribed on his tombstone on top of Mount Vaea overlooking the house he had lived in. That inscription contains one misquote which has often been repeated: “Home is the sailor, home from the sea”.)

“I’m Just Sayin”

In metaphysics also known as the Identity of Indiscernibles. It states:

“If two objects have all their properties in common, then they are one and the same object.”

~ Leibniz's law

“Thought for the Day”

“Sometimes life touches one person with a bouquet

and another with a thorn bush,

but the first may find a wasp in the flowers,

and the second may discover roses among the thorns.”

~ Billy Graham

“What I Have Learned”

“Sometimes life will test you but remember this:

when you walk up a mountain, your legs get stronger.”

~ Anonymous

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

Look how filthy rich we are! How the spoilt brat offspring of the world's super-rich sickeningly flaunt their wealth online

Uber rich children have posted their New Year's Eve photos on Instagram

They're pictured on yachts, in gold Lamborghinis, or swigging champagne

Pictures also show exotic destinations and luxury holidays abroad

UPI (12/31/2015)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: Why don't airlines have parachutes for passengers?

There are four reasons why you don't find a parachute under your seat on commercial airlines.

1. Parachutes are bulky, heavy and expensive.

2. Passengers are not trained to use them.

3. There isn't a convenient way to jump out of typical airliners.

4. There are very few situations where it would save anybody.

Aviation Stack Exchange • BBC • Gizmodo • Mental Floss • PBS • Quora

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“The blind leading the blind:”  Meaning: Uninformed and incompetent people leading others who are similarly incapable.

Origin: This appears in the Bible, Matthew 15:14 - from Miles Coverdale's Bible, 1535:

“Let they go, they are ye blynde leaders of ye blynde. Wha one blinde leadeth another, they fall both i ye diche.” From “Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings” by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

Biblical citations of commonly used English phrases usually tend to be earlier than those from other sources. In this case the thought was probably inherited from the Upanishads - the sacred Hindu treatises, which were written between 800BC and 200 BC and first translated into English between 1816-19. From Katha Upanishad we have:

Abiding in the midst of ignorance, thinking themselves wise and learned, fools go aimlessly hither and thither, like blind led by the blind.

Pieter Bruegel's 1568 oil painting, often called The Parable of the Blind, is what appears to be a literal depiction of a line of blind people following each other and stumbling into a ditch, as forecast in Matthew 15.

English Stack Exchange - Phrases.org UK

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Mid: Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy or Naval ROTC; “Middie” is considered derogatory.

Midnight Ops: The best time to get something done when there are not as many witnesses around.

Midnight Requisition: To “borrow” (with varying degress of consent) a needed item from another unit. Often condoned when essential to get underway.

MidShitHead: Enlisted common term for a Naval Academy or ROTC Midshipman on their summer cruise on a ship or a command, gaining real Navy experience between academic class years.

Mid-Rats: Short for midnight rations. Food served to the midwatch. Generally leftover lunch and/or dinner.

Mid-Watch: Watch from 0000-0400 (2345-0345), usually results in no sleep before or after this watch.

Just for you MARINE

MSG: Marine Corps Security Guard, responsible for guarding United States Embassies.

MTO: Motor Transport Officer, the Marine in charge of maintenance and operation of a unit's trucks.

MTV: Medium Tactical Vehicle, the newest type of ballistic vest for Marines.

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

HSMWSL - HSM Weapons School Atlantic: “Talons”
Naval Station Mayport (IATA: NRB, ICAO: KNRB, FAA LID: NRB), Jacksonville, Florida

Science & Technology

Are you using the English language correctly? Take the Oxford University quiz that reveals the phrases we all get wrong • Can the Great Barrier Reef be saved? Uproar as writer claims world’s largest living structure is DEAD • How many animals can YOU see? Tricky wildlife brainteaser featuring 16 beasts leaves the Internet baffled • Cannabis link to brittle bones • The empathy map of the world: the table in results even the researchers admit are “surprising” Daily Mail

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Alien Life May Munch on Galactic Cosmic Rays

Extreme microbes that live in hostile places on Earth may feed off of cosmic rays that zip through space, according to a study of a bizarre bacterium thriving deep in a dark gold mine.

If life exists on other planets such as Mars, it too could be gobbling up cosmic rays in order to survive, the new study suggests.

“When you have radiation penetrating deep below the surface, where there might be water on Mars or (Jupiter's moon) Europa, then it could start chemical reactions that life could use”, said study author Dimitra Atri, a research scientist at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle. Organisms that live off of galactic cosmic rays could even dwell on rogue planets that are not bound to any star and instead drift throughout interstellar space, Atri added. (Extreme Life on Earth: 8 Bizarre Creatures) Live Science (11/12/2016)