Old Sailors' Almanac

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Week 15, 2019

Previous Week   April 08, 2019 - April 14, 2019   Next Week

Human Genome Project is completed on April 14, 2003

Human Genome Project is completed on April 14, 2003

Human Genome Project is completed: On April 07, 1943 The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, led in the United States by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the Department of Energy (DOE), today announced the successful completion of the Human Genome Project more than two years ahead of schedule.

Also on this day, NHGRI unveiled its bold new vision for the future of genome research, officially ushering in the era of the genome. The vision will be published in the April 24 issue of the journal Nature, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Nature's publication of the landmark paper by Nobel Laureates James Watson and Francis Crick that described DNA's double helix. Dr. Watson also was the first leader of the Human Genome Project.

The international effort to sequence the 3 billion DNA letters in the human genome is considered by many to be one of the most ambitious scientific undertakings of all time, even compared to splitting the atom or going to the moon.

When the Human Genome Project was launched in 1990, many in the scientific community were deeply skeptical about whether the project's audacious goals could be achieved. In actuality, the Human Genome Project was finished two and a half years ahead of time and, at $2.7 billion in FY 1991 dollars.

International Consortium Completes Human Genome Project / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Nature / Science.org (AAAS) / Human Genome Project is completed on April 14, 2003 (YouTube) video


RMS Titanic hits iceberg on April 14, 1912

RMS Titanic hits iceberg on April 14, 1912

RMS Titanic hits icebergd: Just before midnight in the North Atlantic, the RMS Titanic fails to divert its course from an iceberg, ruptures its hull, and begins to sink.

Four days earlier, the Titanic, one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners ever built, departed Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. While leaving port, the massive ship came within a couple of feet of the steamer New York but passed safely by, causing a general sigh of relief from the passengers massed on the ship’s decks.

The Titanic was designed by the Irish shipbuilder William Pirrie and spanned 883 feet from stern to bow. Its hull was divided into 16 compartments that were presumed to be watertight. Because four of these compartments could be flooded without causing a critical loss of buoyancy, the Titanic was considered unsinkable. On its first journey across the highly competitive Atlantic ferry route, the ship carried some 2,200 passengers and crew.

After stopping at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, to pick up some final passengers, the massive vessel set out at full speed for New York City. However, just before midnight on April 14, the ship hit an iceberg, and five of the Titanic‘s compartments were ruptured along its starboard side. At about 2:20 a.m. on the morning of April 15, the massive vessel sank into the North Atlantic.

Because of a shortage of lifeboats and the lack of satisfactory emergency procedures, more than 1,500 people went down in the sinking ship or froze to death in the icy North Atlantic waters. Most of the approximately 700 survivors were women and children. A number of notable American and British citizens died in the tragedy, including the noted British journalist William Thomas Stead and heirs to the Straus, Astor, and Guggenheim fortunes.

The announcement of details of the disaster led to outrage on both sides of the Atlantic. The sinking of the Titanic did have some positive effects, however, as more stringent safety regulations were adopted on public ships, and regular patrols were initiated to trace the locations of deadly Atlantic icebergs.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Smithsonian / National Geographic / RMS Titanic hits iceberg on April 14, 1912 (YouTube) video


Lincoln is shot on April 14, 1865

Lincoln is shot on April 14, 1865

Lincoln is shot: On this day in 1865, John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shoots President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Booth, a Maryland native born in 1838, who remained in the North during the war despite his Confederate sympathies, initially plotted to capture President Lincoln and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, the president failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces.

In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth hatched a desperate plan to save the Confederacy. Learning that Lincoln was to attend a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater on April 14, Booth masterminded the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into disarray.

On the evening of April 14, conspirator Lewis T. Powell burst into Secretary of State Seward’s home, seriously wounding him and three others, while George A. Atzerodt, assigned to Vice President Johnson, lost his nerve and fled. Meanwhile, just after 10 p.m., Booth entered Lincoln’s private theater box unnoticed and shot the president with a single bullet in the back of his head. Slashing an army officer who rushed at him, Booth leapt to the stage and shouted “Sic semper tyrannis! [Thus always to tyrants]–the South is avenged!” Although Booth broke his leg jumping from Lincoln’s box, he managed to escape Washington on horseback.

The president, mortally wounded, was carried to a lodging house opposite Ford’s Theater. About 7:22 a.m. the next morning, Lincoln, age 56, died–the first U.S. president to be assassinated. Booth, pursued by the army and other secret forces, was finally cornered in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died from a possibly self-inflicted bullet wound as the barn was burned to the ground. Of the eight other people eventually charged with the conspiracy, four were hanged and four were jailed. Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president, was buried on May 4, 1865, in Springfield, Illinois.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Library Of Congress / Lincoln is shot on April 14, 1865 (YouTube) video


Understanding Military Terminology: Scout of Many Trails (Sea Scout and Boy Scout look at globe with old sailor) ~ Norman Rockwell

Understanding Military Terminology - Multinational doctrine

(DOD) The agreed upon fundamental principles that guide the employment of forces of two or more nations in coordinated action toward a common objective. See also doctrine; joint doctrine.

Joint Publications (JP 3-16) Multinational Operations


“It was Beautiful Yesterday”

The Old Salt’s Corner

“It was Beautiful Yesterday”

Bha e brèagha an-de (It was Beautiful Yesterday)

There was a sailing vessel

With many a sail proudly lapping in the wind

A flag of the Celtic honor, in ruin an rented

As all the sailors sing

Of my love for you

From long ago

Before death became our friend

Oh would I be sailing from stormy seas to the Scottish glens

To lay some flowers at your side

Your beauty is now far under

My love ill wait for all eternity

For loves resurrection’s stormy thunder

Our bodies may be under stone

Our memories long lost in tales and fable

Let no man ever lay any such claim

Our love was not the gift of briny seaworthy fame.

We be only stones, in a meadow blue

When you come upon our fate

Tiss with this verse, I state my case

The life that escaped our sadly date

Love though was true as sky

For long ago, she bid adieu

Her sadness at my drowning departure

As I her lover was told to be

Buried deep and under sea.


Both sadness and the tossing waves

Took the life out of her and me

So when you look at fading stones

Remember the love that used to be.

~ Author unknown


“I’m Just Sayin’”

“I’m Just Sayin”

“Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.”

“You can’t build a reputation

on what you are going to do.”

~ Henry Ford


“Thought for the Day”

“Thought for the Day”

“Things which matter most

must never be at the mercy

of things which matter least.”

“There are two things children

should get from their parents:

roots and wings.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


“What I Have Learned”

“What I Learned”

“Life is about everything,

but without love it's nothing.”

“Make it idiot proof

and someone will make a better idiot.”

“Man has one incurable disease:

Ignorance.”

~ Anonymous


Second Hand News

Second Hand News (Links to Articles from Week 15 - April 08, 2019 - April 14, 2019)

Top News Stories - Photos (Washington Examiner) Stefan Halper: The Cambridge don the FBI sent to spy on TrumpFormer Obama legal counsel Greg Craig expected to be indicted in Mueller caseTop FBI lawyer discussed a special counsel before James Comey's firingWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in LondonNew British student leader said she wanted to 'oppress white people' and have an 'Islamic takeover'

White House working feverishly to pass United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) despite threats of 25% tariff on Mexican auto exports and closure of the U.S.-Mexico border over border securityChina selling high-tech tyranny to Latin America, stoking U.S. concernDemocrats 'feel betrayed' by Adam Schiff, Republican lawmaker says after filing PENCIL Resolution

No Collusion: 10 anonymously sourced Trump-Russia bombshells that look like bustsTensions between Maxine Waters and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin boil over

Editor's Picks: Media unload on Barr over spying: 'Trump's toady,' 'prejudices the conversation,' 'highly questionable'Attorney General Barr puts team in place to investigate FBI probe of TrumpRepublican releases transcript of top FBI lawyer during Clinton, Trump-Russia investigationsDan Crenshaw denounces Ilhan Omar's 'unbelievable' dismissal of 9/11 attacksCreeping PC police: Now you can get reported for watching Ben Shapiro in your own dorm Washington Examiner

Top News Stories - Photos (Daily Mail) Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is ARRESTED by British police at Ecuadorian Embassy in London after his asylum is withdrawn seven years after he was given refugeTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin DENIES House Democrats' request for six years of President Trump's tax returns by WednesdayREVEALED: Federal government budget deficit is running 15 per cent higher than a year ago Washington Post wants $250million lawsuit by Covington Catholic teen thrown out because its coverage was 'ultimately favorable' and 'had nothing to do with politics'

Attorney General William Barr says 'spying DID occur' against Trump's 2016 election campaign and tells senators he wants to know if it was 'adequately predicated'This was an attempted coup!' Trump says organizers of 'illegal' Mueller probe committed 'treason' as he tells reporters he hasn't read the report and doesn't care what it says because 'I won''Everyone else's truth is allowed, but mine can never be': llhan Omar hits out at 'double standards' that sees her 'called out' for her remarks but not others

Ken Starr says Hillary Clinton DID trigger Vince Foster's suicide when she humiliated him in front of White House staff and admits he omitted the finding in FBI report because he didn't want to 'inflict further pain' on herLori Loughlin looks glum as she steps out for a doctor's appointment in Los Angeles after it's revealed she rejected a plea deal - just before being hit with new charges in the college bribery scandalNorth Korea has two female fortune tellers shot dead in public execution with tens of thousands of people forced to watch

'That was unbelievably dishonest': Candace Owens erupts at Democratic congressman Ted Lieu for suggesting she is a Nazi sympathizer after playing her comments defending Trump-style nationalism during the hearingFBI arrest 24 people involved in $1.2BN Medicare scam that duped hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled patients to buy braces that were not needed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents find $20million worth of cocaine when they seize 27-foot boat of the coast of Puerto Rico

Seeing the unseeable: Scientists unveil the first EVER direct image of a black hole captured by global 'virtual telescope'SpaceX delays the second launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket until Thursday, when it will deliver satellites to orbit for its first commercial mission and attempt to land THREE boosters back on EarthBrain scans of ex-NFL players show toxic build-up of protein thought to be a hallmark of degenerative disease CTE that is caused by repeated blows to the head in medical breakthrough Daily Mail UK

Top News Stories - Photos (Foreign Policy) Releasing a U.S. proposal that is bound to fail would legitimize Israeli annexation, give Saudi Arabia leverage, and strengthen Iran and its alliesU.S. Lawmakers Talk Turkey to AnkaraHow Japan Became the Adult at the Trade Table (While Washington withdraws from multilateral deals, Tokyo has been uncharacteristically leading efforts to save them)‘The 21st-Century Space Race Is On’Is India’s Modi a Reformer or a Performer?

Khalifa Haftar’s Miscalculated Attack on Tripoli Will Cost Him DearlyCorbyn’s Pet Stalinist (Seumas Milne loves the Soviet Union, hates the EU, and has the ear of a possible future prime minister)The Long Game of Benjamin NetanyahuHow Russia Sows Confusion in the U.S. Vaccine Debate Foreign Policy

CORRUPTION CHRONICLES - Mainstream Media Scream: (Watch Dog On-Line Publications) CORRUPTION CHRONICLES: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HAS BEEN ‘ROGUE AGENCY’ PART OF COUP EFFORT AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMPMost of the $33 Billion in Remittances to Mexico Flow Via U.S. Government Banking Program Judicial Watch Uncovers ‘Cover-Up’ Discussions in Latest Production of Clinton Email DocumentsJudicial Watch discusses the Democrats abusing the IRS to target Trump, Mueller report games, & a NEW lawsuit over Deep State/CNN LeaksJudicial Watch Sues for Anti-Trump Coup Documents

Judicial Watch Sues State Department for Obama Ambassador Victoria Nuland’s Communications Related to the Anti-Trump DossierJudicial Watch Sues DOJ/FBI for Top Officials’ Communications about Alleged Russian Interference in the 2016 ElectionLaw to Protect Women Against Domestic Violence Forces Shelters to House Transgender MenJudicial Watch’s probe into the murder of NYPD Patrolman Phillip Cardillo is heading back to court in New York Judicial Watch


Do Insects Have Consciousness?

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: Do Insects Have Consciousness?

A new theory has scientists buzzing

Amid the usual parade of creeping horrors—super lice, mayfly plagues and a “troll-haired insect discovered in remote Suriname” - the exterminator news site PestWeb recently shared a piece of unsettling intelligence.

“Insects Have Consciousness, Self-Awareness and Egos”, the headline read.

Whether or not the consciences of professional bug slayers were burdened by this revelation, other people were alarmed. We’re a far cry from “insect rights”, mused the bioethicist and animal rights advocate Peter Singer, but the prospect of bugs’ inner lives ups the ethical stakes.

Do Insects Have Consciousness?

This moral hornet’s nest was first stirred at a local meeting of the worldwide science and drinking club Nerd Nite in a Sydney, Australia, pub. Honeybee scientist Andrew Barron began chatting with philosopher Colin Klein, who initially swatted away the idea of insect consciousness. After all, insect brains are tiny and have just a million or so neurons, compared with a human’s average of 86 billion. Like many of us, Klein had assumed that insects are just collections of reflexes—that they are “dark inside”, he says—and this assumption jibed nicely with his habit of flushing the enormous cockroaches at his apartment down the toilet.

But then the two Macquarie University professors began to explore the research. One prominent theory holds that the core of human consciousness is not our impressive neocortex, but our much more primitive midbrain. This simple structure synthesizes sensory data into a unified, egocentric point of view that lets us navigate our world.

Do Insects Have Consciousness?

Insects, Barron and Klein now argue, have midbrain-like structures, including a “central complex”, that seem to allow bugs to similarly model themselves as they move through space. They cite evidence ranging from a study that used microelectrodes to look at fly brain activity, to seemingly macabre research showing that when a jewel wasp injects venom into a cockroach’s central complex, the zombiefied prey will allow itself to be led by the antennae into its predator’s lair.

While the human midbrain and the insect brain may even be evolutionarily related, an insect’s inner life is obviously more basic than our own. Accordingly, bugs feel something like hunger and pain, and “perhaps very simple analogs of anger”, but no grief or jealousy. “They plan, but don’t imagine”, Klein says. Even so, insects’ highly distilled sense of self is a potential gift to the far-out study of consciousness. Probing the insect brain could help quantify questions of what it means to think that vexed the likes of Aristotle and Descartes, and could even aid the development of sentient robots.

On the other hand, it complicates daily life. “I still flush”, Klein says of his cockroaches. “But I hesitate.”

SmithsonianScientific AmericanPhys.orgQuoraWikipediaDo Insects Have Consciousness? (YouTube Search) video


NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang - U.S. Navy

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

CINCHOUSE: Commander-in-Chief of the House. Used to refer to a sailor's spouse. Also COMHOUSE, COMHOME, CINCHOME, HOUSEPAC, etc.

Cinderella Liberty: Liberty that expires at midnight.

Circular firing squad/circular ass-kicking: An attempt by all command levels to find someone/anyone to blame for a problem for which no one wants to take blame.

CIWS: Close In Weapon System. Jocularly re-interpreted as “Christ It Won't Shoot” or “Captain I Was Sure”. See “R2D2”. Pronounced “See Whiz”.

CIVLANT/CIVPAC: Home, or where you go to when you leave the Navy.

Civie cut: A civilian haircut worn by males who live around military towns to distinguish themselves from military personnel. Usually just an inch or two longer than what military allows, but enough to let the females know who's who.


Just for MARINES - The Few. The Proud.

Just for you MARINE

CIF: Consolidated Issue Facility, a place on a station where all personal equipment is stored and issued, often contracted to civilians.

CID: Criminal Investigation Division, is an accredited Federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. Marine Corps whose mission it is to conduct official criminal investigations into misdemeanor and felony offenses committed on Marine Corps installations as may directed and not under the primary jurisdiction of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). These Marines are not formal law enforcement officers per se, and only perform investigations under the cognizance of NCIS.

Civvies: Civilian clothing or mufti.


Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 30 (VRC-30 Det 1) - nicknamed the “Hustlers”

United States Navy - Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California / Coronado, California - Established November 01, 1966.


Where Did That Saying Come From

Where Did That Saying Come From?

Where Did That Saying Come From? “Keeping up with the Joneses”

Keeping up with the Joneses:”  Meaning: “Keeping up with the Joneses” is striving to match one's neighbours in spending and social standing.

History: This term is 20th century American. It originated with Arthur (Pop) Momand's Keeping Up With The Joneses comic strip in the New York Globe. The strip was first published in 1913 and became popular quite quickly. By September 1915, a cartoon film of the same name was touring U.S. cinemas.

The 'Joneses' in the cartoon weren't based on anyone in particular, and they weren't portrayed in the cartoon itself. Jones was a very common name and 'the Joneses' was merely a generic name for 'the neighbours'.

Of course, when looking for the source of this phrase the first thought is to try and find a real family called Jones who people might have measured themselves against. Step forward Edith Wharton, the American novelist and socialite, or rather, her father George Frederic Jones.

Jones was a wealthy real-estate magnate in late 19th century New York. The Jones family, along with many of their rich friends, built increasingly lavish homes in the Hudson valley and it has been suggested that the race to impress the neighbours was the source of 'keeping up with the Joneses'.

That explanation is plausible but, as we see so often, plausibility isn't enough when it comes to etymology. The fact that the expression 'keeping up with the Joneses' isn't found until Momand began his comic strip and is found numerous times thereafter deals a death blow to the Hudson Valley social scene explanation.

Like so many names that appear in commonplace phrases, the Joneses weren't real people but generic stereotypes.

Phrases.org UK


Science & Technology

Science & Technology

Science & Technology

An elephant-sized Late Triassic synapsid with erect limbsOnce considered outlandish, the idea that plants help their relatives is taking rootWill the world embrace Plan S, the radical proposal to mandate open access to science papers?Watch a ‘wave’ travel through a pack of marathon runnersHuge trove of British biodata is unlocking secrets of depression, sexual orientation, and moreGenetic data on half a million Brits reveal ongoing evolution and Neanderthal legacy (Among participants in the UK Biobank are people whose Neanderthal DNA predisposes them to traits such as propensity to sunburn, staying up late, depression, smoking, and feeling lonely)

Phys.org / MedicalXpress / TechXplore


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

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

Our Universe Could Be An Expanding Bubble in an Extra Dimension

Our Universe Could Be An Expanding Bubble in an Extra Dimension

Is our universe sitting on the edge of an expanding bubble?

Like a bit of froth on the crest of an ocean wave, our observable universe may be nothing more than a sliver sitting within the edge of a bubble that's constantly expanding into a higher dimension.

While this mind-boggling idea might sound like something out of a physicist's fever dream, it is in fact a new endeavor to reconcile the mathematics of string theory with the reality of dark energy, a mysterious, all-pervading cosmic force that acts in opposition to gravity.

Our Universe Could Be An Expanding Bubble in an Extra Dimension

String theory is an attempt to unite the two pillars of 20th century physics - quantum mechanics and gravity - by positing that all particles are one-dimensional strings whose vibrations determine properties such as mass and charge. The theory has been described as mathematically beautiful, and for a long time has been one of the leading contenders for what scientists call a Theory of Everything, meaning a framework to explain all physics, popularized in books like Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe (Norton, 1999). [Big Bang to Civilization: 10 Amazing Origin Events].

But string theorists have lately been lost in a warren of their own speculations. Many versions of string theory require that reality consist of 10 or more dimensions - the three of space and one of time we normally experience, plus many others that are rolled up into an extremely tight point. Exactly how those extra dimensions are configured determines the characteristics of the universe we perceive.

In the early 2000s, researchers realized that string theory allowed for as many as 10^500 (that's the number 1 followed by 500 zeroes) unique universes to exist, creating a multiverse landscape in which our particular universe was just a tiny subsection. But string theory equations also mostly produced hypothetical universes lacking in dark energy, which astronomers discovered in the 1990s and which is currently accelerating the expansion of the cosmos.

Researchers dealt a blow to string theory by suggesting that not a single one of the nearly countless universes it describes actually contains dark energy as we know it - “It is increasingly clear that the models proposed so far in string theory to describe dark energy suffers from mathematical problems”, Ulf Danielsson, co-author of a new paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters and a theoretical physicist at Uppsala University in Sweden.

Our Universe Could Be An Expanding Bubble in an Extra Dimension

The basic problem, Danielsson said, is that the equations governing string theory say that any universe with our version of dark energy in it should quickly decay away and vanish. “Our idea is to turn this problem into a virtue”, he said.

Along with his colleagues, he constructed a model in which the process causing these dark-energy-permeated universes to decay actually drives the inflation of bubbles made from many dimensions. We live within the boundary of one of these expanding bubbles and “dark energy is … induced in a subtle way through the interplay between the bubble walls on which we are living and the higher dimensionsª, Danielsson wrote in a blog post describing the new theory.

The Big Bang, when our cosmos was born, then becomes the moment when this bubble began expanding, according to Danielsson. Particles in our universe are simply the end points of strings extending out into extra dimensions. Danielsson and his colleagues are interested in checking if their model is compatible with other known aspects of physics. And the hypothesis might serve to help physicists make observable predictions about the early universe and black holes, Danielsson said. [Stephen Hawking's Most Far-Out Ideas About Black Holes]

But other researchers aren't buying it.

Our Universe Could Be An Expanding Bubble in an Extra Dimension

“This is a math-fiction that has zero experimental evidence speaking for it”, Sabine Hossenfelder, a physicist at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies in Germany told.

Hossenfelder has been critical of much of the latest pontificating in fundamental physics, and published a book last year called Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray (Basic Books, 2018). “String theorists propose a seemingly endless amount of mathematical constructions that have no known relationship to observation”, she said.

But Danielsson does not think that string theory will be forever untestable, and that the current debates surrounding it are already providing some checks on the theory. “"If it turns out that string theory cannot yield dark energy of the kind we observe, then string theory is not only tested, it is proven wrong”, he said.

Live Science (01/04/2019) video


© CEASAR CHOPPY by cartoonist Marty Gavin - archives Ceasar Choppy's Navy! “© CEASAR CHOPPY” by Marty Gavin

SONG FACTS

“Sweet Emotion” - Aerosmith 1975

“Sweet Emotion” - Aerosmith
Album: Toys In The Attic
Released 1975 video

Steven Tyler wrote this about how frustrated he was with the band. They were doing a lot of drugs at the time and tensions often ran high, especially between Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. The song is also a statement about doing your own thing without letting others bring you down.

Tyler attributes the first lines, “Talk about things that nobody cares, wearing out things things that nobody wears”, to Joe Perry's girlfriend Elissa because of the incredible amount of tension between them. A lot of this tension was caused by their drug use, and in particular one night when Tyler came to Perry's hotel room looking for heroin, and he and Elissa sent him away, refusing to share their drugs. In the Aerosmith autobiography Walk This Way, Tyler says these lines were his “angry side talking”, and adds that when he wrote the lyrics, “Can't say baby where I'll be in a year”, he was thinking, “but it will be at least 1000 miles away from you!”

The music was based on the bass line Tom Hamilton came up with. Tyler wrote the lyrics (Perry was known as “Mr. Sweet Emotion”), and they put the song together in a jam session.

Hamilton says it was the band's producer, Jack Douglas, who coaxed the bassline out of him. Near the end of recording for the 'Toys In The Attic' album, Douglas asked if anyone in the band had some spare riffs lying around, and Hamilton produced this one, which went over well with his bandmates. Hamilton recalls in Walk This Way: “I smoked a bowl or two and wrote the arrangements, the guitar parts. Steven took the intro, turned it around, changed key, and we used it as the tag, the resolution of the song. Brad, Joey, and I went home. Next time we heard 'Sweet Emotion,' it had the overdubs, the vocals, and I flipped out. I loved what they did with it.”

There is a hidden message buried in this track, but what that message says depends on who you ask. The band did some clapping and chanting that was played backward, creating the sucking noise in the song. What they chanted had to do with their manager, Frank Connelly, who had been diagnosed with cancer and sold rights to manage the band to the team of Steve Leber and David Krebs. According to Steven Tyler, they were chanting, “F--k you, Frank”, but their producer Jack Douglas says it was “Thank you, Frank”.

Joe Perry used a talkbox to create the distorted vocal sounds at the beginning. Peter Frampton used a talkbox with spectacular success on his 1976 album, Frampton Comes Alive.

According to Rolling Stone's Top 500 Singles, “As the sessions for 'Toys in the Attic' reached the eleventh hour at the Record Plant in New York, producer Douglas called out for ideas. Bassist Hamilton resurrected a riff that had been germinating for several years, and it was outfitted with bass marimba and Joe Perry's voice-box recitation of the song title. A few months later, Aerosmith had their first Top 40 single.”

Aerosmith, official website / Billboard / All Music / Song Facts / Ultimate Classic Rock / Aerosmith

Image: “Toys In The Attic (album)” by Aerosmith


Trivia

Trivia

● French author Jules Verne is best known for what two 1870?

Answer to Trivia

● Which song features the words, “Newspaper taxis appear on the shore”?

Answer to Trivia

● The first brand of mascara for women, in 1915, was named after a woman. What was it?

Answer to Trivia

● What vitamin that helps maintain the skin, eyes, healthy bones and teeth, is found in milk, liver, eggs, butter, and vegetables?

Answer to Trivia


Jeopardy

A Test for People Who Know Everything

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “SAY IT WITH CHOCOLATE” ($200)

“The bitter native drink chocolatl had sugar added to it by these 16th century conquerors.”

Answer for People Who Do Not Know Everything, or Want to Verify Their Answer Wikipedia

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “SAY IT WITH CHOCOLATE” ($400)

“It might ring a bell that these chocolate cakes from Hostess debuted in 1967.”

Answer for People Who Do Not Know Everything, or Want to Verify Their Answer Hostess Cakes

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “SAY IT WITH CHOCOLATE” (DD: $1,500)

“Originally it meant coffee that came from Yemen; later, it came to mean coffee flavored with chocolate.”

Answer for People Who Do Not Know Everything, or Want to Verify Their Answer Vocabulary


Answer to Last Week's Test

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “SIMILAR WORDS” ($200)

“To do squats & jumping jacks, & to drive out an evil spirit.”

● Answer: “Exercise and Exorcise”. Vocabulary

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “SIMILAR WORDS” (DD: $600)

“Quit your job, or stay on & put your John Hancock on a new contract.”

● Answer: Resign and Re-sign. Grammar

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “SIMILAR WORDS” ($1,000)

“Help settle a dispute, then add a letter & quietly reflect on it.”

● Answer: Vulcan (or Hephaestus). American Bar Association


Joke of the Day

Joke of the Day

“Parking Meter”

Joke of the Day

“Parking Meter”

I went to the shop the other day.

I was only in there for about 5 minutes and when I came out, there was a traffic officer writing a parking ticket for over-running the meter.

So I went up to the officer and said, “Come on, how about giving a man a break?”

The police officer ignored me and continued writing the ticket.

So I called the officer a pencil-necked Nazi. The officer glared at me and started writing another ticket for also having parked partially on the pavement!

So I called the officer a son of a mutant pig. The officer finished the second ticket and put it on the car with the first. Then the officer started writing a third ticket!

This went on for about 20 minutes and the more I abused the officer, the more tickets the officer wrote. I didn't give a damn.

My car was parked around the corner...


“$5,000 Safety Competition”

A police officer pulls over a driver and informs him that he has just won $5,000 in a safety competition, all because he is wearing his seat belt.

“What are you going to do with the prize money?” the officer asks.

The man responds, “I guess I'll go to driving school and get my license.”

His wife says, “Officer, don't listen to him. He's a smart aleck when he's drunk.”

The guy in the back seat pops up out from under the blanket and says, “I knew we wouldn't get far in this stolen car.”

Just then a knock comes from the trunk and a voice calls out, “Are we over the border yet?”