Old Sailors' Almanac

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Week 06, 2020

Previous Week   February 03, 2020 - February 09, 2020  Next Week

Apollo 14: Walkin' on the Moon: NASA's Astronauts Bring Golf to the Moon on February 05, 1971

Apollo 14: Walkin' on the Moon: NASA's Astronauts Bring Golf to the Moon on February 05, 1971

Apollo 14: Walkin' on the Moon: NASA's Astronauts Bring Golf to the Moon: On February 5, after suffering some initial problems in docking the lunar and command modules, Shepard and Mitchell descended to the lunar surface on the third U.S. moon landing.

Apollo 14 was the fourth crewed moon landing mission (but the third to touch down, since Apollo 13 didn't make it all the way) and is most famous for being the first and only mission in which an astronaut played golf on the moon. Click through this gallery to see photos from the adventures of the Apollo 14 crew.

On Feb. 6, 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard became the first person to play golf on the moon. He smuggled a makeshift golf club head onto the spacecraft inside a sock. The first ball he hit veered into a nearby crater, but with a solid second swing, the next ball soared for “miles and miles and miles” in the moon’s microgravity. Here, Shepard stands by the Modular Equipment Transporter, a cart for lugging equipment on the lunar surface.

Apollo 14: Walkin' on the Moon: NASA's Astronauts Bring Golf to the Moon on February 05, 1971

Apollo 14's prime geologic target was Cone Crater. The crew planned to climb the slope, reach the rim - which was 300 feet (91 meters) above the landing site — and then look for rocks that could have flown up from the moon's bedrock after a meteor smashed into the surface millions of years earlier.

The astronauts found the climb harder than expected. Rocks littering the slope forced them to carry the cart, and the steep climb meant they had to rest often. Mission Control asked the astronauts for updates on how close they were to the rim; the astronauts guessed they were nearby, but it was hard to say for sure without landmarks to help them estimate the distance.

Eventually, Shepard and Mitchell ran out of time and were forced to move on. When the pictures were analyzed later, geologists estimated the astronauts missed the rim by a mere 100 feet.

Before leaving the moon, Shepard performed an entertaining stunt for the television audience watching from home. He brought a 6-iron with him as well as a “little white pellet that's familiar to millions of Americans”, he said to the viewers back on Earth. In front of the camera, he hit one golf ball into a nearby crater and a second one that went “miles and miles and miles”, according to Shepard. But in reality, neither ball traveled more than a mile, according to collectSPACE editor Robert Pearlman.

Space.com / NASA / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Lunar Sciaence and Exploration.edu / Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.edu / Apollo 14: Walkin' on the Moon: NASA's Astronauts Bring Golf to the Moon on February 05, 1971 (YouTube) video


Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on February 05, 1917

Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on February 05, 1917

Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto: With more than a two-thirds majority, Congress overrides President Woodrow Wilson’s veto of the previous week and passes the Immigration Act. The law required a literacy test for immigrants and barred Asiatic laborers, except for those from countries with special treaties or agreements with the United States, such as the Philippines.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States received a majority of the world’s immigrants, with 1.3 million immigrants passing through New York’s Ellis Island in 1907 alone. Various restrictions had been applied against immigrants since the 1890s, but most of those seeking entrance into the United States were accepted.

Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on February 05, 1917

However, in 1894, the Immigration Restriction League was founded in Boston and subsequently petitioned the U.S. government to legislate that immigrants be required to demonstrate literacy in some language before being accepted. The organization hoped to quell the recent surge of lower-class immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Congress passed a literacy bill in 1897, but President Grover Cleveland vetoed it. In early 1917, with America’s entrance into World War I three months away, and a bill restricting immigration was passed over President Wilson’s veto.

Subsequent immigration to the United States sharply declined, and, in 1924 a law was passed requiring immigrant inspection in countries of origin, leading to the closure of Ellis Island and other major immigrant processing centers. Between 1892 and 1924, some 16 million people successfully immigrated to the United States to seek a better life.

History.com / Wikipedia / Smithsonian / Library Of Congress / Immigration to United States.org / Live Science / Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on February 05, 1917 (YouTube) video


Understanding Military Terminology: At the Marine Corps Museum: Norman Rockwell's “The War Hero”

Understanding Military Terminology

Navy cargo-handling battalion

(DOD) A mobile logistic support unit that is organized, trained, and equipped to:

a. load and offload Navy and Marine Corps cargo carried in maritime pre-positioning ships and merchant breakbulk or container ships in all environments;

b. operate an associated temporary ocean cargo terminal;

c. load and off-load Navy and Marine Corps cargo carried in military-controlled aircraft; and

d. operate an associated expeditionary air cargo terminal.

Also called NCHB.

See also Maritime pre-positioning ships.

Joint Publications (JP 3-02.1) Amphibious Embarkation and Debarkation

Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group

The quick response cargo-handling units of the Navy specialize in open ocean cargo handling.

Also called NAVELSG.

Joint Publications (JP 4-01.6) Joint Logistics Over the Shore


“Tales of Legendary Ghost Ships - Legend of the NS Schooner Teazer”

The Old Salt’s Corner

“Tales of Legendary Ghost Ships”

Legend of the SS Valencia

The most famous ghost ship of the maritime coast of Nova Scotia, hails from Lunenburg County is said to appear in the waters between Mahone Bay and Chester. The Teaser, or the Teaser Light as some locals call it, is the spectre of a burning ship. The Teaser was a typical sailing schooner of the 1800s, employed as a privateer. A privateer is a licensed pirate ship that stalked the waters around Mahone Bay during the War of 1812. Using the Bay’s many coves and islands as cover, the ship would prey upon unarmed British merchant ships, taking them back to Boston to be sold for prize money.

It was common practice among countries to allow privateers in times of war to attack enemy merchant ships and claim any loot they found. This was a big help because it robbed the enemy of needed supplies. It also gave naval ships more time to fight battles. Privateering was a very dangerous way to make a living, but many ship owners participated for it was a quick way to make a fortune. During the War of 1812 many American privateers chased down British ships along the southeastern coast of Nova Scotia, just as did the American own schooner Teazer.

In June of 1813 one of these American privateers, the Young Teazer, became the hunted instead of the hunter. On June 27th the HMS Hogue encountered the Young Teazer and forced her into Halifax Harbour (spelled: Harbor in U.S.) but the Young Teazer managed to escape. A few days later the frigate HMS Orpheus chased the Teazer into Luneburg Harbour. But the Orpheus lost her near Mahone Bay due to light winds. The chase lasted all day, with the Young Teaser desperately searching for a place to hide or escape. She was shelled by the battery at Lunenburg, and eventually made her way into the mouth of Chester Harbour where she ran aground near Quaker Island.

The Hogue then picked up the chase again, after 18 hours she was able to trap the Young Teazer in Mahone Bay. The Hogue began to fire upon the Teazer viciously. Soon the Orpheus joined in.

That evening the Hogue readied five boats to board the Teazer. Meanwhile, Captain Dobson on board the Young Teazer discussed plans to defend his privateer with his 38-man crew. Lieutenant Johnson known for erratic behavior on previous cruises, argued with the captain and then disappeared below. The schooner exploded a few minutes later.

Johnson, who was a British deserter, knew that once his identity was discovered he would be hanged. In desperation he threw a lit torch into the ship’s supply of gunpowder blowing the Teazer to smithereens.

Only eight of the ship’s 36-man crew survived, and most were horribly maimed. A few of the Teazer’s men who survived the explosion were badly burned. They were found by local residents clinging to the burning spars and bow of the shattered hull of the schooner. Approximately, 30 of the Teazer crew died. The local militias secured the survivors including the captain and were sent to Melville Island prisoner war camp in Halifax.

Some of the men who died were buried in St. Stephen’s cemetery in Chester in unmarked graves.

Almost a year later to the day the ghost ship Teazer was first seen near Chester in Mahone Bay. This was only the beginning of many appearances. Hundreds have seen a burning ship out on the bay. Many state this ship just appears out of nowhere. Some report seeing this burning ship head right for them. Terrified, they felt it was about to run them down– only to see it vanish at the last second. Sometimes this ship passes so close to the shore witnesses on the beach can even make out seamen up in its riggings. They have even stated they heard the tortured cries of the men who were trying to escape this flaming ghost ship.

The Young Teazer is most often seen near the anniversary of when it exploded and in the exact spot where it exploded Once seen the firey ship vanishes into thin air!

When the moon is nearly full and a fog blows in from offshore, residents claim that a ghostly Teaser replays her last voyage across Mahone Bay over and over again…

Sadly there aren’t as many sightings in recent years. A possible reason for this being the encroachment of civilization—lights from homes, marinas etc. making it much harder to see out over the bay. Others claim that they have debunked these sightings. They state that when a bank of fog covers the moon as it raises over the horizon it causes the illusion of a ship on fire.

The number of the crewmembers and how many were killed in the explosion are not known so approximate numbers are given.

Some of the wreckage salvaged was used for building materials. One store near Mahone Bay was built from this salvaged wood. Other materials where turned into souvenirs. A piece of the keel was used to build a cross—the same cross that stands inside the St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Chester today. Another fragment of the scotched oak wood keel is displayed at the Maritime Museum of the Atlanta in Halifax.

Home Earth


“I’m Just Sayin’”

“I’m Just Sayin”

“There is no hunting like the hunting of man,

and those who have hunted armed men long enough,

and liked it,

never really care for anything else.”

“The world breaks everyone,

and afterward,

many are strong at the broken places.”

“Today is only one day

in all the days that will ever be.

But what will happen

in all the other days that ever come

can depend on what you do today.”

~ Ernest Hemingway


“Thought for the Day”

“Thought for the Day”

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself.”

“Since everything is in our heads,

we had better not lose them.”

“Nature gives you the face you have at twenty;

it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.”

~ Coco Chanel


“What I Have Learned”

“What I Learned”

“When you point your finger at someone,

three fingers are pointing back at you.”

“A guilty conscience needs no accuser.”

“Some people get angry because God put thorns on roses,

while others praise him for putting roses among thorns.”

~ Anonymous


Second Hand News

Second Hand News: Articles from Week 06 - February 03, 2020 - February 09, 2020

Top News Stories - Photos (Washington Examiner) Iowa Democratic caucuses debacle are finally coming down to a photo finish with 97% of precincts reporting: Sanders 44,753; Buttigieg 42,235Republican senators request Hunter Biden travel records from Secret Service'Voted to betray:' Clinton slams Senate Republicans after Trump acquittal

He never thought ICE would come for him. Sixteen years and four DUIs later, they did'Industry wants parents to stop steering children away from manufacturingHouse Democrats want to take California 'gig economy' regulations national

CNN commentator calls Trump Super Bowl spot the 'I freed a Negro' adReporter hollers at Iowa Democratic Party chairman: 'How can anyone trust you now?'Supreme Court opens door to deciding Obamacare's fate ahead of 2020 election

MOST READ: Omar and Tlaib among Democrats who don't stand for Tuskegee Airman at State of the UnionWhite House may be drafting executive order to make federal architecture more classical'Disgusting:' CNN's Jim Acosta slammed for accusing Rush Limbaugh of 'racism' after Medal of Freedom awardTrump more popular in Utah than Romney, as senator weighs impeachmentWATCH: Pelosi rips up Trump's State of the Union address manuscript Washington Examiner

Top News Stories - Photos (Daily Mail) “Kick Him Out:” Donald Trump backs calls for Mitt Romney (Twitter Nom de plume: Pierre Delecto) to be expelled from Republican party - celebs praise him for voting to impeachThe real hunt for Red October: Major operation to find a new Russian stealth submarine was launched off the East Coast as Navy warns the waters are no longer a 'safe haven'Has China's biggest online news site really revealed 'real' coronavirus death figures? Screen grabs showing 24,589 death toll that sparked wild conspiracy theories

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says 'it was a pleasure' as he signs President Donald Trump's full impeachment acquittalFormer U.S. Navy diver and government contractor is kidnapped in Afghanistan by Taliban-affiliated Haqqani militantsU.S. Air Force Minuteman 3 intercontinental missile lights up the California night sky as a test flight blasts off over the Pacific

Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are almost TIED in Iowa with 97 per cent of results now counted following app fiasco'Never say never:' NOW Hillary Clinton holds out possibility of becoming Vice President if the Democrats win in November as she urges voters to follow Mitt Romney's example and kick Trump out of office'It's literary blackface': Barnes & Noble is forced to scrap new series of books to mark Black History Month after outrage when it changed the ethnicity of famous characters

Kirk Douglas dies aged 103: Spartacus star's heartbroken son Michael pays tribute to his father saying 'I love you and am so proud to be your son' as the coroner arrives at the Hollywood legend's home From 'Ragman's Son' to Spartacus: Kirk Douglas, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who rose from poverty to become a Hollywood legend during its Golden Age Daily Mail UK

What Are Quarks?

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: What Are Quarks?

Quarks are particles that are not only hard to see, but pretty much impossible to measure. These teensy-tiny particles are the basis of subatomic particles called hadrons. With every discovery in this field of particle physics in the past 50 years, however, more questions arise about how quarks influence the universe's growth and ultimate fate. Here are seven strange facts about quarks.

What Are Quarks?

Emerged just after Big Bang

The first quarks appeared about 10^minus 12 seconds after the universe was formed, in the same era where the weak force (which today is the basis for some radioactivity) separated from the electromagnetic force. The antiparticles of quarks appeared around the same time.

Discovered in an atom smasher

A mystery arose in the 1960s when researchers using the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center found that the electrons were scattering from each other more widely than calculations suggested. More research found that there were at least three locations where electrons scattered more than expected within the nucleon or heart of these atoms, meaning something was causing that scattering. That was the basis for our understanding of quarks today.

Mentioned by James Joyce

Murray Gell-Mann, the co-proposer for the quark model in the 1960s, drew inspiration for the spelling from the 1939 James Joyce book “Finnegan's Wake”, which read: “Three quarks for Muster Mark! / Sure he has not got much of a bark / And sure any he has it's all beside the mark”. (The book came out well before quarks were discovered and so their name has always been spelled in this way.)

What Are Quarks?

Come in flavors

Physicists refer to the different types of quark as flavors: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top. The biggest differentiation between the flavors is their mass, but some also differ by charge and by spin. For instance, while all quarks have the same spin of 1/2, three of them (up, charm and top) have charge 2/3, and the other three (down, strange and bottom) have charge minus 1/3. And just because a quark starts out as a flavor doesn't mean it will stay that way; down quarks can easily transform into up quarks, and charm quarks can change into strange quarks. [Read more about quark flavors]

Tricky to measure

Quarks can't be measured, because the energy required produces an antimatter equivalent (called an antiquark) before they can be observed separately, among other reasons, according to a primer from Georgia State University. The mass of quarks is best determined by techniques such as using a supercomputer to simulate the interactions between quarks and gluons, with gluons being the particles that glue quarks together.

Teach us about matter

In 2014, researchers published the first observation of a charm quark decaying into its antiparticle, providing more information about how matter behaves. Because particles and antiparticles should destroy each other, one would think the universe should just have photons and other elementary particles. Yet antiphotons and antiparticles still exist, leading to the mystery of why the universe is made mostly of matter and not antimatter.

What Are Quarks?

May set the universe's fate

Nailing down the mass of the top quark could reveal to researchers one of two ghastly scenarios: that the universe could end in 10 billion years, or that people could materialize out of nowhere. If the top quark is heavier than expected, energy carried through the vacuum of space could collapse. If it's lower than expected, an unlikely scenario called "Boltzmann brain" could see self-aware entities come out of random collections of atoms. (While this isn't a part of the Standard Model, the theory – framed as a paradox – goes that it would be more likely to see organized groups of atoms as the random ones observed in the universe.)

Live Science / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Quora / Georgia State University HyperPhysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu What are Quarks? (YouTube) video


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

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Kamikaze: A hetero male Marine who is so gung-ho that he can only be sexually satisfied by another male Marine.

Khakis: Term used to describe senior enlisted members (E-7 and above) or officers, due to the khaki-colored working uniform typically worn by them.

Khaki Brigade: Chiefs who start taking over an engineering casualty or going over to see what is going on. “Here comes the khaki brigade.”

Khaki Clad Bastards: See “Khakis”.

Khaki Sacker: See “Brown bagger”.

Kick start (a deck seaman): Surreptitious corporal punishment applied by driving one's boot down the shin of the offending seaman to encourage better and faster work.

Wiktionary.org


Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

HSC-7 Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC) Squadron SEVEN - nicknamed the “Dusty Dogs”

United States Navy Naval Air Station - Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC), Naval Air Station North Island, Naval Base Coronado - San Diego, California / Coronado, California / Squadron Lineage: (There was an earlier squadron designated HS-7 called the “Big Dippers” which existed from April 2, 1956 to May 31, 1966) / HS-7 (2nd): December 15, 1969 - April 2011 / HSC-7: April 2011 - present.


Where Did That Saying Come From

Where Did That Saying Come From?

Where Did That Saying Come From? “A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse”

A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse:

 Meaning: A nod is as good as a wink' expresses the idea that, to a person who is ready to understand or undertake something, any subtle signalling of it is sufficient. The context is usually of some undertaking that is borderline illegal or of sexual innuendo.

History: This proverbial saying sounds as if it might be quite modern but it is in fact a 16th century phrase originating in England.

The longer version of the phrase is 'a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse'. It might seem that this is just an elaboration of the shorter version, but it appears that the 'blind horse' version was in fact the original. The earliest examples of the proverb in print all give the fuller version, for example, in the Letters of the English lawyer and writer Joseph Ritson, February 1793:

“A nod, you know, is as good as a wink to a blind horse.”

Phrases.org UK


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)

DARPA Wants to Borrow a Labyrinth of Underground Urban Tunnels

DARPA Wants to Borrow a Labyrinth of Underground Urban Tunnels

DARPA would like to enter your labyrinthine network of underground, urban tunnels.

But don't worry, the agency's got a perfectly good reason.

The agency clarified that the request was in support of the “urban” round Subterranean Challenge (SubT Challenge), a team-based competition to develop and use technologies for navigating unfamiliar underground spaces.

“As teams prepare for the SubT Challenge Urban Circuit, the program recognizes it can be difficult for them to find locations suitable to test their systems and sensors”, DARPA Chief of Communications Jared Adams wrote in an email. “DARPA issued this [request for information] in part to help identify potential representative environments where teams may be able to test in advance of the upcoming event.”

DARPA Wants to Borrow a Labyrinth of Underground Urban Tunnels

The underground tunnels, which the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency requested someone hand over with just 10 days' notice, should be large, multilayered and difficult to navigate. It should belong to a university or commercial enterprise. It should not be accessible to the public, though again: It should be in a city.

“The ideal space would be a human-made underground environment spanning several city blocks w/ [sic] complex layout & multiple stories, including atriums, tunnels & stairwells”, the agency tweeted. “Spaces that are currently closed off from pedestrians or can be temporarily used for testing are of interest.”

The agency included spooky images of dark urban tunnels, presumably out of concern that there might be someone out there who controls a sufficiently closed-off, complicated tunnel network but doesn't know what underground tunnels look like.

The Twitter thread began with a cheery “Attention, city dwellers!” (you know, that thing normal humans say when addressing other humans) and devolved from there into jokes about “demogorgons” from the TV show “Stranger Things”. It's remarkable that the official request just 10 days before the 5 p.m. EDT deadlin - for someone to offer up a suitable tunnel complex.

Before the agency clarified the purpose of the request, Twitter users made a meme of the request, suggesting all sorts of reasons DARPA might be hanging out in the basement, and the story took on a life of its own.

The 22 Weirdest Military Weapons

7 Technologies That Transformed Warfare

Science Fact or Fiction? The Plausibility of 10 Sci-Fi Concepts

Live Science (08/30/2019) video


Second Hand News

Second Hand News: Articles from Week 06 - February 03, 2020 - February 09, 2020

Top News Stories - Photos (The Federalist) Senate Majority Acquits Trump On All Impeachment ChargesSenator Susan Collins Calls Atlantic Writer David Frum’s Claim ‘Very Sexist’Protestors Scream At Senators Through Grate Outside The Capitol During Impeachment Vote

Romney’s Entire Career Has Been About Punishing Republicans For Voting For HimPresident Trump Offers A Sharp Rebuke Of Socialism At Precisely The Right TimeRead The Full Transcript Of Trump’s State Of The Union Address

MOST READ: 13 Key Takeaways From President Trump’s Epic State Of The Union AddressTop Romney Adviser Worked With Hunter Biden On Board Of Ukrainian Energy CompanyImpeachment Theater Could Not Have Gone Worse For DemocratsVerified Twitter Piles On Ailing Rush Limbaugh After State Of The Union Medal Of Freedom PresentationSenator Kyrsten Sinema Stands And Applauds Tax Cuts Amid Sitting Democrats The Federalist

Top News Stories - Photos (John Batchelor)

Actual Chinese concentration (quarantine) camps (with tents) of returning migrant Chinese workers. audio  

Virus halts auto supply chain - & No More Toilet Paper. audio  

The government “national team” in China buys stocks when no one else will. audio  

Azerbaijan: former Soviet state blooms into a real democracy. audio  

Ancient Chinese Warfare. audio   2 of 2 audio   John Batchelor (01/27/2020)

Top News Stories - Photos (CORRUPTION CHRONICLES - Mainstream Media Scream: (Watch Dog On-Line Publications) OUTING FAKE NEWS OMISSIONS and DISTORTIONS: Chuck Todd Taunts Trump On Coronavirus: 'Reap What You Sow'New York Times Lead: Trump's Already Squandered Credibility on CoronavirusPlaying Politics With Corona: ABC, NBC Stoke Fear of Trump's ResponseAP 'Fact Checks' Biden and Bloomberg for Claiming CDC 'Cuts' by Trump

Networks Skip Corrupt Ex-Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Sentenced to PrisonABC “ The View” Raves Over Biden: He'll Restore Soul of the Country!TIME’s Alter: Resistance to Trump is Just Like Harry Potter!TRIGGERED: New York Times Columnist Gail Collins Calls Coronavirus ‘Trumpvirus’ News Busters

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

SONG FACTS

“Beast of Burden” - The Rolling Stones 1978

“Beast of Burden” - The Rolling Stones
Album: Some Girls
Released 1978 video

“Beast of Burden” Sometimes misunderstood as a putdown, this is a rare Stones song that treats women as equals. Jagger sings that he “Don't need no beast of burden».

Ron Wood:

“That's another one that just came very naturally in the studio. And I slipped into my part and Keith had his going. It may have appeared as though it was planned. We can pick it up today and it will just naturally slip into the groove again with the guitars weaving in a special way. It's quite amazing really.

Ever since Keith and I first started to trade licks, it was a very natural thing that, for some unknown reason, if he's playing up high, I'm down low and the other way around. We cross over very naturally. We call it an ancient form of weaving - which we still are impressed by it to this day. Unexplainable, wonderful things happen with the guitar weaving. There's no plan.”

This isn't about a specific woman. Most women in Stones' songs are composites of many.

A beast of burden is an animal that labors for the benefit of man, like an ox, a pack mule or a camel.

Keith Richards wrote this song, but a lot of the lyrics were improvised in the studio. While the band played, Jagger came in with different lines to fit the music. As a result, some of the lyrics are less than meaningful and a little repetitious.

This song could be allegorical - it was written by Keith as a kind of homage to Mick for having to carry the band while Keith was strung out on heroin:

“All your sickness I can suck it up, throw it all at me, I can shrug it off.”

The Chinese ministry of culture ordered The Stones not to play this when they performed there in 2003. It was going to be the first time The Stones played in China, but they canceled because of a respiratory disease that was spreading through the country.

Whilst Richards spent much of the '70s insulating himself with drugs, former London School of Economics student Jagger was running the band. However, by the time of Some Girls, Richards wanted to share the workload.

Mojo magazine January 2012 asked Richards how much this song was about his relationship with Jagger? He replied;

Mick wrote a lot of it but I laid the general idea on him. At the time Mick was getting used to running the band. Charlie was just the drummer, I was just the other guitar player. I was trying to say, 'OK I'm back, so let's share a bit more of the power, share the weight, brother.”

The Rolling Stones official site (100 Greatest Rolling Stones Songs, Rolling Stone) / Rock & Roll Hall of Fame / Billboard / All Music / Song Facts / Ultimate Classic Rock / The Rolling Stones

Image: “Some Girls (album)” by The Rolling Stones


Trivia

Trivia

● Which product, well-known for its humorous advertising, was advertised in the 1960’s with the two slogans: “Small Wonder” and “Relieves Gas Pains”?

Answer to Trivia

● Which person, in the 1960’s, accused the automobile industry of producing dangerous cars, when he wrote the book Unsafe at Any Speed?

Answer to Trivia

● During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese forces were able to move soldiers and supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which passed along the border of Vietnam and what two countries?

Answer to Trivia

● On June 17, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students in public schools may not be required to do what?

Answer to Trivia


Jeopardy

A Test for People Who Know Everything

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

“Jack McCoy offers you a deal for pleading guilty to Man 1; Man is short for this.”

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

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “CRIME” ($400)

“Descriptive term for the act of stealing wallets & other personal items in public places.”

Answer for People Who Do Not Know Everything, or Want to Verify Their Answer Reader's Digest

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “CRIME” ($600)

“Designated a crime in more & more states each year, it's using the internet to threaten or harass others.”

Answer for People Who Do Not Know Everything, or Want to Verify Their Answer Pacer.org

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “CRIME” ($800)

“Theft is the crime of stealing in general; this is specifically stealing from a residence or other dwelling.”

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

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

“From the Latin for 'play together', this is people working or conspiring together to commit a crime.”

Answer for People Who Do Not Know Everything, or Want to Verify Their Answer Cornell Law School.edu


Answer to Last Week's Test

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “THE WORDS OF H.G. WELLS” ($200)

“Appropriately, it's the novel in which Wells coined the phrase 'time traveller'.”

● Answer: “The Time Machine”. Gutenberg.org

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “THE WORDS OF H.G. WELLS” ($400)

“Wells imagined an overwhelmingly destructive explosive called this 6-letter 'bomb' more than 100 years ago.”

● Answer: Atomic. BBC

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “THE WORDS OF H.G. WELLS” ($600)

“Wells preached and definitely practiced this 2-word phrase for ignoring the conventional constraints of marriage.”

● Answer: Free love (or an open marriage). Telegraph UK

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “THE WORDS OF H.G. WELLS” ($800)

“Long before 'Sliders' or 'Fringe' hit TV screens, Wells talked about these universes in 'Men Like Gods'.”

● Answer: Parallel Universes. Space.com

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “THE WORDS OF H.G. WELLS” ($1,000)

“We use it today for the arrival ashore of a storm; Wells used it to mean the arrival of an airplane.”

● Answer: Landfall. Project Gutenberg Australia


Joke of the Day

Joke of the Day

Joke of the Day

“WHEN STUDENTS TOOK THE ENTRANSE EXAM FOR MEDICAL SCHOOL”

When students took the entrance exam for medical school, they were perplexed by this question:

“Rearrange the letters P-N-E-S-I to spell out the part of the human body that is most useful when erect.”

Those who spelled SPINE became doctors.

The rest are in Congress.

Joke of the Day

RESEARCHERS FOUND A TINY FROG!

Researchers have found a frog in new guinea that is so tiny, they believe it's the smallest vertebrate on the planet.

It has the tiniest backbone of any living creature, except members of Congress.

Joke of the Day

A FISHING STORY AND A DONKEY!

The king wanted to go fishing, so he called on the royal weather forecaster and inquired as to the weather forecast for the next few hours.

The weatherman assured him that there was no chance of rain in the coming days, So the king went fishing with his wife, the queen. On the way he met a farmer on his donkey.

Upon seeing the king the farmer said, “Your Majesty, you should return to the palace! In just a short time I expect a huge amount of rain to fall in this area”.

The king was polite and considerate, he replied: “I hold the palace meteorologist in high regard. He is an extensively educated and experienced professional. And besides, I pay him very high wages. He gave me a very different forecast. I trust him.”

So the king continued on his way. However, a short time later a torrential rain fell from the sky. The King and Queen were totally soaked and their entourage chuckled upon seeing them in such a shameful condition.

Furious, the king returned to the palace and gave the order to fire the professional. Then he summoned the farmer and offered him the prestigious and high paying role of royal forecaster.

The farmer said, “Your Majesty, I do not know anything about forecasting. I obtain my information from my donkey. If I see my donkey's ears drooping, it means with certainty that it will rain.”

So the king hired the donkey.

And thus began the practice of hiring dumb asses to work in the government and occupy its highest and most influential positions.

The practice is unbroken to this date and thus, the democrat symbol was born!