Silver dollars made legal on February 16, 1878

Silver dollars made legal: Strongly supported by western mining interests and farmers, the Bland-Allison Act—which provided for a return to the minting of silver coins—becomes the law of the land.

The strife and controversy surrounding the coinage of silver is difficult for most modern Americans to understand, but in the late 19th century it was a topic of keen political and economic interest. Today, the value of American money is essentially secured by faith in the stability of the government, but during the 19th century, money was generally backed by actual deposits of silver and gold, the so-called “bimetallic standard”. The U.S. also minted both gold and silver coins.

In 1873, Congress decided to follow the lead of many European nations and cease buying silver and minting silver coins, because silver was relatively scarce and to simplify the monetary system. Exacerbated by a variety of other factors, this led to a financial panic. When the government stopped buying silver, prices naturally dropped, and many owners of primarily western silver mines were hurt. Likewise, farmers and others who carried substantial debt loads attacked the so-called “Crime of ’73”. They believed, somewhat simplistically, that it caused a tighter supply of money, which in turn made it more difficult for them to pay off their debts.

A nationwide drive to return to the bimetallic standard gripped the nation, and many Americans came to place a near mystical faith in the ability of silver to solve their economic difficulties. The leader of the fight to remonetize silver was the Missouri Congressman Richard Bland. Having worked in mining and having witnessed the struggles of small farmers, Bland became a fervent believer in the silver cause, earning him the nickname “Silver Dick”.

With the backing of powerful western mining interests, Bland secured passage of the Bland-Allison Act, which became law on this day in 1878. Although the act did not provide for a return to the old policy of unlimited silver coinage, it did require the U.S. Treasury to resume purchasing silver and minting silver dollars as legal tender. Americans could once again use silver coins as legal tender, and this helped some struggling western mining operations. However, the act had little economic impact, and it failed to satisfy the more radical desires and dreams of the silver backers. The battle over the use of silver and gold continued to occupy Americans well into the 20th century. History Channel / Wikipedia / NCG Coin Explorer / Morgan dollar February 16, 1878 (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology - Master

(DOD) The commander of a United States Naval Ship, a commercial ship, or a government-owned general agency agreement ship operated for the Military Sealift Command by a civilian company to transport Department of Defense cargo. Joint Publications JP 3-02.1 (Amphibious Operations - Defense Technical Information Center)

The Old Salt’s Corner

“Sea-Heroes”

Crash on crash of the sea,

straining to wreck men; sea-boards, continents,

raging against the world, furious,

stay at last, for against your fury

and your mad fight,

the line of heroes stands, godlike:

Akroneos, Oknolos, Elatreus,

helm-of-boat, loosener-of-helm, dweller-by-sea,

Nauteus, sea-man,

Prumneos, stern-of-ship,

Agchilalos, sea-girt,

Elatreus, oar-shaft:

over-of-the-sea, lover-of-the-sea-ebb,

lover-of-the-swift-sea,

Ponteus, Proreus, Oöos:

Anabesneos, who breaks to anger

as a wave to froth:

Eurualos, board sea-wrack,

like Ares, man’s death,

and Naubolidos, best in shape,/p>

of all first in size:

Phaekous, sea’s thunderbolt -

ah, crash on crash of great names -

man-tamer, man’s-help, perfect Laodamos:

and last the sons of great Alkinöos,

Laodamos, Halios, and god-like Clytomeos.

continued ...

~ Hilda “H.D.” Doolittle

(from Coterie, 1920)

Full Poem

“I’m Just Sayin”

“What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.”

~ Newton's flaming laser sword, also known as: Alder's razor

“Thought for the Day”

“The secret to change

is to focus all of your energy,

not on fighting the old,

but on building the new.”

~ Socrates

“What I Have Learned”

“A mistake should be your teacher,

not your attacker.

A mistake is a lesson,

not a loss.

It is a temporary, necessary detour,

not a dead end.”

~ Anonymous

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

Someone Gave The Animals In Planet Earth II Human Screams And It’s Hilarious Life is intense in the animal kingdom. A lot of creatures spend a fair amount of time running or fighting for their lives. It’s all about survival. Sometimes it makes you want to scream.

And what if those screams were human screams? Well, those animal calls would probably be somewhat less effective than what thousands of years of evolution had to offer, but on the other hand, they’d also be pretty hilarious. Case in point: Somebody gave the animals in Planet Earth II human screams and we’re all crying tears of laughter.

Huffingtonpost Post (12/23/2016)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: When and how did celebrating Valentine's Day start?

The origins of the holiday might be traced back to the February fertility festivals of the Greeks and Romans.

The pope declared that the feast of St. Valentine would be celebrated on February 14 in AD 496.

The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in a piece by Chaucer in 1382, although the content of the poem makes it unlikely that it was referring to a mid-February celebration. The majority of legends relating to Valentine's Day probably arose during these medieval times.

The holiday was likely imported to North America in the 19th century by British settlers; the first mass-produced valentines were distributed after 1847 by Esther Howland, whose father owned a large book and stationery store.

In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts, including roses, chocolate, and jewelry.

History Channel • National Geographic • Quora • Wikipedia

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“Balls to the Wall:”  Meaning: Pushed to the limit.

Origin: It derives from aviation.

The “balls” sat on top of the levers controlling the throttle and fuel mixtures. Pushing them forward toward the front wall of the cockpit made the plane go faster.

English Stack Exchange - Urban Dictionary

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

NEC: The Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) system, of which the NEC coding system is a part, supplements the enlisted rating structure in identifying personnel on active or inactive duty and billets in manpower authorizations. NEC codes identify a nonrating wide skill, knowledge, aptitude, or qualification that must be documented to identify both people and billets for management purposes.

Night-Ops: The throwing of trash or other unneeded items overboard at night to avoid the longer process of properly getting rid of it.

NMOP: (Common on Boomer Subs) No More Patrols Ever. Some times worn on T-Shirts by sailors who are on the last patrol and getting out or going to shore duty. (see EAOS above and Short timer below.)

Just for you MARINE

Old Asia Hand: Person with more than one tour in Asia.

Old Man: Very informal nickname for the commanding officer, considered an inappropriate term of endearment for use by a junior, thus used in reference but never in address.

OMPF: Official Military Personnel File, a record of all awards, punishments, training, and other records compiled by Headquarters Marine Corps

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VT-21 - Fixed Wing Training Squadrons: “Redhawks”
Formerly Advanced Training Unit-202 (ATU-202) Established April 1951, redesig VT-21 on May 1st 1960 Intermediate Tailhook, Advanced Jet TRAWING 2, Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas

Science & Technology

Study finds superhero culture magnifies aggressive, not defending behaviors • Scientists create first 2-D electride • Mother-daughter competition in orcas may explain menopause • Termite queens' efficient antioxidant system may enable long life • MRI scans reveal surprising similarities in activity patterns of infant and adult visual cortex • New type of database-analytics platform queries and maps billions of data points in milliseconds • Why going to the gym might actually make your muscles look smaller • Japan researchers warn of fingerprint theft from “peace” sign Phys.org

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Zombies Would Wipe Out Humans in Less than 100 Days

The zombie apocalypse won't take long.

A new article in a peer-reviewed student journal finds that the zombie hordes would take Earth's population down to a mere 273 survivors in 100 days.

The paper, published in the University of Leicester's Journal of Physics Special Topics, was a fanciful use of the so-called SIR model, which is used in epidemiology to simulate how diseases spread over time. It's not the first time zombies have been used as a public health metaphor. In December 2015, for example, the British medical journal The Lancet published a tongue-in-cheek paper titled “Zombie infections: epidemiology, treatment, and prevention.” And a viral blog post from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged zombie-apocalypse preparations as a metaphor for real-life disaster preparedness. Live Science (01/06/2017)