The siege of Vicksburg commences on May 18, 1863

The siege of Vicksburg commences: On this day, Union General Ulysses S. Grant surrounds Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, in one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war.

Beginning in the winter of 1862-63, Grant made several attempts to capture Vicksburg. In March, he marched his army down the west bank of the Mississippi, while Union Admiral David Porter’s flotilla ran past the substantial batteries that protected the city. They met south of the city, and Grant crossed the river and entered Mississippi. He then moved north to approach Vicksburg from its more lightly defended eastern side. In May, he had to split his army to deal with a threat from Joseph Johnston’s Rebels in Jackson, the state capital that lay 40 miles east of Vicksburg. After defeating Johnston’s forces, Grant moved toward Vicksburg.

On May 16, Grant fought the Confederates under John C. Pemberton at Champion Hill and defeated them decisively. He then attacked again at the Big Black River the next day, and Pemberton fled into Vicksburg with Grant following close behind. The trap was now complete and Pemberton was stuck in Vicksburg, although his forces would hold out until July 4

In the three weeks since Grant crossed the Mississippi in the campaign to capture Vicksburg, his men marched 180 miles and won five battles. They took nearly 100 Confederate artillery pieces and nearly 6,000 prisoners, all with relatively light losses.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Britannica Encyclopedia / Civil War.org / National Parks Service.gov / NCBI.gov (medical care at the siege of vicksburg) The Battle of Vicksburg - 1863 (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology - Measure of effectiveness

(DOD) A criterion used to assess changes in system behavior, capability, or operational environment that is tied to measuring the attainment of an end state, achievement of an objective, or creation of an effect. Also called MOE. See also combat assessment; mission.

Joint Publications (JP 3-0) (Joint Operations)

The Old Salt’s Corner

“The Odyssey”

Book III

But as the sun was rising from the fair sea into the firmament of heaven to shed light on mortals and immortals, they reached Pylos the city of Neleus. Now the people of Pylos were gathered on the sea shore to offer sacrifice of black bulls to Neptune lord of the Earthquake. There were nine guilds with five hundred men in each, and there were nine bulls to each guild. As they were eating the inward meats and burning the thigh bones [on the embers] in the name of Neptune, Telemachus and his crew arrived, furled their sails, brought their ship to anchor, and went ashore.

Minerva led the way and Telemachus followed her. Presently she said, “Telemachus, you must not be in the least shy or nervous; you have taken this voyage to try and find out where your father is buried and how he came by his end; so go straight up to Nestor that we may see what he has got to tell us. Beg of him to speak the truth, and he will tell no lies, for he is an excellent person.”

“But how, Mentor”, replied Telemachus, “dare I go up to Nestor, and how am I to address him? I have never yet been used to holding long conversations with people, and am ashamed to begin questioning one who is so much older than myself.”

“Some things, Telemachus”, answered Minerva, “will be suggested to you by your own instinct, and heaven will prompt you further; for I am assured that the gods have been with you from the time of your birth until now.”

Book III continued ...

~ Homer

Written 800 B.C.E

Translated by Samuel Butler

Table of Contents

“I’m Just Sayin”

“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.”

~ Poe's law

“Thought for the Day”

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

“What I Have Learned”

“Though no one can go back

and make a brand new start,

anyone can start from now

and make a brand new beginning.”

~ Anonymous

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

Terrifying amount of prey spiders devour each year revealed for the first time

Most of their victims are insects but the largest tropical species occasionally make a meal of vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, fish and small mammals.

Spiders devour up to 800 million tons of prey each year, making them one of the world’s most voracious predators, research has shown.

Most of their victims are insects but the largest tropical species occasionally make a meal of vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, fish and small mammals, said experts.

There are more than 45,000 species of spider living in all parts of the world with a collective weight of about 25 million tons.

Together they kill between 400 million and 800 million tons of prey annually, a team of Swiss and Swedish scientists has calculated.

In comparison, all the humans on Earth consume about 400 million tons of meat and fish each year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

The appetite of spiders even exceeds that of whales, which get through an estimated 280 million to 500 million tons of prey a year.

Mirror (03/14/2017)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: What Do They Use to Dye the Chicago River Green?

A bit of history: The dyeing tradition became an annual thing more than half a century ago, in 1962, but its real origins go back even further. In the early days of his administration as Mayor of Chicago, Richard J. Daley was a man on a mission to develop the city’s riverfront area. There was just one problem: The river itself was a sewage-filled eyesore. In order to get to the bottom of the city’s pollution problem and pinpoint the exact places where waste was being discarded into the waterway (and by whom), Daley authorized the pouring of a special green dye into the river that would allow them to see exactly where dumping was occurring.

Late 1961 when Stephen Bailey—part of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local, the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade chairman, and a childhood friend of Daley’s—witnessed a colleague’s green-soaked coveralls following a day of pouring Daley’s dye into the Chicago River. That gave Bailey an idea: If they could streak the Chicago River green, why not turn it all green?

Unfortunately, the dye that was intended to help spot pollution was an oil-based fluorescein that many environmentalists warned was actually damaging the river even more. After fierce lobbying, eco-minded heads prevailed and in 1966 the parade organizers began using a powdered, vegetable-based dye.

While the exact formula for the orange powder (yes, it's orange until it's mixed with water) is kept top-secret—in 2003 one of the parade organizers told a reporter that revealing the formula would be akin to “telling where the leprechaun hides its gold” — there are plenty of details that the committee lets even non-leprechauns in on:

The dyeing process begins at 9:15 a.m. on the morning of the parade (which is always held on a Saturday) when six members of the local Plumbers Union hop aboard two boats, four of them on the larger vessel, the remaining two on a smaller boat.

The larger boat heads out onto the water first, with three members of the crew using flour sifters to spread the dye into the river. The smaller boat follows closely behind in order to help disperse the substance.

Approximately 45 minutes later, the Chicago River is green!

These days, the color only sticks around for about five hours. Which is roughly the same amount of time it takes to get a perfectly poured pint of Guinness if you venture out to an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s Day.

(Redeye - Chicago Tribune) • Daily Mail • People • Mental Floss • Quora • Wikipedia

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“Gone Haywire”  Meaning: In a mess. To go wrong, to become overly excited or deranged.

Origin: Hay-wire is the light wire that was used in baling machines to tie up bales of hay.

At the turn of the 20th century the expression “a haywire outfit” began to be used in the United States. This was used to describe companies that patched-up faulty machinery using such wire, rather than making proper long-term fixes.

In 1905, The U.S. Forestry Bureau Bulletin described a “Hay wire outfit” as “a contemptuous term for loggers with poor logging equipment”.

By 1920, the use of haywire meant “awry” or “out of control”. To go haywire was recorded in the late 1920s; for example, in this piece about a basketball game from The Helena Independent, January 1928:

“...their anxiety to score let their passing game go haywire with many wild heaves finding marks in the bleachers.”

Phrases.org UK

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Oscar: The buoyant dummy used during man-overboard drills. Named for the Oscar flag that is flown during a man overboard evolution. If a sailor is “nominated for an Oscar”, someone has suggested that sailor be thrown overboard.

Oscar Sierra: Radio brevity code for a nuclear weapons mishap. Supposedly from the first letters of the words “Oh Shit”.

Ouija Board/Wee-Gee Board: Flat board with small airplanes, bolts, etc. that can be moved around to indicate aircraft position and status on an aircraft carrier.

Out of sight hi/lo: Steam boiler casualty in which the water level in the steam drum gauge glass goes out the top/bottom, requiring the boiler to be immediately shut down to prevent water hitting the turbine blades (hi) or melting boiler tubes (lo). If operating on one boiler at the time of the casualty, the ship then goes “dark and quiet” as all power and propulsion is lost.

Overhead: Ceiling.

Just for you MARINE

Platoon Sergeant: SNCO (Staff Non-Commissioned Officer), executive to the platoon commander, usually the senior enlisted man.

PMCM: Equipment such as aircraft that are partially mission capable due to maintenance that needs to be performed. Parts are available but not manpower.

PMCS: Preventive Maintenance Checks and Servicetive to the platoon commander, usually the senior enlisted man.

PMO: Provost Marshal's Office, the military police force of a Marine installation.

P.O.A.: Position Of Attention.

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VX-1 - Operational Test and Evaluation Force: “Pioneers”
Evaluation of airborne anti-submarine warfare and maritime anti-surface warfare weapons, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland

Science & Technology

Researchers develop groundbreaking process for creating ultra-selective separation membranes • Dark matter less influential in galaxies in early universe • Fossil or inorganic structure? Scientists dig into early life forms • Quantum movement of electrons in atomic layers shows potential of materials for ele • Protostar blazes bright, reshaping its stellar nursery • New flexible sensor holds potential for foldable touch screens

Phys.org

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Eight Ways You Can See Einstein's Theory of Relativity in Real Life

Profound implications

Relativity is one of the most famous scientific theories of the 20th century, but how well does it explain the things we see in our daily lives?

Formulated by Albert Einstein in 1905, the theory of relativity is the notion that the laws of physics are the same everywhere. The theory explains the behavior of objects in space and time, and it can be used to predict everything from the existence of black holes, to light bending due to gravity, to the behavior of the planet Mercury in its orbit.

The theory is deceptively simple. First, there is no “absolute” frame of reference. Every time you measure an object's velocity, or its momentum, or how it experiences time, it's always in relation to something else. Second, the speed of light is the same no matter who measures it or how fast the person measuring it is going. Third, nothing can go faster than light. [Twisted Physics: 7 Mind-Blowing Findings]

The implications of Einstein's most famous theory are profound. If the speed of light is always the same, it means that an astronaut going very fast relative to the Earth will measure the seconds ticking by slower than an Earthbound observer will — time essentially slows down for the astronaut, a phenomenon called time dilation.

Any object in a big gravity field is accelerating, so it will also experience time dilation. Meanwhile, the astronaut's spaceship will experience length contraction, which means that if you took a picture of the spacecraft as it flew by, it would look as though it were "squished" in the direction of motion. To the astronaut on board, however, all would seem normal. In addition, the mass of the spaceship would appear to increase from the point of view of people on Earth.

But you don't necessarily need a spaceship zooming at near the speed of light to see relativistic effects. In fact, there are several instances of relativity that we can see in our daily lives, and even technologies we use today that demonstrate that Einstein was right. Here are some ways we see relativity in action.

Live Science (03/14/2017)