War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom on June 01, 1812

War of 1812 begins: The day after the Senate followed the House of Representatives in voting to declare war against Great Britain, President James Madison signs the declaration into law–and the War of 1812 begins. The American war declaration, opposed by a sizable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seaman into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. A faction of Congress known as the “War Hawks” had been advocating war with Britain for several years and had not hidden their hopes that a U.S. invasion of Canada might result in significant territorial land gains for the United States.

In the months after President Madison proclaimed the state of war to be in effect, American forces launched a three-point invasion of Canada, all of which were decisively unsuccessful. In 1814, with Napoleon Bonaparte’s French Empire collapsing, the British were able to allocate more military resources to the American war, and Washington, D.C., fell to the British in August. In Washington, British troops burned the White House, the Capitol, and other buildings in retaliation for the earlier burning of government buildings in Canada by U.S. soldiers.

In September, the tide of the war turned when Thomas Macdonough’s American naval force won a decisive victory at the Battle of Plattsburg Bay on Lake Champlain. The invading British army was forced to retreat back into Canada. The American victory on Lake Champlain led to the conclusion of U.S.-British peace negotiations in Belgium, and on December 24, 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, formally ending the War of 1812. By the terms of the agreement, all conquered territory was to be returned, and a commission would be established to settle the boundary of the United States and Canada.

British forces assailing the Gulf Coast were not informed of the treaty in time, and on January 8, 1815, the U.S. forces under Andrew Jackson achieved the greatest American victory of the war at the Battle of New Orleans. The American public heard of Jackson’s victory and the Treaty of Ghent at approximately the same time, fostering a greater sentiment of self-confidence and shared identity throughout the young republic.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Britannica Encyclopedia / Biography / Smithsonian War of 1812 (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology - Mechanical sweep

(DOD) In naval mine warfare, any sweep used with the object of physically contacting the mine or its appendages.

Joint Publications (JP 3-15) (Defense Technical Information Center - Barriers, Obstacles, andMine Warfare for Joint Operations)

The Old Salt’s Corner

“The Odyssey”

Book V

And now, as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus- harbinger of light alike to mortals and immortals- the gods met in council and with them, Jove the lord of thunder, who is their king. Thereon Minerva began to tell them of the many sufferings of Ulysses, for she pitied him away there in the house of the nymph Calypso.

“Father Jove”, said she, “and all you other gods that live in everlasting bliss, I hope there may never be such a thing as a kind and well-disposed ruler any more, nor one who will govern equitably. I hope they will be all henceforth cruel and unjust, for there is not one of his subjects but has forgotten Ulysses, who ruled them as though he were their father. There he is, lying in great pain in an island where dwells the nymph Calypso, who will not let him go; and he cannot get back to his own country, for he can find neither ships nor sailors to take him over the sea. Furthermore, wicked people are now trying to murder his only son Telemachus, who is coming home from Pylos and Lacedaemon, where he has been to see if he can get news of his father.”

“What, my dear, are you talking about?” replied her father, “did you not send him there yourself, because you thought it would help Ulysses to get home and punish the suitors? Besides, you are perfectly able to protect Telemachus, and to see him safely home again, while the suitors have to come hurry-skurrying back without having killed him.”

When he had thus spoken, he said to his son Mercury, “Mercury, you are our messenger, go therefore and tell Calypso we have decreed that poor Ulysses is to return home. He is to be convoyed neither by gods nor men, but after a perilous voyage of twenty days upon a raft he is to reach fertile Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, who are near of kin to the gods, and will honour him as though he were one of ourselves. They will send him in a ship to his own country, and will give him more bronze and gold and raiment than he would have brought back from Troy, if he had had had all his prize money and had got home without disaster. This is how we have settled that he shall return to his country and his friends.”

Book V continued ...

~ Homer

Written 800 B.C.E

Translated by Samuel Butler

Table of Contents

“I’m Just Sayin”

“Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others.”

Derived from RFC 761 Transmission Control Protocol (1980), in which Jon Postel summarized earlier communications of desired interoperability criteria for the Internet Protocol.

~ Postel's law

“Thought for the Day”

“You fall, you rise,

you make mistakes,

you live, you learn.

You’re human, not perfect.

You’ve been hurt, but you’re alive.

Think of what a precious privilege it is

to be alive to breathe,

to think, to enjoy,

and to be with people you love.

Sometimes there is sadness in our journey,

but there is also lots of beauty.

We must keep putting one foot in front of the other

even when we hurt,

for we will never know

what is waiting for us just around the bend.”

~ Ritu Ghatourey

“What I Have Learned”

“When someone is mean, don’t listen.

When someone is rude, walk away.

When someone tries to put you down, stay firm.

Don’t let someone else’s bad behavior

destroy your inner peace.”

~ Anonymous

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

Woman Licks World Record For Stopping Fan Blades With Tongue

Tongues will surely be wagging over this Guinness World Record attempt.

Sideshow performer Zoe Ellis, aka Zoe L’Amour, recently appeared on the “Guinness World Records Italian Show” in hopes of breaking her own world record for stopping the most electric fan blades using her tongue in one minute.

Shortly after filming this video, Ellis’s new world record was sliced apart by Ashrita Furman, who tongue-stopped 35 blades in a minute.

Huffington Post (03/31/2017)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: Why Can’t You Eat Grapefruit While Taking Certain Medications?

“May cause drowsiness.” “Do not drink alcoholic beverages while taking this medication.” Most warnings on prescription bottles are pretty easy to understand. But “Do not eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice at any time while taking this medication?” What the heck is that about?

Enzymes. It’s about enzymes. Or rather, one enzyme in particular: CYP3A4, which helps your body break down, absorb, and use many different drugs.

The grapefruit (Citrus x paradisi) and its juice contain chemicals that interfere with CYP3A4 and keep it from doing its job properly. Depending on the medication, it can either cause your body to take in and retain too much of the drug, leading to a potential overdose, or not enough, rendering your medication useless.

It’s not just grapefruit, either.

Seville oranges (the kind often used in marmalade) and tangelos are CYP3A4 blockers, too. Dairy products and green, leafy vegetables like spinach and kale can mess with other metabolic pathways.

“The biggest issue is from polypharmacy (taking multiple medications at the same time)”, Menzies says, “as many drugs will have effects on other drugs.”

Check your medication bottles and take those warnings

Should you have questions about how your prescriptions will interact with a specific food or other drugs or supplements, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

Family Doctor.org • FDA.gov • Mental Floss • Reddit • WebMD • Wikipedia

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“High Jinks”  Meaning: Japes.

Origin: A variant of the once-popular game ‘high pranks’, which was a cross between dice and charades.

High jinks was a popular 18th century drinking game in Scotland. The game involved throwing a die, and if the caster got a bad score, they had to choose between drinking more alcohol or performing an undignified task.

The term “high jinks” is now commonly used to refer to any prank or frolic.

Wikipedia

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Papa Chuck: The P-3C Orion patrol aircraft. Also called “Four fans of freedom”, a desirable platform for airedales who have no wish to spend any time whatsoever at sea.

Paper Assholes: Gummed Reinforcements (office supplies); Paper Ensigns.

P.A.P.E.R.C.L.I.P.: People Against People Ever Reenlisting Civilian Life Is Preferable. Term used to show dissatisfaction with enlistment or unity amongst a brotherhood of bitter and disaffected sailors, specifically submariners. Often symbolized by the wearing of a paperclip on the uniform in varying levels of prominence to indicate the sailor's level of disgruntlement. May also be burned into the skin. C.L.I.P. also used as Civilian Life Incentive Program.

Just for you MARINE

Police: To pick up items (such as litter or expended ammunition casings), to return an area to a natural state, or to correct another Marine.

Poncho Liner: Insulating blanket used to warm the individual wearing a rain poncho, often used as a stand-alone blanket.

Pop Smoke: To leave quickly or hastily; from the method of throwing a smoke grenade to mark a landing zone or conceal a retreat.

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VX-9 - Operational Test and Evaluation Force: “Vampires”
Operational Weapons Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, U.S.

Science & Technology

Rubbery, multifunctional fibers could be used to study spinal cord neurons and potentially restore function • Monkey business produces rare preserved blood in amber fossils • Researchers 'iron out' graphene's wrinkles • The space weather forecast for Proxima Centauri B • New slowly evolving Type Ibn supernova discovered • New device produces hydrogen peroxide for water purification • Elimination of specific neurons outside the brain triggers obesity

Phys.org / MedicalXpress / TechXplore

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Little Badger Buries Entire Cow - on Camera

An industrious badger in Utah's Great Basin Desert was caught on camera burying a cow four to five times the little animal's own size.

“Not to anthropomorphize too much, but he looks like a really, really, happy badger, rolling in the dirt and living the high life”, University of Utah doctoral candidate in biology Evan Buechley, who discovered the footage, said in a statement. [Watch the Video of the Badger Burying a Cow Carcass]

Live Science (03/31/2017)