Old Sailors' Almanac

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Week 02, 2019

Previous Week   January 07, 2019 - January , 2019  Next Week

Hawaii missile threat: Locals lived out their “worst nightmare” as they prepared for the world to end on January 13, 2018

Hawaii missile threat: Locals lived out their “worst nightmare” as they prepared for the world to end on January 13, 2018

Hawaii missile threat: Locals lived out their “worst nightmare” as they prepared for the world to end: “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”

It might sound like something straight out of a horror movie, but for 38 minutes terrified Hawaiian residents thought the world was going to end.

At 8:07am on Saturday (local time), locals and tourists on the small island woke up to a message that many have feared amid North Korea's development of a ballistic nuclear weapon.

Panicked residents gathered family members, ran out onto the streets and desperately sought shelter as they awaited the attack. Cars were reportedly abandoned on highways and people who were outside at the time hid in the homes of neighbours as others prepared to flee.

Stacey Bow, 56, of Honolulu, said she was awakened to the emergency alert on her smart phone and woke up her 16-year-old daughter with the news.

Staceysaid, “She became hysterical, crying, you know, just lost it.”

Cherese Carlson, a tourist visiting Hawaii, said the moments following the alert were filled with fear.

Cherese said, “There was nothing I could do. I wasn't in an area where I had any friends where I could go into their homes”. “I literally just sat in my car worried that was it for me because I didn't have a shelter to go to like it said.”

Honolulu resident Phillip Simmons said:

“I was thinking of my family. My wife had gone out for a walk, she immediately called me [and had] received the same text. I knew it was important for us to be together at that moment.”

Social media was filled with accounts from horrified Hawaiians, sharing how frantic they were during those 38 minutes.

“Got the text. Both my wife and I look at each other in unbelief and terror. We looked at our four year old daughter sleeping peacefully”, one user wrote on social platform Reddit.

“We kept quiet and calmed. Sat there in silence whispering to each other things are going to be OK but anger rushing through my head as a father as I felt helpless.”

“Heard a knock on the door. Two joggers terrified asked if they could take shelter with us. We said OK.” Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi, left, and Governor David Ige address the media Saturday at the HEMA center at Diamond Head Crater. (George F. Lee / Associated Press)

In one video that has surfaced since the alert, a man can be seen telling a child to climb down a manhole to escape the incoming missile attack.

The child can be heard saying that she didn't want to go in, before she begins to descend into the dark space.

Others thought that it was a hoax or a false alarm, since the sirens did not ring out.

“I thought to myself, it must be someone's last day at work or someone got extremely upset at a superior and basically did this as a practical joke”, a Honolulu lawyer told The Associated Press.

“But I think it's a very serious problem if it wasn't that, or even it was, it shows that we have problems in the system that can cause major disruption and panic and anxiety among people in Hawaii.”

Even as residents slowly began to realise it was a false alarm, the horror of what could have been left them reeling.

ABC News journalist David Spicer received the notification while on holidays in Honolulu.

He said tourists were gathering in groups on Waikiki Beach, “trying to figure out where to go”.

“I mean, what do you do if you're under imminent threat of a ballistic missile?”

Many have been stunned by how unprepared they were.

Hawaii Governor David Ige said “today is a day that most of us will never forget”.

“A day when many in our community thought that our worst nightmare might actually be happening. A day when many frantically try to think about the things that they would do if a ballistic missile launch would happen.”

“You know, I know firsthand that what happened today was totally unacceptable. And many in our community was deeply affected by this and I'm sorry for that pain and confusion that anyone might have experienced.”

World War III threat: Hawaii residents ordered to “prepare for North Korea nuclear attack”

Why did it take 38 minutes to correct the error?

Many have been left asking why it took so long for emergency management to reveal it was a false alarm, with some residents only finding out it was sent in error because of a tweet sent in the interim by U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard.

A revised alert informing of the “false alarm” did not reach mobile phones until about 40 minutes after the first warning was sent.

Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency administrator Vern Miyagi said “there was no automated way to send a false alarm cancellation”.

“We had to initiate a manual process. And that was why it took a while to notify everyone,”, he told a media conference.

When asked if that was why it took 38 minutes to notify people, he again replied it was due to the “manual process to provide notification on the smartphones and cellphones”.

“When asked if that was why it took 38 minutes to notify people, he again replied it was due to the "manual process to provide notification on the smartphones and cellphones.”

The agency had tweeted there was no threat about 10 minutes after the initial alert, but residents who were not on Twitter did not see the correction.

The administrator apologised and vowed changes, revealing that as a result of this incident they need to “expand the notification protocols” and “make more contacts to notify that this was a false alarm.”

“Again, I apologise for this. This is my responsibility and my team0”

ABC Australia / Wikipedia / BBC / Military Times / Hawaii missile threat: Locals lived out their “worst nightmare” as they prepared for the world to end on January 13, 2018 (YouTube) video


Birth of public radio broadcasting on January 13, 1910

Birth of public radio broadcasting on January 13, 1910

Birth of public radio broadcasting: Since its inception, public radio has had a crucial role in broadcasting history - from FDR’s “Fireside Chats” to the Internet Age

On January 13, 1910, tenor Enrico Caruso prepared to perform an entirely new activity: sing opera over the airwaves, broadcasting his voice from the Metropolitan Opera House to locations throughout New York City. Inventor Lee deForest had suspended microphones above the Opera House stage and in the wings and set up a transmitter and antenna. A flip of a switch magically sent forth sound.

The evening would usher out an old era - one of dot-dash telegraphs, of evening newspapers, of silent films, and of soap box corner announcements. In its place, radio communications would provide instant, long-distance wireless communication. In 2009, America celebrated the 40th anniversary of the creation of National Public Radio; thanks to deForest, 2010 marks the centennial of the true birth of the era of public broadcasting.

Wireless telephony had been several decades in the making. European experimenters (including Heinrich Hertz, for whom the radio frequency unit hertz is named) had contributed to the field in the late 1800s by experimenting with electromagnetic waves. In the 1890s, Guglielmo Marconi invented the vertical antenna, transmitting signals of ever-increasing distance; by 1901, he could send messages from England across the Atlantic Ocean to Newfoundland. Thanks in part to these advances, in December 1906, Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden was able to arrange a holiday broadcast to operators off the Atlantic seaboard. His singing, violin playing and biblical verse reading were heard on ships from New England to Virginia.

In the decade after deForest’s broadcast, popular interest in radio technology grew. Amateur devotees became known as “fans”, rather than “listeners” or “listeners-in”, which were terms used derogatorily to indicate that a person was not actively engaged in both sides of radio broadcast. “Every radio at the time—or all the good ones—could both transmit and receive”, explains Michele Hilmes, professor of media and cultural studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Radio was a highly technical leisure activity. Fans used wire coils and spark plugs as they built receivers and transmitters at home. Early radios required multiple dial adjustments.

Smithsonian / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Birth of public radio broadcasting on January 13, 1910 (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 - Mounting

(DOD)

1. All preparations made in anticipation of an operation, including assembly in the mounting area, preparation and maintenance within the mounting area, movement to loading points, and subsequent embarkation into ships, craft, or aircraft if applicable.

2. A carriage or stand upon which a weapon is placed.

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


“A Toast to a Veteran”

The Old Salt’s Corner

“A Toast to a Veteran”

Crystal is the goblet, clear, like the vision of our mission.

Red is the wine, dark, to remind us of those who have gone before us.

Strong is the hand that holds it, yet tender, when the time is nigh.

Tall is the Warrior, whatever stature they may be.

We stand together brothers, comrades, and mates.

We pause to respect the departed, and reflect, on the life we choose to follow.

We lift these glasses high in honor, tribute and glory to all who may be called.

~ American Armed Forces Veteran


“I’m Just Sayin’”

“I’m Just Sayin”

“With malice toward none, with charity for all,

with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right,

let us strive on to finish the work we are in,

to bind up the nation’s wounds,

to care for him who shall have borne the battle

and for his widow and his orphan,

to do all which may achieve

and cherish a just and lasting peace

among ourselves and with all nations.”

~ Abraham Lincoln


“Thought for the Day”

“Thought for the Day”

“We are in danger of destroying ourselves

by our greed and stupidity.

We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves

on a small and increasingly polluted

and overcrowded planet.”

~ Stephen Hawking


“What I Have Learned”

“What I Learned”

“I’m not where I want to be,

but thank goodness

I’m not where I used to be.”

~ Anonymous


Second Hand News

Second Hand News (Links to Articles from Week 2 - January 07, 2019 - January 13, 2019)

JUDICIAL WATCH SEEKS TO QUESTION TOP OBAMA-CLINTON OFFICIALS ON CLINTON EMAIL ISSUE, SEEKS DEPOSITIONS OF SUSAN RICE AND BEN RHODES ON BENGHAZI TALKING POINTS DOCUMENTSHow Judicial Watch Won the Battle for Election Integrity in Los Angeles County, CaliforniaThe Mayor, the Rat, & the NYPD“Crisis” of Seriously Ill Migrants Slams Border Patrol—TB, Pneumonia, Influenza, Parasites Judicial Watch

Federal employees file for unemployment as government shutdown becomes longest in historyWall GoFundMe will return $20M to 330,000 donorsCampus police want students to report acts of 'bias'Immigration officials let 8,000 child brides into the US, say laws will need to change to stop thatRussia threatens retaliation if UK builds basesObama Border Patrol chief: Agents arrest “rapists, murderers, gang members every single day” Washington Examiner

Pentagon Industrial Policy Head Tapped for Chief of StaffNationalists of the World, Unite!Poland Is Trying to Make Abortion Dangerous, Illegal, and ImpossibleLawsuits Seek to Stop Censure of Israel Boycott MovementAmerica’s Freedom of Navigation Operations Are Lost at Sea Foreign Policy

Massive backlog in U.S. immigration courts is growing by '1,000 cases a day' as a result of the government shutdown while Trump and Democrats wrangle over a border wallMore than 20 dead bodies found scattered by burned-out vehicles after gang clash in north Mexico near the Texas borderSecretary of State Mike Pompeo slams Obama in Cairo speech for claiming 'radical Islamist terrorism does not stem from ideology' as he takes new aim at Iran and tries to calm fears about Syria troop pulloutWhite House is preparing to REPLACE the ailing Ruth Bader Ginsburg Daily Mail UK

China voices ‘grave concerns’ over Poland Huawei ‘spy’ arrest China declares Chang’e 4 moon lander mission goals accomplished MUM-T’s the word … but is this China’s deadliest ever drone? Trump won’t be at Davos, but trade talks expected to go on without him HNA’s US$41 million loss the latest price paid for U.S.-China tensions South China Morning Post


How Does Cryptocurrency Work?

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: How Does Cryptocurrency Work?

Cryptocurrency is an encrypted, decentralized digital currency transferred between peers and confirmed in a public ledger via a process known as mining.

Please see:

How does cryptocurrency work (for beginners).

Trading, investing in, or using cryptocurrency (for beginners)

How Does Cryptocurrency Work?

The Cryptocurrency Basics

Public Ledgers:: All confirmed transactions from the start of a cryptocurrency’s creation are stored in a public ledger. The identities of the coin owners are encrypted, and the system uses other cryptographic techniques to ensure the legitimacy of record keeping. The ledger ensures that corresponding “digital wallets” can calculate an accurate spendable balance. Also, new transactions can be checked to ensure that each transaction uses only coins currently owned by the spender. Bitcoin calls this public ledger a “transaction block chain”.

Transactions: A transfer of funds between two digital wallets is called a transaction. That transaction gets submitted to a public ledger and awaits confirmation. Wallets use an encrypted electronic signature when a transaction is made. The signature is an encrypted piece of data called a cryptographic signature and it provides a mathematical proof that the transaction came from the owner of the wallet. The confirmation process takes a bit of time (ten minutes for bitcoin) while “miners” mine. Mining confirms the transactions and adds them to the public ledger.

Mining: Mining is the process of confirming transactions and adding them to a public ledger. To add a transaction to the ledger, the “miner” must solve an increasingly-complex computational problem (like a mathematical puzzle). Mining is open source so that anyone can confirm the transaction. The first “miner” to solve the puzzle adds a “block” of transactions to the ledger. The way in which transactions, blocks, and the public blockchain ledger work together ensure that no one individual can easily add or change a block at will. Once a block is added to the ledger, all correlating transactions are permanent, and they add a small transaction fee to the miner’s wallet (along with newly created coins). The mining process is what gives value to the coins and is known as a “proof-of-work system”.

How Does Cryptocurrency Work?

The Anatomy of Cryptocurrency

Although there can be exceptions to the rule, there are some factors (beyond the basics above) that make cryptocurrency so different from the financial systems of the past:

Adaptive Scaling: Adaptive scaling means that cryptocurrencies are built with measures to ensure that they will work well in both large and small scales.

Adaptive Scaling Example: Bitcoin is programmed to allow for one transaction block to be mined approximately every ten minutes. The algorithm adjusts after every 2016 blocks (theoretically, that’s every two weeks) to get easier or harder based on how long it took for those 2016 blocks to be mined. So if it only took 13 days for the network to mine 2016 blocks, that means it’s too easy to mine, so the difficulty increases. However, if it takes 15 days for the network to mine 2016 blocks, that shows that it’s too hard to mind, so the difficulty decreases.

Other measures are included in digital coins to allow for adaptive scaling including limiting the supply over time (to create scarcity) and reducing the reward for mining as more total coins are mined.

Cryptographic: Cryptocurrency uses a system of cryptography (AKA encryption) to control the creation of coins and to verify transactions.

Decentralized: Most currencies in circulation are controlled by a centralized government so their creation can be regulated by a third party. Cryptocurrency’s creation and transactions are open source, controlled by code, and rely on “peer-to-peer” networks. There is no single entity that can affect the currency.

Digital: Traditional forms of currency are defined by a physical object (USD existing as paper money and in its early years being backed by gold for example), but cryptocurrency is all digital. Digital coins are stored in digital wallets and transferred digitally to other peoples’ digital wallets. No physical object ever exists.

Open Source: Cryptocurrencies are typically open source. That means that developers can create APIs without paying a fee and anyone can use or join the network.

Proof-of-work: Most cryptocurrencies use a proof-of-work system. A proof-of-work scheme uses a hard-to-compute but easy-to-verify computational puzzle to limit exploitation of cryptocurrency mining. Essentially, it’s similar to a difficult to solve “captcha” that requires lots of computing power. NOTE: Other systems like proof-of-work (such as proof-of-stake) are also used.

Pseudonymity: Owners of cryptocurrency keep their digital coins in an encrypted digital wallet. A coin-holder’s identification is stored in an encrypted address that they have control over - it is not attached to a person’s identity. The connection between you and your coins is pseudonymous rather than anonymous as ledgers are open to the public (and thus, the ledgers could be used to glean information about groups of individuals in the network).

Value: For something to be an effective currency, it has to have value. The U.S. dollar used to represent actual gold. The gold was scarce and required work to mine and refine, so the scarcity and work gave the gold value. This, in turn, gave the U.S. dollar value.

Learning More about How Cryptocurrency Works

To learn more, visit How Bitcoin Works Under the Hood.

CNBCCrypto Currency FactsQuaraWikipediaHow Does Cryptocurrency Work? (YouTube Search) video


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

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Blanket Party: A beating administered to someone whose head has been covered with a blanket (to prevent that person from identifying the attackers), in boot camp (and usually at night), because the individual is perceived to have harmed the group by not being squared away.

Blivit (or Blivet) (derogatory): A person who is full of shit; ten pounds of shit in a five pound sack. Often starts bullshit stories with 'believe it or not'.

Blowing the ___ Fleet: Performing oral sex on a prostitute (in reference to the fact that said prostitute may have had sex with the entirety of the named fleet). “You just blew the 7th Fleet.”

Blowing Shitters: An act by which an HT uses straight firemain pressure on a clog in the sewage line (CHT/VCHT) that cannot be removed by ordinary means. Normally a last resort, yet used more often than not, that when not done properly causes one hell-of-a mess… especially on CHT lines when some unfortunate soul is on the crapper when the full force of the firemain comes through.

Blowing a Shitter (Submarine Service): Inadvertently “flushing” a toilet (see “Shitter”, below) while San Tanks are being blown overboard by charging the sanitary tank with enough air pressure to overcome sea pressure; this could be a considerable pressure if the boat is deep which is costly so it's usually a housekeeping evolution at periscope depth.


Just for MARINES - The Few. The Proud.

Just for you MARINE

Blanket Party: Group assault: victim's head is covered by a blanket so the perpetrators can't be identified.

Blood stripe: Red band on dress uniform trousers; traditionally said to symbolize blood shed by Marine officers and NCOs during the Battle of Chapultepec; worn by NCOs and officers.

Blooper: Grenade launcher: from the distinctive noise made when one is fired. See also thump gun.

Blousing Garters: The correct name for “boot bands”.

BLT: Battalion Landing Team: the Grenade launcher of MEU; not to be confused with a Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich.


Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

Patrol Squadron Forty (VP-40) - nicknamed the “Fighting Marlins”

United States Navy - Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Island County - Established September 15, 1951.


Where Did That Saying Come From

Where Did That Saying Come From?

Where Did That Saying Come From? “Wide Berth”

Wide Berth:”  Meaning: A goodly distance. Originally a nautical term, a “berth” is a large space where a ship can be moored.

History: Wide berth' is most commonly found in the phrases 'keep a wide berth of', 'give a wide berth to' etc. It was originally a nautical term. We now think of a ship's berth as the place where the ship is moored. Before that though it meant 'a place where there is sea room to moor a ship'. This derives in turn from the probable derivation of the word berth, that is, 'bearing off'. When sailors were warned to keep a wide bearing off something they were being told to make sure to maintain enough sea room from it.

Like many seafaring terms it dates back to the heyday of sail, the 17th century. An early use comes from the redoubtable Captain John Smith in Accidental Young Seamen, 1626:

“Watch bee vigilant to keepe your berth to windward.”

Berth came to be adopted more widely into the language, just meaning 'distance from'. There are several such figurative uses of the it in the 17th and 18th centuries - 'a good/clear/strong berth' etc. We have to wait until 1829 for Sir Walter Scott's Letters on demonology and witchcraft for 'a wide berth' though:

“Giving the apparent phantom what seamen call a wide berth.”

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)

Delicious or Disgusting? Odd Museum Serves Up Sheep Eyeballs and Frog Smoothies?

Delicious or Disgusting? Odd Museum Serves Up Sheep Eyeballs and Frog Smoothies?

Is maggot-covered cheese disgusting or delicious?

That's not a trick question. To people from Sardinia, the cheese known as “casu marzu” - a sheep-milk pecorino seasoned liberally with fly poo and crawling with thousands of larvae - is highly prized for its unique flavors, and is eaten along with mouthfuls of the plump maggots that writhe on its surface.

However, if you're encountering casu marzu ("putrid cheese" in Sardinian) for the first time, you might find it a little hard to swallow. The same might be said for certain other regional delicacies, such as China's spicy rabbit heads, Kazakhstan's fermented mare's milk or Peru's roasted guinea pig. All of these are highly popular in their countries of origin but can inspire revulsion or dismay in diners who have never sampled them before.

If you're curious about which bizarre foods are the most likely to trigger queasiness in first-time tasters, wonder no longer. You can now find 80 of the world's most distinctive (and repulsive) edible oddities — including maggoty cheese — in one place: a new exhibit called the Disgusting Food Museum, in Mälmo, Sweden. [15 of the World's Most 'Disgusting' Foods (Photos)]

Delicious or Disgusting? Odd Museum Serves Up Sheep Eyeballs and Frog Smoothies?

Unfamiliar scents and flavors abound in the museum. Some of the very special foods include frog smoothies from Peru, the foul-smelling durian fruit from Thailand, Finland's salty black licorice, a bull penis from China and slimy, fermented soybeans - a dish known as “nattō” that is popular for breakfast in Japan.

To be included in the exhibit, each dish had to qualify not only as potentially gag-inducing due to its smell, taste, appearance or texture, it also had to be thought of as delicious "somewhere in the world," curator and museum director Andreas Ahrens told Live Science.

With those criteria, the exhibit makes it clear that when you call a food “disgusting”, that response reflects your cultural background as much as it does the signals from your senses, Ahrens said.

“There is a purpose for disgust”, he said. “Disgust is a universal emotion that exists to warn us of potentially dangerous, poisonous foods.” However, if a person grows up eating a certain food, they don't feel the aversion that may be experienced by someone who's a newcomer to the dish.

Delicious or Disgusting? Odd Museum Serves Up Sheep Eyeballs and Frog Smoothies?

For example, a well-known Philippine dish called “balut” serves up partially developed duck embryos that are boiled alive inside the egg and then eaten whole. Ahrens told Live Science that he considers himself fairly adventurous when it comes to food - and when he tried balut, he just couldn't keep it down.

“It made me throw up”, he said.

On the other hand, Ahrens' wife, who grew up in the Philippines, considers balut to be “absolutely normal”, he said.

Another food in the museum that challenges the untrained palate is fermented shark from Iceland called “hákarl”; Ahrens described it as “death in a little can”, saying it smells worse than anything in the world.

Delicious or Disgusting? Odd Museum Serves Up Sheep Eyeballs and Frog Smoothies?

But there's something that tastes even worse than hákarl: “su gallu”, another cheese from Sardinia. To make su gallu, a person would slaughter a baby goat that's just enjoyed its last meal of mother's milk. Then, they would remove the stomach and hang it up to dry, with the cheese fermenting from the milk that's still inside the kid's gut.

“It tastes like gasoline”, Ahrens said. “If you eat too much of that, you have an aftertaste in your mouth for several days afterwards.”

Of the 80 “disgusting” foods featured in the exhibit, most are represented by real food; many are “smellable”; and some are available for tasting, according to a museum statement. Perhaps after experiencing the sights and smells of these one-of-a-kind foods, museum visitors will find themselves a little more open-minded about dishes and cultures other than their own, Ahrens said.

Speaking of which, do you remember that maggot-infested cheese from Sardinia? If you try it, make sure to cover your eyes before you take a bite — not to hide the sight of the maggots you're about to gulp down, but to protect your eyeballs from the larvae, which can leap to heights of about 6 inches (15 centimeters), according to Ahrens.

Live Science (11/01/2018) video


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

SONG FACTS

“My Sweet Lord” - George Harrison 1970 “He's So Fine” - The Chiffons 1962

“My Sweet Lord” - George Harrison
Album: All Things Must Pass
Released 1970 video

Famous Cases of Alleged Music Plagiarism

George Harrison vs. The Chiffons (1976)

Nothing really comes from scratch anymore, and music is no exception. The first thing bands talk about when they form are their influences, and they typically start off by (and never really stop) playing other people’s music.

Entire genres, like folk, blues, and hip-hop, are based upon liberal borrowing out of either tradition or necessity. Simply put, every artist you love, no matter how unique, innovative, and game changing they may be, stands on the proverbial shoulders of giants.

With that in mind, famous instances of alleged music plagiarism. Some cases went to court. Others got shrugged off. Sometimes we think we’re listening to the same song twice. Other times we just don’t hear it that way.

George HarrisonMy Sweet Lordvideo

Written by Ronnie MackHe's So Fine”) video - (sung by The Chiffons (1962)

The Case: George Harrison became the first Beatle to have a solo Number One on the Billboard charts with his ode to piety “My Sweet Lord”. The subject matter was as far from early-Sixties Brill Building pop as one could get, but musically the verses bear a strong resemblance to the Chiffons' 1962 hit “He's So Fine”, written by Ronnie Mack. Mack's publisher, Bright Tunes Music Corporation, filed a plagiarism suit in February 1971, but the case wouldn't go to trial until 1976. In the intervening years, the Chiffons themselves would record a version of “My Sweet Lord” to draw attention to the upcoming trial. Harrison claimed that he actually based the melody of the song on the public-domain hymn “Oh Happy Day”, but admitted the similarity to “He's So Fine” in his autobiography, I Me Mine.

The Verdict: The judge ruled that Harrison was guilty of “subconscious plagiarism”. The penalty phase was delayed until February 1981. He was initially ordered to pay $1,599,987, but this was lowered to $587,000 when his former manager Allen Klein purchased Bright Tunes Music and negotiated the sale of the song to Harrison. Litigation continued until March 1998, making it one of the longest legal skirmishes in American history. “I don't feel guilty or bad about it”, he continued in his autobiography. “In fact it saved many a heroin addict's life. I know the motive behind writing the song in the first place and its effect far exceeded the legal hassle.”

Why It Matters: In addition to introducing the phrase “subconscious plagiarism” into the popular lexicon, the ruling set a precedent of harsher copyright standards and ushered in a wave infringement suits.


This was Harrison's first single as a solo artist, and it was his biggest hit. The song is about the Eastern religions he was studying.

Highly unusual for a hit song, Harrison repeats part of a Hindu mantra in the lyric when he sings, “Hare Krishna... Krishna, Krishna”. When set to music, this mantra is typically part of a chant, that acts as a call to the Lord. Harrison interposes it with a Christian call to faith: “Hallelujah” - he was pointing out that “Hallelujah and Hare Krishna are quite the same thing.”

In the documentary The Material World, Harrison explains: “First, it's simple. The thing about a mantra, you see... mantras are, well, they call it a mystical sound vibration encased in a syllable. It has this power within it. It's just hypnotic.”

In 1971, Bright Tunes Music sued Harrison because this sounded too much like the 1963 Chiffons hit “He's So Fine”. Bright Tunes was controlled by The Tokens, who set it up when they formed the production company that recorded “He's So Fine” - they owned the publishing rights to the song.

During the convoluted court case, Harrison explained how he composed the song: He said that in December 1969, he was playing a show in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the group Delaney and Bonnie, whose piano player was Billy Preston (who contributed to some Beatles recordings). Harrison said that he started writing the song after a press conference when he slipped away and started playing some guitar chords around the words "Hallelujah" and "Hare Krishna." He then brought the song to the band, who helped him work it out as he came up with lyrics. When he returned to London, Harrison worked on Billy Preston's album Encouraging Words. They recorded the song for the album, which was released on Apple Records later in 1970, and Harrison filed a copyright application for the melody, words and harmony of the song. Preston's version remained an album cut, and it was Harrison's single that was the huge hit and provoked the lawsuit, which was filed on February 10, 1971, while the song was still on the chart.

In further testimony, Harrison claimed he got the idea for “My Sweet Lord” from The Edwin Hawkins Singers' “Oh Happy Dayvideo, not “He's So Fine”.

When the case was filed, Harrison's manager was Allen Klein, who negotiated with Bright Tunes on his behalf. The case was delayed when Bright Tunes went into receivership, and was not heard until 1976. In the meantime, Harrison and Klein parted ways in bitter fashion, and Klein began consulting Bright Tunes. Harrison offered to settle the case for $148,000 in January 1976, but the offer was rejected and the case brought to court.

The trial took place February 23-25, with various expert witnesses testifying. The key to the case was the musical pattern of the two songs, which were both based on two musical motifs: “G-E-D” and “G-A-C-A-C”. “He's So Fine” repeated both motifs four times, “My Sweet Lord” repeated the first motif four times and the second motif three times. Harrison couldn't identify any other songs that used this exact pattern, and the court ruled that “the two songs are virtually identical”. And while the judge felt that Harrison did not intentionally copy “My Sweet Lord”, that was not a defense - thus Harrison was on the hook writing a similar song without knowing it. Harrison was found guilty of “subconscious plagiarism” in a verdict handed down on August 31, 1976.

Assessing damages in the case, the judge determined that “My Sweet Lord” represented 70% of the airplay of the “All Things Must Pass” album, and came up with a total award of about $1.6 million. However, in 1978 Allen Klein's company ABKCO purchased Bright Tunes for $587,000, which prompted Harrison to sue. In 1981, a judge decided that Klein should not profit from the judgment, and was entitled to only the $587,000 he paid for the company - all further proceeds from the case had to be remitted back to Harrison. The case dragged on until at least 1993, when various administrative matters were finally settled.

The case was a burden for Harrison, who says he tried to settle but kept getting dragged back to court by Bright Tunes. After losing the lawsuit, he became more disenfranchised with the music industry, and took some time off from recording - after his 1976 album Thirty Three & 1/3, he didn't release another until his self-titled album in 1979. He told “Rolling Stone”, “It's difficult to just start writing again after you've been through that. Even now when I put the radio on, every tune I hear sounds like something else.”

This was recorded at Abbey Road studios using the same equipment The Beatles used. There were some familiar faces at the sessions who had contributed to Beatles albums, including John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Billy Preston and Eric Clapton. Bobby Whitlock was friends with Harrison and Clapton, and played keyboards on the album. When we spoke with Whitlock, he shared his thoughts:

“That whole session was great. George Harrison, what a wonderful man. All the time that I ever knew him, which was from 1969 to his passing, he was a wonderful man. He included everyone on everything he did because there was enough for all.”

Whitlock adds, “All during the sessions, the door would pop open and in would spring three or four or five Hare Krishnas in their white robes and shaved heads with a pony tail coming out the top. They were all painted up, throwing rose petals and distributing peanut butter cookies.“ (For more on these sessions, check out our full Bobby Whitlock interview)

This was the first #1 hit for any Beatle after the band broke up. Harrison was the first Beatle to release a solo album. He came out with Wonderwall Music, a soundtrack to the movie Wonderwall, in 1968.

Phil Spector produced this and sang backup. With the blessing of Harrison and John Lennon (and over the objections of Paul McCartney), Spector produced the last Beatles album, Let It Be.

Producer Phil Spector thought “My Sweet Lord” was the commercial hit of the album, and everyone else resisted him on that. According to Phil, George and others worried about how the public might react to the religious overtones and the Hare Krishna influence.

After Harrison died, this was re-released in the UK, where it once again went to #1. Proceeds from the single went to the Material World Charitable Foundation, which Harrison started in 1973 to support charities that work with children and the poor.

George Harrison, official website / Rolling Stone / COS / Billboard / All Music / Song Facts / Ultimate Classic Rock / George Harrison

Image: “All Things Must Pass (album)” by George Harrison

Trivia

Trivia

● The oldest chemical elements - those known and used by humans for at least 2000 years are what metals?

Answer to Trivia

● Which 1878 Gilbert and Sullivan operetta was subtitled “The Lass that Loved a Sailor”?

Answer to Trivia

● What two numbers have a sum of one thousand and a difference of one hundred?

Answer to Trivia

● What is the home town of Shakespeare?

Answer to Trivia


Jeopardy

A Test for People Who Know Everything

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “DUMB DOWN THE SAYING” ($200)

“Arising in the morning from an incorrect mattress section.”

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

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “DUMB DOWN THE SAYING” ($400)

“Anchoring position at the bottom of a wooden sculpture carved by Native Americans of the Northwest.”

Answer for People Who Do Not Know Everything, or Want to Verify Their Answer English Stack Exchange

From the Jeopardy Archives Category - “DUMB DOWN THE SAYING” ($1,000)

“Flying mammals occupy that fellow's church bell tower.”/p>

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


Answer to Last Week's Test

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

“In the '70s this Cowboys quarterback was called 'Captain Comeback' & 'Roger the Dodger'.”

● Answer: Roger Staubach. Dallas Morning News

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

“NFL quarterback Archie Manning never reached the Super Bowl, but these 2 sons have each won a Super Bowl MVP award.”

● Answer: Eli and Peyton Manning. Indy Star

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

“This Vikings quarterback co-hosted 'That's Incredible!' & spoke at the 2016 Republican convention.”/p>

● Answer: Fran Tarkenton. Minneapolis Star Tribune


Joke of the Day

Joke of the Day

“Top 10 Jokes Only Adults Will Get in SpongeBob SquarePants”

“Top 10 Jokes Only Adults Will Get in SpongeBob SquarePants”

“A Man went to a Psychiatrist for his Phobia”

Joke of the Day

“A Man went to a Psychiatrist for his Phobia”

“Doc”, he said, “I've got trouble. Every time I get into bed, I think there's somebody under it. I get under the bed, I think there's somebody on top of it. Top, under, top, under. You gotta help me, I'm going crazy!”

“Just put yourself in my hands for two years”, said the shrink, “Come to me three times a week, and I'll cure your fears.”

“How much do you charge?”

“A hundred dollars per visit.”

“I'll sleep on it”, said the man.

Six months later the doctor met the man on the street.

“Why didn't you ever come to see me again?” asked the psychiatrist.

“For a hundred buck's a visit? A bartender cured me for ten dollars.”

“Is that so! How?”

“He told me to cut the legs off the bed!”