Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto; The Capture of Santa Anna on April 22, 1836

Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto; The Capture of Santa Anna: Headquarters, Camp at San Jacinto, Friday, April 22, 1836:

Dear Fellow Texians,

The troops combed the area for Mexican soldiers who had escaped the carnage and capture yesterday evening. Stragglers came in all day long. Many were lone soldiers who had been captured, then given a paper and told to report to the prisoner-of-war camp. Some were escorted in. As one group arrived the Mexican prisoners became excited and began yelling “General, General”.

James Sylvester of Colonel Sherman’s company from Kentucky had spied a Mexican walking east of Vince’s bridge and with the help of Messrs. Alfred H. Miles, Joseph Vermillion and Charles P. Thompson apprehended him. There was later some confusion as to who else was present. Joel W. Robison and Sion R. Bostick were possibly nearby. David Cole and Anderson Barclay would later also claimed to have been there. But Sylvester delivered the prisoner to the camp guard and left before the identity was revealed. Houston sent for Sylvester and acknowledged that it was he who captured Santa Anna.

Santa Anna was quickly taken to Sam Houston where he formally surrendered to the injured Houston. Translators were brought in and a somewhat cordial conversation ensured. The troops were urging Houston to let them string Santa Anna up for the atrocities he had committed but Houston obviously felt that Santa Anna was more important, and useful, as a prisoner than a corpse. A tent was set up nearby for Santa Anna with sufficient guards to prevent his escape, or harm coming to him.

The captured Mexican troops feared that they would be murdered but soon realized that was not to be. The wounded were treated. Blankets and a fire were provided. However, Santa Anna would not allow them to bury their dead brethren.

The day was also spent in collecting “the spoils of war.” Colonel Forbes was to make an accounting and then Houston would determine a disposition. It is rumored that most of it would be auctioned off and the money distributed to the men. A portion was to be given to the Texas Navy since they were effective in preventing supplies from reaching the Mexican Army.

Respectfully yours, An Observer and aide-de-camp

Meanwhile the rest of the Mexican Army: Don Miguel Aguirre, the captain of the Tampico Regiment that was acting as General Santa Anna’s guards arrived in Filisola’s camp on the Brazos River at Old Fort with the news of the total destruction of the Mexican army at San Jacinto.

Aguirre was wounded in his escape. A few soldiers and domestics also arrived and confirmed the news. Filisola was unsure about marching to Santa Anna’s aid (if Santa Anna was still alive) and risk the death of all Mexican prisoners by the Texian’s hands.

The alternative was to pull back to the Colorado River and request instructions from Mexico City. The Mexican Army was spread out over twelve leagues along the Brazos River from Old Fort to Brazoria where Urrea had arrived that morning. First, Filisola had to concentrate the army and then decide which course of action to take.

The Interim Government:

Continued conducting business at Galveston. They were not aware of the battle and its positive outcome.

Historical Commission Harris County Texas.gov / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Texas State Library Archives Commission.gov / National Parks Service.gov / San Jacinto Museum.org / Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto; The Capture of Santa Anna on April 22, 1836 (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology

Operational Environment

(DOD) A composite of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that affect the employment of capabilities and bear on the decisions of the commander.

Also called OE.

Joint Publications (JP 3-0) Joint Operations - Federation Of American Scientists

Operational Exposure Guidance

The maximum amount of nuclear/external ionizing radiation that the commander considers a unit may be permitted to receive while performing a particular mission or missions.

Also called OEG.

See also Radiation Exposure Status.

Joint Publications (JP 3-11) Joint Operations - Operations in Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Environments

The Old Salt’s Corner

“The Secret of the Sea”

(from Seaside and Fireside, 1850)

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me

As I gaze upon the sea!

All the old romantic legends,

All my dreams, come back to me.

Sails of silk and ropes of sandal,

Such as gleam in ancient lore;

And the singing of the sailors,

And the answer from the shore!

Most of all, the Spanish ballad

Haunts me oft, and tarries long,

Of the noble Count Arnaldos

And the sailor's mystic song.

Like the long waves on a sea-beach,

Where the sand as silver shines,

With a soft, monotonous cadence,

low its unrhymed lyric lines:

Telling how the Count Arnaldos,

With his hawk upon his hand,

Saw a fair and stately galley,

Steering onward to the land;

How he heard the ancient helmsman

Chant a song so wild and clear,

That the sailing sea-bird slowly

Poised upon the mast to hear,

Till his soul was full of longing,/p>

And he cried, with impulse strong,

“Helmsman! for the love of heaven,

Teach me, too, that wondrous song!”

“Wouldst thou”, so the helmsman answered,

“Learn the secret of the sea?

Only those who brave its dangers

Comprehend its mystery!”

In each sail that skims the horizon,

In each landward-blowing breeze,

I behold that stately galley

Hear those mournful melodies

Till my soul is full of longing

For the secret of the sea,

And the heart of the great ocean

Sends a thrilling pulse through me.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(from Seaside and Fireside, 1850)

“I’m Just Sayin”

“Who so sheddeth man's blood by man

shall his blood be shed.”

~ Genesis 9:6

“Thought for the Day”

“Beware that you do not lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.”

“A liar will not be believed,

even when he speaks the truth.”

“The level of our success is limited only by our imagination

and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.”

“Every truth has two sides;

it is as well to look at both,

before we commit ourselves to either.”

~ Aesop

“What I Learned”

>“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

“Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post,

you know he had some help.”

“Promise me you'll always remember:

You're braver than you believe,

and stronger than you seem,

and smarter than you think.”

~ Anonymous

Second Hand News: Articles from Week 17 - April 20, 2020 - April 26, 2020

Congressional watchdog preparing blitz of coronavirus audits • Victoria Coates denies being 'Anonymous' author after report that White House investigation points to her • Politicians join 'quarantine beard' phenomenon

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OUTING FAKE NEWS OMISSIONS and DISTORTIONS: ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Actually Urged Tech Executive To Crack Down On People Using Social Media Platform To Organize Protests Against Coronavirus Lockdowns • ABC Invites Pelosi to Spread Her Doomsday Fears of Trump’s Leadership • ABC, NBC Chide Unemployed Protesters as ‘AstroTurf’, Not The Majority • Democratic National Committee (DNC) 'War Room' Uses 23 Tweets from Journalists to Rip Trump Briefing

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Thinking in an Emergency.    2 of 2   

Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer.    2 of 2   

Tough Man, Tender Chicken.    2 of 2   

Between Man and Beast.    2 of 4    3 of 4    4 of 4    John Batchelor (04/13/2020)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: The Reason Why No Photography is Allowed in the Sistine Chapel

As the home of some of the greatest works of art produced by humanity, the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City is a popular tourist destination (to put it mildly). If you've been one of the 4 million visitors to the famous landmark each year, you've probably learned of one aspect of the room filled with Michelangelo's beautiful, biblical frescos that tends to come as a surprise to first-time guests.

There's no photography or video allowed in the Sistine Chapel.

Yes, despite the rules that encourage quiet contemplation of the fantastic, eye-popping art that adorns nearly every inch of the walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, visitors to the chapel will find their experience peppered with terse shouts of “No photo! No video!” from security guards.

The prohibition against photography has been in place for several decades, and while many assume that the no-photography rule is in place to prevent the flashing of cameras from affecting the art, the real reason dates back to the restoration of the chapel's art that began in 1980 and took nearly 20 years to complete.

When Vatican officials decided to undertake a comprehensive restoration of Michelangelo's art in the chapel, the price tag for such an endeavor prompted them to seek outside assistance to fund the project.

In the end, the highest bidder was Nippon Television Network Corporation of Japan, whose $3 million offering (which eventually ballooned to $4.2 million) was unmatched by any entity in Italy or the U.S.

In return for funding the renovation, Nippon TV received the exclusive rights to photography and video of the restored art, as well as photos and recordings of the restoration process by photographer Takashi Okamura, who was commissioned by Nippon TV.

While many initially scoffed at the deal, the high-resolution photos provided by Nippon offered a hyper-detailed peek behind all of the scaffolding that hid each stage of restoration, and eventually won over some critics of the arrangement.

As a result of the deal, Nippon produced multiple documentaries, art books, and other projects featuring their exclusive photos and footage of the Sistine Chapel restoration, including several celebrated collections of the photographic surveys that informed the project.

The ban on photography within the chapel remains in effect despite the waning of the terms of Nippon's deal. In 1990, The New York Times reported that Nippon's commercial exclusivity on photos expired three years after each stage of the restoration was completed. For example, photos of Michelangelo's epic depiction of Last Judgment were no longer subject to Nippon's copyright as of 1997, because that stage of the restoration was completed in 1994.

For the record, Nippon has stated that their photo ban did not apply to “ordinary tourists”, but for simplicity's sake - lest some professional photog disguised himself in Bermuda shorts and socks and sandals - authorities made it an across-the-board policy.

The “No Photos! No Video!” rule remains in place for the Sistine Chapel (though as some recent visitors can attest, its enforcement isn't exactly strict). Given the damage that can be caused by thousands of cameras' flashes going off in the chapel each day, it's no surprise that Vatican officials decided not to end the ban when Nippon's contract expired.

Musei Vaticani.va / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Mental Floss / Quora / Rome Info / Live Science / The Reason Why No Photography is Allowed in the Sistine Chapel (YouTube)

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Marching Party: In boot camp, an after-hours regimen of intensive training exercises, supervised by the command's special warfare personnel. Officially referred to as “Intensive Training” or “Advanced Intensive Training”.

MARF: Acronym used by a superior to a roving watchstander, means Make Another Round, Fucker. Also Modifications and Additions to Reactor Facility, an unusual and impractical research reactor in New York, later turned into a training platform (also phrased as My Ass is Royally Fucked.) (FOAD is what most nuke students wish the platform would do.)

Marine: A Sailor who failed to evolve.

MARINE: Acronym for Marines Always Ride in Navy Equipment...or Muscles are Required Intelligence Not Essential... or My Ass Really Is Navy Equipment..or My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment...or Muscles are Required Intelligence Not Expected.

Marine Dinner: Tray: Derogatory description (to the “eldest service branch”) of an enlisted sailor's 13 button flap on the front of his dress blue uniform trousers.

Marine Mattress: A female who likes to “socialize” with the Marines.

Marine Shower: No soap and water, just deodorant and cologne.

Marine Table Cloth: See Marine Dinner Tray.

Wiktionary.org

Just for you MARINE

Major: A Captain in command of a ship's Marine detachment, so titled because a ship may have only one Captain, the commanding officer.

Mama-san: Term of endearment for an elder Japanese woman, often a maid, cook, or tailor/seamstress performing services for Marines; from the Japanese honorific “san”.

MARINE: Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Non-Essential or My Ass Really Is Navy Equipment, pejorative backronyms used by other branches.

Marine: The following nicknames are usually acceptable: leatherneck, devil dog, sea soldier, warrior, hard charger, motivator; the following are acceptable from other Marines: jarhead, gyrene; the following are grievous insults: soldier, seabag.

Marine house: Security Guard term for living quarters for Marines, on or off embassy grounds.

Wikipedia.org

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

HSC-28 Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC) Squadron Twenty Eight (Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Twenty Eight or HSC-28) - nicknamed the “Dragon Whales”

United States Navy - Naval Air Station - Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia.

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder:”

Meaning: The missing of a person or thing increases the desire for it.

History: The Roman poet Sextus Propertius gave us the earliest form of this saying in Elegies:

“Always toward absent lovers love's tide stronger flows.”

The contemporary version appears in The Pocket Magazine of Classic and Polite Literature, 1832, in a piece by a Miss Stickland:

“Tis absense, however, that makes the heart grow fonder.”

As with many proverbial sayings there is another that expresses the exact opposite point of view - 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder' was also source material for the lewd wordplay:

“Absinthe makes the fart grow stronger.”

Phrases.org.uk

Science & Technology

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

How Rabies Inspired Folktales of Werewolves and Vampires

In 1855, a story about the gruesome murder of a bride by her new husband started it all.

In 1855, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on the gruesome murder of a bride by her new husband. The story came from the French countryside, where the woman's parents had initially prevented the couple's engagement “on account of the strangeness of conduct sometimes observed in the young man”, although he “otherwise was a most eli[g]ible match.”

The parents eventually consented, and the marriage took place. Shortly after the newlyweds withdrew to consummate their bond, “fearful shrieks” came from their quarters. People quickly arrived to find "the poor girl… in the agonies of death - her bosom torn open and lacerated in a most horrible manner, and the wretched husband in a fit of raving madness and covered with blood, having actually devoured a portion of the unfortunate girl's breast.”

The bride died a short time later. Her husband, after “a most violent resistance”, also expired.

What could have caused this horrifying incident? “It was then recollected, in answer to searching questions by a physician”, that the groom had previously “been bitten by a strange dog”. The passage of madness from dog to human seemed like the only possible reason for the grisly turn of events.

The Eagle described the episode matter-of-factly as “a sad and distressing case of hydrophobia”, or, in today's parlance, rabies.

But the account read like a Gothic horror story. It was essentially a werewolf narrative: The mad dog's bite caused a hideous metamorphosis, which transformed its human victim into a nefarious monster whose vicious sexual impulses led to obscene and loathsome violence.

“Mad Dogs and Other New Yorkers: Rabies, Medicine, and Society in an American Metropolis, 1840-1920”, explores the hidden meanings behind the ways people talked about rabies. Variants of the rabid groom story had been told and retold in English language newspapers in North America since at least the beginning of the 18th century, and they continued to appear as late as the 1890s.

The Eagle's account was, in essence, a folk tale about mad dogs and the thin dividing line between human and animal. Rabies created fear because it was a disease that seemed able to turn people into raging beasts.

A terrifying and fatal disease

The historian Eugen Weber once observed that French peasants in the 19th century feared “above all wolves, mad dogs, and fire”. Canine madness - or the disease that we know today as rabies - conjured up the canine terrors that have formed the stuff of nightmares for centuries.

Other infectious diseases- including cholera, typhoid and diphtheria - killed far more people in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The cry of “Mad dog!” nonetheless sparked an immediate sense of terror, because a simple dog bite could mean a protracted ordeal of grueling symptoms, followed by certain death.

Modern medicine knows that rabies is caused by a virus. Once it enters the body, it travels to the brain via the nervous system. The typical lag time of weeks or months between initial exposure and onset of symptoms means that rabies is no longer a death sentence if a patient quickly receives injections of immune antibodies and vaccine, in order to build immunity soon after encountering a suspect animal. Though it's rare for people to die of rabies in the U.S., the disease still kills tens of thousands of people globally every year.

According to 19th-century sources, after an incubation period of between four and 12 weeks, symptoms might start with a vague sense of agitation or restlessness. They then progressed to the wracking spasmodic episodes characteristic of rabies, along with sleeplessness, excitability, feverishness, rapid pulse, drooling and labored breathing. Victims not infrequently exhibited hallucinations or other mental disruptions as well.

Efforts to mitigate violent outbursts with drugs often failed, and physicians could then do little more than stand by and bear witness. Final release came only after the disease ran its inevitably fatal course, usually over a period of two to four days. Even today, rabies remains essentially incurable once clinical signs appear.

Centuries ago, the loss of bodily control and rationality triggered by rabies seemed like an assault on victims' basic humanity. From a real dreaded disease transmitted by animals emerged spine-tingling visions of supernatural forces that transferred malevolent animals' powers and turned people into monsters.

Bites that transform people into animals

Nineteenth-century American accounts never invoked the supernatural directly. But descriptions of symptoms indicated unspoken assumptions about how the disease transmitted the biting animal's essence to the suffering human.

Newspapers frequently described those who contracted rabies from dog bites as barking and snarling like dogs, while cat-bite victims scratched and spat. Hallucinations, respiratory spasms and out-of-control convulsions produced fearful impressions of the rabid animal's evil imprint.

Traditional preventive measures also showed how Americans quietly assumed a blurred boundary between humanity and animality. Folk remedies held that dog-bite victims could protect themselves from rabies by killing the dog that had already bitten them, or applying the offending dog's hair to the wound, or cutting off its tail.

Such preventatives implied a need to cut an invisible, supernatural tie between a dangerous animal and its human prey.

Sometimes the disease left eerie traces. When a Brooklynite died from rabies in 1886, the New York Herald recorded a freakish occurence: Within minutes after the man's last breath, “the bluish ring on his hand - the mark of the Newfoundland's fatal bite…disappeared”. Only death broke the mad dog's pernicious hold.

Vampires' roots in rabid dogs

It's possible that, along with werewolves, vampire stories also originated from rabies.

Physician Juan Gómez-Alonso has pointed out a resonance between vampirism and rabies in the hair-raising symptoms of the disease - the distorted sounds, exaggerated facial appearances, restlessness and sometimes wild and aggressive behaviors that made sufferers seem more monstrous than human.

Extreme oversensitivity to stimuli, which set off the tortuous spasmodic episodes associated with rabies, could have a particularly strange effect. A glance at a mirror might set off a violent response, in a chilling parallel with the living-dead vampire's inability to cast a reflection.

Moreover, in different eastern European folkloric traditions, vampires turned themselves not into bats, but into wolves or dogs, the key vectors of rabies.

• Werewolves: Lore, Legend & Lycanthropy

• Vampires, Zombies & Werewolves, Oh My! The Origins of Halloween Monsters

• 13 Bizarre Mythical Monsters to Haunt Your Halloween

• Halloween's 10 Scariest Monsters

Live Science (10/29/2019)