No one enjoys the Spice of Death
Connor Eckhardt made a bad decision. He decided he would smoke some "spice", a synthetic form of pot. He got ill, slipped into a coma and was declared brain dead last week. He was all of 19 years old.
I read about his story this morning, which happens to be the morning after I had a very intriguing conversation with my mother. We were talking last night about how when I was a kid, she gave me and my siblings a lot more freedom than children and teens get today. I was all of 12 years old when I travelled to my first bowling tournament away from home. There were 25 or 30 of us kids and only two adult chaperones. A trip like that now would involve way more adults to keep closer watch on the kids. We were way beyond "latchkey kids" because of my mother's work schedule. But she didn't worry, as long as she knew where we were. Times were different. Dangers like spice and sexual predators were nowhere near as prevalent then as they are today.
Then mom said something that took me aback. "Parents today teach their kids to be scared" was what she said and I thought about it for a moment. Thinking of all the "kids" I've dealt with in the last 27 years, I replied "I'm of the mind that good parents teach their children to be aware, not afraid. They work to heighten their senses so they don't have to be watched every single second, but making them just plain fearful will eventually isolate them."
There are many more risks to the children of this era than there were when I was a child. More vigilance is called for. Not fear-mongering though.
* * *
Recently we marked the 40th anniversary of the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. It is worth noting that he is one of the few exceptions to the rule that the popularity of a former president begins to rise once he is out of office.
It isn't that he was a bad president while in office (and I know I'm rehashing some stuff from a prior blog). He re-opened the door with China, although his 1972 journey there was just one step in a process that he'd actually started working on before being elected president. Nixon took office at the height of America's expressed displeasure with the war in Vietnam. He wrote to the leaders of North Vietnam to begin a peace process, and during drawdowns in our forces there, he ended the draft.
His misadventures in Chile have to be marked on the negative side of his ledger. So must the large increase in the sale of arms to the Middle East. He got credit for measures to attempt to reduce inflation and boost the U. S. economy, although recent analysis of his efforts by economists state that he did little to change the policies of his predecessor.
High marks should be given to Nixon for the creation of the EPA, implementation of the Philadelphia Plan, his endorsement of the Equal Rights Amendment, and for his oversight of judicial orders involving desegregation and busing, even though he personally was not in favor of those things.
If it weren't for that using of the FBI and the IRS to hammer his opponents, his generally high level of distrust and corruption and of course Watergate, he would be viewed positively. He is not held in high esteem by many.
I remember the long line of people waiting to walk by his grave at his Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. I just happened to be there, running an 8K road race, so I stood in line. I asked several of the people why they were standing in such a long line and more than once heard "because I want to be damn sure he's finally dead and gone."
You can do a lot of bad things in the Oval Office and get away with them. But not what Nixon did.
* * *
I'm tempted to buy a really cheap ticket to a MLB game so I can read the terms and conditions, after reading that the Yankees have banned Kate Upton from wearing any Detroit Tigers gear when she attends games at Yankee Stadium.
I'm guessing that the Yankees have the legal right to do that, but it's an idiotic move. Fans love to root for their team, no matter where a game is being played. Some of them spend a lot of money on their jerseys and caps and want to be able to wear them to the games. Back when I was a Dodgers season seat holder, on nights when the Mets or Cubs were in town, there were tons of fans in the stadium wearing Mets or Cubs gear. More power to them.
Kate Upton is going to draw attention no matter what she's wearing.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Bruce Jenner will be a lot more interested now that his real daughter is dating an NBA player, and rightly so.
Incumbent Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is running against a Democrat in this November's election, but his campaign is based on a different Democrat's unpopularity. President Obama is the target of McConnell. The media is being critical of him for doing so, but it isn't the first time someone's run against a President from the other party.
There is a 32 year old Navy SEAL who is trying to make the football team at Northwestern as a walk-on. I wouldn't bet against him making it. BUD/s makes college football tryouts seem like a picnic. During Hell Week prospective SEALs are given only four hours of sleep total for a one week period. Now that's stress!
Taylor Swift is doing one of those "Ew!" segments on The Tonight Show. Why is it that it is fairly easy to take a person considered extremely attractive and make them look ugly, but the reverse is much more difficult?
Seems the picture is getting only bleaker for the WWE. Their new cable channel has less than half the subscribers it needs to make money and the company may lose $50 million this fiscal year. Once again, when it ain't broke, don't fix it. Vincent K. McMahon swung for the fences and it looks like he's hit into a double-play.
I've watched the video of Tony Stewart hitting and killing that other driver in the dirt race. It wasn't his fault. The other guy hitting the wall might have been his fault, but the dead guy shouldn't have been running on the track.
Are the airstrikes on ISIS military units a good idea? They won't stop them, but it may well force them into fighting an insurgency campaign rather than the more conventional campaign they've waged up until now.
Tea Leoni is single again? There's still hope. I've had a crush on her since I saw her in "Flirting With Disaster."
There's an employee of Walt Disney's Epcot center who has been accused of taking a female employee into a "secluded custodial closet" and sexually assaulting her. What in the world goes through the mind of someone doing such an idiotic thing? He had to know he'd be caught, doing it there.
Okay, how many other folks first read the headline that disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner plans to open a restaurant also immediately wondered if it would be a hot dog stand? I did.
The chief of police in Lockport, NY says he didn't realize that describing a suspect as a "dark negro" might be offensive. Yeah, right.
* * *
August 10th in History:
955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West.
991 – Battle of Maldon: the English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon, Essex.
1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power after a 100-year Zagwe interregnum.
1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
1512 – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during the War of the League of Cambrai, sees the simultaneous destruction of the Breton ship La Cordelière and the English ship The Regent.
1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second in command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.
1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory over the French in the Habsburg-Valois Wars.
1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden voyage.
1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England is laid.
1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
1755 – Under the orders of Charles Lawrence, the British Army begins to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace – Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob.
1793 – The Musée du Louvre is officially opened in Paris, France.
1809 – Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares independence from Spain. This rebellion will be crushed on August 2, 1810.
1813 – Instituto Nacional, is founded by the Chilean patriot José Miguel Carrera. It is Chile's oldest and most prestigious school. Its motto is Labor Omnia Vincit, which means "Work conquers all things".
1821 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.
1846 – The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the United States Congress after James Smithson donates $500,000.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson's Creek – the war enters Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.
1864 – After Uruguay's governing Blanco Party refuses Brazil's demands, José Antônio Saraiva announces that the Brazilian military will begin reprisals, beginning the Uruguayan War.
1899 – the Norwegian football club Viking FK is founded.
1901 – The U.S. Steel Recognition Strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.
1904 – Russo-Japanese War: the Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
1913 – Second Balkan War: delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
1932 – A 5.1 kilograms (11 lb) chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.
1944 – World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Narva ends with a combined German–Estonian force successfully defending Narva, Estonia, from invading Soviet troops.
1948 – Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone.
1949 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment, streamlining the defense agencies of the United States government, and replacing the Department of War with the United States Department of Defense.
1953 – First Indochina War: The French Union withdraws its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central Vietnam.
1954 – At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.
1961 – First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange by the U.S. Army.
1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research is founded in Cooperstown, New York.
1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.
1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation.
1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: the head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted.
1988 – Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
1990 – More than 127 Muslims are killed in North East Sri Lanka by paramilitary troops.
1993 – An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale hits the South Island of New Zealand.
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.
1998 – HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
2001 – 2001 Angola train attack, 252 deaths.
2003 – The highest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom – 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent, England. It is the first time the United Kingdom has recorded a temperature over 100 °F (38 °C).
2003 – Yuri Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in space.
2009 – Twenty people are killed in Handlová, Trenčín Region, in the deadliest mining disaster in Slovakia's history.
2012 – The Marikana miners' strike begins near Rustenburg, South Africa.
2013 – The World Championships in Athletics takes place in Moscow, Russia.
Famous Folk Born on August 10th:
Henri Nestle
Herbert Hoover
Frank Marshall (creator of the Marshall Gambit)
Charles Darrow
Jack Haley
Norma Sheare
Leo Fender
Noah Beery Jr (Jim Rockford's dad)
Red Holzman
Jimmy Dean
Eddie Fisher
Tom Laughlin
(FYI, it was actually the film's martial arts coordinator, Bong Soo Han who made that kick)
Doyle Brunson
Rocky Colavito
Kate O'Mara
Bobby Hatfield
Jimmy Griffin
Ronnie Spector
Patti Austin
Diane Venora
Rosanna Arquette
Antonio Banderas
Jon Farriss
Suzanne Collins
Riddick Bowe
Angie Harmon
Wade Barrett
Kylie Jenner
I read about his story this morning, which happens to be the morning after I had a very intriguing conversation with my mother. We were talking last night about how when I was a kid, she gave me and my siblings a lot more freedom than children and teens get today. I was all of 12 years old when I travelled to my first bowling tournament away from home. There were 25 or 30 of us kids and only two adult chaperones. A trip like that now would involve way more adults to keep closer watch on the kids. We were way beyond "latchkey kids" because of my mother's work schedule. But she didn't worry, as long as she knew where we were. Times were different. Dangers like spice and sexual predators were nowhere near as prevalent then as they are today.
Then mom said something that took me aback. "Parents today teach their kids to be scared" was what she said and I thought about it for a moment. Thinking of all the "kids" I've dealt with in the last 27 years, I replied "I'm of the mind that good parents teach their children to be aware, not afraid. They work to heighten their senses so they don't have to be watched every single second, but making them just plain fearful will eventually isolate them."
There are many more risks to the children of this era than there were when I was a child. More vigilance is called for. Not fear-mongering though.
* * *
Recently we marked the 40th anniversary of the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. It is worth noting that he is one of the few exceptions to the rule that the popularity of a former president begins to rise once he is out of office.
It isn't that he was a bad president while in office (and I know I'm rehashing some stuff from a prior blog). He re-opened the door with China, although his 1972 journey there was just one step in a process that he'd actually started working on before being elected president. Nixon took office at the height of America's expressed displeasure with the war in Vietnam. He wrote to the leaders of North Vietnam to begin a peace process, and during drawdowns in our forces there, he ended the draft.
His misadventures in Chile have to be marked on the negative side of his ledger. So must the large increase in the sale of arms to the Middle East. He got credit for measures to attempt to reduce inflation and boost the U. S. economy, although recent analysis of his efforts by economists state that he did little to change the policies of his predecessor.
High marks should be given to Nixon for the creation of the EPA, implementation of the Philadelphia Plan, his endorsement of the Equal Rights Amendment, and for his oversight of judicial orders involving desegregation and busing, even though he personally was not in favor of those things.
If it weren't for that using of the FBI and the IRS to hammer his opponents, his generally high level of distrust and corruption and of course Watergate, he would be viewed positively. He is not held in high esteem by many.
I remember the long line of people waiting to walk by his grave at his Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. I just happened to be there, running an 8K road race, so I stood in line. I asked several of the people why they were standing in such a long line and more than once heard "because I want to be damn sure he's finally dead and gone."
You can do a lot of bad things in the Oval Office and get away with them. But not what Nixon did.
* * *
I'm tempted to buy a really cheap ticket to a MLB game so I can read the terms and conditions, after reading that the Yankees have banned Kate Upton from wearing any Detroit Tigers gear when she attends games at Yankee Stadium.
I'm guessing that the Yankees have the legal right to do that, but it's an idiotic move. Fans love to root for their team, no matter where a game is being played. Some of them spend a lot of money on their jerseys and caps and want to be able to wear them to the games. Back when I was a Dodgers season seat holder, on nights when the Mets or Cubs were in town, there were tons of fans in the stadium wearing Mets or Cubs gear. More power to them.
Kate Upton is going to draw attention no matter what she's wearing.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Bruce Jenner will be a lot more interested now that his real daughter is dating an NBA player, and rightly so.
Incumbent Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is running against a Democrat in this November's election, but his campaign is based on a different Democrat's unpopularity. President Obama is the target of McConnell. The media is being critical of him for doing so, but it isn't the first time someone's run against a President from the other party.
There is a 32 year old Navy SEAL who is trying to make the football team at Northwestern as a walk-on. I wouldn't bet against him making it. BUD/s makes college football tryouts seem like a picnic. During Hell Week prospective SEALs are given only four hours of sleep total for a one week period. Now that's stress!
Taylor Swift is doing one of those "Ew!" segments on The Tonight Show. Why is it that it is fairly easy to take a person considered extremely attractive and make them look ugly, but the reverse is much more difficult?
Seems the picture is getting only bleaker for the WWE. Their new cable channel has less than half the subscribers it needs to make money and the company may lose $50 million this fiscal year. Once again, when it ain't broke, don't fix it. Vincent K. McMahon swung for the fences and it looks like he's hit into a double-play.
I've watched the video of Tony Stewart hitting and killing that other driver in the dirt race. It wasn't his fault. The other guy hitting the wall might have been his fault, but the dead guy shouldn't have been running on the track.
Are the airstrikes on ISIS military units a good idea? They won't stop them, but it may well force them into fighting an insurgency campaign rather than the more conventional campaign they've waged up until now.
Tea Leoni is single again? There's still hope. I've had a crush on her since I saw her in "Flirting With Disaster."
There's an employee of Walt Disney's Epcot center who has been accused of taking a female employee into a "secluded custodial closet" and sexually assaulting her. What in the world goes through the mind of someone doing such an idiotic thing? He had to know he'd be caught, doing it there.
Okay, how many other folks first read the headline that disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner plans to open a restaurant also immediately wondered if it would be a hot dog stand? I did.
The chief of police in Lockport, NY says he didn't realize that describing a suspect as a "dark negro" might be offensive. Yeah, right.
* * *
August 10th in History:
955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West.
991 – Battle of Maldon: the English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon, Essex.
1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power after a 100-year Zagwe interregnum.
1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
1512 – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during the War of the League of Cambrai, sees the simultaneous destruction of the Breton ship La Cordelière and the English ship The Regent.
1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second in command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.
1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory over the French in the Habsburg-Valois Wars.
1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden voyage.
1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England is laid.
1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
1755 – Under the orders of Charles Lawrence, the British Army begins to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace – Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob.
1793 – The Musée du Louvre is officially opened in Paris, France.
1809 – Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares independence from Spain. This rebellion will be crushed on August 2, 1810.
1813 – Instituto Nacional, is founded by the Chilean patriot José Miguel Carrera. It is Chile's oldest and most prestigious school. Its motto is Labor Omnia Vincit, which means "Work conquers all things".
1821 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.
1846 – The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the United States Congress after James Smithson donates $500,000.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson's Creek – the war enters Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.
1864 – After Uruguay's governing Blanco Party refuses Brazil's demands, José Antônio Saraiva announces that the Brazilian military will begin reprisals, beginning the Uruguayan War.
1899 – the Norwegian football club Viking FK is founded.
1901 – The U.S. Steel Recognition Strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.
1904 – Russo-Japanese War: the Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
1913 – Second Balkan War: delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
1932 – A 5.1 kilograms (11 lb) chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.
1944 – World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Narva ends with a combined German–Estonian force successfully defending Narva, Estonia, from invading Soviet troops.
1948 – Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone.
1949 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment, streamlining the defense agencies of the United States government, and replacing the Department of War with the United States Department of Defense.
1953 – First Indochina War: The French Union withdraws its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central Vietnam.
1954 – At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.
1961 – First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange by the U.S. Army.
1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research is founded in Cooperstown, New York.
1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.
1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation.
1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: the head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted.
1988 – Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
1990 – More than 127 Muslims are killed in North East Sri Lanka by paramilitary troops.
1993 – An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale hits the South Island of New Zealand.
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.
1998 – HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
2001 – 2001 Angola train attack, 252 deaths.
2003 – The highest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom – 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent, England. It is the first time the United Kingdom has recorded a temperature over 100 °F (38 °C).
2003 – Yuri Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in space.
2009 – Twenty people are killed in Handlová, Trenčín Region, in the deadliest mining disaster in Slovakia's history.
2012 – The Marikana miners' strike begins near Rustenburg, South Africa.
2013 – The World Championships in Athletics takes place in Moscow, Russia.
Famous Folk Born on August 10th:
Henri Nestle
Herbert Hoover
posted by me at 8:38 PM
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