A day of losses
Thursday, September 4th 2014 is a day of losses. We lost a cultural icon by the name of Joan Rivers. She died roughly one week after something went wrong during a minor, out-patient procedure. I may have written some negative things about her in the past, but that doesn't mean I don't mourn her passing. I do. With the exception of some of her material that I find objectionable, she was one of the best stand-up comics, ever. RIP, Joan.
In a courtroom in Virginia, a former governor and his wife lost a case that will probably result in both of them going to jail. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen were found guilty of multiple charges of corruption. While each faces decades behind bars, observers believe their sentences will not be quite that severe.
However, over the long run, the biggest loss today may be the State of California. Tesla Motors is going to build its Gigafactory in Nevada, and not in California. The cost of the facility has been estimated to be in the range of $4 billion and $5 billion. There will be jobs, tax revenues and so on that are going to our neighbor to the East rather than staying here at home.
Tesla is a company that manufactures "green" automobiles and one of the reasons that the company chose not to locate in California is that the state's environmental regulations are too strict. How ironic. What cannot be avoided is that businesses are not only fleeing our state because the cost of doing business here is so much higher than in other states, but businesses that might have come here choose to go elsewhere.
Our legislature's profligate spending and the fact that California is the most "nanny-like" state in the Union is why it costs so much to do business here. Maybe that should be factored into the discussion the next time someone in the legislature wants to make it more expensive to do business here.
* * *
Today is the 55th anniversary of the day I was born. When I was a younger man and in better physical condition, I would ride my mountain bike one mile for each year I'd been alive. Now I can't walk a block for each year.
That's okay. While I will never be happy about my limitations, I continue to grow more comfortable living within them.
I have mixed feelings about birthday celebrations. I love it when my friends and family remember and acknowledge my birthday. However, unless I'm teaching a class, I don't feel comfortable being the center of attention.
So yes, I love seeing people write on my FB wall or reaching out to me in other ways (phone calls, emails and so on), I am very happy there will be no "parties" today.
* * *
The decision in a Louisiana court that upheld the state's ban on the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal seems troubling on the surface. On closer examination however, it is more akin to the futile gesture of a tiny field mouse "flipping the bird" to the large eagle swooping in to eat him.
Ultimately the United States Supreme Court is going to go beyond its decision where it overturned part of the Defense of Marriage Act and legalize same-sex marriage throughout the land. That would be the proper thing to do. The United States Constitution, as written by our Founding Fathers, cannot be correctly interpreted otherwise at this point in our history.
Like it or not, marriage is a legal contract. A social construct to confer certain rights and responsibilities on the two people who are choosing to enter into that contract. That many religions regard marriage as an issue of faith and belief doesn't change this fact. Those who perform marriage ceremonies that aren't strictly "civil" in nature make reference to the power vested in them by the state. That is because their marriage won't be recognized as legal by the state if the person performing the ceremony isn't legally able to marry the couple.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Schools should not be making students wear a "shame suit" because their clothing didn't meet dress code specifications.
I think the definition of the term "star" gets looser and looser with each season of Dancing With the Stars.
Walmart's dress code is unforgiveable. If I'm repeating this, it is because I feel strongly about it.
The new report from the WHO that tells us someone on this planet commits suicide every 40 seconds is more than alarming.
Texting/phoning someone over 21,000 times over a ten month period is just dumb.
Bananas apparently can help prevent strokes in women. Or at least make them less likely. Can someone explain to me why they would do this for women and not for men?
Five items were mentioned in an article on subjects to avoid in interviews:
Anything that makes you look unreliable
Your perceived superiority
Your problems in previous jobs
Your protected status
Your politics
So someone went to all the trouble to tell you to use common sense when you go on a job interview.
They caught that albino cobra. Question is, how did it get to California in the first place?
* * *
September 5th in History:
917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu.
1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris.
1661 – Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers.
1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings including St Paul's Cathedral are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.
1697 – War of the Grand Alliance : A French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay.
1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
1725 – Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.
1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown.
1793 – French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.
1798 – Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law.
1812 – War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.
1816 – Louis XVIII has to dissolve the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber").
1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1839 – The United Kingdom declares war on the Qing dynasty of China.
1840 – Premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Un giorno di regno at La Scala of Milan.
1862 – American Civil War: The Potomac River is crossed at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign.
1862 – James Glaisher, pioneering meteorologist and Henry Tracey Coxwell break world record for altitude whilst collecting data in their balloon.
1864 – François Achille Bazaine becomes Marshal of France.
1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.
1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.
1887 – A fire at Theatre Royal in Exeter, England kills 186.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, United States, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war.
1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).
1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.
1915 – The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins.
1918 – The original publication of the Cheka decree, "On Red Terror".
1921 – Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle party in San Francisco ends with the death of the young actress Virginia Rappe: One of the first scandals of the Hollywood community.
1927 – The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.
1932 – The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege.
1938 – Chile: A group of youths affiliated with the fascist National Socialist Movement of Chile are assassinated in the Seguro Obrero massacre.
1941 – Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
1942 – World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War.
1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae Nadzab Airport, near Lae in the Salamaua–Lae campaign.
1944 – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux.
1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.
1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.
1948 – In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister, As such, he is the negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II.
1957 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos.
1960 – The poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is elected as the first President of Senegal.
1960 – Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.
1961 – The first conference of the Non Aligned Countries is held in Belgrade.
1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
1970 – Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.
1970 – Jochen Rindt becomes the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine die the following day.
1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
1977 – Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany by the Red Army Faction and is later murdered.
1977 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland.
1980 – The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.
1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
1990 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers slaughter 158 civilians.
1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.
1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damage and killed 27 people.
2012 – A firecracker factory explodes near Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, killing 40 and injuring 50 others.
2012 – An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds four others.
Famous Folk Born on September 5th:
Louis VIII of France
Louis XIV of France
Edmund Kennedy
Jack Daniel (yeah, he started the company)
Jesse James
Cornelius Vanderbilt III
Nap Lajoie (3rd player in Major League Baseball to reach the 3,000 hits plateau)
Arthur Nielsen
Darryl F. Zanuck
Elisabeth Volkenrath (I hope she's rotting in Hell)
Jack Valenti
Paul Volcker
Bob Newhart
Dennis Letts
Jonathan Kozol
Bill Mazeroski
Meg Beresford
George Lazenby
John Stewart
Raquel Welch
Werner Herzog
Al Stewart
Dennis Dugan
Freddie Mercury
Buddy Miles
Cathy Guisewite
Michael Keaton
Paddy Considine
Rose McGowan
Ann Marie Rios
In a courtroom in Virginia, a former governor and his wife lost a case that will probably result in both of them going to jail. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen were found guilty of multiple charges of corruption. While each faces decades behind bars, observers believe their sentences will not be quite that severe.
However, over the long run, the biggest loss today may be the State of California. Tesla Motors is going to build its Gigafactory in Nevada, and not in California. The cost of the facility has been estimated to be in the range of $4 billion and $5 billion. There will be jobs, tax revenues and so on that are going to our neighbor to the East rather than staying here at home.
Tesla is a company that manufactures "green" automobiles and one of the reasons that the company chose not to locate in California is that the state's environmental regulations are too strict. How ironic. What cannot be avoided is that businesses are not only fleeing our state because the cost of doing business here is so much higher than in other states, but businesses that might have come here choose to go elsewhere.
Our legislature's profligate spending and the fact that California is the most "nanny-like" state in the Union is why it costs so much to do business here. Maybe that should be factored into the discussion the next time someone in the legislature wants to make it more expensive to do business here.
* * *
Today is the 55th anniversary of the day I was born. When I was a younger man and in better physical condition, I would ride my mountain bike one mile for each year I'd been alive. Now I can't walk a block for each year.
That's okay. While I will never be happy about my limitations, I continue to grow more comfortable living within them.
I have mixed feelings about birthday celebrations. I love it when my friends and family remember and acknowledge my birthday. However, unless I'm teaching a class, I don't feel comfortable being the center of attention.
So yes, I love seeing people write on my FB wall or reaching out to me in other ways (phone calls, emails and so on), I am very happy there will be no "parties" today.
* * *
The decision in a Louisiana court that upheld the state's ban on the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal seems troubling on the surface. On closer examination however, it is more akin to the futile gesture of a tiny field mouse "flipping the bird" to the large eagle swooping in to eat him.
Ultimately the United States Supreme Court is going to go beyond its decision where it overturned part of the Defense of Marriage Act and legalize same-sex marriage throughout the land. That would be the proper thing to do. The United States Constitution, as written by our Founding Fathers, cannot be correctly interpreted otherwise at this point in our history.
Like it or not, marriage is a legal contract. A social construct to confer certain rights and responsibilities on the two people who are choosing to enter into that contract. That many religions regard marriage as an issue of faith and belief doesn't change this fact. Those who perform marriage ceremonies that aren't strictly "civil" in nature make reference to the power vested in them by the state. That is because their marriage won't be recognized as legal by the state if the person performing the ceremony isn't legally able to marry the couple.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Schools should not be making students wear a "shame suit" because their clothing didn't meet dress code specifications.
I think the definition of the term "star" gets looser and looser with each season of Dancing With the Stars.
Walmart's dress code is unforgiveable. If I'm repeating this, it is because I feel strongly about it.
The new report from the WHO that tells us someone on this planet commits suicide every 40 seconds is more than alarming.
Texting/phoning someone over 21,000 times over a ten month period is just dumb.
Bananas apparently can help prevent strokes in women. Or at least make them less likely. Can someone explain to me why they would do this for women and not for men?
Five items were mentioned in an article on subjects to avoid in interviews:
Anything that makes you look unreliable
Your perceived superiority
Your problems in previous jobs
Your protected status
Your politics
So someone went to all the trouble to tell you to use common sense when you go on a job interview.
They caught that albino cobra. Question is, how did it get to California in the first place?
* * *
September 5th in History:
917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu.
1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris.
1661 – Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers.
1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings including St Paul's Cathedral are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.
1697 – War of the Grand Alliance : A French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay.
1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
1725 – Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.
1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown.
1793 – French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.
1798 – Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law.
1812 – War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.
1816 – Louis XVIII has to dissolve the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber").
1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1839 – The United Kingdom declares war on the Qing dynasty of China.
1840 – Premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Un giorno di regno at La Scala of Milan.
1862 – American Civil War: The Potomac River is crossed at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign.
1862 – James Glaisher, pioneering meteorologist and Henry Tracey Coxwell break world record for altitude whilst collecting data in their balloon.
1864 – François Achille Bazaine becomes Marshal of France.
1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.
1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.
1887 – A fire at Theatre Royal in Exeter, England kills 186.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, United States, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war.
1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).
1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.
1915 – The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins.
1918 – The original publication of the Cheka decree, "On Red Terror".
1921 – Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle party in San Francisco ends with the death of the young actress Virginia Rappe: One of the first scandals of the Hollywood community.
1927 – The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.
1932 – The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege.
1938 – Chile: A group of youths affiliated with the fascist National Socialist Movement of Chile are assassinated in the Seguro Obrero massacre.
1941 – Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
1942 – World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War.
1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae Nadzab Airport, near Lae in the Salamaua–Lae campaign.
1944 – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux.
1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.
1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.
1948 – In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister, As such, he is the negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II.
1957 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos.
1960 – The poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is elected as the first President of Senegal.
1960 – Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.
1961 – The first conference of the Non Aligned Countries is held in Belgrade.
1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
1970 – Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.
1970 – Jochen Rindt becomes the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine die the following day.
1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
1977 – Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany by the Red Army Faction and is later murdered.
1977 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland.
1980 – The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.
1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
1990 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers slaughter 158 civilians.
1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.
1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damage and killed 27 people.
2012 – A firecracker factory explodes near Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, killing 40 and injuring 50 others.
2012 – An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds four others.
Famous Folk Born on September 5th:
Louis VIII of France
Louis XIV of France
Edmund Kennedy
Jack Daniel (yeah, he started the company)
Jesse James
Cornelius Vanderbilt III
Nap Lajoie (3rd player in Major League Baseball to reach the 3,000 hits plateau)
Arthur Nielsen
Darryl F. Zanuck
Elisabeth Volkenrath (I hope she's rotting in Hell)
Jack Valenti
Paul Volcker
Bob Newhart
Dennis Letts
Jonathan Kozol
Bill Mazeroski
Meg Beresford
George Lazenby
John Stewart
Raquel Welch
Werner Herzog
Al Stewart
Dennis Dugan
Freddie Mercury
Buddy Miles
Cathy Guisewite
Michael Keaton
Paddy Considine
Rose McGowan
Ann Marie Rios
posted by me at 2:54 PM
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