Things I Want to Know

Pigeons

2010-07-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

Living in Savannah and attending high school in the downtown area put me in the midst of hundreds of pigeons. I never liked them any where near me nor did I want to be where ever the congregated. I guess a bit was fear because they seem to be use to humans, and the other reasons is because they would poop anywhere.
Los Angeles has a great deal of outdoor restaurants and there are always pigeons near by. The day the above photo was taken, for some reason I became interested in these pesty birds.

Pigeons have been on earth for 20 million years, which is longer than people. The original pigeons we called Rock Doves and they lived among cliffs and rocky ledges in Africa, Asia, Europe , and the Middle East. The first pigeons in North America were brought over by people from Europe who settled in Canada in the 1600s. The pigeons that escaped from settlers for the wild flocks you see today, that live among office building, bridges, and other man-made structures.

These birds come in over 28 colors and can fly 40 to 50 mph. The two that we see most often is the Blue-Bar like the one in the photo and the Rock Pigeon, which has a bit more color around the neck and a more narrow build.

Pigeons were used to send messages back home from battle by Julius Ceasar, to give the news of the winners of the Olypic Games as early as 775BC, they were used as messengers as recent as WWII, until the telegraphy was discovered. Nobody knows how these birds are able to find their way back home from 100s of miles away, but they do.

Cher Ami is the name of a pigeon that is credited for saving the lives of many soldiers in WWI. The soldiers used pigeons to send messages to fellow troops letting others know that they were in trouble, but two of these pigeons were shot down before delivering the message; but this one pigeon they named Cher Ami followed through and delivered the message even after having one leg shot off and was hit by another bullet, and kept on flying, finally delivering the message.

Today Cher Ami's body can be seen at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

New Discoveries about King Tutankhamun -At What Costs?

2010-02-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

Discovery channel featured a program called 'King Tut Unwrapped' and it was quite interesting.
Tutankhamun has been the subject of much fascination for decades, and I guess it is rightfully so, because with the technology and science of today, we are able to realize and prove many things of history than ever before.

This a man that lived before Christ. That is just so hard to wrap my head around.

It just amazes me how much time and money is spent on researching and analyzing our history, as I think it should be, but why are there thousands of rape kits not being analyzed? When it is the same type of testing, DNA testing, that is being used for both. I understand that this is a very expensive process, and even more expensive when it takes highly sensitizes equipment in state of the art labs to test DNA of mummy millions of years old.

In sexual assault cases, where People have been victimized and many lives destroyed, the process is less expensive.

No, I am not suggesting that we take money from one to put to the other, because I believe the discoveries that are being made is of great importance and has infinite ramifications; but so does the trauma of violent crimes on its victims and their families.

It is sad when the stories of the dead takes precedence over the stories of the living.

Bob Dylan's Participation in Civil Rights

2010-02-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee has been instrumental in social change since the 1960's with his folk music. He was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota.

At the age of six, his father was stuck with Polio and the family moved to Hibbing, Minnesota, a small but close-knit Jewish community where his mother was from. He spent most of his youth listening to the radio and fell in love with music, at the time it was rock and roll.

When he entered the University of Minnesota, he decided that rock and roll was not enough for him and turned to folk music. He wanted to write and sing songs that reflected life, with all its pain and deep emotions. He wanted to tell these stories. It was at this time that he started to introduce himself as Bob Dylan.

In 1963 Dylan was very active in the Civil Rights Movement, when he was to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, and because of his politics and the song that he wanted to sing on the show "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" CBS Television believed it to be slanderous against the John Birch Society, so instead of being censored, he refuse to appear on the show.

Of course this got him a great deal of attention.

In August of 1963, Dylan and his partner Baez sang songs from his third album " The Times They Are A-Changin", at the March on Washington.
On this album were songs like, " Only A Pawn in Their Game", which addressed the death of Medger Evers; "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" about the death of a black barmaid at the hands of a white socialite; and many others that carried strong political messages.
He also recorded this song,

" The Death of Emmit Tillman"

By the end of that year the pressure and tension of his activism had taken his told and the music changed.

Green Stimulus Jobs Going to China? - ABC News

2010-02-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

How is it possible to tell the American people that the stimulus package of over 700 million dollars to stimulate the economy by creating more Green jobs here in America. These jobs will push us toward creating cleaner energy, making us less dependent on petroleum, becoming more independent, creating and purchasing more of our own projects, and much more.

How is this possible when a large portion of this money was handed directly to foreign companies that just happen to have a small entity here on US soil. Now this is an explanation that I would love to hear. Who actually handed this money over, and what did they think would happen? Or was this just a way to do business as usual.

I believe that Obama's intentions were to make a real change in government, and believed that he could, but maybe he is also disillusioned about these possibilities. Now that he is there, he realizes that he may be the President of the free world, but he has limited control. Unfortunately there is no backing out, and blowing the whistle will be perceived as the cowardly thing to do.

I understand that you have to give and take in any position of power. It is also unfortunate that the average Americans will not come together to force those that we elect to do what they are put there to do, instead of pursuing their own agenda and having their pockets lined by big business.

Once again I have no faith in our government "being for the people", because it is not "by the people".

Green Stimulus Jobs Going to China? - ABC News

Mother's Day - It's Origins

2009-05-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day was created by a woman named Anna Jarvis as a day for each family to honor their mother. She was very specific about the placement of the apostrophe, because she wanted individual mothers to be honored and not a collective celebration for all mother. This holiday is pretty modern and not to be confused with the early pagan and christian holidays honoring mothers.
When Anna's own mother died she held a memorial for her two years after her death and embarked upon a campaign to make Mother's Day a holiday. In 1914, Anna Jarvis succeeded in making Mother's Day a national holiday. There is a shrine, The International Mother's Day Shrine, built in Grafton, West Virginia where Anna moved to as a child, in commemoration of her efforts.
By the 1920's Anna and her sister Ellsinore became so sour on the commercialization of the holiday, that they spent their inheritance fighting against the holiday, and they died in poverty.
She became embittered because too many people were sending their mother greeting cards and boxes of candy that they often ate themselves. She thought this all was too impersonal.

We have made most holidays really commercial and impersonal.

Buffalo Soldiers

2009-03-06T00:07:00.000-08:00

This Photo was taken in Georgia or Florida at the turn of the century as the soldiers prepared for battle in the Spanish American War of 1898

My first discovery of the Buffalo Soldiers was when a good friend of mine bought that two beautiful and quite expensive oil paintings of the Buffalo Soldiers, but I had no idea of their significance. Since that time I would see pictures or read articles that would reference the Buffalo Soldiers. It was not until I read the recent article in the American Legacy Magazine about these soldiers that I decided to learn.
These black men fought battles since the colonial times and consisted both of slaves and freemen. These Negro soldiers were responsible for escorting settlers, cattle, and railroad crews during the Westward movement . They fought off the Native Americans from Montana to Arizona in order for the many to settle in this area. It was actually the Native Americans that gave them the name "Buffalo Soldier".
The combat prowess, bravery, tenaciousness, and looks on the battlefield, inspired the Indians to call them "Buffalo Soldiers." Many Indians believe the name symbolized the Native American's respect for the Buffalo Soldiers' bravery and valor. Buffalo Soldiers, down through the years, have worn the name with pride.

During the Civil War over 180,000 Negro soldiers served in the Union and over 33,000 were killed. They initially started out as the 9th and 10th infantry regiments, later there was the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st regiments; which was condensed into the 24th and the 25th infantry regiments.

For further reading refer to The Buffalo Soldiers by William H. Leckie. This book, a narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West, remains one of the best sources on the subject.