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March 9th, 2008 sun
March 9th, 2008



Question; How do you make a Molotov Cocktail?

Yesterdays Question answered below: When you are told to Give No Quarter, or expect No Quarter, what does that mean?
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History for 3/9/2008
Birthdays: Amerigo Vespucci, Eddie Foy Sr., Yuri Gargarin the first man in Space, Samuel Barber, chess master Bobby Fischer, Mickey Spillane, Vita Sackville-West, Raul Julia, Vacheslav Molotov, Juliet Binoche, Linda Fiorentino, Lil’ Bow-Wow

1796-NAPOLEON & JOSEPHINE'S WEDDING ANNIVERSARY- Legend has it Napoleon was working late at the office planning to attack Italy so arrived two hours late. The minister had dozed off and Napoleon shouted:" Wake up Citizen and Marry Us!" Josephine (34) was about 8 years older than Nappy (26) so to smooth over the difference on the marriage certificate he made himself 18 months older and she took four years off.

1858- THE MAILBOX is patented. One legend has it first invented by English writer Anthony Trollope.

1862- THE MONITOR VS. THE MERRIMAC. The first battle between iron warships. The Confederate Merrimac also called the Virginia spent yesterday shooting up the wooden Yankee fleet, it's armor plating laughing off their cannonballs. She was preparing to finish the job today when the weirdly designed little U.S.S. Monitor chugged into view. The two ironclads fought to a draw, but it saved the remainder of the Union fleet. When you see paintings of the event, they neglect the fact that both ships were covered with pork fat to keep them slippery, and it must have caught fire during the cannon fire. So imagine two flaming pork chops bobbing in the water shooting at each other. They kept bouncing cannonballs off their iron sides all day. At one point the confederate captain asked his gunnery officer why he had stopped firing. He replied:" Because I'm doing her as much damage as if I snapped my fingers at her every two and a half minutes!" The Merrimac's crew even tried to board the Monitor with pistols and cutlasses, but she was too un-maneuverable to catch her. Finally exhausted, they both drew off for the night.
The CSS Merrimac was later blown up when it's home base at Norfolk was captured by land forces and the USS Monitor sank in a storm. But both sides began to build more iron warships. The London Times correspondent John Russell had watched the battle and wired home:" As of today every wooden fleet in the world is now obsolete."

1907-Former Edison animator J. Stuart Blackton starts "Moving Picture World" an early movie fanzine.

1935- The Looney Tune Cartoon "I haven’t Got a Hat" premiered. This cartoon gave birth to the first permanent Warner Bros. Cartoon star- Porky Pig. Daffy Duck came in 1937 and Bugs Bunny in 1940.

1954- Edgar R. Murrow does a "See It Now" television broadcast detailing the life of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the commie-chaser. The obvious contradictions and gross opportunism in McCarthy's record when laid out to a nationwide audience destroyed his career and took the steam out of the "Red Scare" of the 50's. It is probably television journalism's finest moment. For the lowest ? Well, what's on tonight ?

1955- Actor James Dean’s film East of Eden premiered today,.

1959-The first "Clutch Cargo" show.

1974- Lieutenant Hiru Onada came out of the Philippine jungle and surrendered, at last made to understand that World War Two had been over for thirty years. Even after he captured a radio when he heard the news of American troops in Vietnam and Korea w he thought they were just propaganda. He was finally convinced after Japanese researchers produced his retired Major, who read over a bullhorn the surrender orders he first gave in 1945.

1984- Roy E. Disney Jr. resigned from the central board of the Walt Disney Company, setting in motion a series of takeover bids and maneuvering that by August would leave him in control of the company. Disney' Studios at the time was 14th in box office receipts. The joke was "Some people work for Disney, others work in film." Roy Disney and his partner Frank Wells brought in Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg from Paramount and in two years Disney was the #1 box office earner.

1989- Artist-photographer Robert Maplethorpe died of AIDS.

1997- Gangsta-rap singer Christopher Wallace, who was known as the Notorious B.I.G. and also called Biggie Smalls, was shot and killed by a gangsta-style drive by. His last album was entitled Life After Death. Notorious BIG could never shake the accusation that he was involved in the similar murder of singer Tupac Shakur.
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Yesterdays Question: When you are told to Give No Quarter, or expect No Quarter, what does that mean?

Answer: In the Middle Ages, people were taught not to negotiate, but to ask for the Fair Price for things. When a Knight was captured in battle, he was offered his freedom for a ransom, and the fair price was one quarter of his yearly income. So not killing your captives was called Giving Quarter, or offering Quarter. Taking no prisoners was called Giving No Quarter.


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