An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for History
The End Of The World?
Another Mayan Relic Points to 2012 Doomsday Prediction
Mexican archaeologists have acknowledged a discovery of second reference to a 2012 apocalypse in a carved fragment found at a southern Mayan ruin site but downplayed the predicted end of the world scenario next year as nothing but a Western interpretation.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement that the date of the apocalypse has been found in a carved or molded face of a brick in the Comalcalco ruin in the southern part of the country. The only surviving reference to the 2012 date is found in a stone tablet from the Tortuguero site in the state of Tabasco.
The Comalcalco Brick had been found years ago and had been analyzed thoroughly. It is being kept in storage in the institute. The Tortuguero and Comalcalco inscriptions are estimated to be around 1,300 years old.
The Mayans were a very interesting, and quite advanced, civilization. I mean, take a look at what they were able to build, and are still standing, where the jungle hasn’t totally obliterated. We can’t seem to build anything that lasts more than a few years before it turns to garbage. Seriously, do you think anything we have built will be around in 1300 years? Not bloody likely. Let’s face it, we build crap.
The 2012 predicted apocalypse date has been the subject of intense debate among archaeologists and doomsday theorists. It’s worth noting that the Mesoamerican calendar doesn’t really predict an apocalypse. The Mayans used several calendars and their longest period calendar, the “Long Count” started all the end of the world theories. The Long Count calendar was used by the Maya to document dates beyond 52 years. It began in 3114 B.C. and marked time in 394-year time periods known as Baktuns. The 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012. Nowhere did the Maya say that the world was going to end by the 13th Baktun. It was just a special future anniversary because the number 13 was a sacred number for the Mayans.
Ok, I just couldn’t resist! 
There is no doubt that our world is going through some serious changes, and I have no doubt even greater changes are coming. All you have to do is read the Bible, and you’ll find today’s headlines right there in a book that was written a long time ago. Whether or not the earth itself will be destroyed, or, as I believe, we are coming to the End Times, there WILL be some major changes. Will it be in December of 2012? Who knows. That’s totally up to God.
Ode To The Welfare State – 11/4/49
Snagged from Julie via Facebook.
Historical Trivia
Some of these, I know are true. Others? Well, whatever. Just thought it was interesting. 
Did you know the saying “God willing and the Creeks don’t rise” was in reference to the Creek Indians and not a body of water? It was written by Benjamin Hawkins in the late 18th century. He was a politician and Indian diplomat.
While in the south, Hawkins was requested by the President of the U.S. to return to Washington . In his response, he was said to write, “God willing and the Creeks don’t rise.” Because he capitalized the word “Creeks” it is deduced that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water.
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In George Washington’s days, there were no cameras. One’s image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are ‘limbs,’ therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, ‘Okay, but it’ll cost you an arm and a leg.’
(Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint)
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As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October) Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and
bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn’t wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term ‘big wig.. ‘
Today we often use the term ‘here comes the Big Wig’
because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.
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In the late 1700′s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The ‘head of the household’ always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the ‘chair man.’ Today in business, we use the expression or title ‘Chairman’ or ‘Chairman of the Board.’
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Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman’s face she was told, ‘mind your own bee’s wax.’ Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term ‘crack a smile’. In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . Therefore, the expression ‘losing face.’
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Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in ‘straight laced’ wore a tightly tied lace.
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Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the ‘Ace of Spades..’ To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren’t ‘playing with a full deck.’
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Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV’s or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars.
They were told to ‘go sip some Ale and listen to people’s conversations and political concerns’. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. ‘You go sip here’ and ‘You go sip there.’ The two words ‘go sip’ were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term ‘gossip.’
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At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid’s job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in ‘pints’ and who was drinking in ‘quarts,’ hence the phrase ‘minding your ‘P’s and Q’s’.
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One more: bet you didn’t know this!
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem…how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a ‘Monkey’ with 16 round indentations. However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make ‘Brass Monkeys.’ Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey; Thus, it was quite literally, ‘Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.’ (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn’t you.)
Shared by Jerry.
More On The Useless….Er….Useful Idiots
Another Lost Generation of Americans
by J. D. Longstreet
Actually, they’re not lost geographically. We see them every day on the cable news channels and the evening news of the broadcast networks. This decade they call themselves the “Occupy Wall Street” Group. I believe they are lost, unrecoverable, as productive, patriotic, Americans. I’m no shrink, but I believe they will carry a degree of bitterness, for the reminder of their lives, as a result of America’s rejection of their attempt to force a socialist form of government on a nation of people who love freedom. The risk was theirs to take. History will record their failure — a failure they will never be able to put behind them. They will drag it like an anchor throughout their lifetime. They have made their choice and they now must live with the consequences.
These people have been around since Vladimir Lenin. They are espousing the socialist/communist line and they are SOOOOO DUMB they don’t have a clue they are being used by the shadowy figures organizing and financing their infantile protestations.
Those dirty, smelly, boorish, idiots are disposable tools of the leftist power brokers, themselves the mortal enemies of capitalists and democracy.
They are supported by the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Nazi Party, the Democratic Party …… . We should add the labor unions to this OUTSTANDING gaggle of anti-capitalist left-wingers.
They don’t know WHAT the want – but they want it NOW. It is the primal cry of an infant seeking attention.
If you are expecting anything good to come of the rent-a-riot crowd in our streets these days, you should reconsider. This whole “OWS” movement is going to end in disaster. This ain’t my first rodeo. I have seen this before. It always ends in tragedy.
As the shrillness of the demonstrators mounts, the public’s tolerance level will fall. At some point in the future, a tipping point will be reached and blood will be spilt and lives lost. It is the nature of clashes between groups of human beings. We call them wars, civil wars, insurrections, riots, Demonstrations, and at their inception – “protests.”
Read the rest of the commentary here.
I remember the “demonstrations” of the 60s and early 70s. Let’s face it, I was born during Eisenhower’s first term, so spring chicken I ain’t.
I knew people who joined in the protests, and some who got arrested. I knew young men who died in Vietnam. I knew some who came back, but were never the same. I never spat on a soldier, or demeaned their service, voluntary or drafted. I also understood that anger that gave rise to the anti-war demonstrations. Occasionally, I even agreed, mostly because I knew that Johnson totally screwed the whole thing up, and Nixon finished with our defeat. Many of those were out in the streets, didn’t have a clue, but they were there anyway because they hated the ‘establishment’, and wanted to destroy the American way of life.
Publius Huldah – Where Do Our Rights Come From?
Literally, the smartest woman I know!
Thanks Brimstone!
Woman….Get A Clue!
Massachusetts Principal Takes Aim at Fall Holidays, Says They’re Insensitive
Anne Foley, the principal at Kennedy School in Somerville, Mass., sent an email to teachers warning them about celebrating Thanksgiving, the Boston Herald reported.
“When we were young we might have been able to claim ignorance of the atrocities that Christopher Columbus committed against the indigenous peoples,” Kennedy School Principal Anne Foley wrote.
“We can no longer do so. For many of us and our students celebrating this particular person is an insult and a slight to the people he annihilated. On the same lines, we need to be careful around the Thanksgiving Day time as well.”
If this….woman…is a principal, I would have to assume she has had some sort of education. Her comments, however, seems to contrary to that assumption.
1. Christopher Columbus never set foot in what we now know as the United States of America. Today, Americans celebrate “Columbus Day” on the second Monday in October, to remember the landing of Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. In reality, he never set foot in North America. The closest he got was to land on the island of San Salvador, in the Bahamas. So first, Columbus did not ever land in North America. Second, Columbus was not sailing across the Atlantic to prove that the world was round – all the educated people knew that it was round. No, Columbus was trying to find a better trade route to bring back lucrative spices from Asia. So, why we even ‘celebrate’ that day is a total mystery. I suppose it’s just one more excuse for government workers to get the day off and get paid too.
2. Thanksgiving was celebrated WITH the indigenous peoples. Giving thanks to the Almighty for a successful harvest, and a new found friendship with those who helped them. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. Today, we celebrate, by giving thanks to the Almighty, for the many blessings he has bestowed on us.
3. Halloween….well, the purpose these days is to dress up like a fool and beg for candy. The history: Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to usher in the winter season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats. Leave the kids alone! Jeeeez!
Ignorant people annoy me. Ignorant people in positions of power annoy me even more! This woman has no business in the public education system if she is going to be so blatantly ignorant of history!
Union Of The Clueless
While doing a bit of snooping around Facebook, I came across this comment that was left on the AFL-CIO page. No, I didn’t “like” ‘em, but sometimes, you can read what is on certain pages. Since this was a big UNION page, obviously, there are union folks. However, there are others who hit ‘like’ just so they can comment, and hopefully, set a few folks straight. Evidently, some folks just can’t be taught. This fellow, for instance (copied & pasted, verbatim):
GOP has controlled congress now for a couple years,so why haven’t they created any jobs? They don’t have any interest in creating jobs.All there after is making PRESIDENT OBAMA look bad until the next election. How is this helping one without a job? Shameful,politics is more important than the unemloyed! I think people must realize what is going on and the radical rightwing has to go!
I guess this guy isn’t aware that the Democrats were the majority in both the House and the Senate from 2006 to 2010. They were in total control, gaining the White House, from 2008 to 2010. One thing that stands out from his comment, other than spelling issues, is the fact he isn’t aware that the Congress does NOT create jobs. No one has bothered to inform Obama of this fact either, since he keeps using it as a talking point. No one is making Obama “look bad” except Obama himself. His policies have pushed this nation farther into debt, stifling any new business with absurd regulations, causing anyone who would like to hire, or expand their business a bad case of the jitters. No confidence in the future prevents those who actually do create jobs from taking risks. Why should they?
Now, for that “radical rightwing” nonsense. How radical is it for the everyday people to insist that their government actually follow the Constitution? I am going to step out on a limb, and say this guy has probably never read the whole document. It’s only 4 pages long, and isn’t really that hard to understand. It limits the government, not the people. Limiting what the government can take from your paycheck is radical? Expecting the government to do the job it was designed to do, like keep our borders secure, is radical? It really isn’t that complicated, yet if you listen to the media, and union bosses, you’d think we are sitting outside someone’s house, just waiting to take ‘em down. No, that isn’t us. That would be those union members who seem to enjoy threatening the lives of elected officials, or destroy property, etc.
Honestly, I feel quite sorry for people like this guy, and sadly there are way too many like him who believes they are informed, but yet, know little to nothing about the workings of the U.S. Government. Try to educate such people, and you get shouted down with words like “terrorist”, “racist”, “barbarians”, and numerous threats. Great debate there folks. 
But when you have nothing to back up your “facts”, I guess that’s the best we can expect from the uneducated.
Old Stuff
Archaeologists Discover 2,000-Year-Old Mayan Palace in Mexico
A team of Mexican specialists discovered remnants of a 2,000-year-old Mayan palace at an archaeological site in the southeastern state of Chiapas.
“The discovery constitutes the first architectural evidence of such an early occupation of the ancient Mayan cities of the Upper Usumacinta basin,” in the Lacandona Jungle, the National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement Wednesday.
In a different time, like about 3 or 4 years ago, we’d probably be looking forward to going down and taking a gander at the discovery at some point. Now? Pfft! But it’s still pretty cool.
Cool Discovery
Tomb of St. Philip the Apostle Discovered in Turkey
A tomb believed to be that of St. Philip the Apostle was unearthed during excavations in the ancient Turkish city of Hierapolis.
Italian professor Francesco D’Andria said archeologists found the tomb of the biblical figure — one of the 12 original disciples of Jesus — while working on the ruins of a newly-unearthed church, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported Wednesday.
“We have been looking for Saint Philip’s tomb for years,” d’Andria told the agency. “We finally found it in the ruins of a church which we excavated a month ago.”
The structure of the tomb and the writings on the wall proved it belonged to St. Philip, he added.
The professor said the archaeologists worked for years to find the tomb and he expected it to become an important Christian pilgrimage destination.
St. Philip, recognized as one of Christianity’s martyrs, is thought to have died in Hierapolis, in the southwest province of Denizli, in around 80AD. It is believed he was crucified upside down or beheaded.
This is pretty cool, but I thought Peter was the only one to have been crucified upside? My dad had a list of how each disciple supposedly died, and if memory serves, which it probably doesn’t, all the other had equally barbaric deaths, but only one upside crucifixion. And wasn’t there only one who actually died at a rather ripe old age, natural causes, I think? Can someone refresh my memory?
Uh…..
Sacks of Human Waste Reveal Secrets of Ancient Rome
You might turn your nose up at sifting through hundreds of sacks of human excrement, but researchers are doing just that in Italy—and happily.
The unprecedented deposit is said to be yielding new insights into everyday life in the ancient Roman Empire.
Admittedly, at 2,000 years old, the feces “isn’t remotely unpleasant,” Roman historian Andrew Wallace-Hadrill said. “There’s absolutely no scent. It’s exactly like earth compost.”
Ten tons of the stuff has been excavated from a cesspit beneath the ancient town of Herculaneum, near Naples.
Flushed down sewers from apartment blocks and shops, the deposit—the largest collection of ancient Roman garbage and human waste ever found, researchers say—dates to about A.D. 79. That year a catastrophic volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried Herculaneum, along with its more famous neighbor, Pompeii.
Lost jewelry, coins, and semiprecious stones from a gem shop have been found, along with discarded household items such as broken lamps and pottery, according to Wallace-Hadrill, director of the Herculaneum Conservation Project, a Packard Humanities Institute initiative.
While I’m sure there is a load of ….umm…. interesting information to be be sifted through, and history has always been a big interest of mine, I don’t think this is one of those jobs I’d find particularly….enjoyable? The thought of going through 2000 year old poop just doesn’t quite do it for me. Interesting reading though.
The Idiots Are Coming! The Idiots Are Coming!
I’m sure you’ve no doubt heard all the cackling going on in the media about Sarah Palin’s supposed faux pas about Paul Revere. Well, in case you weren’t aware, it wasn’t a gaffe (the sort made so famous by VP Biden). She was 100% correct. Of course, her being right won’t matter to the lame stream or the obsessive Palin haters. But, perhaps all those who are having such a high ol’ time, looking like fools, should remember……at the time Paul Revere made his famous ride, there was no United States of America, and all the residents were British subjects. Yep….he DID warn the British……. in more ways than one.
So, who is REALLY the dummy, eh? Sheesh! Even I knew that! Pfft!
Added: Just more proof that the liberal elites aren’t as smart as they want to believe.
6 June 1944
(Repost from last year.)
What does the ‘D’ in D-Day stand for?
The short answer: nothing.
In military terms, D-Day and H-Hour are sometimes used for the day and hour on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. They are used when the day and hour have not yet been determined, or when secrecy is important.
When used in combination with plus or minus signs, these terms indicate the length of time preceding or following a specific action. Thus, H-3 means 3 hours before H-Hour, and D+3 means 3 days after D-Day. H+75 minutes means H-Hour plus 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Glenn Beck 06/02/11
A Must See
Remember…..
Swiped from James on FB.
The Final Voyage For Endeavor
Just in case you missed it.
