What Would Jimmy Do?

“Independence now and forever!” That statement is attributed to Daniel Webster, and today we celebrate that Independence. It’s been challenged over the years — both externally and internally.  The American flag is the symbol of our freedom, national pride and history, and today is one of those days, especially, that we should display that symbol.

Today, like every year, we celebrate America’s birthday on July 4th. Well, that’s not completely accurate — one year we celebrated Independence Day on July 5h — the holiday fell on a Sunday in 1779, so the country celebrated on July 5th instead. And of course we’ve all heard that even though the Declaration of Independence was dated July 4, congress actually voted for independence from Great Britain two days prior on July 2, 1776. And — it wasn’t signed by everyone until a month later on August 2, 1776. John Adams was one who thought Independence Day was celebrated on the wrong day. He wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams, about how memorable Independence Day would be in American history — in his letter, he said the day should be celebrated with parades, bonfires and fireworks, but he only referred to Independence Day as July 2nd. In fact, he turned down invitations to 4th of July celebrations in protest.

Thomas Jefferson is generally given credit as the author of the Declaration of Independence. He was the main author, but there were four others on the drafting committee — Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Robert Livingston.

John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was likely first because he was the President of Congress at the time. He signed in large handwriting and at the center of the document. His bold signature is where we get the phrase “put your John Hancock” when referring to signing your name.

The Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper to print the Declaration — it came out in the newspaper on July 6, 1776 for everyone to see, after a local printer named John Dunlap produced copies of the declaration’s manuscript.

Three US Presidents that signed the Declaration of Independence died on July 4 — John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence. James Monroe died five years later on July 4, 1831.

The first 4th of July fireworks show took place in Philadelphia in 1777 — the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
In 1778, U.S. soldiers got a special 4th of July treat — George Washington allowed the troops a double ration of rum.
The Liberty Bell rings 13 times every Independence Day to honor the 13 original states — dependents of people who signed the Declaration of Independence tap the bell at 2 p.m. eastern time every 4th of July.

Before the Civil War, it was seen as unpatriotic if you kept your business open on Independence Day. Since then, restaurants and stores started having 4th of July sales….
Calvin Coolidge was the only president born on the 4th of July.
The 4th of July didn’t become a federal holiday until 1870.
The Constitution was signed in September of 1787, a little over 11 years after the Declaration of Independence — both were signed in Philadelphia.

Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence believed that a new Constitution should be written every 19 years. He wrote a letter to James Madison, asking if “One generation of men has the right to bind another,” saying that otherwise “the lands would belong to the dead, and not to the living, which would be the reverse of our principle.” I guess I’m thankful that didn’t happen…. I can’t imagine what the United States would look like today if it had.

But today is a day to celebrate — what’s the best kind of tea to drink of July 4th? Liber-tea!
Happy Independence Day!!!
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Over the years, I’ve blogged a number of times about telephones. Recently, I’ve mentioned that we are way overdue to get new iPhones. Usually I look forward to the newest gadgets, but this time I’m not looking forward to new phones — they’ll basically work like our present phones, but some things will have changed and it’ll take some adjustment on my part to get comfortable with the new phone.

I guess that’s always been the case with new technology and telephones especially have gone through tremendous changes through the years.
At one point in time, you had to remember (or look-up) phone numbers. Today, all your contacts are stored in your phone and you rarely have to type in a new number.

The first telephone was installed in the U.S. Capitol building in 1880 — situated in the lobby of the House of Representatives. By the 1890s telephones became standard equipment in the Capitol. In those days, a Congressman just had to pick up the phone and he would be connected with an operator who would place the call for him.

This all worked well until 1930 when new-fangled manual-dial phones were installed in Congressional offices. This was just too much and in the spring of 1930, the Senate considered the following resolution:

“Whereas dial telephones are more difficult to operate than are manual telephones, and Whereas Senators are required, since the installation of dial phones in the Capitol, to perform the duties of telephone operators in order to enjoy the benefits of telephone service; and Whereas dial telephones have failed to expedite telephone service; Therefore be it resolved that the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate is authorized and directed to order the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. to replace with manual phones within 30 days after the adoption of this resolution, all dial telephones in the Senate wing of the United States Capitol and in the Senate office building.”

The resolution, sponsored by Virginia’s Carter Glass, passed without objection when first considered on May 22, 1930. Arizona’s Henry Ashurst praised the sponsor for his restrained language. The Congressional Record would not be mailable, he said, “If it contained in print what Senators think of the dial telephone system.”

One day before the scheduled removal of all dial phones, Maryland Senator Millard Tydings offered a resolution to give senators a choice because some of the younger senators actually preferred the dial phones. Finally, technology came to the rescue —although the telephone company had pressed for the installation of an all-dial system, it said it could provide the Senate with phones that worked both ways. Senator Glass, the original sponsor of the resolution spoke just before the the Senate agreed to the compromise plan, “Mr. President, so long as I am not pestered with the dial and may have the manual telephone, while those who want to be pestered with [the dial] may have it, all right.” 

This just goes to show you what the world’s greatest deliberative body can accomplish when they set their minds to it.
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Well, here it is July already — a month filled with celebrations…. not only the 4th of July in the United States, but today (July 1) Canada celebrates their independence from the British empire with Canada Day. France celebrates Bastille Day on July 14th and many other countries like Algeria, Argentina and Belgium celebrate their nationhood this month. 

If these patriotic celebration aren’t enough, July 2nd is World UFO Day, July 6th is International Kissing Day and July 24th is National Tequila Day.

On July 20th of 1969 I was in Saigon and remember watching Neil Armstrong become the first human to set foot on the moon. I watched it on a very small black and white TV in a bar on Tu-Do Street. (I blogged about that experience a few years ago — you can check the archives, if you’re interested.) 

Tomorrow, July 2nd is the exact middle of the year — seems like that should be some kind of a holiday, but I guess it might bump World UFO Day our of the spotlight.

July is usually the hottest month of the year — the hottest temperature ever recorded in the United States was in Greenland Ranch, California — 134º on July 10th, 1913.

In case you’re interested in even more “July events,” the first ever rabies vaccine was administered by Louis Pasteur on July 6th, 1885 and the first atomic bomb was detonated in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945. The first ever international phone call was made on July 1, 1881. The call originated in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and was received in Maine in the United States.
And for junk food fans, July is National Ice Cream Month, National Chocolate Month, National French Fry Month and National Hot Dog Month.
Seven (7) US Presidents have passed away in July — the most of any month. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the 2nd and 3rd US Presidents, died on the same day — July 4th, 1826. 

July 4th is aphelion — the time/point when the Earth is the farthest it will get from the Sun for the entire year… specifically, it’ll be 94,509,598 miles away from the Sun.
They say that if ant hills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard. 

So we’re off to a busy month — maybe it won’t be as eventful as 1969, but I think we can all reflect on that memorable year and and hope that Neil Armstrong’s words can someday be true… “Here men from the plant Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.”
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Some of our relatives (Mike and Sue) recently got into archery. When I was a kid, we didn’t call it archery, we called it playing with bows and arrows. But I figured that if we get together in the future, I should be able to hold my own with them if the subject of archery comes up. So — I did a bit of extensive research and found some terms that I figured I might need to impress them….
Archer’s Paradox refers to the physics of archery, specifically when the arrow is released. It is the effect of how the arrow bends slightly around the bow when it leaves it.
Lincoln Logs is a way of referring to the arrows of larger than needed diameter shot by archers hoping that they might sneak into a higher scoring area of a target, just by hitting its line. 
If you look closely at some targets, there is a small x dead center of the target. When your arrow hits that little x dead center, it’s called a spider. (?????)
A tomato is an arrow that hits in the red area of an archery target.
When you draw back your bow and your arrow releases sooner than you intended, it’s referred to as shooting with too much pinky.
When an archer is shooting a bow with a draw weight that’s way too heave for them, it causes them to shake and struggle — that earns the term “struggle stick.”
A term we hear around here often, starting around Thanksgiving is Hog — a term in hunting that refers to a large or trophy size deer.
And my favorite archery term is a Robin Hood — that’s when your arrow hits another arrow so perfectly that it splits the arrow that was already shot into the target.

While on the subject of archery, besides Robin Hood, my favorite archery hero is William tell — Switzerland’s national hero, revered for his gallant acts leading to Swill liberation. Over the years, his legend has grown and William Tell has become a universal symbol for Swiss’ freedom struggle.

Over 150 years after the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy the first references to William Tell can be found in Swiss writings. In Chronicon Helveticum, in 1550, historian Aegidius Tschudi provided the first detailed account of Tell’s heroism and his role in Swiss independence, including the story of him shooting an apple off his son’s head. Tschudi’s account became the definitive source of the legend for many artistic retellings over the following centuries. 
Around the world William Tell came to represent rebellion against tyranny and even inspired some would-be assassins. John Wilkes Booth claimed Tell was his inspiration for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 

William Tell’s legacy is seeped in so much legend it it difficult to separate fact from fiction. He is so integral to Swiss nationalism that most Swiss people believe he did exist. Monuments to William Tell stand proudly throughout Switzerland.
But — there is no concrete historical evidence that William Tell actually lived. 
The story of a marksman shooting an apple off a loved one’s head is nothing new — it appears in many other nation’s folklore including Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Persia and England. In fact, a very similar story came out of Denmark in the 12th century — a skilled hunter called Toko is forced to shoot an apple off his son’s head then escapes imprisonment to kill the tyrant, just like William tell.

Maybe the question of whether a man named William Tell actually lived 700 years ago is like the question of whether a masked Lone Ranger actually roamed the Old West righting wrongs. It’s impossible to prove that William Tell existed, but it’s equally impossible to prove that he didn’t. But it doesn’t really matter — even today, anyone that takes a stand against thugs and wrong doing can be sure that the spirit of William Tell stands with them.
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Faithful readers of this blog know that every 4th of July is especially festive around here. Not only is it America’s birthday and party time, but we are treated to about two weeks of a wonderful view of a Porta-Potty when we step out our front door. 
There’s always a big 4th of July party just across the street and the guests use the Porta-Potty.
We always look forward to this spectacular view — if we ever sell our house, I’m sure this will be a big selling point. 
I know you all anxiously await my blog every year announcing the Porta-Potty arrival, so now, knowing it has arrived, you can get on with your holiday planning.
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Besides being exactly six months until Christmas, today is Birthday Day — not one, but two of our kids celebrate their birthdays today. Dave and Chassie were born on the same day, exactly one year apart.

Dave was born on a Wednesday under the sign of Cancer, Jimmy Carter was President and Pope John Paul II was leading he Catholic Church.
Chassie was born on a Thursday under the sign of Cancer, Ronald Reagan was President and Pope Paul II was leading the Catholic Church.
Dave is a member of Generation X and was born in the Chinese Zodiac year of the Monkey. 
Chassie is a member of the Millennial Generation and was born in the Chinese Zodiac year of the Rooster.

Over the past years, I’ve referred to Dave and Chassie as our “Irish Twins” because they were born on the same day, one year apart. I’ve been corrected a number of times for using Irish Twins incorrectly, so I should attempt to set the record straight. Technically, Irish Twins are siblings that are born 12 (or less) months apart. So, even though it could be applied to siblings born less than 12 months apart, far and away the most common use of the phrase Irish Twins is to describe siblings born exactly 12 months apart. But the fact that Dave and Chassie aren’t siblings, the use of Irish Twins is incorrect.

So even though I like the term Irish Twins, I need to come up with another phrase…. I’ve thought about date twins, astro-twins, astrology twins or maybe star twins. Maybe I’ll give this some more thought and come up with something better.

But for now, I’ll just wish my favorite two people that share a common birthday date the happiest of birthdays. Happy Birthday Dave and Chassie — hope we can get together soon!
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A few days ago I talked about the letter “J” being the last letter added to the English Alphabet. The J sits right next to the I in our alphabet and those are the only two letters that have a diacritic dot. (A diacritical dot, or mark is a mark, point, or sign added or attached to a letter or character to distinguish it from another of similar form, to give it a particular phonetic value, to indicate stress, etc., as a cedilla, tilde, circumflex, or macron.)

A lot of languages, like Arabic and Hebrew, add specific accents to the letters or characters throughout their alphabet, but the English alphabet has only two letters, i and j. with such a mark.
I believe, technically, the dot over a lowercase i and j is called a tittle. Some people think the word comes from a combination of tiny and little. 

Today the dot is just called a superscript dot. It was added to the letter i in the Middle Ages to distinguish the letter (in written manuscripts) from adjacent vertical strokes in letters like u, m, and n. j is a variant of i that emerged and became a separate letter and it also inherited the superscript dot. 

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.” That means to be thorough. The phrase “to a T” originated as “to a tittle” and means something done exactly right. It originally referred to the tiny detail of a tittle, suggesting that every minor detail was correct. 

So once again all those cool phrases like “dot your i’s and cross your t’s” and watch your p’s and q’s” have left out that so important letter J.
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Today, June 21, is the first day of astronomical summer — also known as the Summer, or June, Solstice. To be completely accurate, the solstice occurs today, Tuesday, June 21, 2022, at 5:14 a.m EDT.

The solstice marks the official beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere — it occurs when the Earth arrives at the point in its orbit where the North Pole is at its maximum tilt (about 23.5 degrees) toward the Sun. This results in the longest day (longest period of sunlight) and the shortest night of the calendar year. 

The word solstice comes from the Latin solstitium (from sol (Sun) and stitium (still or stopped).) Due to the Earth’s tilted axis, the Sun doesn’t rise and set at the same locations on the horizon each morning and evening — its rise and set positions move northward or southward in the sky as the Earth travels around the Sun through the year. During the summer solstice, the Sun reaches its northernmost point in the sky , at which point the Sun’s path doesn’t change for a brief period of time. After the solstice, the Sun appears to reverse course and head back in the opposite direction.

The timing of the summer solstice isn’t based on a specific calendar date or time — it all depends on when the Sun reaches its northernmost point from the celestial equator. So the solstice doesn’t always occur on the same day. Recently, it has shifted between June 20, 21, and 22.

During the solstice, the midday Sun is highest up in the sky, but the Sun’s highest point is getting lower and lower over time. That’s because the Earth’s tilt is slowly decreasing.
Today is the “longest day,” but it’s not the latest sunset — or — the earliest sunrise. The earliest sunrises happen before the summer solstice and the latest sunset after the summer solstice.
Today, the Sun rises farthest left on the horizon and sets at the farthest right —sunlight strikes places in your house that don’t get illuminated at any other time.
In India, the summer solstice ends the six-month period when spiritual growth is supposedly the easiest.

A few days from now, June 24, will be Midsummer Day. Historically, this day marks the midpoint of the growing season, halfway between planting and harvest. In some cultures, it is traditionally known as one of four “quarter days.” Many years ago, folks celebrated June 24 by feasting, dancing, singing and preparing for the hot summer days ahead.

Enjoy the longest day — the days now start getting shorter….. and the nights longer.
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Today is West Virginia’s 159th birthday. On June 20, 1863 West Virginia became the 35th state of the U.S. It was formed after breaking away from Virginia during the Civil War and admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863 under a proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln. West Virginia is the only state to be admitted under presidential proclamation. That makes it the only state that was created by carving out its territory from another state without that states permission or approval. 

Like all the staes, there are a number of things that make it unique and it has its share of “firsts.”
• West Virginia was the first state to have a sales tax. The tax went into effect on July 1, 1921.
• West Virginia was a bit indecisive in choosing its state capital. The original capital was Wheeling, until it became Charleston in 1870. It was changed to Wheeling again in 1875, and then back to Charleston again in 1885.
• In a West Virginia community by the name of Mole Hill, the residents voted to change the name of their city to Mountain — literally making a mountain out of a mole hill.
• In 1859, John Brown, an abolitionist, led a raid on the national armory at Harper Ferry because he was trying to arm a planned slave rebellion. He was ultimately tried at the Jefferson County Courthouse and hanged.
• The youngest soldier to enlist in World War I, Chester Merriman, was from Romney, West Virginia. He was 14 when he signed up.
• The country’s first public spa opened in 1756 in Berkley Springs, West Virginia (The town was then named Bath — it was part of Virginia.)
• George Washington’s brothers built estates in West Virginia that are still standing. Charles Washington built Happy Retreat in 1780 and Samuel constructed Harewood estate, that was the location for James and Dolley Madison’s wedding in 1794.
• Although West Virginia is best know for coal mining, Salt mining used to be a major industry in the state, particularly in the Kanawha Valley. Before the industry started to decline, salt mining reached its peak in the 1850s.
• The Greenbrier resort, noted for its underground bunker built to house congress in case of a nuclear attack, was once a hospital. During World War II the U.S. Army bought it and converted it to a hospital, where more than 24,000 soldiers were treated over the course of four years.
• In 1931 a Bluefield radio station broadcast a murder trial. It was the first time a murder trial had been broadcast in the United States.
• West Virginia native Chuck Yeager was the first pilot to break the sound barrier.
• The Oakhurst Links was the nation’s first golf course — the course is located in White Sulphur Springs.
• A West Virginian is credited with starting Grandparents Day. Marian McQuade of Oak Hill started the holiday.
• Outdoor advertising began in West Virginia — it got its start with Mail Pouch tobacco ads painted on the sides of barns….

So Happy Birthday West Virginia — it’s a great place to live. The sun doesn’t always shine in West Virginia, but the people do…..
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Today, June 19th, is a holiday commemorating the freedom of the slaves in the United States. The name Juneteenth is a combination of the words June and nineteenth. Today is also called Emancipation Day and Freedom Day.

Even though it goes by many names, Juneteenth is one of the most important anniversaries in our nation’s history. On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, who had fought for the Union, led a force of soldiers to Galveston, Texas, to deliver a very important message. When Granger arrived in Galveston, he read out General Order No. 3, informing the residents that slavery would no longer be tolerated and that all slaves were now free and would henceforth be treated as hired workers if they chose to remain on the plantations. The order read in part, “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer…”

It’s probably not surprising that many former slaves didn’t stay on the plantations as workers, but left in search of new beginnings or to find family members who had been sold away. When Granger arrived in Galveston, there were still around 250,000 slaves and they were not all freed immediately — or even soon. It wasn’t uncommon for slave owners, not wanting to give up free labor, to refuse to release their slaves until forced to do so, in person, by a representative of the government. Some would wait until one final harvest was complete, and some would just outright refuse to abide by the directive. It was a perilous time for Black people, and some former slaves who were freed or attempted to be set free were attacked and killed. For Confederate states like Texas, there existed a desire to hold on to their system as long as they could. 

Before the reading of General Order No. 3, many slave owners in Confederate states just chose not to tell their slaves about the Emancipation Proclamation and didn’t honor it. They got away with that because, before winning the war, Union soldiers were largely unable to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation in Souther states. 

What the Emancipation Proclamation did that was so important is that it began a creeping process of emancipation where the federal government finally took firm stands to say slavery was wrong and it must end. Even with the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery would not truly come to an end until the ratification of the 13th Amendment. 

After they were freed, some former slaves and their descendants would travel to Galveston every year in honor of Juneteenth. These annual gatherings spread to other states, but it wasn’t uncommon that Black people were bared from celebrating in public places. In 1872, a group of African American leaders came together and raised $800 to purchase 10 acres of land in Houston, Texas. That land became Emancipation Park — it underwent a $33.5 million renovation in 2016 with a rededication ceremony held in 2017.

In 1980, Texas was the first state to declare Juneteenth a state holiday and some other states followed Texas’ lead, but it was not actually recognized as a federal holiday until June 17, 2021.

Today, Juneteenth is recognized and celebrated around the world. It’s another day that we can all take a step toward reconciliation and healing as we still strive to achieve racial equality — and justice — in our ever more violent world.
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