Another dinosaur footprint post.

When I got started in this ‘computer’ thing, one had to have some idea about programming.  Computers operated off the keyboard and software was rare, buggy, and not standardized.  If you had a specialized need, you wrote the program yourself.

And that was usually in BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code).  Most computers came with a version of BASIC. With that, a fairly competent user could write simple programs to do just about anything.

Apple’s little Macintosh didn’t.  I had to buy it from <<Coff!>> Microsoft.  But with that capability in hand, I went on to write utilies ranging from simple (convert fractions to decimal feet and inches) to rather more complex (ham radio logging program with duplicate search).

I can’t remember the last time I opened up a BASIC program.  I still occasionally get into command line stuff but between purpose-built commercial software and office suites, there just hasn’t been a need.  Like my old slide rules, BASIC goes in the drawer to take out and look at from time to time to remember our roots.

And I also played a bit with Pascal, Forth, and C.  But again, those were just curiosities.

In honor of tomorrow’s eclipse (I’m in the 80% band) which we won’t see because of expected cloud cover:

1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador. Other nations tended to disagree.

1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt was led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana. This was the largest slave revolt in the US in terms of slaves involved. They were inspired by the slave revolt in Haiti. Had they won, Louisiana could well be the beacon of success and freedom that Haiti has become. Today we give them New Orleans and Baton Rouge to play with.

1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans – Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British. The war’s been over for a couple of weeks but the news travels slow in 1815. It’s a good thing Andy Jackson and Jean Lafitte showed up, or New Orleans’d be the Louisiana equivalent of Hong Kong. (The link is Johnny Horton’s song about the event)

1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized. Now, we have them and the Republican party, like the NFC and AFC of the NFL – sides of one big happy oligarchy.

1835 – The United States national debt is $0 for the only time. We’re looking at just thirty-odd TRILLION now, multiples of the budget…

1856 – Dr. John A. Veatch discovers borax at Tuscan Springs, California. Wagons pulled by teams of twenty mules each give rise to the brand “Twenty Mule Team Borax.”

1867 – The United States Congress passes the bill to allow African American men the right to vote in Washington, D.C. Universal suffrage makes it easy for the lazy and indigent to vote for people who promise ‘free shit’, paid for by me and you.

1870 – US mint at Carson City, Nevada begins issuing coins with the distinctive “CC” mint mark.

1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ — his punched card calculator. Us ‘seasoned citizens’ remember punch cards. An extra hole or two from a hand-held clandestine punch could gum things up… “Keypunch operator” was one of the careers for which one could train in the late ’70’s when I was getting out of the army.

1912 – The African National Congress is founded, based on the idea that a bunch of tribalists in Savile Row suits can steal run a country better than people of European ancestry who did silly stuff like science and civilization.

1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic. It’s only fitting since de Gaulle singlehandedly drove the Germans out of France in WW II.

1964 – President Lyndon B. “Lyin’ Ba*tard” Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States. It appears, sixty years later, that “poverty” may well be winning.

1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband. In 2005, our own Kathleen ‘Blubberin’ Blanco shows the world how to completely collapse in dealing with two disastrous hurricanes but her handlers manage to shift the blame to George Bush.

2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act. This translates as the “Make Every Child Mediocre” act. We NEED the kids who can lead the pack.

2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in which five people were shot dead. Since the perpetrator turns out to be a deranged leftie, it’s TOTALLY the gun’s fault.

1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook. Can anyone tell me why they called it “Christmas Island”? Anyone?

1814 – Treaty of Ghent (end of US-Britain’s War of 1812) signed. The Battle of New Orleans will happen in a month. Apparently the email announcement went into somebody’s ‘spam’ folder…

1818 – “Silent Night” is composed by Franz Joseph Gruber; It is first sung next day. Muslims riot, several atheists are immediately offended, and the ACLU files suit.

1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning. College-aged young men and smuggled whiskey – always a prescription for merriment.

1942 – First powered flight of V-1 buzz bomb, Peenemunde, Germany. This is the grand-daddy of the cruise missile.

1946 – France’s Fourth Republic is founded. This is a good idea since the Germans stomped a hole in the Third Republic as France moved from “fight” to “surrender” and well into “collaborate”. I think France is up to #5 now and the next one will feature sharia law instead of that “Liberte’, Egalite’, Fraternite’” crap… And the quaint custom of beheading will make a resurgence.

1968 – Apollo Program: The AMERICAN crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history. They recite passages from the Bible. Muslims riot, several atheists are immediately offended, and the ACLU files suit.

1969 – The oil company Phillips Petroleum made the first oil discovery in the Norwegian sector of North Sea. Next thing you know, Scotland’s coast is crawling with Cajuns and Texans and other species of oilfield trash. “What’s this ‘haggis’ shit?!? Move over, cher. Lemme show you how to cook.”

1973 – District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government. This has the same joyous effect on good government as Britain turning Rhodesia into Zimbabwe.

2008 – Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400. Just Africa being Africa.

37 AD – Nero, Roman emperor (d. 68) is born. In Kenya Hawaii. Whoops! I’m getting him mixed up with another autocratic, destructive despot.

1256 – Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia. That bunch is where we get our word “assassin”.

1791 – The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia legislature. On the same date, the first US law school is established at University of Pennsylvania to find loopholes in that ‘Bill of Rights’ thing.

1891 – James Naismith introduces the first version of basketball, with thirteen rules, a peach basket nailed to either end of his school’s gymnasium, and two teams of nine players.

1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution officially becomes effective, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol. That ‘prohibition’ thing worked so well on alcohol, let’s try it on guns and drugs.

1939 – Gone with the Wind received its première at Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!

1944 – Bandleader, Major Glenn Miller, lost over English Channel. This was back when the entertainment industry actually supported America instead of trying to tear it down.

1945 – Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as state religion of Japan. Back when the winner made the rules. Today he’d be considered hopelessly intolerant of diversity and after his removal from command, the Pentagon would issue rules that forbade US servicemen from saying derogatory things about Shinto or deriding its practice.

1973 – The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. That lumpy thing under the edge of the tent? That’s the camel’s nose.

1978 – President Jimmy “The Dhimmi” Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People’s Republic of China and cut off all relations with Taiwan. Dhimmi Carter never met a dictator he didn’t like…

1979 – World Court in Hague rules Iran should release all US hostages. Iran listens. Doesn’t do anything, though. Why should they? We’re talking the dying days of the administration of a doofus president.

2014 – Man Haron Monis takes 18 hostages inside a café in Martin Place for 16 hours in Sydney. Monis and two hostages are killed when police raid the café the following morning. Anyone want to guess his religion? No? anyone?

1491 – The siege of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Spain, begins. They’re back now!

1596 – The Cudgel War begins in Finland (at the time part of Sweden), when peasants rebel against the imposition of taxes by the nobility

1703 – The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, reaches its peak intensity which it maintains through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die. FEMA slow to respond. Bush widely blamed.

1759 – An earthquake hits the Mediterranean destroying Beirut and Damascus and killing 30,000-40,000, or roughly the same as a couple of years of Obama-Clinton-Kerry foreign policy expertise.

1867 – Alfred Nobel patents dynamite, taming the power of nitroglycerine.

1936 – In Berlin, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, agreeing to consult on measures “to safeguard their common interests” in the case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation. The pact is renewed on the same day five years later with additional signatories. In the space between the first and second signings, Germany and Russia sign their own non-aggression pact, which German breaks at an ill-advised moment.

1943 – World War II: Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina is re-established at the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where “Anti-fascist” is short-hand of ‘communist’, just like today.

1947 – Red Scare: The “Hollywood Ten” are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios for communist sympathies. In today’s Hollywood, if you’re not an America-hating socialist (except for MY mansions and MY private jet and MY millions) then you don’t stand a chance.

1950 – The “Storm of the Century”, a violent snowstorm, paralyzes the northeastern United States and the Appalachians, bringing winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. Pickens, West Virginia, records 57 inches of snow. 323 people die due to the storm. Damn that global warming!

1950 – The People’s Republic of China joins the Korean War, sending thousands of troops across the Yalu river border to fight United Nations forces. Otherwise, the war was over. Now it will drag on, fighting in earnest for three years, and then border incursions by North Korea for the next few decades.

1973 – Maximum speed limit cut to 55 MPH as an energy conservation measure. Communities get used to money from speeding tickets as a revenue stream. Federal fiat produces a nation of scofflaws and hundreds of local governments who cash in on and become addicted to traffic fines.

1984 – 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. A fine example of self-important, deluded pricks using sympathy to peddle their wares to their ignorant fandom. Slacktivism at work.

1999 – The United Nations establishes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to commemorate the murder of three Mirabal Sisters for resistance against the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship in Dominican Republic. Of course, violence against women in Muslim countries is roundly ignored, because it’s, like, their CULTURE, you know…

1832 – South Carolina passes the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring that the Tariffs of 1832 and 1838 were null and void in the state, beginning the Nullification Crisis. The states were sovereign, existing within the framework of a Constitution that limited the powers of the Federal government. That all went away in the Civil War, but it’s back as cities and states declare themselves “sanctuary” for illegal aliens. States may still have the power under the Tenth Amendment, but they’re so dependent on the Federal teat that they dare NOT exercise that right.

1835 – The Texas Provincial Government authorizes the creation of a horse-mounted police force called the Texas Rangers (which is now the Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety).

Concerned Official: I called for the Texas Rangers to put down a riot. They only sent ONE?
Texas Ranger: You only got ONE riot, don’t’cha?

1859 – Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.

1906 – A 13–6 victory by the Massillon Tigers over their rivals, the Canton Bulldogs, for the “Ohio League” Championship, leads to accusations that the championship series was fixed and results in the first major scandal in professional American football. Come on, guys! Who do you think you are, the New England Patriots?

1941 – World War II: The United States grants Lend-Lease to the Free French Forces. The French who escaped Hitler had little besides their skivvies and a pompous figurehead.

1943 – World War II: The USS Liscome Bay is torpedoed near Tarawa and sinks. Only 272 of her crew of 916 were rescued. The ship was less than a year old.

1950 – UN troops begin an assault intending to end Korean War by Christmas. What they do is aggravate the Chicoms, who rush across the Yalu River, and the war goes on for years. MacArthur offers to finish the deal with China like we did with Japan, Truman cans him.

1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald is assassinated by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police department headquarters on live television. Conspiracy? Oh… no… Purely coincidental act by a big-time JFK fan. Right?!?

1963 – Vietnam War: Newly sworn-in US President Lyndon B. (Lyin’ Bastard) Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam both militarily and economically.

1965 – Joseph-Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and becomes President; he rules the country (which he renames Zaire in 1971) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997. This is standard politics in Africa.

1971 – During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (AKA D.B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money – neither he nor the money have ever been found.

1973 – A national speed limit is imposed on the Autobahn in Germany because of the 1973 oil crisis. The speed limit lasted only four months. A year later I’m in Germany and the locals are still shaking their heads about that boneheaded move. Nothing like passing a law that nobody obeys, like our own politicians did with the 55 MPH limit on interstate highways designed for 70. Local governments find a new love for traffic fines that continues to this day.

1989 – After a week of mass protests against the Communist regime known as the Velvet Revolution, Miloš Jakeš and the entire Politburo of the Czechoslovak Communist Party resign from office. This brings an effective end to Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.` But if we do it HERE, communism will TOTALLY work because we’ll have the SMART people in charge, right?!?

2012 – A fire at a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, kills at least 112 people. This is just a surcharge for those cheap imported T-shirts.

2017 – A terrorist attack on a mosque in Al-Rawda, North Sinai, Egypt kills 311 people and injures 128. When there are no convenient infidels or Jews to slaughter, muslims will happily kill other muslims.

1605 – Gunpowder Plot: A plot led by Robert Catesby to blow up the English Houses of Parliament is thwarted when Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, finds Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the Parliament building. If this happened today, the next day there’d be a major news outlet found with pictures of him wearing a MAGA hat, holding an AR-15 or a tiki torch.

1872 – Women’s suffrage in the United States: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100. Today ‘community organizers’ bus voters around on government grant money. In her memory, the US Mint designs a particularly ugly coin.

1937 – World War II: Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring “living space” for the German people.

1970 – The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24),or as they say in Chicago “a slow week”.

1990 – Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel. A radical episcopalian is arrested, charged, charges dismissed, later convicted of bombing the World Trade Center, and confesses…

2007 – China’s first lunar satellite, Chang’e 1 goes into orbit around the Moon. Yawn! American FOOTPRINTS have been there since 1969.

2009 – US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 and wounds 30 at Fort Hood, Texas in the largest mass shooting at a US military installation. But don’t worry. It’s totally NOT terrorism. He’s just a member of a small radical Baptist sect… He should have been hanged and his body stitched inside a pigskin for burial in a cesspool.