This Date in History – Oct. 4, 1363 – Chinese rebel forces met in one of the largest naval battle in history!
An example of a louchuan (tower ship) employed in the battle (Example a Song Dynasty ship)
Today marks the 651st anniversary of one of the largest naval battles in history. Yes, you read that correctly 651 years ago in the year 1363 five hundred years before the American Civil War the Battle of Lake Poyang in China ended with the Chinese rebel forces of the Ming rebels under Zhu Yuanzhang defeating his rival, Chen Youliang of the Han. The battle has begun on August 30th and was one of the final battles fought in the fall of China’s Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming and the Han, along with the Wu the three most powerful groups seeking to topple the Yuan Dynasty.
Today in History – Oct 3, 2009 – The Turkic Council is formed by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey
Flag of the Turkic Council
Ok so when most Americans hear Turkey they think first of the Thanksgiving Day bird and maybe secondly the country in the Middle East. The American elementary and secondary education system spends little time on world history and when we do study world history it is usually limited to European history. We spend very little time on Mid-Eastern or Asian History, maybe we touch on China and the Mongols and the Ottoman Empire, but little else.
Hot Rize – When I’m Free
Note to Hot Rize: 24 yrs between albums is too long!!
When I started to listen to a lot of music and collecting CDs, thanks to the used CD bins at Tunes in Marlton, in the early 2000s, I found the music of Tim O’Brien, an amazing multi-instrumentalist and singer. I also discovered the music of guitarist Charles Sawtelle. It took a while before I stumbled upon a great bluegrass album So Long a Journey (2002) from the band Hot Rize. I discovered that both O’Brien and Sawtelle were members of the band, along with Pete Wernick, and Nick Forster. Subsequently, I discovered that the album was a live album that had been recorded in 1996 and was a reunion album of the band, that had retired in 1990. In 1990, the members had parted ways and went on to have distinguished solo careers. From their biography at the band’s website.
Today Oct 2nd – The International Day of Non-Violence, Born Oct 2, 1869 Mahatma Gandhi!
“Non-Violence”, a sculpture by Karl Fredrik Reutersward, permanently exhibited outside UN Headquarters in New York. (Paulo Filgueiras/UN Photo)
I hope that all police officers in the US today were told at morning roll call that today is The International Day of Non-Violence and that maybe they should take a moment, and if they are faced with a crisis, stop and think, “How Can I handle this situation non-violently?” and if the answer is TRULY that it can’t be then take the least violent action that will handle the situation!!
Kathleen Mallory #11- It Happens in the Dark – Carol O’Connell
In Kathleen Mallory, author Carol O’Connell has created one of the most distinctive characters in the mystery and thriller
genre. Mallory is
…. described by her creator as a sociopath. Emotionally scarred as a 6-year-old after she witnessed the murder of her mother in a small Louisiana town, Mallory flees to New York City, where she lives as a street child. She is caught trying to steal by police officer Louis Markowitz, who takes her home and becomes her foster father.
Sunday Reads: It's Time, even employers want it!! Raise the Minimum Wage!
So we all know that since the 2008 collapse recovery has been slow, especially for people, and since Corporations are people how come they are not feeling any pain!! Not only aren’t these faux people not feeling any pain, they are really doing pretty well particularly in relation to the people who work for them. According to the post Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide at the New York Times, corporate profits are at their highest levels since 1929 and employer pay the lowest since 1949!!! Consider those dates 1929 was just before the Depression and in 1949 we were just recovering from the war. Anyway the point is that things are NOT going to get better until we shrink the gap between profits and wages!
Sunday Reads: It’s Time, even employers want it!! Raise the Minimum Wage!
So we all know that since the 2008 collapse recovery has been slow, especially for people, and since Corporations are people how come they are not feeling any pain!! Not only aren’t these faux people not feeling any pain, they are really doing pretty well particularly in relation to the people who work for them. According to the post Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide at the New York Times, corporate profits are at their highest levels since 1929 and employer pay the lowest since 1949!!! Consider those dates 1929 was just before the Depression and in 1949 we were just recovering from the war. Anyway the point is that things are NOT going to get better until we shrink the gap between profits and wages!
Unsung Founding Father – Oliver Ellsworth and the Judiciary Act of 1789!
Not long ago I commented that one of the important things that we need to remember is that not all the time is 
history made by the big names For example we all know the names of many of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Washington, Adams Madison, Franklin But do you know the name Oliver Ellsworth? I know I didn’t, when I came across his name last Wednesday, September 24th the date the Judiciary Act of 1789 was signed into law. While the Constitution created the three branches of government – the executive, the legislative and the judicial in Article III Section 1 of the constitution where it stated that the “judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court,” and such inferior courts as Congress saw fit to establish the Constitution did not spell out the composition or the procedures of any of the courts. The specifics were left up to Congress to decide. The Congress did so with the Judiciary Act of 1789.
