Hols of the Day

 
It may be almost spring, folks, but it's also Ear Muff Day!

More on that , later.

On to...

This Day in History

1852--Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the New York Lantern weekly

1868--Senate begins President Andrew Johnson impeachment trial

1884--US adopts Standard Time

1887--Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs

1888--Great Blizzard of 1888 rages

1915--Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit

1925--Tennessee makes it unlawful to teach evolution

1938-- Anschluß-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany

1980--Ford Motor Co found innocent in death of 3 women in a fiery Pinto

1993--Blizzard of '93 hits north-east US

2008--Hoyt Family orders their garden seeds

Wow...there is almost too much to discuss! But we shall try.

The mention of blizzards and earmuffs should remind us that even though spring is just around the corner, inclement weather can still come.

First, Chester Greenwood. He may have dropped out of grammar school (probably refers to elementary school) but this guy was a doer. Read more, here.

There were two memorable blizzards of 1888. The first occurred out in the great plains, on January 12th. Sometimes called The Children's Blizzard, it took the lives of various children and teachers who were stranded at school or attempted to walk home during the storm. Here is a personal account from a boy who lived to tell his story.

The second storm was on the east coast and though the wind speed was not up to blizzard strength, it dumped incredible amounts of snow, nonetheless. For several stories from that snowfall, check here. At least read through the first one, if you want to hear how a man was kicked by a dead horse.

As to Wilbert Robinson, this former major league catcher had become a manager when he decided to participate in a 1915 spring training stunt: catch a baseball dropped from an airplane being flown at 525 feet. There are two stories...1) that outfielder Casey Stengel convinced the pilot to substitute a grapefruit, and 2) that the Ruth Law, the aviatrix (Latin word which designates a woman flyer--cool, huh?) simply forgot the baseball and dropped a handy grapefruit, instead.

At any rate, it splattered all over Mr. Robinson, who momentarily feared he was dripping blood. The laughter of the surrounding guys convinced him otherwise.

1925 and the law banning the teaching of evolution as man descending from lower animals. Yes, The Butler Act was the very statute used to try John T. Scopes in the "Scopes Monkey Trial." What some may not realize is that Mr. Scopes lost the trial, so in a sense, the teachings pertaining to Creation won. What still others may not know is that the conviction was overturned on a technicality: the judge having set the fine instead of the jury.

The Ford Pinto decision is interesting to me for several personal reasons. First, a little background: three related girls had just gassed up their Pinto and were driving down highway 33 near Elkhart, IN, approximately 3 miles from our house. The gas cap, not having been put back on properly, fell off and the the driver stopped in the right lane of the four-lane highway to retrieve it.

Probably not a good idea, but the newly refurbished highway had been built with high curbs along the side, so no one could pull off the road....anyway, a van came up behind, smashed into the Pinto at 55 miles per hour. The car exploded in flames and two of the girls died soon after. The driver died later at the hospital.

The driver of the van who rear-ended the pinto had open containers of alcohol as well as marijuana.

So right away you have several potential problems:

1) Pintos with gas tanks that were known to be a problem
2) Driver made an unwise decision to stop
3) Van driver who was DUI
4) Curbing which prevented exit of highway in emergency

My summer job between my freshman and sophomore college years was office work for the uncle of those three girls. My brother happened upon the accident shortly after it happened, and well...I doubt he cares to share what he saw. The accident site was fairly close to our home and the ensuing trial against Ford was quite the big deal.

Ford Motor Company was indicted on three counts of reckless homicide, the first indictment on criminal charges of a corporation, in fact.

An eleven dollar fix per car could have remedied some of the potential problems with the exploding gas tank. But when Ford did its cost analysis of the situation, they found that accounting for the potential crashes, deaths, severe burns, etc and what they would cost, what the company might pay in litigation would actually be less than the cost of recalling all of the Pintos.

It gives one faith in humanity, no?

Lee Iacocca was instrumental in developing the Pinto, which was introduced to the public in 1970. But Lee was not quite around by the time of the 1978 crash. He was fired from his job as president of Ford in July of that same year.

In the end, the Ford Company got off, but they suffered damage from that litigation for years.

Methinks companies are a trifle more careful, these days. At least I hope so...

The highway curbing was altered, adding emergency pull-off bays every so often to facilitate drivers with problems.

One more little mention, The Blizzard of 1993. This was termed "The Storm of the Century." While it did not dump as much snow as the ones mentioned in 1888, it was significant in that it brought snow to southern states which had NO facilities for removing it. It was indeed a huge monster, reaching from Central America to Canada.

If nothing else, we learn that snow can happen in March!

History:   once you get going it's just so hard to stop...
 

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