Crabs and Beer!

On this day in 1851, Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine. Many others, including Walter Hunt and Elias Howe, had patented sewing machines before Singer, but his success was based on the practicality of his machine, the ease with which it could be adapted to home use and its availability on an installments payment basis.

Singer died in 1875, dividing his $13 million fortune unequally among 20 of his living children by his wives and various mistresses, although one son, who had supported his mother in her divorce case against Singer, received only $500. Altogether, he fathered 26 children by five different women.

In 1856, manufacturers Grover & Baker, Singer, Wheeler & Wilson, all accusing each other of patent infringement, met to pursue their suits. Orlando B. Potter, a lawyer and president of the Grover and Baker Company, proposed that, rather than squander their profits on litigation, they pool their patents. This was the first patent pool, a process which enables the production of complicated machines without legal battles over patent rights. They agreed to form the Sewing Machine Combination.

Up to then, sewing machines had been industrial machines, made for garments, shoes, bridles and for tailors, but in 1856, smaller machines began to be marketed for home use. However, at the then enormous price of over $100 ($4,094.82 in 2024 USD), few sold. Singer invested heavily in mass production utilizing the concept of interchangeable parts developed by Samuel Colt and Eli Whitney for their firearms. He was able to cut the price in half, while at the same time increasing his profit margin by 530%. Singer was the first who put a family machine, “the turtle back”, on the market. Eventually, the price came down to $10(about $404.23 in 2024 USD) According to PBS, “His partner, Edward Cabot Clark, pioneered installment purchasing plans and accepted trade-ins, causing sales to soar.”

Singer in 1869

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A fleeting moment of self-awareness…

Combo business…

If you remember…

Today is the birthday, in 1949, of Mark Knopfler British songwriter, guitarist, singer with Dire Straits who had the 1985 US No.1 single ‘Money For Nothing’, the 1986 UK No.2 single ‘Walk Of Life’, and the 1985 world-wide No.1 album Brothers In Arms. Knopfler has recorded and performed with many prominent musicians, including Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry, Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison, Steely Dan, Sting, and James Taylor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd9TlGDZGkI

On this day in 1858, the first successful ascent of The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is made by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.

The Eiger is a 3,967-metre (13,015 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft), constituting one of the most emblematic sights of the Swiss Alps. While the northern side of the mountain rises more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) above the two valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, the southern side faces the large glaciers of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, the most glaciated region in the Alps. The most notable feature of the Eiger is its nearly 1,800-metre-high (5,900 ft) north face of rock and ice.

The Eiger has been highly publicized for the many tragedies involving climbing expeditions. Since 1935, at least 64 climbers have died attempting the north face, earning it the German nickname Mordwand, literally “murder(ous) wall”—a pun on its correct title of Nordwand (North Wall).

The north face of the Eiger

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SIGNZZZ

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Today is the birthday, in 1949, of Eric Carmen, American singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist, who with The Raspberries had the 1972 US No.5 single ‘Go All The Way’ and the 1976 solo US No.2 single, ‘All By Myself’, plus other hits with ‘She Did It’, ‘Hungry Eyes’, and ‘Make Me Lose Control. He died on 11 March 2024 age 74. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzoazPPC7b8

On this day in 1961, the US Army began Operation Ranch Hand. It was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of Agent Orange during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, it was part of the overall herbicidal warfare program during the war called “Operation Trail Dust”.

Ranch Hand involved spraying an estimated 19 million U.S. gallons of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover. According to the Vietnamese government, the chemicals have killed or maimed 400,000 people. The United States government has described these figures as “unreliable”.

Nearly 20,000 sorties were flown between 1961 and 1971. The “Ranch Handers” motto was “Only you can prevent a forest” – a take on the popular U.S. Forest Service poster slogan of Smokey Bear. During the ten years of spraying, over 5 million acres (20,000 km²) of forest and 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) of crops were heavily damaged or destroyed. Around 20% of the forests of South Vietnam were sprayed at least once.

Four-plane defoliant run, part of Operation Ranch Hand

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BE YOURSELF!

Thanks, Debra!

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Today is the birthday, in 1947, of American singer Ronnie Spector, who co-founded and fronted the girl group The Ronettes who had the 1963 US No.2 & UK No.4 single ‘Be My Baby’. She married producer Phil Spector in 1968. Ronnie alleged in her 1990 memoir, Be My Baby, that following their marriage, Phil subjected her to years of psychological torment and sabotaged her career. Ronnie died on January 12, 2022, aged 78. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-dr1PZZMds

On this day in 1964, the US Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.

The USS Maddox, a U.S. destroyer, was conducting a electronic eavesdropping patrol in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964, when it reported being attacked by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats. Breaking contact, the combatants commenced going their separate ways, when the three torpedo boats were then attacked by four USN F-8 Crusader jet fighter bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga.

President Johnson, fearful of being portrayed as soft on communism, ohnson wanted another “incident” where it was unambiguous that the North Vietnamese were the aggressors by attacking American warships in waters that the American regarded as international. ohnson ordered the Maddox to continue to cruise off the coast of North Vietnam, to be joined by another destroyer, USS Turner Joy, with orders “to attack any force that attacks them”. Two days later on a very stormy night on 4 August 1964, Maddox and the destroyer Turner Joy both reported to be under attack again, by North Vietnamese torpedo boats; during this alleged engagement, Turner Joy fired approximately 220 3-inch & 5-inch shells at surface targets showing on the radar. In response to the reported attack, aircraft from the Ticonderoga were launched, but the pilots reported no visual contact with any craft other than the two destroyers.

Early on the morning of August 4, 1964, Johnson told several congressmen at a meeting that North Vietnam had just attacked an American patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin in international waters and promised retaliation. A press release from the Defense Department accused North Vietnam of a “second deliberate attack” on American warships in international waters. Within hours, President Johnson ordered the launching of retaliatory air strikes on the bases of the North Vietnamese torpedo boats and announced, in a television address to the American public that same evening, that U.S. naval forces had been attacked.

On 5 August 1964, Johnson submitted the resolution to Congress, which if passed would give him the legal power to “take all necessary measures” and “prevent further aggression” as well as allowing him to decide when “peace and security” in Southeast Asia were attained. Johnson commented the resolution was “like grandma’s nightshirt-it covered everything”. Armed with the resolution, the United States gradually increased it’s commitment to the war in Vietnam to tragic consequences for both countries.

USS Maddox under way in 1964

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Enjoy the weekend (sing along if you can!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMT698ArSfQ

On August 6, 1945, at approximately 8:15am, a United States B-29 Superfortress bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb detonated at an altitude of about 1900 feet. According to figures published in 1945, 66,000 people were killed as a direct result of the Hiroshima blast, and 69,000 were injured to varying degrees. Later estimates put the deaths as high as 140,000 people.

The effect of the explosion was blinding light, accompanied by radiant heat from the fireball. The Hiroshima fireball was 1,200 feet (370 m) in diameter, with a surface temperature of 10,000 °F (6,000 °C), about the same temperature as at the surface of the sun. Near ground zero, everything flammable burst into flame. Simultaneous fires were started throughout the blast-damaged area by fireball heat and by overturned stoves and furnaces, electrical shorts, etc. Twenty minutes after the detonation, these fires had merged into a firestorm, pulling in surface air from all directions to feed an inferno which consumed everything flammable.

Colonel Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, waving from its cockpit.

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Trump posted this AI image last night on his Truth Social platform. The most common response is “stolen valor!” Trump never served in the military, although he was sent to a military reform school as a teenager. In fact, he never served a day in any public service position until he was elected president. Well, if AI can come up with that, it can come up with response images, too. Here are a few of them.

May 3, 1829 was the premiere of William Tell by Rossini. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIbYCOiETx0