February 12th Significant For More than Lincoln February 12, 2010

Abe Shares His Birthday with other notables, including Nit and Wit

Nit and Wit have a Full Bag of tricks for their 14th birthday

On This Date in History:  Everyone should know that today my two cats, Nit and Wit, turned 14 today and that the day marks the 201st anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.    In years past, this would have been a holiday but Congress decided that we had too  many holidays and so when they decided to give everyone the day off for Rev.  Martin Luther King’s birthday,  they felt like that they had to eliminate one.  So, they took Abe’s birthday and General Washington’s birthday of February 22nd and combined them to form President’s day which falls between Abe’s and George’s birthdays.  But, February 12th not only marks Abe’s birthday and Nit and Wit’s birthday, but also a couple of other notables were born on this date.

All thumbs up for Bill on February 12th

President Clinton got a rebirth of sorts on this date in 1999 and again this year.  The former president is recovering very nicely after going home on  February 12, 2010 following a scare.  On the previous day, he was rushed to the hospital after suffering from chest pains.  Doctors discovered a heart problem and quickly inserted a couple of stints.  Everyone keeps saying that our healthcare system needs to be fixed but, the fact that this procedure is relatively routine and Mr. Clinton went home the next day illustrates that the health care in this country is top shelf.  It’s the payment system that has flaws.  Anyway, it’s hard to say if Mr. Clinton is more grateful today or on this date in 1999, when his impeachment proceedings ended in an acquittal following a Senate trial and subsequent acquittal.  Remember, impeachment is the charge, not removal from office and, like Andrew Johnson before him, President Clinton lived to fight another day in the White House, much as he is doing now as a goodwill ambassador teaming with George W. Bush to help bring relief to Haiti.

Fierce Rivals Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain

On this date in 1934, basketball great Bill Russell was born in Monroe,Louisiana.  Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics for 13 years and won 11 championships.  He even won as player-coach.  He was a 5 time league  MVP.  He is credited with changing the game with his defense so his offensive statistics,while impressive, will not be found at the top of too many all-time categories.  The league did not count blocked shots when he played but there is little doubt that, if they had, he very well may have been the all-time leader, even today.  His defense was so great that he was able to be more than a match for the great Wilt Chamberlain.  But, a little recognized fact regarding Russell is that he was not the number one pick in the NBA draft.  The Rochester Royals had the first pick but chose another player because the owner wouldn’t pay the $25,000 signing bonus that Russell was demanding.  Boston’s pick was way down the list so they traded two very good players to the St. Louis Hawks for the second draft pick.  The Hawks went on to win the NBA championship that year but they handed the Celtics a dynasty that would last more than a decade. 

Then there is an old favorite, Ben Cartwright.  He was the patriarch of the family that featured 3 sons from different mothers.  When Adam left to travel the world, a hired hand took his place, Candy.  Of course this is all fiction as I”m speaking of the TV show Bonanza that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1973.  If I recall, Bonanza was promoted heavily because,in the early days, it was one of (if not the first) prime time show in color and NBC wanted to promote NBC color in conjunction with its new peacock symbol.  Canadian born actor Lorne Greene was born on this date in 1915 and, while his character was ficticious, Greene said that he based the character on a real person: his father. 

Roy Hoping Ben Will Come to the Rescue

While Greene was a star in Earthquake with Chuck Heston and later starred  in Battlestar Galactica, which was a far stretch from his days roaming about the Ponderosa, it was a vehicle to introduce him to a whole new generation of young Ameircans.  Personally, I always liked the way that he, Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and later Candy always seemed to be in Virginia City bailing out Sheriff Roy Coffee, whom I think is tied with Sheriff Micah Torrance of Northfork as the worst sheriff in the old west. In Micah’s case, it was always Lucas McCain who was coming to the rescue.  Where would Micah be without “Lucas-boy” or Virginia City be without the Cartwrights?  Where would America be without “Pa” who lived in our living rooms as the stern but kind, Ben Cartwright on Bonanza.

National Weather Service Correctly Not Tipping It's Hand Just Yet

Fri 18Z GFS Bullish with 6-8 Inches Louisville and South Thru Midday Wed

Weather Bottom Line:  We are going to get snow.  The question is how much?  That’s a good question.  I’ve seen on TV anywhere from 2 inches to 8 inches.  I would say that the former is more likely than the latter but the truth will probably be somewhere in between.  Now, I must say, I don’t see how we did it, but we nudged to 33 for a few minutes on Friday.  The sun should be absent on Saturday and Sunday and Monday so I don’t see how we get above freezing on those days, but like before, if we do it won’t be by much or for long.  Early Saturday morning there may be some light snow showers or flurries. No big deal but it may be enough in some areas to create some slick spots Saturday morning. 

12Z Fri NAM Had 3-5 inches by Monday Evening but...

Now, this next guy is a little clipper system.  Typically, an “Alberta Clipper” is an area of low pressure that forms in Alberta, Canada and then moves pretty quickly down through the flow.  It usually moves quickly and since it originates over the land, doesn’t have a huge amount of moisture to work with.  The heaviest snow associated with a clipper is in a relatively narrow band just to the left of the track of the low.    So, the trick will be the track.  There are no models that take this low north of Louisville so that is why I know we will get some snow.  But, if it tracks too far south, then we get a little.  If it comes just right, then we get heavier snow.  There is no way to know for certain.  Some models want to have the narrow band of 4-6 inch totals down around E-town.  Others put it over Louisville.  I’ve seen some try to bring up to 8 inches by the time this is all over with on Tuesday or early Wednesday but its tough to get that much snow out of a system like this.   

Fri 18Z NAM Shifted Heaviest Snow Well South

The idea for  the bigger totals would be an inch on Saturday, 1-2 inches on Sunday and 4-6 on Monday.  I say nonsense to that.  We will probably get well below an inch on Saturday and the snow doesn’t get going again with the clipper until Sunday night.  I would think the most anyone gets would be 3-4 inches on Monday with perhaps a total of an inch for Monday night through Tuesday into Wednesday morning in the form of snow showers or flurries.  I don’t see how we get above freezing again until Thursday in advance of another system that may bring some messy rain/ice/snow for the end of next week.   But, we’ll deal with that later.

Can You Trace Your Roots? January 23, 2009

Try Tracing These Roots

Levar Burton As Young Kunta Kinte

 On This Day In History: On this date in 1977, a miniseries appeared on ABC-TV. This is before the widespread use of cable television so, even the large markets had the 3 networks and a few local independent stations and that was it.  Now, the network executives were convinced that the 8-part, 12 hour miniseries would fail and so they purposely scheduled it for 8 consecutive nights in January before ratings began in February just to get it off the air.

If you recall,  a few days ago I talked about the election of President Obama and how, prior to even the nomination, I was shouted down at work by those who said I was stupid and didn’t know anything and that there was no way America would ever elect him president.  I said that they were wrong and that my generation and younger were not raised that way and that I believed that Americans in general have good hearts and are patriots who will eventually do what they think is best for the country.  Too bad the executives at ABC couldn’t hear my speech in the 1970′s or they would have put this miniseries on during ratings.

Ben Cartwright a Bad Guy?

You see, the miniseries was based on a book by author Alex Haley.  It was called “Roots” and was the story of the generations of a family in America.  The first generation was brought to America as a slave in the 1700′s.  The series depicted slavery’s brutality and the effects that it had on families.  It was not really sugar coated.  But, I suppose the executives, like my friends, were unaware of how America was changing and all they could probably remember was the open racism of the 1940′s and 1950′s and forgot the millions of Americans who stood in concert with the Civil Rights movement.  So convinced it would be a flop and be rejected by audiences, they cast familiar actors like Lorne Greene, who had starred as the stalwart Ben Cartwright on Bonanza, in the secondary roles so to

Leslie Uggams Outstanding As Kizzie

better assure audiences.  Ed Asner, who had starred in the Mary Tyler Moore Show, played the part of a slave ship captain who suddenly gains a conscience.  That part was added for TV…that character never appeared in Haley’s book.  They added the part to make audiences feel better about their race’s role in the “peculiar institution.”  While the portrayal of the slave characters showed well defined human beings and not the comical vaudevillian type nonsense that had permeated movies and TV, the network promotional announcements were disproportionately absent of the slave actors.  The bottom line is that the network was ultimately surprised.  They didn’t think a show that showed the white guys as the bad guys would be successful or be “accepted” by white audiences.  Wrong again.

OJ In Africa? No One Bought It

For the 8 days it ran, the show averaged 45% of all televisions turned to the show and 66% of all televisions in use during the airing tuned in to “Roots.”  Some 85% of all television homes saw all or part of “Roots” with 100 million people, nearly half the country, tuned in for the final episode.  Told you they should have waited for the ratings period in February.  With numbers like that, it’s really irrelevant what critics thought because the American people were entranced by it.  I remember everyone at school talking about it every day.  But, the critics had some snipes about the number of scenes involving rape, violence and

Say It Ain't So, Lucas-Boy!

sex.  I guess they wanted a sugar coated story.  And some didn’t like the romantic, soap-opera-like, romantic subplots.  But, perhaps the biggest criticism had to do with one casting decision.  OJ Simpson played a native in Africa who tried to use his great speed to run away.  People had seen OJ play football and OJ run through airports on Hertz commercials, but they weren’t too accepting of OJ Simpson running around West Africa.  One that I couldn’t get over was Chuck Connors…The Rifleman. He was always good guy Lucas McCain to me and in this he was a mean, dispicable guy.  I bet Micah would have slapped the cuffs on him.

Two things about this.  The series was important because it brought to life something reasonably close to the awful, immoral nature of slavery…but probably in many cases wasn’t as bad as it really was.  It brought about some social change in that it brought discussion to schools and in the public.  It opened the doors to having African Americans gain more positive roles in movie and television production and generally portrayed in a more positive light.  But, this also is an example of how the producers failed to see the change in America.  They had their fixed notions, rooted in the past, and they were wrong.  History is not prescriptive as it is limited to its time.  Just because something happened  in the past does not mean that it will happen in the future.  History repeating itself is a misued cliche that should be left on the shelf and one should not form preconceived notions about the present based on the past.  The times are different, people are different, society is different, the culture is different.

Weather Bottom Line: Snow White and I went out to Henry’s Ark…or Henry’s Farm…or Wallace’s Farm and fed all of the animals about 10 pounds of carrots on Thursday.  We took advantage of the temps in the 50′s.  The emu thought my finger was a carrot and then pulled Snow White’s hair.  The entire porcupine family came out to say hello and the Zebras ran all the way from across the field and left their hay just to come take some carrots from us.  They all seem so hungry that we may go out again today as Friday will be a touch warmer than Thursday.  Then, that’s it….back to colder temperatures.  The weekend will see highs in the low 30′s and upper 20′s.  Next week looks to be seasonal or slightly colder than seasonal for much of the time.  The little system is still on the board but running behind a bit with perhaps some snow on Tuesday night into Wednesday.  Then it changes to sleet or maybe a period of freezing rain and then to rain by Thursday.  Right now, it doesn’t look overly menacing but there are several days left on the drawing board.