St. Patrick was not Irish and was not a drunk March 17, 2010

It's hard to tell how March 17 has anything to do with this guy

Popular Seen on St Patrick's Day

On This Date in History:   I’ve already written my opinion regarding St. Patrick’s Day.  Beyond those thoughts of foolishness, I also find it ironic that so many people who are non-Christians celebrate St. Patrick’s Day every year.  It’s also interesting that, while we have protests every year concerning Christmas parades due to Christmas’s  ties to Christianity, no one seems to mind communities holding St. Patrick’s Day parades.  Hmm..seems to me for one to be consistent, that if one stands against public Christmas parades, then one must also stand in opposition to St. Patrick’s Day parades.  I suppose that a major difference is that St. Patrick’s Day has such a close association with alcohol consumption, which indirectly, is a slight to the Irish.  I’ve noticed  that most people who celebrate St. Patty’s Day also have no tie to Ireland at all and certainly very few Americans, even those of Irish heritage, don’t even know anyone who lives in Ireland.

Click to see more Ways to Honor St. Patrick on a t-shirt

I also find that most people don’t even know that St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish himself.  He was born around 390 AD in Britain, most likely in Scotland.  His parents were most likely Roman.  His father was a magistrate or some form of tax collector as well as a Christian Deacon but some speculate that he only took on that title due to the political and financial benefits.  There is some dispute if Patrick’s family was really all that religious at all.  When Patrick was about 16, invaders from Ireland crossed to Britain and captured many people with the intent of taking them back to Ireland as slaves.  Patrick was one of those unfortunate souls and spent about 6 years tending sheep and pigs on the hillsides controled by an Irish chieftan named Milucc or Milshu.    He lived a life of solitude and turned to his religion for comfort.  Some suggest that it was during this time of contemplation that Pat conceived of the notion of converting the largely nature based pagan Irish to Christianity.

At Least She's Wearing Green

Pat managed to escape after 6 years and he wrote that he believed that God spoke to him in a dream and told him to return to Britain.  Now, that was a tall order considering that it is believed he had been held in Mayo or Antrim county, some 200 miles from the Irish coast opposite Britain.  Once he walked all that way, he somehow managed to cross the channel to Britain.  One legend suggests that Pat boarded a ship at a Southeastern Irish harbor that was bound for Britain and after 3 days, the ship landed and those on board made their way to shore.    But the trip was interrupted by a band of vandals and after 4 weeks, the crew and passengers were starving and the Captain turned to Patrick and said, “What have you to say for yourself, Christian?  You boast that your God is all powerful.  We’re starving to death and we may not survive to see another soul!”  Patrick is said to have responded that nothing was impossible with God and he suggested that the captain, “turn to Him and He will send us food for our journey.”

Think the Irish feel honored with this popular t-shirt?

Well, supposedly, a heard of pigs showed up  and their lives were saved.  Pat went on to look for his family and eventually was reunited.  Then, Pat said that he was visited in a dream again; this time by an angel.  He was told to return to Ireland as a missionary.  So, he took time to beef up his religious training and he was ordained as a Priest.  It was then that he went to Ireland on a mission to minister to Christians and to convert as many pagans as he could find to Christianity.  This flies in the face of the assumption that Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland,  Nevertheless,  some accounts suggest that he had been made a Bishop so he could ordane Priests, which would make sense. 

St. Patrick must be proud he's commemorated with green beer

Now, Pat was pretty smart.  Having lived there for so many years, he was quite familiar with the language and the customs of the island.  And, while there already were probably a few Irish Christians, the vast majority of people were pagans who had their own traditions.  So, instead of trying to turn their whole world upside down, he just incorporated pagan tradition into his Christian teaching.  I mean, so what if the Irish Christianity was a little different than that in Rome?  For instance, the Irish tradition was to light bonfires to honor their gods.  So, he decided to celebrate Easter with a bunch of bonfires.  The sun was a powerful symbol in Ireland so, Pat just superimposed the image of the sun onto a cross and…Voila!..there you have the Celtic Cross.  Of course, it wasn’t an easy life.  Pat and his followers were imprisoned several times after being sold out to local kings.  Pat was sentenced to death many times but fought on and survived until his death on this date in or around 460 AD. 

A clearly sober Patrick stands watch over Croagh Patrick Mountain

Now, the Irish clan tradition was rich in oral story telling.  So, there is no mystery as to why there are so many myths about St. Patrick.  A Catholic source suggests that Pat never chased the snakes 0ut of Ireland and claims that it is debatable if he ever used the 3 pronged clover leaf to exemplify the notion of the Trinity.    This encylopedia account of St. Patrick seems pretty well researched by someone who obviously had a lot of time on his hands because it’s pretty involved.    But,  if you search, you will find many variations of the story of St. Patrick, including the Confessions of St. Patrick which at least gives some insight into the man since it was self-written.  No one seems to be able to settle on his date of birth or death, except that he died on March 17.  And, it’s pretty tough to determine when he was made the Patron Saint of Ireland. That’s because the first person canonized by the Pope was a bishop from Germany named Ulrich and that wasn’t until 993 AD.  Until that time, canonizations were done on the diocesean level shortly after the supposed holy one’s death.  Apparently, Pat was made a Saint by the locals and the Catholic Church never took it off their calendar.  So much is unclear about this guy who is so well known, or unknown.  One thing that does stand out is that in the dioceces of Ireland, its a Holy Day of Obligation, but nowhere else.  In America, those who mark St. Patrick’s Day do so in many ways, but I think it would be a stretch to say it has anything to do with holiness, nor the true origin of the day.

18Z Mesoeta Has saturated 700mb level awfully close to Louisville at 2pm

Weather Bottom Line:  The forecast remains on track and I’m still on the cloudy limb for Wednesday.  While the upper low still comes down from the north well to the West, there remain indications on both the GFS and NAM that we will have a bunch of clouds.  Conventional wisdom calls for mostly sunny skies but I’m not so sure of that. At least we will have filtered sun with a high cloud deck.  Tell you what…the 12Z GFS even called for some light showers around here for the first part of Wednesday.  Now, I’m not so sure about that but I’ll go with more clouds than most others suggest and temperatures similar to what we saw on Tuesday with highs in the upper 50′s.  It’s really an academic argument and doesn’t make that much difference except as a point to argue.  Then we get to the low to mid 60′s on Thursday and Friday and I betcha its upper 60′s on Saturday before we get a cold front and rain with some t’storms Saturday night.  Sunday looks to be a good day to watch basketball with a lot of clouds and cooler conditions…low 50′s at best perhaps… and then a secondary push of colder air keeps us in the 40′s on Monday.

A Pointless Day; Curtain Almost Falls on PT Barnum March 17, 2009

Such Foolishness

Perhaps One Redeeming Quality of St. Patty's Day

On This Date in History: 

Okay…it’s St. Patrick’s Day.  Call me a killjoy but I could care less.  I think any redeeming value the day ever had has been lost as it seems to me it serves as an excuse for people to get loaded.  When people wear shirts that say “kiss me, I’m Irish” I often wonder if they even know anyone from Ireland.  That’s like me saying I’m Scottish.  My family came over at the turn of the 20th Century.  I know no one from Scotland.  I am an American first and a Texan second.  End of story.  In my book, the only way I would be a Scottish-American would be if my parents were from Scotland.  Otherwise, there is no need for hyphenated American status.  E-Pluribus Unum means “out of many, one.”  We are a nation and we have an American culture, for better of worse.  For some reason, we want to claim that we are claim that we are different, as if being simply an American is not good enough.  Bah, Humbug.  If you want to find out about the roots of St. Patricks Day, click here…be my guest.  I shant speak of it any more.

Barnum Out Conned the Con

I prefer instead to look at P.T. Barnum.  Phineas T. Barnum was a trixter who used hyperbole and hoaxes to gain great wealth.  He is often credited with saying that “a sucker is born every minute.”  Truth is, he never said it.  David Hannum said it, but Barnum was the catalyst.  See, a man named Hull hatched a scheme in which he had a giant statue carved and then buried.  Then he had it dug up and claimed it was some sort of ancient relic.  A group of investers, including Hannum, bought the statue for about $37,500 and put it on display for people to pay to come see it.  Well, it’s tough to con a con-man and Barnum knew a hoax when he saw it.  So, he had a bigger statue made and then trumpeted his statue as the original and Hannum’s was a fake!  So, when he saw people lining up to pay to see Barnum’s “Cardiff Giant,” Hannum said, “a sucker is born every minute.”  As it turns out, Barnum was one of those suckers.

In 1851, Barnum was very wealthy at the age of 41.  He wanted to change his image from huxster to serious businessman and benefactor.  He had an idea creating a new town called East Bridgeport…which was east of Bridgeport, CT.  He got together with William H. Noble of Bridgeport and they proceeded to buy over 220 acres of land along the Pequonnock River.  They had a well planned community with factories, stores and homes.  They began to sell the land in parcels for homes.  They attracted businesses by offering cheap land and favorable credit.  The built a big park and a bridge.  Then, in 1855, Barnum was approached by one of the largest clock manufacturers in the world.  The Jerome Clock Company made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Jenny Lind Came to Barnum's Defense in the Tribune

The New Haven, CT company was in a tough spot and looking for help.  They proposed that Barnum use his name as security for $110,000 in notes and in return, the company would relocate to East Bridgeport.  All Barnum saw was 700 workers moving to his dream town.  So, he agreed but with the stipulation that he would only initially lend $50,000 with the rest to be offered in short term notes with maturities of 5 to 60 days.  So, Barnum signed several notes and at first checked to make sure that he would not make new loans until previous notes were paid back.  But, he had a habit of not filling in the maturity dates.  After awhile, he became so trustful of the Jerome Clock Company, that he didn’t even bother to see if the previous notes had been paid.  Then, one day,banks began to refuse the notes.  After an investigation, it turns out that the company had been filling out the maturity dates for up to 2 years and Barnum had written notes for over a half million dollars.   Barnum later wrote that the man who did the investigation “came back to me with the refreshing intelligence that I was a ruined man!”

Tom Thumb Helped Barnum Recover

The con-man had been conned.  On this date in 1856, the New York Herald gloated about the demise of P.T. Barnum.  Stories came out how Barnum’s fate was a lesson concerning the “instability of ill-gotten gains.”   Ralph Waldo Emerson said that it proved ”the gods visible again.”  While there was much public reaction of celebration of the destruction of Barnum’s fortune, old Phineas had friends to come to his aid.  Barnum though refused and liquidated his assets to pay off his debts.  Barnum wrote that “When the blow fell upon me, I thought I could never recover; the event has shown, however, that I have gained both in character and fortune, and what threatened, for years, to be my ruin, has proved one of the most fortunate happenings of my career.”

Barnum was far from finished.  After four years, he regained his wealth by taking Tom Thumb on tour in Europe and making speeches regarding temperance.  He re-opened his museum  and even added America’s first acquarium and expanded the wax-figure portion of the display.  He had a display of the seven wonders of the world and all was well as the complex expanded to four buildings.  A fire burned it to the ground in 1865.  He rebuilt it and it burned down again in 1868.  That was enough for him and at age 60, in 1871, he went into the circus business.  Barnum died in his sleep in 1891.  His circus was sold to Ringling Brothers in 1907.  Barnum ended up with four mansions and was buried in…Bridgeport, CT…in a cemetary that he had designed.   His real estate project was indeed his death bed as his critics had celebrated…they were just 35 years too early.

NAM has Upper 60's by Midday...Take Off St. Patty's Day

Weather Bottom Line:   Still on target.  Highs Tuesday near 70.  Low to mid 70′s on Wednesday as winds pick up from the southwest ahead of the cold front.   Wednesday night rain likely, t’storms possible.  Severe threat remains minimal, mainly due to the timing of the action at night.  West or south may have a couple of tough storms but at this time, it does not appear to be much concern but still worth monitoring.  We back off to the upper 50′s on Thursday and back into the 60′s for the weekend.  Pretty straightforward.

DAY 3 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK 
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   0221 AM CDT MON MAR 16 2009
  
   VALID 181200Z – 191200Z
  
   …NO SVR TSTM AREAS FORECAST…
  
   …SYNOPSIS…
   SOME AMPLIFICATION OF THE UPPER PATTERN IS FORECAST THIS PERIOD…AS
   THE FLAT TROUGH CROSSING THE N CENTRAL CONUS EXPANDS AS IT MOVES
   INTO ERN CANADA/ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES REGION. 
  
   AT THE SURFACE…A COLD FRONT WILL CONTINUE MOVING EWD ACROSS ERN
   CANADA/THE NERN CONUS…AND SEWD ACROSS THE MIDWEST/OH
   VALLEY/CENTRAL U.S. THROUGH THE PERIOD.
  
   …MID MS/LOWER OH VALLEYS INTO THE OZARKS…
   RETURN FLOW MOISTURE IS FORECAST TO BE LIMITED ACROSS THE S CENTRAL
   CONUS AHEAD OF THE SAGGING SURFACE FRONT…AS A SURFACE RIDGE
   PERSISTS ACROSS THE NRN GULF/GULF COAST REGION RESULTING IN
   ELY/ENELY LOW-LEVEL FLOW ACROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO.
  
   WHILE THE MARGINAL MOISTURE COMBINED WITH RELATIVELY COLD MID-LEVEL
   TEMPERATURES /AROUND -18 C AT H5/ SHOULD YIELD AMPLE AFTERNOON CAPE
   FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INVOF THE
   FRONT…CAPE SHOULD PROVE INSUFFICIENT FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE
   POTENTIAL.  ATTM…IT APPEARS THAT A FEW STRONGER CELLS — AIDED BY
   MODEST SHEAR FORECAST ACROSS THIS REGION — COULD REACH SEVERE
   LEVELS DURING THE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING.  THUS — WILL INTRODUCE A
   LOW PROBABILITY THREAT FOR HAIL/WIND…WHICH SHOULD DIMINISH RAPIDLY
   AFTER PEAK HEATING.
  
   ..GOSS.. 03/16/2009