A Kentuckian Proposed the First Thanksgiving and Another Pulled off the Greatest Diamond Scam November 26, 2009

Not the 1st Thanksgiving?

First Thanksgiving: Most people enjoy  Thanksgiving Dinner and we all probably learned in grade school that the first Thanksgiving involved the Pilgirms and the native Indians of North America. But, the real first official Thanksgiving Holiday was proclaimed on October 3,1863 by President Lincoln, calling for an annual day of national Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. The president used the opportunity to thank the Union Army for the reversal of fortune in the Union effort by the victory at Gettysburg. President Washington had declared a “national day of thanksgiving and prayer” in 1789, but it didn’t become an annual event. In fact, Thomas Jefferson thought that such national events of demonstration towards a deity was not appropriate. Other presidents agreed until President Lincoln’s decree. President Franklin Roosevelt tried what I call a political move in 1939 when he moved the holiday to the third Thursday. However, I suppose its plausible to argue that Lincoln’s initial declaration was rooted in politics. Anyway, FDR was hoping to extend the Christmas shopping season. I guess he thought that by moving Thanksgiving he could pull the wool over American’s eyes and use the psychology of calling a different day Thanksgiving to get them to spend more money. Anyway, Congress had enough of the foolishness and in 1941 put the national holiday back to where President Lincoln put it in the first place.

Diamond Scam Pulled Off My Enterprising Kentuckians

Charles Tiffany Duped By Kentuckians

On This Date in History: In the second half of the 19th century, there was gold fever out west. Lot’s of
swindling was going on. A typical scam was for someone to “salt” a worthless mine by tossing out some gold dust or small nuggets so that somone else would think that there was lots of gold there and they would buy it for an exhorbitant sum.

William C Ralston Duped By Kentuckians

A man from LaRue County Kentucky, Philip Arnold, had gotten into the prospecting game for about 20 years without much success. In 1870, the poorly educated Arnold got a job as an assistant bookkeeper in San Francisco for a drill maker that used industrial grade diamonds on drill bits. No one seemed to notice but, for an accountant, Arnold took quite an interest in the diamonds as he read many academic sources on the subject.

In 1871, San Francisco businessman George D. Roberts was sitting in his office one night when two dirty men entered carrying a bag. They said what they had inside was something of great value but they could not deposit it in the bank due to the late hour. At first, they were reluctant to say what it was but one of the men let slip that they were uncut diamonds. Roberts tried, but they refused to say from where it came. The two men were Philip Arnold and his cousin John Slack. Arnold later told the Louisville Courier Journal that he told Roberts not to tell anyone. Arnold knew that the best way to spread a tale was to tell someone not to tell anyone else. As soon as the pair had left his office, Roberts was out the door to tell a big shot financier named William Ralston.

Asbury Harpending Duped By Kentuckians Then Wrote About It

This is a legnthy and interesting story (worth the read if you’ve got the time) but the long and short of it is that Ralston got together some other bigshots and started the New York Mining and Commercial Company with $10 million in investors money. Among the investors were prominent politicians, military leaders and businessmen, including Asbury Harpending who wrote extensively of the story in his biography. Arnold and Slack first took a blindfolded expert to the site in Colorado where the man “found” all sorts of diamonds..and rubies..and emeralds! When they returned to San Francisco, Ralston offered to buy them out but the pair of Kentucky hoodwinkers weren’t as dumb as the city slickers thought. They took $50,000 up front. They then went to London where they bought a large volume of low end jewels…so crummy they were generally considered not jewels…for $20,000. They returned to the states and salted the site a couple of more times to convince more experts. The Ralston group even took 10% of the take to Tiffany’s in New York for appraisal and were told that the $20,000 worth of stuff bought by Arnold and Slack in London was worth $1.5 million. So, they ended up paying Arnold and Slack $600,000 (1872 dollars). They disappeared. News of the big jewel find got out and piqued the attention of a young member of the geographical survey who was assigned to that region. Clarence King and his crew were extremely skeptical and decided to investigate. The found the site and determined that it was a fraud. On This Date in 1872, Clarence King became an international celebrity when his story was printed in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin which dubbed it as The Great Diamond Hoax. (Here is another version of the story along with evidence produced by King)

Clarence King Exposed Kentuckians But Died A Pauper

Arnold was tracked down in Elizabethtown where he had started a bank and was living the life of luxury. The good old Commonwealth of Kentucky, for unknown reasons, decided to protect one of its boys and refused to extradite him. Arnold paid $150,000 in exchange for no charges being filed but couldn’t enjoy the remaining part of his fortune for long because he died of pneumonia in 1878. His cousin, John Slack, apparently was not the brains of the operation because he was last reported to be a coffin maker in New Mexico. Then again, maybe he was smarter than I give him credit for because his fate is unknown…maybe he gave everyone the slip and lived like a king.

Speaking of King….Clarence became the first director of the US Geological Survey and became friends and hobknobbed with a host of international dignitaries, politicians and celebrities. He became a celebrated author. He had it all, but apparently not enough. He left the Geological Survey and tried getting rich in mining, ranching and even banking. He lost all of his money, most of his friends and much of his reputation. He died at the age of 60 in poverty and debt of tuberculosis in 1901 in Phoenix in a small brick house.

So, it would appear that the whistleblower who gained fame and prominence was the biggest loser in this tale. He had it all and lost it all and more. The brains of the caper, Arnold, did okay but didn’t get to enjoy his larceny for long. History seems to suggest that John Slack was also a loser because the last thing they know about him was he was making coffins in New Mexico. But, I would submit that its possible the nit-wit cousin may have been the big winner and the smartest of them all, pulling off one final scam before disappearing from view. As Hank Williams, Jr sang, A Country Boy Can Survive.

Typhoon Parma Strikes Philippines; 1st Thanksgiving; 1st Iraq Independence Day October 3, 2009

Typhoon Parma Forecast Track 12Z 10.03.09

For an Update on Typhoon Parma and Typhoon Melor CLICK HERE

Typhoon Parma Satellite Image 1130Z 10.03.09

Typhoon Parma made landfall on the northeast coast of the the Philippines on Saturday.  Typhoon Parma’s struck   the Cagayan Province  with the worst typhoon conditions in a decade, some officials said.  Government officials were thankful that the storm wobbled a bit before landfall, although the damage is still extensive and there has been loss of life.  While some reports say that Manila was spared, other reports say that Manila had heavy rain on Friday and Saturday and officials were not sure about additional flooding in and around the capital.   I suspect that both reports are true.  Manila was spared from the full impact but the backside of the storm’s flow is off the South China Sea which would bring bands of heavy rain from the west or northwest.  And, it is probably true that local officials have no idea of the rain on the waterlogged areas around the capital will result in new flooding. 

Typhoon Parma had maximum winds of near 175 kph (about 110 mph) at landfall which was sufficient to wreak havoc in the Cagayan provincial capital of Tuguegarao where reports of extensive wind damage have come in as well as flooding.  The initial reports of three dead will likely be expanded.

Typhoon Melor Forecast Track

The official forecast track of Parma (Joint Typhoon Warning Center Discussion) has some of the elements that I discussed in the previous post as the storm neared the coast.  Parma will continue to bring rain to the northern part of the island as its forward momentum will slow down.  However, the current thinking is that the storm moves along the track first forecast several days ago,which is more northward toward Taiwan.   After doing so for a short time, the storm then moves a bit southeast and then loops back northeast.  This movement southeast/northeast movement would be in response to Typhoon Melor (JTWC Discussion) moving by to the east as it makes its way toward Japan.  The forecast track has been very difficult for quite some time and the Taiwan government is taking no chances as that island nation is  issuing warnings and evacuating some areas as a precaution, which is probably a pretty good idea.

On This Date In History: We’ve all enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner and we all probably learned in grade school that the first Thanksgiving involved the Pilgirms and the native Indians of North America. But, the real first official Thanksgiving Holiday was proclaimed on this date in 1863 by President Lincoln, calling for an annual day of national Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. The president used the opportunity to thank the Union Army for the reversal of fortune in the Union effort by the victory at Gettysburg. President Washington had declared a “national day of thanksgiving and prayer” in 1789, but it didn’t become an annual event. In fact, Thomas Jefferson thought that such national events of demonstration towards a deity was not appropriate. Other presidents agreed until President Lincoln’s decree. President Franklin Roosevelt tried what I call a political move in 1939 when he moved the holiday to the third Thursday. However, I suppose its plausible to argue that Lincoln’s initial declaration was rooted in politics. Anyway, FDR was hoping to extend the Christmas shopping season. I guess he thought that by moving Thanksgiving he could pull the wool over American’s eyes and use the psychology of calling a different day Thanksgiving to get them to spend more money. Anyway, Congress had enough of the foolishness and in 1941 put the national holiday back to where President Lincoln put it in the first place.

King Faisal 1st of Iraq crowned by Brits in 1932

On This Date in 1932

Iraq gained independence. The region had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire, which dissolved at the conclusion of World War I. Britain occupied the area and was given a League of Nations mandate to govern the region in 1920. They set up a monarchy and granted independence in 1932. That government maintained strong military and economic ties with Britain and that resulted in numerous protests. In 1941, a pro-Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) movement took hold and the UK intervened causing the Iraqi government to agree to back the good guys in the war. The monarchy got over thrown in 1958 and for the next 20 years, Iraq was ruled by a series of civilian and military governments until Saddam Hussein became dictator in 1979….a position he held until 2003. Saddam has since left to try to rule another world. However, from its 20th century history, its easy to see why there are skeptics that a democracy can flourish in the region. But, the global political situation is not as it was nor is the politics of the region so one cannot use history as a prescription for the future.

Weather Bottom Line:  Great weekend in store.  Highs in upper 60’s and lows in the 40’s. Rain chances return on Monday into Tuesday as the evolution of another system unfolds.

A Disasterous 1st Thanksgiving and Cold Turkey December 4, 2008

Early Arctic Blast:  Okay….may that’s hyperbole…but our average high this time of year is 49 and

Too The Cooler!

 

 

NAM 18Z Thursday Surface

we’re going to continue our trend of being at least 10 degrees below average that began on November 15.  Except for today, it’s been nothing but cold turkey for us since Thanksgiving and we’re headed back to the cooler. The front Wednesday night and Thursday morning brought some light showers a shade earlier than anticipated but the bulk of the real rain overnight with some brief, relatively insignificant light snow is still in the offing for perhaps drive time.  Keep in mind I’m writing this on Wednesday evening so my concern would be that in northern counties, air temperatures may fall below freezing and with melted snow, the roads may be wet and overpasses could produce with a few icy spots.  Probably not a huge concern but something to keep in mind.  After that…forget about the low 50’s of Wednesday or even 40’s through the weekend.  Highs in the mid 30’s will generally be the rule each day.  A secondary push of cold air on Saturday will not only reinforce the cold but also perhaps kick off some flurries or minor snow showers.

The Bird Was Safe On The First Thanksgiving

On This Date in History: While Thanksgiving has come and gone…and we learned already about the genesis of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US…Americans are taught in school about how the Indians hooked up with the Pilgrims near Plymouth Rock to have a big feast in 1621.  Now, we sit around stuffing ourselves with Turkey (not the vegetarian Snow White) and watch football games with our eyes closed and belts loosened.  Trouble is, the Puritans didn’t call themselves Pilgrims. They referred to themselves as “saints” which seems a bit presumptuous considering not too many years down the road they were burning “witches” at the stake.  The other thing is that the real first Thanksgiving was on this date in 1620 and it was in Virginia. 

The first permanent settlement in the New World was Jamestown in 1607 in the Virginia Colony and it wasn’t doing

1st Colonists in Jamestown

too well.  The settlers didn’t know what they were doing and the winters were harsh…remember this was during the mini-ice age.  Anyway, by the spring of 1610, the colonists were coming off a tough winter and only 60 of the original 409 were left.  Sounds like a good time for prayers to me!  And that’s what they did and when help arrived  in the form of a ship with food and supplies from mother England, they gave thanks with a prayer service.  I guess they weren’t a sentamental lot because they never did anything to commemorate the event.  

Fast Not Feast On 1st Thanksgiving

Two other groups came to Virginia.  They were supposed to arrive in Virginia but one(the Mayflower) ended up in Plymouth in 1620.  The other (the Margaret) made it to Virginia on December 4, 1619 and their charter read “Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival…in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.”  On December 4, 1620 they commemorated their first year in the colony, not with a feast, but instead they did the opposite and fasted as they prayed.  Guess we got that part wrong too.  The colonists who landed at what they called Berkeley Hundred didn’t get a chance to mark their second anniversary…they were all killed by Indians.  Maybe they were upset that they weren’t invited to the First Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Conjunction Junction November 27, 2008

Will We Be Able To See The Conjunction Junction?

A warm and nice Thanksgiving is upon us. While we all have something to be thankful for, don’t forget about the weather. It’s been lousy until Wednesday and with highs in the upper 50’s to near 60, its the best day we’ve seen in weeks and maybe for several days to come.  We start to get some clouds in here on Friday and subsequently cooler air.  Saturday also will be on the cool side but keep in mind, that neither day will be too terribly cold.  Now, I”ve been telling you for days that the second half of the weekend will be chilly again but what I have kept from you is what happens after that.  While I said we stay cold into early next week, some of the data is trying to develop something interesting. There is no clear consensus as the data is not just inconsistent between sources, but also within each source itself.  It will be a rain turning to snow event and it will take another couple of days to show itself.  The elements are in place.  The question is if they come together properly…in conjunction if you will…which leads us to…

 

Conjunction Junction: We have a conjunction of planets going on. Not totally unusual but this one is a bit

Keep Your Eye to the Sky

 different in that the moon is going to cooperate. It’s going to be in a down phase. Not so sure that the weather will cooperate though because we’ve got that system coming in. But, if you have been wondering about those two “stars” that have been pretty close together in the sky the last few nights, you’ll want to read this little tidbit, courtesy of the folks at the Louisville National Weather Service:

Are you wondering what those two bright objects are in the Southwest sky during the evening? It is a conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter. A planetary conjunction refers to two planets that share the same right ascension in the sky’s dome.

With the exception of the sun and moon, Venus is the brightest light in the heavens and Jupiter is the second brightest.

Venus/Jupiter Will Be This Close

During previous recent conjunctions a bright moon nearby has washed out the

We May Have More Clouds Than This

brightness. For this conjunction only a waxing crescent moon will be nearby. A conjunction of the two brightest planets will not happen again until March of 2012.

On Sunday and Monday evening the two planets will only be 2 degrees apart. This is about the same width of the Moon or about the width of your finger at an arms length away.

Its Looked Like This in Recent Weeks

In case you are wondering it is possible for two planets to appear to merge into a single point of light. This is called an occultation. The last one occured in 1818. The next one will not occur until 2065.

The weather during the next several evenings looks fairly favorable for viewing this event. Just look where the sun has set. You will not be able to miss it.

Not the 1st Thanksgiving?

On This Date In History: We’ve all enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner and we all probably learned in grade school that the first Thanksgiving involved the Pilgirms and the native Indians of North America. But, the real first official Thanksgiving Holiday was proclaimed on October 3,1863 by President Lincoln, calling for an annual day of national Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. The president used the opportunity to thank the Union Army for the reversal of fortune in the Union effort by the victory at Gettysburg. President Washington had declared a “national day of thanksgiving and prayer” in 1789, but it didn’t become an annual event. In fact, Thomas Jefferson thought that such national events of demonstration towards a deity was not appropriate. Other presidents agreed until President Lincoln’s decree. President Franklin Roosevelt tried what I call a political move in 1939 when he moved the holiday to the third Thursday. However, I suppose its plausible to argue that Lincoln’s initial declaration was rooted in politics. Anyway, FDR was hoping to extend the Christmas shopping season. I guess he thought that by moving Thanksgiving he could pull the wool over American’s eyes and use the psychology of calling a different day Thanksgiving to get them to spend more money. Anyway, Congress had enough of the foolishness and in 1941 put the national holiday back to where President Lincoln put it in the first place.

Hope you enjoyed yours and the nicest weather in weeks…and perhaps days to come.

Iraq Gains Independence, November Gets a Holiday and a Hurricane Season Forecast October 3, 2008

Sea Surface Temperatures Oct 2, 2008

No change in the forecast which means no rain but pretty good weather. Our cooldown, as previously indicated, will not be long lasting. As I had suggested several days ago, I was not surprised to see outlying areas in the upper 30’s to near 40 on Wednesday night. I was a bit surprised at temperatures near freezing in low lying lake areas, though. Thursday night, look for something similar and then we go into a warming phase. Mid 70’s Fri, Upper 70’s Sat, Low 80’s Sun, mid 80’s much of the week ahead.

2008 Hurricane Forecast-Revised Aug

2008 Hurricane Season: Hurricane season ends November 30 and began June 1. Those great prognosticators of hurricanes had suggested a season of well above average numbers of storms. In May the government forecast was for 12-16 storms and then in August, they bumped it up to 14-18 storms with 7-10 hurricanes and 3-6 major hurricanes. All I can say is that the currently quiet North Atlantic better hurry up. So far, there have been 12 named storms. Laura was a “sub-tropical” storm and then was a tropical storm for a cameo appearance and then it went away. But, it still counts. Six of the 12 have been classified as a hurricane with Ike and Gustav as major storms. For the record, there is an average of 11 named storms with six becoming hurricanes and 2 becoming major hurricanes. A major hurricane is a cat 3 or higher. There is nothing out there on the horizon except for an area of disturbed weather in the western Caribbean. However, sea surface temperatures are plenty warm enough to support tropical cyclone activity from Africa all the way to the Texas coast.

CLICK HERE for a very interesting loop of Hurricane Ike. It is a series of graphics showing the windfield as it moved across the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico and inland through Texas. You can see the way the windfield expanded as it went into the Gulf. From this link, you will have access to other loops.

for a whole mess of photos and video relating to hurricane ike, CLICK HERE and scroll through the September 2008 archive.

Not the 1st Thanksgiving?

On This Date In History: We’ve all enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner and we all probably learned in grade school that the first Thanksgiving involved the Pilgirms and the native Indians of North America. But, the real first official Thanksgiving Holiday was proclaimed on this date in 1863 by President Lincoln, calling for an annual day of national Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. The president used the opportunity to thank the Union Army for the reversal of fortune in the Union effort by the victory at Gettysburg. President Washington had declared a “national day of thanksgiving and prayer” in 1789, but it didn’t become an annual event. In fact, Thomas Jefferson thought that such national events of demonstration towards a deity was not appropriate. Other presidents agreed until President Lincoln’s decree. President Franklin Roosevelt tried what I call a political move in 1939 when he moved the holiday to the third Thursday. However, I suppose its plausible to argue that Lincoln’s initial declaration was rooted in politics. Anyway, FDR was hoping to extend the Christmas shopping season. I guess he thought that by moving Thanksgiving he could pull the wool over American’s eyes and use the psychology of calling a different day Thanksgiving to get them to spend more money. Anyway, Congress had enough of the foolishness and in 1941 put the national holiday back to where President Lincoln put it in the first place.

A book on the Subject

On This Date in 1932 Iraq gained independence. The region had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire, which dissolved at the conclusion of World War I. Britain occupied the area and was given a League of Nations mandate to govern the region in 1920. They set up a monarchy and granted independence in 1932. That government maintained strong military and economic ties with Britain and that resulted in numerous protests. In 1941, a pro-Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) movement took hold and the UK intervened causing the Iraqi government to agree to back the good guys in the war. The monarchy got over thrown in 1958 and for the next 20 years, Iraq was ruled by a series of civilian and military governments until Saddam Hussein became dictator in 1979….a position he held until 2003. Saddam has since left to try to rule another world. However, from its 20th century history, its easy to see why there are skeptics that a democracy can flourish in the region. But, the global political situation is not as it was nor is the politics of the region so one cannot use history as a prescription for the future.