We are done with February after tonight. The cold weather can't depart soon enough for me. I love the random 70 degree days we've been having, but these 40 and 50 degree days are killer. You'd think being from the Northeast, I'd be thinking those temps to be balmy, but nope. I'm a summer sister -- I need THE SUN! On February 28, 1827, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first U.S. railway chartered for commercial transport of passengers and freight. Investors hoped a railroad would allow Baltimore, the second largest U.S. city at the time, to successfully compete with New York for western trade. Construction began at Baltimore harbor on July 4, 1828. Local dignitary Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, laid the first stone. The initial line of track, a thirteen-mile stretch to Ellicott’s Mills (now Ellicott City), Maryland, opened in 1830. The Tom Thumb, a steam engine designed by Peter Cooper, negotiated the route well enough to convince skeptics that steam traction worked along steep, winding grades. Baltimore and the Ohio River were connected by rail in 1852, when the B&O was completed at Wheeling, West Virginia. Later extensions brought the line to Chicago, St. Louis, and Cleveland. In 1869, the Central Pacific line and the Union Pacific line joined to create the first transcontinental railroad. Pioneers continued to travel west by covered wagon, but as trains became faster and more frequent, settlements across the continent grew larger and more quickly. Train travel continues to hold a romantic appeal for many people. Songs, stories, poems and plays have been written about the railways. On this date in 1933, Frances Perkins, the first female in the US Cabinet, was appointed Secretary of Labor. Frances Perkins was born Fannie Coralie Perkins in Boston in 1880. Fanny was raised with a deep appreciation of history and pride in her patriot ancestry. She came of age understanding her New England heritage and adopting the Yankee values that were the core of that heritage – frugality, ingenuity, tenacity and self-reliance – as well as a belief that the new nation, only a century old at her birth, held opportunities for all who sought and were willing to work for them. Her life would take her far beyond the humble Maine farm, but it is there that she returned year after year for rest and renewal. She graduated from the college preparatory curriculum at Worcester’s Classical High School and then enrolled in Mount Holyoke College, fifty miles away in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Fanny majored in physics, with minors in chemistry and biology. She was a popular student, became class president her senior year and permanent class president upon graduation. She earned a master's degree in economics and sociology from Columbia in 1910. In 1910 Perkins achieved statewide prominence as head of the New York office of the National Consumers League and lobbied with vigor for better working hours and conditions. After the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, Perkins left her position at the New York office of the National Consumers League and, on the recommendation of Theodore Roosevelt, became the executive secretary for the Committee on Safety of the City of New York, formed to improve fire safety. Perkins held various positions in the New York state government prior to a move to Washington, DC. In 1919, she was added to the Industrial Commission of the State of New York, becoming one of the first female commissioners in New York. In 1929, the newly elected New York governor, Franklin Roosevelt, appointed Perkins as the inaugural New York state industrial commissioner. In 1933, Roosevelt summoned Perkins to ask her to join his cabinet. Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and the first woman to serve as a cabinet secretary, was the driving force behind the New Deal, credited with formulating policies to shore up the national economy following the nation’s most serious economic crisis and helping to create the modern middle class. She was in every respect a self-made woman who rose from humble New England origins to become America’s leading advocate for industrial safety and workers’ rights. And, on this date in 1983, the final TV episode of "M*A*S*H", a 2-hour special directed by series star Alan Alda titled "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", aired on CBS. "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" received a gargantuan 60.3 rating and 77 share, luring well over 100 million viewers. A whopping 105.9 million people watched on average over the two-and-a-half hours, with that number peaking at 121.6 million in the final six minutes. Yes, that means that about 20 million people only caught the ending. That makes it the most viewed television finale of all time — only Cheers and The Fugitive come close — and one of the most viewed television broadcasts in American history. Only Super Bowls can top the M*A*S*H numbers, and that is likely to remain the case forever. The finale was originally slated to run 90 minutes. An unfortunate brush fire broke out at the Fox Ranch set in Malibu Creek State Park. The blaze was filmed and worked into the script, padding out the show with an extra 30 minutes. Considering 30-second commercial blocks for the February 28 airing were selling for $450,000, the network likely had no complaints about the over-run. The episode wasn't the last one filmed, however. That honor goes to the penultimate entry, "As Time Goes By." The final scene shot was the time capsule bit. As Arlene Alda explains in the photo book The Last Days of M*A*S*H: Photographs and Notes, the cast actually buried a time capsule to commemorate the end of production. With Reno and Topaz this week, we were light on attendance -- only 17 peggers came out. The restaurant was hopping, though; March Madness in February! We had some madness of our own -- we had an 11 cashing in this week. Our hands were either all good or all bad -- the Cribbage Gods were messing with us. All that being said, we paid out five places and three teams. 1st Place: Jerry Gooden with a 17/8/+136 2nd Place: Bernard Whitfield with a 15/7/+54 3rd Place: Jennifer Johnson with a 14/7/+74 4th Place: Allan Simpson with a 13/6/+58 5th Place: Al Robinson with an 11/5/+4 And for teams: 1st Team: Tom Goeschel (11) and Liz Henderson (8) -- have an awesome diving trip Liz (and Ernie!!) 2nd Team: John Morch (10) and Pete Amacher (8) Are you down? As you saw, Bernard had a very pretty 15 card this week. Thanks Joe for taking care of the team-logging duties -- when we're odd, it always takes a little extra time :) Full results are available on the website, and here are the current top 10 standings: Jerry's cards have taken a turn for the better from the start of the season; if he can keep it up, he can give Jeff a run for his money. The rest of the top 10 had a little re-jiggering from last week, but nothing too jumpy. Some of us are off to Reno this week (some of us are already there) -- GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US! See ya'll on Monday! ~ Jennifer
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North Carolina had a good showing in Virginia Beach. Everyone got cash in one event or another, and our own Bernard Whitfield won the Consolation round. Congratulations to all! Also decided in Virginia Beach, the return of the North Carolina Open, under new management (Keith Widener) with Megan and I as his co-directors. The flyer should be out soon; it is the weekend of May 20 in Greensboro. And, the Cribbage rate for Spring Fling has been extended through March 20. If you haven't booked your room yet, there's still time! On this date in 1885: The Washington Monument was dedicated on the grounds of the Mall in Washington, D.C. The Washington Monument is a 555-foot-tall obelisk honoring George Washington on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. operated by the National Park Service. Proposed in the year 1800 and begun in 1848, it was not opened to the public until 1888. The unusually long time it took to complete the monument was less about the intent of paying public homage to George Washington, who remained “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen” and more about the American ambivalence towards monument making, especially in the Antebellum period. The work on the monument moved forward with the original foundation built of blue gneiss rock from the Potomac Valley and a pure white marble cornerstone weighing 24,500 pounds donated by Thomas Symington and his Beaver Dam quarry in Baltimore County, Maryland. By the mid-1850s a series of unfortunate events led to the stagnation of the construction: a secondary group wrested control from the Washington National Monument Society, architect Robert Mills died, and funding dwindled to unsustainable levels. At 176-feet in height, the Washington Monument still had a long way to go, and the outbreak of the Civil War further delayed its construction. Finally, at the end of 1884, the pyramidion, a 55-foot tall marble capstone weighing 300 tons was lowered into place, and an aluminum cap was placed at the apex. Although many details of the construction were not yet finished, a dedication ceremony was held on a blustery day on February 21, 1885 (the day before George Washington’s birthday) with the monument finally opening to the public on October 9, 1888. Visitation has grown from 200,000 people in the 1880s to more than six million today. On this date in 1925, the American weekly magazine The New Yorker began publication under Harold W. Ross, who was the magazine's editor until his death in December 1951. Ross wanted to create a sophisticated humor magazine that would be different from perceivably "corny" humor publications such as Judge, where he had worked, or the old Life. Ross established The New Yorker as a lighthearted, Manhattan-centric magazine—a “fifteen-cent comic paper,” he called it. Today The New Yorker is considered by many to be the most influential magazine in the world, renowned for its in-depth reporting, political and cultural commentary, fiction, poetry, and humor. In its early decades, the magazine sometimes published two or even three short stories a week, but in recent years the pace has remained steady at one story per issue. While some styles and themes recur more often than others in its fiction, the stories are marked less by uniformity than by variety, and they have ranged from Updike's introspective domestic narratives to the surrealism of Donald Barthelme, and from parochial accounts of the lives of neurotic New Yorkers to stories set in a wide range of locations and eras and translated from many languages. And, on this date in 1965, rights activist Malcolm X was shot dead by Nation of Islam followers at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Malcolm X's own father fought for civil rights as a local leader in the Universal Negro Improvement Association and was possibly murdered by white racists while Malcolm X was still a child. Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam during his term in prison, rising to become an influential figure, largely through his powerful oratory. He is credited with raising the membership of the nation of Islam from just over 1,000 to over 40,000 by the 1960s. In March 1964 Malcom X announced his split form the Nation of Islam and its leader Elijah Muhammad. He converted to Sunni Islam and toured the Middle East, his views focusing more on pan-African values and less on violent means. The fallout from his leaving the NOI was serious. Many members viewed him as a traitor of the organization, and he received multiple death threats from within the group. Just a week before his assassination, Malcolm X’s home in the New York City borough of Queens was firebombed while he, his wife Betty Shabazz and their four children were asleep inside. No one was ever charged related to the incident. There were about 400 people in attendance for Malcolm’s speech at the Audubon Ballroom, but no prevalent law enforcement presence was visible inside the Audubon Ballroom. This was unusual since police were typically highly visible at his rallies. When Malcolm took the stage to begin his address, an apparent dispute broke out among the audience. As Malcolm and his security team tried to calm the commotion, an individual ran onto the stage, approached Malcolm and shot him. Two other people then ran up to the stage and fired as well. Malcolm was shot a total of 21 times. We had 22 players come out to peg, which is really close to our pre-pandemic numbers. With this many players, we paid out 5 places and three teams. There were no twelve-cards tonight, though there were a few thirteens. 1st Place: Allan Simpson, with a very pretty 16/7/92 2nd Place: Frank Abernathy, with the better 15/7/46 3rd Place: Jeff Raynes, with the slightly worse, but still great 15/7/41 4th Place: Liz Henderson, with a 14/6/128 5th Place: Brian Wilson, with a 13/6/58 1st Team: Jerry Gooden (13) and John Morch (10) 2nd Team: Bernard Whitfield (11) and Fran Ward (11) 3rd Team: Larry Phifer (11) and Glenn McMahon (6) Are you down? Bernard scored a nice 11 points last night. All the data has been entered online, so here are the current top-10 standings, after this week's posting: As you can see, Jeff is making this season a runaway. Y'all, we need to do a better job of getting better cards against Jeff. Seriously. The GRNT is coming up in a few weeks, maybe we can make up some ground there. Maybe not lol See ya'll Monday! The Raleigh Cribbage Club is hosting
the following upcoming tournaments: April 1-3 ~ Raleigh Spring Fling ~ Hosted by Jennifer Johnson April 23 - Raleigh Cribbage Club's GRNT ~ Hosted by Club 58 July 22-25 ~ The National Open ~ Hosted by Megan Player July 25 ~ Come Monday ~ Hosted by Fran Ward Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Or, happy flying, naked cherub day! Or happy Unattached Drifter's Christmas (if you're a Supernatural fan)... We shared the love with some yummy cupcakes courtesy of Tom tonight (thanks Tom!) and though the on-site manager thought there would be some sort of speed-dating event, it didn't seem to materialize. Bummer. It would have been interesting to see, as most of us have seen them only in the movies. But, I digress... On this date in 1844, John C. Frémont and his party became the first Europeans to discover Lake Tahoe. Lieutenant John Charles Frémont’s command were a bit confused. They had spent the spring and summer of 1843 trekking west into the Oregon Territory (Pacific Northwest), exploring and mapping as they went. Frémont and his band of hardy men, which included the famous scouts Christopher “Kit” Carson and Thomas “Broken Hand” Fitzpatrick, spent December 1843 wandering south through present-day northwestern Nevada. In his search for a pass over the Sierra, Frémont led his men as far south as Bridgeport Valley, crossing the Carson and Walker rivers. (Frémont named the Carson for his guide Kit.) On February 14, 1844, Valentine’s Day, Frémont and Charles Preuss, climbed the dividing ridge of the Sierra crest where they “discovered” Lake Tahoe, about 20 miles to the north. History records them as the first Euro-Americans to see the magnificent lake. Two more weeks of struggling through rugged canyons and deep Sierra snow finally brought the weary expedition into the Sacramento Valley, and on March 6, Lt. Frémont and his men stumbled into Sutter’s Fort, where John Sutter treated them like royalty. Despite their ordeal, not one man had been lost. Also on this date, but in 1859, Oregon became a state. In 1803, the United States purchased a large region of land from France called the Louisiana Purchase. President Thomas Jefferson sent explorers Lewis and Clark to map out the new territory. They travelled all the way to the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon. They stayed there for the winter and built a small fort called Fort Clatsop. Over the next several years more explorers and fur trappers arrived from the United States and Great Britain. Both countries laid claim to the land. In 1818, the two countries agreed to joint occupancy of the region. The Oregon Territory was established in 1848. It was a large territory that included the future states of Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and part of Montana. As Oregon continued to grow it eventually broke off from the other regions in the territory and, on February 14, 1859, Oregon was admitted into the Union as the 33rd state. On this date in 1929, the St Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago resulted in the death of seven gangsters, allegedly on Al Capone's orders. St. Valentine's Day 1929 began like most other winter mornings in Chicago, with gray skies and stinging cold. A light snow, like confectioner's sugar, powdered the city's sidewalks. Bakers and florists woke early to prepare for the crush of holiday customers. All over the city, children put the finishing touches on cards before leaving for school. Over at the Cook County Jail, guards prepared for the planned midnight execution of three convicted killers. On LaSalle Street, bankers and stockbrokers nervously watched their stock tickers as trading began in New York. And inside a humdrum garage at 2122 North Clark Street, in a quiet residential neighborhood, an unusually large number of criminals gathered for purposes unknown. Except for a single white light bulb dangling from the ceiling, the big garage on Clark Street was dark, the parked trucks and cars almost lost in the vast shadowed spaces. A bit of weak winter sun filtered through the grimy front window. The garage was rented by the George “Bugs” Moran gang, which controlled much of the North Side’s illegal booze traffic and ran most of its brothels and casinos. The garage was used for storage and repairs, not as a hideout or hangout. So there was only one explanation why seven men would be there at an hour when most thugs were still sleeping off the prior night’s intoxicants—and it wasn’t to exchange valentines. They had a job. With the exception of the mechanic, the men all were well dressed that morning in suits, ties, tie pins, and street shoes. One of them wore a carnation. Soon they would all be dead, victims of the most infamous unsolved crime in U.S. history, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. At around 10:30 in the morning on February 14th, a big black Cadillac turned from Webster Avenue onto Clark Street, heading south. It stopped in front of the SMC Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark Street. Four or five men got out of the car (eyewitness accounts varied). One man, the driver, wore a fancy chinchilla topcoat and a gray fedora. Two wore police uniforms. The wind blew snow dust as they stepped across the sidewalk and into the garage through the front door. Seven men waited inside: Johnny May; the Gusenberg brothers, Frank and Peter; James Clark (real name: Albert Kachellek); Adam Heyer, a.k.a. Frank Snyder; Albert Weinshank; and Reinhardt H. Schwimmer. The intruders raised their weapons—two Tommys and a 12-gauge shotgun—and ordered Moran’s men to move away from the doors and windows. They lined them up shoulder to shoulder against the wall on the garage’s northern side. They raised their guns. In a haze of sprayed machine-gun fire, brick dust, and smoke, seven men fell. We had no massacre and no fatalities at Club tonight... we did have 21 players come out to peg, including visitor Bob Murray from Connecticut, who was just "passin' through". With 21 players, we paid out 5 places and three teams. 1st Place: Andy Wagner, with a 14/7/+110 2nd Place: Kristy Haught, with a 14/7/+73 3rd Place: Jerry Gooden, with a 14/6/+72 4th Place: Brian Wilson, with a 13/6/+67 5th Place: Glenn McMahon, with a 12/6/+73 1st Team: Ernie Hodgson (11) and Larry Phifer (10) 2nd Team: Jeff Raynes (12) and Jennifer Johnson (8) 3rd Team: Bob Murray (10) and Joe Greiner (9) Are you down? Bernard scored a respectable 9 points last night. Thanks Andy, for running the team-logging this week! For those of you going to Virginia Beach this weekend, if I'm holding your money, I'll give it to you then, just come find me. Else I'll hold it 'till I see ya! All the data has been entered online, so here are the current top-10 standings, after this week's posting: Jeff continues to be on the move, with no signs of stopping. I guess, in fairness, it is up to US to stop him, and we just aren't quite able to do it! Andy and Jerry have leapt over Frank and Jennifer to take over the second and third spots, and welcome Brian Wilson to the top 10! I hope everyone had a LOVEly Valentines day, and has a great week ahead. See some of you in Virginia Beach this weekend! ~ Jennifer The Raleigh Cribbage Club is hosting
the following upcoming tournaments: April 1-3 ~ Raleigh Spring Fling ~ Hosted by Jennifer Johnson April 23 - Raleigh Cribbage Club's GRNT ~ Hosted by Club 58 July 22-25 ~ The National Open ~ Hosted by Megan Player July 25 ~ Come Monday ~ Hosted by Fran Ward First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERRY! Sorry that we weren’t nicer to you on your special day... Some other cool cats (and kittens) have their birthdays today as well:
On February 7, 1914, Charlie Chaplin debuted his silent film character The Tramp in "Kid Auto Races at Venice". Charlie Chaplin was born into poverty in England and started performing on the stage from a young age. After moving to America he became a film actor and famous worldwide for his tramp character in silent films. The character of the Tramp was originally created by accident while Chaplin was working at Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios when dressing up for the short film Mabel’s Strange Predicament starring Mabel Normand and Chaplin. That was actually the first film shot which featured the Tramp, Kid Auto Races at Venice released two days before Mabel’s Strange Predicament Chaplin, with his Little Tramp character, quickly became the most popular star in Keystone director Mack Sennett’s company of players. Chaplin continued to play the Tramp through dozens of short films and, later, feature-length productions (in only a handful of other productions did he play characters other than the Tramp). Chaplin officially retired the character in the film Modern Times (released February 5, 1936), which appropriately ended with the Tramp walking down an endless highway toward the horizon. The film was only a partial talkie and is often called the last silent film. The Tramp remains silent until near the end of the film when, for the first time, his voice is finally heard, albeit only as part of a French/Italian-derived gibberish song. This allowed the Tramp to finally be given a voice, but not tarnish his association with the silent era. Chaplin perfected his Tramp persona in Keystone films before founding United Artists Studio in Hollywood in 1919 with D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks. The Studio went on to produce such famous Chaplin silent films as "The Kid" (1921), "The Gold Rush" (1925) and "Modern Times" (1936). All films that Chaplin wrote, directed and starred in. On this date in 1974, Mel Brooks' film "Blazing Saddles" opens in movie theaters starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder. In this satirical take on Westerns, crafty railroad worker Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes the first black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the people of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new leader. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend (Gene Wilder) are the only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population. Definitely not a politically-correct film. Funny as all get-out, but absolutely not something that would pass muster in today’s world, even though it is very clearly tongue-in-cheek the whole way through. In fact, when the film was first screened for Warner Brothers executives, almost none of them laughed, and the movie looked to be a disaster that the studio would not release. However, Mel Brooks quickly set up a subsequent screening for the studio's employees. When these regular folks laughed uproariously throughout the movie, Warner Brothers finally agreed to take a chance on releasing it. Mel Brooks himself knew this was a risky film, reportedly saying to his writers “write anything you want, because we'll never be heard from again. We will all be arrested for this movie”. On February 7, 2022, we had 20 peggers come out to play, paying out 4 places and 3 teams. New members Heather Chilsen and Steve Podolski made the cut, good job you two! Interestingly (to me anyway), the first six people who played, alphabetically, came out with money. I thought that was pretty cool, and had to re-check the results as I was putting them in because I couldn't believe it. 1st Place: Frank Abernathy, with a 15/7/+74 2nd Place: Heather Chilsen, with a 14/7/+54 3rd Place: Steve Podolski, with a 13/6/+56 4th Place: Jeff Raynes, with a 13/6/-54 1st Team: Mike Due (13) and Jerry Gooden (11) 2nd Team: Tom Goeschel (12) and Ernie Hodgson (8) 3rd Team: Andy Wagner (11) and Pete Amacher (9) No Bernard this week, so ya'll can keep your fivers another week. Thanks, Megan and Kristy, for handling the team-logging this week! The full results are up on the website, but you may have to go to the Unofficial listing, as Steve's membership is half done; Cathy may not be able to finish posting the tournament yet. Here is the top 10 as of this week: A bit of shuffling in the top-10 this week, as Frank leaps over Andy, Jerry, and Jennifer to take the number 2 spot. Jeff Raynes extends his lead (again) keeping at least three good weeks between the next closest player. Tom crept up from the #8 slot into #6, and everyone else stays relatively the same, though the numbers move a bit for most. I hope everyone has a good week -- see ya'll next Monday! ~ Jennifer The Raleigh Cribbage Club is hosting
the following upcoming tournaments: April 1-3 ~ Raleigh Spring Fling ~ Hosted by Jennifer Johnson April 23 - Raleigh Cribbage Club's GRNT ~ Hosted by Club 58 July 22-25 ~ The National Open ~ Hosted by Megan Player July 25 ~ Come Monday ~ Hosted by Fran Ward |
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