On this date in 1788, New York became the 11th state to ratify the United States constitution, by a vote of 30-27. The New York Ratifying Convention, having approved the Constitution, also voted unanimously to prepare a circular letter to the other states, asking them to support a second general convention to consider amendments to the Constitution. The Convention proposed 25 items in a Bill of Rights and 31 amendments to the Constitution. The first Congress in September 1789 proposed a Bill of Rights, which was adopted with little public debate in December 1791. On this day in 1903, on a whim and a fifty-dollar bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car hoping to become the first person to cross the United States in the new- fangled "horseless carriage." Most people doubted that the automobile had much of a future. Traveling with his co-driver mechanic Sewall K. Crocker and a bulldog named Bud, Jackson's trip would prove them wrong. They had averaged 71 miles per day, and they drove down Fifth Avenue in New York City at 4 a.m. on July 26, 1903. Jackson claimed his $50 winnings and noted that it had cost him $8000 to win the bet (approximately $247,000 in today's money). The trip took 63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes, and over 800 gallons of gasoline. And, on this day in 1969, Johnny Cash released the single, 'A Boy Named Sue', a song written by Shel Silverstein. Cash recorded the song live at California's San Quentin State Prison at a concert on February 24, 1969. The song tells the tale of a young man's quest for revenge on a father who abandoned him at 3 years of age and whose only contribution to his entire life was naming him Sue. There was no tournament tonight -- the restaurant let us know that they couldn't support us this week due to understaffing due to illness. We don't know what type of illness, so we're crossing our fingers it's just "normal" sick. So, [hopefully] we'll be back at it next week. We had a bit of sad news. We will be back at it with a new "fearless leader" -- yours truly. Cathy let us know that she needs to step down as director of Club 58. She sent out this email to the membership: I am resigning as Director of the Raleigh Cribbage as of tonight. I am no longer comfortable with leaving Russ alone for 7 hours as I don't know when his bad days will be and he has had several unusual days in the past month. Jennifer Johnson has graciously agreed to become the new Director. I am sorry I am not able to give you this news in person but I don't know when I'll be back. Take care - I love you all and will miss you. Thank you, Cathy, for making Club 58 a welcoming place, and for trusting it to my care. I will do my best to be worthy of that trust. You will be sorely missed. See ya'll next week. ~ Jennifer A ghoulish piece of history was born on this date in 1860.... Lizzie Borden took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks; When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one Now, though catchy, it is historically inaccurate. On August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found murdered in their home. Borden's step mother received 18 or 19 blows, her father 11. Still, those of us "over a certain age" have all heard the rhyme as written above on the playgrounds growing up. The Borden's daughter Lizzie was arrested and tried for the ax murders, but was acquitted in 1893, and continued to live in Fall River, Massachusetts until her death, in 1927. Also born on this date, but in 1937, was North Carolina's own George Hamilton IV, a country musician. Born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Hamilton became a member of the Grand Ol' Opry February 1960. He was was known as the “International Ambassador of Country Music,” having toured successfully throughout Europe, Asia, the Soviet Union and Australia. In 1963, he scored his greatest success with “Abilene.” While many believed the song was about Abilene, Texas, it was inspired by a Randolph Scott western called Abilene Town, which was set in Kansas. One of the coolest things in history (in my opinion) happened today in 1969: emerging from Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong became the first person to step on the Moon at 2:56:15 AM (GMT). The Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16 and it was the fifth crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program. After being sent to the Moon by the Saturn V's third stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and traveled for three days until they entered lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into Eagle and landed in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20. During a landmark TV broadcast Armstrong's first step onto the lunar surface was broadcast on live TV saying "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Kristy Haught took "one giant leap" closer to the top-spot in the standings tonight, earning a very pretty 16-card. Can she overtake the current leader, Jeff Raynes? He did hand Kristy her only loss this week -- I guess he'll do whatever he can to keep a hold on first place. Only time will tell... :-) We had one of our smallest gatherings this week -- only 19 players came out. But Russ was able to join us this week, and we were all glad to see him. As he so eloquently put it, "better to be seen than to be viewed." Amen, Russ. Amen. With 19 players, we had only five prize winners and two teams. 1st prize: Kristy Haught with a 16/8/+60 2nd prize: Andy Wagner with a 15/7/+87 3rd prize: Glenn McMahon with a 14/6/+101 4th prize: Larry Phifer with a 13/6/+44 5th prize: Jerry Gooden with an 11/5/+41 Yep, no 12s tonight, and one 11 snuck in! First team: Bernard (11) and Jeff (9) Second team: Cathy (10) and Jennifer (9) Full results can be seen on cribbage.org, but here are the top-10 players in the unofficial standings: Have a great week everyone; see ya'll Monday! ~ Jennifer Edited -- sorry I forgot to hit "post" on this bad boy. cah-RAY-zee week at work this week. On this day in history in 1804, former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton died after being shot one of the most famous duels in American history, by a pistol fired by Vice President Aaron Burr. In that year, when Burr was running for re-nomination for Vice President, Burr’s character was savagely attacked by Hamilton and others, and after the election he resolved to restore his reputation by challenging Hamilton to a duel, or an "affair of honor," as they were known. On July 11, 1804, the enemies met at 7 a.m. at the dueling grounds near Weehawken, New Jersey. It was the same spot where Hamilton’s son had died defending his father’s honor in 1801.Burr shot Hamilton in the stomach, and the bullet lodged next to his spine. Hamilton was taken back to New York, and he died the next afternoon. Few affairs of honor actually resulted in deaths, and the nation was outraged by the killing of a man as eminent as Alexander Hamilton. Charged with murder, Burr, still vice president, returned to Washington, D.C., where he finished his term immune from prosecution. Milton Berle, Uncle Miltie, was born on this day in NYC in 1908. He broke into show business by winning a Charlie Chaplin impersonation contest at age 5 and went on to become the first major American television star, so much so he was dubbed 'Mr Television'. Berle had a successful career on stage, in vaudeville and on radio before landing a role on the new TV version of "Texaco Star Theater" in 1948. He became its permanent host and dominated the early days of television with his quick wit, gags and funny costumes. In 1951 NBC signed him to an unheard of 30-year-contract of one million dollars. This led to the "Milton Berle Show" (1955-56) after Texaco Star Theater finished in 1954. Uncle Miltie was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1984,its first year and he has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for radio and TV. Finally, on this day in 1976, the first "Family Feud" game show debuted on ABC hosted by Richard Dawson. If you'd like to see this in all it's 70's glory, see the video at the end of today's post :) This is pre-lollipop tree. We had 22 folks come out to play tonight. Robert Reister joined us this evening from Winston-Salem. The top 5 won prizes tonight: 1st: Jennifer Johnson with 16/7/+141 2nd: Fran Ward with 14/7/+67 3rd: Ernie Hodgson with 14/7/-37 4th: Jerry Gooden with 13/6/+74 5th: Joe Greiner with 13/6/+32 And, as always, six people teamed up into three partnerships: 1st Team: Luther (10) and Larry (10) 2nd Team: Pete (11) and Glenn (8) 3rd Team: Jeff (10) and Megan (8) Here are the super unofficial (read as, Jen did it in Excel because the results aren't posted yet) current standings, through tonight's play. Jeff and Kristy remain at the top, with Jerry and Joe bumping Frank and Larry down from the 3/4 spots. Ernie's 14-card bumped him up to 9th position, which drops Glenn from the top-10. I hope everyone has a great week! See ya'll next Monday! ~ Jennifer By the end of the Civil War, nearly one-third of all currency in circulation was counterfeit. As a result, the country's financial stability was in jeopardy. To address this concern, the Secret Service was established on this date in 1865 as a bureau in the Treasury Department to suppress widespread counterfeiting. Two years later, the Secret Service's responsibilities broadened to include "detecting persons perpetrating frauds against the government." As a result of the assassination of President William McKinley, in 1901 Congress requested Secret Service protection of U.S. presidents. They assumed full-time responsibility for protection of the President in 1902, with only two men were assigned full-time to the White House Detail. Today, the Secret Service employs approximately 3,200 special agents, 1,300 Uniformed Division officers, and more than 2,000 other technical, professional and administrative support personnel. On this date a little more recently, in 1994, Jeff Bezos founded a little company called Amazon.com. At its beginnings, Amazon sold only books. Bezos initially incorporated the company with the name Cadabra, Inc. He reportedly decided it should be changed once a lawyer mistakenly called it "Cadaver". Yikes. Bezos selected the name Amazon by looking through the dictionary; he settled on "Amazon" because it was a place that was "exotic and different". Additionally, a name that began with "A" was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized. Fun fact, relentless.com resolves to Amazon... that was another name in the running. And, on this date in 2021, Club 58 had 24 players come down for Cribbage. We were only 23 (which had groans abound, as an odd-number of players means an extra long night for some reason) until Curtis Barbour saved the day with a 6:35 arrival. He jumped right in, made us even, and we were all done by 10pm. We had 6 prizes and (as usual) three teams: 1st place: Joe Greiner with a 17/8/+111 2nd place: Kristy Haught with a 15/7/+76 3rd place: Fran Ward with a 15/6/+24 4th place: Andy Wagner with a 14/7/+44 5th place: Jeff Raynes with a 13/6/+122 6th place: Frank Abernathy with a 12/6/+14 1st team: Glenn (12) and John (10) 2nd team: Al (10) and Tom (8) 3rd team: Liz (11) and David (6) Joe's only loss was to Dot Davis, which is fitting, as he skunked her last week. Revenge is sweet!! Full standings can be found on the Cribbage.org website, but here is our top 10: This week's musical tribute is one of my favorite Patriotic songs, from Lee Greenwood. In this version, he's singing with the US Air Force Band, Singing Sergeants, and Home Free. See ya'll next week!! ~ Jennifer |
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