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Franklin bifocals Thursday, November 8, 2012

Astronomer Edmund Halley    Astronomer Edmund Halley
[1656 - Edmund Halley, astronomer, born in Haggerston, Shoreditch, England]

The Louvre
[1793 - The Louvre opens in Paris]

Writer Bram Stoker    Bram Stoker's classic Dracula
[1847 - Bram (Abraham) Stoker, author, born in Clontarf, Ireland]

Trent Affair
[1861 - USS San Jacinto intercepts British steamer Trent to arrest
several Confederate commissioners (Trent Affair)]

Margaret Mitchell    Author Margaret Mitchell    Author Margaret Mitchell    Author Margaret Mitchell
[1900 - Margaret Mitchell, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, born in Atlanta, Georgia]

Actress June Havoc    Actress June Havoc    Actress June Havoc
[1912 - June Havoc (Ellen Evangeline Hovick), actress, born in Vancouver, British Columbia]

Actress Esther Rolle    Academy Award Actress Esther Rolle
[1920 - Esther Rolle, Academy Award-winning actress, born in Pompano Beach, Florida]

Surgeon Christiaan Barnard    Heart Surgeon Christiaan Barnard    Heart Transplant Surgeon Christiaan Barnard
[1922 - Christiaan Neethling Barnard, pioneer heart transplant surgeon, born in Beaufort West, South Africa]

Jazz Singer Chris Connor    Jazz Singer Chris Connor    Jazz Singer Chris Connor
[1927 - Chris Connor (Mary Loutsenhizer), Jazz singer, born in Kansas City, Missouri]

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt    32nd President Franklin Roosevelt
[1932 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected as the 32nd US President]

Singer Minnie Riperton    Singer Minnie Riperton    Singer Minnie Riperton
[1947 - Minnie (Julia) Riperton, singer-songwriter, born in Chicago]

President John F. Kennedy    35th President John F. Kennedy
[1960 - John F. Kennedy is elected as the 35th US President]


Combat Veterans

A soldier weeps

All combat veterans suffer from some form of Post Traumatic Stress. It comes from having been trained and programmed to kill other people, and then being placed in a situation where this is not only possible, but expected of you. The training you get does not dwell on the fact that those 'other people' have also been conditioned to kill you, but they have.

A Spartan Warrior as depicted on an ancient Greek vase

That war changes human beings permanently has been understood since the first tribes decided that the best way to settle a border dispute was to draw the territorial boundaries in blood. In keeping with the current tendency to label each of our emotional traumas or maladies with a politically correct phrase, what used to be called by the Spartans hesma phobou or "fear shedding," and was known as "shell shock" in World War I, and "combat fatigue" in World War II, is now termed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Whatever you call it, you better deal with it, or it will deal with you.

A soldier weeping in defeat

A soldier weeps at the death of a buddy and is comforted by another
A soldier weeps at the Vietnam War Memorial
A soldier weeps by his vehicle in Iraq

A soldier weeps by a monument to a fallen comrade in Afghanistan


William's Whimsical Words:

Some's got it bad, some's got it hardly at all, but all of us got it.

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