Sunday, March 20, 2011

TEN!

Ahh! I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Family and friends have heckled me for almost a month now to update my blog, and I have just been dragging my feet! I now understand how my sister Megan feels when she disappears for a little while!
Well, everyone has been bugging me, so let’s get down to it!

1) We all know disease has been a key point in various wars, but it was especially prevalent in the American revolutionary war. Small pox was over-taking the American force (which was already pretty small compared to those Red Coats!) In 1777, George Washington understood that the small pox virus was worth more fear than “the Sword of the Enemy.” On any given day, about a fourth of all American troops were deemed unfit for duty.
The reason we got past this? Inoculation. George Washington made the drastic move of inoculating all of the troops in the middle of a war – AND kept it a secret from the British. This is considered as one of the main reasons America won the revolution.
Stop complaining about your shots.
2) Ulysses S. Grant was a great military general – there is no doubt in that. He won over half of the Union victories in the Civil War, and it is told that during the Mexican-American war that he rode down the street filled with snipers “just for the hell of it.”
What most people don’t know is that Grant was afraid of a lot of stuff! While being at war with bullets flying around didn’t phase him, many things did: blood, raw steak, being naked with other men (think military showers), and at his own daughter’s wedding it is said that Grant was so overcome with wedding day jitters that he locked himself in a room while crying hysterically. Don’t you wish you learned this is history class?
This is a walk in the park compared to a
wedding with steak served at the reception.
3) One more random president fact. Gerald Ford, Nixon’s VP that was promoted after Nixon’s scandal, once had a job before politics: as a male fashion model. He worked with John Robert Powers part time, and after ten years of working with them, married a John Robert Powers model named Elizabeth Bloomer Warren, whom you may now know as Betty Ford.
Gerald Ford
Oh, and he was kind of a big deal. He was even of the cover of Cosmopolitan.
I promise you - this is not a fake cover.
4) Since St. Patrick’s Day was just a few days ago, I thought it would be interesting to fill in some of your knowledge. First off, the color of St. Patrick was actually blue, but in the 19th Century people started to associate it with green to encourage crop growth. Green also represents faeries and immortals.

5) The myth goes that St. Patrick expelled Ireland of snakes – but what the snakes symbolize are the pagans he converted to Christianity. You see, St. Patrick was sold into slavery as a young child, escaped later on and joined a monastery.  After 12 years he came to Ireland to convert the pagans. He died in 461 AD, and is buried in Downpatrick, Ireland.


Thanks for being so patient guys! I’ll be back soon (for real this time!)