Today I will be taking a look at something that has stood up and made me take notice.

In the “Nothing good will come of this” Catergory.
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North Korea wants to launch a bliksemse big rocket into space.  They claim that it is a communications satellite and that it is a peaceful move.  Naturally, Japan, which is literally on North Korea’s doorstep is quietly having a cadenza.  So what could possibly go wrong?  There are a number of things which cause concern.  Firstly what if this isn’t a peaceful mission and is actually a test of a new ballistic missile system.  This is primarily what Japan is worried about and so they have positioned a number of the Warships in the area.  Japan has promised to shoot  down any missile which enters it’s airspace.  North Korea has said that it would beat three shades of Sh*te out of anyone trying to stop the missile from getting to space.

The yanks then stood and and sort of patted everyone on the head and said, “Now now Children… North Korea … please don’t launch this missile and to Japan… Don’t worry boys We’ve got your back!”  To this extent the Americans have positioned a number of their warships into the area as well.  Watch this space, the Launch is expected soon.

Pete

Going back to a something I have done in the past,  my "On this day in history" post for today is this:

On this day in 1897:

Swiss cutlery-maker Carl Elsener patents his penknife as a ‘useful pocket tool’ – later to become known as the Swiss Army Knife.

And now you know!

On this day in 1792 the building of the White House began with the laying of the first corner stone.  The White House is the official home and principal workplace of the President of the United States of America. The house is built of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. As the office of the U.S. President.  The property is owned by the National Park Service and is part of "President’s Park."

John Adams became the first president to take residence in the building on November 1, 1800. During Adams’ second day in the house he wrote a letter to his wife Abigail, containing a prayer for the house. Adams wrote:

 " I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof. "

I bet he would be well upset

Pete

On this day, in 1519 Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador who won Mexico for Spain. Cortés left Spain for the New World at age 19, joining Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (b. 1465-d. 1524) in the conquest of Cuba (1511). In 1519, with 508 men and 16 horses, he burned his ships on Mexico’s southeastern coast, thus committing himself to conquest.

After accumulating thousands of Indian allies who resented Aztec domination, he forged ahead to Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital (today Mexico City). The emperor Montezuma II, believing Cortés to be the god Quetzalcóatl, welcomed him but was taken prisoner. Hearing that a Spanish force from Cuba was coming to relieve him of command, Cortés left Tenochtitlán under the command of a captain and set out to defeat his Spanish opponents. Returning with the opposition forces now under his command, he discovered that the city had revolted; he led his troops away by night in a costly retreat, but he returned in 1521 to conquer the city and with it the empire. The absolute ruler of a huge territory, he was forced to retire after a disastrous expedition in 1524 to the Honduran jungles. His final years were beset by misfortune.

On this day in 1913 Mohandas K. Gandhi was arrested in South Africa for leading a march of Miners.  He was marching for the rights of Indian immigrants.

Mohandas K. Gandhi studied law in England, then spent 20 years defending the rights of immigrants in South Africa. In 1914 he returned to India and became the leader of the Indian National Congress. Gandhi urged non-violence and civil disobedience as a means to independence from Great Britain, with public acts of defiance that landed him in jail several times. In 1947 he participated in the postwar negotiations that led to Indian independence. He was shot to death by a Hindu fanatic in 1948

I guess the cartoon on the day would have looked something like this…

Gandhi gets arrested while marching with the Indian Mynahs