With 36″ of snow predicted – half of it already on the ground and the other half expected to fall over the next 12 hours – today most schools and even some businesses and restaurants are closed. So when I rolled out of bed this morning it seemed like a good day to stay indoors by the fire and reflect rather than venture out.
Today, same as every day, a This Day in History email appeared in my inbox. But my attention was particularly drawn to a brief blurb about the demise of one of the founders of the Mack Truck company on this date in 1924.
John “Jack” Mack, who co-founded Mack Trucks, Inc. — then known as the Mack Brothers Company — is killed when his car collides with a trolley in Pennsylvania on March 14, 1924.
After the Mack brothers sold their company to investors in 1911, it continued to flourish. In fact it became one of the world’s largest makers of heavy-duty trucks. During World War I, Mack built thousands of trucks for the American and British governments. The company acquired its trademark bulldog logo when British soldiers said the truck’s blunt-nosed hood and durability reminded them of their country’s mascot, the bulldog.
In 1922, the company was renamed Mack Trucks, Inc. And in 2001, Mack was acquired by Volvo of Sweden. Today, the expression “it hit me like a Mack truck” – meaning something that creates a powerful impact – is a standard part of the American lexicon.
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And then it hit me… dare I say it? – like a Mack truck: The founder of Roxborough Park, Henry S. Persse, also died in a pedestrian versus trolley collision in downtown Denver in 1918. What are the odds? The full Persse story is here. My photo of his iconic stone house from a past hike in Roxborough State Park is below.
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Despite the striking coincidence, I somehow doubt if the phrase “It hit me like a trolley car” is likely to catch on. Y’think? Just not enough trolley cars around these days. But I will say this much: If on the fateful day both Jack Mack and Henry Persse had stayed indoors rather than venturing out into harm’s way, history might have turned out very differently.
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Beware the trolley, y’all!
And, snow or no snow, let’s all be careful out there.
The celebrity birthdays they keep on coming: Happy 120th to Dr. Seuss – born Theodor Geisel on March 2, 1904. Best birthday greeting for him I saw was from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Insta site, here.
“While a fox will never really wear socks, or a bear will never really wear pants or a Barred tiger salamander will never wear a tie that is too wide because no one wears them like that anymore, we’re here to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday.”
Born March 1, 1969: Happy Birthday, Javier Bardem!
“What do you say to a man that by his own admission has no soul? Why would you say anything? I’ve thought about it a good deal. But he wasn’t nothin’ compared to what was comin’ down the pike.”
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A group of psychiatrists studied 400 movies and identified 126 psychotic characters. They chose Javier Bardem’s portrayal of Anton Chigurh in “No Country for Old Men” (2007) as the most clinically accurate portrayal of a psychopath.
When directors Joel Coen and Ethan Coen approached Bardem about playing Chigurh, he said, “I don’t drive, I speak bad English, and I hate violence.” The Coens responded, “That’s why we called you.” Bardem said he took the role because his dream was to be in a Coen Brothers film.
“All the work I usually do: imagining the past, the circumstances of the character in this case I didn’t do it. We all saw him as a force of nature, the embodiment of violence.”
The Coens used a photo of a brothel patron taken in 1979 as a model for Anton Chigurh’s hair style. When he first saw his new haircut, Bardem said, “Oh no, now I won’t get laid for the next two months.” The Coens responded by happily high-fiving each other; Bardem’s response meant Chigurh would look as creepy as they had hoped.
Bardem won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance…. He was the first Spanish actor ever to win an Academy Award.
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Sorry, Sir Tony. Better luck next time.
“I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
Happy Leap Day, y’all. Since Feb. 29th comes only once every four years, today there’s something for everyone.
Enjoy.
“But then to make it all work you add an extra day in February.”
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For the insatiably curious – and for all those who are “leaplings” – the historical skinny on Leap Day is here.
Only about 5 million people in the world today were born on February 29. The odds of being born on Leap Day stand at 1-in-1461…. “Leaplings” technically only get to celebrate their birthdays once every four years, but they are part of a very select group. Several famous people – including singer Dinah Shore (born 1916), motivational speaker Tony Robbins (born 1960) and hip-hop artist Ja Rule (born 1976) – are leaplings.
Normally I’d wait another year to make it an even hundred, but what the heck. Happy posthumous 99th today to Flying W Ranch founder Russ Wolfe. He was born on Jan. 25, 1925 and passed away a few years back in 2019. A Gazette remembrance is here.
Russ used to take potshots at me with his shotgun when I’d cut across his property from Mountain Shadows to access trails on National Forest land to the west. He was never a particularly big a**hole about it, but being an old school kinda guy, he just felt it was his natural God-given right as a landowner to do so. No hard feelings, Russ. Either you were a lousy shot or maybe your heart was never really in scoring a direct hit. Heaven only knows.
Also, congrats on the post-Waldo-Canyon fire reopening of the family’s Chuckwagon Supper and Flying W Wrangler entertainment biz on the ranch. That was always a colorful part of the fabric of the Colorado Springs community. Potshots or not, I’m glad it’s back.
Russ Wolfe signs the letter of intent for the Flying W Ranch reconstruction after the ranch was destroyed by the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire. Gazette photo courtesy of Leigh Ann Wolfe.
Today’s Word of the Day (WOTD) is “repent.” This means, literally, “turn around.” And today’s Public Service Announcement is brought to you jointly by the Wyoming Dept. of Transportation (WYDOT)… and John the Baptist.
I mention John because today’s the 25th of December and that marks the end of the penitential liturgical season of Advent which was the Baptist’s heyday. It’s also the beginning of the 12 Days of Christmas leading up to Epiphany on January 6th – but that’s really only relevant if you’re Anglican, like me.
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Most of us trust our GPS implicitly, just as most of us place great faith in our own moral compass. But the Baptist’s message – “repent” – flies in the face of auto-directed wisdom. I’ll leave it to you to mull that over in your own quiet moments. But as for me, I have found John’s direction to be both trustworthy and true.
Everybody thinks they have a good grip on things, and that their own sh*it doesn’t stink. But everybody’s got an a**hole and, at least in the broad strokes, everybody is wrong about the stink part. Do you doubt it? Let me share a vignette to illustrate. Maybe that’ll help you reconnoiter (literally, “think again”).
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A long-time friend of mine who calls herself a Buddhist had this to say on social media about Christmas: “If Christian mythology would have featured the birth of a brown baby girl, can you imagine how much hate, racism & misogyny the world would have been spared? I love myth stories, twinkly lights & a month-long glut of excessive eating as much as anyone, but for my money… once we’ve reached the age of four, believing in & talking to an imaginary friend who we feel can assist us isn’t charming. It’s psychotic.”
Eating disorders aside, that’s some pretty tough rhetoric right there – and also misguided, IMHO. The problem isn’t the content of the mythology, per se. And by that I mean that substituting “brown baby girl” for the usual inhabitant of our Christmas creche may satisfy a progressive’s sense of political correctness, but it does nothing to ameliorate the fundamental flaw in the human heart that leads many to “hate, racism, and misogyny.” And also, I might add, leads some to a misplaced sense of self-righteousness. C.S. Lewis called this “the problem of pride.” By that he meant, basically, the sense that our own sh*t doesn’t stink – while everyone else’s does.
It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that, with 2.38 billion Christians worldwide, that’s a whole lot more “psychosis” floating around this planet than most of us are willing to own up to or than most psychoanalysts are willing to diagnose. (It also lets most Buddhists off the hook, but let’s not go there.) The fact is, there is such a thing in this world as psychosis, and also, way too much hate-racism-misogyny. But to lay all of that at the feet of belief in an “imaginary friend who we feel can assist us” is short-sighted at best, and perhaps something a whole lot worse.
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Both my friend and I have had our struggles over the years. And both of us have come through the fire intact, albeit with our share of scars. Neither of us did so alone. Both of us had lots of help. My own feeling on the matter is this: Whatever works, baby. And also this: We get by with a little help from our friends, “imaginary” or otherwise. But mostly, my bottom line is this: I’ve got an a**hole just like you. Our major point of difference is this: I’m not so proud as to think that mine’s the only one without stink. Nope. Sorry. You, me, and that baby born in a stable? We all share a smell that’s integral to the human condition, and is the consequence of having a functional digestive tract. Believe it or don’t. But please, spare me the “It’s all the fault of an un-PC mythology.” I won’t call that “psychotic,” exactly. But it is missing the mark by a wide margin.
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Last word goes to Fredrick Buechner, whose quote I really like.
Jesus said no one enters the Kingdom of Heaven except as a little child, and on this score, he was precisely correct.
Alright, I lied. Last word goes to history.com whose story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, here, harks back to a time when such an extravagantly merciful thing as a soccer game in no-man’s-land was still possible. In a world full of hate-racism-misogyny – along with wars and rumors of wars – may it ever be so.
Oh, and also this:
Repent (turn around), and reconnoiter (think again).
Daniel Fahrenheit invented the mercury thermometer. He also originated the temperature scale that bears name. For those with insatiable curiosity, more on this fascinating 17th c. German physicist is here.
The upshot? Age is just a number.
And remember: You heard it here first.
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Another famous November 1958 birthday is here. Can you guess who? Here’s a hint:
“Please to help me mit mine rucksack.”
No clue? OK then, how about this?
Kevin Kline (as Otto): “Don’t call me stupid!”
That’s right, Otto:
It’s all a matter of perspective.
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Speaking of perspective, here are a couple of bonus cartoons from an animal’s-eye view. Consider it my gift to you.
Many of us will be watching NFL games today. But some of us remember this day in history from long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away: Fans fill the stands as a horse-drawn carriage arrives at the annual UChicago-Michigan Thanksgiving Day game in 1895. Chicago founded its football team in 1892 and played its first big rivalry game against the Wolverines on Nov. 13 that year. From then until 1905, the two teams traditionally ended the season with a Thanksgiving Day matchup.
For my Columbus Cousin: JV football at its very finest!
For my wife: Not PSU, but it was Big 10, so it’ll have to do.
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Jay Berwanger, 1935 Heisman winner.
A UChicago Maroon spread from earlier this year, titled “Brains Over Brawn,” is here. After the 1939 season, UChicago quit playing big time D-1 football. But even in my day (the late 1970’s) there was stiff student resistance to the reinstatement of an inter-collegiate football program, even at a D-3 level.
From the Hannah Gray Collection.
Ah well, I guess you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Somebody famous said that. I think it was maybe either Abe Lincoln or Amos Alonzo Stagg? You make the call.
