Ron the Yarnspinner

  Survival in a Birthday Suit   Three slender canoes had appeared out of the mist. These were strong and sturdy, made from overlapping sheaths of bark meshed with whale tendons and curved elegantly upward at the bow and stern. Onboard were several men with bare chests and long black hair, carrying lances and slingshots. It was raining and blowing hard from the north, and Byron, freezing, was struck by the nakedness. “ Their clothing was nothing but a bit of some beast’s skin about their waists and something woven from feathers over their shoulders.”   The Wage r by David Grann   Byron was one of the castaways …a survivor of   HMS Wager, a British man-of-war that left England in 1740 on a secret mission during a dispute with Spain only to be wrecked in a storm off the coast of Patagonia, a region between Argentina and Chile.   This was a party of Kawesqar (Ka-WES-kar), one of several indigenous groups that settled in the area thousands of years...

  Money, Muskets, Mischief, and the Civil War     August 20, 1866 – President Andrew Johnson issued a formal proclamation declaring the Civil War over. This was the “on paper” legal end of the war.    As the years slip by, our hurried lives leave little room to dwell on the echoes of long-ago events. The monuments that stand in quiet witness to the past are scarcely noticed, their bronze slowly cloaked in patina. That green veil of time mirrors our own forgetfulness, softening sharp memories until the past itself grows dim, half-hidden beneath the shadows of neglect. Who remembers that on paper, the American Civil War ended 149 years ago this month?   When we do think about the American Civil War, however, we picture battlefields, generals,   emancipation, and cringe at the carnage. Few people   think of money unless you are a retired banker with time on your hands. Behind the guns and uniforms, however, lay financial shenanigans and...

  “Eh, What’s Up Doc?”   On January 24, 1961, M.J. Blanc was driving on the Los Angeles Freeway in heavy traffic when he lost control of his car and crashed into a telephone pole. Blanc, seriously injured, didn’t appear visibly impaired, though it was speculated that the medication he was taking for an ear infection might have played a role, along with the rainy weather. The prescription was for an antibiotic, and there were no warnings against driving. Nonetheless, the ear infection itself could have contributed, as inner ear issues can cause dizziness.   Blanc was driving a 1960 Jaguar XK150, which lacked modern safety features like anti-lock brakes, crush panels, or advanced braking systems. The car was equipped with drum brakes, which, in wet conditions, were prone to lock up during hard braking. The exact cause of the accident remains unclear.   Seat belts were not standard in the early ’60s, and Blanc’s Jaguar had only lap belts. The crash left Blanc ...