Quiz: Okay Olympics fans, who was Pierre de Coupertin?

Yesterday’s Question answered below: What is a cynic?
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History for 8/24/2008
Birthdays: Jorge Luis Borges, William Wilberforce, Marlee Matlin, Yasir Arafat, Max Beerbom, Cal Ripken Jr,Joshua Lionel Cowan the inventor of Lionel toy electric trains, Kenny Baker-C3PO in Star Wars, Stephen Fry is 51, Gerry Cooney, Durward Kirby- 1960s T.V. announcer who sued the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show because of a prop device called the "Kirward Derby", Duke Kahanamoku-1890- Olympic medalist who promoted the Hawaiian sport of Surfing to California and Australia. Dave Chappelle is 35, Steve Guttenberg is 50



410 A.D. ROME FALLS TO THE BARBARIANS- Alaric the Visigoth marched a horde of Goths, Vandals and Huns to the gates of Rome. At midnight escaped Gothic slaves opened the Salarian Gate to them. Romans awoke next morning to the sound of barbarian horns, The Goths plundered the capitol of the Roman Empire for three days. Roman Emperor Honorius had moved his Imperial Court to Milan and there was an Eastern Emperor in Constantinople. The Roman Senate continued to meet until 578 AD. But the symbolic significance of the Roman Empire losing Rome was devastating. Even though the Empire staggered along for a few more years, this event marks the end of the Ancient World and the beginning of the Dark Ages St. Jerome wrote:” It is the end of the world, I cannot write for the tears.” One pagan historian claimed Rome fell because the Christian emperors had forbidden the Senate to make offerings to Mars the Avenger at the beginning of each session. Yet Alaric was a Gnostic Christian and prayed in church while his warriors ran amok in the city. No church buildings were harmed. Part of the ransom Alaric demanded was 5,000 pounds of pepper. I guess that says something about Barbarian cooking. Within six months old Alaric died while the Goths were on the march. So they dammed up the river Po, placed him in an underground crypt and let the river back in. Today no one knows where it is. It’s an archaeologist dream to find the tomb of Alaric, stuffed with the spoils of the Roman Empire.

1227- GENGHIS KHAN DIED. A man called Temujin united a few small nomadic tribes into one of the greatest empires in history and was named the Prince of Conquerers or the Genghis Khan. How he died is a mystery. The Mongols kept almost no records and all accounts are second and third hand. One said the old conqueror, now over sixty, had died of a fever, another in battle, my favorite is a captive Queen of the Tanguts concealed a piece of metal in her sexual organ and he lacerated his willy when ...you know... and he bled to death. Part of Genghis’ funeral cortege was a riderless horse with boots reversed, a symbol of a fallen leader handed down to the funerals of John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. The tomb of the Genghis Khan has never been discovered. Forty horses were sacrificed at the gravesite for Genghis to use in the next world and later the guards killed all that witnessed the funeral and then killed themselves to keep the location a secret. Somewhere in Mongolia on the Burkhan Kaldun, the "Mountain of Power" venerated by the Mongols, Genghis is buried with treasures plundered from Bejing to Moscow. In 2001 a joint team from the University of Chicago and Ulan Bator claimed they may have found the tomb. Stay tuned.

1814- BRITISH TROOPS BURN WASHINGTON D.C.- A large British task force filled with veteran redcoats fresh from defeating Napoleon marched up from ships in Chesapeake Bay. With most of the US Army trying to invade Canada or on the Western frontier the only defense of America’s capitol was some scanty Maryland militia and a few beached Marines. Generals, the Secretary of War, President Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe all galloped about in confusion barking orders. At noon at Bladensburg Maryland, the American force exchanged some gunfire with the British, then ran away. The U.S. Army and government ran so fast that the incident was nicknamed "The Bladensburg Races". President James Madison had to leave in such a hurry that his evening dinner was still on the table. British Admiral Cockburn said he: "mightily enjoyed Master Jimmy 's sherry." First Lady Dolly Madison fled the White House but saved Gilbert Stuart's painting of George Washington, cut out of its frame with a penknife by her butler French John –Jean Pierre Sioussat. The Declaration of Independence was hidden under a front porch in Baltimore and the US Treasury hidden in a wagon at a solitary Maryland farm.


At 9:00PM Admiral George Cockburn, sat in the speakers chair in Congress and said to his laughing troops:" Well lads, what shall we do with this vile nest of Yankee democracy ?" "Burn it!" they cried. The redcoats set fire to Congress, the Presidents Mansion, the Navy Yard and marched 6 abreast in good order down Pennsylvania Ave. Around 11:30 PM Cockburn and his staff entered Mrs Suters Boarding House on 15th & Pennsylvania Ave. for a late supper. Cockburn blew out the candles on the dinner table, leaving the room illuminated by the bright glow of the burning city. He joked” THIS, is the light by which I prefer to eat.” The humiliation unified American anger not unlike Pearl Harbor centuries later. It was no longer "Mr. Madison's War." On a Hudson riverboat author Washington Irving punched a man he saw laughing over the President's flight." The National Honor must be Avenged!" After the British troops withdrew the President's burned out mansion was hastily covered over with the paint that was most in supply, white. The White House it was known thereafter.

1847 - Charlotte Bronte finished the manuscript of her novel "Jane Eyre".

1853 – Saratoga Springs hotel resort chef George Crum invented Potato Chips, or crisps.

1913- Congress okayed the creation of the Parcel Post system- UPS.

1939- Mr. Leslie Mitchell became the first British Television announcer.

1942- Walt Disney’s film Saludos Amigos received it’s world premiere in Rio De Janiero.

1951- Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashomon premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. The film won the Grand Prize and first showed the world that Japanese Cinema was a new force in the filmworld.

1973- One month after Bruce Lee’s death his last film Enter The Dragon opened in the US to wild acclaim. It renewed interest in the late star and spawned the Chinese Martial Arts craze in the US.

1997- According to the 1984 James Cameron film The Terminator this was the day the Skynet computer system became self aware and began the War of the Day of Judgement.
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Yesterday’s Quiz: What is a cynic?

Answer: A Cynic is someone who desires to live free of the vanity and customs of society and mock all desire for money or fame. Many cynics are strident social critics who have contempt for pompousness and hypocrisy. The word Cynic comes from the ancient Greek word for dog. The most famous Cynic philosopher was Diogenes who lived in an abandoned tub and ate raw onions. Supposedly when Alexander the Great met Diogenes, he saluted him with “ Hail! I am Alexander the King! and the old philosopher replied:” And I am Diogenes the Dog!” Alexander said:” If there is anything I can grant you, just ask it!” Diogenes answered “ yes, you’re standing in my sunlight.”