No Trick, Treat

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Two years ago, the Martin Prosperity Institute released what it called its “annual survey” of Halloween in America. It was its third annual such survey and it has not produced a sequel to this seminal study of all things Halloween since. My hometown broke it, I guess.

The Institute’s work in the field of Halloween enjoyment, a study not seriously undertaken by most people older than eight, led in 2013 to many national news articles that expressed shock at its conclusion: that the best place for Halloween in the United States of America is Poughkeepsie, New York.
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Thank You, Charlie B.

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Two years ago today, a friend of mine passed. Charles F. Brennan, III—my friend Charlie (November 2, 1960 ‒ April 7, 2014)—was my sponsor for a time.

His funeral mass card carried a quote from Emerson: “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

At the top is a copy of The Serenity Prayer in Irish, whoch we found in his apartment:

An Phaidir Suaimhneas
A Dhia,
deonaigh dom an suaimhneas
chun glacadh le rudaí
nach féidir liom a athrú,
misneach chun rudaí a athrú nuair is féidir,
agus gaois
chun an difríocht a aithint.

What follows was first published two years ago. Thank you for reading it:
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Today in History: April 7

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

A B-52 Stratofortress collided with a tanker that was re-fueling it 31,000 feet above the Spanish coast on January 27, 1966. The tanker, which was full of fuel, exploded and its crew was instantly killed. The B-52 broke apart and four of the seven crew managed to parachute to safety. The B-52’s cargo fell onto the coast and into the Mediterranean Sea, however: four hydrogen bombs. Three crunched onto the beach and one splashed down and disappeared beneath the waves.

Fifty years ago today, the hydrogen bomb that landed in the Mediterranean, near Palomares, Spain, was finally retrieved. The three that had hit the ground had each partly detonated, but they did not set off the nuclear explosives inside. A four-mile area was contaminated by the plutonium. All that was known about the fourth bomb was that it too had not detonated, and that it was missing.

Twenty-nine ships, one aircraft carrier, and several submersibles were used over the subsequent six weeks in the search for the missing bomb. In March, it was located and an attempt was made to pull it to the surface, but it was dropped and lost again. Finally, on April 7, it was retrieved. The Spanish fisherman who saw it splash into the sea filed a claim for salvage rights, which the U.S. Air Force did not honor. At the top is a photo of the bomb after it was found.
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