November 28th RIP

RIP to Owain Gwynedd, aka Owen The Great.  He was king of Gwynedd.  Talk about being born with the right name!  How could anyone not see that he was the best man for the job- it's like a woman with the last name "Smith" marrying a man also named "Smith".  No name change needed!  Saves a lot of trouble with drivers licenses and suchlike. 

Here's an odd listing:  Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, listed as "Prussian Army Officer".  Um yeah, that's technically correct.  But nobody would know a damn thing about him, and he certainly wouldn't be listed here if "Prussian Army Officer" was his only claim to fame.  He's better known as Baron von Steuben, and he's the guy who took an unorganized mob of American colonists and turned them into a disciplined army, all while they tried to keep warm at Valley Forge.  At any rate, he served personally under Frederick The Great, as a staff officer; which made him invaluable to the Continental Army, which hardly even knew what a staff officer was.  His contributions did much to improve the health, morale, and overall ability of the Army.  While we probably would have won the War without him, he did contribute more to the outcome than any other foreign officer, with the possible exception of Lafayette.  Anyhow, he died on this date in 1794. 

It's fitting that the NBA strike is almost over, as today marks the death of James Naismith, who invented the game.  But all this talk about such a pointless game has me already bored.  Sorry.

Just last week we mentioned the birthday of General Leclerc, who fought (competently!) for the Allies in WWII, despite being French.  If you recall, he also did a competent (!) ob in SE Asia after the War.  Well, he missed the Daily Double by 6 days.  RIP Leclerc. 

Enrico Fermi also died on this date.  He played a key role in the creation of the first atomic bombs, and also in harnessing nuclear energy for civilian uses.  That's honest-to-God civilian uses, not "civilian use" like Iran keeps talking about.  At any rate, he also won a Nobel Prize back when people were impressed by that. 

Jeffrey Dahmer gets today's "Burn in Hell" award, as this marks the anniversary of the day the uber-creep was killed in prison.  Good riddance!

However, we go out with a smile.  RIP Leslie Nielsen.  I remember some years after "Airplane" came out and made him famous (again) seeing him in an old Disney film, playing the role of Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of the American Revolution.  It was rather amusing to me, during the 5 minutes I watched.  My mind refused to consider the tall, husky blond actor as a solid fit for a real life person who was described using terms like "swarthy" and "lean"; and who was probably close to a foot shorter than Nielsen.  But other than that, they were like twins!  At any rate Nielsen was a very funny man.   I hear you cry "but historysnark, surely you can't be serious!"  And in tribute to Nielsen I of course reply "I am serious.  And don't call me Shirley!".