Nobody's Perfect

ELIZABETH & ESSEX .......there is a pip of a "Queen Movie" ..............  This Picture and JEZEBEL are the only two Bette Davis Pictures I ever liked, and they are good because in both of them, Davis wasn't "Acting", but being herself .......

Queen Isabella knew how to fight like a girl.  She vacillated because of the danger of thie exploration but when all was said and done she is responsible for the freedom of everyone who has passed through Ellis or landed at a US airport. 

One of my favorites in Spanish history was Isabel's daughter, "Jane the Crazy Woman" (Juana la Loca) was ascended to the throne at age 25 in 1504.  (How many monarchs bear the name 'the crazy woman'?) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna_of_Castile .  To add insult to injury (and Spaniards have a notoriously dry wit) the girl got married to a guy named "Philip the Handsome" (though I don't see it in the paintings of the time)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_I_of_Castile .  Phil, like many guys with lots of power, was heavily into 'the ladies' and Jane wasn't especially thrilled with his 'hobby'.  (Read the Wikipedia section "Obsession With Her Husband" for all the tawdry details.)  Jane's primary contribution to Spanish history was that she was the mom of Charles V, a pivotal figure in Spanish history....  The more things change, the more they remain the same -- especially human nature. :-) 

A  major  problem  with  the  inquisition,   beyond  the  obvious  human  rights  abuse  issue,   was  the  fact  that  people  who  were  tortured  said  whatever  they  thought  was  necessary  to  get  the  inquisitor  to  cease.   This  ironically  is  the  same  problem  with  waterboarding  and  other  "aggressive  interrogation"  techniques  at  Guantanamo.  Seems  by  now  we  would  have  learned  our  lesson.

It seems like the whole line of royals after Queen Isabella was cursed with some ailment of inbreeding.

The year 1492 is famous for three things...Columbus's first (of four) voyages across the Atlantic, the final chapter in the Reconquista with the fall of Granada, and the explusion of the Jews from Spain.  Perhaps because I know several Sephardic Jews who hale from South America (in the translation business in Houston) I'm more conscious of this forgotten chapter in history.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephardi_Jews ; .  Among my heroes in history are the so called 'Marranos' (Pigs), Jews who overtly embraced Catholicism but stuck to their 'old religion' in secret.  I always have had a secret admiration for good actors and passive-aggressives.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrano

Back to Columbus....the log of his first voyage is fascinating.... but first some historical background: http://www.columbusnavigation.com/log.shtml .  Now, on to the actual work itself: http://www.columbusnavigation.com/diario.shtml ; .  (For those who hate reading long works on a computer screen, the log is available in 'dead tree' format, too.).  My favorite parts of the log (spoiler alert!) is when the locals discover the Spaniards are OBSESSED with their small gold ornaments.  After the visitors have overstayed their welcome, the Indians eventually figure out the easiest way to get their 'guests' to move on.  "Gold?  Oh, yeah, there's tons of gold around!  But it's on an island about a day's sail west of here. We don't have any gold around here; we got ours from THOSE folks."  And off the Spaniards would sail, someone else's problem.... Dang, those Indians were smart!  Gotta remember their technique the next time I have a guest who overstays his/her welcome.........

birdcage

If I remember my high school social studies class, there is a version of this story that says Queen Isabella was more interested in aquiring jewelery than anything else in the New World. The land, the vegetables and the exotic birds were just a bonus.  

Greatgrandmother came over from Russia in 1903. Her family escaped from Russia from the crime of being Jewish. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here today.

Columbus Day Parade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM3JTLTPQjY

a "queen" movie, hmmmmm, "Birdcage" :)

oops, see cuukoo beat me to it

three more queen movies:
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
Hedwig and the Angry Inch

I've just returned from 30 days on "The Continent", attending a family reunion in Weimar and visiting Cologne, Passau and Bergen.  Since I've learned that this group has already seen most all regular destinations and attractions, I've attached only some very random pictures.  (I did not meet Juana la Loca, but I love her name!) I sure did miss listening in on your daily conversations, am happy to be back observing and am pleased to see so many new contributor names!

Doc I thought her name translated to Joanna the Mad, not Jane the Mad but I could be wrong.  The Spanish film Juana la Loca from 2001 is an interesting film about her life & the love she had for Phillip. 
 
As for Isabella History shows her as a Great Ruler & at the same time an Awful one. I'm not sure what her motives were for financing Columbus, as far as I know a book may come out next week claiming the only reason she did so was because she wanted to end an affair with him & did so just to get him out of her life for a awhile. Him finding anything was just happenstance...
 
 

I'm sure Doc is right, its Juana La Loca. Johanna the Mad is probably someone else. Inbreed was very big among the royasl back then.
 
Did anyone see the deocumentary on one of the cable channels a few years back that said Chirstopher Columbus was really a pirate who stole someone's identity?

ANDY:  Too Funny !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe it's in the Translation that's used... I KNOW I'm talking about the same woman as Doc though becuase the DH name is the same & the ! iam also referencing was the youngest daughter of Isabella & Fernidand.  It really makes me wonder what she really did learn form her parents royal court.. Sometimes you just gotta ask...   
 
Was Joanna the Mad Really Crazy? or just knew how to REALLY play up the Women Scorned role? Did her mom teach her Well?... Discuss......

Often, in the process, we discover things we weren't even looking for...if we keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open.

Is it true there was a fourth ship?  The San Giuseppe went over the edge. 

over the edge: http://lh3.ggpht.com/garrickpass/Rwo2TaNvhAI/AAAAAAAAAIk/oqWNkbKkGMI/NinaPintaSantaMaria%5B3%5D.jpg

Imagine going to sea with that fear! The Santa Maria - 120 men on a ship only about 80' long; crowded and damp living conditions, lack of sanitation, livestock crammed on board, scurvy, extreme danger, only the clothes on your back, grueling work, etc...and no idea when or if you would ever return home again.

Somewhat on track if you listen ‘tll the end.... 8 track that is......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afFK9CsqTWA&feature=fvw

and they didn't have shuffle board.......

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?
Given the choice, I can't decide if I'd pick the dangers of the sea in 1492 over the dangers of the jungle in 1871, or not.
I don't think I inherited the "extreme" adventurer gene. My idea of being an explorer is more akin to that of a wondering wayfarer.

Kindlee - love your comments about us all, in our own way, being explorers.  My problem is that I can't even determine what I'm looking for, so finding it is still a long way off.

 # 4A - Gall

Stoney, Perhaps I should have picked #59 across for today.

comfortable1,
I've always believed that the journey is much more important than the destination...as the old saying goes. My goals in life have only given me an initial direction to head in, but rarely do I ever seem to end up where I think I'm heading.
I enjoyed your travel photos. It looks like you had a wonderful adventure, full of discovery, this last month. Thank you for sharing. (I loved seeing the surfers at the English Garden, too - right next to the sign that said "Surfen und Baden verboten")

 Kindlee, Perfect.

  #59A- atsea


Columbus Day guilt is interesting. Maybe it should be extended back to Adam and Eve or the first hungry one celled creatures.

Few cultures live anywhere that they did not either take by force or kill to defend.

We are animals and one thing that distinguishes us from the rest of the kingdom is that we do not, as a rule, eat each other. Apart from that, we act to preserve, defend and often to expand, our cultures in ways that other animals do not.

A stallion or alpha wolf knows when the herd or pack has become too large to manage and sets about driving off some of its number.

If you buy into creation: we subjugated, beat and burned minerals, look what we turned meat and vegetables into and water? It's pissed.

The facts are these: you could, throughout history, seize and hold territory or you lost it to someone who could.

Yes, Native Americans were badly done by at the hands of people who were there to escape abuse by somebody else.

They had likely been fighting amongst themselves forever and then met a superior force. If it would make you feel better, go to a casino and drop a wad. It won't take long.

Personally, I thought names like Indians, Chiefs and War Hawks were admiring of Native American culture.

Redskins? They're potatoes.



 

 

Whenever another scorbutic knave behaved in the smallest insurrectional manner, legend is that Cristobal Colon demanded that the guilty man be brought before him and seated in a chair with back legs about two feet high and front legs about six inches high. Anyone trying to sit in such a chair wiggled and squirmed to such a degree that Colon got confessions quickly and re-established pecking order immediately.

Kindlee:   Your  reflections  are  mine  as  well.  I  stand  in  awe  as  individuals  confronted  the  unknown  with  fragile  resources  and  no  peace  of  mind.  As  you  correctly  observed,  Columbus'  "fleet"  consisted  of  three  tiny  poorly-designed  sailing  ships  provisioned  with  only  those  items  that  would  keep  well....I  will  not  be  more  specific  at  dinnertime,  just  suffice  it  to  say  that  each  meal  looked  the  same,  which  was  one  small  step  above  starvation. 
My  own  personal  way  to  remember  the  contributions  of  others  is  to  reflect  on  Charles  Darwin  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  both  born  on  the  exact  same  day  on  opposite  sides  of  the  world  200  years  ago.   Each  had  to  deal  with  tasks  that  would  cause  most  of  us  to  pull  the  blankets  over  our  heads  just  to   think  about  them.   Neither  knew  the  other,  yet  each  changed  our  lives  forever.  Makes  me  stop  whenever  I  feel  a  bit  of  self-pity,  and  kick  myself  in  my  own  arse.....life  is  good.
 
I  know  I  have  mentioned  this  before,  but  anybody  who  does  not  take  in  Ecuador's  Galapagos  Islands   or  the  Lincoln  Museum  Center  in  Springfield,  Illinois  is  missing  out.  Each  exceeds  expectations,  neither  is  a  one-day  experience  to  appreciate.

Spain's greatest relic of the Inquisition is that guests at good restaurants are still offered, for starters, a plate of charcuterie.

Jalopkin, talk about too funny, I just read your quote on "eye"dentity -- really funny Broadsides At Her Waterline, Hot Coals In Her Sheets -- love it.

DZ: I really like the Churchill quotation on your page. I want to use it in something I am writing. Do you know its primary source (i.e., what book? what speech?), in case a fact checker comes poking around?

My  kid  just  came  back  from  her  mom's  house,  seems  everybody  is  making  a  big  deal  out  of  Monday  night  football  and  she  became  persona  non  grata.   Every  once  in  a  while,  life  is  sweet.....

...and the old map makers wrote, when they came to the edge of their flat maps,  that "beyond this place there will be dragons."
 
I had a wooden sign made with those words on it, and put it up above the door that leads to our basement.  It's unbelievably effective in keeping inquisitive grandkids out.
 
 

Just to muddy the waters a bit more (reference Juana la Loca), check this out: "Jane is [...] the English form of the Old French name Jehanne, which was an old feminine form of the male name Johannes or Ioannes, a Latin form of the Greek name Ιωαννης or Ioannes, which is derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן or Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious."

"Joan is [...] related to the names John, Jane, Jean, Johan, Joanna, Juan, Ivan, Siobhán, and Siwan. It comes from Latin Joanna, from Hebrew, meaning 'The Lord's grace'. The name ultimately derived from the Biblical Hebrew name יוחנן Yôḥānān, short for יהוחנן Yəhôḥānān, meaning "Yahweh is merciful"

Source: http://tudorhistory.org/queryblog/2009/07/question-from-abby-joan-v-jane.html

I think it's fitting to recognize folks who have ROWED across the Atlantic Ocean this Columbus Day... one of my favorites is Ray Jardine. (It took him 53 days...) At age 62, the also skiied across Antarctica and climbed the tallest mountain on that continent.... Here's his webpage:  http://www.rayjardine.com .  When folks say, 'You can't!' I think of Ray.... 

Kindlee -- just for you, I just uploaded my pic of the very sign you mentioned! 

(on one of my favorite blogs today, this from Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States:)

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:

They . . . brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned . . . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features . . . .They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane . . . They would make fine servants . . . .With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.

"Guests at good restaurants are still offered, for starters, a plate of charcuterie."  Huh?  I've never had anyone ever offer me a plate of charcuterie (I think).  What are they?  My mind is racing.... fried squid?  a finger bowl on a plate? some Cajun pastry?  .... After having to ask what a cruditie was (huh?) a while back, I'm sort of leaning to staying to pho restaurants with big screen TVs eternally playing as cigarette smoking Vietnamese guys chatter away.... I don't think I'm the kind of guy who really fits in at 'good restaurants' (unless they serve pork barbeque!)

  
A little boy, in the restaurant playing with his loose letters, spelled "years and yies."

His parents didn't get it.

"It's where Penny Lane is in," he said.

They still didn't. 

ANDY: The Men my Family have always been Sea Faring Men and that Slogan became the Family Motto during the War between the yankees and the Americans, as it indicates how we approach the art of fighting battles at sea ... Out-numbered or not, we just jump right in the middle of the fracas, and do as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible ... if we're in the middle of the enemy, they have some trepidation about firing at us, concerned that they might over shoot and hit one of their own ... Seaborne Warfare in the 17th. thru 19th. Centuries was nowhere near as precise as it has been in our time .......  Continued firing of Broadsides at an opponent's waterline WILL render an opponent unseaworthy, and raising the Muzzle of a Cannon, firing hot coals from the Galley into the sails to set them afire, will certainly put her dead in the water .......  Some of the tactics work very well on Land too (very similar to the way Divorce Lawyers operate)  Tho' I am quite positive Bert would not approve ... In case you haven't met Bert yet, he is this Village's Conscience ... and is always ready with one PseudoFreudian Bon Mot or another ...
 
Say Hello, Bert !!!

comfortable1, My picture of the sign and surfers is amongst my uploaded pictures, too. Thank you for yours. It doesn't look like things have changed much in the 2 years since I was there - I wonder just how long this has been going on? I also got quite a kick out of the Chinese pagoda, in the English Garden, with the German band in lederhosen, playing old American music, as we drank our beer at the picnic tables...a league of nations all its own.