I’m feeling dry on topics. I could either write about the Red Baron, or the guy who invented kerosene. But I’m not sure either will do. Both of them have birthdays today, and the kerosene-man came way before the flying ace.
That oily guy was named Abraham Gesner, and he was born in 1797. In cold Nova Scotia. It is no wonder he was extremely interested in heating oils, hence the kerosene. Sure, the stuff is good in the little Coleman camping lamps. But now it is also widely used in jet engine fuel. It is highly combustible, which makes it great for airplane fuel. But it also has a low vapor level, which means it isn’t very likely to explode. At any rate, they use it high in the sky, and I am pretty sure that never crossed Gesner’s mind as he was coming up with the formula. He was just worried about ways to warm his little hands and toes.
Here’s another thing I learned about kerosene. It has to do with one of my fears. It is extremely useful in the removal of head lice. I had never heard this before, but all sorts of images are running through my mind right now about head lice and kerosene.
So. If I wrote about Abraham Gesner today, I’d have to go down some hard, hard paths. I’m not up for it, I’ve decided.
I’m not sure about The Red Baron either. That was Manfred von Richthofen. Little Manny. Actually, he truly was a Baron. I am not sure how all that falls out over there in Germany. It has something to do with their “right” to nobility, or some such reasoning. He was born in Poland, in 1892 and went on to be a real top-notch fighter pilot during WWI. For the Germans. Yes, he was an Ace, as they say, and was credited for 80 air combat kills. That was, of course, until someone got him.
In 1918. The Red Baron was in a bit of an air duel near the Somme River, in France. You’ve seen the movies, the back and forth of it, the zooming overhead, and coming back from behind. The rat-a-tat-tat of the machine guns. At any rate, no one knows for sure who shot him down.
Most give credit to the Canadian pilot, one Captain Roy Brown, who was in the dogfight in the air with him. But there were gunners on the ground too. Here lately, an old eyewitness report just went up for auction. It stated that the Red Baron was shot down from the ground, by an Australian anti-aircraft machine gunner, named Sargent Cedric Popkin.
No matter. Whoever it was, fired that bullet right through his heart. Richthofen managed to land his plane in a field, undamaged, before he died. Now that is some flying. And sadly, he was only 25 years old.
Anyway, I’m not sure I want to write about the Red Baron either, because that is just filled with bad war news. And not the kerosene guy, as there isn’t a lot of joy in fuel oil.
Perhaps I should have spent my time documenting the activities of the Loch Ness Monster, who was first spotted on this date in 1933. Since that time, there have been 1,116 more monster sightings in that big lake. However. Bigfoot is in the lead, with more than 10,000 sightings here in the United States.
How all of this will intersect with your day, I can only imagine. Perhaps not so much of a blog, but rather, a public service announcement. You never know who you might see in the sky, in water, or on land.
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Happiness comes from peace. Peace comes from indifference.
— Naval Ravikant
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He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.
— Marcus Aurelius
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Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.
— Frank Tyger
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