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On May 23, 1861, little more than a month into the Civil War, three young black men rowed across the James River in Virginia and claimed asylum in a Union-held citadel. Fort Monroe, Va., a fishhook-shaped spit of land near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, had been a military post since the time of the first Jamestown settlers. This spot where the slaves took refuge was also, by remarkable coincidence, the spot where slavery first took root, one summer day in 1619, when a Dutch ship landed with some 20 African captives for the fledgling Virginia Colony.
Two and half centuries later, in the first spring of the Civil War, Fort Monroe was a lonely Union redoubt in the heart of newly Confederate territory. Its defenders stood on constant guard. Frigates and armed steamers crowded the nearby waters known as Hampton Roads, one of the world’s great natural harbors. Perspiring squads of soldiers hauled giant columbiad cannons from the fort’s wharf up to its stone parapets. Yet history would come to Fort Monroe not amid the thunder of guns and the clash of fleets, but stealthily, under cover of darkness, in a stolen boat.
Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory and James Townsend were field hands who — like hundreds of other local slaves — had been pressed into service by the Confederates, compelled to build an artillery emplacement amid the dunes across the harbor. They labored beneath the banner of the 115th Virginia Militia, a blue flag bearing a motto in golden letters: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
After a week or so of this, they learned some deeply unsettling news. Their master, a rebel colonel named Charles Mallory, was planning to send them even farther from home, to help build fortifications in North Carolina. That was when the three slaves decided to leave the Confederacy and try their luck, just across the water, with the Union.
Finish reading this at: How Slavery Really Ended in America
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“Here’s why you should always buy into your office lottery pool”
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Nationwide utilization of virtual colonoscopy triples, study suggests
Medicare coverage and nationwide utilization of computed tomographic colonography (CTC), commonly referred to as virtual colonoscopy, has tripled in recent years, according to a study in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology. CTC employs virtual reality technology to produce a three-dimensional visualization that permits a thorough and minimally invasive evaluation of the entire colon and rectum. CT colonography is an alternative to conventional optical colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening and diagnosis.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Yet, only 50 percent of the eligible population participates in colorectal cancer screening programs. Since most colon cancers develop from polyps, and screening to find and remove these polyps can prevent colon cancer, an opportunity exists to save lives with early detection. CTC, which is an American Cancer Society recommended screening exam, can attract more people to be screened and save more lives through early detection of disease.
“Several well-designed multicenter trials now corroborate the results of an earlier landmark trial demonstrating equivalent performance of conventional optical colonoscopy and CTC in screening for cancer and precancerous polyps. The rapid expansion of the use of diagnostic CTC, even in the absence of Medicare coverage for screening CTC, speaks volumes to the need of an alternative exam for those who choose not to undergo colonoscopy. As more insurers provide coverage for CTC, access to CTC is likely to expand,” said Richard Duszak Jr., MD, lead author of the study.
My only surviving grandmother is one of the liveliest ladies the world has ever seen. She’s perpetually the loudest, most high-energy person in the room (quite a feat in my family), she wears her best jewelry every single day, and she’s got a robust sense of humor – constantly threatening to leave my grandfather (her husband of 60-plus years) as soon as Tony Bennett comes calling for her.
Basically, she’s the coolest grandmother ever.
But she’s not the type of grandmother you’d find sitting knitting in a chair. So, if I ever want some garments handmade with love for my two sons, I will just have to turn to Grannies, Inc., a service that offers a design-it-yourself service with the guarantee that your products “will be hand-knitted by one of our grannies, because who knows more about knitting than grannies?”
(Via Incredible Things)
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Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment Rate at 10.0% in March “Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, was 10.0% in March — down from 10.2% in mid-March and 10.3% at the end of February, but above the 9.8% at the end of January. U.S. unemployment was 10.4% at the end of March a year ago.”
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Fear of Death Spurs Belief in Intelligent Design
When faced with the thought of death, people are more likely to believe in intelligent design, the idea that life on Earth and other features of the universe can be explained by an “intelligent being” guiding the process, a new study finds.
“People want to see science as providing their life with greater meaning, and on the surface, intelligent design does that whereas evolution does not,” said study researcher Jessica Tracy, of the University of British Columbia. “t might help explain why there is such intense widespread support for intelligent design.”
Thinking about death is known to have many psychological impacts. These impacts protect us from the fear of leaving this world. “We try to forget most of the time that we are mortal,” Tracy told LiveScience. “It’s impossible to forget, it’s real, it’s out there, it becomes harder and harder to deny that.”
Things That Excite Me (NSFW)
Obama and Grandparents on Bench at East 61st Street and 5th Avenue, Sometime in 1981-83.
CIA active on the ground in Libya ‘for several weeks’
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Watch this, the GE Commercial redone since they have not paid any taxes. Hilarious!
Before developing his telegraph, SAMUEL F. B. MORSE was an artist…read about this his remarkable painting (above) HERE
Top 5 Websites Other Than Amazon To Find Great Kindle Books
Routine periodic fasting is good for your health, and your heart
Originally posted 2011-04-04 11:03:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter