Hi Sterling, 1-The fact that the French army wanted to enrage the Bohemians by tossing the Elbogen iron meteorite in the well is indisputable. This meteorite is Grade A Prime cultural heritage for Bohemia where many ethnic Germans lived and was ethnically a contested territory in my understanding. The French actions were part of the hostilities kicked off by the War of Jenkins' Ear which morphed into that of Austrian Succession there. The exciting point being that Germans/Bohemians had a cultural appreciation of meteorites which truly raptures my imagination with pride, cultural curiousity and a transfer of a certain degree of magic in my mind's eye, due to my own fascination with steel from space.
2- My mention of the then Governer of Georgia, Gen. Oglethorpe's bellicose expedition of Georgians and Carolinians was to bring to your attention this large American campaign in the War of Jenkins' Ear, intended to correct your statement that Americans never had the odd pleasure of partaking in that euphonious war (Soundly put!). Nothing much I can do about wars despite my heart's desires, other than hope I would not be called to participate in them. I really have absolutely no opinions or desire to think about human intraspecies' inhumanity. I'll tender a request for a favor that my kindly hijacked thread be returned to romantic, fantasy and other fictional books on meteorites. I have to admit to believing that anything goes in a discussion group, but was unhappy that a thread on romantic and adventure novels with meteorites in their plots turned into a discussion of how Europe had more and longer wars than the USA. :-( !!!!! . ... to imagine the relationship between Caledfwlch, Gram, Hrunting, Naegling, the Magical Giant Sword that slew Grendel's mother, so difficult to hoist or lift up is a recurring theme, and meteorites, which held a special fascination in Germanic cultures and craftmanships is very amazing, though. The stone Ensisheim, which fell in German territory at the time was recognized by the German Emperor in 1492 to have come from the sky, and ordered conserved thanks to him. It is interesting that the "civilized world" didn't really "accept" that rock fell from space until L'Aigle pummeled the last holdouts in France more than 300 years later, like a thunder fromThor's hammer. With the greatest respect to France, who seem to have been ahead of the Americans (one can easily imagine that the Americans followed the French lead), I believe the Franco-Germanic relationship strongly colored the French acceptance of meteoritical phenomena and gets to the heart of meteorite status in the milieu. I.e., I bet in the 1740's part of the reason the Elbogen meteorite got such harsh treatment was due to the memory of Ensisheim having been declared a favorable German icon to unite in the war against France, and that Generally that Germans attributed mystical powers to meteorites like no other culture since the ancients. I think the French were strongly influenced by the widespread meteorite reverance thoughout Germanic cultures (take Grimms' tales and Martin's stories of the converted burgrave on Elbogen, and German fascination with hammers, axes and metal in general and a its possible relationship to meteoritic iron), which provided resistance to recognizing that meteorites really did come from heaven as their competing Germanic neighbors believed... Best wishes, Doug ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> Cc: "MexicoDoug" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Martin Altmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 9:04 PM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite novels -gifts II > Hi, Doug, Martin, List, > > Operating on the principle that the longer I talk, > the more likely my chance to really annoy someone > becomes, I snipped a lot of sentences out of what > I originally wrote. > > The history of the USA up until 1900-1910 is best > described as a kind of "ongoing conflict," somewhat > short of formal war. I was going to say that, so no > disagreement there. In fact, the history of most nations > can be so described with some accuracy. > > Even with Martin's addition of a few hundred more > wars for Europe, there's a background of conflict that > generates them. The Serbian obsession with Kosovo, > its ancient "homeland," dates from a conquest late in > the first millennium AD of the people who still live there, > the Illyrians, or rather their descendents, who were there > before the first millennium BC, which makes the Serbian > "historical" claim look a little silly. > > But these ethnic histories solve nothing; one has only > to look at the Middle East to have that demonstrated. > Such arguments over who is exclusively entitled to the > "land" are endless, unending, and productive of nothing > but carnage, even between folks as completely and > totally indistinguishable as two Irishmen. > > United Statesians (so as to avoid the over-broad usage > of "Americans") mostly have what is so often called a > "naive" view: "Why doesn't everybody just forget about > settling the score for the past and try to work on solving > the problems that exist NOW?" > > The scorn of the sophisticated not withstanding, there > is a another name for this: SANITY. If the price of this > mental health is to be achieved by, say, modern Europeans, > acting as if THEY never had a war, being morally superior > to those so backward as to get stuck in conflicts, well, > sanity is worth that. That IS the idea -- to dump the past. > "History," said James Joyce a century ago, "is a nightmare > I'm trying to wake up from." > >> does Europe have a "Battle of Little Bighorn", which... >> was the fight leading to the demise of a race of people? > > Duh. Yeah! And the Sioux (and all the other tribes > that participated in an INDIAN victory there) still exist, > no thanks to General Custer, just as Jews still exist, no > thanks to... We weren't going to drag up the past, > were we? > >> if the Indians had caught on quicker... > > American natives caught on right away. They each > and all sat in council about what to do about the odd > newcomers from the very year they first showed up! > Every strategy you can imagine was tried. It's common- > place to present these centuries of native statecraft as > if they all sat there like idiots until the late 1800's, but > that notion is what is really demeaning. A delay of a > potential annihilation for centuries is a major achievement; > there are innumerable spots around the globe where > indigenous peoples have been destroyed in a decade > or three. As for uniting scores, even hundreds, of > nations with no common language, belief, or culture, > ask Tecumseh about how that worked out... > > The real "war" was epidemiological. The "Black > Death" made its way into North America ahead of the > Europeans, in the 15th century, and was followed > shortly by a flood of new European diseases in the > next century. Europeans, in person, were entering > devastated and de-populated lands everywhere in > the "New World," north and south. Not that they > weren't trying to kill the locals, just that their efforts > were puny compared to what the microbes (whose > existence both sides were unaware of) accomplished. > It's hard to slow down an invasion when your own > population is reduced by up to 90%! > > I'm sorry you were so upset by General Oglethorpe > and the Battle of Bloody Marsh, Doug, but I will remind > you that it took place after Jerkins carted his ear-in-a-jar > up to the British Parliment and got Walpole to declare > the Ear War. Had the fortunes of war fallen differently, > why, you would be walking the picturesque calles de > Neuvo Atlanta, capitol of Las Floridas del Norte, while > avoiding the camera-toting USian tourists in their garish > shirts and plastic flip-flops... > > I would love to "kick around" the causes of the > five-day "Football War" with you, Doug, but I think > that it breaks the tenuous chain that links Jenkins' ear > to a wet meteorite in a moat surrounded by mocking > Frenchmen! > > > Sterling K. Webb > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > And Bill just summed it up in three sentences better > than either of us, I think... > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "MexicoDoug" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> > Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2006 8:56 PM > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite novels -gifts II > > >> Sterling wrote: >> "1739-1740 War of Jenkins' Ear" >> "And [the USA's] certainly never managed to have a war as magnificently >> named as "The War of Jenkins' Ear"! Now, that's how to name a war! Clear, >> concise, and everybody knows exactly what it's all about." >> >> Hey Sterling, >> >> Hah! remember studies in Western Civ - between Physics and philosophy >> class :-) -, really, the USA has darn well so managed to have a war >> equally magnificient in name as the "War of Jenkin's Ear". >> >> It was called "The War of Jenkin's Ear"; Same Jenkins - and it wasn't >> Jenkin's other ear. Don't forget that Jenkin's ear was supposedly >> severed in the Americas, and he was as English as George Washington at >> the time. So I'd Argue that not only did the Americans participate in >> that war - they also started it. Not to mention the USA started the >> funiest named war of all: The "Quasi-War" as thanks to the French right >> after the French supported the American Independence effort. >> >> That particular Jenkin's Ear war in the 1740's is actually the same war >> that was contracted by the European continent and spread to Bohemia and >> resulted in the French tossing the Elbogen Iron meteorite down the to the >> bottom of the Bohemian well where it rusted for 40 years. It was a small >> world back then, too. In the USA, in the great American State of >> Georgia, the military general who founded Georgia wasted no time to >> marshal his proud Savannah compatriots and adventurous Charlestonians out >> of South Carolina to pillage everything from Jacksonville, Florida to St. >> Augustine, and that was only openers. >> >> Oh the United States has had oogles more practically nameless wars than >> you give it credit for in those years. They don't Google easily out of a >> database like your nice European ones, but they were bloodier if Indians >> are men considered equal in the eyes of the Creator. You've got to >> consider that in Europe all those wars were spread among 20-30 countries. >> How many Indian real nations do you think the singular USA trounced in a >> religious ferver to achieve its destiny? The USA is a nation that was >> perpetually at war on its own and its extended frontiers. There are more >> Indian wars alone, than Indian nations that yielded in defeat against the >> cleansing of the continent from Atlantic to Pacific. Take Florida, which >> heaped war upon wars, genocide and forced relocation. Or maybe >> Missouri - if the Indians had caught on quicker, you might be living in a >> teepee today, or at least your neighbor :-) >> >> As for the lack of colorful names of wars in the USA even without >> considering who started the War of Jenkin's Ear, does Europe have a >> "Battle of Little Bighorn", which is a battle the war easily can assume >> for the name, and really was the fight leading to the demise of a race of >> people? If that isn't enough, how about the Gipper's "Star Wars", who has >> one of those programs besides George Lucas? And I am convinced that the >> US participated as a silent partner in the infamous "Football War," as >> well... >> >> Best wishes, Doug >> (no slights to any nation, no offense; we are who we are and I can live >> with that just fine, until someone else tosses a spectacular iron in a >> well to fester. Guess the Evian was too depleted in minerals for their >> taste) >> >> >> thread truncated... > > > ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
