Antiquity

The Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus
(Source)

In case you're wondering, yes, I know what yesterday was the anniversary of, you may also be wondering why I didn't post about it. Quite frankly, I'm a bit puzzled by that myself.

Yesterday, the 7th of December, 2021, marked the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The people and websites I follow on social media posted quite a few links to various articles on that event. Many pictures were posted, many expressed dismay as to the very few survivors of that attack who still remain alive.

Well, it was a long time ago. Not in historical terms, Pearl Harbor was but a moment ago in those terms, but in terms of a human life span it was over four generations ago.¹

My mother was eleven years old when aircraft from six Japanese aircraft carriers lifted off from their flight decks to begin their journey to Pearl Harbor, thus launching America's entry into World War II.

She turned 91 in October.

The anniversary of the "date which shall live in infamy" often finds me in a pensive mood. I'm in the middle of reading a biography of Bill Halsey, which follows my reading of Chester Nimitz's biography by the same author (E.B. Potter). Pearl Harbor, of course, gets a mention in both books. The Pacific War is not an area I've read a lot about, I'm rectifying that. (One could say "it's about time" but that's a story for another day.)

I should also mention at this point that Halsey gets a bad rap. There's more to the man than some historians give him credit for, just wanted to put that out there.

So what's my point here?

Well, I suppose it's to point out that nearly every day is the anniversary of some event, great or small, that people remember in one way or another. For instance, six days ago, the 2nd of December, marked the 216th anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz. A pretty big deal, back in the day.

It was also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors as the emperors of France, Russia, and Austria were all present on the field. It is remembered as the Emperor Napoléon's greatest victory as the French were outnumbered and far from home. You can read more about it at the link under the following painting.

La bataille d'Austerlitz. 2 decembre 1805
François Gérard
(Source)

What about December 8th, you might ask, what happened on this date in history? Well, lots of things, most noteworthy (to me at any rate) is that this is the anniversary of the Battle of the Falkland Islands. No, not that one, this one, in 1914.

Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914
SMS Scharnhorst rolls over and sinks while SMS Gneisenau continues to fight.
William Lionel Wyllie
(Source)

Betcha didn't know that there was more than one battle in the Falklands², betcha didn't know that Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had more than one ship named after them³. (If you did know one or both of those things, well done! You know your history.

In other news ...

I put the Christmas candles in the windows at Chez Sarge the other day. Much to my chagrin, out of nine candles, only six had operable bulbs. As it was late, I scrounged and found a couple of little dinky bulbs to tide us over until the morn.

Upon the morn, down I went to the local food emporium, which does have odd bits of hardware for sale, like light bulbs, and purchased enough to replace the old bulbs. Good and bad, I was going for uniformity.

Much to my chagrin, I hadn't noticed that they were 40-watt bulbs. Shone like the surface of the sun they did, burned with the fires of Hell they did. So obviously that wouldn't do. Back to the emporium I went and got the next lower size, 25-watts.

No. Appreciable. Difference. (As to brightness and heat.)

So what did Your Humble Scribe do next? Well, I did what I should have done in the first place, I went to a hardware store (not a grocery store) and purchased 7-watt bulbs. Bright enough and they don't give off a lot of heat, a key thing for those, like me, who don't actually wish to burn their house down.

Brought 'em home, two packs of four each, grand total of six bucks spent. Proud of myself I was, happy I was ... (You know where this is going, right?)

Much to my chagrin, they were the wrong size bulb, the screwy thing you use to install the little light givers was much too large for my wee Christmas candles. So, once again, back to the store, which I had left not fifteen minutes before.

To the querying eye of the young lass behind the counter, I held up the wrong size bulbs ($6.00 for eight of 'em) then held up the correct size bulbs ($12.00 for six of 'em, damn me and my eye for the cheap).

She said, "Wrong size?"

Nodding, with much chagrin, I gave her the wrong bulbs, with receipt, and the new bulbs.

After a quick exchange, which included me rendering shekels for the difference in price, I was on my way once more.

Now Chez Sarge is properly equipped with bulbs for its Christmas candles in the windows and my domicile can no longer be seen from outer space. Which is, I suppose, a good thing.

So another momentous event shall go down in the annals of time for this date in history.

Antiquity it ain't, but it makes for a rather classy post title doesn't it?

(Or not, YMMV.)

¹ I consider the length of a generation to be roughly twenty years. Traditionally it's defined as the amount of time it takes for a child to be born, grow up, and have children of their own. Which, as you may well gather, can vary wildly depending on the historical period in question. These days you could almost define the length of a generation as closer to 30 to 35 years. The younger generations are having kids later and later in life, much to this amateur historian's concern.

² Or Islas Malvinas if'n you prefer.

³ Gneisenau had four, as did Scharnhorst, two of which were warships for each. One in WWI, one in WWII.