A Little Friday File Fun (11/14)

Well, here’s a thousand…

– – – In Pompano Beach, Florida , Troy Eckonen was eating breakfast at Mack’s Cafe here – – – when he says he spotted Jesus’ face on his last piece of French toast – – – and he also claims that he sees Christ’s left arm raised and holding a cross, as well as two birds over the left shoulder – – – what do YOU see?  MORE at http://www.firstcoastnews.com/genthumb.ashx?e=3&h=240&w=320&i=/assetpool/images/081110020110_111008_jesus toast.jpg

And here's several thousand more...

Earlier this week, On This Day commemorated the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.   I found some interesting video recollections on youtube.  

If you can't view the above video, try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_8s2zsNhSM

If you can't view the above video, try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6xWDqjX-Ps

If you can't view the above video, try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iquCHSkmUek

In 1985, Quarterback Joe Theismann of the Washington Redskins broke his leg (or perhaps more accurately, had it broken) after being hit by the New York Giants' Lawrence Taylor (in one of the more painful Monday Night Football replays of all time).

If you can't view the above video, try   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHCXNt4P8Xg

TRIVIAL PURSUITS .   In Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address, he noted that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here."   That turned out to be anything but the case, of course.   

What has been forgotten by many over time is who the featured speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery was - and what, in addition to a reputation as the nation's greatest orator - he had accomplished in his noteworthy career.

The original plans were to dedicate the cemetery on Wednesday, September 23, and David Wills, an attorney who had purchased 17 acres of land for a cemetery to honor those killed at the Battle of Gettysburg earlier that year, invited Edward Everett, widely considered to be the nation's greatest orator. to be the featured speaker. 

However,  Everett told Wills and his organizing committee that he would be unable to prepare an appropriate speech in such a short period of time, and requested that the date be postponed - and it was, until Thursday, November 19.

Everett, by the way, had served as:

• Secretary of State (1852-1853) under President Millard Fillmore, filling a vacancy created by the death of Daniel Webster),
• U.S. Senator (1853-1854 - he resigned),
• U.S. Representative (1825-1835),
• governor of Massachusetts (1836-1840),
• United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Britain, and
• president of Harvard University (1846-1849).

He also ran (unsuccessfully) as Vice President on the Constitutional Union ticket in the election of 1860.  He would die before the end of the Civil War in 1865.

His "Gettysburg Oration" is available online at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Oration