THE "RONSON" TANK

 

The US-made Sherman tank, deployed by the various Allied nations in World War II, was nicknamed by its users as the "Ronson" after the Ronson cigarette lighter's advertising slogan of "a RONSON lights every time." It was also known by the British as "The Tommycooker" and by the Poles as "The Burning Grave." These terms of endearment were references to the fact that the Shermans' thinner armor, anemic cannons, poorly protected ammo storage, and gasoline (not diesel) engines made their crews particularly vulnerable to being incinerated in their machines in action against their German counterparts. Part of the problem was that the original version of the Sherman was not designed to fight other tanks but instead was intended only for infantry support and to provide the soldiers with a base of fire. Unfortunately, no one told the Germans that they should not engage these Shermans with their own stout and well-designed Panzers. 

Nonetheless, their numerical superiority and the immense courage of their crews, as well as ongoing improvements and modifications to the original design, eventually enabled the Shermans to prevail in the European theater. They also did well in the Pacific, as the Japanese tanks were even flimsier.

Later in the war, there were actual Ronson Shermans, which were outfitted with flamethrowers made by the Ronson company.

The above photo showing a Sherman at the moment of firing its main gun was taken by my father, who served in the 103rd Infantry Division. He wrote on the back the succinct caption "Tank in Action." He most likely snapped the picture in southern Germany in early 1945.

JUST JOSHIN' YOU

Brandon Grossardt for the image; Charles Barber for the coin design. (Actual coin)
[Public domain, GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)
or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

In 1883, the U.S. Mint issued a newly designed nickel.  It featured the Roman numeral "V" for "five cents" on the reverse as the only indication of value. Josh Tatum, a deaf-mute, gold-plated large numbers of the coins when they were first released and gave them to shopkeepers without comment (obviously) to make small purchases. In many cases, the store clerk believed that he was handed a $5.00 gold piece and gave Josh back over four dollars in change. Josh would graciously accept the change, again without comment.  

Although arrested, Josh was acquitted at trial, as the judge bought his lawyer's argument that Josh never specifically stated that the coins were anything other than a nickel or that he was entitled to more than a nickel's worth of change.  His name lives on, however, in the use of the term "josh" as a synonym for joking or for kidding someone.

The design of the nickel was quickly changed so that it thereafter read "V CENTS."

THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT BEAVER

We have previously mentioned the courageous stand taken by the producers of Leave It to Beaver when they included a scene in one episode which featured a toilet tank. Episode 15 of Season 1, "Party Invitation," incorporates a sequence which was perfectly acceptable at the time (1958) but which would probably elicit gasps of horror if included in a sitcom today--unless it was promulgated as biting satire.

In this episode, 8-year old Beaver Cleaver is invited to a birthday party of a female classmate who has the hots for him. He does not want to go, and he enlists his brother Wally to impersonate their father Ward on the phone and call the birthday girl's parents up to claim that Beaver is ill and cannot make the celebration.  Ward walks in on the conversation, is not pleased, and insists in no uncertain terms that Beaver must attend. As Beaver is the only male at the event and receives a doll as a party favor, he quickly leaves the party room to find a less gynoppressive atmosphere.

Beaver's quest ends with a surprising and glorious success. He encounters the dad of the birthday girl in the study. The father instantly recognizes the plight of Beaver and extends him the hospitality of examining the numerous firearms predominantly displayed in the room. The father provides Beaver with the joy of playing with a revolver and pretending to shoot Native Americans. 

Beaver leaves the party a much happier fellow and offers to walk the girl home from school in the hope that he can have another session with her father in the study.

Image copyright CBS

HEIL HONEY, I'M HOME!

We have earlier referenced the fact that most of the cast members on the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes were Jewish--a fact that some have argued ameliorates the questionable taste of producing a comedy situated in a Nazi prisoner of war camp. However, Hogan's Heroes barely nudges the needle on the tacky meter when compared to the 1990 production of Heil Honey, I'm Home!. This British show, in a style reminiscent of the old Jackie Gleason TV series The Honeymooners, outlines the comic antics of  Adolf Hitler and his bride Eva in their apartment in 1938 and their interaction with their meddling neighbors, the Goldensteins.

The first episode featured a visit by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and the attempts by Mrs. Goldenstein to crash the event in order to set him up with her niece Ruth. Additional episodes, which were not released, would have revealed various heavy-handed attempts by the Hitlers to murder their Jewish neighbors.

Believe it or not, the show proved to be controversial. Marian Calabro in her book Zap! A Brief History of Television suggests that "perhaps the show was the world's most tasteless situation comedy."

The bottom line is, The Producers and Hogan's Heroes have established that you can get away with banal productions about the Third Reich, but, consistent with the old adage of "when a pig becomes a hog, it gets slaughtered," you can go too far.

For more information on this TV gem, watch the first episode.

Oh, by the way, the program premiered on September 30, which was the anniversary of the execution of the Munich Agreement (which allowed Germany to carve up Czechoslovakia) in 1938 by Chamberlain, Hitler and other world leaders (but none from Czechoslovakia).

Show copyright British Satellite Broadcasting; title card image via
Wikipedia

SNAKE ISLAND

 

Photo by Nayeryouakim from Wikimedia Commons

One of the more interesting places to visit is Ilha da Queimada Grande, a 106 acre island off of the coast of Brazil. It is often called "Snake Island" in deference to the population of golden lancehead vipers thereon--a reptile found nowhere else in the world, although the deadly jararaca is related and probably was a distant ancestor. "Population" is perhaps too mild a word. "Writhing carpet" or "sea" of serpents would probably be more appropriate, with some observers claiming a density of one snake per square yard of the island. Even if this figure turns out to be exaggerated, there is no doubt that the island contains the highest concentration of dangerous reptiles in the world.

The island had originally been part of the mainland millions of years ago but eventually became separated and isolated. When it did so, there were no natural enemies of the snakes left on it, so they multiplied profusely. Normally, an unchecked population of critters will run out of food and thus limit its numbers by starvation. In this case, however, a constantly replenishing source of migratory birds keeps a huge quantity of the reptiles happy and well-nourished.

However, as previously noted in "Rattlesnake Lunchtime Rituals," venomous snakes have trouble catching birds, as a bitten fowl can often fly a considerable distance before the venom takes effect. This problem, from the snake's point of view, is exacerbated when the encounter takes place on a small island, as the prey will probably be fleeing over the ocean before it succumbs. Evolution solved this dilemma for the golden lancehead vipers by making their venom extra-toxic so that the birds collapse immediately and cannot make it off of the isle. As a result, these vipers' poison is three to five times more powerful than that of any reptile on the mainland and can literally dissolve human flesh almost instantly.

Fans of Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom will recall the crunching sounds from the scene where the good guys had to pass through a tunnel whose floor was covered with a layer of live bugs and insects. In addition to the snakes, Ilha da Queimada Grande is overrun with cockroaches, and anyone passing through the woods will produce the same audible effects as they tread upon the 100-acre rug of bug.

While I mentioned that the isle would be an interesting place to visit, such a trip is unlikely for all but a few. The Brazilian government bans anybody from entering the island except for specially selected scientific sorties by folks with things like "Ph.D" in their titles. There once was a lighthouse keeper and his family living there, but, purportedly, an unfortunate event involving the local reptilian fauna motivated the conversion of the lighthouse to an automated one in the 1920s.

Ironically, despite their high local population and successful lifestyle, the golden lancehead viper is one of the most endangered snakes in the world. Because of their concentrated numbers in such a small area, it would take only one really bad forest fire or epidemic to wipe out the entire species. In addition, their numbers have been decreasing due to reptile smugglers who realize that a single one of the vipers can fetch $30,000 on the black market to pet collectors or pharmaceutical laboratories. Furthermore, because of their limited geographical range, the snakes are subject to intense interbreeding and lack of genetic diversity. This situation results often in sterile progeny as well increased chances of susceptibility to diseases.

For further information on the island and its intriguing inhabitants, please see this article at the Smithsonian website. For a half-hour program extolling the virtues of this tropical paradise, click here.

DUELING WITH ENDOPARASITES

RULDOLF VIRCHOW

                                               Loescher & Petsch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the most venerated tales about an intellectual using his brains to triumph over a blowhard bully concerns the aborted duel between Rudolf Virchow and Otto von Bismarck. 

Rudolf Virchow  was a leader in medicine and pathology in 19th Century Germany. He was also a public health activist, social reformer, politician, and anthropologist. Otto von Bismarck was the Minister President of Prussia  at the time. In 1865, he challenged Virchow to a duel after Virchow had publicly criticized Bismarck's military budget. Virchow, as the challengee, got to choose the weapons. Virchow obtained two identical-looking raw sausages--one normal and one filled with deadly trichinosis worms--and offered Bismarck his choice to pick one to eat while Virchow would eat the other. Bismarck wussed out of the duel. 

At least, that has been the story for over a hundred years. Unfortunately, the Skulls in the Stars blog has a pretty convincing argument that the sausage portion of the duel was fabricated in 1893 by a journal devoted to homeopathic medicine, and it has been accepted as the truth ever since. What apparently did happen was that Virchow (very wisely) apologized to Bismarck and was actually the one who evaded the challenge. 

Truth is not always stranger than fiction, nor is it necessarily more entertaining.

OTTO VON BISMARCK

Braun et Compagnie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

WHY SANTA DOES NOT LIVE AT THE SOUTH POLE

A common misconception is that the temperatures at the North Pole are really cold. In reality, the average winter temperature in the Arctic is a relatively warm and balmy -30 degrees F (-34 degrees C). If you want to get where it is really frosty, go to the interior regions of Antarctica, where the winter norm is a -76 degrees F (-60 degrees C). In fact, the lowest official natural temperature recorded in the world was in 1983 in Antarctica, where it plummeted to a -128.6 degrees F (-89 degrees C). Carbon dioxide freezes into dry ice at -109 degrees F (-79 degrees C).

The difference between the temperatures of the two poles is attributed to the fact that the North Pole is at sea level and insulated by the surrounding water, while most of Antarctica is at an altitude of 9300 feet (2800 meters) or more.

View image | gettyimages.com

ROOSEVELT'S FISHIES

View image | gettyimages.com

The individual responsible for the piranha's aggressive reputation was Teddy Roosevelt. In 1913, Roosevelt made a highly-publicized trip to the Amazon. The local officials, trying to impress their guest, blocked off a section of the river with nets and filled the temporary fish enclosure with armies (or navies?) of piranha, which they intentionally did not feed. When Roosevelt eventually arrived, the officials tossed in a cow which was quickly skeletonized by the ravenous fish. Roosevelt was quite impressed, and spread the story (at least the part he knew about, which started with the cow tossing) throughout the USA in his memoirs.

At one time, the scientific name for an orange-bellied piranha was Rooseveltia natteri. The zoologist who imposed the name was not thinking of Roosevelt's Amazon trip but instead applied the name to the bloodthirsty fish because he despised the President.

Under normal conditions, people routinely swim in piranha waters without injury.

I knew a lawyer who kept a tank with two piranha (which he named after a couple of his banking clients). He provided them feeder goldfish daily. On one three-day weekend where his pets were not fed, he returned to discover only a single piranha--albeit a highly-satiated one.

OUR FRIEND THE GILA MONSTER

Gila monsters, despite their unsavory reputation unfairly perpetuated by film classics such as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Giant Gila Monster,* are actually quite beneficial to humanity. Sure, they can be over two feet long, are venomous, and bite tenaciously. However, their saliva (which contains a cobra-quality neurotoxin) is the source for the drug exenatide, which helps Type 2 diabetes patients control their blood sugar without the weight gain characterized by most other diabetes drugs.  Their venom is also composed of polypeptides which show great potential for treating lung cancer and Alzheimer's.

Besides, with their bright colors, corpulent tails, and beaded epidermis, they are just so darn cute!

*Please visit the website of californiaherps.com for a more complete list of Gila monsters in movies.

By Josh Olander (Josh Olander)
 [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)],
 via Wikimedia Commons

THE HONEY TRAP

It was a grueling campaign for the Roman legions of Pompey the Great around the southern edge of the Black Sea in 65 BC. The soldiers were getting frustrated battling the troops of Mithridates VI of Pontus and were tired and hungry. Suddenly, however, the day seemed much brighter when they encountered a stockpile of honeycombs on the way. They gorged themselves on the bounty like hogs in a corncrib.

Lamentably for the Romans, they began staggering around and falling incapacitated to the ground. The enemy, who had planted the honeycombs, methodically and effortlessly slaughtered three legions of Pompey's men. The foe was apparently aware of the toxicity of the honey and had perhaps heard that the army of Greek general Xenophon suffered the same reaction from the local honey 400 years previously.

About two thousand years later, brainiacs figured out that the bees in the area fed upon rhododendron blossoms and nectar. In doing so, they also ingested a substance called grayanotoxin and passed it on into the honey. Grayanotoxin is a poison which disrupts neural activity and disables soldiers to the point that they can be easily skewered.

Although Mithridates probably was not up to snuff on the exact biochemistry involved, he was a bottom-line type of guy who was happy just to reap the benefits of the results.

View image | gettyimages.com