NOVEMBER 17 — 1863 Siege of Knoxville begins; 2015 Niles Village, Illinois, purchases Leaning Tower;990 Gary Erickson invents the Cliff Bar; 2015 Gingerbread Lane goes on display in NYC
NOVEMBER 17
1963 – Siege of Knoxville begins at Campbells’ Station.
…Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside and the Department of Ohio troops, V Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s Army of Tennessee. The result: Union victory. Longstreet, with two divisions and about 5,000 cavalry, was recently victorious against the Union army in Chattanooga. Longstreet and Burnside, a.k.a. Sideburns both realized the key to victory in Knoxville would be whoever got there first. And no, just because Burnside had long sideburns, doesn’t mean you can call Longstreet Streetlong. Because he wasn’t. Anyway.
The race was on as both generals headed towards Campbell’s station, now Farragut. Longstreet wanted to get there first, and hold the station which would keep Burnside from reaching Knoxville to safety and forcing Burnside to fight outside his already built earthworks. Burnside won the race on this rainy November 16, by a mere 15- minutes, which proved crucial for the attack. The Yankees won not only the battle on this day, but the Knoxville campaign as well. Burnside sent Brig. Gen. William Sanders of the U.S. Cavalry to hold off the Rebels while Burnsides men reinforced the earthworks, but Sanders was killed on November 18th by sniper fire. The Knoxville campaign would continue in Ft. Saunders on November 29, and finally end at Bean’s Station on December 14. To be continued.
1990 – Gary Erickson invents the Cliff Bar after
…follows the White Road on the Epiphany Ride. On a bikeride through a 175 mile excursion through the California Bay Area, Erickson would realize that the red road is predictable, a known entity, safe and conservative, but the white road. Just the opposite. It is the road less traveled. It is an unknown entity, unpredictable, and there may be danger and hardship along the way… But along with this hardship or danger, there is often reward. The reward is a sense of accomplishment—the joy and beauty of the journey along the road less traveled.
After the bike ride, Gary began making his CLIF bar in his mother’s kitchen, so snowflakes and millennials there may be hope for you yet. Gary named the CLIF bar after his father, Clifford, who encouraged him to live his passion. Since the bars they ate on this fateful day in 1990 tasted like dirt and really didn’t give them the energy they needed, Gary and his wife Kit studied nutrition to figure out how to make a real energy bar. In 1999, they launched the Luna Bar, which marketed to women bike riders and rock climbers, and in 2000, Gary turned down a $120M offer to sell the company, keeping it in the fam.
If you work for the company, you can expect to eat a bar and do some exercises in a company gym which features rock climbing, yoga and dance studios, along with an employee stock ownership program for 20%, making
Nowadays, cruising through his early 60’s, Gary looks back on the White Road, knowing his bar was ranked #1 on Forbes Breakaway Brands in 2009. That’s amazing! I’ve lived in California my whole life, both southern and northern, and I know at least fifteen people who make energy bars. I don’t ever see them in Forbes! Just saying.
1970 — Doug Engelbart invents the computer mouse. Actually during WWII early trackballs, or joysticks, or roller ball, or whatever you want to call it, were used by the jolly good British no less, but it only had two metal rollers. Not sure if that went across or up and down, but as usual, it took Americans to improve on it and make it usable for practical life.
From Stanford University came Engelbart, who used a simple hollowed-out wooden block, with a single push button on top. And yes, since it had a cord and kinda looked like a mouse, it was called a mouse and has been ever since. With this device, the mouse was able to select text, move it around, and point and click. Bill English in 1972 would come up with the trackball inside when he worked for Xerox to help invent the GUI, or the graphic user interface. As an old school IT guy, one of the most disgusting aspects of the jobs was dealing with stuff that gets wrapped around the metal rollers inside the mouse. Not that I’m OCD, but sometimes it was so bad I’d have to use latex gloves to pick that stuff out so the mouse would be usable. Not to sound gross, but for crying out loud people please eat your Top Ramen and burritos away from the mousepad!
Thankfully, the optical mouse was patented by Lisa Williams and Robert Cherry in 1988. Only problem with that is trying to use it on a glass table. Doesn’t work since the reflectors have nothing to bounce off.So you gotta grab a piece of paper and put it underneath the mouse in order for it to work. But I disagree.
Getting back to Engelbart, he actually did so much more than invent this wonderful device, he also worked with Stanford Colleagues on the NLS, or On Line System, which allowed two or more users to work on the same document from different workstations. The computer mouse everyone. You’re welcome world!
2015 — The Niles Village in Illinois purchases the Leaning Tower.
Yes, there’s a leaning tower Pisa-style in the city of Niles, Illinois. It was built in the 1930s by a businessman named Robert Ilg. He built a big water park for his employees that featured swimming pools and a cabana. Rather than ruining the scenery with a giant ugly water tank, he covered it up with a tower that eland it looks like the architect behind it got his license from a Cracker Jack box…
Yet it’s brilliant as it’s half the size of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In the 1960s one of Ilg’s descendents donated part of the park to the local YMCA, In 1991 the city of Niles got together with the city of Pisa in Italy and formed a sister city relationship. Those-a Crazy-a Americans-a! In 2014 it was estimated that repairs needed to the tower would exceed around #$600,000, so the Village bought it from the YMCA with the favor in return for renovating it. The Board came up with $550,000 and a rehaul began. So if this is something you’re into, the park is free, so if you’re in the area checks it out. If not, don’t go too far out of your way.
1973 – Nixon insists he’s not a crook in response to the Watergate scandal. You’re not? Oh you’re a politician, my bad.
Sheriff’s deputies in South Los Angeles charged 61-year-old Bonnie Pointer of The Pointer Sisters for possessing rock cocaine after the car she was riding in was pulled over for a mechanical malfunction. I can’t believe this. She’s 61 already! Wow.
2015 – Gingerbread Lane goes on display in New York City.
Jon Lovitz began experimenting with gingerbread communities since the mid-90s when he first became a chef. In 2013 he built 157 gingerbread houses. The next year, 1,040. Jon was on a roll, and the following year he made the world’s largest gingerbread lane with 1102 buildings in Jon’s village, complete with streets, cars, and an ice skating rink with a giant Rockefeller type Christmas tree.
He makes it in his apartment and constructs the village on site. 682 lbs. gingerbread, 793 pounds of candy, and 4,000 pounds of royal icing. Yes, his apartment neighbors all agree his apartment smells delicious. These days it’s on display at the New York Hall of Science, and after the holidays Lovitz simply gives the houses away. And people line up to take them, some folks take them home and put shellac on them. That royal icing is rock hard as we all know since we all tried it every year as kids, and in my case as an adult, so I’m not sure what exactly happens to the rest.
Jon Lovitz everybody! Thanks for helping to make the holidays more enjoyable for kids and grownups of all ages.