Multiple Truck Accidents in Mt. Airy

On Sunday, I-70 was closed in both directions because a propane truck overturned.

Tuesday morning, I-70 was closed again in both directions because another truck, this one carrying embalming fluid, overturned.

Both of these happened within just a couple miles of eachother!

Is Mount Airy angry or are truckers just particularly dangerous these days?

Maryland's Flag

Maryland's flag is awesome. Admit it. That's right.

It's based on the heraldic banner of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore. The black and gold is the coat of arms of the Calvert family and the red and white is the Crossland (Calvert's mother) coat of arms.

Ready for some craziness, though? This design also shows up in the coat of arms of Ferryland, Newfoundland, Canada:

This happened because Ferryland was given to George Calvert in 1620, so of course he painted his logos all over it.

The Seven Seas

So what are the Seven Seas exactly? According to a sentence from Wikipedia (that needs citation), the Seven Seas were:

• Mediterranean Sea (including "marginal seas")
• Adriatic Sea
• Black Sea
• Red Sea (including the Dead Sea and Galilee Sea)
• Arabian Sea
• Persian Gulf
• Caspian Sea

Today, the International Hydrographic Organization recognizes over 100 bodies of water referred to as "seas," including the Chesapeake Bay, which we can all agree is the best sea in town.

And now for the obligatory nondescript "sea" photo (which I took near the Bahamas):

The Best Hockey Teams in Town, Hon!

We all know that Baltimore is the best city in town. But did you know that the best city in town also had the best hockey teams in town? Most of them played for the American Hockey League (AHL), which is the league below the National Hockey League (NHL). What were the best teams in town? Here we go:

Baltimore Clippers (1962-1976 AHL; 1976-1977 SHL) Home Arena: Baltimore Civic Center

The Clippers were actually a competent team. They won their division 3 times. Which division were they in? The East, West, and South Divisions! (Not all at the same time.) Yes, a team from Baltimore was in the West Division. They made it to the Calder Cup finals in the 1971-1972 season, but lost to the Nova Scotia Voyaguers, who eventually became the Hamilton Bulldogs (an affiliate of the Montréal Canadiens). In 1976, the Clippers left the AHL to join the Southern Hockey League, which promptly folded at the end of the season. The Clippers withdrew from the AHL halfway through the 1974-1975 season (one in which they weren't doing to well anyway), only to reform and come back for the 1975-1976 season. Why? Because...

Baltimore Blades (1974-1975 AHL) Home Arena: Baltimore Civic Center

...the Baltimore Blades came to town! Formerly the Michigan Stags of the World Hockey Association (WHA -- who gave the NHL the Hartford Whalers, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, and Québec Nordiques when it folded), the team moved to Baltimore in the 1974-1975 season when troubles on (terrible players) and off (terrible attendance) the ice cause the Stags to fold. By "the team" moved, I mean all the players on the WHA Stags just played on the AHL Blades. Since the Clippers had withdrawn and didn't need their jerseys, the Blades simply sewed their logos on top of the Clippers logos. Sadly, the Blades/Stags sucked no matter where they played. They ended the season with a 3-13-1 record. (That's wins-losses-ties, for you non-hockey people.) The team promptly folded (and the Clippers returned the next season).

Baltimore was without professional hockey for a handful of years until...

Baltimore Skipjacks (1981-1982 ACHL; 1982-1993 AHL) Home Arena: Baltimore Arena

...the Skipjacks! The Baltimore Skipjacks were in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) for one season before being taken over by the AHL's Erie Blades (no relation to the Baltimore Blades). A slew of Blades players and their coach moved to Baltimore and the Skipjacks entered the AHL in 1982. The Skipjacks lost in the Calder Cup finals of the 1984-1985 season to the Sherbrooke Canadiens (formerly the Nova Scotia Voyageurs)! Bastards! During their 10 years, they made (and lost in the) the playoffs 5 times and won the Southern division only once. They were the AHL affiliate for the Boston Bruins, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Washington Capitals. (Not all at the same time, I'm sure.) The team relocated in 1993 to Portland, ME to become the Portland Pirates (who, while the Capitals affiliate, gave us Alexander Semin).

Two more years of nothing until:

Baltimore Bandits (1995-1997 AHL) Home Arena: Baltimore Arena

The Baltimore Bandits were an affiliate of (sigh) the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Bandits made it to the playoffs in both seasons they played, beating the Hershey Bears in the first round of the first season. The team was minimally successful financially, so they moved in 1997 to Cincinatti, becoming the Cincinatti Mighty Ducks. In 2005, Disney, who had owned the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim since their beginning in 1993, sold the franchise. The new owners promptly changed the name to the less gay Anaheim Ducks. The Cincinatti Mighty Ducks became the Rockford IceHogs, whose logo looks awfully familiar....

Maryland My Maryland

I had no idea our state song was so goddamn evil!

Here are some highlights:

The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland!
...referring to Lincoln

Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
Referring to the Baltimore riots in 1861 that occured when federal troops marched through the ultra-pro-Confederate Baltimore city on their way to protect Washington, DC.

Remember Carroll's sacred trust,
Remember Howard's warlike thrust,
Carroll = Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence
Howard = John Edgar Howard, a Marylander who fought in the battles of White Plains, Monmouth, and Cowpens during the Revolutionary War.

With Ringgold's spirit for the fray,
With Watson's blood at Monterey,
Ringgold = Samuel Ringgold, Marylander, called the "Father of Artillery," and the first US officer to fall in the Mexican American War (Battle of Palo Alto, 1846).
Watson = William H. Watson, a Lieutenant Colonel who also died in the Mexican American War (Battle of Monterey, 1846).

Dear Mother! burst the tyrant's chain, Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain, Maryland!
She meets her sisters on the plain-
"Sic semper!" 'tis the proud refrain
That baffles minions back amain,
Arise in majesty again,
Maryland! My Maryland!
Holy shit! That's pretty awful. What's interesting is that this song was written in 1861. John Wilkes Booth shouted "sic semper tyrannis" in 1865 as he was killing Lincoln. I imagine it was a popular phrase back then until Booth made it unfashionable. Kinda like little moustaches were probably all the rage until the 1940s.

Better the fire upon thee roll,
Better the blade, the shot, the bowl,
Than crucifixion of the soul, Maryland! My Maryland!
Yeah, if Maryland doesn't get to have slaves, then that's akin to crucifixion! Ironically, on paper, Maryland got to keep its slaves two years longer than the states that seceded (if you believe the unenforcable Emancipation Proclamation).

Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Damn Northern scum! "Scum" is in the state song! Scum!

A big reason Maryland didn't leave the Union was because Lincoln had as many pro-Confederate leaders and leaders arrested as he could. (Typically, the state was divided into the Unionist northern and western counties and the Confederate eastern and southern counties, the latter including Baltimore.) As a result, when the General Assembly met to discuss secession, the legislature was able to unanimously decide they would not seceed. With the Confederates out of the way, Maryland was able to ban slavery in 1864 and give the right to vote to non-white males in 1867.

This was officially declared the state song in...

get ready for it...

1939!

Who was sitting there going, "Hey, remember when we wanted to leave the Union to join the Confederacy in that war they lost, but we didn't? Well, let's make this horrible song about wanting to leave our state song!"

Lousy state.

So, anyway, there is a Bill (2009 Maryland House Bill 1241) that if passed would change the lyrics to another poem also called Maryland My Maryland by John T. White, written in 1894. It's much less horrid (see the Bill linked above for the lyrics).

When I make the Anteitam trilogy for RVG, perhaps I shall record both versions of the song as bonus tracks