The other day when I posted how I pictured LOST ending in no way did I ever think I'd be remotely correct. Here's what I said:
Desmond will be escorting Kate who, mark my words, is going to be an absolute smoke-show if she’s to wear that dress Desmond got her – that skimpy ass black dress. HMmmmmmmmmmmm. Kate.
Then the island is going to blow up which will be followed by Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Don't look now but I was right....
Desmong escorted Kate: RIGHT
Kate looking like a smokeshow in the black dress: DOUBLE RIGHT
The island blows up: RIGHTER
Show followed by Jimmy Kimmel: RIGHT (but only on the west coast)
I'm no math wiz but I'd say a perfect 4/4 translates into 100%.... minus the part where everyone turns out to be dead as shit, but that wasn't even the biggest twist. Turns out, that guy was Bruce Willis the whole time...... and speaking of Bruce Willis - was it really a "cop out" that everyone turned out to be dead? Absolutely not. Don't let the bi-monthly viewer tell you that Fin was shit because by film standards it was the most complete ending you could have asked for. Maybe I am guility that i wanted it to end with the door open in a way leaving room for a spin-off, like what "Joey" did for "Friends".
But it's over now and this is only the beginning for speculations. People will say that the writers pulled this one out of their asses - and you know what, maybe they did but it's very unlikely because stashing 2 hours and 30 mins worth of a script in your ass is gonna hurt like a bitch.
Danvers- Police said a cleaning man was taken to a hospital after being sucked into a machine at a sausage-making company in Danvers. The accident happened Thursday night as the man was cleaning the vacuum-type machine that is used to season the meat at DiLigui Sausage Co. Police said the man's head and shoulders became stuck in the machine after it somehow activated while being cleaned.
Lt. Carole Germano told The Salem News that the man -- whose name was not released -- was freed from the machine and showed no obvious sign of trauma, but was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the mishap.
Machines are very powerful tools - stand too close to one like my man in the story above and your going to pay the price. Stand to close to anything and its a bad idea but a machine in the end knows who's boss.
Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe
This marks the start of the single greatest story teller's career, behind only Tucker Max. And let me tell you, you do not want Tucker Max behind you.....
Sunday night marks what many thought would be a day they would never see: the SERIES finale of LOST. This show has been more of a mind fuck than some of David Blanes magic tricks – not in the sense that the trick is awe inspiring but more in a sense of WTF Blane? Like foreplay with a 16 year old, this season has only merely hinted at the end providing little to no action.
Unfortunately they waited until the last three episodes to start whacking people (off) left and right – body count in the past two episodes is like six (Jin, Sun, Syadi, Maroon 5 guy, Whitmore, and Whitmore’s Bit) leaving us with Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and Mo.
I could speculate how this is going to end but come Sunday night 11:31 pm EST I would be so wrong it would be comical, but then again I’ve been doing that for 21 years. So I will post what I believe will happen – others will too and Sunday night we will feel as if the finale was the first episode of this show we ever watched.
Series finale guesstimation:
Jack is now the new Jacob after he took a sip from Jacobs spiked invincibility cup vowing to protect the island. John Locke-smoke-monster vowed to Ben that he was going to absolutely destroy the island. If I remember correctly from the season opener the island was very much under water. Pretty much the finale is going to involve a lot of Desmond and whatever revelations Desmond makes.
Back in not-island time. Kate, Desmond, Syaid, Hurley are all in on some kind of scheme involving a concert that everyone’s going to be at. Miles mentioned last episode that he’s going to a concert for his dad’s museum or some shit while Jack also mentioned he’ll be there as well because his son is playing. Desmond will be escorting Kate who, mark my words, is going to be an absolute smoke-show if she’s to wear that dress Desmond got her – that skimpy ass black dress. HMmmmmmmmmmmm. Kate.
Then the island is going to blow up which will be followed by Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Not caught up on LOST? Well then heres the opening scene - Season 1 Episode 1 Opening Scene. You have 96 hours......GO!
Your lying if at first glance you didn't think this was Michael Scott (Steve Carell). Absolute liar liar pants on fire. It's not Scott, its some dude but don't worry about it.
Is this what Pres means by “fake life”? Like is this a dream? This is exactly how you describe a dream. “So I’m walking in a parade and there’s a fat naked guy. And a dude in a propeller hat. Then all of a sudden BOOM a brawl breaks out to USA chants while a ballerina strolls up the sidewalk.” Seriously free hat that I physically can’t send you because I haven’t even gotten mine yet to whoever can tell me what type of weird ass bizarro-world event this is.
The cover for one of The Stokes albums at first may appear to be just random shit or some creative artisy shit. Upon further research and hours watching the discovery channel the album cover infact is the famous depiction of what the universe looked like a fraction of a second (10 -43 seconds) after the Big Bang.
Each swirl and dash is an element creating itself by exploding faster into nothingness than Lindsay Lohan's career after "The Parent Trap". From this singular atom came everything we know. Pretty wild to think that a band featured in Rock Band knows the secrets to the universe. And like The Monkeys, they had a major influence on the Beatles.
"Ohhh heyyyy. ya I'm courtside at the Celtics Magic game paying no attention to the game itself....just texting. the whole time"
Man that really grinds me gears. You have these seats that average men would literally KILL for but here you and your girl friend are with those seats - balls deep in your blackberry. When will ticket sellers wake up and sell exclusively to men, and or, women with large tits?
Here's some other screen shots i grabbed the other week that barstool sports though weren't blog worthy....
I remember (kinda) the first time I used the internet. More specifically the first time I used google. I went to the library to find a book on how to build a go-kart because to me building a go-kart was the one and only thing on my mind that summer. As I'm in the library I go over to the computer and go to yahoo to do a search - naturally I find jack shit. The indian/asian librarian comes over and punches in GOOGLE instead of yahoo and just a god damn waterfall of information rains down on me. From then on its been nothing but google and excess amounts of information. With the internet also comes porn and cute animals. I'll take the higher road on this and post tons of cute things I've found. Good day.
People these days, they want their pay in full huh
boston - Governor Deval Patrick’s administration, taking a hard line on the proposed tribal casino in Fall River, said yesterday it will demand repayment of nearly $35 million in taxpayer funds for a highway ramp off Route 24 if the city builds a gaming complex there instead of a long-planned biotechnology park.
The ultimatum reveals the administration’s dissatisfaction with Fall River officials, who over the past several years persuaded the state to invest more than $50 million in road improvements and other upgrades for a planned “BioPark’’ — only to see those city officials on Monday instead endorse construction of a casino on the site. Patrick’s top economic aide, Gregory Bialecki, said his office was not briefed on the casino proposal before the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe unveiled it.
“If it turns out this parcel is going to be developed as a casino, we expect to be repaid for any public dollars spent on the infrastructure,’’ Bialecki said. He said the admin istration was not angered by the casino proposal, but that it believes developers should pay for upgrades to support construction of gaming facilities, not the public. Construction of the ramp is underway.
My advice: pay for the on-ramp before people start getting whacked. I've seen it happen.
Finally a web page that has all the room in the world for my fat ass....blogz. We've expanded the margins on the site so you don't have too!
Pictures bigger than you've ever seen 'em and youtube embeded videos without the poor cropping. Anyway, we've come a long way from that first post - 301 posts later we're still cashin checks and snapping necks.
Hey, you gonna have the rest of those? Cuz if your not I will.
You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I'm an easy target. Yeah, you're right, I watch too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted bruins fan like you... but I don't like to hurt people's feelings. Well, you think what you want about me; I'm not changing. I like... I like my team. My friends like my team. My customers like my team. 'Cause we’re the real article. What you see is what you get.
The space shuttle Atlantis and the six astronauts on board, departed today from Cape Canaveral on a 12-day mission for this ship will be the last trip to the International Space Station. The shuttle, carrying equipment and supplies for the ISS, took off from the runway at 4:20 GMT, with excellent weather Conditions for launch. After splitting and discard the fuel tanks, the empezar spacecraft orbiting around the Earth. Ship is expected to arrive at the ISS on Sunday.
This is it. The final countdown (pun intended) of the shuttle. It has given us many great years but we gotta go above and way beyond now. Thanks shuttle - I'll save the date for your last launch (Nov. 22) for mission Glory - whose coming with me! If not, we got the future - especially August ** for mission NuSTAR
2010 Launches
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Date: Sept. 16 +
Mission: STS-133
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 11:57 a.m. EDT
Description: Space shuttle Discovery will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4), a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MLPM) and critical spare components to the International Space Station.
Date: Mid-Nov. *
Mission: STS-134
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: To Be Determined
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver an EXPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC-3) and an Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station.
Date: Nov. 22 Mission: Glory Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base - Launch Pad SLC 576-E Description: The Glory Mission will help increase our understanding of the Earth's energy balance by collecting data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon in the Earth's atmosphere and how the Sun's irradiance affects the Earth's climate.
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2011 Launches
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Date: **
Mission: Aquarius
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II 7320
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base - SLC 2
Description: The Aquarius mission will provide the first-ever global maps of salt concentrations in the ocean surface needed to understand heat transport and storage in the ocean.
Date: Aug. 5
Mission: Juno
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Description: The solar-powered Juno spacecraft is to orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
Date: Aug. ** Mission: NuSTAR Launch Vehicle: Orbital Pegasus Launch Site: Kwajalein Description: NuSTAR will search for black holes, map supernova explosions, and study the most extreme active galaxies.
Date: Sept. 23
Mission: NPP
Launch Vehicle: ULA Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Description: The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) mission for NASA and NOAA is to measure Earth's atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, humidity sounding, land and ocean biological activity and cloud and aerosol properties.
Date: Sept. 8
Mission: GRAIL
Launch Vehicle: ULA Delta II Heavy
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Description: The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission's primary science objectives will be to determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.
Date: October 14 *
Mission: Mars Science Laboratory
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Description: The Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life and to determine the planet's habitability.
J. Black (not contee) wants to know exactly how much longer will the BP leak go and then once this is fixed, what is going to keep British Petroleum from raising gas prices and putting the burden on Americans?????? We as Americans must stand against it before it takes place!
Yesterday at 1:12pm via Facebook for BlackBerry
Maybe JB reads Deez. It would make sense to assume that because I said the same fackin thing two weeks ago. Forget what the experts are saying - Black's got the future on lock. Spoken like a true American.
As some of you may have already noticed, the world and Europe are fucking up. The Europeans stock market really fucked up the other day but luckily for them the world was there to bail their asses out again (WWII, your welcome)
yahoo - Stocks rocketed higher Monday after European leaders agreed to a nearly $1 trillion rescue plan to avoid a major debt crisis and the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would also provide loans overseas.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 400 points. The Dow and broader stock indexes rose more than 3 percent. Markets also barreled higher in Europe.
Interest rates rose in the bond market after demand for Treasurys fell.
The 16 countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to create a nearly $1 trillion rescue fund to support European nations burdened by heavy debt. Markets around the world plummeted last week as fears escalated that Greece's debt problems would spread throughout Europe and upend a global economic recovery.
On one of my last day of classes i arrived late as shit. I was about to fling open the door and tell bitches what was up but for some reason I reserved myself and opened the door slowly. Inside was this asian lady talking about "Chinatown" which at the time i though was just the neighborhood down the street from the Ansin building. But as i went online today and saw this video on the front page i saw that it was infact something else.
This "game" if it really is one, seems like a much watered down version of the awesome Sim City game. I can play sim city for hours on end - i see myself playing "Chinatown" for less than that. I will give them this tho, the chinatown game has the potential to answer some of societies deepest-seeded question with the click of a mouse. It also has the potential to bore the shit outta me. Granted i havn't played Chinatown but i highly doubt that have a soundtrack as epic as Sim City.
boston -A world without “the pill’’ is unimaginable to many young women who now use it to treat acne, skip periods, improve mood, and, of course, prevent pregnancy. They might be surprised to learn that US officials announcing approval of the world’s first oral contraceptive were uncomfortable.
“Our own ideas of morality had nothing to do with the case,’’ said John Harvey of the Food and Drug Administration in 1960. The pill was safe, in other words. Don’t blame us if you think it’s wicked.
The other day when we were stoopin' it we saw a young couple with two kids (when i say young i mean they could not have been older than 24). As the young lady walked by pushing her youngest son on a bike the father was right behind pushing his younger daughter on the same kind of bike. As he passed us and saw all of us grilling burgers, downing beers, and talking about pussy i knew right then and there he wished he had pulled out. It's hard enough taking care of ourselves sometimes - let alone a kid. Here's to keeping it in your pants till you got a plan - and if not, heres to the pill!
In the year 2189 AD, man has traversed the vast final frontier of space and extended their reach to the stars. Now in contact with vast forms of life, Earthlings have set-up an impressive number of colonies in the various systems throughout the universe. Throughout these colonies though, a seedy underbelly has appeared. With the broadening of human horizons, so too the world of organized crime and drug trade has spread throughout the universe. In this new world there is one man who walks the line between citizen of space and gun for hire. These are the…
Adventures of Rando, Space Thug for Hire
In
“Men are from Mars, Dropkicks are from Jupiter”
In the vacuum of space not a sound can be heard, except for Young MC’s “Bust-a-move” blaring at obnoxious levels from our heroes Space Cadillac TM. We zoom in to see our hero, who could only be described as a being ripped out of a blaxploitation film from the seventies (1970’s, the 2070’s were less shiny) and thrown into a cocktail shaker with Space and awesome. As he casually drives through the back alleys of space picking up his Space ‘Fro, a call comes in on his Space Phone TM (ironically his ringtone is also Young MC’s “Bust-a-Move”).
“Who the fuck is calling me when I’m trying to get my Young MC on! (picks up phone) Hello!”
“Is this Rando, Space Thug for Hire? (Hey! Check it out! That’s the name of the series!)
“Obviously dude, duuuuuuuur, what’re you Space-tarded.”
“Uh….anyway yeah I heard you can provide special services, for the right price of course.”
“Woah dude I’m not gonna suck your dick!”
“What, no, that’s not, that’s not what I meant!”
“It’s not my fault you come across as a flaming homoterrestrial.”
“JUST LISTEN! There is a shipment of Space-Meth being moved to a space warehouse in the Sentia Quadrant on jupiter. The space-street value of the package is easily 1,000,000,000 space credits. The warehouse is run by the Jupiter Space Mob Crime Family, and will be heavily guarded, so it will be very dangerous. For the retrieval and delivery of this package you will be paid 20% of that projected space-street. The package cannot be compromised in any way, Space-Meth is a very unstable product and if the package is harmed in any way the entire shipment can become contaminated.”
“For someone who’s not a homoterrestrial you sure say package a lot.”
“GOD DAMN IT WILL YOU DO IT OR NOT!”
“Shit yeah.” (Rando is never one to turn down easy space credits, especially with the promise of graphic violence). “Send the info to my space-com and you best watch that tone with me or ill hit you so hard you’ll turn heteroterrestrial.”
Zooming through space Rando bumps the MC of the Young variety until he closes in on Jupiter. Locating the warehouse he lowers the volume on his bumpin’ system as to not give away his arrival, he’s just stealth like that. Using his ninja-esque skills he sneaks around the back of the warehouse and finds a ladder on the adjacent building. Climbing up the ladder reveals the building’s roof provides a view into the warehouse through its glass roof.
“Damn, he wasn’t kidding when he said heavily guarded.”
From what he can see there’s about 5 thugs loading the boxes of Space-Meth onto a Space truck, and an additional 10 armed guards with assorted heavy laser artillery.
“No sense in pussy-footin’ around.”
(Inside the warehouse)
“Hey carl, you see that knicks game last nigh-(Glass shattering) HOLY SHIT!”
“ANYBODY ORDER A LARGE SLICE OF FUCK YOU!?!”
As Rando crashes through the ceiling window the sound of shattering glass is nearly drowned out by Young MC’s “Bust-A-Move” coming from a boom box that was apparently strapped to Rando’s back the whole time; he brandishes his two chrome laser pistols. Is what might be the finest example of a dropkick in history, Rando hits one of the goons loading boxes square in the chest, following the body to the ground and standing on top of him he fires his guns directly into his face just to put a little “fuck you” to the dudes insanely awesome death.
“HOLY SHI-WHAT TH-FUCKIN’ SHOOT THAT DUDE!”
The completely baffled goons start shooting wildly in Rando’s direction, but with Rando’s panther-like reflexes and the goon’s shock of how awesomely Carl just got murdered, he easily evades their attacks, kneeing some other dude right in the junk. Doing a Michael Jackson spin Rando fires in all direction hitting three of the guards in a move that would wipe the Chinese off of John Woo’s face.
“JESUS CHRIST WHO IS THIS GUY!?”
“DR. RANDO M.D. MOTHERFUCKER, I SPECIALIZE IN FISTOLOGY, THE STUDY OF MY FIST GOING THROUGH YO’ FACE, SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE HOLE IN HEAD!”
Rando somehow managed to say as he wound up to not so ironically punch a hole straight through the guards head.
“HOLY FUCKIN’ BALLS THERE’S NO WAY THAT’S POSSIBLE! HOW’RE WE NOT HITTING THIS GUY!?”
“BELIEVE IT MUTHA’ FUCKA’ CAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE ABOUT TO COME DOWN WITH A BAD CASE OF IT TOO!” Again, punching through another guards face.
“CAN SOMEONE HIT THIS GUY BEFORE HE PUNCHES THROUGH ALL OF OU-*OOF*! (Hard to finish your sentences while you’re getting a knee to the sternum).
With only two guards left with heads not completely punched through and/or shot they dive behind a box of the Space Meth.
“Jesus Christ just take it! I like my face too much for this shit!”
“Much obliged honky,” in one swift kick Rando kicks the rest of the boxes onto the truck. He closes it up and hops in the driver’s seat pulling out of the warehouse, “There is one more thing though…”
“Oh fuck…” Without the sound of all the face-punching going on the two guards left could hear the make shift bomb Rando somehow inexplicably built and programmed to go off the exact time he estimated he would be leaving the Warehouse. As he blasts off from Jupiter an explosion can be seen on the surface which must’ve been huge if you could see it from space.
“Alright dude the truck’s outside, where’s my money at?”
“What the fuck did you do?! I didn’t say to blow up the warehouse!”
“You didn’t say not to.”
“But why did you do that, now they won’t be bringing any more shipments there and I’ll have to find out where the new location is.”
“Yea dude that sucks, sooo where’s my money?”
“Here, next time someone hires you though you might want to tell them there’s a chance you’ll be blowing shit up.”
“Word, oh and one more thing-ROUNDHOUSE KICK! (he screamed as he did, which Rando’s are wont to do)”
“AGGHHH-WHAT THE FUCK-MY NECK-I CAN’T MOVE!”
“That’s for talking to me like I’m some punk ass bitch, Rando don’t play that shit!”
TUNE IN NEXT TIME, SAME SPACE THUG TIME, SAME SPACE THUG CHANNEL
usatoday- Kenny Chesney posted this photo on Twitter of himself knee-deep in Nashville flood waters. He tweeted: "Sending Anderson Cooper footage of my house under water." He spoke to him about his house. "I've never seen anything like this in my life!". Kenny's publicist told AP that the house is likely to be condemned.On Sunday Kenny tweeted: "TN is a mess with floods. If you're fortunate enough to help out, hit up the mid-TN Red Cross. Stay safe, everyone."
It's too bad the house is going to get condemned but talk about album material. Kenny will have an entire album called "Water got to my Guitar" and it will just be loaded with billboard toppers like "Knee Deep in Trouble", "H20 Oh, No" and other classics.
whdh - Boston got the nod to host Marine Week this year, and the Marine Corps didn't come to the Bay State quietly. They're parking their planes, helicopters and tanks all over the city, and anyone is welcome to climb aboard. Several Marine aircraft landed on Boston Common. "It was amazing, it really was, it was really cool," said one local woman. Mayor Menino has declared this week Marine Week in Boston.
"It’s to showcase sort of what the Marine Corps does, partner with the community, and let everybody come out and see what the Marine Corps does," said Major Brandon Gregoire, who is also a Harvard graduate. There will be several displays of hefty military hardware available for the public to take a peek. Hundreds of Marines will also be volunteering to make Boston a better place.
"There's going to be Marines painting murals, we have Marines doing speaking events at local high schools, there’s a family day on Saturday at Moakley Park,” Gregoire said.
The Marines will also be displaying aircraft and tanks at Copley, Quincy Market, the Charlestown Navy Yard, and Moakley Park.
About a two months later, several trips back and forth to ct, and two gas masks later Chris has his very own deerhunter. This isnt a film you watch in one minute, put down your phone, turn out the lights, and turn the sound up - I'm sure you can spare 8 minutes and 6 seconds.
1904 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
The 8,000 Mile Shortcut
Researching the Construction, Social, Political, and Economic Aspects of the Panama Canal
by Me. No joke. I wrote this last year
The Beginning
Many of the greatest achievements in history spar from genius, sense of pride, and accomplishment. Others are driven by profit and treasure. In 1513, Indian guides lead Spanish explorer Vasco Balboa across the isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean. After this voyage, adventurers in search of gold followed trails and rivers from the Caribbean/Atlantic side of the isthmus to the Pacific. During the 1500’s, Panama served as a base for Spanish conquistadors who stockpiled gold looted from native tribes there before shipping it to Spain. This in turn brought pirates to Panama. The earliest plan for a canal across the Isthmus of Panama dates back to 1524 when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, ordered a survey for a route through Panama that would make a faster trip for ships heading to and from Spain and Peru . In 1671, Welsh pirate Henry Morgan raided Panama City and burned it. For the next two centuries, huge sailing ships from Europe followed the Drake Passage, a water route around the tip of Argentina (Cape Horn), to reach the Pacific .
The discovery of gold in California in 1848 renewed interest in Panama as a short-cut from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Gold seekers who wanted to avoid the trip across the Rocky Mountains headed for Panama where the trail was a short 50 miles across. Yet, as travelers would come to realize, the disease-infested jungles of Panama was no safe place to travel. In 1855, the success of the transcontinental railroad connecting merchants in American from the east to west led to interest in a canal that would allow for ships to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Construction of the Panama Canal would become one of the most notorious engineering feats of the modern era. Along with physically altering the landscape and global economics, the construction changed the social and political landscape as well. The Panama Canal affected social, political, and economic aspects of society. The history of the Panama Canal is that of triumph and sacrifice, courage and perseverance. The quest for traveling ease, the conjoining of two major oceans, came with a high price tag of human life and a hefty price tag.
The French Failure
In 1848, Great Britain captured San Juan del Norte and announced its plans to build a Nicaraguan canal. The United States opposed this decision claiming this would be a violation of the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that European nations were not permitted to use armed forces to take over a new territory in the Western Hemisphere . To avoid war, the United States and Great Britain signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in 1850 which stated that the two countries would share control over any canal build in Nicaragua, however the countries considered the treaty to cover canals built anywhere in Central America. Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon-Bonaparte Wyse chose the canal route after surveying the area in 1877 and 1878 by riding horseback for eleven days to Bogota, the capital of Colombia, where he persuaded the president to sign an agreement granting French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps’s company the exclusive right to build a canal across Panama.
Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps was determined to build the canal across Panama. He formed a company, raised money, and set out to build a sea-level canal from the Atlantic to Pacific. The first team of French engineers began work in January of 1881. de Lesseps’s plan involved digging a trench from Colon, on the Atlantic side, to Panama City, on the Pacific side. Workers were forced to trek through the jungle, dig through a 330-foot high mountain, and deal with the Chagres River .
The route de Lesseps’s saw as the ideal path had many problems; it passed through high mountains, it lead into the jungle where malaria, yellow fever, and other diseases thrived, and required more digging than any other path. Workers would have to dig out 78+ million cubic yards of soil and rock from the mountain side. Work was dangerous. Landslides were a deadly snag that workers endured; they would frequently occur wreaking havoc on the work site by filling in excavation areas around the mountain side that would take weeks to dig back out. Construction became difficult, French engineers tried to convince de Lesseps to build a lock canal instead so that workers wouldn’t have to dig all the way through the mountain at Culebra Cut
But it was too late; the project had already taken too long and cost too much for any sort of change to be induced. Stockholders refused to give the company more money. On May 15, 1889, de Lesseps bankrupt company halted work on the canal. The failed French effort cost $287 million .
The failure of the French to create the canal stretched beyond the engineering defeat. Laborers, engineers, and their families began dying. Twenty thousand workers died in Panama; mostly from yellow fever or malaria. Some died in rock slides, and botched dynamite blasts. Mosquitoes carried malaria and yellow fever from one victim to another. They had no screens to block the insects from entering the hospital, homes, and offices. Water buckets placed outside the hospital to keep ants away provided an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes .
The French suffered, losing many to the illnesses brought on by the less than ideal living environment of the Panama jungle. This failure of the French lead to the United States taking control over the situation in Panama, and for the better. The United States would go on to build the Panama Canal, the one the French and de Lesseps had dreamed of. However, the United States faced many problems in their quest to join the two oceans.
American Take Over
President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to build a canal across Central America. An agreement signed with Colombia in 1846 gave America the rights across the province of Panama. In 1899, Congress gave $1 million to the Isthmian Canal Commission to survey the final area for the canal. Many in support of the canal favored a passage through Panama, a province of Colombia. Panama was an isthmus, a narrow strip of land that joins two larger areas of land, with a distinct S shape. It provided the shortest route, only 50 miles.
Others favored a passage through Nicaragua, a route of 181 miles that ran from San Juan del Norte, at the mouth of the San Juan River, to Brito, on the Pacific side. Though longer than the Panama route, the Nicaragua passage was quicker for Americans traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast because it was closer to the United States . Americans supported the canal in Nicaragua because the country had a stable government, was friendly with the United States, and had less disease and a more suitable climate than Panama. The failure of the French in Panama made the Panama site seem less desirable as well. On November 18th, 1901, the United States and Great Britain signed the Hay-Pauncefort Treaty which terminated the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. This new treaty gave the United States full control over construction, regulation, and management of a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific .
With the support of the American public, the President, Congress, and the Senate, the plans for a canal in Central America moved along. The French Panama Canal Company, eager to rebound from their total failure in Panama, offered to sell their interest in the Panama Canal to the United States for $40 million. Included in the offer the U.S. would receive ditch-digging equipment, railroad cars, two thousand plus buildings, the Panama Railroad, and all French rights to the strip of land that crossed the isthmus. The Spooner Act, named after Senator John C. Spooner, gave Roosevelt the go-ahead to build a canal in Panama. A report by George Morrison, a commissioner on the board to place the canal in Panama, and the French offer persuaded Congress and President Roosevelt to build in Panama. However, at this time in history Panama was part of Colombia. On August 12th, 1903, the Colombian Senate rejected the Hay-Herran Treaty which would have approved the transfer of French rights of the Panama Canal to the United States. The vote had passed earlier in the U.S. Senate 73 votes to 5 .
Residents in favor of U.S involvement began plotting separation from Colombia and establish their own government. U.S. naval ships coxed Colombians into returning to Bogota since Panamanians had said that U.S troops were headed to the area to fight, which was not true . Panamanians along with soldiers and rebels raised the new flag and proclaimed Panama a free nation. On November 6th, 1902, the U.S recognized Panama as a nation . The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty gave the U.S. full rights, power, and authority over 10 miles of land instead of the original 6 miles. With Panama and the United States in cooperation with each other, it was time to finally get back to work. French engineer Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who worked along with de Lesseps, wanted greatly to finish the canal. He was appointed the lead engineer position. A New York financier figured a Central America canal would save U.S. merchants $36 million a year in shipping costs.
Panama
The area in which Americans were set to build was less than ideal. Only 1/5th of Panamas land is habitable as jungles and rain forests occupy the other 4/5ths. Panama is a relatively small and poor country. The social make-up of the area is mostly composed of poor people. More than 40% of Panamanian people live in poverty. Colon, Panamas second largest city, struggles with high rates of crime and slum. More than half of its residents are unemployed . When the United States came to construct the canal, there had to be some rules and regulations implemented by the United States in order to succeed in Panama. A law was passed that said citizens of Panama could not step foot on soil within the Canal Zone – 530 sq. miles (1,372 sq. km). In order for the canal to function, engineers buried the homes of thousands to create Lake Gatun.
The social climate also changed as a result of the United States involvement. Unlike the French, by the early 1900’s, scientists knew mosquitoes spread disease. Engineers in June 1905 worked to kill mosquitoes. All houses in Panama City were sprayed, pools of water were drained, and screens were put up in all windows. This was crucial as workers from all over came to help with the construction of the canal. Fifty thousand black West Indians came to Panama seeking jobs. The best workers earned up to $1.50 per day. During construction, workers used locomotives, railroad cars, tugboats, dredging equipment, cranes, and steam shovels. People from the West Indies were eager to escape poverty and traveled to Panama where they could work. By this time, the death toll among workers had decreased dramatically.
Between 1913 and 1914, 414 workers died on the job. Compared to that of the years of 1907 and 1908, 1,273 workers died; a difference of 859 lives. Black workers had an average of 8.23 deaths per 1,000 workers while whites had an average of 2.06 deaths per 1,000 workers. During the 10 years American worked on the canal, 5,600 workers died due to accidents and disease .
The Impact
The ocean, similar to its ancient roots, will be and forever will be a vital trading tool. The shipping industry is still widely used by corporations all over the globe. The economic impact of the Panama Canal is enormous. The volume of trade passing through the free-trade zone at Colon, on the Caribbean side of the canal, has reached more than $5 billion annually . Unemployment, still high at 13%, has dropped since the U.S. invasion of Panama when 1/3 of Panama was unemployed. Tolls at the canal generate $600 million annually. Panama receives $100 million as its share yet almost all of the remaining income is used to maintain and operate the canal. If tolls are too high at the canal, shippers find it cheaper to travel the extra 7,872 miles (12,700 km) around Cape Horn. During the construction, contractors excavated 239 million cubic yards of terrain. Gatun Lake covers 163 square miles (422 sq. km). The waterway of the canal stretches 110 ft. wide (33 m) and 1,000 ft. long (304 m). Thirteen thousand ships pass through the man-made waterway each year, representing 5 percent of all world trade . When it opened in 1914, the world called it the greatest engineering project in history.
The Effect
The Panama Canal has had an impressive effect on the social, political, and economic aspects of society. The workers and residents of Panama have been forever affected. The canal has brought employment to an area that had seen high levels of unemployment; during construction, many found work on the canal. There was a lot of political influence both before, during, and after the building of the canal. Panama became a nation as a result of the United States interest in building a canal in Central America. The economics of the United States, Panama, and the world were changed drastically. World trade grew as a result of the shortcut through Panama. As of December 31st, 1999, The Panama Canal and the remaining military bases, schools, and administration buildings established by the U.S. became property of the Republic of Panama. The canal continues to be used, on average, the canal accommodates 50 ships a day. A ship usually takes about 8 to 10 hours to pass through the canal. The Panama Canal remains a landmark rich with social, economic, and political qualities. While some discoveries come from the quest for reward, the Panama Canal is a product of human ingenuity and accommodation; it remains a useful tool for sailors worldwide as one of the biggest shortcuts in the world.
