HEMINGWAY’S KILIMANJARO / MADER AND DIETELM’S KILIMANJARO

Recently a couple from the Keys stood at the top of Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro. A top of the world location. Height 19,341 feet.

The couple Doug Mader and Gerry Dietelm. Live on Big Pine. Own and operate the Marathon Veterinary Hospital.

Adventurers. They opted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. The African mountain made famous by Ernest Hemingway.

Not an easy trip. Six days to reach the top, 2 to come down. The last day of the climb the worst. Air extremely thin at 19,000 plus feet. Their guides would only permit them to spend 20 minutes on top.

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did their thing by leaving an American flag on the moon, the Marathon veterinarians left a Conch Republic flag on top of Kilimanjaro.

An adventure. The ascent the trip of a lifetime.

Ernest Hemingway is of Kilimanjaro fame also. However, he never climbed Kilimanjaro.

Hemingway knew Africa from his 2 trips there. The first in 1933. A safari and big game hunting. Also provided him with numerous African experiences which later became part of his writings.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro one of those writings. A short story. He received many awards for it. The short story also became a Hollywood movie starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner.

Hemingway’s second trip was somewhat of a disaster. He escaped lucky to be alive.

He and his wife were on a local flight. The plane crashed. Both survived with burns and cracked ribs.

The next day, they opted to leave immediately and took another plane. The plane exploded on takeoff.. Hemingway’s wife got out through a window. Hemingway had a more difficult time. He butted his head against the plane’s door to get it open. He suffered a fractured skull, severe burns, a dislocated shoulder, 2 cracked discs, a ruptured liver and ruptured kidneys.

Never having climbed to the top, what then was Hemingway’s motivation to write The Snows of Kilimanjaro? A photo of a frozen leopard near Kilimanjaro’s summit. The leopard’s dried carcass formed the introduction to his short story.

Mini lobster season has come and gone. Only 2 days. As usual, thousands of tourists participated. Authorities reported this year’s event to have been one of the safest and with few violations occurring.

Only 1 injury. Of consequence. A diver’s leg and propeller came into contact. The diver was air lifted to a Miami hospital.

Each year’s event should be as injury and violations free.

History does repeat itself in one fashion or another.

Recall the ocean liner St. Louis. In 1939, 937 Jews attempted to escape Hitler’s influence in Germany. Atrocities were already occurring. The writing was on the wall. They would only get worse. The holocaust had already begun.

Their anticipated port Cuba. Cuba would not accept them, however.

The voyage became known as the “Voyage of the Damned.” The St. Louis went to several other ports. The same thing. Rejected!

The ship was forced to return to Germany. Eventually one third would die in Nazi concentration camps.

A similar earlier event occurred. This one involving prostitutes. The Civil War  ongoing. Prostitution became a major problem. Recall in the early 1860’s, there was no cure for gonorrhea or syphilis. Most died.

The problem was in Nashville.

Nashville was a Union Army base. It had its red light district Smokey Row. Early in the War, 200 prostitutes worked Smokey Row. Union Army officials needed to confront the growing sexual disease problem.

They assembled 100 of the ladies and put them on a boat. The Idaho. The intent was to transport them to another city. No city was foolish, however. None wanted them. The Idaho was refused permission to drop the women off.

During the trip, the Idaho acquired a second name. Floating Whore House.

The Idaho was forced to return to Nashville where the ladies disembarked and returned to their former lives on Smokey Row.

The Union Army significantly increased the number of men stationed in Nashville. Business goes where business is. The original 200 ladies turned into 1,500.

Everyone happy. That is, the soldiers and prostitutes. Disease also.

Sexually transmitted disease became rampant. A crisis developed. Not much could be done. No shot of penicillin back then. Many died. So many, that it was rumored more Union soldiers died on Smokey Row than in all the rest of the Civil War. Not true, of course. But such reflects how bad it was.

Nashville and the Union Army came up with a plan. Hopefully, a solution. They would legalize prostitution. That way prostitution could be controlled. Ladies getting periodic health inspections one of the approaches.

It worked! Sexual disease numbers dropped dramatically.

Man does not learn, however. At the end of the War, the legalization was removed. Rampant sexual disease returned. Not as great a during the War. Many soldiers had been moved elsewhere. Many ladies voluntarily left because there was not enough business.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

24 comments on “HEMINGWAY’S KILIMANJARO / MADER AND DIETELM’S KILIMANJARO

  1. What is still left of the disappearing snows of Kilimanjaro destined to be gone in the near future. Keep on burning Trump’s “beautiful” coal, Baby.

  2. …and we have sunlight, and we have wind, and we have the technology to use what coal we do have left, more sensibly.

    What is your point?

  3. We do have technology to use our plentiful supply of coal just as we do our huge supply of natural gas. We’ll have hydrogen soon also.

    Problem is some think we can fully implement sun and wind by this afternoon. Sun is working out fairly well, not so much with wind.

    We’ll be with fossil fuel for another couple decades. Some just can’t seem to accept that.

    Our air and water quality is good and has been cleaned up considerably since the Nixon administration [ EPA]. That can’t be said for the rest of the world.

  4. I don’t know where you get your data about wind not working out, this isn’t the first time you’ve tried to push that meme. It’s been quite successful actually. Just ask the people of say Block Island and communities all across the united states, especially in the Midwest.

    And who says some people can’t accept that we’ll be using fossil fuels for the next few decades, that’s not true and just your opinion. What some people can’t accept about fossil fuels, is the people who are pushing that as the ONLY acceptable source of energy and won’t themselves accept and acknowledge that fossil fuels are a major cause and threat to our very being if we don’t do something about the problem they are causing.

    Don’t tell the people of Flint Michigan that our air and water supply quality is good. And don’t forget that you pretty much still can’t eat the fish in the great lakes because of the water quality.

    Ask American fishermen how clean the waters they fish in really is. Ask the people at the Turtle hospital in Marathon if the Turtles they’re seeing suggest the pollution problems with the oceans are improving.

    Making excuses for our serious environmental problems/crisis is not the way to get us ahead of the problem.

    • You spew pure nonsense.

      Tell us all you know about Flints water problem. It can be much. Its a lead contamination from poor infrastructure maintenance.

      The Great Lakes are now clean, about as clean as they can be. Again thanks to the Nixon administration. I’ve fished and checked fish in those lakes for 50 yrs.

      Ask Fish and Wildlife how many migratory birds are killed by windmills. Its in the millions.

      Turtle parisites from pollution ? Thats always been an issue with Green and Loggerheads. They are migratory and travel outside our waters. Salt waters in other countries are greatly polluted, not due to our fault. Have you ever been to the hospital ? They do good work. The only thing I disagree with is the release from a beach different from where they were found.

      No excuses were made, just explanations and facts.

      • No Patrick, you are wrong.

        The Flint problem with may be with water delivery, but that doesn’t really matter much to the people it harms, does it? For what ever reason, the water they get is BAD, get it?

        The great Lakes are NOT now clean (wbez.com, etc.). Thy are cleaner by many measures, but not clean. If you think so, please keep on eating their fish (Wegmans won’t sell any Lake Ontario fish!), we’ll send your survivors condolences.

        The migratory bird killings are nothing but a figment of FOX news propaganda.

        and you don’t know sh*t about foreign countries, apart maybe about Russian waters.

        I have been to the Turtle Hospital, many times, used to stay in their Hotel when we visited the Keys back when. My niece is a marine biologist and interned there for two summers.

        As usual you have YOUR facts wrong and don’t seem to understand anything but your own twisted opinions, based apparently on only what you are told to believe.

  5. Its no wonder we are becoming a third world nation and our standing in the world is dropping. Just read some of this and it all becomes clear.

  6. In Denmark’s electricity sector wind power produced the equivalent of 43.4% of Denmark’s total electricity consumption in 2017, increased from 33% in 2013, and 39% in 2014. In 2012 the Danish government adopted a plan to increase the share of electricity production from wind to 50% by 2020

  7. Denmark is doing well in their attempt to be off fossil fuels by 2050. They get a good portion of their electricity from wind power.
    However, they are still dependent on coal, hydro and natural gas and will continue to be for a couple decades.

    • But you said that wind wasn’t working out? Denmark is an example that say it is working out – 50% of their electricity is with wind, all in 10 years. That seems to be working out to me. Sure they still have coal and other fossil fuels, but if half the world had that kind of effort, we would be ahead of the problem, not behind. It is people like you who are poo pooing alternate energy solutions, especially with false or exaggerated “facts” that is holding us back.

      Yes, we are still going to need coal and gas and nuclear and other forms of traditional form of energy, for some time to come. But if we don’t develop other less harmful forms of energy, we will kill this planet, sooner than later.

      BTW, you may want to revise your over the top opinion of the number of birds killed by windmills, before someone posts the real numbers and makes you a liar on that issue as well.

    • Only .01 percent of human-caused bird fatalities can be attributed to windpower. – U.S. Department of Agriculture

      58% Buildings
      14% Power Lines
      11% Cats
      9% Vehicles
      7% Pesticides
      .49% Telecom Towers
      .01% Wind Turbines

  8. I said as planned. There were also some here saying that fossil fuels would not be needed for the next couple decades. I also said wind mills killed millions of migratory birds, I don’t care about a rat with wings flying into a building in Toronto. The actual number of migratory bird killings is easy to look up. I also live near both solar and wind generators. Ever see a wind generator fire or a blade break, didn’t think so. I also never said I was against these power sources, just that fossil fuel are here to stay for awhile longer. I’m also waiting to see how Berkley residents take to their ban on natural gas, restaurants and backyard grillers will just love that.

  9. Patrick, I now see why people consider you annoying any why you don’t post under your own name much anymore. Your post are filled with falsehoods and distortions and you even contradict your own lies.

    Please tell me where, EVEN ONE instance where anyone here, Lou or otherwise has EVER said “some here saying that fossil fuels would not be needed for the next couple decades.”

    And I think I can speak for the rest of the world about how we don’t care if you don’t care about a rat flying into a window on Toronto. But that we do care about your facts. Yes, the number of migratory bird killings is easy to look up. And if you do, may I suggest YOU do that. Try the National Audubon Society, they should be a pretty good source, after all they have serious skin in that game. Their figures aren’t even close to a million, not even half.

    As far as you tag on rant about wind generators catching fire or blades coming off, or Berkley residents worried about natural gas in their propane gas grills, please just stop, you are embarrasing yourself and the rest of mankind.

    • Patrick – Here’s what you posted yesterday afternoon – “No excuses were made, just explanations and facts.”

      Here’s what was facts AND truthful “- Zero -“

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