FYI August 21, 2021

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On This Day

1140 – Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars.
The Battle of Yancheng (simplified Chinese: 郾城之战; traditional Chinese: 郾城之戰) took place in 1140 near modern-day Luohe City in Henan Province, China between the main armies of China under the Song dynasty and the Jurchen Jin invaders from the north. The battle was a major clash in the wars between the Jin Empire and China. The Chinese forces, under the leadership of General Yue Fei, won a decisive victory despite being outnumbered.

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Born On This Day

1856 – Medora de Vallombrosa, Marquise de Morès, American heiress (d. 1921)
Medora de Vallombrosa, Marquise de Morès (née von Hoffmann) (August 21, 1856 – 1921), was an American heiress who married the Marquis de Mores.

Early life
Medora was the daughter of Louis A. von Hoffman, a wealthy New York banker who was one of the founders of the Knickerbocker Club,[1] and his wife, Athenais (née Grymes) von Hoffman (1832–1897), whose family had been prominent in Virginia and Louisiana.[2] Her younger sister, Pauline Grymes, was married to the wealthy German industrialist Baron Ferdinand von Stumm whose family owned the Neunkirchen Iron and Steelworks in 1878.[3]

Her maternal grandfather was John Randolph Grymes, the former U.S. Attorney for Western District of Louisiana under President James Madison.[4] Her aunt, and namesake, Medora,[5] was the second wife of banker and lobbyist Samuel Ward.[6][7] Her uncle, Dr. C. Alfred Grymes,[8] was married to Emma Stebbins (a daughter of U.S. Representative Henry George Stebbins),[9] and, after her death, Mary Helen James (a granddaughter of Federal Vanderburgh[10] and cousin of psychologist William James, author Henry James, and diarist Alice James).[11]

Personal life
In 1882, Medora was married to Antoine Amédée-Marie-Vincent Amot Manca de Vallombrosa, the Marquis de Morès, a French-born nobleman who was a frontier ranchman in the Badlands of Dakota Territory. Before his assassination in 1896, they were the parents of three children, a daughter and two sons:[12]

Athenais Amot Manca (1883–1969), who married French Ambassador Louis M. Henry Pichon, Baron Pichon (1873–1933), at age 17.[13] In 1929, Athenais married Baron de Graffenried; he died in 1936. She then married Henry Guerracina and moved to Argentina during World War II; returning to France in 1950, where she died in 1969.[1]
Louis Richard Amot Manca, Duke de Vallombrosa (1885–1959), who grew up in France and was educated at Yale University; he became a banker until 1936 when he retired and moved to Switzerland; he married Marie-Thérèse du Bourg de Bozas at Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot Church, in October 1917.[14]
Count Paul Amot Manca de Morès de Vallombrosa (1890–1950), a Harvard graduate who became a banker with the Bankers Trust in Paris before becoming a partner in the Paris brokerage house of Saint Phalle & Co.; he married Ruth (née Obre) Goldbeck, widow of Walter Dean Goldbeck, an American portrait painter, and sister of Arthur Obre,[15] in 1928.[16] They divorced in 1935 and she married race car driver André Dubonnet in 1937.[17][18]

After the assassination of the Marquis de Morès in 1896, the Marquise de Morès lived in both Paris and Cannes, France. During World War I, she turned her home into a hospital for wounded soldiers. She died at Cannes in 1921 of a leg injury she received while working as a nurse.[19] The wound never fully healed. Others say she died of an infectious disease she acquired while touring India with her husband. This gave her bouts of illness throughout her life which eventually resulted in her death.[20]

Legacy
The town of Medora, North Dakota,[21] founded in 1883, was named by the Marquis in her honor. The Marquis’s meat packing plant failed and the town fell into a decline after the family left. However, the story of the Marquis de Mores and Medora are now featured in The Medora Musical held every summer in Medora, a major tourist town in the North Dakota Badlands. The 26-room clapboard-sided ranch house the Marquis built for his heiress wife, known as the “Chateau de Mores”, has been restored, and tours of it are given.
 
 

FYI


 
 
Frank has died. He suffered a terrible bike accident.
 
 
 
 
Thomas T. Hall (May 25, 1936 – August 20, 2021)was an American country music songwriter, singer, instrumentalist, novelist, and short-story writer. He wrote 12 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the No. 1 international pop crossover hit “Harper Valley PTA” and “I Love”, which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. He is included in Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Songwriters. He became known to fans as “The Storyteller”, thanks to his storytelling skills in his songwriting.

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Vector’s World: Maratus Volans
 
 
Maratus volans is a species in the jumping spider family (Salticidae), belonging to the genus Maratus (peacock spiders). These spiders are native to certain areas in Australia and occupy a wide distribution of habitats. They have a specialized visual system that allows them to see the full visible spectrum as well as in the UV-range; this helps them detect and pursue prey. Males of this species are characterized by their colorful abdomen flaps that are used to attract females during courtship.

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Just A Car Guy: Phil Brey wrote a song about the Union Pacific Big Boy, it’s good, and catchy
 
 
 
 
By David Buck, Tedium: Resident Memories How a San Francisco art collective carved a unique path through the creative combination of art and technology.
 
 
 
 
By Good News Network: The Internet Raises $6 Million in One Day to Rescue Afghans Targeted By Taliban
 
 
 
 
Wickersham’s Conscience: Judge Gilstrap Sinks a Submarine
 
 
Wickersham’s Conscience: Return of Bird of the Week: Yellow-headed Blackbird
 
 
Wickersham’s Conscience: The True Cost of Mining: the Yankee Fork
 
 
 
 
Lofty Minded in Alaska: Five-Acre Almanac: Week 3
 
 
 
 

NSFW

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Recipes

Our Crafty Mom: Insanely Good Balsamic Pasta Salad
 
 
Little House Big Alaska: Festive Gingerbread Rolls
 
 
DamnDelicious
 
 


 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

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