[Tradjazz] A bit of musical history trivia

[Bill Barnes]

Hi Bill:
        Boy that's a great one! Best I've heard in a long time! Many 
thanks -
                                        Bill Barnes
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William P. Taggart" <billt at lion.com>
To: <TradJazz at list.okom.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 5:38 PM
Subject: [Tradjazz] A bit of musical history trivia


>
> I'm sure you know that Alexander the Great was known as a remarkably
> effective conqueror, but not many people know why.
>
> He had developed an uncanny ability to coordinate his troops over great
> distances, so that they would be able to swoop down upon enemy forces
> from different directions simultaneously.  Using this technique he
> managed to win decisive victories even when pitted against much greater
> numbers.
>
> How did he do it?
>
> He went to his alchemists and advisors and told them that he needed some
> kind of device that would allow him to coordinate simultaneous action at
> great distances - he needed some way to signal or alert all of his
> various commanders to attack at the same time.
>
> His alchemists went to work and they finally discovered a chemical
> solution that when properly prepared would change color after a certain
> period of time.  Depending on the concentration of reagents, they could
> control quite closely just exactly how long the color change took.
> Recognizing the impracticality of carrying jars of solution into battle,
> they developed a method for saturating white cloth strips with the
> solution, and the cloths would then change color right on time.
>
> Alexander of course was greatly impressed with this method and its
> reliability, so he ordered up these strips of cloth for his officers.
> Prior to battle, the alchemists would prepare thousands of the strips
> and hand them out to the officers, who for convenience would tie them
> around their arm or wrist.  Then they would take their troops out to
> their designated location and wait.  Later when the color change
> occurred, all would attack simultaneously, much to the surprise of the
> surrounded enemy.
>
> Some say that this was the origin of the wristwatch, but in reality it
> was the first known implementation of Alexander's Rag Time Band.
>
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