On this day in 1797, Jeffrey Amherst, who twice refused the position of commander of British forces against the rebelling American patriots, dies at his estate, called Montreal, in England. Amherst is remembered foremost for victory against the French in the Seven Years’ War, culminating in the surrender of Montreal–after which Amherst named his estate–and Canada by the French to the British in 1760. He is cited as the first military strategist to knowingly engage in biological warfare. Most infamous was Amherst’s use of smallpox-infected blankets to spread the deadly disease among Native Americans.Also-The last entry of the serialized novel Great Expectations is published on this day in 1861. The book had been serialized in Dickens’ literary circular, All the Year Round. The novel tells the story of young Pip, a poor orphan who comes to believe he will inherit a fortune. Dickens was born in 1812 and attended school in Portsmouth. His father, a clerk in the navy pay office, was thrown in debtors’ prison in 1824, and 12-year-old Charles was sent to work in a factory. The miserable treatment of children and the institution of the debtors’ jail became topics of several of Dickens’ novels. n 1838, Dickens published Oliver Twist, followed by Nicholas Nickleby (1839). In 1841, Dickens published two more novels, then spent five months in the U.S., where he was hailed as a literary hero. Dickens churned out major novels every year or two, usually serialized in his own circular. Among his most important works are David Copperfield (1850), Great Expectations (1861), and A Tale of Two Cities (1859).And-On the afternoon of this day in 1914, two days after declaring war on Russia, Germany declares war on France, moving ahead with a long-held strategy, conceived by the former chief of staff of the German army, Alfred von Schlieffen, for a two-front war against France and Russia. Hours later, France makes its own declaration of war against Germany, readying its troops to move into the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which it had forfeited to Germany in the settlement that ended the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.$AAPL is the first US company to reach $1T in market cap and I wondered if there had been any others to reach this milestone if you inflation-adjust a company's value to today's dollars to make the comparison fair, there are several companies far ahead of Apple. Here they are:1. Dutch East India Company- $8.2 Trillion2. South Sea Company- $4 Trillion3. PetroChina- $1.7 Trillion4. Saudi Aramco- $1.5 Trillion5. Standard Oil- $1 TrillionI am pulling for Boeing in "the next space race." Boeing is a company that I can invest in, and I do own shares of $BA. SpaceX is privately held. I guess I will count this as Tesla news this morning. I am sure that Trending News will have something on $TSLA. One day is all I am asking. Just one day without "news" on Tesla. So many other companies out there making money and that are solid investments.Interesting article from TipRanks on Pandora ($P). Nice use of a variety of analyst opinions on Pandora. | $PThis is the day The Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.Kraft in talks to acquire Campbell Soup, for those who are interested in either. We shall see how this plays out. | $CPBA long position with $146M notional value in Bitcoin futures on Hong Kong's OKEx exchange was forced to be liquidated earlier this week. With the price of the crypto continuing to fall, the trader and the exchange were unable to cover the loss. Under the exchange's "socialized clawback" policy, those traders with unrealized gains this week were forced to give up some of their profits. Sounds like a very risky investment strategy to me.$GBTC Speaking of Bitcoin, I see that it is down 2.5%. WSB has been pretty quiet about Bitcoin since the "Bitcoin is over $8,000 mark" announcement. Currently Bitcoin sits at $7,344. Is this the best futures indicator that can be used?I like articles that show what you could have earned if only you had invested in certain companies at a certain time in history. Very interesting stuff. Stock Ideas:1. $EXEL2. $UPS3. $FDX(I own shares in all Stock Ideas stocks)Where is Jon Corzine and when will MF Global get in the next space race?Where is Marissa Mayer and is she really mentoring Elizabeth Holmes?Have a great day and wonderful weekend everyone. Stay safe, sage, and sane out there.Excelsior!this text via user @deercreekvols