Ostensibly exploring the practice of law before the internet. Heck, before good highways for that matter.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Today In Wyoming's History: Some Gave All: Gettysburg National Military Park, ...
Some Gave All: Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg Penn...
Monday, March 30, 2015
Tuesday, March 30, 1915. Germans fighting Arabs.
Germans and Bedouins fought for perhaps the first time in World War One when a party of stranded German marines from the SMS Emden was ambushed while being escorted to Jeddah.
Last edition:
Sunday, March 28, 1915. The first lost American.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
The Big Speech: Become such as you are.
Become such as you are, having learned what that is.
Pindar
Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Church, Denver Colorado
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Sunday, March 28, 1915. The first lost American.
The British registered Falaba was sunk by the U-28 in St. George's Channel with American citizen Leon Thrasher on board, leading to a diplomatic crisis.
Thrasher was the first American killed in World War One.
The British ferry Brussels tried to ram the German submarine U-33 after it tried to stop and board her. The submarine had to dive to evade being hit. Submarines were being treated as criminal vessels by the British due to unrestricted submarine warfare.
Last edition:
Friday. March 26, 1915. A view of Alsace.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Today In Wyoming's History: March 26
Amazing to think that it's that old, or that it was founded so soon after the University was established.
Unsolicited Career Advice No. 5. How do you become a rancher?
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Old Picture of the Day: President Roosevelt
Old Picture of the Day: Roosevelt in Knickers
Old Picture of the Day: Teddy Roosevelt in Earlier Days
Old Picture of the Day: TR
Old Picture of the Day: Teddy Roosevelt
Old Picture of the Day: Colonel Roosevelt
Closing our eyes
Lex Anteinternet: Peculiarized violence and American society. Looki...: Because of the horrific senseless tragedy in Newton Connecticut, every pundit and commentator in the US is writing on the topic of what cau...That essay came in the wake of a tragic mass killing and it looked at root causes, at a time during which a lot of public commentary was focused on proposed efforts that would not address them.
I mention that now, as we've just had yet another example of a senseless mass killing of a type we've seen several of in recent years, but we don't seem to see much proposed in the way of doing something about it. That is, the co-pilot of the Germanwings plane that crashed into the Alps this week turns out to be mass murderer.
This isn't the first time in recent years where a commercial pilot has chosen to kill himself and all of his passengers. It's totally inexcusable on every level. A question remains about this, that being, why is so much attention focused on controlling implements for which the legislative control of which will not have a demonstrative effect, while there hasn't been any outcry about whom is allowed to pilot hundreds in the sky?
Yes, I know there's commercial licenses, but even on the simple applicable standards level, it would appear that around the globe various pilots simply don't measure up to the American standard. They should, and there's no reason that a universal, very high, standard can't apply to all commercial air carrier pilots. But beyond that, perhaps the time has come to place these men and women through some sort of psychological battery every six months. It won't catch them all, but it might catch some who are getting dicey, or even just sloppy. And maybe the time has come for a third pilot to be in the cabin, just in case. These are big complicated planes and there's been a lot of accidents, which might be reason enough, and might help to keep something like this from reoccuring.
Lex Anteinternet: The Distrubing Thesis of Capital in the Twenty Fir...
Lex Anteinternet: The Distrubing Thesis of Capital in the Twenty Fir...: I haven't read it yet, but I've been reading a lot about Thomas Piketty's new book, Capital In The Twenty First Century. The b...This morning, in reading my local newspaper, George F. Will reviews a new book with a counterveiling thesis, that being John Tanny's new "cheerful, mind-opening book, “Popular Economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James Can Teach You About Economics.". Will's article is boldy entitled "How income inequality benefits us all".
Will characterizes Tanny's book which I also haven't read, as boldy presentign a new thesis, but it what it apparently does is bodly defend an old one, that being that Adam Smith was right and we need not worry about jobs being exported overseas. The book apparently expertly cites numerous examples, with the basis nature of them being that when jobs like making Iphones go overseas, the price lowers so much that in real terms all of our incomes rise. The book isn't limited to that type of analysis, however, and also, apaprently, defends monopolies.
This is obviously quite the opposite of Piketty, whom I still haven't read, but it strikes me that in some odd ways they may both be correct and incorrect at the same time. Will's Tanny is correct, that buying at Wall Mart or from monopolies, and from companies that manufacture in the cheapest possible fashion, means less of our income goes into purchases, but it also can't be denied, as Piketty demonstrates, that the wealth that's generated gets concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, who are by extension more and more powerful.
The overarching thing, however, is that Will's cheerful defense ignores something, which Froma Harrop has been exploring in her recent articles. Nobody wants to be poor, but at some point an economy that serves only to produce wealth and do so efficiently is really soulless and concentrates people into jobs that they might not really like. In other words, what if some people, indeed a lot of people, are just flat out happier working as a machinist on the factory floor, rather than in some clerk job in the cubicle forest?
Friday. March 26, 1915. A view of Alsace.
The French took Hartmannswillerkopf giving them an observation post for Alsace.
The town of Miami Beach, Florida was established.
Last edition:
Thursday, March 25, 1915. Loss of the F-4.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Thursday, March 25, 1915. Loss of the F-4.
The US submarine USS F-4 sank off of Hawaii with the loss of all 21 hands. It was the U.S. Navy's first submarine loss, discounting of course the CSS H. L. Hunley, the Confederate submarine.
The SS Tamar was sunk by the SMS Kronprinz off of Brazil.
Last edition:
Tuesday, March 23, 1915. Advances at Hartmannswillerkopf.
We're Not Taking Enough Lunch Breaks. Why That's Bad For Business : The Salt : NPR
I'm afraid I'm guilty as charged on this one.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Lex Anteinternet: And the pumps kept on.
And following on this:
Lex Anteinternet: And the pumps kept on.: Saudi production has reached 10,000,000 bbl per day, near (or perhaps) an all time record high. This comes in the face of Saudi resistance ...
Monday, March 23, 2015
And the pumps kept on.
Accompanying, this Chinese economy, long seen as a potential major oil importer, has been slowing down over the past 11 months.
Neither of which is a good sign for American oil production. Hovering in the $50 to $60 bbl range for months now, a decrease in the Saudi price and a maintenance of Saudi production can't help but be noticed by the domestic industry's planners.
Tuesday, March 23, 1915. Advances at Hartmannswillerkopf.
French attacks on Hartmannswillerkopf got them within 150 metres of the summit.
Last edition:
Monday, March 22, 1915. The Imperial Russian Army captured Przemyśl
Monday at the bar: Courthouses of the West: United States Bankruptcy Court, Denver Colorado
Sunday, March 22, 2015
The Big Speech: War is sweet to the inexperienced
πεπειραμένων δέ τις ταρβεῖ προσιόντα νιν καρδία περισσῶς.
War is sweet to the inexperienced, but the experienced man trembles at its approach
Pindar.
Monday, March 22, 1915. The Imperial Russian Army captured Przemyśl
Imperial Russian Army captured Przemyśl ending the longest siege of the Great War. They took over 117,000 Austro-Hungarian POWs which included nine generals, 93 senior staff officers, and 2,500 other officers.
Last edition:
Friday, March 19, 1915. The Defense of India Act.
Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Denver Colorado.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
National Agriculture Week: Fall Trail. 2012
Friday, March 20, 2015
Ranch Life - Wyoming Chronicle
Texas Landowner Liability Part I: Negligent Act v. Premises Liability | Texas Agriculture Law
Questions from Tiffany’s Desk: Set Back Rules for Pipelines and Oil Rigs | Texas Agriculture Law
Impact of Pipelines and Powerlines on Ranches | Texas Agriculture Law
Thursday, March 19, 2015
On Law, Corruption and Puritanism in American Politics
Friday, March 19, 1915. The Defense of India Act.
The Defence of India Act was enacted to provide the colonial government in British India with sweeping powers to enforce the law during the Great War, including independence activities.
Pluto was photographed for the first time.
Last edition:
Thursday, March 18, 1915. Disaster off the Dardanelles.
National Agriculture Week: A second post World War One homestead
An abandoned post World War One hay farm, now returned to pasture.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Couvi's New Blog: U.S Army Packers Can Pack Anything
Thursday, March 18, 1915. Disaster off the Dardanelles.
The French battleship Bouvet, British battleship HMS Irresistible and the HMS Ocean struck mines and sank off of the Dardanelles. The Gaulois was beached after striking a mine.
Loss of life was heavy.
The battleship HMS Dreadnought rammed and sake the U-29.
Russian fighter pilot Alexander Kazakov used a grapnel hook to hook his aircraft to a German Albatros in flight. The mechanism didn't work and he ended up ramming the plane.
In spite of stunts like that, Kazakov survived the war only to die in an airshow in 1919.
Last edition:
Saturday, March 13, 1915. Worries over Japan.
For National Agriculture Week: Holscher's Hub: The Plow
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Lex Anteinternet: Travel in Ireland, a little over a century ago.
Television is stupid
When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better.
But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your own television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.
You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it.
Ireland in film
A few days ago, I did a post on an entire series of movies which feature Americans crossing the border into Mexico. I suppose I could have done this the same way, but I've seen a lot more films on the cross border Mexican theme than I have ones set in Ireland.
Indeed it occurs to me that there's a lot of well regarded films about Ireland I just haven't seen, and at least one that I saw so long ago, I've forgotten it. I haven't seen Ryans Daughter, which a lot of people highly regard. I've seen The Field, but I saw it so long ago, I've forgotten it and I think I was rather distracted back when I saw it in the first place. I'll have to remedy these omissions.
There also some films that were filmed, but not set, in Ireland that I have seen, and might be worth mentioning just because of that, but which fit outside of the scope of what I'm addressing here with the Irish films today. One if the historical drama Barry Linden, which is well filmed in Ireland. Another is The Blue Max, the drama about a German World War One aviator, which was filmed over Ireland as it was much less developed, and therefore appeared right, than post World War Two Germany or France (the United Kingdom just stood in, interestingly, for Germany in Fury).
One I ought to see, but have not, is The Commitments, which is about an Irish soul band. It has a good reputation, but it's one I haven't made it around to. And one that I intend to see, but have not yet, is Cavalry, which is a new, and very highly regarded drama, about an Irish priest.
Of course, a lot of the films I've seen that have been listed in this series of movie threads are ones that I've seen on television (not all, however). Some of the ones noted here just don't get that much television play time. It's easier to catch the crossing into Mexico ones really. Anyhow, some interesting films here.
Movies In History: Michael Collins
This is a historical drama in film treatment of Michael Collins' life during the Anglo Irish War and the Irish Civil War. Collins, for those who might not know, was the military genius behind the IRA's terrorist campaign against the British, and also the subsequent military leader of the Irish Free State's successful struggle against the Irish Republican Army. For those unfamiliar with the history of those two struggles, that may be a bit confusing, in which case this film actually isn't 100% historically accurate.
Even so, it does a pretty good job of portraying the events from about 1916 through 1922, including contrasting Collins role in these events with those of Éamon de Valera, which is not an easy task really. De Valera comes out the worse in the treatment, which he tends to also in objective histories. The film does push this a bit further than it should, however, as it dramatically portrays de Valera as directly involved in Collins roadside assassination which is not true. De Valera undoubtedly knew nothing about that until after it had occurred.
Otherwise, keeping in mind the limitations of film, this film does a really nice job of portraying very complicated events, including events which were really psychological in nature. Irish penetration of the English police is well done. The terrorist nature of the IRA's role in the Ango Irish War is well portrayed. Material details are correct for the film.
This 1996 film is little known in the US, which is too bad as it is a good film with a good cast. Liam Neeson portrays Collins, whom he somewhat resembles. Alan Rickman portrays de Valera, whom he also somewhat resembles. Worth seeing.
Movies In History: The Informer
This is the first of John Ford's two movies set in Ireland, the other being the "small story" The Quiet Man. T his movie is of an entirely different character.
Filmed in 1935, and set in 1920, this film is unabashedly pro Irish Republican Army and involves an IRA man who turns on his fellows. Victor McLaughlin, who typically was cast in a supporting role as an Irishman (he was a Canadian) is cast in the lead role as the simple minded Gypo Nolan, who wants to immigrate to the United States and who is duped, more or less, into betrayal. Nolan spends the rest of the film wrestling with his conscience as the IRA closes in on the identity of The Informer.
All in all, this film is well regarded for its time, and is an Academy Award winner, although its frankly really odd to see a film that's so unabashedly pro IRA. Filmed when it was, it was almost certainly filmed entirely on a film set, so we see very little of any place really. Dublin, where the film is set, is mostly a foggy grimy urban location which we never really get a very good look at. In terms of material details, they're probably more or less correct as there's very few of them, but at least in terms of clothing, the film does a really good job of getting the look right. The actual period photo below of British anti Republican agents in Ireland, for example, gives a pretty good idea of what characters in the film look like.
Movies In History: The Quiet Man
Lex Anteinternet: Civil Holidays
Today In Wyoming's History: Sidebar: The Irish in Wyoming. A St. Patrick's Day Observation during National Agriculture Week
Today In Wyoming's History: Sidebar: The Irish in Wyoming: Just recently we posted our "green" edition of this blog with our St. Patrick's Day entry . Given that, this is a good time ...