Philippine General Tomás Mascardo and his forces surrendered to American forces on the island of Luzon.
Last edition:
Showing posts with label 1900s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1900s. Show all posts
Friday, May 15, 2026
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Tuesday, May 14, 1901. El petróleo
Oil was discovered in the El Ebano oil field, making Mexico an oil producing nation.
By Max Roser - Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/oil-production-by-country?tab=map&country=, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115305765
Mexico is the eleventh largest oil producer in the world. The country sensibly nationalized its petroleum industry starting in 1917, although the process took about twenty years to complete.
Józef Piłsudski escaped Russian imprisonment after fifteen months of captivity.
Thomas Armat was granted a patent for the Vitascope cinema film projector.
Last edition:
Saturday, May 11, 1901. "Notes on Negro Music".
Labels: 1900s, 1901, Great Migration, Mississippi, Music, Panic of 1901, The Blues, The written word
Monday, May 11, 2026
Saturday, May 11, 1901. "Notes on Negro Music".
Professor Charles Peabody of Harvard University, an archeologist, made observations regarding the Delta Blues while in Coahoma County, Mississippi, to oversee the excavation of a Choctaw burial mound. The black crew hired to do the war sang in the style and he published his observations under the title "Notes on Negro Music" in the Journal of American Folklore.
Peabody had been captivated by the music.
This was an interesting time in musicology in regard to the Blues, and perhaps to other music styles as well. The blues had undoubtedly been around for a very long time, but this reflected the first effort to really describe the music, which was just about to cross into northern cities in the next decade when the Great Migration began.
The Panic of 1901 had concluded.
Last edition:
Thursday, May 9, 1901. Blue Thursday.
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Thursday, May 9, 1901. Blue Thursday.
Blue Thursday saw massive panic in stock markets.
The first Parliament of Australia opened.
Lizzie van Zyl whose emaciated body would become the symbol of British concentration camp atrocities, died at age seven
Last edition:
Tuesday, May 7, 1901. Gary Cooper born.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
Tuesday, May 7, 1901. Gary Cooper born.
Gary Cooper was born in Helena, Montana. His English born father was a lawyer, rancher, and would become a Montana Supreme Court justice.
Cooper was well educated, and his early education was in the United Kingdom. He was a member of the Church of England growing up but converted to Catholicism, having been introduced to it by his daughter and then estranged wife, two years prior to his death. He died in 1961.
Allis-Chalmers was incorporated.
German troops defeated Chinese cavalry in a battle at Kalgan (now Zhangjiakou) in the Hebei Province of China.
Last edition:
Monday, May 6, 1901. 15,000 dead.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Monday, May 6, 1901. 15,000 dead.
The British Ministry of War announced that 14,264 enlisted men and 714 officers had died, to date, in the Boer War.
The first issue of Gorkhapatra, Nepal's oldest still publishing newspaper, was issued.
The House of Commons of the United Kingdom voted 333 to 227 to approve a tax on the sale of coal, still then a major source of power, heat, and coke, in the United Kingdom.
Last edition:
Saturday, May 4, 1901. The Caste War of Yucatán ends.
Monday, May 4, 2026
Saturday, May 4, 1901. The Caste War of Yucatán ends.
The Caste War of Yucatán came to an end with General Ignacio Bravo marching his troops into the Mayan capital at Noh Cah Balam (Chan Santa Cruz).
The war had been running since 1847.
Italy rejected a request from the Ottoman Empire to help prevent the settlement of foreign Jews in Palestine.
It was a Saturday. Some interesting items.
A lot of people in the Middle East may be asking the same question Judge did, in light of the U.S. war on Iran which has been clothed in some circles with Protestant millenialism.
While there probably are some merits to not starting out too near the top, it seems an older generation is always willing to suggest the youngest one needs to start at the bottom.
Last edition:
Friday, May 3, 1901. The Panic of 1901.
Sunday, May 3, 2026
Friday, May 3, 1901. The Panic of 1901.
The Panic of 1901 started with a stock market crash, the first in U.S. history.
148 city blocks in Jacksonville, Florida were destroyed by fire.
Last edition:
Wednesday, April 24, 1901. First American League game as a major league.
Labels: 1900s, 1901, baseball
Friday, April 24, 2026
Wednesday, April 24, 1901. First American League game as a major league.
The American League opened its major league inaugural season with the Chicago White Sox playing the Cleveland Blues. Three additional games scheduled for the 24th were postponed on account of rain.
The White Sox had been a minor league team in the American League the year prior and had won the league's championship.
Related threads:
Saturday. April 22, 1876. The first National League baseball game.
Last edition:
Friday, April 19, 1901. Aguinaldo appeals for peace.
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Friday, April 19, 1901. Aguinaldo appeals for peace.
Emilio Aguinaldo issued a manifesto asking for his followers to stand down and accept the U.S. administration of the Philippines.
Last edition:
Thursday, April 18, 1901. Winding down in the Philippines, start of the Dead Ball Era.
Labels: 1900s, 1901, baseball, China, Dead Ball Era, Elihu Root, France, It was because of the Spanish American War, Philippine Insurrection, Portugal, Qing Dynasty, William McKinley, Women's Organizations
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Preserving eggs 1909
Preserving eggs 1909
It's always interesting to see what people did for food preservation before refrigeration was common.
There's no way you'd use some of these methods now.
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Friday, March 20, 2026
Two Weapons stories as the US heads towards ground troops deploying, again, in the middle east.
The Marine Corps, which insists on avoiding equipment adopted first by the Army, looked at the M7,and said, nah. . .
M7 Rifle.
Marines not interested in switching from M27 to Army’s M7 anytime soon
Chances are good, I'd rate them as overwhelming, that the USMC will be using M27s within a week or two in Iran. This will be the modified HK416's first major combat use, maybe its first use at all.
M27 Automatic Rifle.
Marines in China with M1895 Navy Lee, at the time at which the Army was using the Krag. They didn't use it long.
And there's now drone killing ammunition:
U.S. Military Unveils "Drone Killer" Rifle Cartridges | An Official Journal Of The NRA
The pelletized ammunition sort of resembles "snake shot" for pistols used by outdoorsmen in the summer months. It was developed by the Navy.
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Vandals.
American democracy has several great weaknesses, the primary one being that Americans believe that we have a "two party system".
We don't. We've just allowed two parties to take over and even fund their party elections, the primaries, with government funds, and tolerate the creation of bogus Congressional roles, such "Senate Majority Leader".
That needs reform desperately.
Amongst other weaknesses, however, is that Americans believe that we have a free enterprise economic system. We don't. We have corporate capitalism which allows businesses to escape the implications of their actions through the corporate business form.
Americans believe so strongly in "free enterprise" that they basically never vote with their wallets. They'll let businesses absolutely screw them and keep supporting them. On the rare occasions in which they actually will vote with their wallets and boycott a product it's when its something trivial and otherwise readily available, as in when sales of Bud Light dropped off over a transgender personality advertising it.
Lots of companies brew beer.
I note this as the illegitimate occupant of the White House, who has no real authority, is having the East Wing of the White House destroyed for on oversized garden shed, aka, a ballroom.
The White House doesn't need a ballroom. This isn't 1875. What Donald Trump wants is something overblown and gaudy, which is his brand, so that hopefully people remember him after he departs this Earth for his final reward. It's much the same motivation that has him angling for the Nobel Peace Prize. He's hoping to be remembered as a serious person, rather than as a real estate developer/serial polygamist.
Before we move on, we should note that the White House was originally designed as a house, and its been modified continually. Frankly, it ought to flat out stop. The constant monkeying with the structure only encourages this sort of baloney, and the building isn't getting any better looking over time. The East Wing only dates back to 1942 and to some degree was built as a cover for the construction of a bomb shelter underneath it. I suppose you can argue the bomb shelter was a good addition, but this just goes on and on.
The West Wing has been modified a great deal over time, but basically dates back to 1902. Theodore Roosevelt was President then, and his large family was busting at the seams of the White House.
This is different, however.
The West Wing was built as office space. Basically it's an office space annexation. The East Wing, as noted, was originally added to cover the construction of a bomb shelter. In later years, offices for correspondence, calligraphers and the social secretary were placed in the East Wing. It became the offices of the First Lady, with the First Lady requiring offices a fairly dubious proposition, quite frankly.
Trump wasn't supposed to really touch the East Wing Structure but a Volvo bucket is out destroying part of the facade now. The new structure will be, of course, a garden shed. . .um a ballroom.
Adding offices made sense. Adding a bomb shelter in 1942 made sense, after all, German rocket technology brought the ICBM within reach during World War Two and submarine launched aircraft actually did made land strikes on the West Coast during the war.
A ballroom, however, is a superficial structure for somebody who likes to entertain.
Trump is a superficial person who has been spending a lot of his time at the golf course.
Trump can't molest the structure unless the forces of capitalism dutifully line up to give him his dream. There was never any doubt that they would. So, have you wondered who the Vandal hired by the illegitimate occupant of the White House/Real Estate Developer/Serial Polygamist to design and construct a giant garden shed is?
Well, wonder no more:
President Trump Hires National Civic Art Society Board Member to Design New White House Ballroom
James McCrery, a classical architect who is a co-founder of the National Civic Art Society and a member of our Board of Directors, has been chosen by President Donald Trump to design a new ballroom at the White House.
According to the administration, “The White House State Ballroom will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.”
McCrery, who is principal and founder of McCrery Architects in Washington, D.C., is associate professor at the Catholic University of America's School of Architecture. He was a commissioner on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, appointed by President Trump during his first term. McCrery served alongside NCAS President Justin Shubow, who was chairman of the Commission.
According to Shubow, “The National Civic Art Society is ecstatic that President Trump selected James McCrery to design the new White House ballroom. McCrery is one of the best architects in America, and he will honor and respect one of the most beloved classical buildings in the United States. Our organization has no doubt he’ll design a beautiful, fitting addition. It was President Theodore Roosevelt who personally chose Beaux-Arts architect Charles McKim to renovate the White House in his time. President Trump has made an equally wise decision in hiring McCrery.”
Announcement from the National Civil Art Society.
The National Civil Art Society is an organization that sponsors the view that public buildings should be in a classic style. It's a worthwhile goal, as there sure are a lot of ugly public buildings around. And the architects firm, McCrery Architects, based on their website, designs a lot of nice classical buildings. Frankly, choosing them was a really good move for a really bad building. Things could have been a lot worse.
So should we rejoice?
Well, no,
McCrery clearly has a lot of talent, as do the people on his staff, but this is still a huge oversized shed that looks ugly. No matter, it'll go down on his resume, unless it turns out to be a national embarrassment, in which case it will be removed from his resume.
He's designed some beautiful buildings, including the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville, TN. To go from that, to this . . what a waste.
The contractor for the abomination is heavy contractor Clark Construction, whose website declares "Building What Matters".
M'eh.
This structure doesn't matter.
It is, however, no doubt a major contract. Nobody could blame them for bidding on it, as that's what they do.
Engineering was done by AECOM, whose website declares; "AECOM is the trusted global infrastructure leader committed to delivering a better world.".
Well, this structure and the project makes the world just a little bit worse. No matter, it's probably a big contract.
Funding for the project is not public. The $200,000,000 to $250,000,0000 vandalization will cost is going to be born by Real Estate Developer Donald Trump and donors. Donors include Google, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NextEra Energy, but there are a lot more. Lockheed Martin is chipping in $10,000,000.
And there's the real question.
Blogger, which this is published on, is a Google thing. Google itself is darned near impossible to avoid, so even though I think they're chipping in is inexcusable, I'll continue to use Google's products, making me just as hypocritical as can be. I don't buy anything from Lockheed, and I'm not a shareholder, but if I was I'd write in and complain.
Why would outfits like these chip in? Well, they're making a bet that King Donald will love them, or at least not hate them. That's why. And frankly, if some future administration wanted to build to whack it down, which will occur, and put up a Trump Hall of Shame, they'd contribute to that.
The overall shame, however, is that this is public property. It's being vandalized. And nobody can apparently do anything about it.
When this era is over, the country needs major reform. Part of that reform needs to be an effort to reign the Oval Office into reason. Another part needs to be to kick the dead asses in Congress back to work and require them to do their actual jobs.
As a final note, Hitler was fond of monumental projects too, planning on building a monumental Berlin after the Second World War. Franco had the monumental Valley of the Fallen built, which at least commemorates something. Fascist Italy had a bunch of monumental structures built, and of course Mussolini was in power for quite some time. The Soviets had Lenin stuff in a mausoleum, the latter of which provides an idea.
Seeing as a modern White House doesn't need a ballroom, and given that Trump is really old and will pass from natural causes in the foreseeable future anyhow, perhaps AECOM can design this structure with hydraulic jacks and wheels so when that day comes this can just be jacked up, hooked up, and wheeled down the highway to Mar A Lago, which it can serve as the Trump Mausoleum and library (I serious doubt Trump has very many books that he's actually read, so the size won't be a problem). Probably Google, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NextEra Energy will be willing to pay for it.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Monday, April 14, 2025
Clothing, then and now, and a lost manufacturing base.
derek guy@dieworkwear
at the turn of the 20th century, working class men had something like two pairs of pants, three shirts, and a pair of boots. middle class men wore detachable collars bc shirts were expensive. one man died bc he got drunk. his head drooped & he choked to death on his stiff collar
Very interesting, really, and not just in the context of the Very Stable Genius and his trade war with China, but in terms of the focus of this page.
I've discussed this before, but cheap clothing is a post World War Two thing. The entire series of jokes about people having vast numbers of shoes, or t-shirts that are decades old, reflects a bonafide change in how people live. I recall my father mentioning that at one time it was considered ideal to buy a suit with two pairs of pants, as you could stretch out the cleaning.
Clothing now costs less, and frankly it lasts a lot longer, than it once did.
Indeed, how often do you really wear out clothing? I'm do wear out shits, but waistline expansion over time is more likely to render my trousers unwearable than really wearing them out is. Granted, part of that is because I have a fair number of them. If I was wearing the same two or three pairs of trousers every day, the story would be different. But they also simply last longer than they once did.
This is really intended to be an observation on clothing, then and now, but a little remark about now is warranted.
I have a cotton Colorado Rockies kelly green baseball hat sitting here where I'm typing. If you look at the label, it's made in China. Lots of Levis are made in Vietnam. We have, truly, exported clothing manufacturing overseas, which is to say, the producers did. I do lament that, but do U.S. consumers want to pay more for clothing? I wonder.
I guess with tariffs, we'll find out.
I have, as readers here know, a fondness for M65 Field Jackets. I'd like to have an OG 107 one for every day wear. I thought one would be easy to find, but they aren't, so I ordered one, to my present regret, from Propper. It came Chinese made (of course) and the size is completely wrong. I should have sent it back, but I didn't, as my extreme introverted nature precludes me from doing so. I thought maybe I could shrink it, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to. Anyhow, it's just wrong.
I note this as US military uniforms are in fact made in the U.S., and indeed I believe there may be a statutory requirement to that effect. Some years ago there was a scandal when the US ended up with some berets that were made overseas. I've heard of the military actually checking to make certain that soldiers don't deploy with foreign made gear, but that must be tougher than ever, with the loss of so much of the US manufacturing base.
All of which is to say that I'm sympathetic with those who lament that loss. But the time to really address it came and went some thirty to forty to fifty years ago and, if could be addressed, which is a huge if, it can't be done all at once.
And, my Propper M65 Field Jacket aside, things made overseas are not, by and large, of cheap quality anymore. Some things surely are. The stuff you get at Harbor Freight might be second rate. . . or not. As overseas manufacturing has increased, quality has too.
Monday, January 20, 2025
Tuesday, January 20, 1925. The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention
The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention between the Soviet Union and Japan was signed. It provided:
JAPAN and the UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS, desiring to promote relations of good neighbourhood and economic co-operation between them, have resolved to conclude a Convention embodying basic rules in regulation of such relations and, to that end, have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say :
His MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN :
Kenkichi YOSHIZAWA, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China, Jushii, a member of the First Class of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure ;
THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS :
Lev Mikhailovitch KARAKHAN, Ambassador to the Republic of China ;
Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed as follows :
Article I.
The High Contracting Parties agree that, with the coming into force of the present Convention, diplomatic and consular relations shall be established between them.
Article II.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics agrees that the Treaty of Portsmouth of September 5th, 1905, shall remain in full force.
It is agreed that the Treaties, Conventions and Agreements, other than the said Treaty of Portsmouth, which were concluded between Japan and Russia prior to November 7, 1917, shall be re-examined at a Conference to be subsequently held between the Governments of the High Contracting Parties and are liable to revision or annulment as altered circumstances may require.
Article III.
The Governments of the High Contracting Parties agree that, upon the coming into force of the present Convention, they shall proceed to the revision of the Fishery Convention of 1907, taking into consideration such changes as may have taken place in the general conditions since the conclusion of the said Fishery Convention.
Pending the conclusion of a convention so revised, the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shall maintain the practices established in 1924 relating to the lease of fishery lots to Japanese subjects.
Article IV.
The Governments of the High Contracting Parties agree that, upon the coming into force of the present Convention, they shall proceed to the conclusion of a treaty of commerce and navigation in conformity with the principles hereunder mentioned, and that, pending the conclusion of such a treaty, the general intercourse between the two countries shall be regulated by those principles.
(1) The subjects or citizens of each of the High Contracting Parties shall, in accordance with the laws of the country : (a) have full liberty to enter, travel and reside in the territories of the other, and (b) enjoy constant and complete protection for the safety of their lives and property.
(2) Each of the High Contracting Parties shall, in accordance with the laws of the country, accord in its territories to the subjects or citizens of the other, to the widest possible extent and on condition of reciprocity, the right of private ownership and the liberty to engage in commerce, navigation, industries and other peaceful pursuits.
(3) Without prejudice to the right of each Contracting Party to regulate by its own laws the system of international trade in that country, it is understood that neither Contracting Party shall apply in discrimination against the other Party any measures of prohibition, restriction or impost which may serve to hamper the growth of the intercourse, economic or otherwise, between the two countries, it being the intention of both Parties to place the commerce, navigation and industry of each country, as far as possible, on the footing of the most-favoured nation.
The Governments of the High Contracting Parties further agree that they shall enter into negotiations, from time to tune as circumstances may require, for the conclusion of special arrangements relative to commerce and navigation to adjust and to promote economic relations between the two countries.
Article V.
The High Contracting Parties solemnly affirm their desire and intention to live in peace and amity with each other, scrupulously to respect the undoubted right of a State to order its own life within its own jurisdiction in its own way, to refrain and restrain all persons in any govern mental service for them, and all organisations in receipt of any financial assistance from them, from any act overt or covert liable in any way whatever to endanger the order and security in any part of the territories of Japan or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
It is further agreed that neither Contracting Party shall permit the presence in the territories under its jurisdiction :
(a) of organisations or groups pretending to be the Government for any part of the territories of the other Party, or
(b) of alien subjects or citizens who may be found to be actually carrying on political activities for such organisations or groups.
Article VI.
In the interest of promoting economic relations between the two countries, and taking into consideration the needs of Japan with regard to natural resources, the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is willing to grant to Japanese subjects, companies and associations concessions for the exploitation of minerals, forests and other natural resources in all the territories of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Article VII.
The present Convention shall be ratified.
Such ratification by each of the High Contracting Parties shall, with as little delay as possible, be communicated, through its diplomatic representative at Peking, to the Government of the other Party, and from the date of the later of such communications this Convention shall come into full force.
The formal exchange of the ratifications shall take place at Peking as soon as possible.
In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, in duplicate in the English language, and have affixed thereto their seals.
Done at Peking, this twentieth day of January, One thousand nine-hundred and twenty-five.
(L. S.) K. YOSHIZAWA.
(L. S.) L. KARAKHAN.
Japan and Russia, and then Japan and the Soviet Union, never got along well. They had fought the Russo Japanese War some twenty years prior, and Japan had heavily intervened in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. There remains tension between them over the the Sakhalin.
Last edition:
I had no idea Sanka was this old.
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Japanese Artillery. National Museum of Military Vehicles.
Japanese weapons receive much less attention that those of other armies, in part because their ground weapons tended to be obsolescent or odd. Artillery is no exception.
A lot of Japanese weapons tended to reflect an earlier era, sometimes only slightly so, and sometimes greatly, than that of the 1940s. Japan tended to adopt a weapon, of a copy of a good Western design, and stick with it for a long time, savor for naval and air weapons, where they were advancing all the time. In terms of artillery, much of it was light and antiquated.
Last edition:
Monday, May 27, 2024
Theodore Roosevelt at Arlington.
On this day…we call to mind the deaths of those who died that the nation might live, who wagered all that life holds dear for the great prize of death in battle.
President Roosevelt at Arlington National Cemetery, Memorial Day, 1902.
I have to say, I wouldn't have referred to death as a "prize" in this context.
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