This particular church, on our Churches of the West Blog, is the most viewed church on the site.
Showing posts with label South Dakota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Dakota. Show all posts
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Immaculate Conception Church, Rapid City South Dakota
Churches of the West: Immaculate Conception Church, Rapid City South Dakota
This particular church, on our Churches of the West Blog, is the most viewed church on the site.
This particular church, on our Churches of the West Blog, is the most viewed church on the site.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Monday, December 7, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Lex Anteinternet: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men: Lex Antein...
I've been posting on the oil field slump here pretty regularly in a string of posts of which this one is part, Lex Anteinternet: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men: Lex Antein.... It isn't the only one by any means, however.
Anyhow, in today's Tribune there's a story that on the very day that Halliburton's local lift division (pumps) was to move into their new quarters, they ended up laying off the entire local division. Pretty dramatic event really. How many people that is, is unclear, but the paper noted that at the end of the day there were 25 trucks in the lot that didn't leave. That would presumably equate with 25 lost jobs at least.
In fairness, it must be noted that Halliburton recently merged with Baker Hughes, and this might be principally due to that merger. The paper's article seems to suggest it probably is, based upon their overviews of Halliburton personnel, and that makes sense to me. Halliburton acquired Baker Hughes for a reason, and that reason was to acquire its business, but it would make sense that there was some overlapping business to start with. Indeed, as I think of Halliburton as a service company, I was surprised that it had a division that installed oilfield pumps. Chances are high that Baker Hughes, which started off as an equipment company, would be more likely to have a more developed line of business doing the same thing really, so that may explain it.
Still, even though the article still includes some people who take a "it may be temporary" and "things are still going on strong here (referring to South Dakota)", that things aren't going well in the oil patch right now is pretty evident. I'd guess that for those who were looking at going right from school into the oil patch, things are looking much different.
Anyhow, in today's Tribune there's a story that on the very day that Halliburton's local lift division (pumps) was to move into their new quarters, they ended up laying off the entire local division. Pretty dramatic event really. How many people that is, is unclear, but the paper noted that at the end of the day there were 25 trucks in the lot that didn't leave. That would presumably equate with 25 lost jobs at least.
In fairness, it must be noted that Halliburton recently merged with Baker Hughes, and this might be principally due to that merger. The paper's article seems to suggest it probably is, based upon their overviews of Halliburton personnel, and that makes sense to me. Halliburton acquired Baker Hughes for a reason, and that reason was to acquire its business, but it would make sense that there was some overlapping business to start with. Indeed, as I think of Halliburton as a service company, I was surprised that it had a division that installed oilfield pumps. Chances are high that Baker Hughes, which started off as an equipment company, would be more likely to have a more developed line of business doing the same thing really, so that may explain it.
Still, even though the article still includes some people who take a "it may be temporary" and "things are still going on strong here (referring to South Dakota)", that things aren't going well in the oil patch right now is pretty evident. I'd guess that for those who were looking at going right from school into the oil patch, things are looking much different.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Movies In History: The Cowboys
I love this film.
This 1972 John Wayne film is one of his absolute best, second only to The Searchers (a film I have not yet reviewed in this list). It's a classic drama, and touches on a Romantic part of our history in a way few other films do.
This running thread, of course deals with movies in history, not movies as great cinema, and so we'll only really look at this film in this context, and looking at it that way, the film does remarkably well, particularly for one filmed when it was.
Set in Montana in the late 1870s or 1880s (the film isn't really clear, other than that it is post Little Big Horn), the film surrounds a cattle drive east across Montana to Belle Fourhe, South Dakota. As rancher Wil Anderson's cow hands have all quit to participate in a gold rush on the Ruby River, he's forced to use actual boys.
The plot device actually only exaggerates a custom that existed at the time, and it is not hard to find examples of very young teenage cowboys participating in drives. Indeed, going to work and leaving home at that age was not uncommon at that time, and my own grandfather did so at age 13 in the early 1900s. Anderson's cowboys are, in some instances, very young in this film, but I've seen middle school aged cowboys not much older participate in drives in present times.
In terms of details, the film does a very good job, and the ranching details are mostly correct. A nice detail in the film depicts a large string of horses being gathered prior to the drives commencing, which is accurate for the era and even now. The firearms shown for the period are surprisingly correct in an era when they rarely were, and some older arms are shown in use, including one cap and ball Colt revolver. This is very unusual for a film of this period.
Of course, it isn't perfect. The clothing is generally correct for the boys, but not for the adults in all cases, as both Anderson and cook Nightlinger are shown wearing cotton jeans and otherwise being dressed in the fashion that Wayne had made popular for cowboy films of this era, but which did not depict dress of the period accurately. Therefore, the film has an interesting mix of correct and incorrect clothing.
All in all, however, this film deserves its place as a classic and does pretty well in terms of historical detail.
This 1972 John Wayne film is one of his absolute best, second only to The Searchers (a film I have not yet reviewed in this list). It's a classic drama, and touches on a Romantic part of our history in a way few other films do.
This running thread, of course deals with movies in history, not movies as great cinema, and so we'll only really look at this film in this context, and looking at it that way, the film does remarkably well, particularly for one filmed when it was.
Set in Montana in the late 1870s or 1880s (the film isn't really clear, other than that it is post Little Big Horn), the film surrounds a cattle drive east across Montana to Belle Fourhe, South Dakota. As rancher Wil Anderson's cow hands have all quit to participate in a gold rush on the Ruby River, he's forced to use actual boys.
The plot device actually only exaggerates a custom that existed at the time, and it is not hard to find examples of very young teenage cowboys participating in drives. Indeed, going to work and leaving home at that age was not uncommon at that time, and my own grandfather did so at age 13 in the early 1900s. Anderson's cowboys are, in some instances, very young in this film, but I've seen middle school aged cowboys not much older participate in drives in present times.
In terms of details, the film does a very good job, and the ranching details are mostly correct. A nice detail in the film depicts a large string of horses being gathered prior to the drives commencing, which is accurate for the era and even now. The firearms shown for the period are surprisingly correct in an era when they rarely were, and some older arms are shown in use, including one cap and ball Colt revolver. This is very unusual for a film of this period.
Of course, it isn't perfect. The clothing is generally correct for the boys, but not for the adults in all cases, as both Anderson and cook Nightlinger are shown wearing cotton jeans and otherwise being dressed in the fashion that Wayne had made popular for cowboy films of this era, but which did not depict dress of the period accurately. Therefore, the film has an interesting mix of correct and incorrect clothing.
All in all, however, this film deserves its place as a classic and does pretty well in terms of historical detail.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Scenes from days gone by.
A building in Deadwood South Dakota that was once a Hudson and Terraplane dealer, two extinct brands of automobiles.Interesting for a variety of reasons. One, the then existing variety of American automobiles. Two, that fairly small towns (although the area was fairly well populated, due to mining, at that time), with a fairly substantial automobile dealership.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Friday, April 9, 1909. Establishing Mother's Day.
South Dakota became the first state to officially recognize Mother's Day, with a proclamation by Gov. Robert S. Vessy that designated "the second Sabbath in our national memorial month of May" for the same.
This followed the first church service recognizing the day, which had been in 1907 as prat of Anna Jarvis' effort to establish the holiday, which she had been working on since 1905. The first service for the day was at Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.
This brings to mind something we posted last week:
Blog Mirror: Family Values
Last prior edition:
Thursday, April 8, 1909. Creation of Japanese Corporations
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