Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: Today -100: October 17, 1910: Of Kiddo the wonder cat: Kiddo the cat jumped out of the dirigible America but was fished out of the sea.
Showing posts with label Weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weather. Show all posts
Friday, October 17, 2025
Wednesday, October 17, 1910. The 1910 Cuba Hurricane,
Monday, September 29, 2025
Wednesday, September 29, 1915. The Great New Orleans Hurricane.
A hurricane made landfall in Louisiana, killing 279 people. The destruction of the storm would not be surpassed for fifty years.
The Germans recaptured lost ground in the Second Battle of Champagne resulting in a French suspension of their campaign.
6,000 or more Ottoman troops were dispatched to break Armenian resistance at Urfa, Turkey.
Last edition:
Tuesday, September 28, 1915. La Matanza of Ebenezer
Saturday, September 27, 2025
Going Feral: The Feral Week.
Going Feral: Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, September 26, 1915. Wab.:
Thursday, September 25, 2025
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Southern Rockies Nature Blog: These Hunters' Deaths Hit Me Hard
Southern Rockies Nature Blog: These Hunters' Deaths Hit Me Hard: Search and rescue volunteers are briefed before heading out. (Conejos County Sheriff's Office) The search for two missing bowhunters, An...
This is terrible news, to say the least.
When I first heard of these two men dying, it was by way of a headline. As I was extremely busy at the time, I didn't read deeper into the story. I frankly assumed they had succumbed due to hypothermia, and that they were likely inexperienced outdoorsmen.
I learned more about it sage chicken hunting with a companion, who had looked into the story more. He revealed that in fact they were experienced outdoorsmen, but we both assumed that they had died due to hypothermia. We assumed, frankly, that they'd stepped out for what they thought would be a shorter trip and were caught in a bad situation at which point they couldn't address the onset of the condition.
It turns out we were wrong. It was a lightning strike.
I've been afraid of lightning my entire life, and a lot of that is due to living an outdoor life. From my earliest years I can recall being fascinated with lightning, but also fearing it. My earliest recollection of an electrical strike close by was when I was a child, looking out our picture window. and saw a bolt of lightning hit the ground right in front of the house and arc over the street, as a car passed under it.
My mother related that her grandfather had actually been hit by lightning observing an electrical storm out the back window of a house in St. Lambert, Quebec. He was fine, but that might have made an early impression with me. My father, an avid outdoorsman, didn't mess with lightening at all, although he would continue to fish well past the point he should as electrical storms approached. The childhood step father of a friend of mine was killed on the golf course by lightning. The father of a gaggle of girls who where my contemporaries was killed on horseback when struck by lightning.
I had plenty of reasons as a kid to fear lightning.
As an adult, I've seen lightning strike a human occupied thing when I saw a blot strike a boat in Alcova Reservoir. I was far enough away that I don't know what happened to the people in it. While living in Laramie, and going to law school, I had a bolt of lightning strike a power line right above the point I was at as I was hurriedly walking home, hoping to beat the storm. It blew me to the ground, and I was deaf in one ear for about a week. Also in Laramie, I remember being up in the high country elk hunting and briefly conversing with a mounted hunter as a storm started to roll in. The air grew electrick and came in contact, somehow, with the horses steel ringlets on his bridle, causing his ears to shoot up, and a visible electrical current pass between the tips of his ears, just before he reared around and charged down the mountain.
Storms will appear and surprise you.
In the sticks, I watch the weather like a hawk. It's not snow I'm afraid of being caught in, it's an electrical storm. I'll abandon a place early if I think it looks like such a storm is rolling in.
Electrical storms in the high country are particularly dangerous. Due to the terrain, they roll up at you before you can appreciate them, and they are very frequent. High altitude afternoon thunderstorms are a norm in mountainous terrain.
Added to that, in spite of Donald Trump and His Confederacy of Clowns, climate change has extended the summer and fall and that's making traditional activities in late fall more dangerous in various ways. I'm not terribly familiar with Southern Colorado, but I can claim some familiarity with Northern Colorado and lots of familiarity with all of Wyoming. This time of year, say thirty or more years ago, storm above 6,000 feet here were snowstorms, not rain storms. We worried about being snowed out, or snowed in, not rain. Now thanks to a desperate belief on the part of some that things aren't changing, or it isn't our fault, things are changing.
Wide Open Spaces reported their cause of death as being surprising. I'm not terribly surprised, as I've had too many close calls with lightning even while being careful. I'll merely note, it pays to be careful out there. . . really careful.
But sometimes, that won't save you.
Regarding the tragic deaths of Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Wyomingites with deep conservation roots oppose axing Forest Service Roadless Rule
Wyomingites with deep conservation roots oppose axing Forest Service Roadless Rule: Although the state government loathes the Forest Service regulation, many residents value the wild lands and wildlife it protects.
‘Judas elk’ to help target Jackson Hole ‘suburban elk,’ easing pressure on Yellowstone migrants
‘Judas elk’ to help target Jackson Hole ‘suburban elk,’ easing pressure on Yellowstone migrants: Research reveals that animals that summer on ranchland and in residential subdivisions near town pile up on the National Elk Refuge's southern end — a trait that will help wildlife managers steer hunters toward the problematic cohort.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Monday, September 22, 2025
Friday, September 5, 2025
Saturday, September 5, 1925. Picnic Etiquette
The Saturday Evening Post anticipated the start of school in most localities the following Tuesday.
Ethel Hays portrayed a still familiar type.
Proclamation, September 5, 1925Purpose: To commemorate the cross erected and dedicated at Fort Niagara by Father Millett on Good Friday, 1688Date: September 5, 1925WHEREAS, by section 2 of an Act of Congress approved June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225), the President was authorized “in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected”;AND WHEREAS, Father Millett, a French Jesuit Priest, who came to Canada – then known as New France – in 1667, and who served about fifteen years as a missionary among the Onondaga and Oneida Indians within what is now the State of New York, and subsequently became a chaplain in the French Colonial Forces, first at Fort Frontenac and later at Fort Niagara, did, on Good Friday, 1688, erect and dedicate a cross on what is now the Fort Niagara Military Reservation; and the Knights of Columbus of the Sixth New York District have requested that a suitable site be set apart thereon for the erection of another cross commemorative of the cross erected and blessed by Father Millett;NOW THEREFORE, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of America, under authority of the said Act of Congress do hereby reserve as a site for the said monument, the following described parcel of land situated within the limits of the military reservation of Fort Niagara, New York, and do hereby declare and proclaim the same to be a national monument to commemorate the cross erected and dedicated at Fort Niagara by Father Millett on Good Friday, 1688, viz:Beginning at an iron pipe on the northerly line of old stone block house (building No. 33) produced, and seventy-four (74) feet westerly from the northwest corner of said block house, running thence eighteen (18) feet westerly along said northerly line produced to an iron pipe; thence northerly at right angles to above line eighteen (18) feet to an iron pipe; thence easterly on a line parallel to the north line of block house produced and eighteen (18) feet distant northerly therefrom, eighteen (18) feet to another iron pipe; thence southerly at right angles to said northerly line of block house eighteen feet to the point of beginning; containing 0.0074 acres more or less.IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.Done at the City of Washington this 5th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five and the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fiftieth.
Centerville, Arkansas hit a still standing record of 112F.
The New Yorker celebrated tennis.
And Colliers discussed Picnic etiquette.
Last edition:
Monday, August 31, 1925. Bombing Ajdir.
Labels: 1920s, 1925, Aircraft, French Navy, Hawaii, Morocco, Peru, Rif War, South America, Spanish Navy, U.S. Navy
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Monday, August 27, 1945. The Allied Fleet enters Tokyo Bay.
The Allied fleet anchored in Tokyo Bay.
Contact is made between the Allies and the Japanese forces in the Sittang Valley, Burma. The Japanese enter into an armed truce in New Britain while in the Solomons Japanese forces fight on, unaware the war has ended.
Truman urges Congress to extend conscription by two years, which it did. Conscription in fact continued until March, 1947.
Draft notice.
This would mean that my father's high school graduation class, 1947, was the first class since 1940 which did not graduate into conscription. The respite would be brief, as conscription would be reinstated in 1948 due to the Cold War.
The Battle of Yinji ended in a Chinese Communist victory.
The 1945 Texas Hurricane made landfall near Seadrift, killing three.
Last edition:
Sunday, August 26, 1945. Bomber Harris announces his retirement.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 94th edition. Portents? The problem of Evil.
Halley's comet depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, showing how big of event it was and how it was viewed, particularly after the events of 1066.
In ancient times, some things were seen as portents A warning of things to come. Sometimes, of course, that was appreciated retrospectively.
A terrible flood has resulted in loss of life in Texas, most tragically at Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ summer camp near the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country.
It'll seem odd noting it, but this is right after the codification of Trump's agenda in the Big Ugly Bill, which took an axe to solar and wind electricity support.
In Wyoming it's been popular to criticize those project. It likely has been in Texas too, and everywhere in the US in which petroleum has been a major economic factor. In those areas, the climate change is a fib line of reasoning has been popular, mostly based on the thesis that what's good for my wallet can't be bad for anything.
The weather recently has been weird.
Some will likely point out that flooding in Texas isn't a new thing. Indeed, the great Stevie Ray Vaughan put out an lp called Texas Flood which featured the great blues number It's Flooding Down In Texas.
All of which is quite true.
And none of which demonstrates that the weather has been normal. It hasn't been.
I read once, years ago, a comment by a Catholic monk pertaining to the problem of evil, "why does God allow bad things to happen?" I've seen various explanations over the years, but he related he had actually asked that question, directed as a petition (prayer) to God. He received an answer, that being "Why do you?"
Indeed, why do we?
Here's one we can avoid, and even reverse. It's our duty to do so.
One thing I'd also note. The Big Ugly takes money from things like NOAA and from weather prediction. One of the thing that's being complained of in Texas is the lack of weather warnings before the terrible storm.
We're going to see a lot more of that.
So again, why do we?
Last edition:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 93d Edition. Porn industry retstricted, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites, Dudes in the lady room, and on women's teams, Trump helping where no law or help was needed.
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Thursday, July 3, 1975. The U.S. Civil Service Commission ended restrictions on hiring homosexuals.
The U.S. Civil Service Commission ended restrictions on hiring homosexuals.
It's almost shocking to think that there was such a ban, but indeed there was. The stated purpose of the ban was to prevent embarrassment to the agency.
Las Vegas endured a terrible flash flood.
Alex Trebek before Jeopardy, in an example from today:
Last edition:
Wednesday, July 2, 1975. Dead Savage Spring.
Monday, June 23, 2025
Tuesday, June 23, 1925. The Gros Ventre Landslide.
The Gros Ventre landslide near Jackson occurred following heavy rains and a 4.0 magnitude earthquake. Approximately 38,000,000 m3 (1.3×109 cu ft) of sedimentary rock came down the Tetons, dammed a river, and created the Lower Slide Lake. The dam partially failed in 1927, wiping out Kelly.
Last edition:
Sunday, June 21, 1925. Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Tuesday, June 5, 1945. The Berlin Declaration.
The Berlin Declaration was signed by the United States, USSR, Britain and France, confirming the complete legal dissolution of the German state.
Declaration regarding the defeat of Germany and the assumption of supreme authority with respect to Germany by the Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the Provisional Government of the French Republic.
The German armed forces on land, at sea and in the air have been completely defeated and have surrendered unconditionally and Germany, which bears responsibility for the war, is no longer capable of resisting the will of the victorious Powers. The unconditional surrender of Germany has thereby been effected, and Germany has become subject to such requirements as may now or hereafter be imposed upon her.
There is no central Government or authority in Germany capable of accepting responsibility for the maintenance of order, the administration of the country and compliance with the requirements of the victorious Powers.
It is in these circumstances necessary, without prejudice to any subsequent decisions that may be taken respecting Germany, to make provision for the cessation of any further hostilities on the part of the German armed forces, for the maintenance of order in Germany and for the administration of the country, and to announce the immediate requirements with which Germany must comply.
The Representatives of the Supreme Commands of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the French Republic, hereinafter called the "Allied Representatives," acting by authority of their respective Governments and in the interests of the United Nations, accordingly make the following Declaration:
The Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom, and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, hereby assume supreme authority with respect to Germany, including all the powers possessed by the German Government, the High Command and any state, municipal, or local government or authority. The assumption, for the purposes stated above, of the said authority and powers does not affect the annexation of Germany.
The Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom, and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, will hereafter determine the boundaries of Germany or any part thereof and the status of Germany or of any area at present being part of German territory.
In virtue of the supreme authority and powers thus assumed by the four Governments, the Allied Representatives announce the following requirements arising from the complete defeat and unconditional surrender of Germany with which Germany must comply:
ARTICLE 1
Germany, and all German military, naval and air authorities and all forces under German control shall immediately cease hostilities in all theatres of war against the forces of the United Nations on land, at sea and in the air.
ARTICLE 2
(a) All armed forces of Germany or under German control, wherever they may be situated, including land, air, anti-aircraft and naval forces, the S.S., S.A. and Gestapo, and all other forces of auxiliary organisations equipped with weapons, shall be completely disarmed, handing over their weapons and equipment to local Allied Commanders or to officers designated by the Allied Representatives
(b) The personnel of the formations and units of all the forces referred to in paragraph (a) above shall, at the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Allied State concerned, be declared to be prisoners of war, pending further decisions, and shall be subject to such conditions and directions as may be prescribed by the respective Allied Representatives.
(c) All forces referred to in paragraph (a) above, wherever they may be, will remain in their present positions pending instructions from the Allied Representatives.
(d) Evacuation by the said forces of all territories outside the frontiers of Germany as they existed on the 31st December, 1937, will proceed according to instructions to be given by the Allied Representatives.
(e) Detachments of civil police to be armed with small arms only, for the maintenance of order and for guard duties, will be designated by the Allied Representatives.
ARTICLE 3
(a) All aircraft of any kind or nationality in Germany or German-occupied or controlled territories or waters, military, naval or civil, other than aircraft in the service of the Allies, will remain on the ground, on the water or aboard ships pending further instructions.
(b) All German or German-controlled aircraft in or over territories or waters not occupied or controlled by Germany will proceed to Germany or to such other place or places as may be specified by the Allied Representatives.
ARTICLE 4
(a) All German or German-controlled naval vessels, surface and submarine, auxiliary naval craft, and merchant and other shipping, wherever such vessels may be at the time of this Declaration, and all other merchant ships of whatever nationality in German ports, will remain in or proceed immediately to ports and bases as specified by the Allied Representatives. The crews of such vessels will remain on board pending further instructions.
(b) All ships and vessels of the United Nations, whether or not title has been transferred as the result of prize court or other proceedings, which are at the disposal of Germany or under German control at the time of this Declaration, will proceed at the dates and to the ports or bases specified by the Allied Representatives.
ARTICLE 5
(a) All or any of the following articles in the possession of the German armed forces or under German control or at German disposal will be held intact and in good condition at the disposal of the Allied Representatives, for such purposes and at such times and places as they may prescribe:
(i) all arms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment, stores and supplies and other implements of war of all kinds and all other war materials;
(ii) all naval vessels of all classes, both surface and submarine, auxiliary naval craft and all merchant shipping, whether afloat, under repair or construction, built or building;
(iii) all aircraft of all kinds, aviation and anti-aircraft equipment and devices;
(iv) all transportation and communications facilities and equipment, by land, water or air;
(v) all military installations and establishments, including airfields, seaplane bases, ports and naval bases, storage depots, permanent and temporary land and coast fortifications, fortresses and other fortified areas, together with plans and drawings of all such fortifications, installations and establishments;
(vi) all factories, plants, shops, research institutions, laboratories, testing stations, technical data, patents, plans, drawings and inventions, designed or intended to produce or to facilitate the production or use of the articles, materials, and facilities referred to in sub-paragraphs (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) above or otherwise to further the conduct of war.
(b) At the demand of the Allied Representatives the following will be furnished:
(i) the labour, services and plant required for the maintenance or operation of any of the six categories mentioned in paragraph (a) above; and
(ii) any information or records that may be required by the Allied Representatives in connection with the same.
(c) At the demand of the Allied Representatives all facilities will be provided for the movement of Allied troops and agencies, their equipment and supplies, on the railways, roads and other land communications or by sea, river or air. All means of transportation will be maintained in good order and repair, and the labour, services and plant necessary therefor will be furnished.
ARTICLE 6
(a) The German authorities will release to the Allied Representatives, in accordance with the procedure to be laid down by them, all prisoners of war at present in their power, belonging to the forces of the United Nations, and will furnish full lists of these persons, indicating the places of their detention in Germany or territory occupied by Germany. Pending the release of such prisoners of war, the German authorities and people will protect them in their persons and property and provide them with adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical attention and money in accordance with their rank or official position.
(b) The German authorities and people will in like manner provide for and release all other nationals of the United Nations who are confined, interned or otherwise under restraint, and all other persons who may be confined, interned or otherwise under restraint for political reasons or as a result of any Nazi action, law or regulation which discriminates on the ground of race, colour, creed or political belief.
(c) The German authorities will, at the demand of the Allied Representatives, hand over control of places of detention to such officers as may be designated for the purpose by the Allied Representatives.
ARTICLE 7
The German authorities concerned will furnish to the Allied Representatives:
(a) full information regarding the forces referred to in Article 2 (a), and, in particular, will furnish forthwith all information which the Allied Representatives may require concerning the numbers, locations and dispositions of such forces, whether located inside or outside Germany;
(b) complete and detailed information concerning mines, minefields and other obstacles to movement by land, sea or air, and the safety lanes in connection therewith. All such safety lanes will be kept open and clearly marked; all mines, minefields and other dangerous obstacles will as far as possible be rendered safe, and all aids to navigation will be reinstated. Unarmed German military and civilian personnel with the necessary equipment will be made available and utilized for the above purposes and for the removal of mines, minefields and other obstacles as directed by the Allied Representatives.
ARTICLE 8
There shall be no destruction, removal, concealment, transfer or scuttling of, or damage to, any military, naval, air, shipping, port, industrial and other like property and facilities and all records and archives, wherever they may be situated, except as may be directed by the Allied Representatives.
ARTICLE 9
Pending the institution of control by the Allied Representatives over all means of communication, all radio and telecommunication installations and other forms of wire or wireless communications, whether ashore or afloat, under German control, will cease transmission except as directed by the Allied Representatives.
ARTICLE 10
The forces, ships, aircraft, military equipment, and other property in Germany or in German control or service or at German disposal, of any other country at war with any of the Allies, will be subject to the provisions of this Declaration and of any proclamations, orders, ordinances or instructions issued thereunder.
ARTICLE 11
(a) The principal Nazi leaders as specified by the Allied Representatives, and all persons from time to time named or designated by rank, office or employment by the Allied Representatives as being suspected of having committed, ordered or abetted war crimes or analogous offences, will be apprehended and surrendered to the Allied Representatives.
(b) The same will apply in the case of any national of any of the United Nations who is alleged to have committed an offence against his national law, and who may at any time be named or designated by rank, office or employment by the Allied Representatives.
(c) The German authorities and people will comply with any instructions given by the Allied Representatives for the apprehension and surrender of such persons.
ARTICLE 12
The Allied Representatives will station forces and civil agencies in any or all parts of Germany as they may determine.
ARTICLE 13
(a) In the exercise of the supreme authority with respect to Germany assumed by the Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom, and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the four Allied Governments will take such steps, including the complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany, as they deem requisite for future peace and security.
(b) The Allied Representatives will impose on Germany additional political, administrative, economic, financial, military and other requirements arising from the complete defeat of Germany. The Allied Representatives, or persons or agencies duly designated to act on their authority, will issue proclamations, orders, ordinances and instructions for the purpose of laying down such additional requirements, and of giving effect to the other provisions of this Declaration. All German authorities and the German people shall carry out unconditionally the requirements of the Allied Representatives, and shall fully comply with all such proclamations, orders, ordinances and instructions.
ARTICLE 14
This Declaration enters into force and effect at the date and hour set forth below. In the event of failure on the part of the German authorities or people promptly and completely to fulfill their obligations hereby or hereafter imposed, the Allied Representatives will take whatever action may be deemed by them to be appropriate under the circumstances.
ARTICLE 15
This Declaration is drawn up in the English, Russian, French and German languages. The English, Russian and French are the only authentic texts.
BERLIN, GERMANY, June 5, 1945.
Signed at 1800 hours, Berlin time, by
Dwight D. Eisenhower,
General of the Army USA;
Zhukov,
Marshal of the Soviet Union;
B. L. Montgomery,
Field Marshal, Great Britain;
De Lattre de Tassisny,
French Provisional Government.
The U.S. Army Air Force dropped 3,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Kobe, Japan.
The 37th Infantry Division occupied Aritao on Luzon.
More hard fighting on Okinawa occurred and a sudden typhoon damaged 4 battleships, 8 aircraft carriers, 7 cruisers, 14 destroyers, 2 tankers, and and ammunition transport ship, of the US 3rd Fleet.
A Kamikaze attack crippled the USS Mississippi and the heavy cruiser USS Louisville.
Esquire magazines second class mailing privileges were restored by a US appellate court after having been suspended due to the feature of Vargas Girl pinups, which foreshadowed Playboy Playmates. The decision was appealed to the United States Supreme Court which upheld the decision, unfortunately, in 1946.
This demonstrates that the widespread public acceptance of pornography was already occurring in advance of the 1953 introduction of Playboy, so the trend we've discussed here in other threads was already underway with the Courts frustrating efforts to restrict the development. This also, we'd note, runs a bit counter to the heavy attribution we've attached to Hefner's rag, because, as noted, the trend was underway, although Esquire's depictions were illustrations, rather than photographs. To a certain degree, the U.S. Army publication Yank had headed in the same direction, with its centerfolds, although they were always full clothed.
It wasn't a good trend.
Last edition:
Monday, June 4, 1945. Marines land on the Oroku Peninsula on Okinawa.
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