Ford Motors introduced the 40 hour workweek into American industry. They reduced what had been a 48 hour workweek to that level, with no reduction in pay.
.webp)
Yesterday some time my cell phone, which was an iPhone 11, died in that it would no longer place or receive telephone calls. Indeed, communications wise, the only thing it would still do is text another iPhone. I discovered this when I went to make a work call after I got home.
I've never been a fan of cell phones. I hate them, actually. They do some good things, like allow me to be in contact with my family in a way that my father wasn't after I'd left home for college. That's about the only thing I like about them. Modern cell "phones" are actually iPods and cameras, and little computers, and I like some of those features, but I'm not fooling myself they have anything to do with cellular telecommunications
The major thing the cell phone has done, however, is to allow my office job, that of being a lawyer, to intrude into my entire life, all day, and every day, long. Being a lawyer is already a difficult job and it taking over everything all the time is really miserable. Abraham Lincoln, when he was a lawyer, didn't have his clients sitting at his dinner table or bothering him on Sundays. Every modern lawyer does.
I hate iPhones for that.
And for that reason, at age 62, nearly 63, I just decided not to replace it. Unable to place my call, I came back into the living room, and while I thought twice about it, as I was fearful of the reaction I might and did get, I told my wife "my cell phone is dead".
As soon as she believed it (there is honor in being a prophet, save in one's own household) she sprung into action. It was already evening. "Are you saying you want me to go get a new one?"
I answered truthfully, "no, I'm not".
Now, to explain that, my wife loves cell phones. I think everyone in the family loves them, save for me. So she takes care of getting the cell phones, not me. I'd be poorly suited for it at best.
Anyhow, she asked again, "if you want me to go get one I need to know right now so I can do it".
"No, I don't want you to go get one, it can wait".
Not believing that, it was followed up with the same question, at which point I answered truthfully. "I don't want a new one".
That really sprang her into action, "I'll go to Best Buy right now". My reply, again truthfully, "I don't want a new one, I hate cell phones and I'm glad its dead."
That was met with a scoff and she left with my dead phone and returned with a new one. It's an iPhone 17. Because of the codes involved in doing that, that meant that I had to finish setting it up, which I reluctantly did last night.
Defeated by technology. Not in using it, but in being made to use it.
A really interesting Richard C. Miller photograph of Marilyn Monroe was taken, which we learned of due to Reddit's 80 Years Ago Sub, and which we repost here via fair use.
Notes from the Spesia Underground
A really interesting episode.
This really fascinating look at modern weddings brings up a whole host of things we routinely discuss here, including agrarianism and subsidiarity. The episode from Catholic Stuff You Should Know points out the extent that weddings were, at at the time the photo of Norma Jean was taken above still remained, community affairs and not big bride focused shows.
We've lost a lot here.
And we really need to recapture it.
While indelicate, this also shows the portrayal of a really beautiful woman before Playboy perverted all of that.
Monroe was, as is well known, Playboy's first, and unwilling, centerfold. But what's interesting here is that prior to Playboy arriving on the scene, this was not an uncommon depiction of a really beautiful woman. There were, of course, already some women who were focused on for being really busty, Jane Russell giving an example, but the theme did not absolutely dominate. To look at the 19 year old Monroe here, you would not have thought of her in that fashion. A decade later, you would, and even after Life intervened to push her nude photograph first as an art item. We've dealt with that before here as well, although frankly we need to modify our entry. That post is here:
Also posted via fair use, Colliers had an article on keeping everyone employed year around, showing how times were in fact changing.
We've looked at that here too.
Truman presented an ultimatum to Stalin demanding the Soviets comply with the agreement to pull their troops from Iran.
The Rocky Mountain News was a morning paper, so they didn't catch that, but they did catch something else that Truman had ordered the day prior.
The Army issued an order prohibiting soldiers from engaging in public displays of affection with Japanese women.
Out Our Way's gag was based on cleaning out the ash bin of a stove, something that's likely completely lost on modern readers.
Argentina extended its claims over Antarctica.
Mad King Donny must not be aware of this or we'd be staking a claim.
Indonesia Tentara Republik Indonesia (Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia) evacuated Indonesian citizens from the city of Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, after which the area was burned to avoid its use by the Dutch.
Commemorated as the Bandung Sea of Fire and a great patriotic act, poor people really don't have much of a say in things like this.
Last edition:
Today in the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics.
Almost every weekday Catholic holy day I think about posting something like this, and then never do. But on this occasion, I'm going to.
I don't resent the holy days, and indeed, it would be wrong to do so. But, in this very localized post, I don't like the way that the parishes handle scheduling Masses for them, or at least I'm whining about it.
Indeed, as this one follows a Sunday, I was hoping the feast had been transferred so there would by no obligation, but it wasn't.
Catholics are required, under the pain of mortal sin, to attend a Mass for a holy day of obligation, assuming that it's possible to do so. What I think is the case is that sometimes the Church doesn't take into account the daily lives of Catholics, at least here, to make it a bit more easier to fulfill that obligation. Or maybe it figures that it being difficult is part of the point, I'm not sure.
Anyhow, what the situation is, is as follows.
Like a lot of Catholics in this region, I worked on Saturday. I took time out of my work day, however, to go to confession. I went, and then went back to work. The confession schedule at the Church I normally go to makes getting to confession very easy. There's confession on Saturday mornings at 8:00 a.m. On First Saturdays there's a Mass at 9:00 a.m., although I don't attend it. There's confession again at 1:30 p.m. The two other parishes have confessions at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. One parish has confession on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. and again on Wednesday evenings, and the big across town parish has confession on Thursday evening. So every parish is making it easy to get to confession.
It's easy to get to Sunday Mass as well. One parish starts its vigil Mass at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The other two are about 6:00 p.m., I think. Masses resume at the big parish at 8:00 and run them through the day with two of the three concluding with Masses in the evening, with the earliest being 5:15 p.m.
So far, so good.
All the parishes have weekday Masses, which is where this begins to break down in my view.
One parish has a morning Mass at 6:30 a.m., way early. Another one has daily Masses at 9:00 a.m.. Not so early. Another has one at 8:30, but today, on the holy day, that's been moved to 9:00 a.m.
I used to attend daily Mass. . . at noon. The downtown parish, which has a morning Mass at 6:30, had one at noon as well. It was well attended in relative terms. It was also quite short, as the two Priests who conducted the Masses (they now have one) knew that almost everyone there represented foot traffic from downtown.
Okay, so what is the problem?
This is.
I could have made the Mass last night, the vigil Mass. I thought about it.
But I also attended Mass at 8:30 in the morning, and then headed out to look for elk on my one day off. It's not so much that Mass twice in one day is too much, but for people who have a single day off, and that's a lot of people around here, what that effectively does is to devote the entire day to Mass.
There is something charming about that, and I think some people do that very thing. But for a feral person like me, bookending the day that way means that pretty much the rest of the day is lost.
To add to it, while I did bet back in town in time, on this day, like a lot of Sundays in the fall and winter, that would have put me in Mass wearing tiger stripe cargo pants. . . which would look a bit odd.
It might be possible for me to make a 6:30 a.m. Mass, but it would be pretty difficult. I'm usually still downing coffee at 6:30 a.m. and my days are really long. If I did that, particularly because of that location, I'd be at work before 7:30 and therefore be putting in a default 12 hour day with no break, most of the time.
And when I had school age children here at home, it was an absolute impossibility. When we still had a dog here, which we did until quite recently, it would have been as well, as my long suffering spouse, who has the temperament of a grizzly bear if she's awakened early, and who is not Catholic, would have had to been poked awake.
And 6:30, frankly, is absurdly early. Is there a reason this can't be 7:30? A 6:30 Mass will draw people, but it will tend to draw the retired elderly who don't have much else to do at that hour and who have given up sleeping, as the elderly tend to do. I know that, as in spite of my whining here, I'm always up early.
I have, I'll note, attended that Mass when I had no other choice. I frankly was darn near asleep, but it was interesting as I sat right behind two young women who were friends, one of whom was a trad, sort of combining a mochila with a leather skirt, and the other who was wearing street clothes. My guess is that they were on the way to high school or community college, probably the latter.
I'll also note that when I made that 6:30 a.m. Mass it was before they were worried that I might have intestinal cancer and then thyroid cancer. My stomach has never been the same and mornings is generally where that shows it. Enough said.
I'm grateful that there are two parishes with evening Masses I can make, although I with the one that has 5:15 Sunday Masses still had a holy day mass at that time. Now it does not. It's 6:00 holy day Mass is a Spanish Mass, which is also fine, so I suppose the time was moved to accommodate Spanish speaking Catholics on their way home from work.
What I really wish, however, is that one Parish had a noon Mass.
Any Mass after 8:00 on a weekday really isn't very well scheduled to accommodate working people, or students, in this region. When I was a student, I was nearly always at school by 8. I'm nearly always at work by 8, if not 7. By the end of the day, I'm nearly always beat down and just want to crawl home (a coworker who occasionally does the "let's go get a beer" nearly always gets the reply "I just want to go home). I'll make one of the evening Masses, but I'll be pretty worn out by that time.
A noon Mass would be ideal. And not just for me, but for others like me, who work in town. The downtown noon Mass was great, as I could and did walk to it, but I could drive to any of them.
I know, in no small part due Fr. Joseph Krupp's podcast, that Priests are grossly overburdened, so I shouldn't be complaining at all. But I am a bit. Masses at 8:30 or 9:00 can only be attended by people, for the most part, who aren't working, and who don't have children. Masses at 6:30 will probably only be attended by the elderly and the other very early risers, who can accommodate getting something to eat thereafter.
For most working people these just don't work. Noon won't work for everyone either, but it'll work for some who might otherwise have a difficult time going.
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While waiting for Confession to commence on Saturday, I was stunned to find a large crowed of people in the Church. It soon was obvious it was a Baptism, and had just concluded.
Quite of few of the men were wearing hats, with at least one wearing a cowboy hat. This is inside the church.
I've grown used to declining clothing standards, and frankly I'm not exactly that well dressed most Sundays. But wearing hats indoors was something I was taught to never do as a child. In the service it was normally absolutely prohibited. "Is your head cold?" was a question addressed in the form of a snarl by sergeants to enlisted men who forgot to remove their hats.
Now people wear hats indoors all the time. I don't like, and I still don't. I never see Catholics do that inside of a church, if they are men (and for that matter its pretty rare with women), so my presumption is that these were people who were largely unchurched.
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In looking for Mass times, I looked to see what was offered by the by The Ukrainian Catholic Church's mission to Casper. I suspect they don't have a service today, but looking up their information is always a problem. I don't know if its because its a small community and they know what they're doing, and therefore don't feel that they need to publicize it, or if its something else.
The Eastern Rite churches of the Catholic Church are growing, and it'd behoove them to at least make the dates and times of their services known, I'd think. So far they've also been holding services in non Catholic buildings, which I also don't get. I don't know what's up with all of this, if anything at all, but here I wish that they'd make use of one of the Catholic Churches and make it easier to find out when they're holding services.
***********************************************
It's interesting, at least to me, to note that the word holiday obviously comes from Catholic holy days. Most of the original holidays were in fact holy days and in Catholic countries, that's still very much the case.
This is a Protestant county.
That gives rise to part of the problems noted. The US has a hardcore Protestant Work Ethic pounded into the culture by the Puritans, who got it from Calvin. It's part of the crappiest aspects of Americans culture. It doesn't add a day to our lives, probably shortens them, and makes them a lot less enjoyable.
Calvinism, from which that comes, really has threads of steel throughout the culture. John Calvin was a fun sucker, but he believed in work in a major way. He also believed that being well to do showed that you were probably amongst the elect. The Puritans themselves were big on the marital act, but by the time of the English Civil War prominent Calvinist in England figured that if they were well to do, that was proof enough they were amongst the elect, and so pick up a mistress on the side was okay.
You can see a lot of that in the culture today, particularly amongst those in power. People don't mind the concept of telling you to work harder while the engage in serial polygamy. It's strong in the American Civil Religion and some strains of Evangelicalism as well, where some "faith leaders' who have had morally dubious lives see nothing particularly disturbing about that.
The culture lost a lot in the Reformation.
**************************************************
Finally, this is not only holy day, it's a feast day. The difficulty of getting to Mass will take away from the feasting aspect of it, as will the fact that in a Puritan Protestant county we're not supposed to be feasting on a Monday. Everyone has to be at work again, bright and early in the morning.
Eight months into the year, and our 10th edition for 2025.
Uff.
Mad King Donald fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as he was upset by the Bureau's negative job report, which he stated was rigged.
It was rigged, of course, because facts in Trumpland are rigged if they aren't universally pro Trump.
This is likely to get a lot worse as the fact is that a lot of things Trump has set in motion are going to start having pretty negative consequences. Likewise, some firmly held GOP beliefs on economics and science aren't going to hold up to reality.
Speaking of reality and the news, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is closing its doors due to the budget rescission. The CPB, NPR and PBS are separate entities, but this is not a good development.
Republicans, who don't actually seem to realize the three entities are separate from each other, are rejoicing that public funding is ending for "left wing" media, by which they largely mean media that reports reality and the truth, as opposed to propaganda.
August 3, 2025
Three Kentucky distilleries, all small ones, have filed for bankruptcy within the past eight months, with the lastest coming last week.
While I haven't seen any analysis on it, distilleries were particularly worried about the Trump tariffs and, surprise surprise, booze can be made anywhere. Canadians have pretty much sworn off of US alcohol and were actually a major market. They make their own anyway. Seems like Europeans might be doing so also.
And part of this is probably the impact of an artisanal whiskey boom of the last decade fading.
August 5, 2025
Proposal to address ‘nation’s worst workforce exodus’ fails to get support from Wyoming lawmakers: The Wyoming Business Council says it has more policy ideas forthcoming to address "vicious" shrinking workforce conundrum.
August 10, 2025
Some really interesting things are going on that are definitely Wyoming centric that we haven't noted, or haven't noted much, and should.
The first might be that a proposal to put in a nuclear generator construction facility in Natrona County north of the town of Bar Nunn has really turned out to be controversial. This comes on the heels of a nuclear power plant in Kemmerer that is also controversial.
The ins and outs of the controversy are a little difficult to really discern, but at some level, quite a few people just don't like the idea of something nuclear. It's not coal, and its not oil. Chuck Gray, for example, has come out against this and wind energy. Chuck hasn't worked a day in his life in a blue collar job and he's just tapping into the "no sir, we don't like it" sort of thought here.
What's going to happen? We'll have to see.
Another local controversy is the approval of a 30 lot subdivision on Casper Mountain. This has drawn the ire of a lot people who live on Casper Mountain, and most of it is posed in conservation or even environmental terms.
The irony there, of course, is that people who have already built a house on the mountain are somewhat compromised in these arguments. I get it, however, as I really don't think we need more rural subdivisions in the county, at all.
On the mountain, I'd note that one of the really aggravating things that has happened recently is that last year a joint Federal/State project paved the dirt road on the backside of the mountain to the top of Muddy Mountain. It didn't need to be done and it just encourages land rapist to built houses on the backside of Casper Mountain.
I understand the opposition here, but in context, things seem to lack consistency.
Which gets back to this, I suppose. If a person just doesn't want development, they can say that.
What you can't do, however, is pretend that some major pillars of the state's economy are going to be here forever. The extractive industries are basically on their way out right now.
One of the amusing things about all of this is that the MAGA hat wearers locally who are opposed to nuclear energy are facing it in part due to the current administration.
August 13, 2025
Longtime Wyoming newspaper executives to buy, reopen eight shuttered newspapers: Overjoyed newsroom staff in communities across Wyoming are back on the job with pay after corporate closure laid off 30 employees.
Trump greenlights 14.5 million-ton coal expansion in Wyoming: The newly accessible tract represents a little more than half of the Antelope mine's annual production but signals more coal mining actions to come.
August 15, 2025
Headline in the CST:
US producer prices surge
And the tariff chickens come home to roost.
Trouble north of the border, where unions remain much stronger than they do here:
Air Canada is facing a flight attendants strike and is basically starting to shut down.
Cynthia Lummis on a comment from the Treasury Secretary saying the US needs to explore ways to buy more Bitcoin:
America needs the BITCOIN Act.
No, it doesn't. Focus on Wyoming issues and pay attention to them Senator.
August 17, 2025
August 19, 2025
Federal mineral taxes are being reduced from16.67% to 12.5%.
They had been raised during the Biden Administration.
August 20, 2025
August 23, 2025
Employees at Laramie's Mountain Cement voted to unionize. They will be joining the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers.
August 30, 2025
Well, there's absolutely no surprise. Trump's illegal tariffs were affirmed to be illegal.
D'uh.
The Court's decision starts:
The Government appeals a decision of the Court of International Trade setting aside five Executive Orders that imposed tariffs of unlimited duration on nearly all goods from nearly every country in the world, holding that the tariffs were not authorized by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq. Because we agree that IEEPA’s grant of presidential authority to “regulate” imports does not authorize the tariffs imposed by the Executive Orders, we affirm.
Even here, however, the Court granted a stay of thirty days on the implementation of its order, which a private litigant would be unlikely to have received, and the government shouldn't have received here. The order should have gone into effect immediately absent the government posting a bond to cover the damages, which would be all the tariffs collected while the matter was on appeal, and all that it has already collected, which should need to be fully refunded.
But a refund won't happen and the implementation of the ruling is delayed by 30 days, so the government can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which doesn't actually have to take the appeal.
Whether the S.Ct upholds it, or proves to be a pure political arm of the government, is another matter.
There were three dissents in the en banc decision.
September 7, 2025
Postal traffic into the United States dropped by more than 80% after the Trump administration ended a tariff exemption for low-cost imports.
September 9, 2025
Wyoming’s massive new federal coal tract not likely to draw high bids: State and coal industry officials want a new 440 million ton coal tract offered for sale, but opponents warn lease won't benefit public coffers like years past.
Like Star Athletes, WyoTech Grads Recruited For Jobs All Over The Country
September 13, 2025
Headline from the Trib:
Local board pulls $25M grant application to develop Radiant Nuclear site
And
Feds fast-track coal mining expansion in southwest Wyoming
And
Court sides with Wyoming utility, rules state should have allowed higher rate increase
Related threads:
The Union Pacific is laying off carmen in Green River and may be closing the shop there.
September 24, 2025
Apparently US immigration raids have caused Michelob Ultra, which is gross, to become the most popular beer in the U.S., displacing Corona, which is gross, for the last 12 months.
September 25, 2025
From the Trib:
And the Cowboy State Daily:
The General Services Administration is attempting to rehire hundreds of employees laid off by Elon Musk's moronic Dipshit DOGE.
September 26, 2025
More tariffs. 100% tariff pharmaceuticals, 30% tariff on upholstered furniture, 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, and a 30% tariff on heavy trucks.
September 30, 2025
The Trump administration plans to open more than 13 million acres of federal land for leasing for coal and provide $625 million in funds to expand power generation from coal, the latter a blatantly socialist move, but apparently Republicans are okay with Socialism now.
In Wyoming, The West Antelope III coal lease will go to competitive auction on Oct. 8.
These will prove to be carbon laden farts in a windstorm as coal will continue to decline, but the action will be damaging to long term power generation and the climate.
Cattle prices are reported to be at a record high.
October 1, 2025
Powell Valley Healthcare is shutting down its oncology services and its internal medicine clinic in Cody as a way to remain economically sustainable.
October 3, 2025
October 6, 2025
October 9, 2025
Hard liquor exports to Canada are down 85% this year.
October 11, 2025
The master negotiator got the big middle finger salute from China over his trade policies and now Trump is threatening 100% tariffs on the country.
Markets are reacting badly.
October 13, 2025
China indicated it wasn't backing down on the tariff matter.
Last edition:
Hirohito threw Tojo under the bus for Pearl Harbor.
Manhattan elevator operators went on strike.
It's odd to think of them going on strike. They were common at the time, and were into the 1960s. Now, of course, they're so rare that most people have never encountered one.
Related threads:
Last edition:
