Friday, May 16, 2014
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Extremism and the Internet
For those with long memories, it's almost impossible not to be surprised by how extreme people's comments have become on some things. Or on many things, for that matter. Fairly obviously, something operated to generally moderate opinion. Perhaps it was simply the lack of an easy vehicle to transmit extreme views.
To give an odd example, there's a video that's been on the news and which is uploaded to YouTube, which was compiled from a series of security cameras. It shows a little boy out riding a little bicycle. He gets attacked by a neighbor's mid sized dog. The remarkable thing about the video is that the family cat rushes out and attacks the dog, and chases it off. It's a neat video.
It'd be hard to imagine anyone exhibiting their extremism based on that, but if you read the comments, some sure do.
For one thing, one poster is opinionated about the homeowner having so many security cameras. Well, miffed person, stuff it. If a person wants security cameras, so be it.
Beyond that, however, one person comes in and voices an opinion that all dog ownership should be banned. All of it, save for working dogs.
Seriously? I've heard of people exhibit this extreme view about firearms, which is also way out there in my view, but ban dogs? Come on.
Another person pronounces cats as "evil" and then goes on about how they carry some disease. That's equally absurd. No doubt cats carry some diseases. Mammals carry disease. For that matter, reptiles and birds carry diseases. If this view meant anything, pretty much all things on land ought to be banned, assuming that we can't get diseases from fish (which I don't know if we can or not). This person needs to relax.
In a prior era, I suppose people with these types of views would have still held them. But they probably wouldn't have voiced them out of fear that they'd get eye rolling. In this fashion, the Internet has done us no favors.
To give an odd example, there's a video that's been on the news and which is uploaded to YouTube, which was compiled from a series of security cameras. It shows a little boy out riding a little bicycle. He gets attacked by a neighbor's mid sized dog. The remarkable thing about the video is that the family cat rushes out and attacks the dog, and chases it off. It's a neat video.
It'd be hard to imagine anyone exhibiting their extremism based on that, but if you read the comments, some sure do.
For one thing, one poster is opinionated about the homeowner having so many security cameras. Well, miffed person, stuff it. If a person wants security cameras, so be it.
Beyond that, however, one person comes in and voices an opinion that all dog ownership should be banned. All of it, save for working dogs.
Seriously? I've heard of people exhibit this extreme view about firearms, which is also way out there in my view, but ban dogs? Come on.
Another person pronounces cats as "evil" and then goes on about how they carry some disease. That's equally absurd. No doubt cats carry some diseases. Mammals carry disease. For that matter, reptiles and birds carry diseases. If this view meant anything, pretty much all things on land ought to be banned, assuming that we can't get diseases from fish (which I don't know if we can or not). This person needs to relax.
In a prior era, I suppose people with these types of views would have still held them. But they probably wouldn't have voiced them out of fear that they'd get eye rolling. In this fashion, the Internet has done us no favors.
Aging and ignition.
Recently I was in Denver and had to rent a car. I rented some sort of newer Toyota SUV.
For the second time in recent months, when I got in the car, I was baffled by how to start it. Really a sign, I suppose, that I've aged to a point where some new technologies through me. When I rented the car, they told me that the "keys are in the car." Indeed, the "key" was in the ignition. But it wasn't a key at all, it was really a fob that was inserted in a slot. No key. It didn't turn. And because it didn't turn, I had a moment where I couldn't figure out how to start the car.
I then noticed the on/off button depicted above, and pushed it.
Nothing happened.
It quickly became apparent, however, that what I needed to do was to push on the brake, and push on. Once I did that, it started just fine. I drove into Denver and found a spot in a parking lot. There was a moment of tension when I pushed off, but it turned off just fine.
This is all a little silly of course, but every car I've ever owned took a key. They all started when you turned the ignition switch clock wise. They didn't all work exactly the same way, however.
The 1954 Chevrolet Sedan I had actually didn't require a key to start it. The key only unlocked the ignition. Once the ignition switch was unlocked, you could remove the key. I had no idea this was the case until my uncle showed me, and I was frankly stunned that was the case.
My old 1954 Chevrolet Deluxe.
At least one car I had actually had the keyed ignition added. That was my first Jeep. As the Jeep had been an Army Jeep originally, I know that it originally had switch ignition, but not key. All the purpose built military vehicles were that way, and I've driven quite a few of those. They varied in how they started, with floor starters being quite common. Floor starters were common on pickup trucks at one time, although you still needed a key to turn the ignition on.
My 1958 M38A1. It had a key ignition, but it was aftermarket.
I've never owned a vehicle with a floor starter. All the vehicles I have owned had keyed ignition. I'm not in any hurry to replace any of the vehicles I have, but based upon what I've recently been seeing, that's becoming a thing of the past. Odd to think that something I've just taken as a given that way, is on the way out.
Of course, even at that, keyed ignition was an innovation. I don't really know how they started, but very early vehicles, like Model Ts, did not have keyed ignition. So this change isn't unprecedented, but it is a surprise.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Thursday, May 14, 1914. The Life of General Villa
New Horse Market, Omaha, Nebraska, May 14, 1914.
The Life of General Villa was released as a film by D. W. Griffith. Villa was played by Villa.
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Tuesday, May 12, 1914. A Marian Apparition.
Monday, May 12, 2014
No More Bromine: Coke, Pepsi Drop Controversial Ingredient : The Salt : NPR
No More Bromine: Coke, Pepsi Drop Controversial Ingredient : The Salt : NPR
In the "really. . . there was nothing else to worry about department. . . ."
In the "really. . . there was nothing else to worry about department. . . ."
Removes 99% of Makeup . . .
Heard on a television advertisement as I walked out to head to work this morning.
Here's a thought. Dispense entirely with makeup. That removes 100% of makeup.
A cranky opinion I know, but I'm operating on very little sleep today and cranky as a result. But makeup is largely a fraud on women.
Women do not need makeup. It's a huge industry that promotes the idea that people look better by not really looking natural, which is absurd. Indeed, at its most absurd, it promotes the idea that by using it you look natural, when obviously you look the most natural by not wearing it.
Nobody really looks better than they do in a state of nature by wearing makeup.
Here's a thought. Dispense entirely with makeup. That removes 100% of makeup.
A cranky opinion I know, but I'm operating on very little sleep today and cranky as a result. But makeup is largely a fraud on women.
Women do not need makeup. It's a huge industry that promotes the idea that people look better by not really looking natural, which is absurd. Indeed, at its most absurd, it promotes the idea that by using it you look natural, when obviously you look the most natural by not wearing it.
Nobody really looks better than they do in a state of nature by wearing makeup.
Tuesday, May 12, 1914. A Marian Apparition.
There will be a war. Russia will become a godless country. Ukraine, as a nation, will suffer terribly for eighty years – and will have to live through the world wars, but will be free afterwards.
Reported words of the Virgin Mary at Hrushiv, Ukraine, on this day in 1914.
On this day in 1914 twenty people reported the commencement of an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the Ukrainian village of Hrushiv.
Fatima is by far the most famous of the widely accepted Marian apparitions of the 20th Century, although there are others. There would be a lengthy series of them at the same site in 1987.
Showing that moronic destruction of art is not a new thing, Suffragist Gertrude Mary Angsell damaged a portrait of the Duke of Welling by Hubert von Herkomer while it was displayed at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London.
The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens was opened in Jacksonville, Florida. A red deer fawn as the first exhibit
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Monday, May 11, 1914. The Honored Dead.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Summer has been cancelled.
Is anyone else enjoying an ongoing winter in their part of the globe this year?
It's snowing again here right now. And I don't mean barely, I mean its really coming down. Probably snow all day.
Snowed last week a couple of times too. Flew to Denver one day it was really coming down here to find that it had snowed slightly in Denver as well.
Not really that unusual for this region, but snow every week is a bit unusual. With all the reservoirs full for the first time in decades we might be in for flooding.
And of course, I just brought my lawnmower in to try to deal with the lawn yesterday, and didn't get to the back yard. We went to see a showing of Doctor Zhivago, which is touring in a restored version (highly recommended). So about 1/3d of the back yard is done and now it's snowing. It was almost like a hay crop as it was. I may have to invest in a couple of sheep.
Again, this is actually normal weather here, albeit not for the past few years. But it's a normal and wet spring, for sure. And a snowy one.
It's snowing again here right now. And I don't mean barely, I mean its really coming down. Probably snow all day.
Snowed last week a couple of times too. Flew to Denver one day it was really coming down here to find that it had snowed slightly in Denver as well.
Not really that unusual for this region, but snow every week is a bit unusual. With all the reservoirs full for the first time in decades we might be in for flooding.
And of course, I just brought my lawnmower in to try to deal with the lawn yesterday, and didn't get to the back yard. We went to see a showing of Doctor Zhivago, which is touring in a restored version (highly recommended). So about 1/3d of the back yard is done and now it's snowing. It was almost like a hay crop as it was. I may have to invest in a couple of sheep.
Again, this is actually normal weather here, albeit not for the past few years. But it's a normal and wet spring, for sure. And a snowy one.
Poll: Prestigious Colleges Won't Make You Happier In Life Or Work : The Two-Way : NPR
Poll: Prestigious Colleges Won't Make You Happier In Life Or Work : The Two-Way : NPR
Interesting findings (and timely for this time of year).
I wish that the Presidents would learn that going to an Ivy League law school doesn't necessarily mean you'd make a better Federal appellate judge. In recent years, that's all we seem to be getting at the Supreme Court level, which is frankly a worrisome thing. Of course, it's also the case that in recent years our Presidents have tended to all come of Ivy League schools as well.
Interesting findings (and timely for this time of year).
I wish that the Presidents would learn that going to an Ivy League law school doesn't necessarily mean you'd make a better Federal appellate judge. In recent years, that's all we seem to be getting at the Supreme Court level, which is frankly a worrisome thing. Of course, it's also the case that in recent years our Presidents have tended to all come of Ivy League schools as well.
Listen To These Lovely Cats. No, Actually, Don't : Krulwich Wonders... : NPR
Listen To These Lovely Cats. No, Actually, Don't : Krulwich Wonders... : NPR
They do sound truly awful, the few times I've actually heard their smaller cousins, the Bobcat.
They do sound truly awful, the few times I've actually heard their smaller cousins, the Bobcat.
Monday, May 11, 1914. The Honored Dead.
A national tribute was held in New York City for servicemen killed in the Battle of Veracruz.
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Sunday, May 10, 1914. Mother's Day.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Sunday, May 10, 1914. Mother's Day.
It was the first official Mother's Day, the proclamation having been issued yesterday.
The U.S. Navy brought back the bodies of service men who had died over a snit over how the Mexican government was to apologize for a mistake.
The French Radical Party won a plurality of votes for the French Assembly. In spite of their name, they are a center left French republican party.
Shipwrecked Karluck captain Robert Bartlett left Intuit guide Kataktovik in Emma Town, Siberia and traveled with a Russian escort to Emma Harbor in his ongoing effort to seek a rescue for the Canadian Arctic Expedition survivors on Wrangel Island.
Last prior edition:
Saturday, May 9, 1914. A Mothers Day Proclamation.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Why did the bond issue fail?
I can't ever recall a school bond issue failing here before, like the one that did yesterday, and it was only last year that the voters approved a Casper College bond. So what happened? A lot of bond supporters are asking that now.
Natrona County High School.
It's always hard to answer a question like that, of course, but what I'm hearing right now from various people is the following:
1. The School Board chairman noted that County Assessor's tax notice came out just a couple of days prior to the election, and it noted what the additional tax would be for each recipient. It amounted to $22.00 per $100,000. He feels the bond was winning up until that point.
$22.00/100,000 doesn't seem like a lot for what we were receiving, but to some people it is viewed as such. I heard one well off person complaining that we were still paying on the college bond, even though that person is a millionaire. So people can react to a think like that.
2. Based on comments that appear where the public can comment, there's a fair degree of Tea Party thought in the county right now, and as part of that there seems to be a general opposition to taxes and even pretty much to any governmental entity, school boards included. That surprises me for this county, and perhaps its not as many as it appears, but there are clearly some folks who viewed this in that fashion. One of the main opponents of the bond posted information to a page that represents itself as a Tea Party organ, so there was at least a little of that.
Tied into that, Tea Party folks are still very fired up by the events surrounding Cindy Hill, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Hill has been a lightening rod of one kind or another. She generally came out of the Tea Party element of the GOP and has very distinct views. Her administration of the department was highly controversial which lead to a legislative effort that limited her powers, although most in favor of the act that did that noting that the department was long overdue for reform. She subsequently sued and the Wyoming Supreme Court overturned the law that limited her authority. All of this has lead her supporters to actually support censure of certain legislators and the Governor, although the action against the Governor recently failed. Hill is running for Governor.
That wouldn't seem to have any relationship to the bond, and in real terms it does not, but some of her supporters do not quite see it that way for some reason. They also generally oppose Common Core, although quite a few people outside their ranks also do, which also doesn't have any direct connection but which some of them see as linked.
Added in even further, a legislative committee, late term, went in and actually modified the state science standards to eliminate curriculum dealing with global warming, on the basis that they apparently thought it to be propaganda against the state's largest industry. School boards and the department of education have been going back and looking at what they can do in regards to teaching the science. This also has nothing to do with the bond, but it puts education topics in the news at a bad time.
3. Some folks oppose taxes in general. One fellow I know just will not vote for a tax, that's his policy. Additionally, the City of Casper has been in the news recently due to accusations that its .01 optional tax hasn't been used wisely, which makes people mad about taxes in general.
A troubling aspect of this is that if we tend to always oppose taxes, eventually it seems to be the case that the local option to tax or not slowly evaporates. This happened in regard to the courthouse here, which failed in bond elections twice. Eventually the state undertook the cost. That made other counties upset, but the bigger story there is that mineral revenues are declining at the same time that the state is funding more and local entities less, which means that sooner or later the taxes will be there, but the local say may well be done.
4. Some folks strongly opposed a single item in the bond.
Everyone seemed to support safety upgrades, although obviously not enough to vote for the bond in slightly over half of the instances noted. But in post voting comments, it's interesting to note that some people were strongly opposed to the CAPS facility while supporting the pools, and vice versa.
I think there was a fair degree of misunderstanding in both instances. CAPS is being built. That's just the way it is, so voting against the bond is a protest vote at best. Folks who voted against CAPS while favoring the pools torpedoed the pools, but are getting CAPS anyhow.
Having said that, the one thing in this that I somewhat understand is people who were opposed to the CAPS facility and resented it. This came about because of a worthwhile concern of a different sitting school board which rightly noted that technical training needed to be upgraded at the schools, and that there was inadequate school space. The thought at that time was that a new high school should be added.
That thought was right. The county has four high schools, with one being a small alternative education school with very little in the way of extra facilities. One is in Midwest, a town on the edge of the county, that serves every grade in that town. The two big schools are NCHS and KWHS. They're definitely overburdened in handling as many students as they do. A third school would have made real sense.
Instead, the then sitting board determined not to do that, and for a really aggravating reason. Adding a new school would have dropped the county's high school athletics down a class. That is, Natrona County's kids would have been competing in some lower class, 3A I think.
Well, who cares?
It would have only lasted for a couple of years, but apparently that's a big deal to people for some reason. Indeed, it's such a big deal that Campbell County has for years operated under the fiction that it has one high school with two "campuses", which is of course absurd. But that way it has unified teams that can compete in 4A. I don't really care about that, but it is aggravating to realize that KWHS and NCHS were deprived of technical facilities so that we could stay 4A.
So, following Campbell County's lead in a fashion, we decided to have one high grade technical facility, CAPS, and to build a new building for Roosevelt, the alternative school. We are doing that, but that did built a lot of resentment with people including, as I've learned as we proceeded along on this, a lot of teachers. I'm sure a majority of teachers voted for the bond, but not all of them did, and CAPS is largely the reason why.
The irony, as noted, is that we're getting CAPS no matter what. It's not the way I'd have gone about it, but it's what's occurring, so fully equipping it is a must.
And it'll apparently happen as the one thing that the district has already indicated is that it will start saving money over time to equip it. So, the folks who voted against CAPS didn't really achieve their goal, but they did accidentally help keep NC from having a pool. That appears to be a permanent done deal.
Opposition to the pool I don't understand. It seems its regarded as "nice" but an extravagance, by quite a few people. By the same token, there's never been any opposition to keeping the NC football field and stadium, which were once slated to be taken out. That sparked a real protest movement. A big football field is nice, but it serves the same purpose as a pool. And in this county, swimming instruction is required. Now that is going to be difficult to achieve.
NCHS football player at KW stadium, Oil Bowl 1980. Soon thereafter it was proposed that the NC Stadium be torn down.
For years and years I always said "I don't have anything against football" when topics like this came up, but I'm afraid that's slowly changing for me, and that's all the more reason I find this aggravating. Now, I do agree a field is necessary, but not just for football. But I do continue to be amazed by the way that football so dominates the outside discussion of high school athletics. I don't oppose the game, but I've gotten to where I do now worry about the head injury impacts that are becoming increasingly associated with the game. I work on too many matters where people have sustained a traumatic brain injury not to take that very seriously. It worries me that we seemingly sort of ignore that at this level, with potential long term devastating effect. At some point, and probably some point soon, it'll be addressed, I'm sure. I note that there's no longer high school boxing like their was when I was in high school, which was also thought perfectly harmless at the time. Football won't disappear, I'm sure, but it's probable that the game and equipment will be modified.
I do wish, however, that people who find a pool extravagant would appreciate that it teaches something that's life saving at best and a lifetime activity always. Now that's impaired and the need for the pool was every bit as great as the need for a field.
Saturday, May 9, 1914. A Mothers Day Proclamation.
It was a Saturday, so the Saturday magazines were out, including this one honoring the very first Mother's Day.
President Wilson issued a proclamation decreeing Mother's Day. It created the holiday.
The purpose of the day was to honor mothers who had lost sons in wars, although those who had backed the day had a broader purpose, that being to honor mother's in general.
A lot more mothers were about to lose their sons in war.
The war the US was anticipating was one with Mexico, and a full scale staging of troops on the border was underway, as evidenced by this collection of photographs which were copyrighted on this day.
Mobilization Camp, 2nd Div. (less 5th Brigade & 22 Inf.), Texas City, Texas, 1914
19th & 28th Infantry Camp, Fort Crockett, Texas, 1914.
6th Cavalry Camp, mobilized at Texas City, Texas.
Mobilization Camp, 2nd Div. (less 5th Brigade, 11th & 22nd Inf's.), Texas City, Texas, 1914.
4th & 7th Infantry Camp, Fort Crockett, Texas.
Mobilization Camp, 2nd Div. (less 5th Brigade), Texas City, Texas, 1914
I wonder if some reconsideration should be given to Mother's Day in 2024, 110 years after its creation. It's harder in some ways now to be a mother than ever, what with the full industrialization of the population, meaning that motherhood comes second to being a worker drone, something the right and the left agree upon. At the second time, the Sexual Revolution has meant that a lot of men have become permanently infantile and the societal union between men and women, reflected in marriage, has been enormously weakened.
I'm not sure what a "floating laborer" described, but it probably fits the temp work a lot of single mothers have today.
This has lead to a lot of "single mothers", there really being no such thing actually, and last year an op-ed piece ran in one online journal suggesting there should be a "Single Mother's Day".
Not hardly. If ever there's a place where the old standards should be restored, it's here.
Regarding industrialization, C W Post of cereal fame, severely suffering from appendicitis killed himself on this day.
Papers were pretty free with their headlines in those days.
Suffragettes marched.
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Friday Farming: Holscher's Hub: Sweet Allis
Holscher's Hub: Sweet Allis: Allis-Chambers vintage tractor.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Friday, May 8, 1914. Ag Extension comes into being. Dan Sickles passes on.
The Smith Lever Act went into providing for a national Cooperative Extension Service to be established.
This would allow university agriculture departments to offer rural education programs, which his a good thing.
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING EXTENSION
This is also an example of the American System of economics, which the current GOP detests. It'd be interesting to see what they'd feel about the introduction of such a program today.
An article about the act from another site in another state:
Maryland 4-H and the Centennial of Smith-Lever
On the same day, the 63d Congress also passed a joint resolution "designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day, and for other purposes"
A small magnitude earthquake, 4.9, hit Giarre, Sicily, and resulted in the destruction of 223 homes and 120 deaths, saying something about the condition in which people lived.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not, Mount Etna erupted.
This demonstrates, of course, how tectonically active Italy is, but also how poor it was. Since some point in the 1950s, it's been popular to depict Italy as glamorous, but in fact the country was desperately poor to a large extent prior to that time, and was "backward" by the standards of North Americans and northern Europeans. Living conditions recalled Medieval conditions in much of the country up until a post-war economic revolution in Europe changed things, something that also helps to explain the rise of fascism in the 1920s, the strong Italian communist party in the 20th Century, criminal organizations, and large-scale emigration.
The funeral of Daniel Sickles was held in New York.
Sickles was a controversial Civil War and early Reconstruction era U.S. Army general. A political figure, he was the only corps commander in the U.S. Army who had not been to West Point, something that didn't make him popular with Regular Army officers at the time, but then he was otherwise an aggressive figure who would have been unpopular no matter what.
Sickles controversially repositioned his command without authorization from Gen. Meade at Gettysburg, a move that proved to be a mistake. When Meade learned about this, he confronted Sickles but did not order him to withdraw, as it was too late to do so. Soon thereafter, Sickles was struck by a cannonball in the leg, which he survived of course, but which caused him to lose the leg and which ended his field career. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg, in spite of his actions in repositioning his command.
Sickles was a lawyer by trade, and the son of a patent lawyer. His pre-war life was far from pacific. He was admitted to the bar in 1843 and elected to the New York State Assembly in 1847. In 1852, he married Teresa Bagioli against the wishes of both families, at which time he was 32, and she was about 15 or 16 years old. While very young, she was reportedly sophisticated for her age, and spoke five languages.
Perhaps not too surprisingly, his wife in turn had an affair with the US Attorney for Washington, DC. Sickles shot him dead on the street, but was acquitted for the killing in the first use of the temporary insanity defense in the U.S.
His first wife died in 1867, having never really reconciled after the killing. They had one child. He remarried to Maria "Cooke", a Spanish woman, in 1871. She also predeceased him. They had three children. As his marriage to an Italian American and a Spanish woman would suggest, he was Catholic, although obviously not the most observant one at points during his lifetime. His funeral was held at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral. He was 94 at the time of his death.
As a minor observation, because it extended year around at the time, Catholic observers of Sickles death who may have gone to post funeral receptions would have been restricted to meatless options, assuming there was no local dispensation.
While the controversial veteran of an old war was being buried, the Cheyenne paper was worrying about the possibility of a new one.
There was, of course, reason to worry, but that was no reason not to go watch a presentation about the Frontier wars that had followed the Civil War.
As was Pabst Blue Ribbon, which does not surprise me.
Budweiser was continuing with its European wars theme.
And there was a reason for Postum.
Paramount Pictures was formed through a partnership between Famous Players Film Company and the Lasky Feature Play Company.
The first French shipboard aircraft launch was made by René Caudron from a ramp constructed over the fore-deck of the seaplane tender Foudre.
The Caudron brothers, Gason and René, would go on to form an early aircraft manufacturing company, Société des Avions Caudron. Gaston Caudron died in an aircraft accident in 1915, but René carried on in aircraft manufacturing until the fall of France in World War Two. He died in 1959.
Last prior edition:
Thursday, May 7, 1914. A Colorado murder is reported in Wyoming.
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