You've seen part of it at least. The scene with the protagonist, played by Lillian Gish, on ice flows heading toward a waterfall.
Ostensibly exploring the practice of law before the internet. Heck, before good highways for that matter.
Thursday, September 3, 2020
September 3, 1920. Stepp appointed postmaster.
Wave goodbye to the handshake amid coronavirus concerns
Wave goodbye to the handshake amid coronavirus concerns: As the new disease also known as COVID-19 spreads, Americans must eliminate long-established physical greetings. Here's how you can change the social script — and help break the chain of transmission.
I sure hope this article is right.
Shaking hands is an awkward custom and I wouldn't miss it.
Gee. . . that would almost seem to suggest that New York City isn't the Benighted Shangri La that its politicians and press suggests. . .
Suburban Home Sales Boom as People Move Out of N.Y.C.
Headline from the New York Times.
The POWER Interview: Technology Can Solve Problem of Nuclear Waste
The POWER Interview: Technology Can Solve Problem of Nuclear Waste: Debate continues about nuclear power's role in electricity production, particularly as it revolves around climate change. As a zero-emissions source of
Interesting article on this topic.
Nuclear power should be something that Greens, particularly radical Greens, should be screaming for night and day. Indeed, any really scientific thought on energy that was designed to address safe, sustainable, and clean energy, would be based on nuclear power. Opposition to it is so unscientific as to make Godzilla movies look like actual paleontology.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
September 2, 1920. Changing views.
Most of the time when I put a newspaper up here, it's to mark some big or at least interesting century old event. Every now and then, however it's to comment on something and how it was perceived, which by extension comments on how we perceive things now.
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
September 1, 1920. Lebanon, Submarines, and Chicago.
On this day in 1920, Greater Lebanon came into existence as a French administrative unit.
Syria had attempted to define Lebanon as an administrative Syrian unit in its short lived state that was brought to an end by France in 1920. It's origins went back to the 1860s when European powers entered into a series of treaties with the Ottoman Empire in an effort to protect the Christian population of the region which has been subject to religious violence. The boundaries of the state were larger than those originally regarded as Lebanese and were based upon the map featured here yesterday. The expanded boundaries were created in order to attempt to give the region, which was anticipated as having statehood in the future, a large enough territory to have some sort of economic base.
The League of Nations would approve the creation of the entity in 1923 and it was declared to be the Republic of Lebanon in 1926 while still under French administration. It's status became a matter of contest during World War Two when the French Vichy administration allowed the Germans to transport arms through Syria to be used against British forces in the Middle East. Free French General Charles de Gaulle declared it to be independent in 1941, under pressure from the Allies to do so, in a move that would have been legally questionable.
On November 8, 1943 Lebanon held elections for an independent government and declared the League of Nations mandate over it to be terminated, which brought immediate Free French reaction in the form of arresting the government. However, on November 22, 1943 they were released under Allied pressure. The French left in December 1946, at which point both Syria and Lebanon had been admitted as founding members of the United Nations. No formal end of the mandate was ever declared.
Monday, August 31, 2020
Is it just me, or does it seem like today should be Labor Day?
I know why it isn't. But it sure has that feel to it.
It's like somebody flipped the switch for "Fall". . .
last week it was in the 90s. On Saturday morning a thunderstorm rolled in. Morning thunderstorms are common in the cool mountains here, but not out on the hot plains.
It cleared off and the day entered the 80s. Not super hot, but not as hot as hit had been.
Yesterday I was out in an extremely dry high basin. When I left, I could see clouds gathering for an afternoon rain, common here and very welcome. . . as long as they have enough rain. I left before they collected, so I don't know if it rained or not.
Last night, the temperature dropped like a rock and this morning its cold.
It'll heat up a little as the week goes on, but that's how early Fall is here. And given the hot weather, and the dray weather, a cool and wet fall would be most wecome.
August 31, 1920. Building.
On this date in 1920, John Lloyd Wright was given a patent for what would become Lincoln Logs.
Wright had been marketing the toy logs since 1918, and had based them upon his observations of Tokyo's Imperial Hotel's foundation, designed by his father, Frankly Lloyd Wright. The foundation featured an interlocking log structure to give it flexibility during earthquakes.
An election held on this date in Hannibal Missouri was the first to be conducted following the 19th Amendment going into effect. Marie Ruoff Byrum was the first woman voter to cast a ballot to have been given the right to vote under the amendment.
Of course, women had been voting for some time in states that had adopted universal suffrage on their own, including Wyoming's female voters.
Mrs Byrum lived until age 73. She had been involved in politics and had retired to Florida in her later years.
Tennessee, which had been the 36th state to vote to add the 19th Amendment, on this day voted to rescind their ratification in an effort to reverse course on it. The effort came too late as retroactive post ratification rescissions are not allowable, assuming recessions are at all, which itself isn't clear.
It's odd that it was attempted in this context. If the vote had preceded the adoption of the Amendment that would have raised a Constitutional question, but doing it after the ratification would fairly obviously do nothing.
French Genera Henri Gouraud issued a decree that set Lebanon's borders in anticipation of creating a separate Lebanese territory the following day.
Today In Wyoming's History: Ft. Halleck, sort of. Near Elk Mountain Wyoming
Ft. Halleck, sort of. Near Elk Mountain Wyoming
Of course, by that time the Union Pacific was also progressing through the area, and that would soon render the Overland Trail obsolete. While not on an identical path the Overland Trail and the Union Pacific approximated each others routes and, very shortly, troops would be able to travel by rail.
As that occured, it would also be the case that guarding the railroad would become a more important function for the Army, and forts soon came to be placed on it.
Sunday, August 30, 2020
A Sunday Morning Scene Blog Mirror: Russian Christmas. Native Americans and Christianity
This is obviously rather late:
Russian Christmas
And a bit unusual for our weekly post here. But it's such an interesting cultural phenomenon, or perhaps outside of what we expect, that we're putting it up here any way.
Alaska has 89 Russian Orthodox parishes, the highest concentration of the Orthodox in the United States and North America.
Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church, Ninilchik Alaska
This is the Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Church in Ninilchik Alaska. This community has had a Russian Orthodox Church since 1846, but this structure dates to 1901. It is a regular Russian Orthodox Church in the Orthodox Church of America's Diocese of Anchorage.Again, while we do not generally delve into such topics here, some explanation is again in order. This church is a conventional Russian Orthodox Church, but its subject to the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church in America, which is one of two bodies that formed in the U.S. to govern Russian Orthodox Churches following the Russian Revolution. The Orthodox Church in America is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church that started to govern its affairs separately when Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow directed all Russian Orthodox churches outside of Russia and was originally the Russian Greek Orthodox Church in America. It was granted autocephaly by the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia in 1970 and changed its name at that time, although the validity of that action is disputed by some.
79% of Alaskans profess to be Christians of which 12.5% are Orthodox. 14% are Orthodox. These figures combined mean that over 25% of Alaskans are members of the Apostolic churches. Evangelical Protestants, however, make up 26% of the state's population, making them the largest Christian denomination.
Almost all Russian Orthodox Christians in Alaska are Alaskan natives. I.e., First Nations.
We are so acclimated to a false concept of what and who Indians and natives are that we imagine them all to be as portrayed in current film, whatever that current film is. Our Indians are Val Kilmer in Thunderheart as a rule. Occasionally we get a more realistic portrayal such as that in Wind River.
Recently there was an event in Kansas in which a city council became concerned about a large rock that was purportedly sacred to a local Indian tribe. The concern was what to do about the stone now that we're focused on such things. Should it be removed, or honored in some way. When consulted, the tribe in question showed little interest. They're mostly Protestants, in that case, today.
Christian identity is part and parcel of many tribes and their histories. The current desire to rip that way as somehow imposed upon them and demeaning is insulting and highly misplaced. Indian tribes adopted various Christian religions in many instances in histories that are rich and complex. The intermarriage between Indians and the French produced an entire Catholic culture, the Metis, who are regarded as a type of First Nation today in Canada. Mexico's population, and by extension, Mexican American's as well, largely descend from Spanish and Indian intermarriage. Intermarriage was a feature of Catholic European cultures, unlike the English Protestant one that dominated what became the United States, and latter day efforts to characterize this all as forced are simply incorrect. Indeed, the French, who never colonized in North America in really substantial numbers, freely intermarried with Indians right from the onset of their presence in the country. The Spanish did as well. And in both instances the conversion of the native populations, in spite of what latter day woke Americans, heir to the Elizabethan Religious Settlement and the immigrating Dissenters may now wish to believe, it was mostly freely done.
Which isn't to say that Protestant conversions by Indians weren't largely freely done as well, they very much were. And what this gives us is a period in which native peoples undertook to evolve their own heritage. In Wyoming,on the Wind River Reservation, this meant that a large number of converts in the Arapaho Tribe now live near St. Stephens. Elsewhere the Episcopal Church was very successful in establishing itself on the Reservation. A not insubstantial number of Indians converted early on to the Mormon Church, a non Christian church in the view of Christians, which has a large church near Ft. Washakie today.
Even the 19th Century American Indians we imagine to have religious beliefs as portrayed in film often had more complex religious beliefs. Red Cloud (Maȟpíya Lúta), who has gone down in history as the only Indian leader to have defeated the U.S. Army in a war, became a Catholic, as did all the rest of his family. Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake) was also baptized a Catholic, although the degree to which he actually adopted the faith is unknown. Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa), who is adored by the modern American mystic set today, was a Catholic and there exists today a cause for his sainthood and whom the Faith as accorded the title of "Servant of God". Geronimo (Goyaałé) had complicated religions beliefs, like many Indians who made the transition from native religions to Christianity, but was baptized a Christian. Washakie was baptized as an Episcopalian but apparently later converted to Mormonism, a faith which may have had an advantage among the Shoshone who had a tradition of sororal polygamy, although that practice was common in other tribes as well.
In Alaska, the rich Orthodox heritage is preserved by the state's native population. It's part of who they are.
In a way, today's native Russian Orthodox Christians are lucky in that they are more isolated than Native Americans who live elsewhere. Modern white Americans, largely heir to Protestant Christianity and and now subject to cultural influencers who have retained Puritanism to a very strong degree while abandoning its religious tenants at the same time, are attacking the religious cultural heritage of all peoples, a feature that's ironically tied to that Puritanism which attacked first the established Church of England and then by extension the Catholicism that the Church of England itself attacked. It's also not surprising that its Alaska where Native peoples have retained their strongest cultural heritage of all types.
The two aren't inconsistent, and indeed, are strongly united.
Humility
No Catholic thinks he is a good Catholic; or he would by that thought become a bad Catholic.
Chesterton
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Best Posts of the Week of August 21, 2020
The best post of the week of August 21, 2020.
And yet. . .
Derailed Union Pacific Grain (corn) train, Bosler Wyoming. August 22, 2020.
Art or vandalism?
High Mountain Corner Posts
Space Force Was Set to Announce Its New Rank Structure. Then, Congress Stepped In
Casualties of the COVID Recession
The Introvert Subsistence Hunter Meets the Extrovert Midwestern Gregarian
August 29, 1920. Visitors
The Introvert Subsistence Hunter Meets the Extrovert Midwestern Gregarian
Public Access Area Open: Foot and horse access open year-round
Exceptions: Closure is limited to vehicles only. Foot and horse access open year-round
Recreation Opportunities: Fishing, Hunting, Camping, Hiking, Wildlife Viewing
Amenities: Comfort Stations, Boat Ramp
Restrictions: Oct. 1 - Memorial Day Weekend
Additional Restrictions: ORV travel is not allowed
Total Acres: 3071.4
Space Force Was Set to Announce Its New Rank Structure. Then, Congress Stepped In
Space Force Was Set to Announce Its New Rank Structure. Then, Congress Stepped In: Some experts have argued that a Navy rank system would make sense for the fledgling Space Force.The thing that would make the most sense is to abolish the goofball Space Force which doesn't need to exist in the first place.