An August 11, 1865 letter
FORT LARAMIE, DAK. TER., August 11, 1865.
Maj. Gen. G. M. DODGE,
Omaha, Nebr. Ter. :
Have heard from Sixth West Virginia and Twenty-first New York. Former ordered here; latter ordered on mail road between Collins and Sulphur Springs. Also hear of three infantry regiments below Kearny. Men rapidly deserting; regiments will be mere skeletons upon arrival at Kearny. Men of Sixth U.S. Volunteers are also deserting. If troops sent out act this way with us will not have force enough on plains this fall unless additional and reliable regiments are forwarded. A half-way exhibition of power toward hostile Indians will only be productive of evil. Troops sent to Utah should have not less than two years to serve. Am sending Sixth United States and Eleventh Ohio there; both only number 1,400 men. There should be not less [than] 4,000 in Utah to protect the development of the silver mines, the surest and safest method of crushing polygamy and the one-man power now crushing that country. Will you please extend your visit to Laramie.
GEO. F. PRICE,
Captain and Acting Assistant-Adjutant-General.
(In absence of general commanding.).
Monday, August 12, 2013
Today In Wyoming's History: An August 11, 1865 letter
Today In Wyoming's History: An August 11, 1865 letter: From the Wyoming State Historical Society's Facebook page:
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Messing with the Calendar for the sake of political correctness
Folks who study ancient history, or even Medieval history, may have noticed that recently historians amateur and professional sometimes depart from the time honored BC and AD for calendar designations, substituting instead BCE and CE.
It's goofy.
AD and BC have been used since the 6th Century and everyone everywhere knows what they mean in terms of referencing the year, even if they don't know that BC means "Before Christ" and AD means "Anno Dominae", Latin for "the year of Our Lord". BCE and CE are supposed to stand for Before the Common Era and Common Era. They equate precisely with BC and AD, except that they're wholly stupid.
They're stupid because they mean nothing at all, and the existing AD and BC have been used forever, are well established, and actually refer to an event.
The fact AD and BC refer to an event, of course, is precisely the reason that some want to substitute in now BCE and CE. They're oversensitive, have a poor sense of history, and should just get over themselves.
In order to refer to a historical date, a person ought to have a sense of history to start with. That would include, presumably, having at least a grasp of how the globally dominant calendar came about. The calendar is, of course, not required to be uniform by nature, other than that the number of days it takes the planet to rotate the sun is a constant. Outside of that, you can use any system you choose, and should you choose, you could dispense with months entirely.
However, for our own purposes, every culture that has had an advanced calendar has set out periods within it. And every culture that has had an advanced calendar has, somehow, marked the years. The Gregorian Calendar has become the globally dominant calendar. It did not become so, however, as year 1 AD was a year in which everyone on the planet suddenly was aware of each other in common.
The Gregorian Calendar is a church calendar. The Church had a great interest in calendars for its purposes, so that it could mark the liturgical seasons, feasts, and Holy Days. The calendar itself was a 1582 reform of the Julian Calendar. The Julian Calendar was one introduced by Julius Caesar, but the AD term wasn't used until number of the years relevant to the birth of Christ were introduced in the 6th Century.
Proponents of AD and BC feel that the entire BC and AD designations are entirely too religious and that they might offend people. Well, if they offer offensive it isn't very evident and to attempt to change the designations ignores the entire history of the West, and therefore ignores the Common Era.
To the extent that the Common Era is common, it's common in no small part because Western nations and empires have made it so. That's not chauvinistic, it's just fact. But the world certainly didn't become uniformly common in a political or economic sense starting in the Year 1. That date would be much more recent. But that we have a common calendar reflects the spread of European culture and influence around the globe. That calendar had a religious origin, and that origin says much about the history of the Church in European Culture from late Roman period forward. To ignore that for the sake of political correctness or the fear of wounding delicate feelings ignores historical reality. It makes no more sense to swap out BCE and CE for BC and AD than it does to make sure that nobody refers to the calendar as the Gregorian Calendar.
Indeed, the terms "Common Era" essentially commit a historical fraud, as it's not really possible to conceive of a historical calendar Common Era unless you actually refer to the birth of Christ, in which case a person is achieving the very thing that they seek to apparently avoid. What would be common about year 1, for example? Well, not very much. The Roman Empire was pretty big, but most of the cultures in the globe had never heard of it. A person could say that the Mediterranean world was on the rise, through the Romans, but a person could have said that about the earlier Greeks as well. The only thing a person could find common about the years 1 through 30 would be by referencing the events that make those years significant, which would directly refer to Christianity. A person could note, of course, that by 40AD the Apostles were spreading out throughout the known world with their message, following Christs Crucifixion, but that serves to point out that Year 1 refers to the Birth of Christ. So even explaining a basis for BC and BCE actually requires the emphasis of the very elements that the proponents of BC and BCE find so delicate to approach.
Indeed, should we do that at some point it'll become politically incorrect to use either of the other common terms for the calendar, those being the Christian Calendar or the Western Calendar, as they too will be too offensive to somebody. The calendar itself is not used uniformly by all Churches, as some of the Orthodox Churches continue to use the old Julian Calendar, although no nation does. The entire globe uses the calendar as its civil calendar, however, and at some point somebody somewhere will not that Asia, or some place, isn't the West, and therefore the name is offensive to somebody.
In other words, AD and BC are established and work. Those who would seek to remove them in favor of something else have far too little to do.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Launching the Governor
85c0f5f0c3fb42e0a490a9b60c5145b1.jpg (JPEG Image, 736 × 508 pixels)
A Wyoming National Guard tradition at one time.
A Wyoming National Guard tradition at one time.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Pat Novak for Hire : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
Pat Novak for Hire : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
Really over the top dialog that almost has to be the inspiration for Calvin's imaginary detective in the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.
Really over the top dialog that almost has to be the inspiration for Calvin's imaginary detective in the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.
The Lives Of Harry Lime (1951 -1952) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
The Lives Of Harry Lime (1951 -1952) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
A prequil to The Third Man, one of my favorite movies.
A prequil to The Third Man, one of my favorite movies.
Dragnet - Single Episodes : Old Time Radio Researchers Group : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
Dragnet - Single Episodes : Old Time Radio Researchers Group : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
An absolute classic, but with a much hard boiled edge that the television version with the same actors. If the plot hadn't resolved in about 30 minutes they were probably going to shoot the suspect.
An absolute classic, but with a much hard boiled edge that the television version with the same actors. If the plot hadn't resolved in about 30 minutes they were probably going to shoot the suspect.
Gunsmoke - Single Episodes : Old Time Radio Researchers Group : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
Gunsmoke - Single Episodes : Old Time Radio Researchers Group : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
An absolute classic. Conrad's radio Marshall Dillon didn't mess around. If there was no resolution to the story after about 50 minutes you cold figure the bad man was going to get show shortly.
An absolute classic. Conrad's radio Marshall Dillon didn't mess around. If there was no resolution to the story after about 50 minutes you cold figure the bad man was going to get show shortly.
Sherlock Holmes --> 125+ episodes, properly titled and tagged : smurfmeat : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
Sherlock Holmes --> 125+ episodes, properly titled and tagged : smurfmeat : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
I really don't care for the written versions of these stories much. Not sure why, and perhaps I would now (I last read them in my teens). But the radio version is oddly amusing and captivating.
I really don't care for the written versions of these stories much. Not sure why, and perhaps I would now (I last read them in my teens). But the radio version is oddly amusing and captivating.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - Single Episodes : Old Time Radio Researchers Group : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - Single Episodes : Old Time Radio Researchers Group : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
One of my favorite old radio shows, I picked up a fondness for it traveling for work. It follows the investigations of hard boiled insurance investigator Johnny Dollar, "The man with the action packed expense account."
Cheesy, but addictive.
One of my favorite old radio shows, I picked up a fondness for it traveling for work. It follows the investigations of hard boiled insurance investigator Johnny Dollar, "The man with the action packed expense account."
Cheesy, but addictive.
Friday, August 2, 2013
25 greatest law novels…ever! - ABA Journal
25 greatest law novels…ever! - ABA Journal
Interesting list. Some of these I wouldn't have considered law novels. Given that, I suppose, I'm actually surprised to see that I've read a few of them. For example, I love the novel The Ox Bow Incident, but I wouldn't have considered it to be a legal novel. I guess it is, however, given that its central them is the nature of justice.
The Caine Mutiny is another great one. I read that one many years ago after having seen the movie numerous times and the filed version of the play (which is also great). To Kill A Mockingbird is as well, but I likewise wouldn't have thought of it as a legal drama, even though I can see why many do.
Bartleby the Scrivner, on the other hand, I hated. I know its supposed to be a classic, but I don't like it.
I've never read Anatomy of a Murder, but I've always thought the film is the single best legal drama ever filmed. Really great. And I've often commented that it must have been written by a lawyer, which I see it actually was. I'm surprised, however, that the lawyer was a judge, but that must explain why the judge really steals the show in the film.
Interesting list. Some of these I wouldn't have considered law novels. Given that, I suppose, I'm actually surprised to see that I've read a few of them. For example, I love the novel The Ox Bow Incident, but I wouldn't have considered it to be a legal novel. I guess it is, however, given that its central them is the nature of justice.
The Caine Mutiny is another great one. I read that one many years ago after having seen the movie numerous times and the filed version of the play (which is also great). To Kill A Mockingbird is as well, but I likewise wouldn't have thought of it as a legal drama, even though I can see why many do.
Bartleby the Scrivner, on the other hand, I hated. I know its supposed to be a classic, but I don't like it.
I've never read Anatomy of a Murder, but I've always thought the film is the single best legal drama ever filmed. Really great. And I've often commented that it must have been written by a lawyer, which I see it actually was. I'm surprised, however, that the lawyer was a judge, but that must explain why the judge really steals the show in the film.
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