Monday, February 24, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco, 1906
A real must watch. Traffic in the early automobile era. Thanks go out to John Morgan for this one.
Same film in HD:
The Bond Issue. Safety
As folks who read this blog (and there's darned few I know) are aware, I've written on several occasions about the upcoming Natrona County School District bond issue, taking the specific topics of the swimming pools and technical and vocational training up. The School District plan to address these topics is so well formed that I think that either one of them would merit the bond being passed in and of itself. The third topic of the funding, which I haven't addressed yet, certainly does, school safety.
This is a topic that's need is so self evident I would argue that no rational person can, after considering it, argue against it. Basically, the District proposes to add features to the existing grade schools to enhance their safety, through new entry ways, lighting and technical additions.
I will not dwell on the current age and why the District would rightfully consider such improvements desirable. Rather, I will point out something that people too often miss. As technology improves, and as experience teaches, if we can improve something within our reasonable ability to do so, we ought to. We particularly should do so where children are involved.
To give an example that is probably fairly obvious, consider the automobile of 1913. Not too safe, right? Mechanical brakes, no air bags, no seat belts, no safety of any kind really. We could make cars like that today. We don't. We don't, because we know how not to, and therefore we make them safer.
Buildings aren't automobiles, they're more permanent. But here too we retrofit builds that are old with sprinkler systems and fire alarms, and remove the asbestos from them with reconstruction calls for it. When we can make buildings reasonably safer, we can, and should.
The State of Wyoming funds new school construction, thanks to the funds that the mineral industry pays through severance taxes. But it doesn't pay for "enhancements". Before we complain of that, we should consider that around here "local control" of schools is a big deal. Well, here's an area that we control, and as those in control, we can and should act responsibly.
This is a topic that's need is so self evident I would argue that no rational person can, after considering it, argue against it. Basically, the District proposes to add features to the existing grade schools to enhance their safety, through new entry ways, lighting and technical additions.
I will not dwell on the current age and why the District would rightfully consider such improvements desirable. Rather, I will point out something that people too often miss. As technology improves, and as experience teaches, if we can improve something within our reasonable ability to do so, we ought to. We particularly should do so where children are involved.
To give an example that is probably fairly obvious, consider the automobile of 1913. Not too safe, right? Mechanical brakes, no air bags, no seat belts, no safety of any kind really. We could make cars like that today. We don't. We don't, because we know how not to, and therefore we make them safer.
Buildings aren't automobiles, they're more permanent. But here too we retrofit builds that are old with sprinkler systems and fire alarms, and remove the asbestos from them with reconstruction calls for it. When we can make buildings reasonably safer, we can, and should.
The State of Wyoming funds new school construction, thanks to the funds that the mineral industry pays through severance taxes. But it doesn't pay for "enhancements". Before we complain of that, we should consider that around here "local control" of schools is a big deal. Well, here's an area that we control, and as those in control, we can and should act responsibly.
Monday, February 23, 1914. Villa Justice, Girl Flirts, and Packing heat.
The news was out about the Villista's having executed a British rancher. Villa insisted that it was an act of official justice due, he claimed, the rancher having attempted to pull a gun on him.
The real reason I'm posting this paper, however, is not for that news, although it appears here in the form of an article that the British did not intend to intervene in the Mexican Revolution due to the incident, but rather for its relation to some things we noted earlier this week, specifically;
Legislatures. Back to the future and other diversions?
Here we see the application of laws of the era. Two young women, ages 18 and 19 respectively, were run out of town in Laramie for leading an "immoral, idle and profligate course of life".
They'd just arrived there, so they couldn't have had the time to engage in too much immorality, idleness etc. Indeed, they'd just taken up quarters.
Maybe a person has to read between the lines, perhaps, on this one.
Also, a Union Pacific clerk was fined for carrying a concealed weapon. You'll commonly hear it suggested that up until recently, everyone was allowed to pack all the time, and in any way they wanted, but that's really not the case.
Related threads:
Legislatures. Back to the future and other diversions?
Packing Heat
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Sunday, February 22, 1914. Mutiny.
Lt. Rodriguez.
Executive Officer Lt. Hilario Rodriguez Malpica and three fellow officers lead a mutiny on the Mexican gunboat Tampico. Their intent was to join the Revolution, but the ship's steering gear failed in a near conflict with another gunboat and they had to put in at Topolobampo.
The boat would remain under Lt. Rodriguez's command until June of that year, when it was sunk in a battle with vessels loyal to Huerta. He chose to go down with the ship.
Friday, February 21, 2014
The Bond Issue. Modern technical and vocational training.
I've posted on the upcoming bond issue here several times before, but I want to switch gears a bit with this post, as I think that perhaps part of the story has been missed, and even when not missed, perhaps the need isn't fully appreciated. That need is for scientific and technical training, and this bond issue would fund a Science and Technology Center as part of the high school facilities for the district.
The need for something like this has been identified by those in the know for some time, but I don't know how widely that need is appreciated in the general public. It's really pressing.
Years and years ago, "technical" training was available in most high schools, and of course it's never gone away. Prior to World War Two a very high percentage of American men never graduated from high school, and the lack of a high school degree itself wasn't an impairment to obtaining employment for the most part. One of the richest men to ever live in this county, Fred Goodstein, did not have a high school degree, but simply started off working in his father's oilfield pipeyard as a teenager. He built that business into a huge success, and expanded from there.
But those days are really over. They are over in part because we live in the Age of Certification, in which having some credentials to obtain employment is a necessity, both because it demonstrates proficiency, and because as the number of high school and college graduates expanded, that became the means of winnowing applicants. That, in turn, caused a certain magic to attach to the certificate, legitimate or not.
But beyond that, the world simply has become more and more technical, making a basic level of introductory knowledge in adequate. To give a poor example of that, I think when I was in basic training in 1982 you could still get into the Army with a GED. As an artillery crewman, we learned how to operate a self propelled howitzer whose systems were all mechanical. Fire Direction Control, the unit that plotted the mission, was by far the most technical, and they actually still used slide rules at the time, to plot their fire missions. When I was later a Forward Observer, I plotted missions using a compass, binoculars and a map. Sometimes I used a BC Scope, a huge set of mounted periscopic binoculars.
Well, all that is a tying of the past and probably looks about as ancient to a modern artillerymen as a muzzle loading cannon does. Now the SP is highly computerized and so is everything about plotting the missions. A person, in order to do the jobs that required just basic knowledge on our part, now has to have a fair degree of technical knowledge.
Now, my point isn't that we need to boost high school education as the Army needs people with a technical background, although I will note that those entering the Army today must have an actual high school diploma. Rather, this is just one example of how much more technical the world is today.
To give another example, many years ago I worked on a drilling rig. It was all a simple mechanical rig. Most of the rigs in use today remain no more advanced than that one. But, that day is ending. I overheard some time ago, in the barber shop (that reservoir of many talk) from a drilling operator who was working on a new rig in North Dakota. He did not do his job from the drilling rig floor like they used to. He was in a warm, clean, inclosed high tech office attached to the rig. He, indeed, could operate all its systems without ever going outside the office, so the arctic North Dakota winter meant little to him. Rigs of that type are a rarity in the United States, but from talking with a tool pusher who just came back from overseas, they aren't rare outside the US. The irony, therefore, is that the US is actually behind in modern rigs, a fact that probably developed as our drilling industry was darned near dead for a long time.
Talking to local industrial employers, I know that they perceive that there's a lack of entry level skilled employees in the state. They'd like to hire them, and there's the work, but the employees aren't there. Why not?
Well, we just don't have the facilities at the high school level to train them. We do still train in some technical fields at the high school level. You can learn some automotive technology, small engine technology, and welding, for example. And that's great. But in order to keep up in this area, we're going to have to provide much more advance training as we enter the second half of the second decade of the 21st Century.
Take cars alone, as an example.
I still retain one old vehicle, a 1962 Dodge truck. I can work on it, as its as old as I am, and its systems are those which I grew up with and learned how work on. Quite simple, really. But on our more modern vehicles, none of which are new, I have no clue how to fix anything. They are all high tech.
And the mechanics who work on them have been accordingly trained. They're not shade tree mechanics who were really good and worked into shops. No, they're really trained. They have to be. And that's the direction things are headed. In ten years ago, as electric and hybrid vehicles become more common, this is going to become a highly technical field. And this will expand. It will not be that many years from now that even a thing like a snowblower will be high tech, or a lawn mower, designed not only to do its job well, but to emit little, and use as little in the way of resources as possible.
A person can say, of course, that all of this is fine, and that post high school courses of study can address that. But if we take that approach, it commits everyone to some post high school study. Should we do that? I don't think so.
Universities and colleges have increasingly become not only schools for advance academic knowledge, but advanced technical schools. That is fine, but students who do not wish to attend university or college, and not everyone does, should not be forced to do so. And a high school degree should have some immediate serious employment benefit outside of those which are the most basic jobs. Indeed, that was the original purpose of high school. The thought was that a graduate was ready to enter a shop, or office.
Indeed recently I heard an interesting author interview on the Priztzer Military Library podcast. The author had written a book about his interviews with very elderly World War One veterans, when they were in their 90s. One interview really struck me. The veteran was asked the simple question about joining the Army, but he gave his entire life history in a few short sentences. He'd graduated high school shortly before World War One, and during his last year of high school he'd been recommended to an insurance company. He'd gone to work there immediately after graduating, and save for World War One, he'd worked there his entire career until retirement, rising up in it.
Now, his story would have been impossible.
Of course, this isn't a technical story, in that he didn't enter technical employment, but my point is that here in Casper, where there are many industrial jobs, those jobs are going to get increasingly technical over time. Those who want those jobs, and the state and local community is always noting how these are well paying jobs, can be ready to enter them right out of high school, with the proper training. If we don't give them the proper training, they're going to have to obtain it through an additional couple of years of study, where the public funding for the training is lacking. That isn't serving those students well. This is another reason to back the bond issue.
The need for something like this has been identified by those in the know for some time, but I don't know how widely that need is appreciated in the general public. It's really pressing.
Years and years ago, "technical" training was available in most high schools, and of course it's never gone away. Prior to World War Two a very high percentage of American men never graduated from high school, and the lack of a high school degree itself wasn't an impairment to obtaining employment for the most part. One of the richest men to ever live in this county, Fred Goodstein, did not have a high school degree, but simply started off working in his father's oilfield pipeyard as a teenager. He built that business into a huge success, and expanded from there.
Dodge factory during World War Two. At one time, most high school graduates were qualified to do a job like this simply by having a diploma. This is no longer the case, as vehicles like this are no longer the norm.
But beyond that, the world simply has become more and more technical, making a basic level of introductory knowledge in adequate. To give a poor example of that, I think when I was in basic training in 1982 you could still get into the Army with a GED. As an artillery crewman, we learned how to operate a self propelled howitzer whose systems were all mechanical. Fire Direction Control, the unit that plotted the mission, was by far the most technical, and they actually still used slide rules at the time, to plot their fire missions. When I was later a Forward Observer, I plotted missions using a compass, binoculars and a map. Sometimes I used a BC Scope, a huge set of mounted periscopic binoculars.
The military has always been a source of post high school technical training, but more and more, you need to be at least somewhat proficient to even enter the service.
Now, my point isn't that we need to boost high school education as the Army needs people with a technical background, although I will note that those entering the Army today must have an actual high school diploma. Rather, this is just one example of how much more technical the world is today.
To give another example, many years ago I worked on a drilling rig. It was all a simple mechanical rig. Most of the rigs in use today remain no more advanced than that one. But, that day is ending. I overheard some time ago, in the barber shop (that reservoir of many talk) from a drilling operator who was working on a new rig in North Dakota. He did not do his job from the drilling rig floor like they used to. He was in a warm, clean, inclosed high tech office attached to the rig. He, indeed, could operate all its systems without ever going outside the office, so the arctic North Dakota winter meant little to him. Rigs of that type are a rarity in the United States, but from talking with a tool pusher who just came back from overseas, they aren't rare outside the US. The irony, therefore, is that the US is actually behind in modern rigs, a fact that probably developed as our drilling industry was darned near dead for a long time.
Talking to local industrial employers, I know that they perceive that there's a lack of entry level skilled employees in the state. They'd like to hire them, and there's the work, but the employees aren't there. Why not?
Well, we just don't have the facilities at the high school level to train them. We do still train in some technical fields at the high school level. You can learn some automotive technology, small engine technology, and welding, for example. And that's great. But in order to keep up in this area, we're going to have to provide much more advance training as we enter the second half of the second decade of the 21st Century.
Take cars alone, as an example.
I still retain one old vehicle, a 1962 Dodge truck. I can work on it, as its as old as I am, and its systems are those which I grew up with and learned how work on. Quite simple, really. But on our more modern vehicles, none of which are new, I have no clue how to fix anything. They are all high tech.
And the mechanics who work on them have been accordingly trained. They're not shade tree mechanics who were really good and worked into shops. No, they're really trained. They have to be. And that's the direction things are headed. In ten years ago, as electric and hybrid vehicles become more common, this is going to become a highly technical field. And this will expand. It will not be that many years from now that even a thing like a snowblower will be high tech, or a lawn mower, designed not only to do its job well, but to emit little, and use as little in the way of resources as possible.
A person can say, of course, that all of this is fine, and that post high school courses of study can address that. But if we take that approach, it commits everyone to some post high school study. Should we do that? I don't think so.
Universities and colleges have increasingly become not only schools for advance academic knowledge, but advanced technical schools. That is fine, but students who do not wish to attend university or college, and not everyone does, should not be forced to do so. And a high school degree should have some immediate serious employment benefit outside of those which are the most basic jobs. Indeed, that was the original purpose of high school. The thought was that a graduate was ready to enter a shop, or office.
Indeed recently I heard an interesting author interview on the Priztzer Military Library podcast. The author had written a book about his interviews with very elderly World War One veterans, when they were in their 90s. One interview really struck me. The veteran was asked the simple question about joining the Army, but he gave his entire life history in a few short sentences. He'd graduated high school shortly before World War One, and during his last year of high school he'd been recommended to an insurance company. He'd gone to work there immediately after graduating, and save for World War One, he'd worked there his entire career until retirement, rising up in it.
Now, his story would have been impossible.
Of course, this isn't a technical story, in that he didn't enter technical employment, but my point is that here in Casper, where there are many industrial jobs, those jobs are going to get increasingly technical over time. Those who want those jobs, and the state and local community is always noting how these are well paying jobs, can be ready to enter them right out of high school, with the proper training. If we don't give them the proper training, they're going to have to obtain it through an additional couple of years of study, where the public funding for the training is lacking. That isn't serving those students well. This is another reason to back the bond issue.
Jimi Hendrix Postage Stamp?
Rumor has it that the U.S.Postal Service will be issuing a Jimi Hendrix postage stamp soon.
Cool, if true.
Cool, if true.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Friday, February 20, 1914. Revolutionary execution.
William S. Benton, a British rancher with Chihuahua holdings, was executed in Juarez by Villistas, after a "court-martial". He was accused of making an attempt on Villa's life, but his associates claimed he had no views on the Mexican Revolution at all.
More on this from a Scottish blog:
Pancho Villa murders Keig man
Rosa Luxemburg was tried in a Frankfurt court on charges of encouraging public disobedience and sentenced to a year in prison. In the Court she stated.
When, as I say, the majority of people come to the conclusion that wars are nothing but a barbaric, unsocial, reactionary phenomenon, entirely against the interests of the people, then wars will have become impossible.
Nice sentiment, but shallow thought.
Luxemburg herself has always struck me as not being too deep. Perhaps I'm wrong as she remains the deluded darling of the far left, and maybe there's more to her than my very limited knowledge is aware of.
James William Humphyrs Scotland made the first cross-country flight in New Zealand. On the same day, Winston Churchill, serving as First Lord of the Admiralty, flew as a passenger in a Sopwith Sociable.
Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Feb. 20, 1914, one year before opening day. San Francisco.
Legal, Alberta, was founded.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
On Line Dating: Are we really that busy?
This morning, on my way to work, I was listening to XM Radio when an advertisement came on advertising an on line dating service for busy professionals. The pitch was that they were too busy to get to know anyone, so the service had done all the heavy lifting for them.
Seriously? Are people now so busy that they can't get to know anybody?
If that's true, that's a horrible sign of something seriously amiss in our society. If people are now so busy, they can't even get to know a potential spouse in any sort of conventional way, our society is pretty much doomed.
People are busy, grant it. But at some point certain things are like canaries in coal mines. And if this is actually the case (and I hope its' not) its like a flock of canaries dropping dead all over the coal mine floor.
Seriously? Are people now so busy that they can't get to know anybody?
If that's true, that's a horrible sign of something seriously amiss in our society. If people are now so busy, they can't even get to know a potential spouse in any sort of conventional way, our society is pretty much doomed.
People are busy, grant it. But at some point certain things are like canaries in coal mines. And if this is actually the case (and I hope its' not) its like a flock of canaries dropping dead all over the coal mine floor.
Occupational Identity
According to psychologists, males (but not females) acquire an "occupational identity" as adults. If they fail to do so, supposedly, it's actually supposed to be a problem for the adult male.
I don't know about that, but I do know that males very strongly catalog people by occupations. One of the first things that males do, if they do not know each other, but are engaged in a conversation, is to ask each other "so, what do you do?" Casual male acquaintances usually also get around to asking, "so, how are things at work?" Only men who very deeply know one another will skip the work questions, usually.
I note this as I recently had an odd experience, although its frankly one that I've had in the past as well.
I called a person who is in the business of selling a certain item to ask about an example of it that I had heard, outside of work, that was coming up for sale. I could tell this person was struggling to place me in context, when suddenly he said "Oh! You are the lawyer!" Not only was it like turning on a switch for him, it also told me nearly immediately I wasn't going to be treated seriously.
That may sound odd, but certain professions are not taken seriously in regards to certain things. If, for example, a neurosurgeon went into a used car shop to ask about a beat up Volkswagen, he's not going to be taken seriously.
Here, the item that was going up for sale wasn't for sale just yet, but it was going to be that week. I asked this person to call me back as soon as it was listed. He said he would.
He didn't.
A client of mine, who is in the business that this thing pertains to, is now going to buy it and called me for help on that. Of course, I'll help. But how frustrating.
I've encountered this before. Years and years ago there was some grazing land that was somewhat tempting up for sale around here, and I called the listing agent and the agent never was able to figure out what I was asking about. He kept coming back to me with palatial mountain retreats. In his mind, that must be what I was wanting to buy. I finally gave up on him.
Or, in another instance, I once called a seller about something and left a message. I didn't hear back and didn't hear back. Finally, I called again, and he told me "oh. . . you wouldn't want it, it wouldn't interest a lawyer." Oh? Then why had I called about buying it in the first place? Geez.
In another instance, a rancher friend of mine had an early model Power Wagon which I very much admired. He knew that. He decided to sell it, and never told me. Why? Well, it just isn't the sort of thing he could have seen me wanting. By the same token, I'll admit, I once had a muscle car that I sold and later heard from his wife who complained that had she known I was going to sell it, she would have bought it. I just didn't see that being something she would have wanted.
I don't know what the point of this is, but I guess it's just an interesting observation about how we pigeonhole things. There's no reason that an oilfield worker wouldn't want season tickets at the Met, but I bet they'd have a hard time getting them. Assumptions. . .
I don't know about that, but I do know that males very strongly catalog people by occupations. One of the first things that males do, if they do not know each other, but are engaged in a conversation, is to ask each other "so, what do you do?" Casual male acquaintances usually also get around to asking, "so, how are things at work?" Only men who very deeply know one another will skip the work questions, usually.
I note this as I recently had an odd experience, although its frankly one that I've had in the past as well.
I called a person who is in the business of selling a certain item to ask about an example of it that I had heard, outside of work, that was coming up for sale. I could tell this person was struggling to place me in context, when suddenly he said "Oh! You are the lawyer!" Not only was it like turning on a switch for him, it also told me nearly immediately I wasn't going to be treated seriously.
That may sound odd, but certain professions are not taken seriously in regards to certain things. If, for example, a neurosurgeon went into a used car shop to ask about a beat up Volkswagen, he's not going to be taken seriously.
Here, the item that was going up for sale wasn't for sale just yet, but it was going to be that week. I asked this person to call me back as soon as it was listed. He said he would.
He didn't.
A client of mine, who is in the business that this thing pertains to, is now going to buy it and called me for help on that. Of course, I'll help. But how frustrating.
I've encountered this before. Years and years ago there was some grazing land that was somewhat tempting up for sale around here, and I called the listing agent and the agent never was able to figure out what I was asking about. He kept coming back to me with palatial mountain retreats. In his mind, that must be what I was wanting to buy. I finally gave up on him.
Or, in another instance, I once called a seller about something and left a message. I didn't hear back and didn't hear back. Finally, I called again, and he told me "oh. . . you wouldn't want it, it wouldn't interest a lawyer." Oh? Then why had I called about buying it in the first place? Geez.
In another instance, a rancher friend of mine had an early model Power Wagon which I very much admired. He knew that. He decided to sell it, and never told me. Why? Well, it just isn't the sort of thing he could have seen me wanting. By the same token, I'll admit, I once had a muscle car that I sold and later heard from his wife who complained that had she known I was going to sell it, she would have bought it. I just didn't see that being something she would have wanted.
I don't know what the point of this is, but I guess it's just an interesting observation about how we pigeonhole things. There's no reason that an oilfield worker wouldn't want season tickets at the Met, but I bet they'd have a hard time getting them. Assumptions. . .
Implements of the transportation revolution: Riker Truck
Riker truck being delivered to the U.S. Army, for use in the Punitive Expedition.
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