The horror of it all.

Putting walnuts in to chocolate chip cookies should be a crime.

Just saying.

The ignorance of vegetarians

 
One of the real negative impacts, indeed dangers, in the increasing urbanization of the Western World's population is that it has given rise to a sanctimonious myths based on wholesale ignorance of food production and nature.  One of the biggest of these is that it's "green" or "kind" to be a vegetarian, or beyond that a "vegan".

In actuality, the opposite is quite true.  If a person really wanted to be kind to the planet, and still eat, what they'd be is a hunter,  not a vegetarian, and certainly not a vegan.  Or they'd hunt, gather, and plant a little garden. That's about as green as you can get.

The basis for the vegan myth is apparently a view that vegetable farming is kind to the land, and that by being a vegetarian you are not responsible for the deaths of any animals. 

Taking the latter part of that first, that's far, far, from the truth.  In fact, all farmers kill animals, and all farming kills animals.  It is not possible to be a farmer without killing something, even by accident.  Tractors combine through snakes, birds and deer, just to give one example.  Vermin are killed by necessity, sometimes through the agents of another animals.  And things get killed hauling things to and fro.  Indeed, while I don't know for certain, I'd wager that farmers, kill far, far, far more animals than hunters do every year.  No farmer, of any kind, doesn't kill something, and probably a fair number of somethings.

Eat your whole natural wheat bagel and imagine otherwise, but there's some dead deer DNA in there somewhere.  Probably some dead rabbit dna, some mice dna, and a few bird dnas as well.

Nor is farming environmentally benign.  Some farming improves the land, some does the opposite, but it is not possible to raise a crop without altering it.  One of the prime alterations is that the surface of the land isn't what it once was, so whatever animal once lived there probably doesn't the same way.  Farming increases forage for some things, and decreases it for others, but it doesn't leave things in a state of nature.

Now, I'm not dissing farmers by mentioning this, they know it.  It's the ignorant self satisfied person eating a bowl of all natural oats that I'm laughing at?  Natural?  Was it wild and picked up by a gatherer?  No.  Did something die to get it to you.  Undoubtedly yes.  It is natural in that man is a natural farmer, but it also wasn't raised fee of any animal deaths, and if it was grown by somebody you didn't see grow it, fossil fuels were used to get it and produce it.

Of all farming, I'd note, it's animal farming, ie., ranching, that has the smallest environmental impact, as all it does is put large animals out where there were otherwise large animals.  They probably aren't the same, to be sure, but there's no plowing or reaping involved.  There may be haying, but that's relatively benign, but not purely so, as well.

Again, I'm not criticizing farmers and ranchers, and I am one.  But I am amazed by the extent to which certain people think they're morally superior because they don't eat meat.  They actually do eat meat, they just don't realize it's in there. And they're causing greater acreage per man to be tilled to feed them personally.  They don't know that, as they're ignorant.  And they're ignorant, as their exposure to the real world is lacking.

Wisdom

From today's Reading, Wisdom, Chapter 6

Resplendent and unfading is wisdom,
and she is readily perceived by those who love her,
and found by those who seek her.
She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of their desire;
Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed,
for he shall find her sitting by his gate.
For taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence,
and whoever for her sake keeps vigil
shall quickly be free from care;
because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her,
and graciously appears to them in the ways,
and meets them with all solicitude.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 6: Vincent Michael Carter

Also on today's Today In Wyoming's History: November 6: is an item noting the birth of Vincent Michael Carter, who was Wyoming's Congressman from 1929 to 1935.

The item noted:

1891 Vincent Michael Carter, U.S. Representative for Wyoming from 1929-1935, born in St. Clair, Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of Catholic University and a World War One Marine Corps officer. He set up his law practice in Casper Wyoming in 1919, and then relocated it to Kemmerer Wyoming prior to becoming the Republican Congressman from Wyoming in 1929.

I'll freely confess that I've never heard of Mr. Carter. In looking him up, all I could really find was the Wikipedia entry on him, which noted that he had graduated from Catholic University in Washington D. C. in 1915, served in World War One in the Marine Corps. Perhaps his Marine Corps service was natural, as he'd gone to the U.S. Naval Academy Preparatory School before law school, and had also attended Fordham. The USNAPS is usually something that only those who wished to compete for the Naval Academy attended, and usually they had a very good chance at attendance. The Wikipedia article notes that after his discharge from the Marine Corps, he started a law practice in Casper, but only practiced here until 1929, when he moved to Kemmerer, on the far western edge of the state. He served in the Wyoming National Guard from 1919 until 1921, was deputy attorney general from 1919 to 1923, which means that he occupied his deputyship as part of his legal practice, and served as State Auditor from 1923 to 1929, which would suggest that he really left Casper no later than 1923. It would also suggest that he was either extremely lucky or well connected, or perhaps just very impressive, given his rise from out of state novice attorney in 1919 to State Auditor in 1923. He'd just practiced four years at that time.

He tried to run for the Senate in 1935, but was not elected, which is why he left the House about that time. He resumed the practice of law in 1935, but in Cheyenne. He retired in 1965 to New Mexico. There's no indication of World War Two service, so presumably he practiced throughout World War Two as a civilian lawyer in Cheyenne.

This tells us a lot, but at the same time almost nothing at all. For instance, why was an Eastern educated lawyer with an interest in the Navy relocating to Wyoming? Perhaps that isn't as odd as it might seem, as the legal practice in Wyoming was dominated by those who were born outside the state (as was nearly every other aspect of business) up until at least the 1930s. If we read between the lines, a lot of these people were highly ambitious, and Wyoming was merely a wide open opportunity at the time. The early history of the state is full of such examples. We are left, really, with the impression that any venue would have served, had it provided equal opportunities, and sometimes the careers of these early legal and business pioneers are not all that tasteful to those of us who have come up from here, or who came here for other reasons.

Was Carter one of these? We have no way knowing really, based upon what little we know of him. The Wikipedia article does not even provide a photograph of him, and there isn't one available on the Library of Congress' website. He seems to have moved to locations that were perhaps active at the time. Casper was very active due to oil activity around World War One. Was Kemmerer that way a decade later?

Still, he came back in 1935, and practiced law another 30 years. He's proof, in a way, that lawyers tend to only be really well known in their own times, and not thereafter, as we can presume that a World War One Marine Corps officer, a successful lawyer from 1919 to 1929, and a Congressman, was a well known man. Too bad we don't know more.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 6. Myth, reality, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

In today's Today In Wyoming's History: November 6: there's an item about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid meeting their demise in Bolivia in 1908. In spite of what romantics may wish, all the evidence is that the criminal pair bit the dust at the hands of Bolivian cavalry on November 6, 1908, in San Valentia Bolivia.

The story of Harry Lonabaugh and Robert LeRoy Parker, Butch and Sundance's real names, tell us a lot about myth and reality. This is so much the case that they've inspired at least two movies, one bad television series, and countless Butch survived myths.

One illuminating thing about them, in terms of this blog, is how late in history their story is. Their glory years, if that's what we'd consider them, fell between 1896 and 1901, so they're 19th and 20th Century criminals. As much time passed between the first crimes of the James Gang and the Wild Bunch as passed between the Wild Bunch and the famous gangs of Prohibition. The Wild Bunch's criminal depredations came in the early era of the automobile and concluded just before the Wright Brother's first flight. They are, in some ways, nearly of our own era.

But at the same time, they obviously lived in a Wyoming that was still so remote, and still so much of the horse era, that they were able to fairly openly used The Hole In The Wall of Johnson County as a hideout. That could only have occurred in the less mobile horse era. A few years later, the criminal Durrant, the Tarzan of the Tetons, was only able to hide for a few days, as opposed to Butch and Sundance's several years. Wyoming of 1908 was still very easy to disappear in.

The ongoing fascination with them also says something, I suppose, about ourselves. According to the Pinkertons, the Wild Bunch was the only criminal gang of the West that came close to meeting its public image, but none the less the gang killed in pursuit of its criminal objective of staying free after theft. That Lonabaugh and Parker did not is somewhat besides the point, as their gang was an armed gang that did use violence to remain free.

It was the public image that resulted in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which remains a Western classic, and their real nature which lead to another classic, The Wild Bunch. In spite of its name, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch is not really directly about the Wyoming gang, and isn't even set in Wyoming, but Peckinpah made the movie as a counter to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and the name of his film probably wasn't an accident. Peckinpah's film, sent on the border with Mexico in about 1915, depicts a different region, but arguably it portrays the fin de cicle nature of the West at that time more accurately than Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and the misunderstood Peckinpah film certainly more accurately depicts the "glamour of evil" that actually attracts people's attention to crimals and their gangs than the charming Butch and Sundance film does.

Nowhere to run

For whatever reason, it occurred to me that one of the big differences between our country now, as opposed to a century ago, or even a half century ago, is that there is really no longer a place for most people to run.

By that, what I mean is that,  like it or not, to some degree the United States proved to be such a huge success as it was ideal for quitters.  Sounds  harsh, in no small part because of our "never say die" public attitude, but it's true.

Most people in the country today descend from people who quit whole countries. Germans, Irish, whatever, who picked up, said of their native land "I quit", and left.  Suire, a lot of that still goes on today, but an awful lot of immigration today is of the "I must leave", or "I can make a better buck", variety. That's been the case since the immigration reforms of the 70s. And that element was always a strong aspect of immigration. But there was also a lot of "I don't like England anymore. . .", or the like, in it also.

And within our own country quitting a region, picking up, and starting over was very common.  The entire State of Texas, in terms of its early history, seems to have been populated by titanic quitters.

All this sounds really harsh, but quitting is often the simple acknowledgment of a mistake.  Things are working out, people thought, so I'll hitch up the mule and move over the divide, or the next one, or whatever.

Now, you can move, but you really can't quit.  Your credentials follow you everywhere, and determine what you can do, and you can do what you've been doing.  No quitting.

Perhaps that's inevitable for a country as densely populated as ours is now.  Quitting was greatly aided by available land.  You needed no qualifications, and not all that much cash, to quit your job as a bank clerk and homestead. Sure, you might fail, but then you could always pull over the next ridge, or quit that and go on to something else.

No. longer.

Gene Logsdon On The Myth of the Self Made Yeoman

Gene Logsdon on The Myth of the Self Made Yeoman.

Funding Failure II

A very interesting NPR Talk of the Nation episode on Student Loans.

What is so interesting about this, I think, is that there's at least one caller who emails in with complaints about how the burden of loans caused her to take a career she didn't want, Wildlife Management, over one she did, Veterinary school, as she couldn't afford the loans.  She then goes on to blame the burden of servicing her loans for living far from her family, and for not having any children.

The other thing that is is ineresting is that a few callers have no sympathy at all with those complaining about their loans.

I'm afraid I'm in that camp, the one without sympathy. Choosing a career you don't want, just because the loans are cheaper, is stupid.  Beyond that, avoiding real life, to service loans, is as well.

This probably says something, however, about the current nature of our societal view towards education. Why must we go this route?  We don't have to, we're choosing too.  And now, a large section of the population views paying for the loans they obtained for their education as unfair, when nobody asked them to get the loans in the first place.

Not that society cannot be blamed to some degree.  We've created a culture where we now view manual labor as demeaning, and teach our middle class children that.  The grandsons of machinist and tool and die makers feel they must go to college, and indeed they must as we sent the tool and die work to China, more or less intentionally.  So we're now all over-educated, and can't pay for it with the jobs we retained. And we encourage this to continue on by giving loans for educational pursuits we know will never pay off.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 1

Today In Wyoming's History: November 1: 1886 First snowfall of what would prove to be a disastrous winter. Attribution. Wyoming State Archives.

Remount Station, 1917

Relates back, in some ways, to my attempted poll on Working With Animals.

Will somebody please turn out the lights?

The news has hit today that Kim Kardashian is filing from divorce from whomever she married two months ago.

It's good to know that in this time of crisis, with ever increasing distressing news, with moral, financial, and political decline becoming more evident every day, that our nation still has time to following the actions of twits who are famous only for being famous.  It's a sign that, um. . . . , well, um.

Old Picture of the Day: The Iron Horse

Old Picture of the Day: The Iron Horse: The Iron Horse, or Steam Locomotive is probably as responsible as anything for taming the West, and leading to a country that stretched from...

Old Picture of the Day: Emiliano and his Men

Old Picture of the Day: Emiliano and his Men: Good Monday morning to you all. Hopefully some of you have this week off and can enjoy a little time unwinding from the busy year. Bandit We...

Old Picture of the Day: The Brothers Madero

Old Picture of the Day: The Brothers Madero: So yesterday we talked about the short-lived presidency of Francisco Madero. I suggested the tragedy was due to him forgetting his bandit r...

Old Picture of the Day: The Sad Saga of Maximo Castillo

Old Picture of the Day: The Sad Saga of Maximo Castillo: I have to say I have very much enjoyed researching Mexican Bandits and the Revolution of 1910. It is a particularly hard topic to get your ...

Old Picture of the Day: The Butcher

Old Picture of the Day: The Butcher: Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you have a blessed day, and enjoy some good times with family. We will not have a mystery person contest...

Old Picture of the Day: Old Delivery Truck

Old Picture of the Day: Old Delivery Truck: Good morning to you all, and I hope each of you had a blessed Easter weekend. I had a great time, and our sunrise service was excellent. Th...

Old Picture of the Day: Old Dump Trucks

Old Picture of the Day: Old Dump Trucks: Today's picture is from about 1910. It shows three old dump trucks. The sign on the building and on the trucks reads "S. M. Frazier". I am...

Old Picture of the Day: United States Express Truck

Old Picture of the Day: United States Express Truck: Today's picture was taken in about 1910, and it shows men loading a cabinet onto a United States Express Company truck. I guess this was b...

Old Picture of the Day: Train Deopot

Old Picture of the Day: Train Deopot: I realize that this is Train Week, and that this picture does not have a train in it. This is the train depot in Maricopa, Arizona. It is t...

And here's another classic example.