Monday, February 17, 2014
Old Picture of the Day: Denver Stockyards
Old Picture of the Day: Denver Stockyards: Today's picture shows Cattle Buyers at the Denver Stockyards. The picture was taken in 1939. These buyers would be buying for the p...
Old Picture of the Day: Denver Train Station
Old Picture of the Day: Denver Train Station: Today's picture shows a scene from the Denver train station. The picture was taken in 1903. People dressed in grand style back then...
Old Picture of the Day: Dallas Cowboy
Old Picture of the Day: Dallas Cowboy: Welcome to Dallas Texas Week here at OPOD. We will be looking at pictures from times gone by of this great city. We start with this pi...
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Friday, February 14, 1914. Concerned farmers.
Protesting Swedish peasants.
Concerned Swedish farmers gathered in the courtyard of Stockholm Place to demand higher defense spending. There were 32,000 of them. King Gustaf declared to them that he shared their concerns, violating the Swedish constitution by taking an issue in a partisan matter. Conservatives supported higher defense spending and had organized the protest against the sitting Liberal government. The resulting controversy resulted in the downfall of the leadership of the Swedish government and the appointment of a government approved of by the King.
Gustav was king from 1907 until his death in 1950. Up until World War One he still held significant power in the country, and was highly influential in the Swedish government during the war. After the war, parliamentary actions would end up stripping the crown of them. He was the last Swedish monarch to exercise royal prerogatives, and 1974 constitutional changes ended them.
Gustav was pro German and anti Communist during the war and after. During World War Two, he had to be stopped by the Swedish prime minister from sending a congratulatory letter to Hitler for invading the Soviet Union. He nonetheless on behalf of tennis Davis Cup stars Jean Borotra of France and his personal trainer and friend Baron Gottfried von Cramm of Germany for better treatment by the Nazis, the latter of which had been imprisoned on the charge of a homosexual relationship with a Jew. Gustav himself was an ardent tennis player.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Random Snippets: Toyota Pickup Trucks.
Has anyone else noticed that Toyota pickup trucks seem to be the prime mover of every third world irregular army on the planet?
Friday, February 14, 2014
ABA President Silkenat: America's legal response to gun violence is unacceptable
ABA President Silkenat: America's legal response to gun violence is unacceptable
Which shows just how far the ABA has strayed from its original mission, and how whopping irrelevant it now is to the lives of average lawyers.
The ABA started off as a (conservative) organization seeking to regulate the unrestricted practice of law. It was concerned that the rough and tumble nature of the practice, which had existed in its frontier regions from nearly day one, lead to be the law being regarded with disdain. It sought to elevate the practice, and actually to boost its esteem to the level of physicians. As part of that, it emphasized professionalism, and it came to also review Federal judicial nominees and rate law schools.
Well, just like other organizations, it's in decline. Part of this is for the same reasons fraternal organizations are in decline (see also the recent post on the Boy Scouts). Part of it is also for the reasons that labor unions are in decline. The ABA achieved what it sought to do many, many year ago. So it isn't really needed to achieve htat goal, only to maintain it.
But organizations that started off with a cause rarely disband when the cause is achieved. They just move on to a new one, and that's what the ABA has done. It's morphed from a conservative organization concerned with practice standards, to one which is now a liberal organization ready to espouse liberal causes.
The problem with that is that a political cause is a political cause, and most legal practitioners are working in the nuts and bolts of the law. Practitioners are more concerned with developments in tort law, criminal law, civil procedure, and the like. As for social causes, lawyers have their own views like everyone else. Some of those views are grounded in legal interpretation, some in social views, and some in emotion.
Hopefully lawyers involved in social causes, and more particularly legal organizations involved in them, do try to keep the law in mind, but here the ABA is frankly just out to lunch. A person can argue one way or another about gun control, but a legal organization that argues about it should keep the law in mind, and either accept it or argue that it, and by it we have to mean the Constitution here, be changed. It's weak legal reasoning to argue that a strained reading of the Constitution ought to be the approach taken.
Beyond that, frankly this is a policy issue that has nothing really to do with the law as law. Lawyers don't have much business saying "I'm a lawyer, and therefore I know that this should be the policy." And this has nothing to do with what almost every lawyer in the US actually does for a living.
Which shows just how far the ABA has strayed from its original mission, and how whopping irrelevant it now is to the lives of average lawyers.
The ABA started off as a (conservative) organization seeking to regulate the unrestricted practice of law. It was concerned that the rough and tumble nature of the practice, which had existed in its frontier regions from nearly day one, lead to be the law being regarded with disdain. It sought to elevate the practice, and actually to boost its esteem to the level of physicians. As part of that, it emphasized professionalism, and it came to also review Federal judicial nominees and rate law schools.
Well, just like other organizations, it's in decline. Part of this is for the same reasons fraternal organizations are in decline (see also the recent post on the Boy Scouts). Part of it is also for the reasons that labor unions are in decline. The ABA achieved what it sought to do many, many year ago. So it isn't really needed to achieve htat goal, only to maintain it.
But organizations that started off with a cause rarely disband when the cause is achieved. They just move on to a new one, and that's what the ABA has done. It's morphed from a conservative organization concerned with practice standards, to one which is now a liberal organization ready to espouse liberal causes.
The problem with that is that a political cause is a political cause, and most legal practitioners are working in the nuts and bolts of the law. Practitioners are more concerned with developments in tort law, criminal law, civil procedure, and the like. As for social causes, lawyers have their own views like everyone else. Some of those views are grounded in legal interpretation, some in social views, and some in emotion.
Hopefully lawyers involved in social causes, and more particularly legal organizations involved in them, do try to keep the law in mind, but here the ABA is frankly just out to lunch. A person can argue one way or another about gun control, but a legal organization that argues about it should keep the law in mind, and either accept it or argue that it, and by it we have to mean the Constitution here, be changed. It's weak legal reasoning to argue that a strained reading of the Constitution ought to be the approach taken.
Beyond that, frankly this is a policy issue that has nothing really to do with the law as law. Lawyers don't have much business saying "I'm a lawyer, and therefore I know that this should be the policy." And this has nothing to do with what almost every lawyer in the US actually does for a living.
Lex Anteinternet: The 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic
A while back I blogged about the Lex Anteinternet: The 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic: I was reminded of that as the flu, the real deal, not some bad cold that people mistake for the flu, has really been going around recently. All sorts of people have it.
It's going through NCHS like there's no tomorrow. At least three members of the swim team have it, including my son. And its a nasty H1N1 variant.
H1N1 is bad, but it's not anything like the 1918 flu, which was a H5 variant. Be that as it may, things like this really demonstrate to me how vulnerable to the flu or something like it we are. I'll fly down to Denver today. So far, I haven't had the flu, and I haven't felt like I was getting it, although I'm coughing slightly this morning. I've clearly been exposed to the flu here at home. And at work where at least a couple of the people have had it recently. And I was at a meeting recently where a person was about two weeks out from it, no doubt over the flu, but still suffering from its effects.
My point is that the 1918 flu managed to go clean across the globe with no difficult, over about a two year time span. By that time, however, humans as a species would have had a little time for our own natures to begin to evolve where exposures had occurred, and we would have had some time to prepare where it had not immediately hit. World War One helped spread it around, but at that time it was still the case that transoceanic travel moved no faster than ships. That's certainly not the case now. A flu outbreak could be everywhere before we even knew it was an outbreak.
It's going through NCHS like there's no tomorrow. At least three members of the swim team have it, including my son. And its a nasty H1N1 variant.
H1N1 is bad, but it's not anything like the 1918 flu, which was a H5 variant. Be that as it may, things like this really demonstrate to me how vulnerable to the flu or something like it we are. I'll fly down to Denver today. So far, I haven't had the flu, and I haven't felt like I was getting it, although I'm coughing slightly this morning. I've clearly been exposed to the flu here at home. And at work where at least a couple of the people have had it recently. And I was at a meeting recently where a person was about two weeks out from it, no doubt over the flu, but still suffering from its effects.
My point is that the 1918 flu managed to go clean across the globe with no difficult, over about a two year time span. By that time, however, humans as a species would have had a little time for our own natures to begin to evolve where exposures had occurred, and we would have had some time to prepare where it had not immediately hit. World War One helped spread it around, but at that time it was still the case that transoceanic travel moved no faster than ships. That's certainly not the case now. A flu outbreak could be everywhere before we even knew it was an outbreak.
Today In Wyoming's History: Wyoming History In The Making: Enzi out raised Ch...
Today In Wyoming's History: Wyoming History In The Making: Enzi out raised Ch...: A recent article in the Casper Star Tribune reveals that Mike Enzi's campaign raised more money than Liz Cheney's in the last quarte...
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Friday, February 12, 1914. The assault on Clemente Vergara.
Texan Rancher Clemente Vergara of Laredo was arrested in Mexico by Mexican Federal troops on the Rio Grande. He had previously filed two complaints with the Webb County sheriff over allegations that Mexican Federal troops were stealing horses that he was allowed to graze on the Mexican side of the river.
He had traveled into Mexico to meet with the Mexican commander and was ambushed in route. His nephew, who had accompanied him, escaped.
Vergara's wife and daughter crossed into Mexico the following day and found him severely beaten and jailed in the Hidalgo garrison. The next day, the women were informed he had been moved to Piedras Negras. The Wilson Administration became involved and started to internally debate what to do about the situation. On the 16th, the commander at Piedras Negras reported he had been released, and the horses ordered returned, but witnesses told American officials they had seen Vergara's body hanging from a tree from February 15 onward. On March 7 his body was delivered to his family in Texas, apparently recovered by friends and ranch employees who risked their lives to locate his grave and exhume him, although this is disputed. He was reburied in Cavalry Catholic Cemetery in Laredo, where a prominent tombstone remains.
Some Mexican officials or those who were partisan to some degree claimed that Vergara was smuggling arms to the rebels, although there is no evidence of that. Some even claimed he wasn't murdered at all, but had crossed the border to join them, which is clearly erroneous.
Texas sought to press criminal charges against the Mexican officers, and there was some discussion of sending law enforcement into Mexico. The Wilson administration forbade that.
Clemente was 44 years old at the time of his murder. He left his wife, Antonia, daughter Clara, and a son, Jesus. He also had two sisters. His daughter Clara lived until 1962, and is buried in the same cemetery. What happened to his wife I was not able to determine, but as his daughter and siblings remained in Laredo as late as the 1960s, she likely did as well.
Of some interest, and showing the nature of the border at the time, and perhaps now, both of Clemente's parents were born in Mexico. They had immigrated to the U.S.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Book Announcement: On This Day In Wyoming History
We'd like to announce that our book, On This Day In Wyoming History, will go to press in March and can be pre-ordered from the publisher now.
Lex Anteinternet: Boy Scouts of America--Merit Badges from 1911
Lex Anteinternet: Boy Scouts of America--Merit Badges from 1911:
This is an older thread here, but I'm bumping it up as last Sunday was apparently Scouting Sunday. The Boy Scout Troop associated with St. Anthony's Church acted as servers for Sunday Mass, and I saw a sign on the First Christian Church noting the same.
I have to admit that I didn't even know that St. Anthony's had a Boy Scout organization, even though I probably should have known that. My guess is that it might be associated in some fashion with St. Anthony's Tri Parish School, although I don't know that for sure. I knew that it had one at one time, as a co-worker of mine told me that he'd first met a late co worker of mine when they were both in Boy Scouts, with my living co worker having been in the St. Mark's Episcopal Church troop, while my late partner was in the St. Anthony's troop. My late partner was a strong supporter of the school, so my supposition is that he attended it. I should have been aware that they still had a Troop, but never having been a Boy Scout, I did not. I did know that the First Christian Church had one, as a co workers of mine is a Scout leader there.
Anyhow, I guess that demonstrates the extent to which Boy Scout units were once associated with churches, which is still somewhat true.
Still, I've heard that Scouting has suffered in popularity over the last several decades, which doesn't surprise me. For one thing, it's probably suffered as Americans have generally moved away from organizations of all types. As we've covered in prior posts, Fraternal Organizations have really declined in popularity. But this trend, with some exceptions, goes on beyond that.
Still, I also wonder if Boy Scouts have declines as they've strayed from their original mission, which ironically may be nearly as relevant now as at any time in the past. Scouting was created by Lord Baden Powell as an English movement. He'd been a British career soldiers, served as an unconventional scout in the Boer War, and went on to be the chief of British cavalry. Based upon his Boer War experience, he'd come to believe that British youth had become sort of sissified by city living, and he sought to correct that through exposure to life in the wild and what used to be called "woodcraft".
Scouting, in its heyday, as highly outdoorsy, sometimes agriculturally oriented, highly patriotic and it emphasized Christian virtues. It can still be very outdoorsy, but hat emphasis started to wane in the 1970s, it seems to me. It's also still patriotic and it still emphasizes Christian virtues, but in an age when relativism is the rule of the day, its singular approach to that can draw criticism pretty readily, while at the same time any effort to alter its traditional core values will likewise tend to weaken it a bit. I have to wonder if it still was as rurally oriented as it once was, if it would have declined less, as I suspect that the appeal of that aspect of it is as strong as ever.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Note: Were you a Boy Scout or Girl Scout? Answer our poll!
This is an older thread here, but I'm bumping it up as last Sunday was apparently Scouting Sunday. The Boy Scout Troop associated with St. Anthony's Church acted as servers for Sunday Mass, and I saw a sign on the First Christian Church noting the same.
I have to admit that I didn't even know that St. Anthony's had a Boy Scout organization, even though I probably should have known that. My guess is that it might be associated in some fashion with St. Anthony's Tri Parish School, although I don't know that for sure. I knew that it had one at one time, as a co-worker of mine told me that he'd first met a late co worker of mine when they were both in Boy Scouts, with my living co worker having been in the St. Mark's Episcopal Church troop, while my late partner was in the St. Anthony's troop. My late partner was a strong supporter of the school, so my supposition is that he attended it. I should have been aware that they still had a Troop, but never having been a Boy Scout, I did not. I did know that the First Christian Church had one, as a co workers of mine is a Scout leader there.
World War One era Boy Scout Liberty Load poster.
Anyhow, I guess that demonstrates the extent to which Boy Scout units were once associated with churches, which is still somewhat true.
Still, I've heard that Scouting has suffered in popularity over the last several decades, which doesn't surprise me. For one thing, it's probably suffered as Americans have generally moved away from organizations of all types. As we've covered in prior posts, Fraternal Organizations have really declined in popularity. But this trend, with some exceptions, goes on beyond that.
Still, I also wonder if Boy Scouts have declines as they've strayed from their original mission, which ironically may be nearly as relevant now as at any time in the past. Scouting was created by Lord Baden Powell as an English movement. He'd been a British career soldiers, served as an unconventional scout in the Boer War, and went on to be the chief of British cavalry. Based upon his Boer War experience, he'd come to believe that British youth had become sort of sissified by city living, and he sought to correct that through exposure to life in the wild and what used to be called "woodcraft".
Scouting, in its heyday, as highly outdoorsy, sometimes agriculturally oriented, highly patriotic and it emphasized Christian virtues. It can still be very outdoorsy, but hat emphasis started to wane in the 1970s, it seems to me. It's also still patriotic and it still emphasizes Christian virtues, but in an age when relativism is the rule of the day, its singular approach to that can draw criticism pretty readily, while at the same time any effort to alter its traditional core values will likewise tend to weaken it a bit. I have to wonder if it still was as rurally oriented as it once was, if it would have declined less, as I suspect that the appeal of that aspect of it is as strong as ever.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Note: Were you a Boy Scout or Girl Scout? Answer our poll!
Thursday, February 12, 1914. Groundbreaking for the Lincoln Memorial.
Ground was broken on this day for the Lincoln Memorial.
Col. William W. Harts, spade in hand, Eagle Scout Graeme T. Smallwood on the left, Henry Bacon to the right of Harts, Senator Joseph C.S. Blackburn.
The groundbreaking was barely attended. Sen. Blackburn stated that "The memorial will show that (President Abraham) Lincoln is now regarded as the greatest of all Americans" in a speech he delivered on the occasion.
Czar Nicolas II recalled Ivan Goremykin into service as Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, replacing Vladimir Kokovtsov.
The Squaw Man, Cecille B. Demille's directorial debut, which is a melodrama set in Wyoming, premiered. Not surprisingly, the film is not without its critics, and certainly would never be named that today. It does feature a Native American heroine played by an actual Native American, Red Wing (Lilian Margaret St. Cyr). St. Cyr died in 1974, at which time she was either 90, or 101, years old.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Change, Period - Attorney at Work - Attorney at Work
Change, Period - Attorney at Work - Attorney at Work
Interesting post, with which I do not fully agree (see comment).
Interesting post, with which I do not fully agree (see comment).
Monday, February 10, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Holscher's Hub: Casper Mountain Sled Dog and Skiijourning Races, F...
Holscher's Hub: Casper Mountain Sled Dog and Skiijourning Races, F...: Today's sequel to yesterday's post on the Casper Mountain Sled Dog and Skiijourning Races . ...
"Amazing" discoveries about early human's and Yeoman's First Law of History
There's been a couple of recent very interesting discoveries about our early ancestors recently, which have drawn some conclusions that, frankly, are less than amazing. Its an application of Yeoman's First Law of History at work.
First of all, within the last couple of days human footprints have been found in the UK which are at least 800,000, if not 1,000,000 years old. That's pretty cool. The temperature of the UK, at that point in time, was also pretty darned cool. Scandinavian like, in fact.
This has lead to a lot of pondering (why were they stomping around in the mud, for example?), but it's also lead to at least one amazingly dense comment from a scientist who wondered aloud if they had the ability to make clothing.
Seriously?
Of course, they did. The question is idiotic.
Which leads me to my second item.
Scientist have recently confirmed that modern human beings of European descent carry a few genes they can trace to Neanderthal human beings, thereby confirming that Neanderthals and what were once commonly called Cro Magnums, but now are generally called "archaic" modern man, um. . .well you know.
No kidding, no surprise there. Or at least there should be. We're actually all in the same species. The bigger surprise there is that apparently Neanderthals, and we were on the edge of genetic comparability. That does surprise me because, as noted, we're in the same species. Neanderthals were only unique in that they were genetically adapted to extreme cold by having short, but stout, bodies. Modern populations of humans now feature quite a variety in body types, which our archaic ancestors actually did not at that time, so that's not as big of a deal as it might seem. Included in our current adaptations are body forms that contemplate high heat and intense cold. That an isolated population of human beings living in Ice Age Europe would have adaptations to their environment isn't that surprising.
But it's been oddly surprising to some that these populations would mix. In our true European "we feel guilty about everything" outlook, we've often assumed that this must have been the result of violence.
Well, some probably were, but our surprise is probably because of the long-standing tradition of depicting Neanderthals as really ugly, which they probably were not. They probably just looked different, as many current populations do. Looking different, while often a cause of hatred amongst people, has often been an attractant too, and so far there hasn't been one single example of any group of people encountering another in which mixing didn't occur. And chances are high that Neanderthals didn't look like brutes, but rather were dressed in a fashion similar to any new population they were encountering. So, it's a pretty good bet that it didn't take long before some archaic member of our species was saying something like, "have you seen that cute Neanderthal girl that gets water down by the stream. . . . I wonder if she'd like to come over and share some Aurochs some evening?"
On this, I'd also note that within the last year I've seen something that seemed to confirm that Neanderthals could "speak". No kidding, they were human beings and talking is something we all seem to be able to do. For what it's worth, their brain cases had bigger volume than modern man's. For that matter, archaic members of our own species also did, and I saw the same speech speculation about them a couple of years ago. I have no doubt that both populations spent the evenings yakking it up and could speak just fine. I also suspect that having a bigger brain case than modern humans means exactly what we might suppose it meant.
First of all, within the last couple of days human footprints have been found in the UK which are at least 800,000, if not 1,000,000 years old. That's pretty cool. The temperature of the UK, at that point in time, was also pretty darned cool. Scandinavian like, in fact.
This has lead to a lot of pondering (why were they stomping around in the mud, for example?), but it's also lead to at least one amazingly dense comment from a scientist who wondered aloud if they had the ability to make clothing.
Seriously?
Of course, they did. The question is idiotic.
Which leads me to my second item.
Scientist have recently confirmed that modern human beings of European descent carry a few genes they can trace to Neanderthal human beings, thereby confirming that Neanderthals and what were once commonly called Cro Magnums, but now are generally called "archaic" modern man, um. . .well you know.
No kidding, no surprise there. Or at least there should be. We're actually all in the same species. The bigger surprise there is that apparently Neanderthals, and we were on the edge of genetic comparability. That does surprise me because, as noted, we're in the same species. Neanderthals were only unique in that they were genetically adapted to extreme cold by having short, but stout, bodies. Modern populations of humans now feature quite a variety in body types, which our archaic ancestors actually did not at that time, so that's not as big of a deal as it might seem. Included in our current adaptations are body forms that contemplate high heat and intense cold. That an isolated population of human beings living in Ice Age Europe would have adaptations to their environment isn't that surprising.
But it's been oddly surprising to some that these populations would mix. In our true European "we feel guilty about everything" outlook, we've often assumed that this must have been the result of violence.
Well, some probably were, but our surprise is probably because of the long-standing tradition of depicting Neanderthals as really ugly, which they probably were not. They probably just looked different, as many current populations do. Looking different, while often a cause of hatred amongst people, has often been an attractant too, and so far there hasn't been one single example of any group of people encountering another in which mixing didn't occur. And chances are high that Neanderthals didn't look like brutes, but rather were dressed in a fashion similar to any new population they were encountering. So, it's a pretty good bet that it didn't take long before some archaic member of our species was saying something like, "have you seen that cute Neanderthal girl that gets water down by the stream. . . . I wonder if she'd like to come over and share some Aurochs some evening?"
On this, I'd also note that within the last year I've seen something that seemed to confirm that Neanderthals could "speak". No kidding, they were human beings and talking is something we all seem to be able to do. For what it's worth, their brain cases had bigger volume than modern man's. For that matter, archaic members of our own species also did, and I saw the same speech speculation about them a couple of years ago. I have no doubt that both populations spent the evenings yakking it up and could speak just fine. I also suspect that having a bigger brain case than modern humans means exactly what we might suppose it meant.
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