Mid Week At Work: We are all ignorant on some subjects.

Thursday, July 29, 1915. Bandits, Rebels, and would be Rebels.

Mexican national Adolfo Munoz, a resident of Cameron County, Texas, was arrested in San Benito Texas for plotting to rob a bank and for having connections with Mexican rebels.

The next day he was killed by some sort of masked mob. The identify of his killers has never been determined and they may have been local racists, or Mexican rebels.

Irish Republicans, led by Patrick Pearse, took over the Gaelic League at its Dundalk.

Honus Wagner became the oldest player in the 20th Century to hit a grand slam. 

French political cartoon from this day.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 28, 1915. Occupying Haiti. Occupying Haiti.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, 1930s, 1934, American Occupation of Haiti, boats and ships, German Kriegsmarine, Haiti, Labor unrest, Unions

Wednesday, July 28, 1915. Occupying Haiti. Occupying Haiti.

Woodrow Wilson authorized 330 Marines to land at Port-au-Prince to safeguard the interests of American businesses operating in the country, following the lynching and murder of Haitian president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. 

The occupation would last until 1934.

The Bayonne refinery strike ended in receipt of better pay and an eight hour day.

The Norwegian ocean liner Trondhjemsfjord was sunk by the SM U-41

Last edition:

Sunday, July 25, 1915. The Bandit War.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Agriculture, Art, Bandit War, Homesteads, It was because of World War One, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, Railroads, Second Battle of the Isonzo, Texas, Texas Rangers, The American Midwest, World War One

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Albany County Courthouse, Laramie Wyoming.

Albany County Courthouse, Laramie Wyoming.

The trades and manual labor

Recently we've been posting about the Bond Issue and in that context, the school district's plan to seek to ask the voters to help fund technical and vocational training at the high school level has come up. 

Just prior to my noting that, I had an odd experience in which I woke up really early one morning and couldn't sleep, so I got up and turned on the television.  Good Will Hunting, which I'd never seen, was on, and even though I missed the beginning of it, I started watching and watched it to the end.  I must say it was a good film.  Part of the theme, and the reason I'm noting this here, is that the film argued that the exceptionally mathematically gifted protagonist should pursue a mathmatical career (although he ends up purusing his love first).  Indeed, in one major scence in the film his close friend argues that if he fails to do so and continues to work as a laberor, it would be a tragedy.

Well, would it?

I don't know.  Its easy for me to note what the movie argued but not so easy for me to opine on it.  I don't have laberor's job, and there's no doubt that most laborers do not get well paid.  The film does make an argument, in the form of a scene, to the effect that all labor has dignitiy, but it goes on to essentailly endorse the very widely held concept that jobs that involve no physical labor and all intellect are more worthy of those that do not.

I don't know what to make of that, other than to note that it is an extremely widely held concept. But a person ought to be careful about simply accepting it.  It's a very widely ingraned concept, however.

Unsolicited Career Advice for the Student No. 7. The perils of occupational predictions.

In spite of the title here, I'm not sure that this is really "career advice", so much as it is commentary and the recommendation to be cautious.

This post comes about due to the receent article in the Wyoming Lawyer about the Board of Law Examiners abondoning the Wyoming CLE requirement.  While I agree that the CLE was absurd, the BLE seems to be on the railroad track leading to the oblivion of local practice on this one.  This sort of "we have to do this as we have to do this" sort of process is really common.  People, once committed to a certain course of action, tend to stay that through even if it was never a good idea.  Quitting some things, quite frankly, is a good idea. And if the destionation is lousy, why go there. Get off the train somewhere else.

It's also prompted by having read some of the occasional commentary put out by local economic entites to the effect of "this brings in jobs".  I've also commented on that locally.  It amazes me the extent to which the "jobs" argument is so poorly analyzed.

Both of the factors mentioned above are important if you are starting out planning your career.  A couple of important trends seem to come to light when you do, which are:

1.  Technology is on the brink of premanently wiping out a lot of "good jobs'.

2.  The mega-urbanization of our economy has premanently exported jobs from towns and cities to big cities.

3.  Some professions that formerly had small town expression have permanently moved to mid sized cities where the professionals must have signficant infrastructure investment.

4.  With at least one profession, the law, the operation of technology and short sighted bar admisison policies will kill off the practice in rural areas.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, and St. ...

Churches of the West: St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, and St. ...:
 

Sunday, July 25, 1915. The Bandit War.

Mexican raiders burned a railway bridge belonging to St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.  In response, Governor James E. Ferguson to ordered a unit of Texas Rangers to assist local law in keeping order in the area.

The Bandit War was a result of the instability of Mexico, then fighting the Mexican Revolution.

Italian forces occupied the Cappuccio Wood.

Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, age 56, French socialite, mode John Singer Sargent's painting Portrait of Madame X, passed away.  The painting was originally regarded as scandalous, as in its original version, one of her dress straps had fallen away.   The controversy caused Sargant to relocate from France to the United Kingdom.

It was his favorite painting.

Harvesting was ongoing in the Midwest.

The mid teens were freakishly wet, leading to high crop yields throughout the United States.  This in turn contributed to a boom in wartime homesteading, due to the increase in crop prices caused by the war.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 24, 1915. The Eastland Disaster.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, boats and ships, Disaster, German Kriegsmarine, Illinois (Chicago), Royal Navy, World War One

Saturday, July 24, 1915. The Eastland Disaster.

The Eastland capsized in Chicago River drowning 844 people.

The U-36 was sunk in the North Atlantic by the HMS Prince Charles, a Q-ship.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 22, 1915. The Great Retreat.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Central Powers, Eastern Front, Imperial Russian Army, Poland, The Great Retreat

Roosevelt Oklahoma farm goes back to basics

A Roosevelt Oklahoma farm goes back to basics.

C-SPAN Cities Tour - Casper: Teapot Dome Scandal

Thursday, July 22, 1915. The Great Retreat.

The Imperial Russian Army began The Great Retreat on the Eastern Front.  The Central Powers crossed the Vistula.

The British government introduced the Elections and Registration Act which required all British citizens aged 15 to 65 to be registered by August 15.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 21, 1915. "Deliberately unfriendly".

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Alberta, Alcohol, Diplomacy, Germany, Labor unrest, New Jersey, Prohibition, RMS Lusitania, United States, Woodrow Wilson, World War One

Mid Week at Work: Federal Adult Schools

Wednesday, July 21, 1915. "Deliberately unfriendly".

Woodrow Wilson issued Germany an ultimatum in the third and final letter related to the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in May, warning any subsequent sinkings would be perceived by the United States as "deliberately unfriendly".

A refinery strike at Bayonne became increasingly violent.

Voters in Alberta voted for prohibition.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 18, 1915. Alpine combat.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Austro Hungaria, Austro Hungarian Army, Austro Hungarian Navy, boats and ships, Italian Army, Italian Navy, Italy, Second Battle of the Isonzo, World War One

The Press and Statute of Limitations Bogusity

I keep hearing press reports connected with one asserted crime or another, that because the allegations happened long ago, they are "past the statute of limitations", as if there's a national criminal statute of limitations that pertains to state criminal cases..

There isn't.

Many states do have statute of limitations for criminal acts.  But not all. Wyoming doesn't.  I'm sure we're not alone in that either.

Most recently, this has come up concerning the various news stories about Bill Cosby.  I won't go into that, but a common report is "the alleged actions are past the statute of limitations".  Maybe they are, but if they are, they're past the statute of limitations in California, presumably.  They wouldn't be past the statute of limitations in other locations, if the alleged acts allegedly occurred there, depending upon the location.

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Joseph C. O'Mahoney Federal Courthouse, Cheyenne W...

Joseph C. O'Mahoney Federal Courthouse, Cheyenne Wyoming




Cheyenne's modern Federal courthouse.

I'm sorry, but these newer courthouses (this one must have been built in the 1970s, really just leave a lot to be desired externally.  Inside, it's very nice.  but outside, it looks just like a Federal office building.

Randon Snippets: The Horror of It All.

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

Just saying.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Unknown Church, Riverton Wyoming

Churches of the West: Unknown Church, Riverton Wyoming:

It's All Natural! Except for us.

Just a second ago, on television, there was an advertisement for a dog food that was "natural".  It had no "chicken byproducts".

I wasn't aware that chickens were, ispo facto, unnatural, although I'll concede that they are a rather weird bird, but that's besides the point.  What's so fascinating is that we live in an era, and one that stretches back quite a few decades now, that's obsessed with the natural, even while we ourselves don't apply the same logic to ourselves.  It's really odd.  Either we like nature and accept it, or we don't. You can't really have cafeteria naturalism.

Evidence on our obsession with what's natural is everywhere, and frankly, I'm not criticizing it.  There's is indeed a lot of reason to be focused on the natural. We ourselves are part of nature, and there's better and better evidence that the more we depart from nature, the worst off we are (even as we strive to continue to create a very unnatural world). 

So eating a more natural diet makes a great deal of sense, and we know what the loose parameters of a natural diet are (and it isn't, by the way, vegan or vegetarian, which are highly unnatural diets for people who are uncomfortable with nature).  And getting out in nature, we know, is not only a good idea, it might actually be necessarily for our well being.

 A fellow with an actually natural diet.

So we've developed a lot of "natural foods". Some people have become "locavores", eating only what they can acquire locally, and thereby bypassing the unnatural food distribution system.  "Grass fed" beef is in, and I'm down with that, as I've been eating grass fed beef (and antelope, and deer, etc.) for decades.  Quite a few people insist their clothes be "natural", which means not a petroleum byproduct.  People buy vegetables that are "organic", by which they mean free of unnatural chemical exposure.

The Amish must be looking around thinking; "Ach, was ist das?"

 Amish, who live pretty natural, although that's not usually what non Amish backers of "natural" mean by natural.

Some of us, many of us now, join one or more organizations devoted to natural causes.  The Sierra Club, Ducks Unlimited, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Initiative, are just a few.  Radicals look towards Green Peace or the Earth Justice League.

But we omit nature from ourselves. That is, our own selves. And the more radically natural we are, the more likely we are to do that. Why is that?

What do I mean?

Well, the most natural thing a person encounters every day is themselves.  No matter how unnatural of environment you live in, you are natural.

For most of us, that probably doesn't impact us in any particular way, but we should consider this.  We are, no matter how a person conceives of it, as certain type of animal.  We may be, and I'd argue we are, a very special animal with an immortal soul, but nonetheless, we're an animal.  More particularly, we're a mammal, and a primate, with very special attributes.

And those attributes are governed to a fairly large extent by our DNA. That is, our genes determine much of what we are.

This has been, of course, argued about for decades.  Is it nature or nurture that determines our personalities, etc.  Both, no doubt. But that our genetic makeup determines much of what we are in some very fundamental ways cannot be doubted.  Included amongst these are our genders, and what that means.

That's a hugely unpopular readily right now, in certain quarters, but it's a reality nonetheless.  There are no "men trapped insides of women's bodies", or vice versa. There are men, and women.  That's biology.

That doesn't mean that some women and some men, in fairly low statistical numbers, don't have inclinations that are contrary to their genetic makeup in terms of gender in varying degrees that cause them to think they want to be the other.  It may very well be the case that they do.  And that doesn't make them inhuman, nor should it subject them to abuse. But it also should be required that such inclinations are part of their natural animal nature.  Pretending that they are is going against nature.  And at the point where society is providing people with "therapies" to achieve a gender transformation (to the extent that can actually occur), it's doing something deeply unnatural.  If it requires chemistry or surgery to achieve (and maintain), it isn't natural.

Indeed, we know that human beings are afflicted in varying numbers with all sorts of unnatural inclinations and impulses, some harmless, and some not.  For example, some people actually seek surgery to remove a limb, seized by the belief, somehow, that they'd be happier without it.  This is a self detructive belief, and unnatural, but they have it.

Of course, it could be argued that medicine itself is unnatural, and some do, but I don't think that's really the case.  Human desires to cure maladies are a human trait, and demonstrably go back to ancient times, indeed far back into our ancient origins.  Ancient humans with knit bones demonstrate that we were setting breaks as far back as we've existed, and occasionally an ancient skeleton will show up with evidence at an attempt for fairly exotic surgery.  That people can develop, and synthesize, medicines is not unnatural.

But it does lead to some oddities in this area.  One is that there's a big business in for "natural remedies". These are all sorts of herbs and whatever that are supposedly natural.  Near my work there's a store that sells such things and some of the impacts of them that are claimed are simply amazing.  One recently claimed to do something at the "cellular" level.  I hope not, that would be scary indeed.  The point here however, is that people will buy something that's only barely less natural than the stuff they're trying to avoid at the doctor's office or the pharmacy.  Lots of medicines are, actually, fairly natural. 

Not all are in impact, however.  That's an interesting thing to.  Modern westerners (Americans and Europeans) spend a lot of money on pharmaceuticals that are designed to frustrate a certain natural cycle.  That's interesting, as that's a medicine that's actually anti-natural.  It's weird to think that there are, undoubtedly, women who eat all natural foods, wear organic cotton, maybe go the "natural remedies store", but take an anti natural pharmaceutical.  Indeed, I have to suspect that the fact such pharmaceuticals are so widely accepted now is that they were introduced in the early 1960s, when there was a huge admiration for anything chemical or medical and people didn't worry much about the impact of anything of that type.  It took Silent Spring and DDT to take us there.

In another area, we've written a lot recently about the "natural law".  Now some would maintain that there's no such thing as a natural law, but the best evidence would certainly be contrary to that. As Chief Justice John Marshall noted in The Antelope, the state can and does create statutes that contravene or stand opposed to the natural law.  But we seem not to even note that, which is interesting.

One of the big ones we live with every day is the institution of the "corporation".  Corporations are legal creatures of the state, and basically they evolve out of the partnership.  Partnerships do comport with nature, ad people combining to act in concert with partners is clearly a natural human activity. But corporations are deemed by law to be "persons" before the law.  I'm not saying that's good, or bad, but it is rather weird, and clearly not natural.

The fact that we've built such big cities that are seperated from nature is unnatural.  Indeed, this entire era in which we are so concerned about living naturally would have had a hard time coming about if this wasn't the case, as people who live more closely to nature, aren't cognizant of that in the same way or to the same extent.  That is not to say that they aren't aware of it, just differently.

It's also not to say that towns and villages aren't natural. They are, and have existed since time immemorial.  But super huge cites, such as we have now, that can only exist with the technological advances we have now, aren't really natural.  They have existed for quite some time, but that doesn't make them natural really.  And certainly the modern cubicle life isn't natural.  Indeed the separation from nature that the city life creates is one of the sources of modern depression and potentially the cause of much that we see in human stress and oddity.

So the point?

To offend everyone in the western world?

No, this is simply one of those observational posts.   I'm afflicted with an analytical mind, by nature, and therefore I'll take an analytical thread where it goes.  And this one amuses me.  We live in an era when people can be really aggressive about being "natural".  But we live in a very unnatural society.  I think it ought to be more natural, truly I do.  But in making that observation, I'm well aware that a lot of the people stomping their feet about being "natural", are hugely unnatural.  A person can be, I suppose, selectively natural.  But you have to be aware of that.  Wearing Birkenstocks while eating a free range yogurt vegan diet makes you anti natural, not natural.  And if you choose going natural, and demand that we go natural as far as possible, you have to separate your politics from your nature, and go where that leads you.  Otherwise, what you have to do is to admit that you feel that accommodations against nature should be made, which is fine, but you should admit that you're doing it so that you are clear and honest about what you are doing, at least to yourself.

Tufts Magazine / fall 2013. "American nations"

Tufts Magazine / fall 2013

Interesting view.  Is it correct?