Ostensibly exploring the practice of law before the internet. Heck, before good highways for that matter.
Friday, April 4, 2014
The Vikings are interesting, and complicated. MGM and the History Channel should have left them alone.
I'll confess that when I first read of the History Channel's series, The Vikings, I fully intended to never watch it. But, I happened to catch an episode and parts of two others. It's interesting and somewhat captivating I'll admit, but history it isn't. That's too bad, as the Vikings as a group (and they aren't a group, actually) are interesting, and they should be given a serious treatment, particularly by the History Channel.
Part of the problem I have with the show, I'll note right off the top, is that it fits into Hollywood's recent trend to treat all Christian cultures as hypocritical, and pagan cultures as benighted. Well, baloney. The Viking age coincided with an age in the British Isles that was deeply Christian, and by that I mean deeply Catholic. One recent British historian has stated that Medieval England was defined by this, and it was. Having been Christianized early in the Anglo Saxon period, the English became very devout, to be followed by the Irish and the Scots. The Welsh already were.
But this was a muscular Christianity, not one maintained by wimpy overweight men, as the show seems to want to suggest. Christian clerics of this period didn't shy much from marching right into pagan cultures and giving them the what for. When you look at saints associated with the British Isles, or with Scandinavia, of this period, they're a pretty hearty and hail bunch. St. Augustine headed into the Saxon lands knowing little about them other than that they were ruled by Saxon pagans. He actually scared those Saxons somewhat, so much so that an early encounter with a Saxon king was arranged to occur on an island, as the king was so afraid that something both supernatural and bad would happen to him, and he didn't want that to occur in town. St. Patrick, coming decades later, returned to a land where he'd been a slave and started the process of converting it. He was so tough that he didn't mind walking into druid strongholds and telling them to shape up.
This extends to the early Christians in Scandinavian lands, I'll note. Irish Christian slaves in Iceland refused to abandon their faith, and when Iceland experienced a severe earthquake late in this period, they pretty much told the Norsemen that they were getting exactly what they deserved. Iceland converted by vote of the Althing, its parliament, when the deciding vote was cast by a Norse pagan priest of some sort. He voted to for the entire island to convert. Not exactly the portrayal you'll see on television of either Christians (Christian missionaries had landed) or of the Norse.
Additionally, the show has apparently maintained, at some point, that the Scandinavians were ignorant of their being a European world beyond their shores, and that the Europeans were likewise ignorant of them. No, they weren't.
Europe might be thought of today as being bigger than it is now, which is to say that it was more difficult to travel around in, but it wasn't big. It's definitely the case that European cultures were aware of their near, and even far, neighbors.
Taking the Anglo Saxons as an example, it should be remembered that they were fairly recent immigrants, in terms of the human time line, to the British Isles themselves, having shown up as invaders and raiders in the 5th Century. If that sounds a lot like the Vikings, that's because the Saxons, whom seem to have been named after the sword they carried, the "Sax", were not much different at that time. The Saxons were certainly aware of their near neighbors. So were the Angles, an allied invading group who seem to have lived along the coast of far northern Germany (or what is now Germany) and therefore actually bordered Scandinavian lands. The Jutes, who apparently came from Jutland, lived in an area that jutted out to sea before they moved over, and likewise they would have been pretty familiar with other coastal people.
Indeed, the great early Anglo Saxon work of literature, Beowulf, is full of references to Scandinavians and the title character seems to be one, living in an area of what we'd regard as southern Sweden. The entire epic Saxon poem has nothing to do with the Saxons at all, but is all about Scandinavians, like the Geats and the Danes.
And the Vikings really got around, which is something that's worth remembering. They raided far into Russia, giving that country its name, as the Scandinavian tribe that did that, and eventually settled there, was the Rus. They'd ultimately raid as far south as what is now the coast of North Africa, pretty amazing really. And they hired out as mercenaries as far away as the Byzantine Empire.
That all took time to be sure, and the launching of their raiding did come as a rude to surprise to Europeans. That sudden spike in violence, which was to last for a very long time, seems to have been due to an improvement in climate conditions giving rise to the Medieval Climatic Optimum. When that occurred, farming conditions improved, followed by an increase in the population all over Europe, but which ironically meant that Scandinavians, who were still living on marginal land, had to look overseas to make a go of it. Some made a go of it by raiding, the verb for which in Old Norse was "viking". Most looked also towards emigrating, which ultimately took them to England and Ireland, where they moved wholesale communities once they realized that they could, to Iceland once they found it, to Greenland, again once they found it, and to the coast of France, which they scared the French into giving them.
They're an interesting group indeed, the last of the Europeans to live in that fashion, although certainly not the first, and coming in an age in which the Church had scribes who were literate so that the events could be recorded, but also coming at an age in which, by and large, the groups they attacked were stronger than they were, and survived the events to tell the tale.
Sunday, April 4, 1914. Sad Sunday in Newfoundland, Newfoundlander reaches Siberian Coast.
Crowds gathered at St. John's, Newfoundland, to meet the SS Bellaventure as it brought back the dead and injured from its disastrous experience of several days prior.
Captain Robert Bartlett and Katakovik of the Canadian Arctic Expedition reached the Siberian coast after weeks of searching for the other members of the expedition that had departed the Wrangle Island camped. They followed sled tracks that lead them to a Chukchi village where they were given food and shelter.
Bartlett was a Newfoundlander.
Merchant fisherman Baba Gurdit Singh chartered the Japanese vessel Komagata Maru to pick up 165 British Indian passengers in Hong Kong for a voyage to Vancouver, in defiance of Canadian exclusion laws.
German-born lumber giant Friedrich (Frederick) Weyerhäuser died at age 79 in California.
Last prior edition:
Thursday, April 2, 1914 Villista victory at Torreón, Disaster on the ice, Cumann na mBan, birth of Alec Guiness.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Why a TED Talk Is Like a Chicago Hot Dog - Attorney at Work - Attorney at Work
I hardly know what to make a of a title like that.
For that matter, I've never heard of a TED talk.
What is "Common Core"?
My wife tried to explain it to me the other day, as I asked her. It's been in the news around here for a variety of reasons. The appointed head of the state's education department seems to accept it, the Superintendent of Education (probably not the correct name of her position, whose controversial and the subject of court and legislative battles, does not. One teacher I know hats common core.
So, what exactly is it, and how does it function?
Postscript
I'm bumping this topic back up, as it seems to be an issue here locally that simply will not go away, and its one that I don't grasp.
Because I don't grasp it, I'm also linking this item in from the always insightful Ramblings of a Teacher, Redskins Fan and Scrapbooker blog.
Something that's really caught me off guard is the extent to which people locally have extremely deeply felt opinions on this issue. In a region where really devise issues usually don't come up in the text of education, this one has. Frankly, I feel it's become such an issue that it's being warped and distorted at this point.
This morning I read in the paper that last Saturday Governor Mead was censured by two county GOP caucuses. That in and of itself simply astounds me. That a GOP body would censure a GOP governor at a time when the GOP is so dominant here is amazing. That reflects in part a divide in the party between the traditional GOP and its tea party elements, but that divide seems to be most noticeable on education topics.
It really came out the legislature before last when the legislature acted to remove the Superintendent of Education's powers by way of a bill known in the legislature, and now known to history, as SF104. That bill, according to what we read in the newspaper and according to any insiders who might talk to you, was principally drafted to address what the legislature thought to be inappropriate actions by Superintendent Hill. I'm not posting on that topic here, and I'm frankly highly unlikely to, but I will note that a person doesn't have to have thought SF104 constitutionally problematic but still find Hill to be problematic as well. FWIW, the recently released audit of the department of education is now online.
I note all this, however, as Common Core seems to get wrapped up in this somehow, and I suspect that it's somehow getting a bit distorted. Superintendent Hill is an opponent of Common Core.
I don't know why she's an opponent of Common Core, and of course I don't understand Common Core, so perhaps that's not surprising. I think, however, that it is probably due to her being in the Tea Party end of the GOP (which doesn't make all the opponents Tea Party adherents, or even members of the GOP) and therefore she would presumably have a fairly hard core view of local control.
This has spread to such a degree that I heard a commenter at a school board meeting express concerns about the NCSD bond issue due to Common Core. The bond issue has absolutely, positively, nothing to do with this topic whatsoever. Rather, it has everything to do with the fact that some years ago the state mandated that the funding of school construction projects be through the state, but that at the same time the state would not pay for "enhancements." Like all laws, that law is imperfect and as a result somethings that are not enhancements at all have been handled that way, and so now local districts have to fund construction of these features by another means so that their schools can really be complete. Bond issues are very strictly tied to a specific purpose and only run for a specified time, but none the less some folks who have been focused on Common Core are now jumpy about them, for reasons of misconception. For example, I heard the noted speaker voice a concern that the bond issue will be used to fund classes mandated under Common Core. That's completely in error, as the bond would be used to fund the construction/reconstruction of swimming pools for the high schools, install safety features in existing schools of all types (which the new ones are built with) and fund some equipment for the CAP program, which is completely outside of the Common Core.
Anyhow, there sure seems to be a lot of opposition to Common Core. I fear that if a person joined the debate late, the topic may be so confusing that figuring it out might be darned near impossible.
Postscript II
The interesting thing about that is that it would have indicated a pretty strict set of guidelines at the time. I don't know when I learned about the Battle of Crecy, but I'm sure it wasn't in grade school. I'm also sure it wasn't in junior high and I doubt it was in high school. I probably learned about it when I took Medieval History in university.** I'm not certain what that says about state imposed standards at the time, other than that they were apparently different than later and in surprising ways.
Postscript III
One thing I should note, and which really colors my views on this topic, is that I may be nostalgic about certain things, if that's the right word, or I may take an open view about certain topics in regards to whether things have improved in real terms or not, but about education, here locally, I am not.
We did not receive a bad education in the local schools. That would not be true at all. And based upon what I know of other areas, ours stacked up and served us quite well. But they are doing a better job of it today, and there's no doubt about that.
I occasionally will hear people lament the current schools, and suggest that at some point in distant personal memory, things were done much better. I can't speak for the schools prior to the late 1960s, but I did enter school in the late 1960s and experienced them through the entire 1970s and graduated in 1981. The local schools here are better, including the schools I went to in that time frame. No doubt about it.
Kid's coming out of the same schools I went through here today have a better education, with more credit hours, and more of a focus on where they are going once they get out than we did.
What does that mean in regards to Common Core? Well, maybe nothing, or maybe something. If there are areas we can do better, and we can (which is part of the reason that I hope the bond issue passes) we should. If Common Core aids in that, I'm for it. If it detracts, I'm against it. I just don't know.
But here locally, what I do think we keep in mind that nostalgia, to the extent it exists, regarding education of two, three or four decades ago is misplaced. I sometimes hear that, with there being the suggestion that we should return to an education of some prior era almost remembered as a golden era. Well, I went to school in that era, or an era that some claim to be that era, and it just isn't so. Some of our grade school teachers, who were generally pretty good, lacked the sort of certification that they all have today. And the graduation requirements we had then were ridiculously low compared to those today, which continue to increase. My son has probably received a better education at the high school level today than I had by the time I graduated, and he's a sophomore. I'm not saying that our education was bad, but looking back there were definitely some areas that the system failed us in back then, mathematics being the prime one that comes to mind for me. I basically had to make up three years of high school math in my first year of college, which wasn't easy, and shouldn't have had to occur. Today it wouldn't occur.
Indeed, with the CAP proposals, some kids will start coming out of high school not only up to par, and not behind, but with a big head start on a college career.
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*While having nothing to do with the topic of this post whatsoever, I first read Hough's book in the 1990s, by which time much had clearly changed but at which time a great deal actually remained the same in Jackson Hole. The book was in my father's book collection, and I'd just recently been in Jackson Hole when I read it.
I don't know that I could stand to read the book today, so much about Jackson Hole has changed. As late as the early 1990s there remained a fair population of locals that lived in the town year around. Since then, the town's reputation as a place for the wealthy has altered Teton County nearly beyond recognition for those who remember it when it was a toehold in the wilderness and still a bit of a ranch town. I'm not saying that Jackson is a bad place, but in an Iris Dement fashion, the town that was is really gone now.
**My undergraduate was in geology, but I took so many history courses that by my graduation date I nearly had enough credits for a BA in history. Medieval History was taught by an excellent professor by the last name of Harper.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Mid Week At Work: Order Coal Now
I've posted this poster before, but I like it a lot, and it gives us a glimpse of man and animal at work, just about a century ago. A modern world we can recognize, but one involving animals in a way we don't really see in the western world anymore.
This poster is from the World War One era, urging people to lay in a supply of winter heating coal early. Heating with coal is also largely a thing of the past in the US, for the most part.
Thursday, April 2, 1914 Villista victory at Torreón, Disaster on the ice, Cumann na mBan, birth of Alec Guiness.
It was opening day.
Pancho Villa telegraphed the head of the Mexican opposition,Venustiano Carranza, to report he had retaken Torreón. He noted his losses as 2,000 killed or wounded, and the Federal dead at 12,000 killed, wounded or captured.
Effectively, he had taken control of northern Mexico.
The U.S. Navy gunboat, Dolphin, entered Tampico harbor in Mexico and presented a 3x21-gun salute to the Mexican flag in remembrance of the April 2, 1867, Battle of Puebla.
It would be the last peaceful diplomatic exchange between the United States Government and the Mexican government of Victoriano Huerta.
Wes Kean, captain of the SS Newfoundland, spotted survivors from his ship that had been trapped on ice floes off Newfoundland for three days during a blizzard. The men had been set out for seals on April 1, with the expectation that if the weather worsened, they could stay aboard the nearby Stephano. Instead, Wes' father, Adam, gave the men lunch at that point and ordered them back out on the ice. This left the captains of both vessels under the belief that the men were safe. While equipped originally with primitive radios, they had been removed prior to the voyage as a cost savings measure, which compounded the error..
Kean, upon spotting the men, alerted the nearby SS Bellaventure. 77 of 132 men who had been lost, died.
The same weather sank the Southern Cross with the loss of all hands.
The Cumann na mBan, or Irishwomen's Council, an Irish Republican paramilitary organization, was founded. It apparently still exists.
300 Pentecostal preachers and laymen gathered in a general council in Hot Springs, Arkansas to discuss preservation of Pentecostal revivalism.
A train derailment near Tanjung Priok, Indonesia caused by buffalo crossing the tracks resulted in the death of 20 people and 50 more being injured.
Great British actor Alec Guinness was born in Maida Vale, London, England. One of the greatest actors of all time, he appeared in 62 films, many of which are remembered at least in part for his performance. They include such varied classics as Lawrence of Arabia, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Bridge On The River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, and Star Wars. His career was interrupted by World War Two, during which he served in the Royal Navy, and during which he formed the intent to become an Anglican Priest. An experience on a movie set impacted him deeply, and he converted to Catholicism, as did his wife, who only informed him after the fact, in later years, from Judaism.
Last prior edition:
Wednesday, April 1, 1914. Villa at Torreón
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Wednesday, April 1, 1914. Villa at Torreón
Villa's fortunes in Torreón were improving.
The same paper featured this interesting watch ad:
Note that wristwatches were treated as a female item, which they were until World War One, we we are now in the cusp of in this timeline, changed that.
Last prior edition:
Friday, March 27, 1914. "Any kind of fighting you wish".
Monday, March 31, 2014
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Friday, March 27, 1914. "Any kind of fighting you wish".
And some employers had photographs taken of their employees.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
"Thank you for your service"
Mid Week At Work: Everywhere is nowhere?
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
The American Songbook
In grade school, in the 1960 and early 1970s, we learned a range of "traditional" songs, some of which, in thinking back, weren't all that old at the time, but seemed so. These included the Hudie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) series of songs that most people believe are age old folk songs, some genuine old folks songs, folk songs of the 1930s and some well known U.S. military ballads.
Songs that I can recall learning this way, if not always understanding, include Down In the Valley, Jimmie Cracked Corn, Johnnie Came Marching Home, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Little Brown Church In the Vale, Red River Valley and This Land is Your Land, amongst others.
The lyrics of some included cultural references that were never explained to us, such as Jimmie Cracked Corn, which is sung from the prospective of a Southern slave. By today's standards, that song would be both rather shocking, and not exactly socially tolerable. Others were cleaned up versions of songs that had heavy situational references unknown to us. Down In The Valley, for example, is a Leadbelly song that includes a references to being in prison, if all the lyrics are included,
Write me a letter, send it by mail;At least one standard was somewhat controversial in its origin, but it seems to have gotten over it quickly, perhaps in spite of the desires of Woodie Guthrie, it's author, that being This Land Is Your Land. Guthrie, who was basically a fellow traveler prior to World War Two, meant the lyrics of the song much more literally than most seem to believe. Of course, the last three stanzas of the song are usually omitted.
Send it in care of the Birmingham jail,
Birmingham jail, dear, Birmingham jail,
Send it in care of the Birmingham jail,
One of the more unusual songs, looking back, that we learned was the Field Artillery Song. I later had to learn it again, or sing it rather as I already knew it, at Ft. Sill. I'd already learned it as a child in grade school.As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
- Over hill, over dale,
- We will hit the dusty trail,
- And those Caissons go rolling along.
- Up and down, in and out,
- Counter march and left about,
- And those Caissons go rolling along,
- For it's high high he,
- In the Field Artillery,
- Shout out your "No" loud and strong,
- For wher-e’er we go,
- You will always know,
- That those Caissons go rolling along.
We learned a selection of national or patriotic songs as well. Of course The Star Spangled Banner was one. So was My Country Tis of Thee, which I learned at home was to the same tune as the British National Anthem, The Queen. My Country Tis of Thee is much less less martial.
- My country, 'tis of thee,
- Sweet land of liberty,
- Of thee I sing;
- Land where my fathers died,
- Land of the pilgrims' pride,
- From ev'ry mountainside
- Let freedom ring!
- God save our gracious Queen!
- Long live our noble Queen!
- God save the Queen!
- Send her victorious,
- Happy and glorious,
- Long to reign over us:
- God save The Queen!
- O Lord our God arise,
- Scatter her enemies,
- And make them fall:
- Confound their politics,
- Frustrate their knavish tricks,
- On Thee our hopes we fix:
- God save us all.
- Thy choicest gifts in store,
- On her be pleased to pour;
- Long may she reign:
- May she defend our laws,
- And ever give us cause,
- To sing with heart and voice,
- God save the Queen!
These songs tended to be taught in music class, in which a music teacher who went from school to school taught the songs and occasionally played the piano. I can't recall her name, but I do recall that she tried to teach us something by making us memorize the words Tee Tee Te-te Tong, in much the same way the children in The Sound Of Music learn the "Doe, a deer" song. Sometimes we gathered in school assemblies, seated by grade and sang them along with clips from "film strips".
Now all of this seems to be a thing of the past, and there's a lot to teach so perhaps that's no surprise. But in looking back at it, it's a bit of an open question, maybe, of what occurs when a culture loses its base of common songs. The country won't collapse, of course, but a bit of a widely shared heritage is lost in the process.
Wednesday, March 25, 1914. Villa repulsed.
According to the Cheyenne paper, Villa had suffered a set back.
The same paper showed that Wyomingites were slamming Democrats as far back as that, and even earlier.
Also in that issue, some interesting items showing how local agriculture was.
And then there was this interesting item:
Monday, March 23, 1914. Doubts about Roosevelt's fate on the River of Doubt.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Forces with History -- Official Blog of Robert W Mackay: A Great War Election With a Twist
Monday, March 23, 1914. Doubts about Roosevelt's fate on the River of Doubt.
We just posted an item for 1909 on Theodore Roosevelt leaving the US for his legendary 1909, 1910 safari. Famously, after losing his effort to regain the Presidency in the three-way race in 1912, he embarked on the exploration of what was then known as the River of Doubt, or more officially the Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition
That trip was plagued by horrific events, one of which was detailed in this edition of the Cheyenne based Wyoming Tribune.
It's often noted that Roosevelt never recovered from this trip, but that can be somewhat debated. It's true he was never himself thereafter, but Roosevelt had been a vigorous proponent of "the Strenuous Life" and had lived it. While this is fully admirable, and today would be cited to some degree as a life extending practice, Roosevelt had experienced ill health with asthma in his youth (as have I), and had been shot during the 1912 campaign. Four years of semi enforced idleness as Vice President and President had taken their toll as well, and by the time he left office in 1909 he was, in my view, beginning to significantly age even though he was not yet 60.
Having said that, he made a really dedicated effort to join the Army as head of an expeditionary unit during World War One, so he had plenty of vigor left, even after these ordeals.
It's also noteworthy how, just before World War One, there was plenty of exploration of the remote regions of the globe still going on. The era immediately before the war seems to have been the last great push in the age of exploration.
Last prior edition:
March 21, 1914. Yo acuso
Related threads: