Blogatopia

Wow, darned near every blog I follow here (visible on the links on the side) has updated in the past couple of days, including two excellent ones that rarely update.

Good to see, but all at once!

The Internet and the Dumbing Down of Culture

The great, partially realized, promise of the Internet has been the global instant access to knowledge by all.

The terrible, fully realized, reality of the Internet has been the instant voice to the mean-spirited dishonest ignorant.  As a result, debate and knowledge, in reality, has become dumber, more simplistic, and often subject to massive error.

This has been pretty obvious to everyone for quite a while, but it's become really obvious lately in watching a couple of debates.

The problem is that the Internet gives equal voice to people of harsh views, who can view them without fear of any sort of negative impact to themselves, and it also gives free rein to those who would simply choose to lie about a topic and their relationship to it.  It also gives a voice to those with free time and low knowledge.  So we see people who are true extremist who spend time shouting down any opposition, or we see people whose views are skewed and limited make representations based on claimed personal experience, or finally we seem somebody shout out opposition with a dimwitted view that would have formerly taken effort to express.

Now there's plenty of intelligent commentary on the net (and I dare say, on this moderated blog, the commentary is excellent, but then it is moderates so that the occasionally really hostile or stupid random post, which always come from somebody who has never posted before, doesn't see the light of day), but to take on the flood of bad commentary takes the dedicated effort of the knowledgeable, who often do not have the time for such efforts.  So, at the end of the day, people who claim to be observational experts on, let's say, the viewpoints of a Russian minority in Kiev might really be chronically unemployed men in their parents basement in Newark.

I'd note that what got me rolling in this particular day, however, is a comment I saw on the Atlantic's photo essay on World War One.  One commenter, which hitting his profile reveals is a frequent commenter, commented to the photo essay "All war is stupid."

Well, that's a stupid comment.

Do reduce warfare to that level of commentary would deserve a dunce hat and a three week silent sitting in the corner.  On the net, however it doesn't.

Well, that comment is stupid.

Eh? There can't be a decline why?

The state statistic's branch has announced that they city's population has hit an all time high of 60,000 souls.

Well, actually I recall it being widely regarded as higher than that in the late 1970s, but apparently that doesn't count for some reason.  Anyhow, according to the state, the population is (back) up to 60,000 due to oil and gas activity.

Perhaps I heard it incorrectly, but when reported on the news the reporter seemed to say that officials had stated that the slow down would not impact the town, as the slow down has happened everywhere in the oil and gas industry.

What?

That would suggest that oil and gas workers are captives to their employment or something, and won't go elsewhere into something else.

Odd logic.

Fame, Turning on Fame, Ignorance, and Double Standards

As anyone who has followed my occasional frustrated comments on television here knows, I was not a fan of the Duggars show, Nineteen Kids and Counting.

Indeed, for reasons that I have a hard time defining, there was something about the Duggars that made me uncomfortable.  A lot of people are going to be saying that now, so that's a little late to be claiming that, but it's true.  I couldn't quite define it then, and I can't quite now, but what I think it is, is that to a certain ill informed audience they defined "Christianity", or perhaps "Conservative  Christianity".  They don't.  And I don't think they claimed to, but rather they were sort of presented that way.

In reality, without delving into it too far, theologically they're a member of a minority offshoot of a certain branch of Protestantism, and from their they're actually part of a patriarchal movement within that minority offshoot, which makes them a minority within a minority.  That was probably obvious to anyone who studies such matters, which means that it's not obvious to most people.  Given that, however, it would be no more fair to even state that the Duggars represented the view of Conservative Protestants than it would be to say the Old Believers represent the views of most Russian Orthodox, or that the members of the SSPX represent the views of most Catholics.  Indeed, those statements, although erroneous, would probably be slightly closer to being true, maybe. And because they hold a minority Protestant view, within a minority Protestant view, their views fall very far from the views of many "mainline" Protestants and certainly quite far from the Catholics and the Orthodox.  Now, the Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, etc., know that, but because television is so ignorant, it doesn't necessarily know that.  Therefore, when we hear things like "the Duggar's conservative Christian views", we're really hearing something that's way, way, far off the mark.

Indeed, again, I doubt the Duggar's themselves would disagree with that, and in fact they would seem to fit into a demographic that would question the Christianity of at least certain other Christian Faiths.  I don't know that for sure, but I do note that they engage in missionary work in Central American, which at least raises some questions as that's a field already plowed by prior Christian missionaries, although they're all Catholic.  Usually when a group does that, they tend to do it because they don't regard the other Christian group as valid, although here again I'm supposing.  I've known some Protestant missionaries (and Catholic ones) who were true missionaries, and they spent their lives in some really wild parts of the world, indeed, in some areas that were downright dangerous for somebody of their occupation, which seems real missionary work to me.

Anyhow, all that's a long winded way of saying that part of what has made me uncomfortable about the Duggar's is the way that they've come to represent something that maybe they don't.  I'm a pretty conservative Christian (okay, on some things I'm a pretty liberal Christian . . . and on others I'm a pretty neither liberal or conservative Christian), but I don't feel my daughter has to dress in a peasant dress and I'm a pretty big fan of education.

Indeed, on that latter item, one thing that's bothered me for some time is that the girls in this show, which has massive female following, seem so limited in their options.  They seem pretty smart, but they line them up with potential spouses who just don't seem to quite mach their intellect.  Maybe they do, but they don't seem to.  Indeed, that would seem to be the case for whomever Josh is married to as well, but again I could well be wrong.  It all seems sort of odd.

So, anyhow, one thing that's bothered me is the way their identified as something they really aren't.

And by extension, now people who hate them because they re identified that way, are going to be ripping them apart.

Traditional Christians in recent years have come to regard themselves as under the gun.  Well, actually, some branches of Christianity have felt that way for a long time.  And for good reason, they really are.  It's become unsafe in the public sphere to simply hold certain traditional Christian beliefs, or certain beliefs that are consistent with certain Faiths. That's a shame, but its true.  It's also become safe to attack certain religious beliefs as the PC view of the media holds those beliefs to be out of sync with the times.

In truth, Christianity is always out of sync with the times, and if a person reads the Acts of the Apostles, that's clear. The Apostles knew they were out of sync with the times, and the Fathers of the Church were pretty darned plain that they knew that as well.  So that's not new.  What is a bummer, however, is to see some group, here the Duggars, get tarred and feathered by haters because they are seen to represent something they don't, while in turn the rest of us get tarred and feathered because of what the Duggar patriarchy apparently did, which isn't fair to the rest of us by any means.  Ignorance at work.  It's like being a member of one of those rare Middle Eastern religious minorities who get attacked because nobody knows what they actually believe, but they might believe what some other group believes.

Going from that, however, it's also interesting how chicken television and the media really are.  Everything is played so safe.  The Duggars were pulled from the air, which they should have been, but a certain other family which recently had a baby baptized in the Armenian Orthodox Church, a very conservative religions, lives a lifestyle that seems out of sync with that (or not, I'm not sure) and has a family member who is changing genders.   That's being celebrated on television.  Now, in this era, that's in sync with the general liberal view of the media, so the media is not going to take on the very un settled and difficult psychological aspects of that in a way that's controversial. That is, we're not going to hear any press on whether that's wrong in a psychological or metaphysical sense, but maybe we should.  But we won't, as that would be too controversial in the context of the times.

This same logic would apply, even more so, to "Sister Wives", a show that pretty much promotes plural marriage and which appears on the same network as Nineteen Kids".  Here we have a sort of irony that TLC promotes, though the show, the concept that the Duggars are Christian traditionalist, which they really are not, and that the very non traditional view (in the larger societal sense) of the Kody Brown group, should be tolerated.  It's a strangely mixed message, neither of which is very deep in its analysis.

Nor really very interesting, I guess, to the male half of the population.  Both shows really cater towards domestic blandness, which is the basis, oddly, and ironically, of their appeal.  Peculiarly, noting really is going to look at the domestic lives of the millions of other conservative Christian women that are actually part of the culture.  That would just be too normal.

And if we're going to look at really unusual groups, to Americans, maybe we should look at really interesting ones we know aren't part of the larger demographic and obviously are not. Why not, for example, look at Orthodox Jews?  There are a lot of them in the US, but TLC isn't following them around.  Or Moslems (in fairness, there was a show that looked at them, but for a group that has to be unpleasant to be a member of right now, why not look at their lives).  Or, Old Believers.  There are Old Believers in Alaska, why not give them a look?

Finally, stories like this become feeding frenzies in a shark like fashion.  I can't help but recall how, after the very weird Michael Jackson died, the press turned on him.  It seems fame can turn to blistering contempt in an instant.  

That's always been the case.  The people and press elevate people to fame, and then when things go wrong for them, they rip them apart.  Oddly, they create an Idol and then destroy it, and always have.  An odd aspect of human nature.

Speaking for the people. . . and not.

It's interesting to watch debates and commentary on debates of a big national character.

Without going into specifics, I've been watching one that continually claims to represent a major cultural shift in a certain country.  I'm not so sure.  I think it represents a shift, but the claims are so overdone.

But for that matter, many "shifts" are quite temporary in nature.  The Baby Boom generation of the 60s did shift things, but in the long term they turned out to be more conservative than they started out to be, so the shift wasn't quite as dramatic as it was supposed it would be.  That's pretty common.  Lots of things that seem to have been overthrown, in fact, are just temporarily ignored.

The Big Speech: The St. Crispian's Day Speech from Henry V.

WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

King:  What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin, Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispin's day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Wind River Indian Reservation Tribal Court

Courthouses of the West: Wind River Indian Reservation Tribal Court:

This is the Wind River Indian Reservation Tribal Court, which also houses various other law related facilities. The court is located in Ft. Washakie, the seat of government for the Wind River Indian Reservation, and serves the Shoshone and Arapahoe tribes on the reservation.

Some Gave All: Highland Cemetary, Casper Wyoming

Some Gave All: Highland Cemetary, Casper Wyoming: This Spanish American War era artillery piece is in a portion of Casper Wyoming's Highland Cemetery that has several features dedica...

I can't help but note how, in this town cemetery, for a town that wasn't founded until 1889, wars of the past have a long reach.  Veteran's tombstone markers note quite a few instances of Civil War service, from the eastern states which these men originally called home, and a few instances of frontier service as well.  And the early introduction of military aircraft, and the late disappearance of the horse also show up.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Corpus Christi, Newcastle Wyoming

Churches of the West: Corpus Christi, Newcastle Wyoming:

Movies In History: The Longest Day

This is Memorial Day weekend, and that means that some movie channels will be running war pictures all weekend long.  I've noticed that this film is getting a real running this year.

This movie is one of my all time favorite films, and it has been since I was a child.  I recall that for many years the movie was played on a Denver television channel on New Years Day, without interruption, sponsored by Lloyd's Furs.  What the movie has to do with New Years I have not a clue, and I doubt that it has anything to do with it at all, but the fact that this was a type of big deal says something about how well respected the film was, and is.

The Longest Day is the movie version of the book by Cornelius Ryan.  The Irish born Ryan was a war correspondent during World War Two and turned towards writing a series of histories of the war thereafter.  He wrote a total of three books on the war, all of which are truly excellent, and all of which are written in the same style which primarily focus on first person recollections by the participants. 

The movie treatment of his 1959 book came out in 1962 and featured a huge star studded cast, which it would almost have to have, given that it is, after all, a series of recollections.  Filmed in black and white so that it had the appearance of a newsreel to some degree, and using a small bit of original footage, the movie excellent portrays the events of the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 from both the Allied and the German prospective.  It's a great film.

So nothing to complaint about, right?

Well, sadly no.

As great as this film is, it suffers in one significant manner, particularly post Saving Private Ryan.  Material details are somewhat lacking, mostly in the category of uniforms. 

That may seem like a minor matter, and it is, but this film really blows it in terms of American uniforms.  It's way off.  Part of this was likely because it was being filmed in black and white, and all military uniforms have a drab appearance.  My guess is that another reason was that the sheer size of the caste deterred the filmmakers form having that many period uniforms recreated where they could avoid it.  Indeed, that they knew in part that they were getting them wrong is oddly demonstrated by the uniforms of a few key characters where parts of the uniform details were obviously detailed to try to get a correct appearance. 

Almost all the US soldiers in the film are wearing field uniforms that are correct for when the movie was made, in 1962.  Not for when the film is set, 1944.  In a few odd instances 1962 period jackets have been somewhat reworked to try to look like the paratrooper uniform of that period, but it's pretty obvious that's what's been done.  More oddly still, however, US troops are shown wearing khaki shirts of various patterns under their field jackets, which is completely incorrect.

Not that this should be hugely problematic for most people watching the film.  But for those detail oriented, it is a bit frustrating.  It's still a great film, however.

Taking on ISIL

 

 Bedouin in Palmyra, early 1940s

ISIL has taken Palmyra, a Syrian city with spectacular Roman ruins from the first century.  The global fear is that what time and weather have not done, which is to erase Palmyra from the face of the earth, ISIL, under its extreme interpretation of the tenants of Islam.  So extreme, in fact, that some time ago it issued a disapproval of important Islamic features in Mecca.

No ruin is worth human lives, but there is a bigger question at work here.  And what that is, is this. Should we (the Western World) take on ISIL?

I think we have to.

The reason I think we have to, is that it is taking on us, and what we have to determine is how much ground we're prepared to lose before we can't tolerate losing any more.

I think there's been a very widespread assumption in the West that ISIL is so nutty that it will fail on its own accord. That might be true, long term, and it probably is true, but we have to ask, as part of that, how much damage are we willing to endure in the meantime. And as part of that we have to acknowledge that really nutty ideologies can be hugely attractive, even if nutty. Nazism was both evil and full blown whacky, and I think a lot in the developed world assumed that such an evil, nutty, ideology would fail in such a civilized nation as Germany. It probably would have, but left unchecked that probably would have taken decades. Communism provides another example. Soviet Communism never made any sense at all, but it did manage to make a 70 year run in the Russian Empire, killing millions in the process.

ISIL may look minor in comparison with either of those, but I'm not so sure it really is. It's proven that it actually can exhibit state craft, perhaps at least as effectively as the actual sovereigns in the region in some instances. It's gone from being a radical Islamic militia to an actual army that's not terribly badly equipped, in the regional context. That army seems to be able to hold its own and even defeat the Iraqi army, and to hold its own and occasionally defeat the Syrian army. It's administering a government in the areas that it's captured, and right now it probably controls more ground that the governments in Baghdad and Damascus do. We don't notice it much here, but it's ideology seems to having a real impact in the Islamic regions of the former USSR where there's an ongoing problem of young men being drawn into it and leaving to fight in Iraq and Syria. It's pretty clear that immigrant Islamic populations in Europe have some people who go back and forth into it, and its hardcore Islamic message has proven attractive enough to some in the Western world that there are converts who are drawn into it. In some ways, what we're seeing is sort of analogous to Communism in the 20s and 30s, when it was really attractive to certain groups and during which it seemed to be expanding.

I don't think we can ignore it in the West, therefore, as I think there is a real risk that it'll win in both Iraq and Syria. If it does, it's not going to be content with that and we'll have to deal with an incredibly violent, aggressive, rich, regime that would be hugely problematic to the entire region, and which would sponsor some violence well beyond its borders. The questions is, I guess, what to do.

And as part of that problem, we have to acknowledge that this is a religious war. We don't want it to be, but because our opponents conceive of it that way, it is.

I'm sure I don't have the solution, but what I think we probably have to concede is that this might be a long one. But we probably also have to strangle ISIL in the cradle of Iraq and Syria right now in the hopes that kills it off. The Iraqi army appears completely worthless, and the only fighting force worth its salt seems to be the Kurds. I don't think any Western nation, ourselves included, are willing to put boots on the ground. The only regional one that clearly is, is Iran, and that presents its own problems.

Pretty grim situation.

The Big Picture: Prairie Scene

Holscher's Hub: Prairie Scene

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Converse County Courthouse, Douglas Wyoming

This is the Converse County Courthouse in Douglas Wyoming. This modern office style building houses all of the principal offices of Converse County, as well as one of the four 8th Judicial District courtrooms.

The Converse County War Memorial is located in the lobby of this courthouse.

My annual spring cold has arrived. . .

and I feel miserable.

Most people associate colds with winter.  But I'll go years with no wintertime cold.  Not so spring, I get a spring cold every darned year.  Must be something about the unpredictable weather or something.

From the phenominally bad idea department: M J Wright: Chickenosaurus lives

Chickenosaurus lives!

I'd note that there are a lot of bad ideas that seem to float around in the genetic modification department now days, everything from this step back towards dinosaurs to trying to revive mammoths.  Studying this stuff is fine, but we seem to have utterly no restraint on implementing whatever bad ideas we come up with.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. Matthews Church, Gillette Wyoming

Churches of the West: St. Matthews Church, Gillette Wyoming:

The paused that refreshed.

 

Fountain for horses, downtown Denver. These were placed by the National Humane Alliance, an organization that put the up for urban horses all over United States.  They were concerned about the conditions that working horses worked in.  The draft horses are, largely, gone, but the fountains remain.

Blog Mirror: Wheels That Won The West: Studebaker Aluminum vs. Ford?

Studebaker Aluminum vs. Ford?

(Over)acclimating to technology

One of the things that gets cataloged here a lot are technological changes.  How technology, specifically computer technology, has worked a change in my own daily life became abundantly clear to me this pat week. Frankly, I don't think all of the changes are universally good either, which may seem surprising for somebody who is running a blog.

 Amishman, 1940s.  The Amish are a well known North American religious group (Anabaptist) that have restricted their use of technology. Widely misunderstood, the religious concept at work has to do with the use of things that would reduce a human's humbleness and therefore their focus on devotion.  As we become more and more technological, the more a person has to wonder if the Amish don't really have it right on at least recognizing that technology may offer, at some point, as many dangers as it does benefits.

For one thing, this is a new computer.  This computer came about as I recently went from a Pentax K-x to a Pentax K-3.  It's a great camera, but I'm frankly still learning how to use all of its features, and as it's a fairly complicated camera, I probably never will.  Be that as it may, I like it.  And part of the liking it is that not only can you take really good pictures with it, but you aren't leased to film, the way we were with earlier film cameras.

However, because of certain new features in it, it wouldn't work with my old computer, which was truly ancient.  It was in the category of PC's that had an operating system that was supposed to be updated some time back, as it was no longer supported by Microsoft, but as it was working, and as computers are expensive, I didn't do it.  Well, I finally had to as the software for the K-3 was not supported by the old operating system. So one technology lead to another.

That meant, for a variety of reasons, that I was without a home computer for about a week.  That should have been no big deal, but it was oddly unsettling.  This was, in no small part, because I've grown used to checking the computer early in the morning, when most of this stuff is written, and also checking it sometimes in the evening as well.  In other words, I've become habituated to that, and anything you are habituated to you do in place of something else.

Indeed, anything that you are habituated to, you are dependent upon to some degree.  I could easily live in a house with no television, and I only listen to the radio while in a car (although now I frequently listen to podcasts, which is another habituation) but the computer I really noticed not being here.  Not good, in some ways.

Taking this further, last weekend I was in Denver.  I'm not really keen on Denver, but I was there with my family and we went to REI, the big outdoor sports store.  REI has a great store, and a great catalog.  I first became acquainted with both through a college friend, who was a big outdoorsman (and still is).  We went down to Denver, probably in 1983 or 84, and went to REI, which we did frequently thereafter.

At that time, REI was in one of the neighboring towns around Denver, not Denver proper, although where one begins and the other stops is questionable.  Most people would have said we were in Denver.  At any rate, it was in what had been built as a grocery store at the time, but it was amazing, or perceived that way in any event.

Now, REI is in Denver, in a trendy nice area near the aquarium, and it's new bigger store is in a building that had been built as a power plant a century ago.  It's a nice store, but visiting it just doesn't have hte same excitement it once did.  There may be a variety of reasons for that, including that I"m just older, but while there I texted (technology again) my old friend and noted that I was there, and that it just wasn't as exciting as it had been back when.  He texted back that "the internet has ruined the experience".

 Spacious interior of the current REI outlet in Denver.

I hadn't thought of that, but I really think he's right.  It has.  Not completely, but partially.

Now, when you want something, there's none of the sense of scarcity of the item  or the wonderment in finding it.  In a way, of course, that's good.  But at the same time, there was something sweet about finding what you wanted, or even what you liked but didn't know you wanted, and which was difficult to get.  The effort, or just the surprise, meant something.  Now, that's all gone.  In its place, we look up everything on the net and know its whereabouts right away.  Again, that's not universally bad by any means, but it has given us a false sense of super abundance that makes us less appreciative of anything we have or seek to acquire.  That would include, I feel, even the acquisition of knowledge, as now we just "Google it".

While in Denver, as I have several times recently, we made frequent use of the Google Maps navigation feature which allows for voice directions.  This is a nifty feature, but I've found its had a direct impact on my sense of place and direction, both of which have always been very good.

I've always been able to navigate my way around any place, including any city, simply by looking at maps and mentally planning a route.  Now, because of Google Maps, I frequently don't, just having my Iphone do the work.  I've found that this has actually messed significantly with my sense of place and direction, as when I depart from it, I don't have a real good sense of where I am.  Usually, if I go to a place once, I know how to get there, but now it would seem this is less certain.  I don't like it.

Fortunately I can get back to normal simply by not using it, but it was disturbing to see how very quickly I'd become acclimated to it. This is particularly disturbing as I feel that this is one of the many technological things that has the impact of taking us a bit further from the natural world, really, which as I noted the other day has the impact of creating a world that's contrary to our natures.

All in all, while technology definitely has its benefits,  I do question if we can reach the point where it's overall detrimental to us.  Indeed, I think we may have already done that.  We don't have a really good history of self restraint.  Most of us will not take the view of the Amishmen, and it risks making us less in tune with where we are, or even who we are.  Indeed, an entire younger generations doesn't notice where they are or who they are with at any one time, as their heads are buried in their phones.  This trend is not only negative, but to paraphrase from Pogo, we have met the enemy, and its our technology.  Not completely, yet, but partially.

Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming Adopts the Uniform Bar Exam, and why that'...

Back when I posted this item:

Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming Adopts the Uniform Bar Exam, and why that'...:     Wyoming Supreme Court in  Cheyenne. Students of legal minutia know that the phrase "to pass the bar", or "to be ca...

I noted a widely held concern that the adoption of the UBE would be detrimental to the practice of law in Wyoming in a number of ways.  So far, at least one of the concerns, the increased exportation of the legal practice in this state to big out of state cities, accompanied by a decrease in practitioners who actually know Wyoming's law, has been coming true.  Now, I work with a lot of really good out of state counsel, and this isn't a universal slam.  Certainly quite a few of those lawyers are really good lawyers, but there a lot of lawyers residing in Wyoming who are equally good.  The concern, however, was well placed and long term, this is not a good trend for Wyoming at all, as all the fine really good local counsel risk being forgotten simply because they aren't in a large city, in spite of their trial records.

Now I've read that New York is adopting the UBE with the expressed purpose of allowing transferability of its licenses.

This may seem irrelevant to Wyoming, but far from it.  I don't know how many New York lawyers there may be, but it wouldn't surprise me if the number exceeds the number of residents that reside in any one of Wyoming's larger cities.

On a plus side, however, this will impact the same out of state bars that are presently poaching in Wyoming. So, now we can expect to see Colorado and Montana firms that have been practicing across state lines complain about the same thing we're experiencing, and they certainly will experience it.  And it won't be good for the practices in their states.

I'm not going to cry about that, but we can shed a tear for one group, the legal consumer.  An irony of the practice is that practitioners in small states are often highly experienced in the courtroom, with far more trial practice than some trial lawyers in big states.  Quite often, a local litigant is better off with a lawyer from their home state, which is becoming less common, and stands to become even less and less the case as we move on.

Nothing every prevented a Colorado lawyer from taking the Wyoming exam, or a New York lawyer taking the Colorado exam.  If they took it, and passed, we knew they were qualified.  With the UBE, we don't know that.