look ma, they's put us on the tellervision....

Y'all remember when I talked about Senator Webb's* book, Born Fighting?

Anyhow, if not, here's the short version - loved it at first blush, started to cool a little as I dug more. But I'd say it's still a fair decent introduction, if a little heavy on the romance.

Butsoanyhow, via Mark Thompspon from over Ulster way - they'll soon be airing a video version of it. How cool is that?

Thanks for the heads up, sir!
(Also, check out his Covenanter material - awesome work!)


















* Senator, you may be distant kin, but don't think I exempt you from that tirade last week. Until and unless I see you shaking loose all the goodies your "august body" has stolen from the American people, you're just a bought man to my eye. And frankly, one who should know better.

Look out for Granny!

After slogging through the first part of the tidewater aristocracy in Albion's Seed, I just started skimming some before putting the book up for the night. Found this gem from towards the end, where the author's talking about leftover regional antipathies...

"During World War II, for example, three German submariners escaped from Camp Crossville, Tennessee. Their flight took them to an Appalachian cabin, where they stopped for a drink of water. The mountain granny told them to "git." When they ignored her, she promptly shot them dead. The sheriff came, and scolded her for shooting helpless prisoners. Granny burst into tears, and said that she would not have done it if she had known they were Germans. The exasperated sheriff asked what in "tarnation" she thought she was shooting at. "Why," she replied, "I thought they was Yankees."

-sourced to Arnold Krammar, Nazi Prisoners of War in America (New York, 1979), p. 133



Oh, that's worthy of a 'dawg story right there. That's precious. :)

Reading Shelf, part ??

Okay, I just finished one of the lighter bits (more on that one in a bit, it really deserves treatment all of its own), and finally started buckling down on Albion's Seed. It's one of those that's been sitting partly read for ages, and really needed finishing.

I may have said this before, but even if I have it bears repeating. If I had to recommend one single book for explaining "who we are and how got here" - this is the one. Now fair warning, it's a monster of 900-odd pages, but it traces the path of the major social groups of British North America into the New World. Where they came from (and why), where they went, and the rudiments of their cultures post-arrival. Necessarily a summary treatment in all cases, but even so - if you ever found yourself asking why do obnoxious meddling Yankees/cantankerous violent hillbillies/snotty Southern socialites do that???... this is the book for you. :)

Anyhow, I'd finished the backcountry Ulster Scot part ages ago, but this time picked the thing up again to start at the beginning, and just finished the Puritan New England section. Let's see, the high points....

1. The Puritans of New England came from the most urbane area of England (southeast), and it's probably fair to call them the middle-class yuppies of their era. That is - not generally of the peerage, but likewise hardly poor. Lots of skilled craftsman, and atypically highly educated for their time and place.

2. The motives of migration were generally (for the Bay colonies) Utopian. They picked and chose who could come, and often migrated as complete families.

3. The elite of the colony came from a limited number of families, which intermarried with some frequency. The religious leaders, while forbidden direct public office, seem nonetheless the de facto community leaders. "I am the parson who rules here." (p. 11)

4. Both by nature (rockier, colder soils), and deliberate intent the communities tended towards small townships of yeoman freeholders. Wealth disparities were deliberately flattened both through law (wage and price controls on and off, export restrictions in short times, etc), as well as heavy religious pressure on what constituted a decent and proper profit. Likewise inheritance laws changed from England, particularly by ending primogeniture, but also a number of smaller tweaks, done with the intention of leveling social inequality (de Tocqueville mentions this as well, and that it was done very deliberately.)


5. While the Puritans were not quite as dour as modern conceptions would paint them, they were still decidedly hard by modern standards. Very big on education, work, thrift, etc.

(a minor side note on the difference between "book history" and "living history."
The author mentions with a little incredulity the Puritan settlers in the early days being so grateful for their rye bread and bean soup while living on a bay full of lobster, all manner of shellfish and game about - why on earth would they go for beans??

The answer is plain to anyone who's gone out and lived anything even close - what's appealing at the fine restaurant with central heating and a leisurely lifestyle is not at all what's appealing when you're living in a drafty cottage in a cold wet climate and have been outside all day. Thick sticky carby goodness becomes heaven in a way the best shellfish can't match. :) )

5. Yes, the early Puritans really did wear those steeply hats and capes, Wikipedia's misconceptions page notwithstanding. Not so much in black though.. that was too presumptuous. :) (originals mentioned are Constance Hopkin's hat and Richard Smith's cloak.. though neither quite constitute the Thanksgiving "uniform" it's true. )

6. By the time of the Revolution, we're no longer talking a Puritan community per se, as a century of other immigration has softened the edges. Nonetheless, the general sensibility is still there after a century or so. Think modern Salt Lake City. You don't have to be a Mormon... but the culture's nonetheless still fairly pervasive, if not as rigidly doctrinal as it was at the time of the founding.

7. Order order order. Everything and everyone in their place, but not quite like back in England.They did intentionally reject the old English distinction of peerage and commoners, to the point of refusing to honor class privileges to a group of Puritan peers inquiring about relocating to the Bay Colony... so said peers stayed home (good riddance, says I).

That said, modern notions of liberty don't really apply. Lawmaking was local, but seemed pretty unrestrained in what it compel - to the point of citizens of Concord, Sudbury, and Dedham were not allowed to move away at one point as their numbers dwindled.


So yeah. Early New England. Homey, communal, orderly .... and very much with the town muckety mucks all up in your business.


The more things change, eh?
(oh, just wait till we work back around to the hillbillies. *heh* Bunch of frickin' loud mouthed savages. )

I know I promised Lord, never again....

... but I also know, thatYou know, what a weak willed person I am.

So yeah. Not so much with the gentleness today. Which sucks, 'cause I know I'm gonna alienate some darling dears and probably regret this. But sometimes... there just ain't much choice.


================================

Dear Congress...

I know. It's one of those "we have to talk" moments. You see... I've been thinking, and well... it's probably best we don't see each other any more.

I'd give you the "it's not you, it's me" but frankly..... no. It's you.

Quite frankly, as a body of people - I can't stand you.
I can't stand to see you. I can't stand to hear you.

I'm tired of the who's fault is it anyway speeches and I'm tired of the who's up for re-election and has to throw a bone to the proles vote trading and I'm tired of the hey look at the ballot boxes we found in the trunk stories. I'm tired of bribery so open on all sides that no one even blinks unless it's election time and makes for good campaign commercial fodder. I'm tired all the darling save the world schemes you come up with, but then take great care to exempt yourselves and your buddies from.

Your members range from the hopelessly clueless to the merely criminal - the best thing I can think to say about the senior leadership of late is that at least Barney's sweetie tried to make an honest dollar without leaning on our dime.

Republicans? Don't think you get out of this. You've been way out in front when it comes to shredding our Fourth Amendment at least as long as I've been alive, and then had the indescribable gall to pull out your stupid little thesaurus to make up an acronym for "Patriot" to name the last go round.

Darling Congress? I don't quite know how to tell you this, but the real patriots, the ones from '76? Yeah... if they were still around, you would have been begging for something as gentle as tar and feathers after that stunt.

so...
*sigh*
one...
two...
three..
fou...#@$k it.

All this talk about partisan bickering and ill tempers in Washington, some people would say it would be nice if you could agree about *something.*

Well, I'm glad you're making the effort, but could you please pick something other than bankrupting our treasury and selling out our frickin' national sovereignty?!?!?

At least it's not all swords and daggers in the halls, right? But... oh.. wait..no... I forgot. Two things. You can also agree on hiding your own names from a declaration of war when the shooting starts, so that you can demand glory while it's going well, but keep the luxury of playing the "but I didn't mean the resolution that way" game once the casualty count starts up.

Heck, let's go one more. Quite frankly dear?

If we still paid any attention to that document you all pledged to honor and obey, not a few of you would have been hanged for treason decades ago.


Yeah. So.
Let me get serious here for a minute.

Between the lot of you, you have managed to nearly completely delegitimize your institution. Not right wing talking heads. Not left wing talking heads. You. If you had comported yourselves with the barest shreds of common decency, integrity, and modesty there would be no stories to report, now would there?

Now... given the colossal ignorance and historical illiteracy that spills out of your chambers every day, I suppose we can't really expect you to grasp the consequences of frickin' lunchroom whisper campaigns and mangling the delicate balance of enumerated powers.


So let me spell it out.

The law will continue to be respected only so long as you are respectable.

In the best of times you've been a riotous mess of self-interested duplicity. Now is not the best of times... and you've become such a disgrace that you risk discrediting not only yourselves, but the very notion of popular government. (Hint.. the guys who spent a summer compromising out all those details, fallible as they were, were a hell of a lot smarter and well grounded in the end of empires than you are. You might want to look at why things were set up one way or another before presuming you know better)

But no... it's elected bodies like you that made frickin' despots look like a step up... and the last time we tried that mankind didn't see the light of freedom again for a thousand years. We narrowly avoided that road sixty-odd years ago, but like a dog to its vomit...

So that's the stage we're starting from.


Now honestly... I won't say "534 to go," because I think Lot can still find a few decent souls in the stinking mess you've made of our halls.
... I wouldn't count on many at this point, but I'm sure there's some.


So tell you what.

You police your own to the standard of every day decency the rest of us try to live under, vote to force your selves and your households to abide under every one of the laws and obligations you saddle us with, renounce those cushy pensions and perks for life, pledge to do your service and come home like Cincinnatus after a few terms instead of setting yourselves up as a wannabe lifetime aristocracy - and just maybe study to understand that document you pledged yourselves to support and defend.. and then maybe I'll join the Arlington police in getting all bent out of shape when one guy is callous to the grieving on his blog.

... 'cause right now I can't say as I blame him.
I'm sad for a few families, yes.

.. but I'm heartbroken for my country.

Ain't no such thing as a safe hillbilly....

One of the fun blogs I've been following is Le Loup's Woodsrunner's Diary.

I know I've said it before, but I still get a kick out of seeing folk reenact the early American frontier period elsewhere in the world. Not unlike that watching the Europeans and Yankees talking about our Southern Civil War experience, but all happy and heartwarming instead of mournful.

(somebody cares - it's so sweet!!! :) )

Butsoanyhow... Le Loup, this is for you - a mountain crossbow -


I went and found the book I remembered seeing, but I think I may have mislead you. Here's the details -

Source - Guns and Gunmaking Tools of Southern Appalachia* by John Rice Irwin.
The items in the book are almost universally housed I believe at the Museum of Appalachia**, so they're the folks to write if you want more information.

Respecting their copyright, I don't want to just duplicate everything in there, but here's the highpoints -

1. Pictured item is the assumed the earliest (most all the others look comparatively modern.) Found in Green county, TN in the 1930's in an area originally settled by German folk. The author describes it as "1700s" based on the stock shape.

2. Stock is poplar, bow was replaced by the gentleman who found it. He says it was "of red cedar" but I can't tell from context if he meant the original, the replacement, or both. I think he was referring to the original. "Black haw" is mentioned by one source as a better bow wood, and hickory is recommended for the "arries." :)

3. One source interviewed (no date is given, but within the last generation or two) mentions the old timers he remembers hunting with them - mostly small game but also deer and (black) bear.
"And the folks back before my time hunted with them. They's so poor they couldn't get hold of a rifle gun, and if they did it was hard to get powder and lead. If a feller back then had a gun, he's a big man.. ... Yes sir, them people up on Newman's Ridge could never have made it way back yonder it it hadn't been for having those crossbows."

4. The above bit about the comparative rareness of firearms is in direct contrast to everything else I've read about the 1700's frontier, and the author of the book also introduces this chapter by saying "None of my research , nor any of the commentaries I have read relative to the pioneer-frontier period of our country, mentions the crossbow as having been used in early America." - then mentions a couple arguable relics from the Revolutionary period by Gene Purcell. (To be fair, he's saying that not from skepticism but excitement - an "oh my gosh what is this?!" moment)

Still, I am assuming that the overall picture goes something like this -

a. Original settlers come in with purchased sundries like you discussed, including a fairly typical assortment of contemporary arms.

b. Although there is a rise of local industry, it may not have been able to keep up with rising demand as population increased.

c. Post Revolutionary War, and especially post War of 1812 it looks like there's a rise of the romantic archetype of the American frontier rifleman turned elite soldiery, possibly borrowing from the English romantic yeoman archer archetype. The side effect is that all the associated goodies (pouches, rifle stocks, riflemen's coats, so forth and so on) work their way into the mainstream, and get all tarted up.
.... many of my modern American friends may recognize this process. ;)

d. Post Civil War, the Southern economy is in shambles. And as bad as the South in general is.... the Appalachians being both geographically and culturally somewhat isolated means its even worse there.

At this point, I'd like to point out the bow itself and the firing mechanism in particular is much cruder than a medieval crossbow (ain't it fun having history fan friends with huge toyboxes to show off?) - despite the former being not substantially harder to manufacture.

Therefore, I'm inclined to think the "old timers" our source mentions aren't Colonial at all, but rather somewhere between 1870 and 1940, and their crossbows an improvised adaptation rather than a continuing tradition of any great size.


So um..Loup? Mea Culpa. Hope this makes up for it. :)













* Fair warning LL, most of what's in the book is way post colonial period - mid 19th c. is about as early as it goes, and the greater part of it looks early 20th c.

** fun story about the M of A - Daddy tells me the old family still is on display there. I feel so proud!! :)

Damned Yankees

Hunh... I'd always thought the "damned Yankee" thing was a relic of the Late Unpleasantness.
Nope.

Joseph Plumb Martin, c. 1778 (or still 77? Rather lost track..)

"... The regiment that I belonged to, was made up of about one half New-Englanders and the remainder were chiefly Pennsylvanians*, - two setts of people as opposite in manners and customs as light and darkness, consequently there was not much cordiality subisting between us, for, to tell the sober truth, I had in those days, as lief to have been incorporated with a tribe of western Indians, as with any of the southern troops; especially of those which consisted mostly (as the Pennsylvanians did,) of foreigners. But I was among them and in the same regiment too, and under their officers, (but the officers, in general, were gentlemen,) and had to do duty with them to make a bad matter worse, I was often, when on duty, the only Yankee that happened to be on the same tour for several days together. "The bloody Yankee," or "the d—d Yankee," was the mildest epithet that they would bestow upon me at such times...."

(lest you take the speaker as some shrinking violet, the events described in the previous year or two of service...um... let's just say the images swimming in that man's skull I'm quite happy aren't in mine. *shiver*)


-----------------------
* Backcountry Pennsylvania at this point is mostly German and Scots-Irish. Pennsylvania was the most welcoming place for those of their respective dissenting faiths at this point, and upon arrival were quickly shooed into the backcountry by the Quakers as a barrier against the natives, back away from decent folk. From there both peoples pretty much leapfrogged each other all the way down the Appalachians.

... is also where we get the Kentucky (née Pennsylvania) longrifle.

German tinkering meets Scotch-Irish cussedness.
Well where did you think the American rifle culture came from? :)

Slings and Arrows

So a bibliography-wander into the primary sources let me to this little gem last week -

Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion: A Tory View by Peter Oliver, written c. 1781 around the close of the war..
(PDF link, 19MB)

It's um.... well, let's just say it struck me as surprisingly timely.

Or more precisely, it's a reminder that the basic arguments of Liberty haven't changed all that much.




Let's see...we have the "they're just too stupid to get it" running all through the piece, but as an example -

"As for the People in general, they were like the Mobility of all Countries, perfect Machines, wound up by any Hand who might first take the Winch; they were like the poor Negro Boy, who, in the Time of the late Stamp Act, was bid by his Master, in the Evening, to fetch something from his Barn; but did not move at the Command.

His Master spoke to him with Severity, & asked him why he did not go as he was bid The poor Wretch replied, with Tears in his Eyes, "me fraid Massah Tamp Act he catch me!'"

(p. 65/91 [first number is original text page , second is the page of the PDF to find it on])
(love the race baiting too... gads)





There's the "they're being used by greedy self interested businessmen" argument... actually almost verbatim -
"All this Struggle and & Uproar arose from the selfish Designs of the Merchants. They disguised their Private Views by mouthing it for Liberty...." .(p. 65-91)







Of course we have to add in the public loudmouths always stirring up folk, who obviously haven't gotten the proper education, so they don't know how stupid they really are - Oliver hates Otis' "Black Regiment" of Dissenter preachers, and they get a whole section of their own. (beginning p. 41/68) -

"The Clergy of this Province were, in general, a Set of very weak Men;& it could not be expected that they should be otherwise, as many of them were just relieved, some from the Burthen of the Satchel; & others from hard Labor; & by a Transition from those Occupations to mounting a Desk, from whence they could over-look the principal Part of their Congregations, they, by that mean acquired a supreme Self Importance; which was too apparent in their Manners."
(p. 41/68)






I personally like the "look at the posturing commoner hypocrites" charge myself, as he talks about folk signing their name to a boycott of British goods -

"Among the various prohibited Articles, were Silks, Velvets, Clocks, Watches, Coaches & Chariots-,& it was highly diverting, to see then names & marks, to the Subscription, of Porters & Washing Women." (p.61/87)
(A footnote reminds us that Mr. Oliver does not mention the *other* much more mundane items on that boycott list, from sugar to nails)





There is of course simple personal ambition - you'll remember Dr. Warren, one of the surgeons digging shot out of little Christopher Seider we were just talking about. If you watched the John Adams mini series a couple years ago, and saw Abigail horrified to see the body of their family doctor carted away.... well yes, that was the good doctor.

.... and I'm sure you'll be gratified to know his death at Bunker Hill was no great loss, as he was only an ambitious failure who couldn't make it in the system, and so joined the rebellion in hopes of making something of himself (p. 128/154). Typical of those anti-authoritarian misfits, really.



Finally, towards the close, we're treated to a lovely little poem the good Mr. Oliver has found - originally referring to the Israelites, but which he finds quite appropriate for Americans -

These Adam-Wits, too fortunately free,
Began to dream they wanted Liberty,
And when no Rule, no Precendent was found,
Of Men, by Laws less cucumscrib'd & bound;
They led their wild Desires to Woods & Caves,
and thought that all but Savages were Slaves.

- from "Absalom & Achitophel, by Dryden, attacking the Jews as a "head strong, moody, murmering Race." (p 150/176)

Okay, I admit... I *like* that one. :)




So yeah, there you go my dear friend.
Should you find yourself in the coming years being called say... vengeful loser... unappreciative and hypocritical...uneducated or just plain stupid, well.... you ain't the first.

Matter of fact, you're in pretty good company.

Blogging lesson learned...

so yeah.. I'm sure y'all have seen the hat tips in the post titles and bodies now and again. For a bit of behind-the-scenes, I don't mark them with hat tips 'cause I like the Easter Egg aspect of it. "Oh lookie! Here's another one!"

It appeals to my inner eight year old. :)



However.
This morning, I have now learned something.

Unless you want to see some absolutely horrific spambot postings showing up in your post box....don't use D-12/Eminem songs for post titles
(one will also note which words of that sentence I used for the link. Is on purpose).

It's for your own good, I promise.

And no Bob, I really don't want to see compromising pictures of your minor catamite.
*skeeev shiver*

homework...

First, having made it most of the way through the Berkeley "Economic History of the US" course now - I partially retract my recommendation. After the first half a dozen lectures, it kinda falls to pieces.

The *syllabus* looks fascinating. Detailed examinations of this aspect or that - neat stuff.

In practice, the professor totally ignores it, and rushes through the 18th and 19th centuries so as to have more time telling us horror stories about income inequality, why Republicans are stupid debtmongers for wanting to cut taxes when they think they see a surplus, but Democrats are smart because they want guargantuan debts in the middle of a downturn, and ...well, yeah. You get the idea.

There's a few good nuggets in there, mostly as related to the early industrialization and regional factions - but if you give it a listen, you're not really missing anything if you bow out around 1890. Pretty much everything after is the same thing you'll get on the talking head shows - hard Keynesianism, the occasional nod to the free marketers but not much of why they're wrong - just that they are - and lots of snide one liners about contemporary Red Team politicians.

It would be one thing if it was challenging to my core beliefs or something, but mostly it was just "okay, heard this argument... you're not mentioning the counter argument, but go on..... ditto.... ditto..... ditto....... meh. not much new here."

On the other hand, UC-B is giving the darn thing away, so it's not like I can complain much.



Anyhow... about done with this round for a while.

g'night.

In like a lion.

Just a normal day.
Well, as normal as days got in those days anyway.

I suppose you could say he was no innocent bystander. He was throwing rocks with all the other boys after all - pelting old man Richardson's house with stones.

Who was Richardson? Oh, the pariah of the town it sounds like - or near enough. He'd gotten his wife's sister with child, and let the local parson take the blame. In time his wife died, the two married - then came to Boston to flee the scandal.

That didn't help much. Word travels fast in those little New England towns.

The scandal had followed them all the way to Boston, and the only work the man could get was with the Crown. No one else wanted anything to do with him. He made his living with the Customs house.... "ratting out his neighbors" says the one side. "Keeping the stuck up colonial smugglers in line" says the other.

That didn't help is popularity any - the story of his marriage problems was soon set to verse, and anonymously posted about town.

It was not a gentle time.

But whatever side you were on.... yes, Chris was there. Throwing rocks.

They broke a window to. And as the tumult grew, there were a lot of boys - and at some point some sailors joined the fray. Throwing a club at a bunch of kids, coward? Here, take the damn thing back!

Richardson?

Oh, he was scared certain sure - but I can't help but wonder it was when his wife was hit with that egg that he hit his breaking point. After all they'd faced together - surely they had little else in Boston to cling to but each other - there she was in the screaming din, covered in the mocking slime.

In his heart of hearts - do you think it was it really just fear of a mob? Or was it seeing his wife dragged into the contest that was just finally one insult too many?

In the end, I guess it doesn't matter that much.


.... but this time he dropped in shot on top of the powder.





******





.... Chris had perhaps....what? Another nine hours left to live? Maybe twelve? However many, they were hours of feeling doctors root around inside his little body, looking for that shot. Hours of feeling his chest fill up with blood, one lung punctured and breath coming ever shorter.

At eleven, was he yet old enough, I wonder, to regret that he wasn't going to see some pretty little Boston girl again - even if he wasn't quite sure what it was he wanted with her? Or that young, was his mother still the most beautiful woman in the world?


In either case, Chris never saw morning.
By midnight he was dead.




******





By the time the shooting really started in earnest at Lexington Chris would have been ...oh.. fifteen or sixteen probably. He'd have joined up, no question. Sam Adams took care to wave around the printed tales of soldierly glory in his pocket, talking about what a fine martial spirit he had.


Because that's what happened next, you see.


Once Christopher Seider was dead, he couldn't just be a boy anymore.

No, once casketed under velvet, buried near the Liberty Tree, he became a symbol. A cause!

Innocence itself, struck down from the grass by the serpent's fatal dart!

Soon came the trial.
The screamed accusations.

YOUR fault the child is dead!
No, YOURS!


And a little over a week later?
Well.. that was when the riot started.



...FIRE, DAMN YOU!







just another day.

...The name of my band

This is almost cool enough to go electric.

I'm feeling sort of an electronica-punk groove I think....



via Brigid.

okay, that's encouraging...

while coding, had the music on "shuffle" at a low volume.

Heard this kinda haunting woodwind melody coming out of speakers and thought..."hey, that's nice...pretty. "

Then a little bit later "wait a minute... that's kinda familiar.......oh... yeah.. that's um... me." *eep*


.. turned out it was a recording I did once upon a time just noodling around on the recorder.
'kay, I feel happy now. Scatterbrained as all heck, but nicely encouraged.

'like Travis says - onward! :)

The Pioneer.

Well that doesn't last long.

*sigh*

Today I visited with Rev. Paul this afternoon at the coffeshop*, and made the mistake of popping into the used bookstore next door for a treasure I'd remembered seeing, and had been looking forward to getting. So..um.. about that "read two before buying one" resolution?

Crap.

Let's see - well there's the one I had in mind - an old Reader's Digest compilation "American Folklore and Legend" from 1978, just all full of the folks tales we've come up with in scarce two hundred short years. fun!

While there, I was waylaid and captured, forced against my iron will - forced, I say! to..um... keep looking.

So came home with another book of mostly early 20th c. Appalachian family stories, a more mundane "on this year in the US..." almanac, and on my way out the door was ambushed by a book of late 19th-early 20th century "Pioneer Women" in the western territories.

... Wherein I learned of a young gal by the name of Katherine Stinson.

How's this... "As a young woman, she planned to study music in Europe so that she could be a piano teacher. In order to earn enough money for her trip, she decided to become a stunt pilot..."

I think that's the single most awesome sentence I've read all year.

I so love this country. Katherine, you rock. :)





Also, some people might remember the name "Stinson." ;)





















* You think you've had good coffee? Feh! Seattlelites, I've been to your boutique coffeehouses down in Leningrad Fremont... and let me tell you. Y'all ain't got nothing on the goat.

Ra! Ra! Ra!

I'd just like to note that -

a. It is just after 4PM
b. It is not yet dark.


This makes me happier than words can express. :)

The internet is built on...

So trying to build a mobile site, I find out "ooh! you can hyperlink to phone numbers now!"

Start reading about the how tos.

First search returns?

Yeah, the "how to build a porn site" people. Should have figured they'd get their first. :)

.. what you leave out

Been listenting to a UC Berkeley course lately on Economic History of the US. Really interesting stuff - up to the 1870's or so right now.

Takeaways so far -

1. As you'd expect, a UC Berkeley professor has a considerable leftward bias. Not raging-America-hating Zinnish by any stretch, but it's noticeable in his lectures. Say, in one class diversion he'll talk about the nutsy mortgage stuff the big houses were doing, but not mention the federal requirements to make dodgy loans at the time. I notice the same omissions in bits and pieces in places where I am familiar (say, the spectrum of political opinions in the post-WWII South, or the lead up to the Trail of Tears) just enough to want to check his sources when he talks about stuff I'm *not* familiar with.

2. He provides them. Frankly, he's a perfect counterbalance, because he's up front about where he's coming from, shows his work, and makes a point to provide other viewpoints in the reading. His exploration of the government's role in opening and maintaining the frontier is an especially worthwhile set of counterarguments.



All the above said, my favorite moment from this morning's lecture -

"So 40 million dollars in gold, that's..let's see... wow.
Oh wow.... a thousand dollars an ounce now hunh?
Wow. Okay, so that's this much weight, so....."

Another reminder...

... that we're living in the New Renaissance.

Several guys all standing around an icy parking lot playing with a toy. A toy that cost maybe two or three days wages, if that. Just a little battery operated machine floating along with a soft buzz, carrying two cameras to considerable distance in any direction, all controlled with an iPhone.

... and every one of those guys was a professional in a number of fields, all thinking "man... I could use this to..."

Idea feeding idea, technology feeding technology. Humanity hasn't seen something like this since... well, ever, really. It makes every year that passes feel more and more like a sci-fi movie. As if one could see the invention of the printing press, the steam engine, and clockwork all at once. This is gonna be an interesting century.

What a fascinating and modern age...

Unintended Consequences

Oh yeah.. one thing I forgot to mention from those conversations today. Learned something else interesting to - namely a flurry of activity getting planes off the ground once upon a time.

You remember that no-fly time after 9/11?

In September.

Meaning, in hunting season?

Meaning, when hunters are out in the field, having been dropped off by aircraft?
Dropped off with a promise like "have fun in the middle of the trackless wilderness hundreds of miles from civilization, we'll be back with supplies/to come get you in a couple days?"





Good thing they don't leave calls like that to state discretion. I mean... someone could have gotten hurt.

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

Oh what a fun day!

Started about with a lunchtime chat w/Paul that ranged all over, and was great fun. And.... um.... added to the book pile. Crap!

just when I think I'm out...

Still, it looks fun. :)

After that had one of the most fascinating "Mr. Rogers" days. That is, where you get to wander all over a place and poke your nose in and chat with folks. Today --

- I saw the guts of what it takes to make even a medium size office building run.
(Wow... it's amazing how much work goes into making all those little things we take for granted actually run.)

- Chatted with a rep from one of the local Native groups, on what they're dealing with in the bush and Juneau.

- Chatted with the most bright and sprightly gal you even could meet - she's been in town for three decades and worked caretaking with folks who've been here pretty much since the beginning. Oh, the stories she could tell!

(As a side note, there really is a distinctive Alaskan art ... "school" for lack of a better word. I'll see if I can find some pictures, but it really is lovely. Lots of flowing colors inspired by the aurora, and lots of (sometimes stylized) moose and otters and ravens and salmon and sometimes fireweed and... it's just really pretty. )

- Meant to visit the museum, but they were closed. So I went by the tourist house* and got handed a pile of brochures and schedules and such thick as a phone book..... including a history walk, the train schedule, and a place that gives goldpanning lessons and tells you where to go play for real. Tee! Spring project. I think I wanna find a cowboy hat and plaid shirt and suchlike to do it up in style though. :)


Fun day.

.. also, I learned that parking lots float. Hunh.


:)









* when you live in a tourist destination, there is no excuse for missing the sights. I mean, whenever you live in a place people pay thousands of dollars to get to in order to enjoy.... it's worth looking around. :)

Sunday miscellany

1. Forgot to mention, got an AWESOME birthday card at work, all full of little post-it notes with helpful tips like "socks first, then shoes," and "food in microwave, clothes in dryer."

Those who know me in real life can say that's not age... I've always been something of a ditz.*


2. So far, the "next export of books" is working well (Travis - I've found it helps when you don't go to the book store. ;) )

Anyhow, finished Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England which has been sitting around half finished for ..um... longer than I want to admit. I won't say it's revolutionary or anything, but if you like "slices of what life was like" sort of things, it's quite good. One interesting thing I'd never heard before was the other half of how "hue and cry" worked prior to organized policing. That is, when you hit the age of majority, you were assigned to your little group of fifteen, and you made your loyalty oaths. If you did anything wrong, they were expected to rat you out. And were fairly heavily fined if they didn't.

Hunh.


Also.. that classically American contempt of the idea of royalty? Yeah... not helped by this book. It doesn't take many stories of peasantry starving to death while the royals take their stuff and live high on the hog to make you think that maybe the Frenchies might have been onto something a few centuries later.

Incidentally, tip from the Peasant's Revolt to always remember. When you're winning and have the sovereign cornered, he'll promise you anything as long as you lay down your arms and go away peacefully. In case you're ever tempted by honeyed promises of love for the people and the country and how much he understands.... know that as soon as you do he'll kill (at least) the leaders and reneg on everything he promised.

... so in for a penny, in for a pound.



Finally, the "net decline of books" promise also applies to sewing projects. So far have it down by one, and am making great progress on my fiddle case bag. Next payday I'm treating myself to the oilcloth for a cover and a set of bluegrass videos from this guy. Best video instruction I've seen yet. W00t!


Anyhow - happy week all. I got two days vacation left.
Time to actually get out and about some. :)





















* Come by it honestly from my Mom. But really, it works out well, since my Dad had a touch of OCD. I got just enough of both that every time I start to obsess over something, I ...um... forget what it was that I was supposed to be obsessing over. Works great. :)

Shooting an azimuth

You know, it's a delightful thing to wonder through the woods. Admiring this thing or that rambling along the deerpaths.

... but it's a terrible way to get anywhere if you actually want to get anything done.
So for the first time..well... ever I guess I'll try giving the resolution thing a try.

Gah. Order. Humbug! :)

Still... let's give it a shot. So in order to be publicly accountable and all...


One - Music
Learn enough of the repertoire to not embarass myself with the local jam group. So - one tune a week down well, while picking at the upcoming ones. January is -
wk 1. Angelina Baker
wk2. Soldier's Joy
wk3. Big Sciota
wk4. Cumberland Gap.
Feb and on - TBD by the first of each month. Genre will shift a bit - I'm sure come summer I'll want to move it to a couple rebec or harp pieces for the medieval stuff, as well as some more 18th c. Scots and Irish. But the first quarter of the year is gonna be mostly memorizing Old Time/Bluegrassy tunes. I also need to pick up some US Civil War era camp tunes (thankfully some overlap there), and some seasonal stuff.

More broadly (but harder to quantify) - I need to get better about playing in public, and not have everything to hell as soon as someone's listening. Thus the jam session commitment. Provided they don't throw me out. :)


Two - Knowledge
The book pile has to have a net decrease. No promises on numbers, but I have to finish two before I can buy any more to add to the stack. This "ooh shiny!" picking at stuff has gotten out of hand. I may not be taking as copious notes as I go, but I have to at least get through them with decent comprehension.

So first up to actually finish -
deTouqeville's Democracy in America.
Leyburn's The Scotch-Irish
Albion's Seed (the boring peoples' sections. :p)
Hobbies Leviathan
Locke's Second Treatise
Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws
Rest of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists
The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution
Matthew's Bardic Sourcebook


Once I have the pile worked down to size a bit, I think I'll be hitting more early 19th c. American lit. and folk tales. Especially Cooper, maybe some Irving or to-be-determined Southern stuff. Also Madison's debates on the Constitution, Pvt. Martin's memoir, and and and....

Three - Experiential
Winter - go snowshoeing and/or snow machining at least once.
Spring - go goldpanning at least once.
Summer - take at least one 40 mile +/- trek with mostly 18th c. tools. Thinking I may keep modern DEET though. :)
Fall (tentative) - go bunny (or whatever) hunting with whatever friend I can wrangle to show me how. Do the whole skinning/gutting/butchering/tanning thing to get comfortable with it.


Four - Giving Back
Write at least one story here on the order of the King's Mountain piece a month. Y'all seemed to like that one. :)

Put myself out as a tutor for the kiddos. I may not be a John Shirley or a Tamara, but I'm feeling comfortable enough with the footing on at least my little square.