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Monday, November 4, 2024

The Erie Canal

Nov 4

"The Erie Canal was completed on this date in 1825. An engineering marvel that was once called the Eighth Wonder of the World, it connects Lake Erie to the Hudson River. Construction on the canal began in 1817; it runs 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo, and traverses rivers, valleys, forests, and marshes. It was the first route from the eastern coastal ports to the Great Lakes that didn't require portage, it was significantly faster than overland routes, and it cut transportation costs by about 90 percent. It was designed for barge traffic, and was originally 40 feet wide and four feet deep. Expansion began 10 years after the canal opened, and it was enlarged to 70 feet wide and seven feet deep. It contains 36 locks, which manage an elevation change of almost 600 feet.

The canal was first proposed in 1807; it was the idea of Jesse Hawley, an entrepreneur who dreamed of an easier, cheaper way to get grain from the west to the Eastern Seaboard. Shipping costs had bankrupted him, and he had plenty of time to brainstorm while he was sitting in a debtors' prison. He envisioned a canal running along the Mohawk Valley, and got New York governor DeWitt Clinton on board. The state legislature finally approved the $7 million appropriation in 1817. They recouped the cost of construction — and then some — within nine years, through canal tolls."

Writer's Almanac

See what a government can do to support private industry?

President Barack Obama

Nov 4, 2008

"On this day in 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona to become the 44th U.S. president. Barack Obama was just 47 years old when he became president of the United States, and the first African American elected to the White House. He was the first sitting U.S. senator to win the White House since John Kennedy in 1960.

On the night he won the election, Barack Obama delivered a historic speech before a crowd at Chicago’s Grant Park. His victory came 143 years after the end of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. He said: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. […] It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America.”

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother was from Kansas and his father was from Kenya. Growing up as a mixed-race child was difficult. He said: “I noticed that there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalog […] and that Santa was a white man. I went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror with all my senses and limbs seemingly intact, looking as I had always looked, and wondered if something was wrong with me.”

He played basketball, studied hard, earned a place at the Harvard Law Review, passed the bar, and worked for a time as a lawyer and community activist in Chicago before pursuing politics.

When Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the United States on January 20, 2009, more than 1.8 million people watched from the grounds of the National Mall. During his two terms as president, he began a tradition of pardoning not just one, but two turkeys at Thanksgiving. His daughters gave the annual turkeys names like Tater, Tot, Mac, Cheese, Gobbler, and Cobbler.

He is the first president to have been born in Hawaii. During his first two years in office, he oversaw landmark reforms like the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which gave millions of Americans health insurance they desperately needed. On the day he signed the bill in 2010, he said, “The bill I’m signing will set in motion reforms that generations of Americans have fought for and marched for and hungered to see. Today we are affirming that essential truth, a truth every generation is called to rediscover for itself, that we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations.”

President Barack Obama promised: “We’re going to have a woman president. We’re going to have a Latino president. And we’ll have a Jewish president, a Hindu president. You know, who knows who we’re going to have? I suspect we’ll have a whole bunch of mixed up presidents at some point that nobody really knows what to call them.”

Sunday, November 3, 2024

George Washington Rogers home Huntsville TX

Originally shared by Photos by Tom, Nov. 3, 2017

Colonel George Washington Rogers Home / Oldest Home in Huntsville

In my hometown, the oldest home is that of Colonel George Washington Rogers, built in 1844-45 (while Texas was still a Republic) at what is now 1418 University Ave. Col. Rogers, son of Colonel Micajah Clack Rogers, Huntsville's first mayor, was a Mexican-American War hero under Captain James Gillaspie. (His name is inscribed in the Gillaspie monument located across the street from Sam Houston's grave.) Although a successful battle, Col. Rogers was wounded in the September 21-24, 1846 Battle of Monterrey where he lay all night on the battlefield during an ice storm. He contracted tuberculosis. In 1844, Colonel Rogers had purchased a huge sum of land (200, 250, or 600 acres, depending on the source) adjacent to Sam Houston's property from Huntsville's founder, Pleasant and Hannah Gray. The home was completed the following year. His illness and recovery, however, pushed back plans to marry Lucinda Benson Gibbs and to move into their home until 1848. Once settled, the Rogers were considered the wealthiest couple in Huntsville. Their home, which was the finest of its time, was the site of many social events and entertained the elite. The southeast wing of the home was a fine ballroom. The Rogers home originally stood on a magnificent five-acre hill that is the current site of the Austin College Building at Sam Houston State University. When Sam Houston and Huntsville residents had hoped Huntsville would be chosen for the state capital, Col. Rogers relocated his home to its current location and offered the five-acre hill that became known as "Capital Hill" to be used for the location of the new capital building. When Austin was chosen for the capital, "Capital Hill" then became the site of the Austin College.

Col. Rogers served as Huntsville's first treasurer. He died in 1864, at just 44 years of age, in Cotton Gin, TX in Freestone County. Two years later, his remains were relocated to his birth town of Mt. Lebanon, LA. Mrs. Rogers died in 1884 and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville. The Rogers Home went on to serve as the President's Mansion for Dr. Rufus Bailey, the third president of Austin College. It was also the home of H. H. Smith, the second president of Sam Houston Normal Institute. This and numerous other homes, now, belong to George Russell who has led an effort in Huntsville, for years, to preserve homes such as this and their history.

Inventors

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Vermeer

Originally shared Nov 2, 2016:

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch; Baroque, Dutch Golden Age, 1632-1675): Girl with the Red Hat, c. 1665/1666. Oil on panel, 22.8 x 18 cm (9 x 7-1/16 inches). National Gallery of Art, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, Washington, D.C., USA.

"With Rembrandt and Frans Hals, Vermeer ranks among the most admired of all Dutch artists, but he was much less well known in his own day and remained relatively obscure until the end of the nineteenth century. The main reason for this is that he produced a small number of pictures, perhaps about forty-five (of which thirty-six are known today) ..."

'Vermeer may have made use of a camera obscura (literally "dark room") to help him conceive, although not paint, the composition. This optical device, a precursor of the modern camera ... Images recorded with a camera obscura often show discrepancies in scale similar to those found in this painting, and some areas in clearer focus than others ... The image is executed with remarkable spontaneity and informality, which may again be related to Vermeer's use of a camera obscura. His fluid, painterly treatment can be compared to the unfocused appearance of an image seen through such an optical device.'

A Message from the Queen

Originally published Nov 2, 2012

A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

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1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

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2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'

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3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

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4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.

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5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

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6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

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7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.

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8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

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9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

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10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

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11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

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12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

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13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

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14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

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15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour (NOT humor)!

Friday, October 25, 2024

African Chinese, Jomon

ROCKING LOCKS FROM 35,000 BC!

These are African Chinese, known as the Jomon people, and it is assumed that the original inhabitants of China were black. They arrived 100,000 years ago and were still living in the country during the Qing Dynasty. Rocking their natural hair way back in the early 20th century!

At about 35,000 B.C. some of these people took this route and entered Japan. They became the first Humans to inhabit the Japanese Islands. Later, another group, known to us as the Ainu, followed. Today, their genes can still be found in 40% of modern Japanese, as well as Mongolians and Tibetans- Past and Present Kings & Queens.