U.S. vs. the pirates

In 1801, the Barbary Pirates declared war on the U.S. We had been paying them tribute since 1784, but Thomas Jefferson (then ambassador to France) eventually argued successfully that paying further tribute would only encourage more attacks. By 1800, the US was paying nearly 20% of its annual revenues in ransom and tribute to privateering states. When Jefferson was elected President, he sent a group of frigates to the Mediterranean to provoke the Pasha of Tripoli (sometime leader of the Barbary states). The Pasha backed down immediately, but other Barbary leaders did not, and war ensued. Hostilities did not end until 1805.

Oh it's been funny

Oy, I've been busy. My arm is finally getting back into shape (yeah, I messed it up pretty bad), just in time to help put together the set for Skyview's spring musical, Fiorello! What I've been working on is the design and construction of two large wooden rooms, on wheels, which spin and open and close on stage (with the help of stage hands), to create six different sets. It's kinda spectacular; I'll try to get good pictures.

We spent all weekend building them- it was great fun. I was a little nervous about how well the swinging walls would work, but thankfully a couple of dads (who happen to be contractors, and so know how to hang doors) showed up to help. Doors are hard!

As a result of having to work so much over the weekend, I was not able to note a couple of interesting historical anniversaries: May 3 (Saturday) was the day in 326 ce, that the Empress Helena (mother of Constantine the Great) discovered the Cross deep inside a well (one has to wonder, what was she doing deep inside a well?) on Calvary Hill in Jerusalem. She bequeathed it to the Bishop of Jerusalem, who promptly started selling it off in splinters; like most medieval relics, it seemed to have magic regenerative powers and the splinters just kept coming. The cross did not appear in Christian art till the 6th century; it was condemned by early Christian fathers as pagan, and still survives as such in scarecrows (thanks to Fortean Times for this).
May 3 is also Constitution Day in Poland. Poland was the first country in Europe to adopt a constitution (1791), and only the second country in the world (behind the United States). It's also the birthday of Pete Seeger and James Brown, and the anniversary of George Brett's first major-league hit.

May 4 (Sunday) marked the anniversary of the Haymarket Square riot: a Labor rally had been organized in Haymarket Square in Chicago, and someone lobbed a bomb. Police fired into the crowd in response, and a riot ensued. Eight were killed.
And then in 1970, four student protesters were killed by National Guardsmen, at Kent State University, Ohio. Nine others were injured.

Today in 1813, Soren Kirkegaard was born.
And in 1818, Karl Marx was born.

May Day Mystery

Happy May Day! It's International Workers' Day.
In 1786, the “Marriage of Figaro” premiered in Vienna.
In 1830, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones was born.
In 1886, a general strike began in the U.S., which ultimately led to the 8-hour work day.
In 1923, Joseph Heller was born (author, Catch 22).
In 1924, Terry Southern was born (screenwriter, "Dr. Strangelove").
In 1927, Harry Belafonte was born.
In 1945, Germany announced that Hitler was dead.

Now check out this crazy puzzle! Or ...what the hell is it?

And don't miss this, either. Know thy enemy and all that.

The truth is always made up of little particulars which sound ridiculous when repeated.

I'm reading a book right now by Vladimir Nabokov (of Lolita fame), called Pnin. It is the funniest, and most poignant, book I have ever read. I laugh myself to tears, sometimes more than once a page, and then in a breath, Nabokov just stops you cold and stabs you in the gut. He's amazing. I still adore Vonnegut, I still think Mark Twain can be hilarious, I still think Little Big Man is a brilliantly funny and insightful novel, but Pnin is ...supreme. King Pnin!

As a citizen of a democratic republic, I think it's my duty to talk about politics. I think this is an interesting take on the election. Also worth reading because of all the links to further stories about the Bushcheney mess.

In 1945, Dachau was liberated.
In 1947, Tommy James was born.
In 1958, Daniel Day-Lewis was born.
And in 1970, Andre Agassi and Uma Thurman were born, in unrelated incidents.

eye candy

Nothin' special, just felt like I needed to try to get back in the groove, weather permitting or not. It's not particularly permitting, but I'm tired of waiting.

Today is Newman Day.
In 1964 police officer Lonnie Zamora of Socorro, New Mexico, saw a shiny object 200 yards off the road which he took to be an overturned car. Nearby were two 'people' in white coveralls. He drove towards the object, and got out of the car. Almost at once, it took off with a loud roar, rising straight up, with an orange-blue tail of flame. To this day, Zamora's reputation remains sterling, and the case remains unresolved. It is one of the best-documented such encounters on record.

Hi ho!

I've been too busy, and the weather's been too pissy, to shoot any pics lately. And I'm long past the time when looking at last summer's pictures was fun; damnit, I want to go camping already, but the mountains are still buried under hundreds of inches of snow.


International Day of the Book (recognizing the deaths of Shakespeare and Cervantes, on this day in 1616).
Lover’s Day (Catalonia).
Independence Day (Conch Republic).
In 1014, Brian Boru beat down the Danes at Clontarf.
In 1551, Boris Godunov was born.

Pale fire

Phil's photo, not mine.

Important note you probably won't see on TV.

Lots of birthdays today:
In 1658, Giuseppe Torelli was born.
In 1724, Immanuel Kant came along.
In 1870, V.I. Lenin joined the race.
In 1891, Sergei Prokofiev took his first breath.
In 1899, Vladimir Nabokov came into the light.
And in 1937, Jack Nicholson yelled for the first time.

In 1889, the Land Run of 1889 officially started. Many entered the territory early and staked out the best spots, before the official starting time. These folks were later called “Sooners.”
In 1898, President McKinley blockaded Cuba.
In 1949, Science reported that Dr. A.D. Bajkov, an ichthyologist, was bombarded with fish from the sky shortly after breakfast in Biloxi, Mississipi.
In 1959, the Chicago White Sox scored 11 runs on one hit, 10 walks and three errors, against the Kansas City A’s –in one inning. Ugh.

Life is but a dream

Not my photo.
Grounation Day! (commemorates Haile Selassie’s 1963 visit to Jamaica. Second-holiest day in Rastafari calendar). First full day of Ridvan (Bahá’í – commemorates the commencement of the prophethood of Bahá’u’llá). 753 bce, traditional date for the founding of Rome. In 1838, John Muir was born.

Hot times in the old town tonight!

I've been incapacitated all month (and some of March) by combined allergies/sinus infection and some unrelated tendonitis in my right elbow (which effectively prevents me from doing much of anything physically productive). It's a bitch! If the weather had been decent, I could have at least been shooting some pictures, but winter is lingering here this year so it's been cold and gray.

I am not happy about it.

But, I am happy about a lot of other things. Like, the work that I got done in spite of all the stuffing in my head- I organized a lot of stuff, which will make the coming work much easier. The building of systems -developing schedules that work, devising routines that flow, making compromises between needs/demands and capabilities/possibilities- is hard work, but it's now more-done than it was before. Is it ever finished? I doubt it.

In 1748, Georg Michael Telemann was born.
In 1893, Harold Lloyd and Joan Miro were born.
In 1912, Tiger Stadium (Detroit) and Fenway Park (Boston) opened.
In 1970, the Kansas Union at the University of Kansas was firebombed, marking the end of a week of unrest and civil disorder in Lawrence, sparked by the war in VietNam, the recent incursion into Cambodia, and racial unrest. Hot times in the old town, tonight!
In 1979, President Carter was attacked by a swamp rabbit while on vacation.

Indian paintbrush

Yes, it's from last summer. This is about halfway up Mt St Helens, on the west side, just above treeline.


In 1775, the “shot heard ‘round the world” was fired in Lexington Square, after shots rang out from among British troops while attempting to confiscate American weapons in Lexington Square. American troops had been ordered not to fire first.

In 1993, the 51-day siege of the Branch Davidian complex ended in Waco, Texas, when the complex erupted in flames.

In 1995, the Murrah Federal Office Building was bombed, in Oklahoma City.

faux reality

Looks fake, doesn't it? These are pear blossoms again, in the sunrise, but this time I used a flash (in case you hadn't figured that out).


In 1924, Henry Mancini was born.
In 1943, Dr. Albert Hoffman accidentally became the first person to ingest LSD.

McBush demonstrates his ignorance of contemporary military issues.

We blow up space shuttles for breakfast

Little flowers, about the size of a dime.

In 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was born.

In 1912, the RMS Titanic sank. Fourteen years earlier, Morgan Robertson's novel 'Futility' had a giant ship called Titan sink on her maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg in about the same place. In 1939 a ship called the Titanian was reportedly damaged by an iceberg in the same place the Titanic went down, but later investigation showed that the Titanian was far from where the Titanic met its doom.

Morels

I found these growing in the yard, by the door to my shop.

In 1561, in Nuremburg, a large number of 'plates', 'blood-coloured crosses', and 'two great tubes' staged an aerial dog-fight, “enthralling and frightening the whole population of the town.”

nascent pears

Beautiful sunrise this morning. I went to look out the window by the pear tree, and noticed that it's suddenly full (FULL) of blossoms. I'm trying to talk Phil into trying his hand at making some pear wine or something, because we're going to have a lot of pears.

In 1570, Guy Fawkes was born. Long live the King of the Patsies.

Yuri

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Sixth and last in the series. I'm hoping to get back there soon- it's been cloudy lately, which means the light isn't exactly ideal, but by the time the sun is shining reliably again, the deciduous vegetation might be so dense that the light won't be ideal again. We'll see.

In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth. This date is now celebrated internationally as Yuri's Night.
In 1975 villagers in Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, UK, were watching 'Around the World in Eighty Days' on TV. Just as the show's hero was about to set off on a balloon, there was a power failure in the village. Outside the village a balloon, attempting to land, had been blown into power lines.
In 1981 a pecan tree in Needham, Alabama, started whining like a puppy. The owners were unable to find a reason for the irritating noise.

Mona Lisa

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Sixth in a series of seven.

In 1722, Christopher Smart (author of what's probably my favorite poem) was born.
In 1956, Nat “King” Cole was attacked on stage by white audience members in Birmingham, AL.
In 1968, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law.

One man's best friend

Bookends

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Fifth in the series.

This is hilarious- a Finnish rock band, with the Red Army Choir, doing "Sweet Home Alabama" like they're from Mobile themselves. Honest, it's a riot. I wish I had been there!

In 1973, the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 12-1 in the first game to be played at Royals Stadium.

In 1981, a minor earthquake struck Guangdon province, China. Four-thousand junks had fled the region after astrologists and Taoist priests predicted the quake. Hong Kong authorities refused the refugees until the quake struck “right on time.”

Poisoning pigeons in the park

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Fourth in the series.

In 1928, Tom Lehrer was born.

In 1984, the crews of four airlines reported a mushroom cloud above the 14,000ft cloud deck, somewhere between Kuril Island and Sakhalin Island, a sensitive Soviet military area north of Japan. The cloud rose over 65,000 feet at a speed of about 500mph, and expanded to a diameter of 200 miles. No traces of radioactivity were found on the planes, and the aircrafts' electronics were undisturbed.

I'm so f-ing sick of the news media that I could vomit. Suffice to say BBC continues to kiss McSame's ass; Guardian continues to denigrate the Democratic candidates whenever possible while ignoring McSame; and CNN continues to publish crap-writing and manipulated-crap for editing. All of them continue to ignore McSame's complete ignorance of economics, foreign policy (especially the Sunni-Shiite conflict), and veterans' issues.

It's bread and circuses, bread and circuses for everyone. Hooray. Now shut up and go shopping.

I'm beginning to think it's time for me to let my good light shine again; to get out and re-redefine the word eccentric.

Hi ho!

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Third in a series.

Got some new tools yesterday, looking for more today, though I know I'll never replace most of what was lost. Hi ho! I messed up my right arm (my good arm) last week, cleaning up the yard, so I'm on light-work duty for a while. I'll clean, maybe shoot some more pictures, do some drawing/design work, and rest the arm. Hi ho!

Wikipedia

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. I was out exploring near Mt Rainier, and saw an old truck off the side of the road in some trees. It was covered in moss and rusted out, clearly deserted for generations. I got out of the car, and as I approached it, I saw that it was not alone: I was in a graveyard of old trucks, an old farm trash heap full of rust and covered with moss, so long abandoned that a forest had grown up on top of it. #2 in a series.

In 1793, France adopted the Metre as the standard unit of measurement.
In 1915, Billie Holiday was born.
In 1943, Dr. Albert Hoffman first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).
In 1954, Jackie Chan was born.

Yeah, I know of wikipedia's "flaws." To my mind, those same "flaws" are known in other circles as "peer review." Peer review is simply the best system we have of publishing new ideas and having them critiqued and challenged in an orderly manner. The only essential difference between Wikipedia and established paper-based scientific/medical/technical journals is that information in Wikipedia can be revised on the spot, while information in journals takes months to revise. Remember: many scientists are just kooks with agendas, and many laypeople -Wiki users- are in fact just intelligent people with passionate interests.

Ghost truck

Eastern Lewis County, Washington.

Tartan Day (North America). Wear your kilt! Commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath (1320), which reaffirmed Scotland’s independence.

In 1869, Celluloid was patented. Beginning of the Age of Plastic.

In 1930, the Twinkie was invented.

Interesting development on the front. It's short: one paragraph and a short list. Critical, in more ways than one.

Fairy trail

We found this little grotto tucked away next to (well, under, really) the old Gorge Highway. It's a veritable gem. Might have been able to get a good shot of the whole thing with a different lens, but I don't know lenses really, so what am I saying? It's just a little place, the path is about 200 yards long with maybe 50' elevation gain, but very beautiful, like something out of a fairy tale. And yeah, as I recall, it's really called Shepperd's (not shepherd's) Rest. I do not know why. It's possible I misread....

For the sake of easy reading in the future, I'm going to try to remember to use colored text to define different parts of this blog. Personal stuff and notes about my pictures will be in black. Historical factoids will be in green. News will be in blue. Links will be underlined. This will make it easy for you to skip what you're not interested in.

Obladi, oblada.

Last summer, again. This is between Mt. St Helens and Spirit Lake, an area called the Plains of Abraham. In June-July (I think), the lupines turn it all blue.

I'm expecting to hear from the insurance company today, with the settlement. Our losses totalled over $4,000.00. I know I'm being pessimistic, but I doubt we'll get half of that from Farmer's. Le sigh.

Life goes on, bra! La la how the life goes on.


In 1979, radioactive steam leaked into the atmosphere from the Three Mile Island nuclear power facility, in Pennsylvania. In the film “The China Syndrome,” made before the incident and released just twelve days before, a character remarks that a cloud of waste could wreak death and destruction over 'an area the size of Pennsylvania.' Earlier in the year, a local magazine had run a fictional story called “Meltdown at Three Mile Island.” They even got the date right.

In 1930, over five hundred years after Constantinople fell to the Ottomans (who changed its name to Istanbul), the western world recognized the city as Istanbul.

move along, nothing to see here

I am having a hard day. It's not been a particularly good year, so far. I don't have the enthusiasm to dig a picture out of my -whatever- today, but I don't suspect it'll be missed. No events from history either. We're going to war with Iran, but you didn't read it here.

Think! It ain't illegal yet!

I was right again (scroll down to March 11): Spitzer was targeted, and that makes the investigation illegal. In America, we don't prosecute for political reasons. Er, didn't prosecute for political reasons, before Bushcheney.

John McCain goes to Iraq and makes a few socio-political blunders, showing off his ignorance of foreign policy, but the mainstream media focusses on the bullshit Clinton-Obama "war." What does that tell you? It tells you that the media would rather have you focus on the weaknesses of the Democratic candidates, than reveal the weakness of the Republican candidate. Now, what does that tell us? It tells us, in no uncertain terms, that the mainstream media operates as an organ of the Republican party.

Let's have a look at a sample page. If you're seeing the same page I saw, you're seeing eight headlines under the "Election Coverage" banner. There is no mention of McCain. In fact, Bush is at the top. Hello? Rather, we find three headlines for stories which appear to be bad news about Obama, and one which leads with the phrase "Anti-Clinton." One other head suggests that Bill Richardson is 'loyal' to the Clintons, but the story is about his endorsement of Obama (more conflict inside the party, see?). The general effect of the page is to emphasize that the Democrats are not organized or focused enough to be able to focus on policy, and are therefore not fit to be President.

As long as we read/view mainstream media, we are in their thrall. This is the kind of enemy I'm fighting.

Think for yourself, and my fight is won.

It's International Waffle Day today.

Bela Bartok, Aretha Franklin, Frank Oz, Elton John and Sarah Jessica Parker were all born on this day (1881, 1942, '44, '47 and '65, respectively).