Snail Races

in which I resume

2010-11-05T13:44:00.006-04:00

...ahh, that's better. Now, where was I?

So, I built a little boat this summer... what all did y'all get up to?

languagehat tows the line

2006-05-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

Amusing comment thread here, regarding eggcorns, malaprops and how people so often get it wrong speaking and writing.

Jackson Browne redux

2006-05-09T20:14:00.000-04:00

Crooks and Liars has a video updating Lives in the Balance by the aforementioned Jackson Browne.

He was played on NPR and the CBC in my recent experience. I haven't heard him get so much positive response in a long time... the times, they are a changin', eh?

Rockschool with Professor Lightfoot

2006-04-30T13:28:00.000-04:00

The estimable Bobby Lightfoot is conducting a master class on making music. I have been enjoying his recordings for the last few months, and often find myself thumbing the little joystick forward past Al Green and the O-Jays to hear Bobby's (and his big bro's) stylings.

I found my copy of ROCKSCHOOL 2 mixed in with the vinyl when I rescued that box from 15 years of neglect in the basement. As with most of the albums, it doesn't hold up all that well 20 years on. (I certainly am not holding up much better after these past 20 years, but that's for a different post.) The black and white photos of the luminaries of post-disco pre-grunge popular music are depressing, not least because both the Commodores and Van Halen are cited as exemplary of anything other than suckfulness. Fortunately, there appears to be no mention of Grand Funk RR.

The quantum leap from the technology of that day (I had never heard of the Prophet 5 or the Yellow Magic Orchestra) to the marvels of GarageBand and podcasting is remarkable.

Bobby should write a book updating this volume. Maybe he has Herbie Hancock's phone number? There could even be a PBS series in it, although some of the graphics may need to be vetted by legal and standards at CPB.

not a stupid girl at all

2006-04-28T22:13:00.000-04:00

pink live from youtube, singing for our dear leader.

go watch, powerful stuff.

friday musical selections

2006-04-28T21:19:00.000-04:00

An Easy Winter - Bobby Lightfoot
Ooh, Girl - The Chi-lites
Planet Smashers - Surfing in Tofino
Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
Dear Mr President - Pink
Let's Stay Together - Al Green and Bobby L, back to back
Love and Happiness - Al Green
The Worst That Could Happen - Brooklyn Bridge
Love (Can Make You Happy) - Mercy
Spill the Wine - War

Late For The Sky

2006-04-17T17:13:00.000-04:00

Neddie steps outside the social convention of inquiring after one another's well being by way of casual greeting, but realizes there is always a point where you can have too much information. Dada factor chartreuse (middling).

Reading along, I instantly thought of Jackson Browne. Late For The Sky (1974) was in heavy rotation on the dorm-room turntable, and I think I remember having an 8-track of it for a while as well. Maudlin, I know, but still with me after 30 years. And a cover inspired by Magritte. So it has that goin' for it.

Back then, I thought this was weary, cynical and worldwise, but the kids today have blown past that post and aren't looking back.

THE LATE SHOW

Everyone I've ever known has wished me well
Anyway that's how it seems, it's hard to tell
Maybe people only ask you how you're doing
'Cause that's easier than letting on how little they could care
But when you know that you've got a real friend somewhere
Suddenly all the others are so much easier to bear

Now to see things clear it's hard enough I know
While you're waiting for reality to show
Without dreaming of the perfect love
And holding it so far above
That if you stumbled onto someone real, you'd never know
(You'd never know)
You could be with somebody who is lonely too
(Sometimes it doesn't show)
He might be trying to get across to you
(Words can be so slow)
When your own emptiness is all that's getting through
There comes a point when you're not sure why you're still talking
I passed that point long ago
(Long ago)
Now I'm so tired of all this circling
And all these glimpses of the end
(You know it's useless to pretend)
That's all the voices say:
"You'll go right on circling
Until you've found some kind of friend"

I saw you through the laughter and the noise
You were talking with the soldiers and the boys
While they scuffled for your weary smiles
I thought of all the empty miles
And the years that I've spent looking for your eyes
(Looking for your eyes)
And now I'm sitting here wondering what to say
(That you might recognize)
Afraid that all these words might scare you away
(And break through the disguise)
No one ever talks about their feelings anyway
Without dressing them in dreams and laughter
I guess it's just too painful otherwise

Look--
It's like you're standing in the window
Of a house nobody lives in
And I'm sitting in a car across the way
(Let's just say)
It's an early model Chevrolet
(Let's just say)
It's a warm and windy day
You go and pack your sorrow
The trash man comes tomorrow
Leave it at the curb and we'll just roll away

(c) 1974 SWALLOW TURN MUSIC

in our time

2006-04-08T15:45:00.000-04:00

BBC Radio 4 has a great discussion program called In Our Time. The miracle that is podcasting has allowed me to enjoy discussions of 17th Century Print Culture, the Abassid Caliphate, and the Royal Society at my leisure, pausing when interrupted, going back to repeat a tricky exposition, and actually engaging with the presented topic even more than is possible while listening to the radio.

Taking even greater control of the technology, yesterday I broke down and bought a USB TV tuner and video capture card. Installed it on the rec room machine this morning, and I will now be able to see Lost even if I am busy on Wednesday. Expect to see random screen shots of mundane televisual moments posted here soon.

And thanks to Neddie and Bobby for their musical stylings. I have finally figured out how to save the mp3 files I was only streaming prior to this week, so I will be burning some of their stuff to push on people as we move into this summer's social scene, proving my theoretical, if not applied, hipness.

New wireless card this week, too, so I am back to recliner-and-loungewear blogging.

post-friday protest song

2006-03-25T10:39:00.000-05:00

Neddie relays Julia's suggestion that we all post up a favorite protest song. As memes go, not bad. Here's a favorite of mine. Click the link and read some of the commentary about the song.

Bruce Cockburn - If I Had A Rocket Launcher

Here comes the helicopter -- second time today
Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away
How many kids they've murdered only God can say
If I had a rocket launcher...I'd make somebody pay

I don't believe in guarded borders and I don't believe in hate
I don't believe in generals or their stinking torture states
And when I talk with the survivors of things too sickening to relate
If I had a rocket launcher...I would retaliate

On the Rio Lacantun, one hundred thousand wait
To fall down from starvation -- or some less humane fate
Cry for guatemala, with a corpse in every gate
If I had a rocket launcher...I would not hesitate

I want to raise every voice -- at least I've got to try
Every time I think about it water rises to my eyes.
Situation desperate, echoes of the victims cry
If I had a rocket launcher...Some son of a bitch would die

food of my people II

2006-03-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

Wikipedia grows ever more indispensible, as it provides this concise entry on the Brown Bobby Doughnut Machine. A junior model now sits on the dinette table at my mum Alta's house, having been passed down from my father's mother Alta. That's right, his mom was an Alta and he married an Alta. I suppose, to be fair, the name was in the top 200 or so when they both were born, but still notable, I always thought...

Anyway, these triangular cake doughnuts were a prominent highlight of any visit to Grandmother Alta's apartment on Armour Blvd in Kansas City in the early Sixties. Growing up and inhaling the hot product with a glass of cold creamy milk that was delivered in bottles to the back porch of her 4th floor apartment - memories don't come much more vivid than those for me. The process consisted of mixing (at least) a double bowl of batter, and then baking them much like waffles, six at a time, for just a few minutes per batch, watching for the steaming to almost disappear before lifting the lid and popping them out. It almost always took several batches of six before the number on the cooling rack broke double figures, but after a couple of hours of sitting in the kitchen, there would be enough of a pile to wrap and put in an old Christmas tin to send home with us.

I have only recently become aware of the entrepreneurial aspect of owning a Brown Bobby. I don't know how she came to have it, alas, and I wish I had heard the story from her directly, but informed by Dad's genealogical research and the info about how Brown Bobby was marketed, I can imagine that a woman such as herself, twice divorced before 30 and with two young boys, would have been keenly interested in the idea of a home business. I wonder how it worked out for and her sisters.

I used to think of Grandmother (explicitly not Grandma) Alta as a Mary Tyler Moore-esque career woman, as she worked well into her seventies as an ambulance dispatcher at a hospital. Tallish, slim, and brunette, she wore the same polyester fashions that Mary could have worn, or maybe Rhoda, even though she turned 70 in 1973, as she travelled the world through her retirement.

Since Bobby Lightfoot liked it so much, here is a flashback to a holiday visit from 1957, with Grandmother and me.

Haven't looked lately, but there has been a lively market for the machines among collectors and I wouldn't be surprised if it was worth Cdn$1,000.00. Staggering, really.

what I did on the weekend

2006-03-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

bought some mason stains from a studio downtown that is downsizing and moving. Seeing the nice stuff Dave had on the shelves there inspired me, so I stole a few hours of time from getting ready for Mont Tremblant to make what you see here.

Still crude, as always, but it is therapeutic for me.

fresh ware

feral swine dining

2006-03-10T21:49:00.000-05:00

this post from amuse bouche was too good not to note. a proper reverence for the old ways that the ancestors would appreciate.

sluggishness

2006-03-10T19:43:00.000-05:00

Playing with the MP3 thingy has gotten me to haul out some of the old stuff from back in the day. One of the best afternoons I ever spent was as a roadie for Doug and the Slugs, a Vancouver band with several CanCon radio hits, when they played a Thursday afternoon gig at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, 1982ish. Interesting guys, interesting space. Arthur Erickson designed the campus atop Burnaby Mountain, with a prominent quadrangle raised on stilts allowing for open spaces below. There was a study/lunch area with tables, a stainless bar for sandwich or bottled beer service.

Glass all around, horrible acoustics. Lots of beer, though, and sunshine, rare in the lower mainland.

Doug Bennett died last year. Sucker could write a song Bobby L would be proud of.

"Tropical Rainstorm"

Two city savages were running from the rain, and
Seeking shelter in the bamboo-curtained room
Their clothes were drying on the back of wicker chairs
While lazing out the afternoon

We're nothing more than friends gone seperate ways
No longer on parallel lines
You've run the reasons for doing what was done
I can't deny that they're as good as mine

Oh, I remember conversations on my roof
So whiskey-fueled they had us howling at the stars
While laughing at the dark we finally closed the night
As reckless as we closed those bars

Oh, I could tell you from the coolness of my room
Of bonds broken and repaired
Forgotten points we made before passing out
Or carried drunkenly down those stairs, and

Swept away by a tropical rainstorm on the lower mainland
Swept away by a tropical rainstorm on the lower mainland

Now in the end you're just some poster on my wall
And passing by I can't afford the time that you steal
You heard your master call and finally turned to home
Back to what you think is real

Oh, I heard the small-craft warnings long before they came
Oh the gales were blowing for days
Clearing the pathway of the branches from the storm
I realized that you had made your place

Swept away by a tropical rainstorm on the lower mainland
Swept away by a tropical rainstorm on the lower mainland

From "Cognac & Bologna"

protest songs?

2006-03-03T09:01:00.000-05:00

These all actually came up in the first fiteen or so after shuffling the ITunes library. I deleted the most embarrassing and/or holiday tunes, and found myself left with a list that jumps up in your grill and demands a snarky and/or political frame for current affairs as viewed nearing the end of the Winter Of Our Discontent.

Quiet Riot - Buddy Rich & His Orchestra
The Trouble With Normal - Bruce Cockburn
September 15th - Pat Metheny
Lies - Stan Rogers
Thanks - James Gang
Green Grass and High Tides - Outlaws
Les Allumeuses - Hugo Lapointe
She's Not There - Zombies
Rock Steady - Remy Shand
Welcome to Hell - Sum 41

I may have to update this later with commentary on some of those titles. And I didn't even include People See Through You.

Mr. Death - Bonus Bobby Lightfoot Track

les chansons de vendredi

2006-02-17T10:03:00.000-05:00

Celery Stalks at Midnight - Will Bradley
Oh, Atlanta - Little Feat
Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw
So What - Miles Davis
5 Will Get You 6 - Blue Rodeo
Jet Propelled Papa - not sure
New Song - Bobby Lightfoot (ok, not random, but I've listened about 15 times this week)
The Way I Feel - Remy Shand
Miss Missouri - Count Basie
Everything is Broken - Bob Dylan

I hope Maelle Ricker is ok.

silly hockey jersey

2006-02-10T22:45:00.000-05:00

Man vs. Clown is one blog I've been meaning to mention. tres amusent.

this picture of the silliest hockey jersey at least since the strike ended is worth a post, not to mention the dig at p. roy in the comments.

friday again?

2006-02-10T21:57:00.000-05:00

has it been another week already?

this is what I would be listening to if i had time.

celebrate - rare earth
funk 49 - james gang
midwives dance - tanglefoot
northwest passage - stan rogers
canadian railroad trilogy - gordon lightfoot (bobby's da)
goldberg variations - glenn gould
whammer jammer - j. geils band
canterbury tales - bbc podcast in our time
all along the watchtower - brewer and shipley
louisiana - randy newman

but i don't even have time for the olympics, alas.

cheese steak in the garden

2006-02-04T13:15:00.000-05:00

Been a while since I had a cheese steak from Casale's. Oil and pepper on the side please,light on the mayo. Now that's a Saturday lunch, the food of my people.

casale's subs.... mmmmmmm

Friday Random Ten

2006-02-03T09:03:00.000-05:00

Helpless - k.d. laing
Seche tes Pleurs - Daniel Balanger
John Barleycorn Must Die - Traffic
Tropical Rainstorm - Doug and the Slugs
Kaatskill Serenade - David Bromberg
Wheel - Jerry Jeff Walker
Inner City Blues - Marvin Gaye
Fall On Me - Pousette Dart Band
Itchycoo Park - Small Faces
Yeh! Yeh! - Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames

Been turning vinyl into mp3's since Christmas, and the sample is skewed accordingly. I was worried the Killers or Outkast might come up...

l'hiver

2006-02-02T07:57:00.000-05:00

Not much of this sort of scene since mid December around here. Warmest January on record this year, they say.

I wish it would go to -5C by December, and then stay squeaky-snow cold, til just after March break.

long comment threads don't always suck

2006-01-08T07:16:00.000-05:00

TBogg has helpfully pointed out the unusually entertaining comment thread that ensued from his Alec Rawls post.

Mr. Rawls is remarkable, not only for the loopiness of his contention that the winning design for the Memorial to Flight 93 in Pennsylvania is actually a crescent invoking Islamic something or other, but for his obtuse and dogged defense of that contention in the aforementioned comment thread. For me, this one gives a good sense of my own reaction.

Blissfully unaware of Rawls, I was. Blissfully, I tell you. Now I have to read all of his crap so I can realize that, as always my dear TBogg, you speaketh the truth.
# posted by newscoma : 3:23 PM

Meeting Mr. Rawls on his own terms, Shiva reveals the next obvious conclusion.

Alec raises a reasonable point regarding the orientation of the circle-thingy. But he neglects to mention that the memorial site is surrounded by roads, each of which intersects with another at a right angle.

THEY'RE CROSSES!!! AND THEY SURROUND (AND CONTAIN) THE BAD ISLAM SYMBOL!!!

The architects have subtly shown that the power of Christ is all-encompassing.

Plus it gets traffic in and out quite nicely.
# posted by Shiva : 3:56 PM

Possibly my favorite, though, both for level-headed sanity and pop-culture wit, was from Brian C.B.

And [Rawls'] comment doesn't even touch whether the crescent is an Islamic symbol. I remember when the French government banned overt religious symbols in public schools they were left scratching around for an Islamic symbol to cite as an answer to the prohibition against wearing obvious crosses or stars of David as pendants. (Best they could do: the Hand of Fatima--which I note, is suspiciously like that "shared resource" icon you get in Windows OS. I always knew Bill Gates was on the Other Side.) It's tough for a faith that rejects all graven images to come up with a symbol--which is why the crescent isn't truly taken as religious one. It has been associated with the most powerful Islamic state (the Ottoman Empire) and spread throughout that modern empire when Committees of the Red Cross were formed in it, and when the committee organizers realized that the appeal of a former crusader symbol was pretty small and maybe organizational success required something else. But, purely Islamic a crescent is not. In fact, I'd guess that the Muslims who most vigorously reject the crescent as an Islamic symbol are the very fundamentalists who applaud, and might join, al-Quaida.

I'd write more but... "Well, I have to - I have to go now, Duane, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth."
# posted by Brian C.B. : 3:40 PM

some friends may be stopping by

2006-01-04T08:22:00.000-05:00

Neddie is nothing if not appreciative. His kind words are appreciated as well, although his link to this humble blog leaves me with little to say, and even less that's decent to wear for what will surely be a torrent of visitors.

Below, you see a depiction of crude local pottery being produced. If you are in the market for crude local pottery, be sure to engage the crudest local potter available to you.

2005-12-25T14:39:00.000-05:00

a joyous morn

2005-12-25T14:36:00.000-05:00

tim

Making quite merry

2005-12-24T16:55:00.000-05:00

Christmas Present

2005-12-24T16:50:00.000-05:00

Looks like our Neddie a bit, eh?

"to the Founder of the Feast"

2005-12-24T16:49:00.000-05:00

Searle Illustrates Dickens

2005-12-24T16:24:00.000-05:00

These illustrations, by Ronald Searle, from a 1961 edition of A Christmas Carol informed much of my psychic Christmas landscape, and it was this Scrooge (with a bit of Alistair Sim) and Spirits that populated my imagination when I read, or heard read, the Dickens seasonal classic.

So when I saw Neddie and Lance making free use of passages from a text I well know and love, I was moved to the scanner, by way of illustrating the points they make so much better than I might do.

2005-12-24T16:13:00.000-05:00

Scrooge and his Nephew

2005-12-24T16:11:00.000-05:00

a mellow Scrooge

the artist formerly known as Saul

2005-12-18T08:26:00.000-05:00

I only read this bit by Jerry and Joe Long from HuffPo because I have always been interested in the archaeology of the Middle East and thought it was an actual report of new scrolls discovered.

When I first was wooing the Mighty Dutch Woman, I told her I was looking forward to an upcoming televisual documentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls. She looked perplexed, and changed the subject. I only found out years later, when the very same documentary was repeated, that she had thought I was interested in dead sea squirrels, as in deceased maritime rodents. That had been one of the first things about me that gave her pause, she said.

(The following manuscript was found intact in a cave at the northwest end of the Dead Sea in 2004. It appears to be the transcript of a dialogue between Brian Of Lamb, the host of Scroll Notes, who was considered the finest interviewer of the first century A.D., and St. Paul, the father of modern Christianity.)

BRIAN: Talking with Paul Of Tarsus...author of “The Collected Letters of Paul Of Tarsus”. First of all, you refer to yourself as being “Of” Tarsus...so you are from Tarsus?
PAUL: Yes.
BRIAN: And you’re an actual human being?
PAUL: Yes.
BRIAN: You’re not a composite?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: Some of these religious authors are composites of fragments of writing accumulated over centuries...did you know that?
PAUL: Yes I did.
BRIAN: What are your letters about?
PAUL: God.
BRIAN: Which god?
PAUL: The true God.
BRIAN: Which true god?
PAUL: Jesus...the Son of the true God.
BRIAN: Some people feel this Jesus was a reforming Jewish rabbi.
PAUL: They’re wrong.
BRIAN: What god is this Jesus the son of?
PAUL: Yaweh.
BRIAN: The Jewish god?
PAUL: Yes.
BRIAN: Why would the Jewish god suddenly have an interest in what are known as “gentiles”?
PAUL: He just does.
BRIAN: But...in the Jewish books..their god is petty, insecure, vindictive, bloodthirsty and intolerant.
PAUL: That’s right.
BRIAN: Yet in your letters...the same god is all loving, all caring and all forgiving...what happened to him?
PAUL: Uhh...he is who was... and will be.
BRIAN: So this is one of those “faith” things then?
PAUL: Yes.
BRIAN: Your Jesus is the son of god?
PAUL: Yes.
BRIAN: Did he ever make that claim for himself?
PAUL: Not as strongly as I am making it.
BRIAN: Were you a close friend of Jesus when he was alive?
PAUL No.
BRIAN: Friend?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: Acquaintance?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: Hang out together once in awhile?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: Ever meet him at all?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: So this is an unauthorized biography then?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: Well how are you qualified to speak for this Jesus?
PAUL: I used to persecute his followers.
BRIAN: Persecute them?
PAUL: That’s right. And then one day..as I was riding along the Damascus Road...I heard a voice.
BRIAN: You heard a voice?
PAUL: Yes. I heard a voice. And the voice said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”.
BRIAN: And...who was Saul? A guy riding next to you?
PAUL: No. I was Saul.
BRIAN: I see.
PAUL: So...the Spirit filled me...I changed my name to Paul and began interpreting what Jesus said...while adding on to his teachings, many things that he never actually said himself... but that he wills me to write.
BRIAN: Do you consider yourself nuts?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: When you heard the voice, did you worry that you might be going nuts?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: This new religion of yours has a son of god who becomes man and dies to forgive our sins?
PAUL: That’s right.
BRIAN: The cult of Mithras...a several hundred year old Greek religion has a god who becomes man and dies to forgive our sins.
PAUL: It’s uhh..it’s just a coincidence.
BRIAN: Any conscious or unconscious plagiarism on your part?
PAUL: No. But it does make it easier for gentiles to identify with the letters.
BRIAN: Turning to the letters, you write “A man ought not to wear anything on his head in church, for he is the image of God and reflects God’s glory, while woman is a reflection of man’s glory. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. And man was not created for woman, but woman for man. That is why she ought to wear upon her head something to symbolize her subjection.” Is that Jesus talking or you?
PAUL: Jesus talking through me.
BRIAN: You’re not married are you?
PAUL: No.
BRIAN: I didn’t think so. Now...Jesus’ actual apostles, they still consider themselves to be Jews don’t they?
PAUL: Yes they do.
BRIAN: Do you get along with them?
PAUL: I’d rather not say.
BRIAN: What are your long range plans? Any future scrolls in the works?
PAUL: Well, as I say in the letters, the world is going to end shortly... so there wouldn’t really be much point.
BRIAN: The world’s going to end?
PAUL: Yes.
BRIAN: Now, did you write that to sell scrolls or do you really believe it?
PAUL: I believe it.
BRIAN: Is it going to end soon?
PAUL: We are living in the final days.
BRIAN: You’re sure?
PAUL: Oh yes! Many alive today will witness the end of the world.
This is as absolutely and undeniably true as anything else
I have written.
BRIAN: Paul Of Tarsus, thank you.

(Paul was executed in 64 A.D.. A few years later, the Emperor Galba, grown weary of Brian of Lamb’s persistently reasoned questioning, had him sown alive inside animal skins and thrown to a pack of wolves. The world is still here.)

news flash

2005-12-17T08:12:00.000-05:00

Tim Horton's is good coffee.

That is all.

Christmas, Old School

2005-12-14T20:33:00.000-05:00

Armour Blvd., Kansas City, Christmas Eve, 1957

Grandmother and me, just whipped after a long, festive evening opening presents at her apartment with Uncle Bob and Aunt Iola. We always went to her place for Christmas, and one of my best memories is of watching her old black and white console television set, as NORAD tracked an unidentified flying object as it travelled around the world from an origin north of Canada. I seem to remember the RCAF helping with the radar reconaissance. Good ol' Canada.

And l'il bro' and I loved the Hamm's beer commercials, with a bear doing all sorts of goofy, slapstick stuff as other adorable woodland creatures had a laugh at his expense.

"From the Land of Sky Blue Waters," the Hamm's jingle, could have been a Christmas Carol, for all we knew. Ah, good times...

remembering Spiro

2005-12-10T11:18:00.000-05:00

I read Brad DeLong regularly, although I am rarely certain that I have grasped his point in full. But at least I learn a little of the state of the economic debate, in much the same way that a baby is nourished by the bits that find their way into his mouth as he smears oatmeal all over his face, head, torso, and surrounding two thousand square feet.

This is the sort of thing I am seeing more and more, as the scales are falling from eyes right, left and center. The distance from here to James Howard Kunstler is becoming less and less.

Barry Ritholz thinks the state of the business cycle is weaker than commonly thought. He sees a bunch of people ignoring their transversality constraints--thinking that they can stay suspended in midair forever. He mentions households and the government. I would add all those--private and public--who are holding U.S. long-term bonds:

The Big Picture: Goldilocks Economy? Hardly.... In one camp, the "Realists," and on the other side, the folks who call the realists the "Pouting Pundits of Pessimism." One has to wonder what leads people to take their intellectual cues from the philosophy of Spiro Agnew....

(...)

The public hasn't bought into the happy talk either.... Michael Mussa, who served on Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers from 1986 to 1988, noted : "If you ask the classic Ronald Reagan question 'Are you better off now than you were four years ago?,' a large number of Americans are in fact not better off.'

The American public is hardly a pessimistic lot; they are, however, deeply aware of their own financial situations.

Lastly, a word about Agnew: all his complaints about the "Nattering Nebobs of Negativity" -- Agnew's phrase (via speechwriter Safire) for the critics of his time -- proved completely unfounded. The criticism of the Viet Nam War, President Nixon and Watergate turned out, ironically, to be well founded. Agnew resigned in a bribery scandal....

Ironically, indeed.... heh.

scary stuff

2005-12-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

Rebecca Goetz posts a chilling picture of a billboard in West Virginia that reads

Attention: Lunatic Atheists and their Lawyers

Anti-God is Anti-American
Anti-American is Treason
Traitors lead to Civil War

This is what fear does to people. When a fundie proto-fascist like this feels the need to spew, it is a measure of how scary his words are that he feels this comfortable being public about it. A person like this, scared of their neighbours, is a sad thing to behold, but no less scary for the pathos.

The Rev. E.F. Briggs must be some compassionate conservative, there at Box 9066, Monongah, WV, 26554.

Harold Pinter on the Debac Iraqle

2005-12-08T23:18:00.000-05:00

Harold Pinter blisters the American foreign policy that brought us to this turn of events.

Neddie and all the other kids are raving aboout it. I have to agree, but I don't think the American people will hear it. They are becoming more afraid by the day, afraid that they may have made a few rash decisions and bad gambles in what was, after all, the American Century, just passed.

Bush is rebounding off his truly low lows, as the buyer's remorse the electorate is feeling is countered with the reflexive rationalizing that leads eventually to a purse of approximately silkish construction. He may be a dim bully, but he's their dim bully, and they will align again behind him in the face of such as Pinter. You know, the intelligent, educated segments of society.

I fear for our kids, Neddie. It will be an ugly world they live their lives in.

Mercy.

dancing like no one is watching

2005-12-02T09:40:00.000-05:00

I wish I could still have this much fun on the dance floor.

You go, Owen!

In the Land of Art

2005-11-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago at Michael Berube's John McGowan posted these ruminations on pottery, art and the life of an artist, illustrating one of the things that drew me to pottery in the first place.

The week after we came home, Jane and I went to hear master potter Mark Hewitt (an Englishman descended from three generation of porcelain makers who now lives in North Carolina) talk about his own work and the work of North Carolina’s great potters from 1850 to the present. I have this fantasy, one that attaches to various people at various times, about people who are at one with their lives. Someone who has found an occupation that is completely enthralling, challenging, pleasurable, and satisfying. The person pursues this occupation with single-minded devotion for the whole of a life, each new step on that journey producing a new problem to be solved or a new way of seeing the whole enterprise. But, meanwhile, there is also the satisfaction of things achieved along the way. The life well lived as a career in making. An honorable life devoted to producing things that the world values. (No, I don’t’ experience my own life that way. It feels like constant scrambling, with each thing done a messy compromise between what was aimed for and what time, circumstances, and personal limitations made possible.)

Mark Hewitt seems a good candidate as the embodiment of that fantasy. In his own sphere, he is wildly successful. He can’t make pots fast enough for all the people who want to buy them. And he remains challenged by what he does, while also showing a great appreciation for and desire to celebrate the work of other potters. Mark has written a book about North Carolina pottery, and he has written lots of articles about pottery around the world. His lecture introduced us to various forms of folk pottery—from Nigeria to Korea to Japan—that have influenced him. Worries about a larger world that one cannot influence would merely be a distraction. Clear the mind and focus on the difficult and worthy task at hand. That’s the ticket.

Except, of course, it can’t quite be done, unless one cultivates a tunnel-vision that would be blameworthy. In that most unpolitical of settings, addressing an audience of fans, Hewitt could not avoid reflecting, even if mostly through short side comments, on the fact that the “folk” in Africa and Korea from whom he had learned so much when visiting them in the 1970s no longer practice the art that has made him relatively rich and famous. Manufactured goods have now replaced the hand-made pottery of those villages. By a path as inevitable as the one followed by Ruskin and Morris (whom Hewitt actually mentioned briefly), an attention to the arts leads one to politics—and leads one to recognize the privileges that place one in a position to be an artist or to visit museums. There’s no space of unconscious devotion to one’s art, untroubled by the social forces and structures that make any kind of devotion to art possible in the first place.

That came through most clearly in Hewitt’s comic—but also forlorn—relation to the problem of art as pottery. He insisted that pottery was a fine art in the sense that it took great skill to make good pots. But he also, in another part of his talk, urged us to use every piece of pottery we own. Don’t set it up on display; don’t move it entirely from the functional world of its origins in those village pots made for use into the entirely different world of “art.” Which suggests that the very notion of “art” is constructed precisely to offer us a space apart from a social reality that doesn’t bear much looking at. I want, as much if not more than the next guy, to visit the land of art. It’s a great vacation, just like a trip to London. But it turns out you can’t live there. If you did, it would be an entirely different place.

(emphasis mine)

Alot there to chew on, indeed.

Please step away from the echo chamber, sir.

2005-11-26T07:30:00.000-05:00

This jumped off the screen at me this morning, from the NYTimes, via Huffington:

"Part of me enjoys watching him squirm," said Shirley Tobias, 46, sitting with a colleague from Netscape at a coffee shop in Grandview, a suburb of Columbus. "But he's squirming on our behalf. We're all in this together."

been reading Lance Mannion and the Viscount on liberals, conservatives and other more or less apt ways of describing one's own political predispositions.

I was so sure, 13 months ago, that W would be as widely reviled in a year's time as has actually turned out to be the case, that I could not imagine what the approximately 50.9% who apparently voted for W might possibly be thinking. On election day, I told everyone I knew it was a Kerry landslide.

I was misinformed.

I thought the things that were obvious to Josh Marshall and Duncan Black and Paul Krugman were obvious to one and all. Now, I see Dean Broder on Washington Week predicting a rush to the center, decrying the extremes, a pox on both, yada, yada...

This rush to the comfortable middle is evidence of what I fear may be fear itself.

The wrong track number has never, for me, been this visceral.

Thanksgiving always finds me reflective, especially when weather and mundane obligation conspire to once again keep me from celebrating with my extended family. This year, I am much less sure of what I know, but more unsettled by what I see congealing as the American Public Mood.

There is little comfort in noting that many more people are seeming to agree that we in for a world of hurt over the next few years.

reality check

2005-11-22T20:12:00.000-05:00

just for the hell of it, I submitted my own self...

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

thanks, I needed that.

What kind of humanist am I?

2005-11-17T23:51:00.000-05:00

Handholder

You go out of your way to build bridges with people of different views and beliefs and have quite a few religious friends. You believe in the essential goodness of people , which means you’re always looking for common ground even if that entails compromises. You would defend Salman Rushdie’s right to criticise Islam but you’re sorry he attacked it so viciously, just as you feel uncomfortable with some of the more outspoken and unkind views of religion in the pages of this magazine.

You prefer the inclusive approach of writers like Zadie Smith or the radical Christian values of Edward Said. Don’t fall into the same trap as super–naïve Lib Dem MP Jenny Tonge who declared it was okay for clerics like Yusuf al–Qaradawi to justify their monstrous prejudices as a legitimate interpretation of the Koran: a perfect example of how the will to understand can mean the sacrifice of fundamental principles. Sometimes, you just have to hold out for what you know is right even if it hurts someone’s feelings.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

I guess my enthusiasm for a wide-ranging cultural literacy is taking things a bit too far for some people.

Update: I see at least Jeremy Cherfas is also a handholder. I am reassured.

a little less drafty today

2005-11-15T16:23:00.000-05:00

I was pleasantly surprised to see a bipartisan U.S. Senate effort to move towards withdrawing American troops from the Middle East. W finally makes good on his promise to be "a uniter, not a divider."

I grew up in a time when the draft was very present in our lives. I had a selective service registration (draft) card in 1974, when I turned 18. Since my eighth birthday, 1,857,304 American teenagers had been drafted, many being sent to serve in Vietnam.

When I count all of the many blessings in my life, I have, in recent years, neglected the relief it was when my birthday came up as 344 (of, I believe, 365) on March 12, 1975 for the 1976 induction year. By 1973, when I was 17, all the high school juniors I knew knew that the war was lost, and was winding down to the helicopter evacuation from the embassy roof. We knew then that our older brothers and neighbours were probably the last to be drafted. But most were still wary, and those with a lower number in the lottery were the most skittish. Even had the call-ups been resumed, in my freshman year at college, I knew I was in less danger than most.

here is a table of selective service call-ups by year.

1917:
1918:
1940:
1941:
1942:
1943:
1944:
1945:
1946:
1947:
1948:
1949:
1950:
1951:
1952:
1953:
1954:
1955:
1956:
1957:
1958:
1959:
1960:
1961:
1962:
1963:
1964:
1965:
1966:
1967:
1968:
1969:
1970:
1971:
1972:

1973:

516,212
2,294,084
18,633
923,842
3,033,361
3,323,970
1,591,942
945,862
183,383
0
20,348
9,781
219,771
551,806
438,479
471,806
253,230
152,777
137,940
138,504
142,246
96,153
86,602
118,586
82,060
119,265
112,386
230,991
382,010
228,263
296,406
283,586
162,746
94,092
49,514
646

As the father of two sons growing closer to draftable ages, at a rate that seems to be accelerating as a function of my own increasing awareness of looming geezerdom, let's not go down that road again.

Remembrance Day

2005-11-11T12:59:00.000-05:00

Recently I found, in a box of my father's genealogy research, a notebook, typed around 1971, apparently by or for my grandfather, Clarence Dewey (Ted) Loveland.

The notebook is eleven pages long. It records letters and visits from 1971, and we know that Ted died 1n 1972, so this was done in the last years, even months, of his life. It is a retrospective account that begins with his childhood residences, and only becomes detailed following his enlistment in the Army in Sep. 1917, at the age of 19 years. It ends abruptly as he describes his employment at various occupations following his return from the war. I can easily imagine that it was the result of a single session at the typewriter, an effort at a memoir to which, perhaps, he lacked the strength to return.

Today, 11 November, is a good day to remember his story of his service in the Great War.

Enlisted in the Army in Sept. 1918(sic, actually 1917), when 19 years old.

Soldiered in Camp Dodge with the old 1st Iowa Inf. for two or three months and the First Iowa was changed to the 133red U.S. Inf. and sent to Camp Cody, New Mexico. Soldiered there as a private, Bugler, and Signalman, til May, 1919 (1918). Was then transferred to Over Seas Service, going via Camp Merrit for a few weeks then to Boston and on boar the U.S.S. Runic, an old English cattle boat. From Boston we sailed to Halifax, N.S., where we met the convoy. Landed in South Hampton, England June 1st.

After Spending the night in an English rest camp we entrained for Liverpool, then taking a channel boat for Brest, France. After a few days in Brest, was sent to St. aignon an American replacement camp in So. France.

There I was assigned to the 102nd Inf. of the 26th Div. This division was composed of men from the New England States and was the first complete American division to land in France and the first complete American division to enter the front lines as a division.

I joined the division during the Chateau Thierry Drive, the first big battle of the war for the American Army.

After the division was relieved, about the last of july, I, with many others of the division, was taken sick from smoking gassed tobacco and eating gassed foood.
Spent two or three weeks in Base Hospital 42 at Nevers, then rejoined the division just in time for the St. Mihiel drive. Got through this battle very easily but while holding the line after the drive was wounded in the finger by a machine gun bullet. It was not very serious so stayed with the company. I received this wound while on a raiding party into MArchville, a town that the Germans were holding near our front lines. This happened about the last of September.

We next moved to the city of Verdun where we stayed for a few days and next took up a position in support of the 29th division just a few miles north of Verdun.

I was a regimental runner for about three weeks in the Argonne Forest and was in and thru most of the front lines in this sector during that time.

About the last of October while guiding the first battalion of the 102nd Inf. to a front line position, I ran into heavy shelling and machine gun fire. The major gave the signal and everybody ducked into whatever shelter or shellhole they could find. I picked a hole that a gas shell had just exploded in and when I tried to back out was hit in the right leg by a machine gun bullet so I had to get back in the hole again.

The machine gun wound wasn't very serious but in the excitement didn't get a gas mask on quick enough and got a lot of gas. After they stopped shelling and the battalion was in position went to the first aid station and got tagged for the hospital. I was too sick to go back for a day or two but reached Base Hospital 24 about the 5th of Nov.

When I returned to the company I was just in time for Christmas Dinner.

Was in several camps and went on several trips through France, Switzerland, and Germany before sailing from Brest in March.

We left Brest on the U.S.S. Aggermendon(sic), an old German ship one of the largest in the world at that time.

Landed in Boston and went to Camp Devons for a few weeks, then was sent to Camp Dodge where I was discharged in April, 1919.

Growing up, I didn't know anything about him, nor did my father. The genealogy bug that bit Dad brought us this information when I was well over thirty and Dad was pushing sixty, 15 years after Grandpa Ted died.

Writing that last sentence was the first time the phrase, "Grandpa Ted" ever entered my mind. Surprising, the emotion, especially today, in just thinking those words.

Thanks, Grandpa Ted.

greetings, librarythingers

2005-11-11T10:07:00.000-05:00

just in case the blog link to my profile at librarything drives any traffic this way, let me be the first to say, "Librarything - beauty, eh?"

in my dreams

2005-11-09T10:37:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning having dreamt about a conversation at work from just over eight years ago. Our youngest had just been born, and a woman with whom I had previously had a pleasant if not interesting acquaintance, asked what we had chosen for a name. When I replied, "Owen Robert", she wrinkled her nose, and said "Isn't that a Jewish name?"

Gob-smack stunned, I don't think at the time I said anything, other than "no".

In my dream, I was the soul of wit, the apotheosis of rejoinder, blistering her bigotry with word and gesture, worthy of Neddie his own self.

Bigoted and stupid, always a winning combination, eh? As Dean Wormer used to say, that's no way to go through life.

we are... Penn State!

2005-11-06T10:29:00.000-05:00

I was glad to see that PSU has clinched a BCS berth and a share of the Big10 title with their win over Wisconsin yesterday. JoePa has run a relatively clean program for such a long time that it would have been a shame to see him go out on a down note. He has shown that the game has not passed him by. And it helps to have some ath-e-letes again. Michael Robinson has grown into a stud at QB, and could be the next Mike to be like in the NFL.

If only they had beat the Wolverines.

library thing

2005-11-05T07:45:00.000-05:00

My latest obsession has been with library thing, a cataloguing killer app that will finally get me moving on putting the collection of books in some order.

MDW says we have over a thousand easy, maybe two, but I think somewhat less. The kids books are skinny, though.

2005-10-17T16:43:00.000-04:00

#81, Linebacker

2005-10-17T16:42:00.000-04:00

Owen, in red

2005-10-17T16:41:00.000-04:00

on the kickoff team

2005-10-17T16:40:00.000-04:00

Grant, #67

seasonal art 3

2005-10-12T13:44:00.001-04:00

can't wait for la neige...

by owen

seasonal art 2

2005-10-12T13:44:00.000-04:00

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh, matey...

by owen

seasonal art 1

2005-10-12T13:43:00.000-04:00

Owen seems to have some of Uncle Geoff's talent with a pencil...

by owen

Genealogy blogging

2005-10-08T08:32:00.000-04:00

Evidence presented elsewhere at this site shows that Robert Loveland (1607-1668), the brother-in-law of Widow Loveland of Connecticut, was for most of his life a merchant who traded between England, Spain, New England and Virginia. There are frequent references to him in the records of the Courts of present-day Connecticut. Family tradition states that his brother-in-law John Loveland (1599-1639) - the Widow's late husband - was a supercargo at the time of his death on the voyage to the New World and is also known to have been the part-owner of at least one ship (in 1632).

In fact these were just two of four brothers, sons of John Loveland of Norwich (1556?-1648), who were connected with maritime trade during the first half of the 17C.

Their eldest brother William (1584/5-1623) described himself as a "Marchant of the parish of Allhallows on the Wall London" in his Will dated 1623 although he maintained connections with Norfolk, the county of his birth - buying and selling land in parishes near Norwich between 1618 and 1620. Details of his life and family can be found here.

But it is their brother Jeremy (1605-1650) whose brushes with the authorities give us the best insight into the life and times of these Lovelands in the early 1630's.

One valuable English source of this data is the proceedings of the High Court of Admiralty, London while additional information can be found in the Port Books of the Port of London. The following sections summarise what has been discovered about this facet of the lives of John and Jeremy Loveland from these sources. (We have discovered no references to their brothers William or Robert here.)

Note: The records of the High Court of Admiralty take the form of a series of questions (Interrogatories) and answers relating to certain cases brought before the Court. In some cases either the questions or the answers are missing, so the information can be somewhat sketchy. We have found no reference to the verdict in any case of interest. The referenced documents are held at thePublic Records Office at Kew, near London (hereinafter "PRO").

Click here for a timeline on the development of the tobacco trade which puts these events into context.

John Loveland (1599-1639) - husband of Widow Loveland
of CT

John Loveland appears only once in the surviving records of the High Court of Admiralty: [PRO. HCA.13/50, Folio 152] 1 November 1632

Richard Bonner of Redriffe, Surrey, mariner aged about 38 told the Court:

On the 11th August last past at Dunkirk this deponent did buy a Flemish-built ship then and now known as the Bonadventure, 180 tons, being about 75 feet long by the keel and about 22 feet broad, and brought her thence to London. He has now sold two one-eighth parts to Francis Langston and John Loveland of London, merchants, another one-eighth part to William Cooke of Wapping, merchant, one-sixteenth part to Richard Whitlock of London, merchant, another one-sixteenth part and a thirty-second part to Matthew Fulwood of London, fishmonger, another one-sixteenth part to Abraham Marke of Southwark, brewer, another one-sixteenth part to Jeremy Loveland of London, merchant, and the rest, viz, one-quarter, one-sixteenth and one-thirty-second part he has reserved for himself. All are subjects of HisMajesty the King of England, and this deponent is master of the said ship.

Note that both John and his brother Jeremy had an interest in this
particular vessel. This case was heard just five years before the supposed
emigration of John and his family to America. No other evidence of John
Loveland's business interests have been found to date.

Jeremy Loveland (1605-1650)

Mary Fortune

Earlier the same year, Jeremy Loveland is mentioned as the part owner of another ship, the Mary Fortune. [PRO. HCA.13/50. Folio 85]1 August 1632

William Rand of Whitechapel, mariner, aged 37 stated:

The ship Mary Fortune of London being a Dutch-built ship of about 140 tons now riding in the Thames near Wapping is 64 foot long by the keel and 21 foot broad and between 8 and 9 foot in the hold, and doth belong to the parties hereafter named:
one-eighth Jeremy Loveland
one-eighth James Pickeringe
one-eighth Joseph Day of London, plumber
one-eighth Mr.Richard Gray
one-quarter John Devorrice (?Devereux)
one-quarter William Rand, this examinant
all of whom are English subjects and freemen of London.

These cases seem to have proceeded as and when the witnesses were available to give evidence since, on 29th July 1633 in the case of Loveland and others vs. Giles and others, William Hill of Newington, Surrey, surgeon, aged 22 stated (HCA.13/50, Folio 381):

The ship Mary Fortune of London, William Rand master departed from London and arrived at St. Martin near La Rochelle (France) on the 3rd September last past, where she stayed two nights, and then having taken in a pilot departed to Olleroon in France being six leagues distance, and arrived 6th September and there took in lading of salt and returned therewith to La Rochelle. She departed thence 2nd October and sailed to Kinsale in Ireland where she arrived on 9th October and there delivered the salt and other goods. But as there was not enough to lade her fully, Tristram Whitcombe the factor told the master to go to Cork where she took on goods, and then returned to Kinsale for more. She stayed in Ireland from 9th October to 1st December upon which day she departed from Baltimore in Ireland for St. Lucar in Spain, where she arrived on 2nd January. She stayed there till the 2nd April taking on goods,and arrived back in the Thames on the 28th April. She is reputed to be of the burthen of 120 tons, and she was not fully laden when she came from St. Lucar.

Flower de Luce

It appears that Jeremy Loveland had an interest in some tobacco brought home from Virginia in 1636 or 1637. He also adventured some goods which had been transported to Virginia on the outward journey.

Like the story of the Revenge which follows, the Flower de Luce could be considered less than 'fit for purpose'. Henry Hedley of Limehouse, sailor (40) told the Court [PRO. HCA.13/53, folio 323]:

The Flower de Luce about a month or five weeks after her departure from England proved to be very leaky about the bows insomuch that her master and company were forced to take down her spritsailyard and spritsailtopmast top and all to ease her bows which were old and rotten, and therefore she was not strong and staunch but insufficient and in no way fit to perform her voyage .... the passengers had to help the crew pump her during the outward voyage, otherwiseshe would have foundered.

There were 18 hogsheads of tobacco brought home in the said ship upon his own account, but Mr. Jeremy Loveland has an interest therein and he says he has not paid any freight for the same, but the Custom is paid by one Mr. Norwood that bought the tobacco of this respondent.

Thomas Mace of Wapping, sailor (48) said:

He bought home 18 hogsheads of tobacco which he bought with the proceeds of a cargo of goods that he carried out upon his own account in the ship, viz:
8 quarter casks, 6 of muscadine and 2 of sack, containing 2 butts, one of
which butts Mr. Jeremy Loveland adventured. {About 18 other
assorted items are mentioned as being part of this consignment - none of them
apparently belonging to Jeremy Loveland.}

Revenge

But it is from the case of Edward Bennett and Jonas Hopkins vs Jeremy Loveland and others that we gain the best insight into the maritime life of the Lovelands (or of Jeremy Loveland at least) at that time.

The Interrogatories and Answers are long and involved but we will let the witnesses tell the sorry tale in their own words: (Note that the voyage to which these proceeding refer occured just three or four years earlier than the fateful voyage to America of John and Widow Loveland. The case was probably still ongoing at the time of John's death in 1638-9.)

William Jarvis of St. Michael, Cornhill, Merchant, aged 29 told the Court [PRO. HCA.C24/631 Pt.2/11] 13th May 1638

He knows that there was a contract made in about July 1634 between the plaintiffs (Bennett and Hopkins) and John Stoner since deceased on their part, and the defendants Samual Gott, Samual Dye, Jeremy Loveland, John Fletcher and George May since deceased for and on behalf of themselves and the other part owners of the ship Revenge of London touching the hire and taking to freight of the said ship for a voyage to be performed by her to Virginia. The agreement between them was set down in a written indented of charter made for that purpose and it was
agreed and intended by all the said parties that as well the defendants or such of them as were named parties to the said charter party should on the behalf of themselves and the other part owners as the said plaintiffs and John Stoner on their behalf interchangeably seal and deliver as their deed each to other the said indentures of charter party so made and agreed upon.
It was agreed and set down in the charter party as covenanted on behalf of the part owners that the ship Revenge was then and should be strong and staunch and well furnished and apparalled by them with sails (four lines missing due to damage) day of August then next following 1634 .....
The plaintiffs and John Stoner sealed their part of the charter party and left it in the scrivener's hands for the part owners and willed him to seal and deliver their part according to their agreement and not to deliver that part which they the plaintiffs and Stoner had sealed unto the part owners before the part owners sealed their part; whether the part owners refused to seal the sameafterwards for any cause he does not know.
The part owners did agree to lend the plaintiffs and Stoner towards the victualling and setting forth of the ship 300 pounds in ready money and not in commodities upon bottomary to be paid with 20% interest upon the return of the ship, and the plaintiffs and Stoner upon promise of present payment to them of the said money did enter into a bond of 600 pounds to the part owners or some of them for payment of 360 pounds accordingly and left it in the scrivener's hands to be delivered to the part owners upon their payment of the 300 pounds or nototherwise.
No part of the 300 pounds so agreed to be lent was paid or delivered to the plaintiffs or Stoner or any of them on or before the sealing of the said bond or at any time since to this deponent's knowledge, but what damage the plaintiffs sustained through the disappointment thereof or what means they were thereby forced to use for the taking up of money to furnish their occasions for the setting forth of the ship or how they were hindered therby this deponent doesnot know nor can therefore depose.

On the 30th May 1638, another witness, Thomas Ashby of St. Boltoph Aldgate, London, Mariner, aged 44 told the Court:

After the charter party was said and sealed by the plaintiffs and John Stoner one Captain May for and on behalf of all the part owners of the Revenge did offer to sell the ship to the East India Company, upon which offer there were carpenters by the said East India Company sent aboard to view the ship for that purpose and this deponent says that in the meantime the plaintiffs' goods which they had provided to lade aboard the ship were kept in warehouses and partly in lighters for 4 or 5 days by the ship's side without being offered to be laden aboard until the said Company had given their answer concerning the same. This was a great hinderance to the intended voyage whereby the plaintiffswere greatly damnified.
It is true that the ship Revenge when she set forth on her voyage did want caulking, sails, ropes and all other furniture fit for such a voyage insomuch that the ship stayed against Redriffe and Gravesend 10 weeks or thereabouts to have her defects repaired .... and that ther stay in the places aforesaid was the overthrow of the voyage, for he said that the ship did not depart the Downs until about 30th October 1634 ... he believes that they were damnified near upon 2,000 pounds for he sayes that thereby he knows that the ship arrived so late in Virginia that the tobacco which was the only commodity the plaintiffs intended to freight the ship withal back again was almost gone and sold away before the ship's arrival there, whereby the plaintiffs could notfreight her back with any vendable commodity ...

When the Revenge departed from the Downs {believed to be a place in SE England} she did not sail directly to Virginia as wind and weather would serve without stay by the way, otherwise than she was enforced to do by wind and weather for the amending of the defects of her or her furniture as by this interogatory is questioned, for he says that the beer lade into the ship for that voyage proved stinking and naught insomuch that the ship was forced to go to Nevis an island in the West Indies for fresh water for the preservation of the passengers' lives, where she stayed about 10 days for thatpurpose.
Ships usually sailed from the Port of London to Virginia in the place of two or three months. He says that the ship Revenge was 3 months in sailing from the Port of London to Virginia or thereabouts, for she set forth about the 20th October 1634 and arrived in Virginia about the 20th January then nextfollowing ...
Robert Haughton one of the part owners of the ship was a beer brewer and did furnish the ship with beer. When it came to be drunk at sea it was defective and stinking. There was a sickness and mortality amongst the menservants and passengers in the ship which he believes was occasioned by the unwholesome beer and by the long stay at sea. He says the plaintiffs and John Stoner did furnish and send in the ship to be disposed of for their benefit in Virginia and for their service and plantation there about 126 men and boys or more whereof about 17 or 18 died by the way and most of the rest of them died presently afterlanding in Virginia ...
The chief season of the year for getting tobacco in Virginia and for emplying and putting of men there and for doing good by their voyage lasts only two months, viz. October and November, and a little into the beginning of September sometimes. He says that the season and opportunity was past before the Revenge came thither, which was not until the month of January, whereby the whole voyage for the commodity intended was lost, but what damages the plaintiffs sustained therby he cannot depost, but thinks that they couldhave been damnified for 2,000 pounds or thereabouts.
The ship Revenge for want of repair and freight was forced to stay in Virginia for 4 months or thereabouts, to be freighted, caulked, dressed and amended to have the defects thereof repaired before she could put to sea again and bring home the passengers or goods which were by that time provided for her, but how much the plaintiffs were damnified in mariners' wages, victuals or otherwise by that stay he cannot say. Howbeit, he says that the ship was in his opinion improved by the value of about 100 pounds at least by her amending andrepairing in Virginia.
The Revenge brought home from Virginia for the plaintiffs' account 52 hogsheads and no more of tobacco and 9 or 10 passengers. All the rest of the goods wherewith she was loaded for the plaintiffs' account was logs of wood and he says that the ship did not bring home any goods at all for other men save only some chests or trunks or such like for the passengers. He estimates the value of all the plaintiffs' goods so returned together with the freight of the passengers and their goods to be 200 pounds or thereabouts, but he has not seenany account thereof and cannot therefore depose.
The goods which were sent home for the plaintiffs were seized by the defendants by order of the Court of Admiralty and were afterwards sold. viz. the tobacco was sold to one Johns and the wood to one Robins, by which being all the goods that were sent home to the plaintiffs were sold to the best value as he believes. He said that the defendants had one half of the value of the goods and one half of the freight of the passengers, and the mariners had the other half for the wages. He said the whole price of the goods and freight did not amount to above 200 pounds whereof the defendants had 100 pounds and the mariners theother 100 pounds and the plaintiffs nothing.
The mariners' wages employed in that voyage amounted to 300 pounds and the defendants compounded the same at a noble in the pound and paied 100 pounds in satisfaction thereof and this depondent himself had 4 pound 4 shillings for part of his wages and there is still due to him for the remainder of his wages 8 pound 8 shillings, but when the said 4 pounds 4 shillings was so paid to him he cannot now remember with certainty.

The Revenge was in the plaintiffs' service 12 months and as touching how much time there was spent after her first setting forth in caulking, fitting, repairing and furnishing her as well in Virginia as at Gravesend or in the Downshe can say no more thereunto than he has formerly said.

Other witnesses told a similar story. On 30th May 1638, Thomas Harwood of St. Dunstan in the West, London, Cordwainer, aged 40 added:

He does not know whether at the sealing of the bond or at any time before the 300 pounds agreed to be lent or any part thereof was paid or that the said part owners or any of them after the sealing of the said bond did fail to pay in their money as agreed upon but he says that he being a passenger in the ship Revenge to Virginia has several times heard Stoner and others much complain of the part owners in that they did not furnish the merchants and the ship with such things and provisions as were requested for such a voyage. He knows that the plaintiff Hopkins was in respect the ship was not furnished with victuals forced to provide and furnish it at Gravesend with a great quantity of beef and pork for the said voyage. He says that the plaintiffs by reason of their being so disappointed did receive great damage partly in paying the mariners' wages and in their expense of victuals, for he says he well remembers that he by reason of the stay of the ship for want of provisions and repairs at Gravesend, Margate and in the Downs, had spent in victuals for himself, his wife and two children the sum of 7 pounds above, and there was in the ship 200
passengers besides mariners and seamen which were at all time upon the plaintiffs' charge which must needs be great damage to the plaintiffs ....

This same witness told the Court that the Revenge stayed in a place called Accomacke in Virginia.

Another, Nicholas Wilmott of St. Margaret, Westmister, Citizen and Blacksmith of London (31) told the Court on 12 October 1638 about life on board the Revenge during the passage to Virginia:

Robert Haughton one of the part owners of the ship is a beer brewer and dwelleth near the Pickled Herring {probably a public house} in Southwark and he was the man that furnished the ship with beer but when the beer came to be drunk at sea it was stinking unwholesome and defective. That was the cause of the death of 67 passengers in the space of a forthnight and most of the rest of the passengers of the ship by reason thereof died in Virginia almost as soon as they came on shore .... Howbeit, he says that there was a great store of excellent strong beer laid and stored in the "ground teare" of the Revenge, but says that the same was laid by and at the charge of Robert Haughton and the rest of the part owners on purpose to sell and dispose of for money, tobacco or other gain and benefit to themselves. This deponent and some of the other passengers knowing of the good beer to be therein and seeing
that aforesaid sickness and mortality in the ship by reason of the stinking beer went to the master of the ship and the merchant thereof, Mr. Stoner before named (who after died by means of the stinking beer, and was indeed the first that died thereby) and demanded of them the aforesaid good beer, which being denied unto this deponent and the other passengers upon their fair and reasonable demand by the master and Mr. Stoner, this deponent and the other passengers did like to make mutiny in the ship and did swear to the master and Mr. Stoner that if they might not have the good beer, they then would set the ship on fire, or words to like purpose. Then the master and Mr. Stoner caused the "ground teare" of the ship to be rummaged and let the deponent and such of the other passengers as were then alive and had wherewith to pay for the same, to have some of the good beer. But this deponent and such as had any thereof were forced to pay 12 pence a gallon for all that they had thereof, and were forced to acknowledge it a great favour that they might have it so. This deponent himself was fain to pay and did pay 16 shillings for such part of the good beer as he had drunk and given to others before he could be suffered to go off the ship to the shore. He further says that the plaintiffs and Mr. Stoner had furnished the ship when she set out for her voyage with near about 140 servants menkind and womenkind, together to be disposed of for their benefit in Virginia for their service and plantations, and almost all of them except some 6 or 8 persons or thereabouts died at sea, and presently after they were landed in Virginia.

As we read on through the many pages of evidence, we learn that the defendants to the case actually had the plaintiffs thrown in jail upon their return from Virginia for non-repayment of their 'debts' and were apparently ruined financially by the whole enterprise. Unfortunately, the Court's final judgement has not survived so we can only guess at the truth of the matter. Did it find for the plaintiffs who we might feel were ill-advised to say the least to press on with such a doomed adventure when it was clear that they would not get to Virginia in time for the tobacco harvest. Or were the defendants successful in pursuading the Court that they had done no wrong. In either case, the surviving records of the action give us a very interesting insight into the life of seafarers and merchant adventurers at the time when John & WidowLoveland were preparing to travel to the New World.

Other References to Jeremy Loveland

From the Will of Giles de Butt of Hackney, Middx, gent, 8 February 1631, proved 14 March 1632 we learn that Jeremy Loveland lived at the Three Tuns Inn in Thames Street, London in 1631. This suggests that he was not married at that time. (Indeed we have no record that he ever married.)

Entries in the Port Books of the Port of London show:

6-Feb-1632/3: Jeremy Loveland paid duty on 1600 pounds (weight) of Tobacco imported from Virginia aboard the Margret. [List of Exchequer, Queen's Rememberancer, Port Books. Part 1, 1565 to 1700, f.16. PRO ref W190/38/1.1]
14-Dec-1638: Jeremy Loveland paid duty on 4900 pounds (weight) of Tobacco imported aboard a ship (unnamed), master Wm Wilkinson. [List of Exchequer, Queen's Rememberancer, Port Books. Part 1, 1565 to 1700, f.18. PRO ref W190/41/5]

tectonic shifts in my worldview

2005-10-04T21:06:00.000-04:00

Having gotten back into a football pool this year, I remembered a few weeks ago that I used to enjoy reading Greg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback.

I came across the follwing on a day when, having been presented with ample evidence of my fossilization vis-a-vis kids today, it served to further illustrate that so many of the verities of my youth have less veritas these days.

"Scoop and Score: Twice in the first quarter, San Francisco defenders saw a fumble bouncing, scooped the ball up and ran for a touchdown -- rather than diving on the ball as coaches have instructed since time immemorial. A few weeks ago, I was watching my oldest son's high school football team. In a close game, the opponent fumbled, one of our guys had a clear path to the end zone but just fell on the ball -- as coaches have instructed since time immemorial. Afterward, I mentioned that just falling on the ball is the right thing; Grant, the Official First Child of TMQ, countered, "No, Dad, you should 'scoop and score.' That's what they teach now." Apparently, many coaches are now teaching "scoop and score" -- that it's better to try and scoop up the ball in stride for an easy touchdown, even if this means losing some fumbles you could get by just falling on them."

There must be a stat geek somewhere behind this.

On so many levels, I don't know what to believe anymore, and this unsure, reeling feeling comes more and more often, as time goes by.

Maybe crime does pay?

yikes!

2005-09-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

oh dear, oh dear...

Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

by Mark Townsend Houston
Sunday September 25, 2005
The Observer

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked for government and industry, said he had received intelligence from sources close to the US government's marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped.

'My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuits who have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfers are mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with special harnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire,' he said. 'The darts are designed to put the target to sleep so they can be interrogated later, but what happens if the victim is not found for hours?'

Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through a neck harness. 'The question is, were these dolphins made secure before Katrina struck?' said Sheridan.

The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed from a commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during Katrina. Eight were found with the navy's help, but the dolphins were not returned until US navy scientists had examined them.

Sheridan is convinced the scientists were keen to ensure the dolphins were not the navy's, understood to be kept in training ponds in a sound in Louisiana, close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose waters devastated New Orleans.

The navy launched the classified Cetacean Intelligence Mission in San Diego in 1989, where dolphins, fitted with harnesses and small electrodes planted under their skin, were taught to patrol and protect Trident submarines in harbour and stationary warships at sea.

Criticism from animal rights groups ensured the use of dolphins became more secretive. But the project gained impetus after the Yemen terror attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Dolphins have also been used to detect mines near an Iraqi port.

sunday sermonette for Sep 25

2005-09-25T18:07:00.000-04:00

from Majikthise , quoting Robert Ingersoll:

"The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so."

holiday memories

2005-09-22T23:47:00.000-04:00

long beach surf

looking back at the pics from their trip, this random shot struck me as worth sharing...

Neddie's colorectal surgery

2005-09-13T21:12:00.000-04:00

Neddie Jingo reports that the surgical appointment he is eager to put behind him is nigh... by way of cheering him up, we present here tonight the musical stylings of Bowser and Blue.

Here's hoping Demerol and Vicodin and the rest of the pharma-valkyries send you back to us all with minimal long-term impaired functioning, as if anybody would be able to tell, anyway... and don't let Swearingen send you back up those stairs.

the new thermocouple is go

2005-08-12T09:29:00.000-04:00

I finally broke down and bought a new thermocouple for the used pyrometer that came with the used kiln. This has made firing possible once again, and none too soon, as the greenware inventory was outgrowing the available shelf space.

As I write, the pyrometer reads 300 C, and the ramp seems to be appropriate so far. Two full bisque loads are backed up, and those will make 4 or 5 glaze loads, yikes! Three firings and already I need a bigger kiln. At least the crazy glue worked on the broken glass over the dial.

So, anybody wanna buy some crude local pottery, nothing like this or this.

UPDATE: the thermocouple read 980 C when the kiln sitter tripped, so I'm pretty sure it is working ok. the ware came out very nice... planning some glazes with an alpine theme...

Bobo's Canada

2005-08-01T07:53:00.000-04:00

Driving back from picking up a new 4" furnace filter ($20!!!) at Home Depot, and somewhat jangled by the weekend buzz and rush of the place, I was noticing just how many of the cars around me had a bluish tint to their license plates, owing to the aftermarket covers the owners had chsen to install. I am given to understand that these are not mere protective or stylistic enhancements, but rather have the intended purpose of defeating photo-radar and toll cameras.

Then, directly ahead of me, on possibly the very strip of malls, gas bars, dollar stores, and fast food franchises most locally emblematic of the current state of our retail consumer economy, was yet another dark sedan with a misty blue cast over the navy and white of the plate numbers.

A vanity plate, in fact, that read LOOK2GOD.

Still recovering from the sensory overstimulation that is the big box building centre experience for me, I took a moment to process both of the things about that license plate.

Not only a profession of faith, but an explicit exhortation to others to join in that faith. Except that that pious and humble declaration, even given the most generous benefit of what little doubt remains in my mind about such declarations, was literally and figuratively obscured in what I can only conclude is, at best, an ethically dicey scam, or, at worst, criminally culpable evasion of the law.

What kind of person could be so blissfully unaware of the fundamental dishonesty and hypocrisy exposed in the contrast of the words and deeds of the driver ahead of me at this light? And then I noticed that there had once been a bumper sticker above and to the left of the plate. Only a corner of the vinyl sticker remained, but the ghostly image of what had once been there was still discernible in the residue. I adjusted my bifocals to gain the best possible look from that distance, and when the image became clear to me it was obvious in so many ways.

The bumpersticker had had stars and stripes on the left half, and had said "W 04".

Well, of course.

I only wonder why the sticker had been torn off - by the owner, or by a neighbour provoked to direct action by the arrant cluelessness of the owner?

Vintage Ballists

2005-07-25T11:42:00.000-04:00

That was fun. We've been asked to do it again next year, and from all reports it was an entertaining afternoon on a beautiful Saturday in the park.

Although... we were misinformed, most probably deliberately, about the snazzy straw "boaters" that had been ordered by the historic costume consultants, when "bowlers" was obviously what was meant... What do you think, Neddie? Scopesian chic, or more of a group home aesthetic?

the London Tecumsehs

Sesquicentennial Celebrations

2005-07-20T19:31:00.000-04:00

found this as we are preparing for the Vintage Baseball game this weekend, recreating the London Tecumsehs. Pics, likely humiliating, to follow, since there will be much media, and we may even be wearing stunning straw boaters in lieu of what one might think of as the Pittsburgh Pillbox. Some of the good bits included herewith...

Labatt Park (nee Tecumseh Park): London, Ontario

by William Humber

If ballparks were merely a place of commerce for a few hours of idle amusement they would inspire no memories or interest in their preservation... They are supremely public places in which a community shares a common experience in ways innocent of violence and surrounded by celebration and good feeling.

If one place could be said to encapsulate the history of baseball in Canada and the passage of this common experience from one generation to the next, it would be the splendid site of London, Ontario's Labatt Park... the park has been associated with organized baseball and senior amateur ball since 1877 and before that was a popular site for recreational games. There may be no other site in organized baseball that can make such a claim.

Baseball in London corresponds to all stages of the game's evolution in North America. There is some irony in the fact that the city's ascendancy over other centres in southwestern Ontario was at least partially due to the American leanings of rivals St. Thomas and Delaware. Governor Simcoe reserved London as the colony's future capital in the late 18th century and later administrators saw it as a bulwark against the American radicalism of the region which culminated in the failed rebellion of 1837.

as they say, read the whole thing... and watch this space for futher pictorial confirmation of doofdom from this corner...

Jingoism, but in a good way

2005-07-13T12:37:00.000-04:00

By Neddie Jingo keeps the hits coming, most recently with his post about a young man's workbooks for school in 1840. Interesting on its own, but even better, he linked to Harpweek, a service of Harpers magazine archive of political cartoons... great stuff, go look...

Grant's favorite comics

2005-06-28T19:53:00.000-04:00

Slate has a slideshow and essay about Toothpaste for Dinner, which Grant has been giggling about for several months now.

highly addictive...

On this date

2005-06-22T17:41:00.000-04:00

the writer's almanac notes that the G.I. Bill was a powerful force for good in the USA...

The G.I. Bill passed in part because of the tragic experience of veterans of the First World War. Many of them had lost their jobs and become homeless. They had been promised a bonus when they reached retirement age, but many worried they'd never live that long. A group went to Washington, D.C. to demand their bonuses early. They had to be driven out of the city with tanks and tear gas.

Economists in the '40s were predicting a postwar depression, and politicians were terrified of the idea of nine million unemployed veterans wandering the country. So they wrote the G.I. Bill to guarantee unemployment benefits for a year. A congressional committee threw in the idea that veterans should get money to go to college if they wanted to. Many presidents of some of the most prestigious universities thought it was a terrible idea.

Even the supporters of the bill didn't think that many G.I.s would really want to go to college. But about a million veterans applied for the money within the first year after the war. Ultimately, 2.2 million veterans used the money to get a higher education, many of them the first members of their families to go to college.

Before the war, about 10 percent of Americans had gone to college. After the war, that figure rose to about 50 percent. And contrary to most expectations, the grade point averages at most colleges went up with the influx of veterans. Dropout rates went way down. Professors at the time said the veterans were the most serious students they'd ever seen. The cost to the government was about $5 1/2 billion, but the result was to spur one of the great economic booms in American history.

I love Garrison Keillor...

2005-06-22T17:31:00.000-04:00

madder red

updating education day

2005-05-30T18:59:00.000-04:00

well, that went better than I had any right to hope it would... the kids and the site seemed to appreciate what I was doing... and it was all good...

talbot potter

WHAT HAVE I DONE?

2005-05-27T06:53:00.000-04:00

today, I'm off to demonstrate pottery on a kick wheel for over a thousand education day school kids, 50 at a time... oh, the humanity... I may have bit off a bit more than I can chew with this one...

2005-05-22T13:42:00.000-04:00

Bicentennial Fashion

2005-05-21T17:46:00.000-04:00

prairie du chien pumps

2005-05-21T17:42:00.000-04:00

in a rut

photo blogging

2005-05-21T17:04:00.000-04:00

nil desperandum

just getting this up to use in the template... taken in the igloo...

enhancing performance

2005-05-20T07:46:00.000-04:00

Via Baseball Musings, this Reason article about performance enhancing drugs and brain spas.

I found this very interesting...

Researchers have also found that pilots taking cholinesterase inhibitors perform better on complex maneuvers.

I hadn't heard of cholinesterase inhibitors as performance enhancers. What with therapeutic cloning in the headlines, it seems there's an imminent abundance of tweaks and tune-ups available for the human machine. Better living through chemistry, eh?

Nevertheless, some people do object to using enhancement drugs. For instance, opponents often argue that they pose a kind of tragedy of the commons in which people who would otherwise not take enhancement drugs will feel forced to do so just to keep up with their competitors. But those kinds of pressures have always existed. Today, people get graduate degrees, buy new computers, and so forth to keep up. It's hard to see how using safe drugs to enhance performance is much different. I suspect that pharmacological enhancement will be more popular than, say, graduate school, since most of what will be involved is taking a pill with one's morning coffee. However, even in the era of pharmacologic enhancement, there will be some people—even as there are today—who choose to drop out of what they regard as the rat race and live less competitively and ambitiously.

Ronald Bailey quotes Anjan Chatterjee asking "Is this a dystopia?" and then asserting that it doesn't matter anyway, as

This is coming regardless of your view of whether or not this is a good world, a bad world or somewhere in between.

and people get their knickers in such a twist about steroids... what has Viagra done for Raffy Palmeiro, besides, uh, you know...

glaze kiln

2005-05-17T17:27:00.000-04:00

the bisque went well on Saturday, and so the mugs are now in a glaze firing, 10 1/2 hrs along up to 1050 C, hoping to get to 1210 C by 7 pm or so... don't know why I was so intimidated by firing the thing... so far it has been way less difficult than I had imagined, and I haven't felt the need to call for an experienced hand to sit with me through the first time... biting tongue now...

UPDATE: the kiln sitter kicked off around 7pm as expected last night, with the pyrometer only at approximately 1120... probably reading a bit low, maybe 40-60 C, as the bisque kiln read about the same short of cone 06.

Unloaded today at noon, and am very pleased with the results, hardly any rust fell in from the lid, glaze looks mature, pieces appropriately rustic, as befits crude local pottery...

history for dummies

2005-05-17T08:20:00.000-04:00

Slate is kicking off a History Book Blitz, and the first installment by Jon Wiener (Diane Ravitch will join the discussion) caught my eye. As a reenactor, museum volunteer and history enthusiast (and, so defined, it must be said, dork), I have myself been wondering about the use and misuse of historical analogy in this dark, fearful age of the American Republic.

I particularly liked these paragraphs:

Debates about how much American students know about their own history, and about how our citizens should be taught what they don't know, are anything but abstract ones these days. Before we get down to the business of discussing those questions, let me set the current scene. President Bush campaigned in 2004 with the argument that we were fighting in Iraq for freedom and democracy, and that America was on a historic mission. Some opponents expressed skepticism about that, but the president's re-election suggests that a majority of voters accept what historians might call this Wilsonian vision as a justification for war. They did this despite the fact that past wars often turned out differently from what presidents promised at the beginning, despite what we might call the lessons of history.

...snip...

The first thing that students need to learn about the history of the American ideals of democracy and freedom, in my view, is that democracy and freedom are not fixed, unchanging qualities given us by the founding fathers. The meanings of democracy and freedom have often been debated; our history is the history of those debates, of battles over the way freedom and democracy should be defined—and practiced. And of course some issues are no longer debated—whether slavery is good for Africans, whether women should vote. Still, the debates about those issues—the pro-slavery argument, the argument against women's suffrage—remain a significant part of our past and ought to be part of the curriculum. (Also they can be fascinating: Should women be protected from the "filth" and "degradation" of election campaigns, as a California man argued in 1879?)

I think it is time to re-read Confederates in the Attic. Sometimes commitment to a cause defies obvious rationality; even so, one would think the Red States of the Confederacy might recognize a crazed and desperate rebel insurgency dedicated to an inevitably lost cause when they saw one... sigh...

Dimanche

2005-05-15T17:43:00.000-04:00

Majikthise, Revere, and Wolcott all update the Sunday Sermonette feature... I hope they keep it up, as the secular spirit needs nourishing, too.

The Second Book of Insults

2005-05-14T07:58:00.000-04:00

I don't have the First Book of Insults, but if the "B" material was left for the second, I'll look for it... they're both by Nancy Mcphee.

IIRC, I won this slim volume as the first caller to Erika Ritter on CBC Radio some time in the last century... anyway, it rose to the top of one of the piles around here, and a quick glance fell on these lines.

Tom Sheridan: I think, father, that many men who are called great patriots in the House of Commons are really great humbugs. For my part, when I get into Parliament, I will pledge myself to no party, but write upon my forehead in legible characters, "To Be Let".
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): and under it, Tom, write "Unfurnished".

bisque firing today

2005-05-14T07:38:00.000-04:00

firing the used kiln after only 10 months of it sitting downstairs rusting... so far, it seems the bottom element does not work on low, but comes alive on medium - no indicator light, either... middle and top working ok, I think.

UPDATE: 1:27 pm, up to 650 degrees C, on the way up quickly to 950 C and then slowly to Cone 06... nice glow inside which seems to corroborate the pyrometer with the cracked glass...

Rocroi - Pourquoi?

2005-05-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

via Wolcott, William Lind today in Counterpunch -

Let me put it plainly: the U.S. military can be beaten. Any military in history could be beaten, including the Spanish army of Olivares's day, which had not lost a battle in a century until it met the French at Rocroi. Sooner or later, we will march to our Rocroi, and probably sooner the way things are going.

...

Why do our senior military leaders put out this "we can't be beaten" bilge? Because they are chosen for their willingness to tell the politicians whatever they want to hear. A larger question is, why do the American press and public buy it? The answer, I fear, is "American exceptionalism" the belief that history's laws do not apply to America. Unfortunately, American exceptionalism follows Spanish exceptionalism, French exceptionalism, Austrian exceptionalism, German exceptionalism and Soviet exceptionalism.

Reality tells us that the same rules apply to all. When a country adopts a wildly adventuristic military policy, as we have done since the Cold War ended, it gets beaten. The U.S. military will eventually get beaten, too. If, as seems more and more likely, we expand the war in Iraq by attacking Iran, our Rocroi may be found somewhere between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers.

The increasingly enthusiastic embrace of exceptionalism is part and parcel of the ascendance of the "Christian Right" and is a fundamental tenet of faith-based foreign policy... why fear Armageddon when you are utterly certain of not being Left Behind?

1692

2005-05-13T13:13:00.000-04:00

I'll probably have more to say about the witch trials in a subsequent post, but when I saw this link in the sidebar at the Washington Monthly, I couldn't let it pass without comment. Spectral evidence may yet make a comeback in America, but not in Essex Co., Mass. - more likely to be embraced by Red Staters, I would think...

give an inch?

2005-05-13T12:24:00.000-04:00

Kevin Drum and Matt Yglesias are pretty accomodating...

... we can be in favor of the principle of separation of church and state without feeling like we have to fight every single battle to the death. Just like we can be in favor of progressive taxation without favoring 90% marginal rates and we can be in favor of the minimum wage without favoring a ten dollar increase. There's no law that says every principle has to be carried to its absolute logical limit.

We've won 90% of this battle, and that's good enough for me. Beyond that, I'm happy to allow local communities some leeway. It makes them happy and it doesn't do much harm unless you're just aching for a fight. On this issue, it might be time to declare victory and go home.

Doesn't feel that much like 90% of a win from where I stand. The palpable sense among the aspiring theocracy is akin to a "Manifest Destiny," in which they have every expectation of dominion over the nation. It would be nice if we could all just get along, but culture wars are the new black, I fear.

Friday Catblogging

2005-05-13T09:07:00.000-04:00

Grant, Ralph and Alice circa 1992

clothes make the man

2005-05-13T07:49:00.000-04:00

By Neddie Jingo seems to concur with Wolcott, Revere, and Majikthise, and is keen to see the Enlightenment continue unabated, taking as his role model, philosophically and sartorially, David Hume:

If I have to start parading around in knee-breeches, frock coats and an enormous powdered wig to keep the Enlightenment alive, then I shall do it, sir, and be damned to you. Be damned to you, I say, sir! A fig for your treachery!

Neddie, if you're going to be that way, stop by G.Gedney Godwin, the Sutler of Mt. Misery, where you can wig out. Something tells me you would like the Hessian, but be sure to specify the number of curls needed.

more secularity

2005-05-03T18:27:00.000-04:00

Revere at Effect Measure started with the 19th-century humanism, this time from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1890...

“There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution, and war, and all evil in the state, as religion. Let it once enter into our civil affairs, our government soon would be destroyed. Let it once enter our common schools, they would be destroyed. Those who made our Constitution saw this, and used the most apt and comprehensive language in it to prevent such a catastrophe.”

(Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Weiss v. District Board, March 18, 1890.)

ingersoll on being a liberal

2005-05-02T21:22:00.000-04:00

Majikthise, via Wolcott, has a post highlighting an essay entitled "How to edit a liberal paper" from 1887. The essay includes, among much that is both timely and timeless, this...

Above all, it should be perfectly kind and candid. In discussion there is no place for hatred, no opportunity for slander. A personality is always out of place. An angry man can neither reason himself, nor perceive the reason of what another says. The orthodox world has always dealt in personalities. Every minister can answer the argument of an opponent by attacking the character of the opponent. This example should never be followed by a Liberal man. Nobody can be bad enough to prove that the Bible is uninspired, and nobody can be good enough to prove that it is the word of God. These facts have no relation. They neither stand nor fall together.

...kindness and candor are two of the things, besides love, that there's just too little of.

language blogging

2005-05-01T15:08:00.000-04:00

I stumbled on the Christian Science Monitor's blogs, and found this one, Verbal Energy, interesting at first glance... I have always had a soft spot for the Monitor, a paper of worthy ambition, ever since getting a semester's free subscription as part of an international relations course in 1975. I intend to monitor the Monitor more often from now on...

2005-05-01T14:45:00.000-04:00

apropos of nothing, really

2005-04-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

a veteran traveller

2005-04-30T16:43:00.000-04:00

disney dining

2005-04-30T16:42:00.000-04:00

what a holiday is for

Premature Friday Catblogging

2005-04-28T16:13:00.000-04:00

kk and the sea monster of the tile floor

Pudu Bob

2005-04-26T19:53:00.000-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, the inimitable brillig-bloggy stylings of Bob Harris...

So only half of us now think Bush is an honest man. Awesome.

This is good news. I guess.

In related news, 57% of Americans oppose the branding of harlots, 62% have concluded that Charles Darwin was not consciously doing the work of Satan, and a whopping 73% are now convinced that math is not a form of witchcraft.

I guess you go to democracy not with the country you want, but the country you have.

just click on teh link

2005-04-26T19:48:00.000-04:00

Mental Health Hotline

thanks to Patrick Belton at Oxblog...

Green Day tickets still available

2005-04-26T17:17:00.000-04:00

Jon Mandle at CrookedTimber saw Green Day last night, and gives a rave review. But I'm still not quite sure I'm ready to go to an arena show these days... I barely enjoy going out to a movie, preferring the comfort of familiar surroundings, loungewear and remote control. But I did find this bit interesting:

I was expecting to be the oldest person there and maybe to see some of my students. I was doubly wrong. There seemed to be very few college kids there, but plenty of people my age – late 30s to early 40s – but they were there with their middle-school kids. Probably three-quarters of the crowd was between, say, 12 and 16. (One of my 4-1/2 year old’s favorite songs for at least the past year has been Green Day’s cover of the Ramone’s “Outsider” – when it comes on, she drops everything and just starts laughing and running through the house. Still, she stayed home.)

and I'm heartened to learn that there is still a place for protest in pop. Is Green Day the CSNY of Four Way Street for those 14-year-olds?

There was a low-level, inchoate political vibe that seemed a little more than just the expected anti-authoritarian posturing. They opened with “American Idiot” and closed their set with “Minority” and introduced “Holiday” as “a big ‘fuck you’ to the politicians who have power right now.” But the line of the night was certainly when Billie Joe Armstrong introduced the band, culminating in this: “And I’m George W. Bush.” Crowd: “Boo!” Armstrong: “You better hope you don’t go bankrupt.” Well, it got a big laugh from me, anyway.

By the way, did I mention the four Greeen Day tickets for the May 4 show at the Labatt Centre in London, Ontario that we have available? Not everybody at once, please...

Last Leg for Carl & Annie

2005-04-25T13:15:00.000-04:00

Carl Unplugged

Dear Family and Friends—This will be the last report from the around the world, semester-at-sea voyagers. A nice seven day sail from Salvador, Brazil to Caracas, Venezuela. Really a busy week on board with the final week of classes, term essays due (about a 100) and then final exams (again, about 100). Making the students write, but the other side is that I have to read—and it does take time. Plus, there is so much going on board ship. Food remains good, we continue to have enough wine for 4:09 each day. I also shaved off the beard I had been growing for just about a month as we re-crossed the equator. Every once in a while I get some baseball news, but not much - just know the Tigers continue to struggle—but what the hell, it has only been a generation. Managed to rent a car from Budget in Fort Lauderdale—will take us to the Villages and then up to Tallahassee. Time is growing short.

On the 16th we had our dinner with the captain—about 30 of us and we really got to know about the ship and all of the officers and crew who run it. Since Hawaii, it has been a smooth and easy voyage indeed for the ocean-seasoned folks that we now are. Some folks have taken a tour of the bridge area, and from what we can tell, it was pretty touch and go out in the North Pacific in January, but just so wonderful to sail along now—even in 10 foot seas it feels just fine. All of the faculty did an evaluation of the programme. I am more than positive, I think it is just a wonderful experience for all concerned. The students have been creative and adaptable, both in and out of the classroom. The experiences in the various countries just cannot be over-rated. You can just see the maturity grow in all of these young folks. I both like and admire them.

Tonight we had a ship’s auction, all kinds of things on the block. Annie and I put up our Hawaii place for a week and it was bought for $720 by one of my students—we will show her and her parents around. And, Annie and purchased a week to 10 day stay in a four bedroom, four bath house in Breckenridge, Colorado during ski season. It cost $450, what a bargain—a student auctioned it whose parents use the place at holiday times. Anyone for a ski holiday in the next year or so? We are going to have a talent contest, and the faculty will try to redeem itself from our poor showing in the shipboard Olympics. I am going to try the “suck and blow”—it is a riot—and also a lip sinc to “All you need is Love.” We are rehearsing but just a bit ragged—will do our best. A “block” party tonight on the 7th floor hallway—getting rid of food and drink. We had a blast, must have been about 40 of us all together singing and talking. John gave a few poetic renditions. Breaking the rules around public alcohol, but nearing the end so what the hell. Students should see us know—we sealed off the doors.

Had some free internet, looked at my fantasy team—doing ok, around 4th. Another Talent Show rehearsal—we are definitely doing better. One of the faculty who is kind of on the outs with people—a bit of a strange lad—is in the lead singing and I think it will work and help him mend some fences. Another dinner party tonight in the lounge—Ann Shine, one of the senior passengers hosting with good wine and eats. We danced mainly to Latin music—a bit too much drumming for me but lots of fun as we heated up. We are pretty loose as the voyages moves into its final days. “Land Ho”—saw Trinidad early this morning which means just one more day to go to Venezuela. I am reading every chance I get, and the students are doing pretty well. We usually have a “happy hour” from five to six in the lounge, and we have our groups we hang with—John and Fay, Ralph and Faith. Pre-port tonight when we hear about Caracas and how to deal with the issues here—especially political upheaval and personal violence. We had a concert that was just excellent—young woman from Venezuela who joined us in Brazil. She would have fit in with the old Change of Pace crowd. Then, the talent show. Some good acts, serious and comic—one about a response to the Vagina Monologues called “Dong Diaries.” It was truly hilarious and the students responded in kind. And then our time—the faculty in action. We had three little skits and then the grand finale of “All you need is Love.” Standing ovation, the students loved it, and if I do say so, it went pretty well. Annie the dancing leader, we just followed her along and did fine. It really was a fine feeling to be so well received by these young people. It has been just so exciting being around them day after day and to have this final few days with them when work is being completed and “All we need is Love.” At midnight, John, Fay, Annie and I celebrated with a bottle of good wine. They have become good friends—gave us a photo painting she has done—her teaching on the ship has been in art and photography.

Landed in port in a small town called Guaira, about 20 miles over the mountain from Caracas. In 1999 there was a huge rain that last days and flooded here, crashing the hillsides down onto the town. Some 15,000 people died and it has basically not recovered—and another landslide this year. So it is pretty grim right close by. We received our American Counsel info this morning, and then off the ship for a tour of the city. No money exchange here but the U.S. dollar is in demand, especially on the black market. As we drove to the city, favelas just everywhere—squatters on the land and trying to make a living. A poor society, but with a government that seems not to be so corrupt and doing its best to bring about some semblance of social justice. We shall see. We traveled to an old hacienda, to the maseoleum where Simon Bolivar and many other patriots are buried. Pretty impressive. The Fine Arts Museum is one of the best anywhere, including Paris. Excellent variety and scope of all kinds of periods of painting and sculpture. We only had an hour or so, could use a day. One [exhibit] on baseball which is really the national pastime here, more so, I think, than the U.S. Even got to talk some baseball with a young lad—he knows more than I, which is saying something. A huge meat lunch (at the Hereford Grill) and then on for an hour or so in one of the large city parks just to spend some time out in the fresh air. In general, Caracas is big (8 million or so) and reasonably non-descript. Not a place I would return to.

A day of work for me, just reading papers and exams, finally getting close to the end. Annie went to town with three other women just for lunch and to do some shopping. Annie is great, only buys what she needs, and what we can carry. That will be a major issue before it is all over. Warm and humid here, seems to rain a bit each day and lots of clouds in the mountains. Women home just as the bar closed, managed a glass of wine. Annie bought only chocolate—indeed she is the woman of my dreams. Watched some movies—a really fine film called (I think) “The Station Agent”. Three unlikely friends put on a riveting performance. Next day was a day trip for us by van to a mountain village at five thousand feet about two hours away called Colonia Tovar. A little place settled by Germans in the 1800s, our guide was a German/Venezuelan mix, and he was knowledgeable and well-read. Cooler in the mountains, and just a lovely place. We got into four-wheeled drive vehicles and went up and down some pretty steep roads. Charming homes and farms, looked like the Alpine regions of Austria in a way. A fine pottery shop where we got some fancy bowls. It is strange to see German folks in a Latin setting—speaking both languages and seemingly at home in both cultures. Had a German style sausage, port chop, sauerkraut lunch with German beer. Go figure. Finally some time in the village square before boarding the bus for the tip back to the ship. A nice day in the country away from hustle and bustle. Even had a bit of cloud forest where the rain is pretty constant. Through some poverty and wealthy areas of living on the way back, people trying hard to get a handle on the economy—a one-crop country, only this time Oil, and right now it is doing pretty well. Be interesting to see how it works out if prices drop—saving for a rainy day I hope.

Last day in Caracas, I finished my exams and got all of the grades recorded. Students did pretty well—no one missed anything which is quite a change from the mainland classes. Water running low on the ship because of a local water pipe break—we usually just purify the local water. So, advice here is: Shower Together. Annie and I will do our best. We went for a long walk around the area—pretty depressing right here what with all of the calamity. Guaira does need some TLC. We continue our packing in anticipation of our landing in Florida in the next three days. Water shortage pretty serious, no showers or toilets until late tonight. Left before midnight and the sea is calm and peaceful. See most of you soon. Love and aloha, Carl and Annie

Chronology Delineated

2005-04-21T20:54:00.000-04:00

I have seen the ads for Historyshots and I really need one of these for the living room... the description of the print is cool, too.

Chronology Delineated, published in 1813, is the only collaborative work between James Wilson and Isaac Eddy. Wilson and Eddy were part of a talented group of engravers, publishers and map makers who lived in Windsor county Vermont, an important center of early printing in the United States.

Wilson was born in New Hampshire in 1763 and spent his early adult life as a farmer. In 1796 he moved to Bradford, Vermont where he became interested in geography and cartography. Wilson bought the third edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica for $130 and used it as a base for his self-taught knowledge of the social sciences. He became interested in globes when he visited Dartmouth College and observed a set of European-made globes. In 1810 he finished his first globe, a 13 inch globe that he sold for $50. In order to meet the demand for his globe, Wilson and his sons opened a second factory in Albany, New York.

Isaac Eddy was born in Weathersfield, Vermont in 1777. He was married twice and was the father of 13 children. From about 1812 to 1816, Eddy setup and operated a printing and engraving operation that became one of the creative hot spots in Windsor county. During this time he made the engravings for the first edition of the Vermont Bible, printed a number of books, and collaborated with Wilson. Two of his apprentices, Lewis Robinson and George White, became important artisans in the history of printing in Vermont. Eddy moved to Troy, New York in 1826 and died in 1847.

Based on the skills of each man, it is believed that Wilson engraved the text while Eddy engraved the pictures in Chronology Delineated. Evidently Eddy was also a master of early American marketing. Below is a portion of his 1814 prospectus for the print:

"Isaac Eddy, Engraver and Copper Plate Printer, Weathersfield, Vermont, has just published, and offers for sale, by the Hundred, Dozen, or Single a CHRONOLOGICAL CHART, to illustrate the History of Monarchical Revolutions. This Chart is the work of an eminent French Historian and Chronologer, and was first published at Paris. The encouragement it has met with among men of genius and learning is no small proof of its general utility. Since its first publication it has passed through twelve large editions in France, besides several in Great Britain. It is engraved on a copper plate, upward of three feet in length, and about two feet in width, and the work much finer than usual in works of this size....

It is represented by a Tree at the root of which is a Frontispiece, representing about 3o Beasts, Birds, etc. and the first man Adam giving names to them, as represented in the Book of Genesis. This has never been inserted in any European edition, and is executed in an excellent manner....

In short, it is the most concise and accurate system of chronology ever published, and intelligible to every person capable of reading. Nothing in the power of the Publisher, has been wanting to render the present edition accurate, and the impression elegant. Without arrogating too much to himself, he thinks he can safely affirm, that, in point of elegance, this edition is vastly superior to any before published, and, in this affirmation, he is supported by the opinion of Engravers of the first eminence.

To the Patrons of the Fine Arts, this work is addressed, - and since Literature in general is encouraged, and the fine arts are patronized; since the present is the first American edition, of a work so justly celebrated in Europe; and since it is at once useful, amusing and ornamental; the Publisher hopes to secure their approbation, and meet with liberal encouragement in this attempt to disseminate useful knowledge.

Gentlemen holding Subscription Papers, are desired to call or send, and receive their Copies, within three months, otherwise the Publisher will not consider himself holden to deliver them at the subscription price. Weathersfield, May 9, 1814."

an obvious must-have for the War of 1812 or Regency enthusiasts...

Green Day Tickets still available

2005-04-19T18:40:00.000-04:00

if you missed this post from last week we still have some availability on these, so, as Madeleine Peyroux says, don't wait too long...

LBJ got this much right

2005-04-18T19:17:00.000-04:00

asking why lasik surgery providing better than 20/20 vision isn't as outrageous as steroid use, this article in Slate yesterday struck a nerve... outrage over steroid use does strike me as a bit contrived and arbitrary... other factors, more mundane than lasik, can tip the competitive balance of athletic contests, particularly at the olympics, when educational and nutritional differences could obviously be determinitive between otherwise closely matched competitors...

If you accept, as LBJ did, that "equal opportunity" was nice,

"...(b)ut freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.

You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair."

then you have to have some sense of how difficult it is to realize a truly level playing field for any of the games people play...