Fashion at the Golden Globes / Breaking down the drone war / The Army’s brain drain / Why do wet fingers wrinkle? / Cities preparing for climate change
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
2.Texas Has Created a Costly Roadmap for Defunding Planned Parenthood By Molly Redden | The New Republic | Jan. 11
“Since fading from our national memory as the presidential candidate who couldn’t remember the Department of Energy, Perry has gone home to oversee the dissolution of what was once a decent health-care partnership with the federal government, the Women’s Health Program.”
3.Everything We Know So Far About Drone Strikes By Cora Currier | Pro Publica | Jan. 11
“You’ve certainly heard about drones. But the details of the U.S. campaign against militants in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia — a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s national security approach — remain shrouded in secrecy.”
4.Gwen’s Take: Why Do People Want to Be President? By Gewn Ifill | The Rundown :: PBS NewsHour | Jan. 11
“Why do they turn over their lives to years of grueling fundraising, speech-making, handshaking, second guessing, bad foods, bad hotels and life inside the bubble?”
5.Funding for Human Expeditions in the Ocean May Have Run Aground By Tony Dokoupil | Newsweek | Jan. 14
“Legendary explorer Sylvia Earle is saying goodbye to the ocean floor, but are machines good enough to take her place? Tony Dokoupil reports in Newsweek on the robot takeover of ocean science.”
6.Mashable’s Favorite Tech From CES 2013 By Lance Ulanoff | Mashable | Jan. 10
“We saw smartphones, humongous Ultra HDTVs, smartphone cases, Bluetooth speaker systems, advanced gaming systems and accessories, 3D sensors and more.”
7.An Army of None By Tim Kane | Foreign Policy | Jan. 10
“Why the Pentagon is failing to keep its best and brightest.”
8.How American Cities Are Adapting To Climate Change By Jeff Spross | ThinkProgress | Jan. 11
“Almost two-thirds are pursuing adaptation planning for climate change, compared to 68 percent globally, and virtually all U.S. cities report difficulties acquiring funding for adaptation efforts.”
9.Seeing Time Machine Let Go of the Past By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | September 2012
“My Time Machine program keeps alerting me that it is deleting old backups. Should I be worried about this message?”
10.To Grip Wet Objects, Wrinkle Your Fingers By Sindya N. Bhanoo | The New York Times | Jan. 10
“[S]cientists report that wrinkled fingers and toes allow a better grip on wet objects — so they may have evolved to give early humans an advantage in wet conditions.”
Goals of the Texas legislative session / Q&A on Obama’s fight with GOP / Appreciating Al Jazeera / Happy birthday, Tricky Dick / Why do animals play?
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
1.Lawmakers Want Big, Bold Measures This Session By Aman Batheja | The Texas Tribune | Jan. 11
“[T]here is widespread interest among state leaders to make large investments in Texas’ future this session, specifically billion-dollar commitments to water and transportation projects that prepare Texas for a population boom demographers warn is on the way.”
2.Q&A: Obama lacks clear edge in next fight with GOP By Alan Fram | Associated Press | Jan. 11
“The government will run out of cash in about two months. The Obama administration will need congressional approval to borrow more money or face a first-ever federal default, threatening global, economy-rattling consequences.”
3.Banks seek NSA help amid attacks on their computer systems By Ellen Nakashima | The New York Times | Jan. 11
“The cooperation between the NSA and banks … underscores the government’s fears about the unprecedented assault against the financial sector and is part of a broader effort by the government to work with U.S. firms on cybersecurity.”
4.Happy 100th, Nixon: You’re still tricky to critics By James Hohmann | Politico | Jan. 9
“Richard Nixon would have turned 100 Wednesday, but about the only people marking the occasion are historians, family members and loyalists from the disgraced 37th president’s administration. And even they’re slowly dying off.”
5.Turn the channel to Al Jazeera By Daoud Kuttab | The Los Angeles Times | Jan. 8
“The Arab network should be a welcome source for U.S. news junkies.”
6.Japan Explores War Scenarios with China By J. Michael Cole | Flashpoints :: The Diplomat | Jan. 9
“There has been much speculation over the years about whether Tokyo would intervene if the PLA ever invaded Taiwan.”
7.Why do animals like to play? By Jason G. Goldman | BBC Future | Jan. 9
“Recreation may look like it serves no obvious purpose, but when dogs and other animals are having fun they are learning some valuable lessons.”
8.How Much Alcohol Is Safe for Expectant Mothers? By Melinda Wenner Moyer | Scientific American | Jan. 4
“An occasional drink during pregnancy is unlikely to harm most children, but we lack the tools to fully measure alcohol’s effects on the developing brain”
9.Kisses and Hugs in the Office By Jessica Bennett and Rachel Simmons | The Atlantic | December 2012
“How a once-intimate sign-off is feminizing the workplace, for better or worse”
10.Converting Paper to Digital Files By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Sept. 21
“What’s the best way to convert a box of old newspaper and magazine clippings to digital files, doing it myself and without spending a lot of money?”
The consequences of LiLo / Celebrating Richard Ben Cramer / Lima’s ugly side / Unborn babies can learn language / Public sees harm from U.S. politics
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
1.Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie By Stephen Rodrick | The New York Times Magazine | Jan. 10
“[Director Paul] Schrader thinks she’s perfect for the role. Not everyone agrees. Schrader wrote ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘Taxi Driver’ and has directed 17 films. Still, some fear Lohan will end him.”
2.Hagel pick: Final snub of George W. Bush By Alexandra Burns | Politico | Jan. 9
“[T]he most vehement objections have come from the conservative, interventionist foreign policy community — the so-called neoconservatives who created the ideological architecture for the wars Bush launched in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
3.What do think of Richard Ben Cramer now? By Tom Junod | Esquire | Jan. 8
“Richard Ben Cramer is the only one I still read for that holy, misguided, and somewhat dangerous purpose — the only one whose blood I still welcome for the purposes of transfusion. The others carry the risk of infection, which is to say the risk of mannerism.”
4.Hiding From People-Search Sites By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Aug. 29
“I recently found my name, address and other personal information listed on this Web site called Spokeo.com. How do they get this information and can I delete it?”
6.From the Slums of Lima to the Peaks of the Andes By Alastair Bland | Off the Road :: Smithsonian | Jan. 7
“That there could be anything in the world but dust, rubble, traffic, burning trash heaps, mangy dogs and slums seemed impossible as we rolled northward through Lima.”
7.Babies Seem to Pick Up Language in Utero By Nicholas Bakalar | Well :: The New York Times | Jan. 7
“A baby develops the ability to hear by about 30 weeks’ gestation, so he can make out his mother’s voice for the last two months of pregnancy.”
9.Most in U.S. Say Politics in Washington Cause Serious Harm By Frank Newport | Gallup | Jan. 7
“More than three-quarters of Americans (77%) say the way politics works in Washington these days is causing serious harm to the United States, providing still another indicator of the low esteem in which Americans hold their elected officials. …”
10.Creative Aging: The Emergence of Artistic Talents By Richard Senelick | The Atlantic | Jan. 4
“Depending which part of the brain is affected, different skills will be preserved or impaired in various types of cognitive decline and dementia. This gradual reformation is what may allow the emergence of new artistic abilities.”
*****************
TUNES
Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.
1. J.J. Grey & Mofro — Country Ghetto 2. Dr. Wu — I Don’t Need No Woman Like You 3. Delta Moon — Ghost In My Guitar 4. ZZ Top — Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings 5. Stoney Curtis Band — That’s Right 6. Kelleys Lot — Drive 7. The Fabulous Thunderbirds — Stand Back 8. Jeff Powers & Dead Guys Blues Band — Bad Luck Boogie 9. Ian Moore — Pay No Mind 10. Ray Wylie Hubbard — Down Home Country Blues 11. The Stone Coyotes — Trouble Down In Texas 12. Lost Immigrants — Dixie Queen 13. Band Of Heathens — Hallelujah
Stone anchored her hopes on the steady breezes of war rumors swirling around Brokenburn, and any news reporting a Confederate victory warmed her heart.
From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.
Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.
(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)
Stone anchored her hopes on the steady breezes of war rumors swirling around Brokenburn, and any news reporting a Confederate victory warmed her heart, even as Union gunboats prowled the nearby Mississippi River, angling for a shot at Vicksburg. In the meantime, as another summer loomed, life went on. Boys fished. Hats were sewn. Dutiful visits to neighbors were politely endured.
June 6, 1862
Brother Walter went to Pecan Grove and Jimmy to the Bend trying to get molasses, but none to be had. Rumors are that the people at Baton Rouge, Natchez, and New Orleans had risen en masse and killed Butler and all his soldiers. We hoped I had almost said prayed that it might be so, but I am not yet so hardened that I can pray even for a Yankee’s death. We learned soon after that it was only a canard. …
Thursday we were all up betimes and Julia, Jimmy, Johnny, and I set off before 7 o’clock to fish at the head of Grassy Lake. The ride in the cool morning air through the dark still woods, sweet with the breath of the wild grape blossoms, and in such merry company, was a thing to enjoy. We stopped to gather the first blackberries, cool and wet with dew. How often I think of Ashburn when the pleasures he so enjoyed a year ago are in the world again. How many a merry ride we have taken together, enjoying all the sights and sounds of spring. Dear heart, I know he is happy now beyond our dreams of bliss, but oh, to see him once more now that spring is in the land. …
Letters from My Brother and Capt. Manlove dated May 20 at Richmond. He told us of their marching from Yorktown and the fight they were in at Williamsburg. Both escaped unwounded. He wrote us of our one-time friend, Mr. Hewitt. He is passing himself off in Nashville as a wealthy Louisiana planter and as a colonel of a Mississippi regiment taken at Donelson and on parole. He is engaged to be married to one of the nice girls of Nashville. He is such a dreadful fraud, a perfect adventurer, and we think gets married at nearly every town in which he spends a month. He is very handsome, tall and blond, with delightful manners and always manages to get in with the best people. My Brother took the liberty of writing to the girl’s father a full account of Mr. Hewitt, and we hope the girl will be saved.
The Jeff Davis Guards were highly complimented for their gallantry on the field of Williamsburg and Capt. Tom Manlove is praised for his heroism in battle. His father, Capt. Manlove. …. Such a gratification to his father. The battalions were in the two days at Chickahominy. All the officers escaped unhurt except the 3rd lieutenant who was killed. I think that is Lt. Floyd, to whom we sent things in My Brother’s box.
June 8
Anna, Robert, and Emily have just spent the last two days with us. Robert is home on sick leave. He has just spent five weeks in the hospital and looks dreadful. He does not want to talk, only to eat and sleep. So congenial Anna is more quiet than ever before. All went fishing in the afternoon.
No late news from Brother Coley. Why does he not write? Now that he has been in two battles, he must be better satisfied. We are glad to see his company so highly spoken of. Must stop. They are calling us to go to church.
Evening. What a budget of news we heard there … the fight at Fort Pillow, the evacuation of Vicksburg, the occupation of Memphis, the defeat of our gunboats and the loss of seven out of nine, and the falling back of Beauregard from Corinth to Holly Springs. What a long list of disasters. But there is some good news to offset it. Mrs. Dancy sent out Friday’s papers giving an account of the victory at Chickahominy after a two-day fight, capturing camp, breastworks, and ten guns. Stonewall Jackson has crossed the Potomac, whipped Banks’ army, and ten thousand Marylanders have flocked to his standard. Again, a rumor that France and Spain have recognized the Confederacy. We are hoping the bad news is all false and the good all true. …
June 11
We found Mrs. Savage in all the hurry of packing up. Dr. Lily and Robert have at last persuaded her to leave the river and go out to Bayou Macon until the war is over, for fear of the Yankees raiding the places when they come down the river. Mrs. Savage and the other ladies are much opposed to leaving home, but they have been over-persuaded. Her garden is lovely now. How Mrs. Savage will miss her flowers when she is far away. …
We still hold Vicksburg and will hold on as long as it is possible. … We hear that another grand battle has been fought near Richmond, resulting in the defeat of McClellan. Oh! that it may be true. Both Uncle Bo and My Brother must have been in it. Mamma just received a letter from them dated in April.
Yankee gunboats are looked for tomorrow or next day.
June 18
We got a paper with the latest news Stonewall Jackson’s successes in Maryland and his defeat of Shields and Fremont. The news is most encouraging, but we listen with trembling hearts for fear he may be surrounded and cut off there in the enemy’s country. …
June 17
Yesterday we spent at Dr. Carson’s. One of the hottest days possible. Gen. Breckinridge was in the neighborhood and was expected to dinner, but much to our regret did not come. We all wished to meet him. We have not yet seen a major general, and he is said to be exceedingly handsome. Mrs. Carson is much depressed, worrying all the time about Joe’s going to the army. She will not let him get off. Joe, Mr. Baker, and Mr. McNeely made themselves very agreeable. We had a charming time in the grand old garden. Mrs. Buckner and her three children came in the afternoon. How she does admire her husband, who is now a Major. …
It’s been a year since her beloved brother and uncle left for the front, and her sadness casts a shadow over Brokenburn’s springtime blooms.
From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.
Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.
(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)
Stone mourns the loss of a dear friend to marriage, “Beast” Butler’s proclamations from conquered New Orleans outrage her, the weakened levee nearby worries her, and a bear frightens and exhilarates everyone. It’s been a year since her beloved brother and uncle left for the front, and her sadness casts a shadow over Brokenburn’s springtime blooms.
May 23
Have heard of my darling Katie’s marriage. Who would have thought after our long close intimacy that I would hear of her wedding only by accident. I know she has written me everything but no letters come now. So have passed our dreams of sisterhood. I hope, oh how I hope, she has been able to forget the old love and is content with the new. May my dear girl be happy. God bless her and hers. I shall miss her out of my life, my dearest girl friend. How it will affect My Brother I can hardly say, but I have thought of late he had given up his love dream and was willing to take the dismissal he forced upon her. …
The gunboats have been at Vicksburg for a week and have secured their answer to the demand to surrender some days ago, but there has been no bombardment. What we heard was the artillery men trying their guns.
In the Whig is Butler’s last infamous proclamation. It seems that the openly expressed scorn and hatred of the New Orleans women for Butler’s vandal hordes has so exasperated him that he issues this proclamation: That henceforth if any female by word, look, or gesture, shall insult any of his soldiers, the soldier shall have perfect liberty to do with her as he pleases. Could any order be more infamous? It is but carrying out the battle cry ‘Bounty and Beauty’ with which they started for New Orleans. May he not long pollute the soil of Louisiana.
The levee is still very insecure with the river rising and the rains bad on it. Many plantation hands are at work on it all the time, and the owners [are] watching it anxiously. We are almost overflowed from rain water as the ditches had to be stopped to keep out backwater. …
May 25
Everything shines out bright and fair in the spring sunshine after the gloom of the last few days. The flowers wave and glisten most invitingly across the grass beyond the shadows of the great oaks, but it is too wet to venture over Nature’s carpeting of soft, green grass. This evening we may plan what we please. The levees having stood so far we think will stand faithfully to the end. They have certainly been found faithful among few. …
May 26
Old Mr. Valentine is very despondent, foretelling the most abject poverty and starvation for the whole country. He came over to try and induce Mamma to have all the cotton plowed up in order to plant corn and to beg her not to let Brother Walter go to Vicksburg. … He has made himself very unpopular by his bitter opposition to the cotton burning and by not allowing his son to join the army. There is no doubt he should go at once. Some actually think Mr. Valentine is in favor of our enemies and advocate hanging him by mob law. A most unjust report and utterly without foundation. I suppose his being of Northern birth increases the prejudice. …
In the afternoon there was a cry raised that there was a bear in the cane. The boys with their dogs and guns turned out in force, assisted by Mr. McRae, Ben Clarkson, as did all the Negroes who could get mules, while the others armed themselves with axes and sticks and cautiously approached the outskirts. The excitement ran high and we at the house had full benefit as it was in the canebrake just back of the yard. We could hear the barking of the dogs, the reports of the guns, and the cries and shouts of the whole party. It was very exhilirating. They returned in the highest state of excitement but without the bear. They went out next morning but with no better success. …
May 28
Yesterday evening and far into the night we heard the roar of cannonading more distinct and rapid than ever heard before. It must be at Vicksburg. Today all is quiet. One understands after hearing the long rolling booms how deafening it must be on a battlefield. …
The river is falling all the way down.nd we are saved from overflow this year.
Papers and letters this evening, a month old.
May 30
We have a paper of the twenty-seventh. It brings the good news of a battle or surprise by Stonewall Jackson at Winchester and Front Royal and the capture of all the stores at the former place and many prisoners. All the news is rather encouraging. We are holding our own at Fort Pillow. At Corinth the enemy are reported in retreat to their gunboats which, now that the Tennessee River is falling, they are compelled to get out at once. All is well in Virginia. And nearer home at Vicksburg there is nothing to discourage us. The slight shelling did no harm, and the soldiers are full of hope and anxious for the Yankees to land to give them the “worst beating they ever had in their lives. …”
My Brother and Uncle Bo have been gone just a year and what a year of changes. Nature smiles as bright and fair now as under the May sun of a year ago, but where are all “the loved ones who filled our home with glee?” Four of the dear familiar faces are absent. One sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. For him we have no more fear or trouble, for we know he has passed from Death into Life that. … But oh, the weary days of waiting and watching for the other three.
Jimmy brought us two recent letters from My Brother. He encloses some violets gathered from the old trenches around Yorktown, dug there by Washington’s army. His tent stands just where Cornwallis gave up his sword. What supreme satisfaction if McClellan could be induced to do the same thing at the same place. They say history repeats itself. My Brother takes a most elderly brother tone regarding Tom Manlove’s love affairs. Four months ago Tom was desperate about Miss Eva, and now Miss Flora reigns sole empress of his heart for the next month. But My Brother need not be critical, as he is not so constant himself. He so regrets leaving Uncle Bo. They are now in different commands. He is anxious to get his clothes and speaks confidently of coming home. …
Stone offers a fascinating portrait of how war changed even the smallest elements of daily life.
From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.
Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.
(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)
Stone offers a fascinating portrait of how war changed even the smallest elements of daily life.
May 22
All yesterday and today we have heard cannonading at Vicksburg, sometimes so faint that it is more a vibration than a noise and again quite a loud, clear report. Oh, if we could only know just what is going on there. But it may be days before we get any authentic accounts. We do not know the importance of holding Vicksburg. We know nothing of the plans. Some say the resistance there is only a feint to give Beauregard more time at Corinth, Miss., but we hope it is a desperate attempt to hold the city against all odds. We are sick of hearing of these prudent, cautious retreats without firing a gun. Our only hope is in desperate fighting. We are so outnumbered. We think Dr. Buckner’s company is in Vicksburg, but being cavalry they may not be engaged.
Evening. Brother Walter rode out on the dangerous levee and he thinks it will hold. Heard that the attack on Vicksburg will be made this evening at 3 o’clock, the enemy landing at Warrenton and coming in the rear of the city. Brother Walter is almost wild to take part in the battle there. He has been in tears about it for the last week. … He says he must and will be in that fight, but we are not very anxious about him. We are sure all skiffs leaving Pecan Grove will have gotten away long before he reaches there, as it was two when he left. Mamma gave him some money but he took no clothes. He will be compelled to return soon. But Mamma feels that before many days she will be called on to give up this her third son to fight for his country. …
All the boats stopped running three weeks ago on the fall of New Orleans and we have not had a mail since. There is no communication with anywhere except by skiff as the levees are broken between here and Vicksburg.
All the boys are out on the river, and we expect them to bring Anna Dobbs back with them to stay a few days. It seems odd to be expecting company and no flour or any “boughten” delicacy to regale them on, but we have been on a strict “war footing” for some time cornbread and home-raised meal, milk and butter, tea once a day, and coffee never. A year ago we would have considered it impossible to get on for a day without the things that we have been doing without for months. Fortunately we have sugar and molasses, and after all it is not such hard living. Common cornbread admits of many variations in the hands of a good cook eggbread (we have lots of eggs), muffins, cakes, and so on. Fat meat will be unmitigated fat meat, but one need not eat it. And there are chickens, occasional partridges, and other birds, and often venison, vegetables of all kinds minus potatoes; and last but not least, knowing there is no help for it makes one content. …
Clothes have become a secondary consideration. Fashion is an obsolete word and just to be decently clad is all we expect. The change in dress, habits, and customs is nowhere more striking than in the towns. A year ago a gentleman never thought of carrying a bundle, even a small one, through the streets. Broadcloth was de rigueur. Ceremony and fashion ruled in the land. Presto-change. Now the highest in rank may be seen doing any kind of work that their hands find to do. The men have become “hewers of wood and drawers of water” and pack bundles of all sorts and sizes. It may be a pile of blankets, a stack of buckets, or a dozen bundles. One gentleman I saw walking down the street in Jackson, and a splendid-looking fellow he was, had a piece of fish in one hand, a cavalry saddle on his back, bridle, blankets, newspapers, and a small parcel in the other hand; and over his shoulder swung an immense pair of cavalry boots. And nobody thought he looked odd. Their willingness to fetch and carry is only limited by their strength. All the soldiers one sees when traveling are loaded down with canteen, knapsack, haversack, and blankets.
Broadcloth is worn only by the drones and fireside braves. Dyed linsey is now the fashionable material for coats and pants. Vests are done away with, colored flannel, merino, or silk overshirts taking the place. A gentleman thinks nothing of calling on half a dozen young ladies dressed in home-dyed Negro cloth and blue checked shirt. If there is a button or stripe to show that he is one of his country’s defenders, he is sure of warmest welcome. Another stops to talk to a bevy of ladies. He is laden down with a package of socks and tin plates that he is carrying out to camp, and he shifts the bundles from side to side as he grows interested and his arms get tired. In proportion as we have been a race of haughty, indolent, and waited-on people, so now are we ready to do away with all forms and work and wait on ourselves.
The Southerners are a noble race, let them be reviled as they may, and I thank God that He has given my birthplace in this fair land among these gallant people and in a time when I can show my devotion to my Country.
Today’s slaves / Wireless printers / Rediscovering a lost Byzantine city / Conservative defeat in culture war / Naming winter storms
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
1.America’s Post-2014 Afghanistan Game Plan By Daniel R. DePetris | The Editor :: The Diplomat | Jan. 5
“The war in Afghanistan has become a sore point for the Obama administration, punctuated by the enormous rise in insider attacks on coalition forces and the persistent tenacity and lethality of the Taliban insurgency.”
2.The Weather Channel Is Now Branding Winter By James Poniewozik | Tuned In :: Time | Jan. 4
“Even assuming the most selfless intentions, there’s the obvious chance for TWC to benefit. Storms that people ‘follow’ and ‘pay attention to’ are storms that people turn on The Weather Channel for.”
4.Ruins of Forgotten Byzantine Port Yield Some Answers, Yet Mysteries Remain By Jennifer Pinkowski | Scientific American | Jan. 2
“After a drought revealed the seawall of a Byzantine Empire harbor town near Istanbul, archeologists excavated what was a thriving ancient center. But how does it fit into the city’s 1,600-year history?”
5.David Attenborough: A life measured in heartbeats By Brian Cox and Robin Ince | New Statesman | December 2012
“In an exclusive interview with Brian Cox and Robin Ince, he talks about the BBC, Darwin and what keeps him moving.”
7.Setting Up A Wireless Printer By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | September 2012
“What’s involved in setting up a new wireless printer in Windows 7 on my home network?”
8.Turkey’s Moment By Jonathan Tepperman | Foreign Affairs | January/February 2013
“A Conversation With Abdullah Gul”
9.Introducing the First Search Engine for Math And Science Equations Smithsonian Magazine | December 2012
“Symbolab allows users to search for equations using both numbers and symbols as well as text. The engine returns results based upon their relatedness to theory and semantics rather than visuals.”
10.Slavery’s Global Comeback By J.J. Gould | The Atlantic | December 2012
“150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, buying and selling people into forced labor is bigger than ever. What ‘human trafficking’ really means.”
Hauling a rock into orbit / A comatose Senate / Fiction to understand Iraq War / Navy SEALS fighting Jabba the Hutt / John Kerry and Cuba
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
1.Senatus Decadens By George Packer | The Daily Comment :: The New Yorker | Jan. 4
“The Senate is in a prolonged, self-induced coma. It does not produce creative legislation. It does not inspire important debate. It is not responsive to key national problems. Its pretense of institutional dignity is so battered that junior senators openly mock it.”
3.Be Cautious With Free Software By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | August 2012
“Is it safe to install freeware and shareware on my computer?”
4.Can Kerry make friends with Cuba? By Nick Miroff | GlobalPost :: Salon | Jan. 2
“While the ex-senator’s been a harsh critic of U.S. policy toward Havana, he’ll have a hard time changing anything”
5.Louis C. K.’s Symphony Of Comedy By Chris Duffy | WBUR | Jan. 3
“In a field notorious for compromise, where comedians routinely change personas and water down material to get sitcom deals, C.K. has managed to maintain his voice.”
6.High schooler suspended for poem on understanding Adam Lanza By Natasha Lennard | Salon | Jan. 2
“A 17-year-old high school student in San Francisco has been suspended indefinitely after she wrote a poem in her personal notebook which included the lines, ‘I understand the killings in Connecticut; I understand why he pulled the trigger.’ ”
7.Good and Bad, the Little Things Add Up in Fitness By Gretchen Reynolds | Well :: The New York Times | Jan. 2
“I was delighted to report … that the ‘sweet sport’ for health benefits seems to come from jogging or moderately working out for only a brief period a few times a week.”
8.How Real Navy SEALs Would Handle Famous Movie Missions By Shane Snow | Underwire :: Wired | December 2012
“[W]e asked 17-year SEAL veteran Don Mann … how the SEALs would handle a few epic missions of our own devising. And by ‘our,’ we mean Hollywood’s.”
9.Dissatisfaction City By Jesse Elias Spafford | The New Inquiry | Jan. 2
“The Las Vegas casino is a machine for social control that works not through repression, but disinhibition”
10.NASA mulls plan to drag asteroid into moon’s orbit By Jeff Hecht | New Scientist | Jan. 2
“The mission would cost about $2.6 billion — slightly more than NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover — and could be completed by the 2020s.”
Puerto Rico’s new governor / Our lifelong dreams / Cannibal insect sex / The Soviet’s Afghan lessons / Savoring Texas blues
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
1.Gerda Lerner, a Feminist and Historian, Dies at 92 By William Grimes | The New York Times | Jan. 3
“[The] scholar and author … helped make the study of women and their lives a legitimate subject for historians and spearheaded the creation of the first graduate program in women’s history in the United States. …”
2.Why You Won’t Be the Person You Expect to Be By John Tierney | The New York Times | Jan. 3
“[W]hen asked to predict what their personalities and tastes would be like in 10 years, people of all ages consistently played down the potential changes ahead.”
3.What We Can Learn from the Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan The Takeaway | Jan. 3
“Americans should take note of the Soviets’ success in funding the Afghan government, and that the Soviet-supported Afghan government did not fall to the Mujahedeen until 1992, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Boris Yeltsin cut off aid to the country.”
4.Cannibal insect sex caught on video By Joanna Carver | New Scientist | Jan. 3
“This video shows a female insect feasting on her partner’s hind wings then drinking the blood from his wound, apparently with little interest in procreation.”
5.How Obama Decides Your Fate If He Thinks You’re a Terrorist By Daniel Byman and Benjamin Wittes | The Atlantic | Jan. 3
“A look inside the ‘disposition matrix’ that determines when — or if — the administration will pursue a suspected militant.”
6.Puerto Rico charts new course with new governor By Danica Coto | Associated Press | Jan. 2
“Alejandro Garcia Padilla was sworn in on a stage overlooking the Atlantic Ocean outside the Capitol building in San Juan amid the cheers of thousands of supporters from his party, which opposes statehood.”
7.Beate Gordon, Unsung Heroine of Japanese Women’s Rights, Dies at 89 By Margalit Fox | The New York Times | Jan. 1
“A civilian attached to Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s army of occupation after World War II, Gordon was the last living member of the American team that wrote Japan’s postwar Constitution.”
8.Is America Still the Land of Opportunity? By Marcus Mabry | IHT Rendezvous :: International Herald Tribune | Jan. 1
“Over the last decade or two, the American middle has been hollowed out, with an affluent, well-educated class growing on one side of the divide and a poor and working-class majority on the other, faced with limited opportunities to change their circumstances.”
9.European disunion done right The Economist | December 2012
“The [Holy Roman Empire] offers surprising lessons for the European Union today”
10.Adding Missing Titles to iTunes Tracks By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | September 2012
“I have some old CDs that I want to convert to MP3 with iTunes. When I put the discs in the computer’s CD drive, iTunes lists the songs as Track 01, Track 02 and so on, instead of the titles. Where does this information come from and how do I get the song names on the files?”
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TUNES
Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.
1. Preacher Stone — Come Together 2. Hamilton Loomis — Bow Wow 3. Rocky Jackson — Shoulda Never Left Texas 4. Wynonna — Freebird 5. Lynyrd Skynyrd — T For Texas 6. Oreo Blues — Nobody Knows 7. Bluessmyth — Bluessmyth 8. Tommy Crain — Why I Sing The Blues
Stone understood what was happening … something terrible was coming, and she would stand up to meet it.
From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.
Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.
(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)
The spring of 1862 brought to Stone the first tangible costs of war. The two-month silence in her diary ended sadly in May as she mourned the “perfect love of a lieutenant” she had swooned over. He died not after a glorious charge, not after a gallant pursuit of the Yankees, but merely of sickness, as so many Civil War soldiers did throughout the war. Reflections on her “nonsense” musings from March 1862 made her feel guilty and petty.
The spring attacks and counterattacks between Union and Confederate forces in the Western Theater — coupled with the fear over failing levees threatening to further flood the area — resounded with tectonic force throughout Stone’s diary, and she sensed that Southern defeats, including the catastrophic fall of New Orleans, exposed her beloved Louisiana to further Union atrocities. Stone, her writing always at its most beautiful when anguished, powerfully evoked her beloved Louisiana, “with her fertile fields of cane and cotton, her many bayous and dark old forests, [which] lies powerless at the feet of the enemy.”
The Civil War was no longer a far-off cyclone of glorious drama, draining her society of young men and precious resources. Its violent power now shook Brokenburn’s foundations. Day by day, the trembles grew stronger. Stone understood what was happening … something terrible was coming, and she would stand up to meet it.
May 9
After two months of silence I will resume my homely chronicles. Reading over the nonsense of the last page, how sad it seems now, for the Lt. Davis mentioned with such jesting is dead far away from his mother “an only son and she a widow.” He escaped at the siege of Donelson only to come home with Capt. Buckner to fall a prey to a long, lingering illness and die at last among strangers.
Two days after my last date [March 9], Mamma, Brother Coley, Brother Walter, and I went down by land to Vicksburg. Brother Coley joined his company as a private with Capt. C. B. Buckner as captain. In a few days they left for Jackson, Miss., where they still are, and Mamma and Brother Walter returned home. I remained with Aunt Laura until last week when Brother Walter came down in the carriage for me, and, after moving adventures by field and flood, we reached home safely.
How many stirring events are crowded into the last sixty days: Our victory in Hampton Roads; the two-day battle and victory at Shiloh; the fall of several of our small towns on the coast; the long bombardment, heroic defense, and final surrender of Island No. 10; the attack on and successful defense of Fort Pillow; and last and most important of all the long and terrible bombardment of Fort Jackson with the passing of the gunboats under heaviest fire and then the investure and fall of the greatest City of the South, New Orleans. And not a blow struck in its defense. Such was not its fate in the days of Jackson.
As a natural consequence of her surrender, the forts also gave up, and fair Louisiana with her fertile fields of cane and cotton, her many bayous and dark old forests, lies powerless at the feet of the enemy. Though the Yankees have gained the land, the people are determined they shall not have its wealth, and from every plantation rises the smoke of burning cotton. The order from Beauregard advising the destruction of the cotton met with a ready response from the people, most of them agreeing that it is the only thing to do. As far as we can see are the ascending wreaths of smoke, and we hear that all the cotton of the Mississippi Valley from Memphis to New Orleans is going up in smoke. We have found it is hard to bum bales of cotton. They will smoulder for days. So the huge bales are cut open before they are lighted and the old cottons burns slowly. It has to be stirred and turned over but the light cotton from the lint room goes like a flash. …
Though agreeing on the necessity of destroying the cotton, all regret it. And it has thrown a gloom over the country that nothing but news of a great victory could lighten. We are watching and praying for that. The planters look upon the burning of the cotton as almost ruin to their fortunes, but all realize its stern necessity, and we have not heard of one trying to evade it.
The Yankee gunboats are expected to appear before Vicksburg today. … It seems hopeless to make a stand at Vicksburg. We only hope they may burn the city if they meet with any resistance. How much better to burn our cities than let them fall into the enemy’s hands.
To resume the earlier record: Two weeks after Dr. Buckner’s company left Vicksburg, Aunt Laura, Beverly, and I went to Jackson to pay them a visit and spent a week at the Bowman House, a comfortable hotel for these times. I enjoyed the stay greatly. Saw so many soldiers and other nice people. And it was such a time of excitement, just after the battle of Shiloh, and we met so many men and officers who were in the fight: Maj. McCardle, whom we heard acted gallantly, Col. Ferguson, aide to Beauregard and lieutenant colonel of Stark’s regiment (the one Dr. Buckner’s company is in) , also mentioned with great praise. He is almost my beau ideal in looks and manner, a West Pointer. I came near losing my heart to him. Just hadn’t time. He was ordered off so soon.
The cars were crowded for days with wounded soldiers going home and relatives going on to see their wounded friends. … The troops at Yorktown have undergone great hardships, particularly the Leesburg Brigade, The flower of both armies with the best generals are stationed within a few miles of each other and the great battle of the war is soon to be fought. And our hearts are heavy with anxiety for our two soldiers who will be in it. …
The conscription has caused a great commotion and great consternation among the shirking stay-at-homes. Around here, many are deluding themselves with the belief that the call will not be enforced in Louisiana now that New Orleans has fallen and Vicksburg is threatened. We are to make a stand there. A weak one, I fear.
We earnestly hope these coward souls will be made to go. They are not joining volunteer companies as most of the conscripts are. They will not even raise a guerrilla troop for home defense. Not a single man has joined for the last two months. I forgot George Hardison, who is under age, and several men from the Bend.
May 10
The smoke of the burning cotton is still rising as far as we can see. For the last five days the air has been heavy with the smoke and odor of burned cloth. There is still a day’s work here before the last bale is ashes. Mamma has reserved about eight bales for spinning and making cloth for the hands.
I must tell an adventure returning ten days ago from Vicksburg.
Brother Walter came for me, with Webster driving, when I had about given up hope of seeing Brokenburn again for many months as the Yankees were hourly expected in Vicksburg. Numbers of people were leaving the city and Aunt Laura was preparing to go on the next train to Jackson to be with Dr. Buckner. I would have been forced to go with her. I could not remain in Vicksburg or with the Nailors in the country, perhaps for months, and so I was relieved when Brother Walter walked in. The next morning we crossed the ferry and were just driving up the road when we were stopped by the news that the Vicksburg levee had broken. Already the river road was impassable and in the course of two hours the water would be over DeSoto. We were horrified but told Webster to turn around and rush as fast as he could to the depot at Mr. Burney’s. Fortunately, we reached there just in time to catch the train and the last one it proved to be for many a day. There was a great crowd of parish people and people going on to Monroe and Texas. Such excitement!
First it was said that the train would be cut off by the water, and then that we would be fired on or captured by a Yankee gunboat. They were momentarily expected and there were many false alarms of their being in sight. We shipped everything on a flat car mules, carriage, Webster and about two or three the train pulled out. We reached Tallulah station rather late. Met several friends on the train who begged us to get off and spend the night the Dancys, Colemans, etc. But I thought in these troublous times home was the best place. So we drove on as far as Mrs. Gustine’s above the Bend, and as it was then quite dark we stayed with them all night, Brother Walter going on home to relieve Mamma’s anxiety. …
It was the last trip the cars can make until the river falls. We came through water so deep that it nearly came in the coaches. They were crowded. In the car with us was a guerrilla captain going to Texas to raise a company. He had just escaped from New Orleans with several men of his command. He said they burned several thousand bales of cotton and other supplies. He was so excited and eager and talked so well of everything he had seen or heard in New Orleans. He is from New Orleans, and his heart and soul are with the Cause.
Mamma was charmed to get us home again when we arrived next day. The day before Mr. Catlin had ridden by to tell her that we were cut off by the break in the levee and that the Yankees were in Vicksburg. She was wretched not knowing what we would do. …
Kate Nailor spent several days with us at Aunt Laura’s. She is looking dreadful but is as lovely as ever. She is soon to be married to Wilkins Roach and much I fear her heart is not in it. He is very wealthy and her family are urging it on, but her heart is in Virginia with My Brother. But they have had a quarrel and now it can never be set right, because in a fit of jealousy and pique she is throwing herself away on a man she barely likes. Poor Kate! And poor absent lover! They have been sweethearts for years.
May 11
The news of the day is a rumored skirmish and evacuation of Yorktown, an advance of Morgan and Forrest with their cavalry troops on Nashville and Paducah to destroy government stores, and the falling back of the Yankee gunboats to New Orleans instead of attacking Vicksburg. That will give time to finish the fortifications at Vicksburg, which are going up rapidly.
We have seen Butler’s Proclamation on taking possession of New Orleans and as he has the cool impudence to say “of the State of Louisiana.” It is a most tyrannical and insulting document and shows what mercy we may expect if subjugated. It made my blood boil to read it, and I could cry when I think of New Orleans completely in his power. Let us hope this will rouse the spirit of the people who still linger at home and send them to the battlefield. How can anyone in the South ever fall so low as to take such an oath of allegiance?
May 17
Norfolk has been abandoned and in consequence the Merrimac had to be burned to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy.
May 19
Natchez has surrendered and the gunboats are now above Rodney. We listen hourly for the cannonading to begin at Vicksburg. Surely the gallant Mississippians will not give up their chief city without a struggle. … Better one desperate battle and the city in flames than tame submission. … We heard the barking of cannon today and thought at first the fight was on at Vicksburg, but the firing was so slow we think now they were only getting the range of the guns.
May 20
The flower garden is one mass of blooms now, and the fragrance on the front gallery is delicious. Uncle Hoccles is very proud of his promising vegetables. But we hear there is great danger of the levee giving away just in front of us, and in that case farewell to gardens, orchards, crops, and everything. The levee for two miles is in a wretched state, but the planters have put all the available men on it and are working hard. They may save the day.
Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.
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