Saturday, 30 March 2023

 Hello, again. 

Back after a lengthy absence.

This week’s items: notable events; revolutions; fragility; dog parks; preserving history. 

Notable events. 29 March 1861: Lincoln order relief for Ft. Sumpter; 1943: WW 2 rationing of meat, fats, and cheese began (*1 below); 1951: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg convicted of spying for the USSR; 1971: U.S. Army Lt. Calley convicted of My Lai massacre; 1973: Last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam; 1974: 8 OH national guardsmen indicted for Kent State shooting; 2004: President G. Bush welcomed 7 former USSR block nations into NATO. (Much to Russia’s protestations.)

30 March 1822: FL a U.S. territory. 1842: Dr. Jefferson in GA used ether in an operation. 1867: Sec. of State Seward purchased AK for $7.2M from Russia. 1870: 15th Amendment (vote for all male citizens) declared in effect. 1981: President Reagan shot and wounded. 2010: Obama [health] Care signed into law. 2020: FL arrested mega church pastor for his Sunday violation of COVID restrictions. 2023: Manhattan grand jury indicted DJT. 

31 March 1491: Spanish monarchs expelled Jews from Spanish soil. 1917: U.S. took posssession of Virgin Islands from Denmark. 1968: President LBJ announced he would not seek/accept re-nomination. 1991: USSR’s Warsaw Pact ended. 1995: MLB players ended 232-day strike. 2005: Terri Schiavo died after 13-day right-to-die court fight in FL. 2020: Price Harry & wife stepped down from royal family. 2022: Scientists announced end to deciphering of human genome.  

1 April 1972: 1st MLB strike began (12 days). 1891: Wrigley Co. founded in Chicago. 1924: Hitler sentenced to five years for Beer Hall Putsch. 1945: U.S. landed on Okinawa. 1970: President Nixon banned cigarette ads on radio & TV. 1976: Apple Computer founded. 1977: U.S. Senate voted to full disclosure of outside income. 2003: Pfc. Jessica Lynch rescued from Iraqi hospital. 2017: Bob Dylan received Nobel Literature prize. 

2 April 1792: U.S. mint created. 1865: President Davis & cabinet fled Confederate capital. 1917: Presideent Wilson asked for declaration of war on Germany. 1892: Argentine troops seized Falkland Islands. 1995: MLB strike ended. 2007: SCOTUS ruled CO2 & other greenhouse gasses were pollutants. 2013: N. Korea said it would restart its plutonium reactor. 2020: Covid-related deaths passes 1M. 

3 April 1968: MLK, Jr. made final speech in Memphis. 1865: U.S. occupied Confederate capital of Richmond. 1936: Bruno Hauptmann electrocuted for Lindbergh baby kidnapping/death. 1944: SCOTUS ruled against TX law banning Blacks from Democratic primaries. 1948: President Truman signed Marshall Plan for European aid. 1973: Handheld portable phone demoed. 2020: President DJT announced face-covering guidelines, but declined using one. 

*1: I remember mom used to take me to the meat market where the butcher invariably gave me a cold, pre-cooked wiener to much on, no ration card required. 

On a cleanup foray. an Atlantic article, “Revolutions Take Generations” floated up. The Bastille, the Russian Revolution, the so-called “color revolutions of the early 2000s, the “intifada revolution” come to mind. 

The author notes “..both cheerleaders and critics have misunderstood the age of revolutions—and a central dynamic of modern politics. Far from being composed of sharp ruptures, revolutionary change in the 18th and 19th centuries was a generational affair. The revolutionary transformations demanded a long and difficult apprenticeship in the practice of mass politics. It was a younger cohort of revolutionaries, acculturated to social mobility by its early experiences, that finally managed to create mass movements after 1800. Recognizing the incremental pace of political change in the age of revolutions should spur us to rethink our expectations of what revolution can do, both in the present and for the future.”

The speed of world events sped up (telegraph, under-sea cables, radio, satellite and www.), as did the forces driving change. Groups may coalesce in ever-shorter periods, their goals changing with equal rapidity. 

A leader’s death, martydom or otherwise, can spur further action or bring death to the movement. Dylan might well have said, “the answer is blowing in the electronic wind.” 

Fragility. Not normally a concern — until a solid, massive ship loses power for mere seconds, veers, and collapses what was a seemingly immovable structure. Suddenly, the supply chain for an area, a state, a nation, the world is disrupted. For how long is anyone’s guess. 

Dog park. There is talk of closing metro Denver’s Zeckenbark Dog Park (one of 16 in metro Denver). 

Preserving history. Boulder’s Daily Camera notes the continuing efforts to properly identify and preserve the Fort Chambers-Poor Farm site. The site’s connection to the infamous Sand Creek Massacre (Cheyenne and Arapahoe) complicates the matter.