Wednesday

photo / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on Hey wait a minute
23
Sep 20

Hey wait a minute

More and more of these signs are popping up around here. Which, I suppose, makes sense as the big date grows closer. Yard signs are all about name recognition so, obviously, people running this would want you to have them top-of-mind.

And, yet …

That seems like that might not be legal.

Have some television. These were shows the news team produced last night. There’s a nice little feature interview in this one:

Breaking news, weather and sports … really, if we had traffic and could do some side-by-side banter it’d be a complete show.

The news team has two episodes under their belts, now, and things are going pretty well. I look forward to seeing how they challenge themselves now that they’re back in their groove.

Twitter / Wednesday — Comments Off on Being quick about it
16
Sep 20

Being quick about it

Have you ever gotten to the end of a day and thought the aggravation wasn’t worth the minimal mental effort? Ever screen capped conversations and come back to them later, just to make sure you weren’t imagining them?

I’ve got about a half-dozen followup rhetorical questions, and the answer to all of them, of course, is “Yes. So what?”

Which, dear reader, is a profoundly on-point answer today.

Great column here:

This stuff is aggravating:

I think I started really riding bikes again 10-or-so years ago just as a release. Sometimes I remember that and today was one of those days.

I’ve been saving this story to share for just such a day. No! Really! I have a bunch of tabs open and this was one of them and I’ve been hanging on to it because the numbers are oddly inspiring. You’ll like this.

And, now, back to the bike race.

Bloomington / history / Wednesday — Comments Off on Back in time
9
Sep 20

Back in time

Today’s a good day to go back in time … beeeeeecause I don’t have anything else of note to offer you today. So let’s look at the local newspaper from this same week 103 years ago, in 1917. And the headline writers didn’t really have any idea about that little thing in Russia, did they?

There were a lot of small local sadnesses taking place about this time. Seems odd to see the “final summons” formulation twice on the same front page. Some local soldiers were shipping out, and some nurses, too. There was a war on, remember. A local boy got admitted to the local bar. The judge that swore him in presided over the guy’s father’s admission to the bar a quarter century earlier. Family practice.

There’s an optician advertising on the front page. The last line says “Artificial eyes furnished.” The location today is a commercial business building. It’s the old Masonic Temple, which was still a few years in the future of this newspaper. Notably, there’s a fake radio station in that spot note. From artificial eyes to fake broadcasting.

Anyway, inside the paper … This sounds tasty!

And, in 1917, you would see some national propaganda ads like this. Need work? Move to Canada and help bring in the crops! I wonder how many people signed on for this, and what it meant to their lives.

Yeah … about that macaroni. I think I’ve lost my appetite. Thanks.

There are the usual sorts of short stories in the paper. A lot of society stuff, weddings and vacations and family visits. There’s a brief from New York about a man who’d never before spoken, but then he fell while chasing some punks and suddenly discovered the powers of speech. I googled him, but that story is the only thing about him the Internet knows. Traffic accidents and fatalities were markedly up, nationally, and people were starting to notice. A woman in Colorado had nine grandchildren in the British army. There was a mini-photo essay about treating sheep ticks.

It reminds me that there’s never a local photograph in this paper. They could print them with the technology of the day, and considering I’m looking at scans of ancient newspapers the quality is pretty good. But they didn’t publish their own. I assume this means they were a newspaper without a camera. At one of the local theaters you could see Bawbs O’ Blue Ridge:

Just before mountain girl Barbara “Bawbs” Colby’s aunt dies, she reveals that Bawbs’ deceased father had left her $5,000, but to watch out for men because they would only be interested in her for her money. Her aunt’s warning is tested when Bawbs falls for a new arrival in the mountains named Ralph Gunther, who says he is an author who’s there for the peace and quiet he needs to write.

Also, $5,000 in 1917 would be just over $100,000 today. I imagine every early 20th century matinee reads about like that.

Doesn’t everyone feel this way?

I’m happy to report my kidneys feel fine, thanks.

The circus is coming to town!

Two years prior Buffalo Bill Cody toured with this troupe. He died a few months before this paper was published. Kidney failure at 70. Anyway, the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus joined something called the American Circus Corporation by 1929 or so. John Ringling bought that group about the same time, and that, friends, created the great circus monopoly.

photo / podcast / Wednesday — Comments Off on I do not blame Canada
2
Sep 20

I do not blame Canada

Found this very American guy on the walk into the office today. Maples remain nature’s first quitters:

Blame Canada, as the joke goes, but I can’t do that. The Canadians are too nice. I blame Michigan, which lets too much of Canada get over the border, meteorologically speaking.

This seems a silly thing to even think about just now. I can’t help it. Fall is soggy mess in my head because I dread the gray of winter. Summer is a perpetual exercise of waiting for the other shoe to drop because I dread the gray of winter. Spring doesn’t happen because it’s the gray of winter here until the second week of April. And that sits on your psyche all year long.

It’s a charming way to live, really. Even when the day, today, looks like this:

It’ll be gray before the end of the month, and then the weather will be all over the place until some point in December when the sun just gives up, all because the earth has to spin and rotate and such.

Sub-tropical living is the place I oughta be.

I talked to one of the student affairs people about stuff happening on campus, and stuff not-happening on campus. It seemed good timing for the student slice of audience. If that’s you, then this is for you. If you aren’t a student, or otherwise interested in student services and groups, you can safely move on.

Unless you’re a completist, in which case: Like Canada, I apologize.

Covid-19 / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off on Kindly wear a mask
26
Aug 20

Kindly wear a mask

A friend of ours made us some really clever artistic masks. She found this pattern, which you can download for a minimal charitable donation. And since she’s crafty, she’s been making her friends — even us! — masks. She says it takes about 10 minutes per mask. I figured that’s for a person who really knows their way around the sewing machine. And then I saw tutorial video, using that pattern, and it took 14 minutes. And that was with the extra “Hey, look at this, because this is a tutorial and I am trying to show you the finer points of making this thing.” So it takes her 10 minutes, and she’s a charming friend who wants the people she cares about to be safe. And stylish.

And because I want the people I care about to be safe, I have a lot of masks now. I have three or four of these custom masks. I’ll wear these on days when I don’t have to interact closely with too many people. I have two the university sent me, which I’ll keep in the office as backups. I a big stack of high quality masks, which I’ll wear for those instances where I do have to work closely with others.

You can’t go onto our campus without wearing a mask. You’re not supposed to go into any non-private building in this county without a mask.

Listening to anecdotes of people I know well, and watching the grim numbers climb and climb and climb, and knowing what I’ve given up this year, I’ve come to a simple formulation. If you can’t wrap your mind around these simple concepts, I don’t have a lot of time for you.

We’re almost six months into this now. This didn’t sneak up on you. This is not a surprise. Something transmitted via droplets, or air, involves your respiratory system. (The external elements of which include your mouth and nose, if you are confused.) Take the necessary precautions. Avoid close contact with people whenever you can. Stay away from crowds. Don’t do silly things like restaurants or big communal events. Wash your hands. Wear a mask.

Yes. Your friends are your friends. Sure, you know them. Of course they are nice people. They wouldn’t be your friends, otherwise. We aren’t talking about sharing needles. And it’d be silly to think they’d willingly do anything maliciously to you. They’re your friends, after all, but we aren’t talking about stealing your wallet.

When your charming, kind, sweet, professional, talented, educated, well-traveled, erudite friends hang out with you, sans precautions, you’re at risk. And so are they. Now this is where logic comes in and it gets fuzzy, but concentrate. If they’re hanging out with you in such a devil-may-care attitude it’s likely they are doing it with their other friends, too. And so on and so on. When one person down that chain gets sick, that’s where it begins, and it comes to you. And then you bring it to people you care about.

You must be proactive. The more proactive you can be, the better. Now, here’s the really, really tricky part. We don’t have to leave this to the fates. You can do those simple things — avoid close contact, crowds, restaurants and communal events and washing your hands and wearing a mask — for yourself and for others. Including those people you would say you care about.

Can’t do that? You’re reckless. You’re selfish.

These are facts; they aren’t up for discussion.

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