Temperature and thermostats...
Ever wonder why in this day of expensive energy the thermostats of buildings are set so low in the summer that those working in them must wear more clothes than are appropriate outside? Lot of times you'd better take a sweater to be inside even if the temp outside is 90!
Why? I think it is because appearance -- Style! -- is everything. You want to keep offices cold enough in the summer that men can comfortably wear a suit with coat and tie. So that women can show off their woolen wardrobe at any time of year. Damn the cost! What price ostentacion?
Summer or two ago for the first time a passenger staying in my parked vehicle for a few minutes who insisted on the motor being left running to keep the air conditioner on! I've seen that but never experienced that particular craziness before. Totally insane!
For myself, I can drive seven hours in 100+ degree heat without an air conditioner, no problema. A pail of ice, cold drinks, a little hot air flow and I'll be fine.
The human body was designed to adjust to variations in temperature. In my poor opinion, it is insane to expect to live out our lives in a narrow band of temperature variation hovering around 70 degrees F. The human body is especially evolved to cope with cooling in hot temperatures.
Of course I like to sleep in an unheated room in winter, and the colder it gets the more comfortable I am, down into the 30s at night (I can't breathe trying to sleep in a warm room in winter.)
It is crazy when the weatherperson on TV warns us about spring heat waves into the 90s or warn us about going outside when temps are below 20. Do they think we are stupid? Well...
All this unnaturalness is killing us of course, at the bank and otherwise. I pity the bubble-baby children growing up today. "It's too hot to play outside!" "It's too cold to play outside!" Which is true of half the days of the year.
This is one of a number of reasons why I think our species is headed toward extinction.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Polydactyl Cat
Gentle and obliging soul that I am, sucker that I am, I have been feeding cats, including some strays that show up hungry and abused. I won't say how many, but the number is far in excess to what the law allows.
Few months ago a little black long haired cat showed up. Very shy, wouldn't let me approach much less touch it. I'd throw it food and it would run, being used to having objects other than food thrown at it. No clue as to gender. As far as age it has grown a bit since it has taken up residence here.
Anyway, I finally got close enough while it was eating to see there was something unusual about its front paws. It's polydactyl, with a furry thumb on each front paw. Which I am very happy about because it means I can probably place the cat. Just took pictures though it is so shy I don't have good images of those front paws. When I start to focus the cat looks up and thinks I am planning harm and runs, though I have actually gotten close enough at feedings that I can brush its fur before it runs.
Polydactyl cats may have originated at Boston, Massachusetts. In any case they appear to have been spread from Boston via ships that took them on as ship's cats. But before sailors got the idea polydactyls were lucky at sea or more skilled at climbing the rigging or latching rats, landsmen in Massachusetts descended from Puritans killed polydactyls believing they were the work of the devil.
I posted in an earlier blog that I appear to be descended from William Towne, a 1637 immigrant to Massachusetts three of whose daughters were accused of witchcraft in 1692, one of them an infirm lady in her 70s who was removed to prison from her sickbed and tried and hanged along with one of her sisters.
It is well to remember that our Puritan forbears were more superstitious and foolish than even the sailors who cherished polydactyl cats instead of killing them, and that even Cotton Mather, touted as one of the most highly educated men of his time, was little more than a superstitious fool.
Few months ago a little black long haired cat showed up. Very shy, wouldn't let me approach much less touch it. I'd throw it food and it would run, being used to having objects other than food thrown at it. No clue as to gender. As far as age it has grown a bit since it has taken up residence here.
Anyway, I finally got close enough while it was eating to see there was something unusual about its front paws. It's polydactyl, with a furry thumb on each front paw. Which I am very happy about because it means I can probably place the cat. Just took pictures though it is so shy I don't have good images of those front paws. When I start to focus the cat looks up and thinks I am planning harm and runs, though I have actually gotten close enough at feedings that I can brush its fur before it runs.
Polydactyl cats may have originated at Boston, Massachusetts. In any case they appear to have been spread from Boston via ships that took them on as ship's cats. But before sailors got the idea polydactyls were lucky at sea or more skilled at climbing the rigging or latching rats, landsmen in Massachusetts descended from Puritans killed polydactyls believing they were the work of the devil.
I posted in an earlier blog that I appear to be descended from William Towne, a 1637 immigrant to Massachusetts three of whose daughters were accused of witchcraft in 1692, one of them an infirm lady in her 70s who was removed to prison from her sickbed and tried and hanged along with one of her sisters.
It is well to remember that our Puritan forbears were more superstitious and foolish than even the sailors who cherished polydactyl cats instead of killing them, and that even Cotton Mather, touted as one of the most highly educated men of his time, was little more than a superstitious fool.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Revolutionary Ancestors --Under Construction
Samuel Pool (b. 1759 Johnston Co., NC, d. 1844, Russell Co., AL). Service from June 4, 1776, for 12 months attached to Brinkham's 5th Regiment, Continental Troops; later served 3 months and additional 3 months as a substitute. Battle of Guilford Courthouse (skirmish, really, where Cornwallis won the battle but was deflected from his original intentions and sent on a route that ended in Yorktown.) Data from pension statement in open court.
More later
More later
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
First!
More genealogy, this time a list of the first of my ancestors to come to the New World. This post is a work in progress and I expect to add to it from time to time.
1. Rev. William Mease, believed to have landed in Virginia about 1610 and to have founded a church at a community a short distance from Jamestown. He did not stay and died in England. Much about Rev. William is not certain, so take this one with a grain of salt.
2. Hugh Bullock and son, William Bullock. Hugh probably first landed in Virginia as a merchant shipmaster/owner in the 1620s, and William was a Virginia resident from about 1624, writing a tract about Virginia that was printed in London. Hugh was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1631. Hugh did not stay in Virginia, but maintained permanent residence in England; William stayed except for one or more voyages back to England.
3. Puritans William Towne and Joanna Blessing Towne and their children, came to Salem, Massachusetts, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolkshire, England in 1637. Two of the daughters who arrived with them would later be hanged for witchcraft.
4. Stephen Gates (1599-1662) and Ann Veare (or Vere), from Hingham, Norfolkshire, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638.
5. Quakers Richard Borden (1596-1688) and Joane Fowle Borden of Kent, England, settled in Rhode Island 1635-38.
6. Peter Cloyes UNFINISHED
7. Frederick Staring a/k/a Frederick Starnes, Sr., (1700-1774), came to New York in 1710 along with his father and some 3000 other Palatine Germans on British ships, his mother possibly being among the 12% who died en route to the new world. His future wife, Ann Goldman, was another child on the ships. Frederick was Ensign of the Albany County militia in 1731 In 1741, Frederick left New York for Pennsylvania, then settled in Augusta County, Virginia, by the mid-1740s. In Virginia he was wounded by Indians while working his fields during the French & Indian War. In 1756, Frederick was county commissioner, and with his extended family moved to lands on the Holston River by the late 1760s.
UNFINISHED
1. Rev. William Mease, believed to have landed in Virginia about 1610 and to have founded a church at a community a short distance from Jamestown. He did not stay and died in England. Much about Rev. William is not certain, so take this one with a grain of salt.
2. Hugh Bullock and son, William Bullock. Hugh probably first landed in Virginia as a merchant shipmaster/owner in the 1620s, and William was a Virginia resident from about 1624, writing a tract about Virginia that was printed in London. Hugh was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1631. Hugh did not stay in Virginia, but maintained permanent residence in England; William stayed except for one or more voyages back to England.
3. Puritans William Towne and Joanna Blessing Towne and their children, came to Salem, Massachusetts, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolkshire, England in 1637. Two of the daughters who arrived with them would later be hanged for witchcraft.
4. Stephen Gates (1599-1662) and Ann Veare (or Vere), from Hingham, Norfolkshire, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638.
5. Quakers Richard Borden (1596-1688) and Joane Fowle Borden of Kent, England, settled in Rhode Island 1635-38.
6. Peter Cloyes UNFINISHED
7. Frederick Staring a/k/a Frederick Starnes, Sr., (1700-1774), came to New York in 1710 along with his father and some 3000 other Palatine Germans on British ships, his mother possibly being among the 12% who died en route to the new world. His future wife, Ann Goldman, was another child on the ships. Frederick was Ensign of the Albany County militia in 1731 In 1741, Frederick left New York for Pennsylvania, then settled in Augusta County, Virginia, by the mid-1740s. In Virginia he was wounded by Indians while working his fields during the French & Indian War. In 1756, Frederick was county commissioner, and with his extended family moved to lands on the Holston River by the late 1760s.
UNFINISHED
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Is a Playlist a Clue to the Man?
Romney's playlist. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen%20...%20bled=false Interesting.
To me, it's good. An indication that Romney is unsatisfied, questing, restless, not at all the smug self-satisfied guy who thinks he has all the answers. If he is elected, there might be a surprise in store for those who vote for him. Which would be good too. If it happens, which it probably won't.
Wonder what one could infer about me by my own playlist, if I had one, which I don't. There are a pile of CDs in the truck console. Some of which I hate, such as somebody's own mix of rap songs ripped from commercial CDs (it was thrown away and I picked it up off the street; the previous owner had the right idea but I haven't bothered yet; keep it around to play when I'm driving with someone I don't like). There is some Andrew Lloyd Webber, some Cajun and Zydeco, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Billy Joel, Springsteen, choral and opera CDs. Like what I eat, what I listen to is dictated by what I find on sale cheap, so there's an unreliability about inferring too much from a pile of CDs. The Jimmy Dale Gilmore is the only CD I went looking for.
Some of what was on Romney's list would be on mine too. Loved the songs of "O, Brother, Where Art Thou" and "the Soggy Bottom Boys."
BTW, there was ONE song in that movie that was sung by the actor who was performing it. Can you name it? Can you name the actor?
For the hell of it, I'm going to put together my own playlist and encourage y'all to post yours too. Let's play "Match up to Mitt."
1. Cyndi Lauper, Girls just want to have fun.
2. Cyndi Lauper, She Bops.
3. The Eagles, Desparado.
4. Springsteen, Born to run.
5. Springsteen, This gun's for hire.
6. Conquistador. Don't remember who performs it.
7. Doris Day, Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
8. Doris Day, Secret Love.
9. More Doris Day.
10. Leonard Cohen, If it be your will
11. Leonard Cohen, Take this waltz.
12. Leonard Cohen, The partisan.
13. Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Story of you.
14. Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Ain't gonna sing no lonesome tune.
15. Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Tonight I think I'm gonna go downtown.
16. Billy Joel, I didn't start the fire.
17. Billy Joel, Innocent man.
18. Billy Joel, Matter of trust.
19. Andrew Lloyd Webber, No matter what they say.
20. Johnny Cash, I walk the line.
And so on. I'd add more Gilmore, some Cajun, some Celtic. Maybe some 50s R&R.
To me, it's good. An indication that Romney is unsatisfied, questing, restless, not at all the smug self-satisfied guy who thinks he has all the answers. If he is elected, there might be a surprise in store for those who vote for him. Which would be good too. If it happens, which it probably won't.
Wonder what one could infer about me by my own playlist, if I had one, which I don't. There are a pile of CDs in the truck console. Some of which I hate, such as somebody's own mix of rap songs ripped from commercial CDs (it was thrown away and I picked it up off the street; the previous owner had the right idea but I haven't bothered yet; keep it around to play when I'm driving with someone I don't like). There is some Andrew Lloyd Webber, some Cajun and Zydeco, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Billy Joel, Springsteen, choral and opera CDs. Like what I eat, what I listen to is dictated by what I find on sale cheap, so there's an unreliability about inferring too much from a pile of CDs. The Jimmy Dale Gilmore is the only CD I went looking for.
Some of what was on Romney's list would be on mine too. Loved the songs of "O, Brother, Where Art Thou" and "the Soggy Bottom Boys."
BTW, there was ONE song in that movie that was sung by the actor who was performing it. Can you name it? Can you name the actor?
For the hell of it, I'm going to put together my own playlist and encourage y'all to post yours too. Let's play "Match up to Mitt."
1. Cyndi Lauper, Girls just want to have fun.
2. Cyndi Lauper, She Bops.
3. The Eagles, Desparado.
4. Springsteen, Born to run.
5. Springsteen, This gun's for hire.
6. Conquistador. Don't remember who performs it.
7. Doris Day, Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
8. Doris Day, Secret Love.
9. More Doris Day.
10. Leonard Cohen, If it be your will
11. Leonard Cohen, Take this waltz.
12. Leonard Cohen, The partisan.
13. Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Story of you.
14. Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Ain't gonna sing no lonesome tune.
15. Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Tonight I think I'm gonna go downtown.
16. Billy Joel, I didn't start the fire.
17. Billy Joel, Innocent man.
18. Billy Joel, Matter of trust.
19. Andrew Lloyd Webber, No matter what they say.
20. Johnny Cash, I walk the line.
And so on. I'd add more Gilmore, some Cajun, some Celtic. Maybe some 50s R&R.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Reflections on Generations Past
After just over two months of looking into my family's ancestry, what are my most salient impressions? These.
1. How quickly you go far back into history. Ten generations back from my mother takes one into the 1600s. Which brings up--
2. How much is forgotten! We remember almost nothing about our forbears three generations back, and after a dozen generations almost nothing is known. There are old stories that are distorted or wholly untrue and that is all.
3. How early my ancestors settled in America. When I started, I expected to find immigrants from the 1800s. I've found none. All so far came in the 1600s and 1700s. [Wrong! The Barrons immigrated to Virginia from Ireland probably after 1800.] I was surprised to find such early settlers in Virginia, in Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. (As to Massachusetts one must remember that from 1628-1640 there was a veritable flood of Puritan immigrants from England, so much so that Boston harbor was one of the busiest seaports of the world, and then in the time of Cromwell there was a mini-flood of aristocrats to Virginia. And in England, some villages were left half empty by the migration.)
4. I had heard of ancestors in Mississippi, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Fulton, Kentucky. And Tennessee. But most lines were in North Carolina for at least a generation. And a surprising number from Virginia. I heard no stories about NC or VA. NC, VA and TN were the "hub" states for my ancestry. Other states include South Carolina (the Pools) New York (Starnes), Rhode Island (Bordens) and New Jersey (Bordens).
5. The states that are not represented are interesting. It is like the way air circulates around the earth; north and south hemispheres have little intermingling of ari masses. Those who settled in the North tended to stay in the North, those in the South tended to stay in the South, except when migrating westward. Or in my case, from the South westward and southerly. Some of the direction of migration was dictated by geography. The mountains and rivers of Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina run northeast to southwest, and that deflected the flow of migrants from those states toward Arkansas, Alabama and, ultimately, Texas, and not to Missouri or Ohio.
6. I would love to discover Indian, black, and Jewish ancestry. There probably are American Indians in the genealogy and there are rumored to be, but it is not absolutely proven. Jewish ancestry is possible, and there are many names that are commonly Jewish; however, they are not exclusively Jewish, and so I don't really know; no Cohens or Levys but there are Goulds, Goldschmitts, Goldmans, Guthmans, Eisenmanns, Bachmanns, and so on, often coupled with Patriarchal given names. Black is definitely unproven, but any are welcome if they turn up.
7. 40 years ago I read a sci-fi story about a rich man who commissioned a team of genealogists to look into his ancestry. In the end he achieved distinction for being the only person whose ancestors did absolutely nothing memorable and among whom there was nobody remotely famous. That's not really the case here. Some have been well-to-do or rich and some while poorer were clearly in the vortices of history. There have been no generals or presidents, but I wasn't looking for those. Frederick Starnes being killed by Shawnee right near a settlement begun by Daniel Boone and his father Frederick, Sr., being wounded in his fields a decade earlier is entirely satisfying to me. I will as soon take a craftsman as a politician, a frontiersman as a military officer. I wanted local color, and found some. My disappointments are from not knowing more about the lives those names represent.
1. How quickly you go far back into history. Ten generations back from my mother takes one into the 1600s. Which brings up--
2. How much is forgotten! We remember almost nothing about our forbears three generations back, and after a dozen generations almost nothing is known. There are old stories that are distorted or wholly untrue and that is all.
3. How early my ancestors settled in America. When I started, I expected to find immigrants from the 1800s. I've found none. All so far came in the 1600s and 1700s. [Wrong! The Barrons immigrated to Virginia from Ireland probably after 1800.] I was surprised to find such early settlers in Virginia, in Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. (As to Massachusetts one must remember that from 1628-1640 there was a veritable flood of Puritan immigrants from England, so much so that Boston harbor was one of the busiest seaports of the world, and then in the time of Cromwell there was a mini-flood of aristocrats to Virginia. And in England, some villages were left half empty by the migration.)
4. I had heard of ancestors in Mississippi, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Fulton, Kentucky. And Tennessee. But most lines were in North Carolina for at least a generation. And a surprising number from Virginia. I heard no stories about NC or VA. NC, VA and TN were the "hub" states for my ancestry. Other states include South Carolina (the Pools) New York (Starnes), Rhode Island (Bordens) and New Jersey (Bordens).
5. The states that are not represented are interesting. It is like the way air circulates around the earth; north and south hemispheres have little intermingling of ari masses. Those who settled in the North tended to stay in the North, those in the South tended to stay in the South, except when migrating westward. Or in my case, from the South westward and southerly. Some of the direction of migration was dictated by geography. The mountains and rivers of Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina run northeast to southwest, and that deflected the flow of migrants from those states toward Arkansas, Alabama and, ultimately, Texas, and not to Missouri or Ohio.
6. I would love to discover Indian, black, and Jewish ancestry. There probably are American Indians in the genealogy and there are rumored to be, but it is not absolutely proven. Jewish ancestry is possible, and there are many names that are commonly Jewish; however, they are not exclusively Jewish, and so I don't really know; no Cohens or Levys but there are Goulds, Goldschmitts, Goldmans, Guthmans, Eisenmanns, Bachmanns, and so on, often coupled with Patriarchal given names. Black is definitely unproven, but any are welcome if they turn up.
7. 40 years ago I read a sci-fi story about a rich man who commissioned a team of genealogists to look into his ancestry. In the end he achieved distinction for being the only person whose ancestors did absolutely nothing memorable and among whom there was nobody remotely famous. That's not really the case here. Some have been well-to-do or rich and some while poorer were clearly in the vortices of history. There have been no generals or presidents, but I wasn't looking for those. Frederick Starnes being killed by Shawnee right near a settlement begun by Daniel Boone and his father Frederick, Sr., being wounded in his fields a decade earlier is entirely satisfying to me. I will as soon take a craftsman as a politician, a frontiersman as a military officer. I wanted local color, and found some. My disappointments are from not knowing more about the lives those names represent.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Rebellions
Two forgotten incidents of history have always been special to me. They are Wat Tyler's Rebellion in England in 1381 and the Jacquerie in France. Wat Tyler was far ahead of his time, resembling nothing as much as the French Revolution 400 years later, promoting ideas of equality that are still not practiced in the UK. He sought to curb the accumulation of land and wealth by the church and to end the influence of the nobility. He died for it, being run through by the lord mayor of London as he tried to dictate terms to Henry VI.
(We think of the Magna Carta as "guaranteeing the rights of Englishmen" and so on, but it didn't. The Magna Carta confirmed the power of the nobility versus the king and little more. Most Englishmen were in effect slaves.)
There were other rebellions, even less well known. My dabbling in genealogy has unearthed several touching my forebears.
The Borden family of Kent, England, may have participated in Jack Cade's Rebellion in 1450. Henry VI pardoned Cade and other leaders, then as the rebellion died down revoked the pardons and apprehended and executed Cade; royal prerogative. There was more to it than that; see http://www.warsoftheroses.co.uk/chapter_39.htm for a good discussion.
In 1645 in certain villages on Lake Zurich including Richterswil where the Bachmanns lived there occurred the Wädenswiler Steueraufstand, a tax revolt. One Rudolf Goldschmid who led the movement was executed. Was he related to the Anna Goldschmitt born 1655 who was the mother of Heinrich Bachmann?
In 1676 there was Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia. An uprising of indentured servants, the landless, and those unprotected on the frontier against the landed interests in power in the colony. Bacon himself cheated the hangman's rope by dying of malaria, but others were hanged.
From 1765-1771 in the western counties of North Carolina there occurred the War of the Regulation, a political and economic revolt against colonial officeholders and the wealthy families in the east, that presaged the American Revoluton.. Anson County was the heart of the movement. Quite a few of my ancestors were in North Carolina, in Anson, Mecklenburg, and Cabarrus counties around that time. That revolt ended in a mini-massacre as a trained militia fired on farmers and townsmen. And with the hanging of about 20 leaders.
It is a thesis of mine that the American Revolution was in part a revolt of class against class, or the poor and unenfranchised against the wealthy; an Occupy Wall Street movement with teeth. A broad generalization but there is truth in it.
(We think of the Magna Carta as "guaranteeing the rights of Englishmen" and so on, but it didn't. The Magna Carta confirmed the power of the nobility versus the king and little more. Most Englishmen were in effect slaves.)
There were other rebellions, even less well known. My dabbling in genealogy has unearthed several touching my forebears.
The Borden family of Kent, England, may have participated in Jack Cade's Rebellion in 1450. Henry VI pardoned Cade and other leaders, then as the rebellion died down revoked the pardons and apprehended and executed Cade; royal prerogative. There was more to it than that; see http://www.warsoftheroses.co.uk/chapter_39.htm for a good discussion.
In 1645 in certain villages on Lake Zurich including Richterswil where the Bachmanns lived there occurred the Wädenswiler Steueraufstand, a tax revolt. One Rudolf Goldschmid who led the movement was executed. Was he related to the Anna Goldschmitt born 1655 who was the mother of Heinrich Bachmann?
In 1676 there was Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia. An uprising of indentured servants, the landless, and those unprotected on the frontier against the landed interests in power in the colony. Bacon himself cheated the hangman's rope by dying of malaria, but others were hanged.
From 1765-1771 in the western counties of North Carolina there occurred the War of the Regulation, a political and economic revolt against colonial officeholders and the wealthy families in the east, that presaged the American Revoluton.. Anson County was the heart of the movement. Quite a few of my ancestors were in North Carolina, in Anson, Mecklenburg, and Cabarrus counties around that time. That revolt ended in a mini-massacre as a trained militia fired on farmers and townsmen. And with the hanging of about 20 leaders.
It is a thesis of mine that the American Revolution was in part a revolt of class against class, or the poor and unenfranchised against the wealthy; an Occupy Wall Street movement with teeth. A broad generalization but there is truth in it.
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