This is why History Majors rule...
Y’see, this is why History Majors are important and necessary — so we can make cogent analytical points like Arthur does here! 
-ghp
Props & Prayers go out to the courageous people of Iran who are standing up & fighting for their rights.
It’s not often that we can discern that we’re living in a moment that History will record and note as significant, but this, I think, is one of them.
And, for all the silliness that happens on cell phones & on social networks like Twitter, it’s during times like this that we see how important they are. Without the web/Twitter/Youtube/cell-phones we wouldn’t be getting the real story from the ground in Tehran, as palpably ugly as it is. Instantaneous communication matters now, just like the printing press, radio, & tv did back in previous communication revolutions.
Now, I just wish our President would come out and strongly condemn the corrupt autocratic regime that is abusing the rights of the Iranian citizenry, and stop dragging his feet & playing it cool.
May the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — protect and preserve us all, especially those folks in Iran.
-ghp
This bad boy turned 25 years old this past week!
I almost got one of the original 128k Macs, in August of 1984, but ended up with an Apple IIc instead, much to my everlasting chagrin. I had to wait 3.5 years until I got my first Mac, but that’s not the anecdote I want to pass along here.
No, what I do recall from that original Mac intro/release was that I lusted after it. I had all the marketing slicks & promo materials. There was just something about that Mac OS, and the whole ethos that shrouded and enveloped the Mac — above and beyond that which distinguished Apple itself and the Apple II line — that I bought into, identified with, and wanted. I’d like to say that I knew that it was the future of computing; and maybe I did, on some way, way, way subconscious level that was so buried that it didn’t really count (my dad and I had many arguments because I wanted to use the computer as a means to do things, and thus wanted to buy software to facilitate that, and he viewed the computer as the tool by which you built the software to do things — I said he was cheap, he said I was lazy 
). Anyway, I was bit by the bug.
Something that solidified it was that a classmate, Laura Behling, did get one. And for our Honors English class (with Mr. Stelmachowicz) we had a project to create a couple of satirical newspapers. Which is what we did. The Pansophical Pasquinade. And Laura “published” it on her Mac, at least the original copy, after which Mr. Stel ran off copies on the mimeograph machine.
I’ll pause here to remember the intoxicating smell of fresh mimeo copies……….
Ahhhhh, that’s nice. Who didn’t like to sit at the front of the row & get the stack of fresh, damp, purple-inked copies to hand back? C’mon now? Fess up…
Anyway, the newspaper, such as it was (and the copies of it that I still have in my greedy little hands!), is a fine example of using every font that the original Mac had available at the time (Chicago, New York, Geneva, London, San Francisco, Toronto, & Venice), in almost every style combo possible (bold, outline, underline).
Ah, memories…
-ghp
It’s not always easy to be proud of Detroit, or of being from Detroit. But I am. I love the history of Detroit. The realness of it. Of the people. Of the whole Metro Detroit area.
It’s why I like living in/near Chicago, and why I’m not put off by the very similar vibe that Chicagoland puts off (a big difference being that Chicago hasn’t been decaying from the core outward for the past 35 years…). Chicago has history, a spirit, and a sense of self that is almost intoxicating. It makes me wistfully wonder just what Detroit could’ve been like, if only it hadn’t crumbled in the aftermath of the ’67 riots and Coleman Young’s determined efforts alienate everyone north of 8 Mile Road (yes, it meant something before that no-talent hack made the movie…).
Mitch Albom, erstwhile sports columnist (and annoyingly liberal talk radio host, cultural pundit, and purveyor of pop-spirituality-laced novels) has written a very, very good piece over at SI.com, in which he delves into why Detroit, and more importantly Detroiters, still matters, and the role that sports plays in that.
As a proud ex-pat, I concur.
-ghp
Autumn or Fall — which is your preferred word for the season between Summer & Winter? Which do you think is correct?
Time to get your language on & head on over to Daily Writing Tips to check out the posting, oddly enough titled, Autumn or Fall?
You might think that one is actually more “correct” than the other (I know I did). You’d be mistaken. Language is fascinating, and doubly so when it intersects with History, as is the case here. Check it out – it’s an interesting little fact-nugget that’s worth the time.
-ghp
If I may wax political for a moment…
I find it oh so ironic to hear bleating from the political left that one of America’s big problems is an ignorant and uninformed voting populace.
Who’s been in charge of the educational infrastructure for the past few generations? Oh, that’s right — the liberal, left-leaning (if not outright leftist) National Education Association and the Democratic Party, that’s who!
They’ve got nobody to blame but themselves for the fact that their constant pedagogical paradigm shifts & moves away from, you know, the tried & true stuff that worked, have produced nothing but confusion & a few generations of folks who think 2+2=5, but feel good about themselves.
And now the left has the gall to bitch that folks are too stupid & backwards to go along & vote for what the left has deemed is “best for them” in the Obamassiah? Really?
Heck, that they’re not actually sorta restores my faith in folks’ basic/innate level of common sense…
-ghp
For each of the past 11 years, Beloit College has released the “Mindset List” for that year’s incoming Freshman Class – i.e., the list of things that the kids in the class have always/never known. It’s always a fascinating read, guaranteed to fill you with amazement & consternation, as well as make you feel really, really old. This year’s list, for the Class of 2012, is no exception.
Of particular interest to me:
Fascinating stuff, both the things that kids can take for granted as “normal”, and how quickly we can assimilate changes & start to accept them as normal ourselves.
-ghp
Go read The Man Who Invented Mars.
I blog about this for two simple reasons: First, out of respect for Professor David Strauss. I took a class (American History II) from him at Kalamazoo College back in (IIRC) Spring Quarter 1989. He wasn’t my advisor as a History major (my guy was Dr. David Barclay), but Strauss was very good nonetheless. And he was obsessed, in the academic sense, with Percival Lowell. Dr. Strauss was a top-notch scholar, and I was blessed to have been able to study under him (as well as Drs. Barclay, Wickstrom, and Moritz!)
The second reason is slightly more self-serving. As a Senior History major, I was chosen to be a Senior Fellow, and was awarded a stipend for completing some work during my fellowship. That work was basic research grunt work on Dr. Strauss’ book, Percival Lowell: The Culture and Science of a Boston Brahmin. So, I learned quite a bit about good old Percy during that Winter Quarter of 1989. And I’ve always felt a little twinge of pride whenever I’ve read about Lowell or Strauss’ book in the years since.
-ghp
Go read this article. Really. Click the link & go read it.
I’ve read Cringely for a long time, before and after he left Infoworld, where he assumed the mantle of their industry gossip column, and took it to great heights. His book Accidental Empires is a wonderful read about the growth & emergence of the pre-dotcom Silicon Valley culture & power brokers (Gates, Jobs, McNealy, etc…).
Anyway, he’s written a gem of an interesting column this week. I work in higher-ed, and I have two elementary-ed aged kids. My parents were public school teachers. I’ve grown up immersed in the ethos that learning, both in the vocational and liberal arts senses, was a good thing. I’ve also spent my entire working life in computer technology (and most of that in higher-ed). This is why I find Cringely’s column this week to be so interesting.
I don’t know if he’s exactly right in all of the particulars, but I do think he’s right in the big-picture sense. We’re on the cusp of a huge change in what education means & how it is delivered. It may even change how I go about making a living. It depends on just how fast some of these changes take effect.
As an example, back in my first attempt at grad school (UNC-CH’s School of Information & Library Science) in 1989-90, database construction & searching was very different than searching has become. Full-text was not a viable option & was rarely available. Entire graduate-level courses were dedicated to understanding database design, query design, & how to best go about doing research for folks, because online, searchable database access ran anywhere from $10-$300+ per hour. You had to know how all the different databases were constructed & indexed, so that you could write queries that got all the necessary, relevant, & useful results without spending too much time, and thus, money. IOW, “normal folks” didn’t have access to the data repositories.
I remember thinking & wondering how much better full-text indexing & searching would be, and wondering why it didn’t seem to be more of a priority. Well, I guess it was, because now we’ve got Google & all of these huge data repositories that are full-text, cheap (if not free), and easily accessible by even the “normal folks”. Getting data is no longer the problem/bottleneck – knowing which of that data is actually information is the challenge. Not to mention how to use it.
So, if you’ve gotten down to this point, and you didn’t go and read the article/column yet, here’s a second chance – hopefully you’re intrigued enough to go read it now…
Let me know what you think.
-ghp
Happy Birthday, sweetie!
You are the best big sister that a bratty/beautiful/bodacious baby brother could ever have. I don’t deserve you, but I’m glad I have you. Thank you for setting such a great example, for setting the bar high, for always being there, for loving me, and for being such a great friend.
You, in a word, rock!
Happy Birthday!!!
-bbb
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