( I apologize for incomplete entries. All of a sudden the Instagram and Facebook posts, from which I copy and paste to generate this blog, have topped being as easy to search.)
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American author Madeleine L'Engle was born on November 29, 1918 (died 2007). She was best known for the young adult sci-fi/fantasy fiction A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels. I remember reading and enjoying Wrinkle, but I don't remember much else about it.
L'Engle was born in New York City. Her mother was a pianist, and her father was a writer, critic, and foreign correspondent. She began writing and journaling early (at 5 ), but struggled academically in school because of her shyness and awkwardness; leading some teachers to question her mental aptitude. She survived, nevertheless, a series of schools, boarding schools, and governesses, and she graduated from Smith College, graduating cum laude in 1941.
She published a couple of novels by 1942, and she tried stage acting, meeting her husband, Hugh Franklin, in a production of The Cherry Orchard. The pair moved to Connecticut and ran a general store for a while before moving back to New York so Franklin could resume his acting career. Meanwhile, after numerous rejections from publishers, she vowed to quit writing, but then an idea struck her, and she wrote Wrinkle. It was rejected more than thirty times until published in 1962, and it won the Newbery Medal that year. During the next three decades, she wrote dozens of books for children and adults.
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Shirley Chisholm (nee St. Hill) was born on November 30,:1924 in Brooklyn, of Guyanese and Barbadian descent. She won elections to the New York State legislature and served in Congress before becoming the first black to run for a major party presidential nomination and the first woman to run for the Democratic nomination. (Margaret Chase Smith had run for the Republican nomination in 1964.) Her autobiography uses her motto as a title: Unbought and Unbossed.
Her father worked in a factory making burlap bags, and her mother was a seamstress and domestic worker. She lived with her Barbadian grandmother for a few years of her childhood and picked up a slight life-long Caribbean accent. She excelled academically and graduated from Brooklyn College, where she had begun on the activist path, inspired by her father's support of Marcus Garvey and the Barbados independence movement. After graduation, she became a teacher's aide and then a teacher. She first ran for the New York state assembly in 1964 and won, despite strong opposition due to her gender maybe even more than her race. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to Congress.
In 1972, she ran for President. Despite only spending a total of $300,000, facing gender and racial discrimination from within her own party, and her struggle to be recognized as a real candidate by the party and the media, she finished fourth in first ballot convention votes for the nomination at the Democratic Convention in Miami. She retired from Congress in 1982 and was active politically until health issues arose in 1993, and she died at her home in Ormond Beach Florida in 2005.
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Shirley Chisholm (nee St. Hill) was born on November 30,:1924 in Brooklyn, of Guyanese and Barbadian descent. She won elections to the New York State legislature and served in Congress before becoming the first black to run for a major party presidential nomination and the first woman to run for the Democratic nomination. (Margaret Chase Smith had run for the Republican nomination in 1964.) Her autobiography uses her motto as a title: Unbought and Unbossed.
Barbados had been occupied by numerous indigenous peoples when Europeans arrived in the late 15th century. Spain, Portugal, and Britain all claimed the island for the next five centuries. Under English control, Barbados became a valuable colony, with a plantation economy, powered by slavery, until slavery was outlawed throughout the British empire in 1807, with full emancipation not occurring until 1838.
Following WWII, an independence movement was born, as in many other British colonies, and this movement partly inspired Chisholm's activism. Barbados was finally granted independence in 1966. In 2021, Barbados transitioned to a republic within the British Commonwealth.
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Henry Ford was a terrible, horrible human being.
Racist, Anti-Semite, Robber Baron, Inventor, Industrialist, Captain of Industry, Visionary, Business Magnate. Yes, all of that. Historians today still debate about historical relativism, the idea that a historical event, era, or figure can only be understood in the context of its own time and place, rather than trying to evaluate history based on present-day morals, knowledge, and attitudes.
On December 1, 1913, Ford debuted the world's first moving assembly line in his Highland Park Model T factory, revolutionizing the auto industry in particular and industrialization in general.
In 1927, he decided to conquer the Amazon and add to his status as richest person in the world. He bought a tract of land in Brazil, double the size of Delaware, intending to grow rubber. He named it Fordlandia, and it's a little known part of history that had huge repercussions still felt today. Greg Grandin's book tells the story.
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On December 1, 1913, Henry Ford debuted the world's first moving assembly line in his Highland Park Model T factory, revolutionizing the auto industry in particular and industrialization in general.
In 1927, he decided to conquer the Amazon and add to his status as richest person in the world. He bought a tract of land in Brazil, double the size of Delaware, intending to grow rubber. He named it Fordlandia, and it's a little known part of history that had huge repercussions still felt today. Greg Grandin's book tells the story.
Ford envisioned a prefabricated industrial town intended to be inhabited by 10,000 people to secure a source of rubber for Ford manufacturing in the US. Ford had negotiated a deal with the Brazilian government granting him a concession of 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) of land on near the city of Santarem Brazil in exchange for a 9% share in the profits generated.Ford's project failed, and the city was abandoned in 1934.
The town was mostly deserted, with only 90 residents still living in the city until the early 2000s when it saw an increase of population, being home to around 3,000 people as of 2017
Things.
Fordlandia's rules.
On December 1, 1913, Henry Ford debuted the world's first moving assembly line in his Highland Park Model T factory, revolutionizing the auto industry in particular and industrialization in general.
In 1927, he decided to conquer the Amazon and add to his status as richest person in the world. He bought a tract of land in Brazil, double the size of Delaware, intending to grow rubber. He named it Fordlandia, and it's a little known part of history that had huge repercussions still felt today. Greg Grandin's book tells the story.
By 1930, Ford's strict rules caused resident workers to revolt. Alcohol, women, tobacco and even football were forbidden within the town, including inside the workers' own homes. Inspectors would go from house to house to check how organised the houses were and to enforce these rules. The inhabitants circumvented these prohibitions by paddling out to merchant riverboats moored beyond the town jurisdiction, often hiding contraband goods inside fruits like watermelons. A small settlement was established 8 kilometres (5 mi) upstream on the "Island of Innocence" with bars, nightclubs and brothels.
The workers on the plantations were given unfamiliar food, such as hamburgers and canned food, and forced to live in American-style housing. Most disliked the way they were treated – being required to wear ID badges and work through the middle of the day under the tropical sun – and would often refuse to work.
Revolts, mismanagement, and a general lack of understanding of how to cultivate rubber led to the experiment's failure.
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On December 2, 1950, Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" series of short stories was first published as a collection by Gnome Press in the US. They originally appeared from 1940 to 1950 in sci-fi magazines Astounding and Super Science Stories. Their common theme is the interaction of humans and robots and morality. In other words, he was preparing us for the coming computer overthrow of humans. Remember, be nice to your toaster; it could be some computer overlord's earlier model.
Asimov ( c. 1920-1992) was born in Russia to a Russian Jewish family that immigrated to the US in 1923. In the US, they owned a candy store that sold newspapers and magazines, sparking Asimov's love of reading, including pulp fiction sci-fi. He graduated high school at 15 and attended college, switching his major from zoology to chemistry because he hated dissection.
He started writing at 11, encouraged by his father who bought him a typewriter. He started concentrating on sci-fi in his late teens. His "I, Robot" and "Foundations" series are credited with introducing several terms into English like "robotics" and "positronic" ( a fictional technology that found its way into Star Trek). Asimov thought his most enduring contributions would be the "Foundations" series and the "Three Laws of Robotics" created in "I, Robot ."
However, he was so prolific and diverse that his works are found in every major category of the Dewey Decimal System (if you know what that is - fewer libraries use it these days) except 100, psychology and philosophy. There are more than 500 books in his bibliography plus his numerous essays, short stories, and criticisms. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters.
He is considered one of the "Big Three" of Sci-fi authors, along with Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, and the "ABCs" of Sci-fi with Ray Bradbury and Clarke.
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On December 2, 1950, Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" series of short stories was first published as a collection by Gnome Press in the US. They originally appeared from 1940 to 1950 in sci-fi magazines Astounding and Super Science Stories. Their common theme is the interaction of humans and robots and morality. In other words, he was preparing us for the coming computer overthrow of humans. Remember, be nice to your toaster; it could be some computer overlord's earlier model.
Numerous things have been named for Asimov including a crater on Mars. Asimov Crater is an impact Crater in the Noachis quadrangle of Mars, located at 47.0° S and 355.05° W. It is 84.0 km (52.2 mi) in diameter.The name was officially adopted on May 4, 2009.
Thing.
On December 2, 1950, Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" series of short stories was first published as a collection by Gnome Press in the US. They originally appeared from 1940 to 1950 in sci-fi magazines Astounding and Super Science Stories. Their common theme is the interaction of humans and robots and morality. In other words, he was preparing us for the coming computer overthrow of humans. Remember, be nice to your toaster; it could be some computer overlord's earlier model.
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, stated in his "I, Robot" series of stories have had a huge impact on science fiction storytelling and in the real-life world of robotic technology.
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December 4 marks the date of death of two important figures in political science and theory.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was supposedly born prematurely because his mother went into labor because she was panicked by news of the approaching Spanish Armada. Fear became an underlying theme of his most famous work, Leviathan. In Leviathan, Hobbes expounds on the origins of government, making his famous assertion that life before government was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" because mankind lived in constant fear of more powerful antagonists. Therefore, he argued, when a stronger individual came along and offered people protection, they became his subjects, giving him complete and total loyalty and obedience. This marked the beginning of government. His work became a major justification and explanation for absolute monarchy. Hobbes himself was an unabashed royalist who served as a tutor to the young Prince Charles during the English Civil War.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) is considered one of the most influential political scientists of the 20th century. Born to progressive secular Jewish parents in Germany, she was raised to be a staunch Social Democrat. Once Hitler took power, she was arrested and briefly held by the Gestapo in 1933 because she was researching Nazi antisemitism. Once released, she fled to Czechoslovakia and then to Paris, where she worked to settle Jews escaping Nazism in Palestine. In 1941, she left occupied France for the US, via neutral Portugal. She became a US citizen and began writing and working for various Jewish organizations. In 1951, she published The Origins of Totalitarianism, a hugely influential work dealing with the nature of power and evil and explaining how citizens can be manipulated into a totalitarian state. She coined the phrase "banality of evil" to explain how complacency and apathy, not dogmatic ideology, leads the general population to a totalitarian state.
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December 4 marks the date of death of two important figures in political science and theory.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) wrote Leviathan, Hobbes expounding on the origins of government, and justifying absolute monarchy.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) is considered one of the most influential political scientists of the 20th century. In 1951, she published The Origins of Totalitarianism, a hugely influential work dealing with the nature of power and evil and explaining how citizens can be manipulated into a totalitarian state.
Both spent time in self-imposed exile in Paris to escape strife in their own countries. Hobbes lived in Paris for 11 years during the turmoil leading up to the English Civil War and the war itself. There, he socialized with other exiles, researched, wrote, and tutored the exiled Prince Charles. Arendt lived in Paris for a couple of years between her escape from Nazi Germany and her eventual settlement in the US. While in Paris, she worked for an organization that helped to settle Jews fleeing Germany into Palestine.
Thing.
December 4 marks the date of death of two important figures in political science and theory.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) wrote Leviathan, Hobbes expounding on the origins of government, and justifying absolute monarchy.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) is considered one of the most influential political scientists of the 20th century. In 1951, she published The Origins of Totalitarianism, a hugely influential work dealing with the nature of power and evil and explaining how citizens can be manipulated into a totalitarian state.
Hobbes and Arendt are two towering figures in political science, must read philosophers that poli sci majors are likely to run into early in their studies. So what is political science?
Wikipedia:
"Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and laws.
Modern political science can generally be divided into the three subdisciplines of comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. Other notable subdisciplines are public policy and administration, domestic politics and government, political economy, and political methodology. Furthermore, political science is related to, and draws upon, the fields of economics, law, sociology, history, philosophy, human geography, political anthropology, and psychology."
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On December 5 1848 in his State of the Union address to Congress, President James K. Polk inserted a sentence confirming the discovery of gold in California, igniting the Gold Rush. There had been rumors, but this was the first acknowledgement by the government.
The man credited with the discovery was James Marshall, a carpenter and sawmill operator working for John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant who had planned to create his own private fiefdom to rule in California. On January 24, 1848, Marshall had gone to work, tasked with overseeing the construction of one of Sutter's sawmills on the American River. Inspecting the channel below the mill, he happened to look down and picked up 4-5 gold nuggets. Tests confirmed they were gold, at least 96% pure, 23 karat. Word spread like wildfire. The sawmill operators, and most of Sutter's men, left immediately to find their own fortune. Sutter's personal empire collapsed, and he saw no profits from the Gold Rush. Marshall tried a vineyard and mining and failed at both. The state of California awarded him a small pension for a couple of years for his discovery, but he died penniless in 1885.
Place.
On December 5 1848 in his State of the Union address to Congress, President James K. Polk inserted a sentence confirming the discovery of gold in California, igniting the Gold Rush. There had been rumors, but this was the first acknowledgement by the government.
The man credited with the discovery was James Marshall, a carpenter and sawmill operator working for John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant who had planned to create his own private fiefdom to rule in California. On January 24, 1848, Marshall had gone to work, tasked with overseeing the construction of one of Sutter's sawmills on the American River. Inspecting the channel below the mill, he happened to look down and picked up 4-5 gold nuggets.
This mill (pictured) was located near Coloma, California, a small settlement for Sutter's workers, near the site of Native American villages that had stood in the area for centuries. Today, most of the area is part of the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Site and a National Landmark District, with a population of 589. The second photo is of the site of Marshall's discovery, and the cabin was Marshalls home.
You can still pan for gold there, and there are occasional gold finds.
H.W. Brands, one of my favorite historians wrote The Age of Gold.
Thing.
On December 5 1848 in his State of the Union address to Congress, President James K. Polk inserted a sentence confirming the discovery of gold in California, igniting the Gold Rush. There had been rumors, but this was the first acknowledgement by the government.
The man credited with the discovery was James Marshall, a carpenter and sawmill operator working for John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant who had planned to create his own private fiefdom to rule in California. On January 24, 1848, Marshall had gone to work, tasked with overseeing the construction of one of Sutter's sawmills on the American River, near the settlement of Coloma. Inspecting the channel below the mill, he happened to look down and picked up 4-5 gold nuggets.
Coloma was named for the nearby Indian village of the Maidu people. Like many California Indians, acorns were a major part of the Maidu diet. The depressions in the rock in picture 1 are mortar holes, used by Maidu women to grind acorns. The granary basket pictured was typical of the communal baskets made for storing the acorns. Each Maidu adult may have consumed as much as 2,000 pounds of acorns a year.
Unfortunately, the gold rush was a disaster for California's indigenous population. As many as 90% of the estimated indigenous population of 300,000 died as the result of the gold rush, through disease and massacre.
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