Boogie Woogie: Born In The Backwoods Of America
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132963070/boogie-woogie-born-in-the-backwoods-of-america
To try to keep these newly freed slaves from walking away to a better life, the logging camp owners built what were called “barrel houses.” They looked like a airplane hangar made out of a giant wooden barrel. In these places, a new sound was born, an early seed of rock ‘n’ roll. It was called by several names at first, but they finally settled on boogie woogie.
Pictures from a Revolution
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/01/mlk-hopper-slideshow-201001#slide=1
In 1965, as a 28-year-old actor/activist and budding photographer, Dennis Hopper traveled to Alabama to take part in—and document—the now famous civil-rights march from Selma to Montgomery led by Martin Luther King Jr. Images he captured of his fellow marchers on that historic journey, which are presented in the following slide show, were part of a recent exhibition atTony Shafrazi Gallery, in New York, and can be found in the book Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961-1967
Young King Inspired By Time On Conn. Tobacco Farm
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132995055/young-king-inspired-by-time-on-conn-tobacco-farm
“On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see,” he wrote his father in June 1944. “After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit any where we want to.”
The slain civil rights leader, whose birthday is observed Monday as a federal holiday, spent that summer working in a tobacco field in the Hartford suburb of Simsbury. That experience would influence his decision to become a minister and heighten his resentment of segregation.
Ike’s Warning Of Military Expansion, 50 Years Later
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942244/ikes-warning-of-military-expansion-50-years-later
In his final speech from the White House, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned that an arms race would take resources from other areas — such as building schools and hospitals.
Tourists Mimic Polar Pioneers, Except With Planes and Blogs –”LAME”…
When the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott arrived at the South Pole only to find that he had been beaten there by Roald Amundsen and his team of Norwegians, he was despondent. “Great God! This is an awful place,” he lamented in his diary.
Awful as it may be, it is about to get a lot of foot traffic. Hundreds of people — tourists, adventurers and history buffs — are lining up to visit the South Pole in honor of the 100th anniversaries of Amundsen’s arrival (on Dec. 14, 1911) and Scott’s (Jan. 17, 1912). The preparations are already speeding along.
Robert F. Scott, standing center, with his 1912 polar expedition. A Norwegian team arrived first, and Scott’s group perished.
If Quakes Weren’t Enough, Enter the ‘Superstorm’
California faces the risk not just of devastating earthquakes but also of a catastrophic storm that could tear at the coasts, inundate the Central Valley and cause four to five times as much economic damage as a large quake, scientists and emergency planners warn.
2010 Hottest Year on Record—The Graph That Should Be on the Front Page of Every Newspaper
The National Climate Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has just announced that for the entire planet, 2010 is the hottest year on record, tied with 2005.
Melting in Andes Reveals Remains and Wreckage-Jorge Gardner and I climbed Huayna in 1983. JR
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/americas/16bolivia.html?_r=1&hpw
LA PAZ, Bolivia — In the haunts of this city where climbers gather over plates of grilled llama and bottles of Paceña beer to swap tales of mountaineering derring-do, they feign boredom when talk turns to the 19,974-foot-high Huayna Potosí, a jagged Andean peak that looms over La Paz.
Crossing The Aisle, Literally, For State Of The Union
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/16/132975246/Crossing-The-Aisle-Literally-For-The-State-Of-The-Union
Traditionally, Democrats and Republicans sit on opposite sides of the House Chamber for the speech, but this past week, Colorado’s Sen. Mark Udall suggested the parties integrate the seating.
Teddy Roosevelt speech, October 14, 1912, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose. But fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a bullet – there is where the bullet went through – and it probably saved me from it going into my heart. The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best. …
Now, friends, of course, I do not know, as I say, anything about him; but it is a very natural thing that weak and vicious minds should be inflamed to acts of violence by the kind of awful mendacity and abuse that have been heaped upon me for the last three months by the papers in the interest of not only Mr. Debs but of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Taft.
Friends, I will disown and repudiate any man of my party who attacks with such foul slander and abuse any opponent of any other party; and now I wish to say seriously to all the daily newspapers, to the Republicans, the Democrat, and Socialist parties, that they cannot, month in month out and year in and year out, make the kind of untruthful, of bitter assault that they have made and not expect that brutal, violent natures, or brutal and violent characters, especially when the brutality is accompanied by a not very strong mind; they cannot expect that such natures will be unaffected by it.”
T.O.P. GROOMING RE’POR FRIDAY 1/14/11
We got about 1-1/2″ of new snow..that’s: 3.8 cm’s for the meter heads
It’s freshly groomed for skating and classic, but still very thin coverage.
Please be careful out there…keep an eye out for rocks, sticks, sagebrush and the Coen brothers.
Best skiing is around 10 am or at sunset (4:30 or so)
Chris Haaland
JFK, Digitized: Presidential Archive Debuts Online
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132906063/jfk-digitized-presidential-archive-debuts-online
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. It’s an event that may seem like ancient history to some. But the Kennedy Library and the National Archives hope to make that history a bit more accessible.
On Thursday, they announced they have put all of the 35th president’s important speeches, papers and recordings online at www.jfklibrary.org.
Solving A 1964 Cold Case: Mystery Of Frank Morris-”Possibly another KKK racist goes down!”
In December 1964, Frank Morris’ shoe shop was set ablaze in the middle of the night. Still inside at the time, Morris was severely injured; he died four days later at a nearby hospital in Ferriday, La. Like many Southern crimes against blacks in the 1960s — an era of racial strife dominated by criminal activities by the Ku Klux Klan — the incident went unsolved, despite an FBI investigation at the time
Git Along, Little Dogies: Bob Mondello Rustles You Up A Western Starter Kit
The Western has been through lots of changes in the ensuing century, though, as traditional Westerns like Stagecoach andHigh Noon started sharing multiplexes with spaghetti Westerns, revisionist Westerns, wisecracking Westerns, gay Westerns — even sci-fi Westerns. So when I set out to create a Westerns Starter Kit for the moviegoing tenderfoot, it turned out to be an exercise in … cineplexity. Narrowing the list of titles down was tricky.
JR’s San Juan Mountains Weather and Snowpack Report 1/13/11-11:00
Weather
The high pressure that has been parked in our back yard the past several days is breaking down with the arrival of a quick moving low pressure trough due later this evening. Increasing clouds and wind will bring a short period of snow to the San Juans early Friday morning favoring the north side of the range as it moves south.
A ridge of high pressure will move into the area late Friday but will be replaced on Sunday by another trough of low pressure arriving on NW flow bringing fast moving short waves & a better chance of rain/snow and high winds into the area lasting through mid week. This pattern will favor the northern/central mountains & only the north and west portions of the San Juans with a few inches of snow…
Snowpack
The recent warming has caused settlement in the snowpack especially in the upper layers at lower elevations. Last weekend storm winds formed tender POCKETS of slabs that were being triggered easily by skiers along with a few naturals on the lee slopes (N-E-S) above TL rated as CONSIDERABLE. Rating of MODERATE generally exist above the trees with the exception of those wind loaded pockets. Terrain below TL that has seen warmer temps and less wind affect carry a rating of LOW.
On Last Field Day, a South Pole Detour
http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/on-last-field-day-a-south-pole-detour/?hpw
Tuesday, Jan. 4
We are off by Twin Otter this morning to Hatcher Bluffs, the last field site we will be visiting out of the Central Transantarctic Mountains camp, or CTAM. Getting to Hatcher, however, has taken some doing. This site is at the far southeast end of the Transantarctics, more than 400 miles from the camp, making a round trip too distant for the Twin Otter to cover without refueling.
early morning light
and
shadows grow
Top of the Pines
Did a quick loop at the track today. It was fine… My cap is off to you Chris… Thanks… The 10″ of snow we received was packed down to 4″ but if we can get another “north side storm” soon, we’ll be in much better shape… JR
The Crying Shame of John Boehner
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/matt-taibbi-the-crying-shame-of-john-boehner-20110105
John Boehner is the ultimate Beltway hack, a man whose unmatched and self-serving skill at political survival has made him, after two decades in Washington, the hairy blue mold on the American congressional sandwich. The biographer who somewhere down the line tackles the question of Boehner’s legacy will do well to simply throw out any references to party affiliation, because the thing that has made Boehner who he is — the thing that has finally lifted him to the apex of legislative power in America — has almost nothing to do with his being a Republican.
Last Year: The Warmest Year On Record (Again)
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/12/132865502/last-year-was-the-warmest-year-on-record-again
Every January for the past decade, you’ve heard the same basic news story: It announces that last year was one of the warmest years on the planet since 1880, when record-keeping began in earnest.
Well, it’s January, and yes, last year was one of the warmest years on record since 1880. In fact, 2010 ties the record with 2005 as the hottest year in the historical record.
Palin Calls Criticism ‘Blood Libel’ – As she chews on shoe leather again— JR
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/palin-calls-criticism-blood-libel/?ref=global-home
Sarah Palin, who had been silent for days, issued a forceful denunciation of her critics on Wednesday in a video statement that accused pundits and journalists of “blood libel” in what she called their rush to blame heated political rhetoric for the shootings in Arizona.
People & Their Addiction to PHONES!
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/huffington_risked_lives_foe_nFCcaFFEINLePXj2CeII6N
The airline passenger who got into an angry war of words with media newshound Arianna Huffington for using her BlackBerry when their plane was taking off was unrepentant yesterday, claiming she needlessly imperiled the safety of other travelers by selfishly ignoring the rules.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/huffington_risked_lives_foe_nFCcaFFEINLePXj2CeII6N#ixzz1Aq9NCTQz
Dragging the Blues Into the 21st Century.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/01/12/132806260/dragging-the-blues-into-the-21st-century
So far, blues music has proved resilient. The heart and soul of blues was laid down in the seminal recordings of the 1920s and ’30s by artists such as Willie McTell, Robert Johnson and Charley Patton. That spirit easily survived amplification by Muddy Waters, Little Walter and other Chicago blues pioneers in the late ’40s and early ’50s. In the ’60s and ’70s, rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream and ZZ Top grabbed the blues and cranked the volume.
Amazon Digs Indicate Advanced Indian Civilizations by JUAN FORERO
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/12/132853997/Amazon-Once-Was-Home-To-Advanced-Civilizations
There have been a lot of things said about the Amazon: That it was a vast virgin jungle, that its only inhabitants were hunter-gatherers and that the rainforest was too hostile to have ever supported big civilizations. But increasingly, archaeologists say they are discovering the Amazon was home to large, even advanced civilizations, before the Europeans arrived.
Jerry Roberts
