"The decline of Christmas"

"OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN THE APPLE STORE: THE DECLINE OF CHRISTMAS AND THE LOOMING TECH NIGHTMARE"

Instapundit links to this article by Joel Kotkin at New Geography. Kotkin begins:

In the past, this season was marked by a greater interest in divinity, the family hearth and the joy of children. Increasingly our society has been turning away from such simple human pleasures, replacing them with those of technology. 

Despite the annual holiday pageantry, in the West religion is on the decline, along with our society’s emphasis on human relationships.

I only skimmed the article-- busy taking the dogs on walks and all-- but I'd say it's worth your while to do likewise if you've a few minutes. After surveying the tech-induced decline and fall of Western Civilization, Kotkin concludes:

Whatever the advantages that we can derive from technology, this vision of the future ["transhuman," bio-machines] violates the basic moral principles of both civil society and religious faith. Before we plug ourselves in for eternity, we might consider, this holiday season, to take a non-digital path to reviving our souls, whether by reading your bible, enjoying Shakespeare, tossing a football with your kids, or simply taking a walk in the woods. Technology might help shape what humanity can do, but it cannot make us any more human. That’s up to us.

Up to us, huh? Well. Let's see how we did here on the farm, shall we? 

Our "holiday pageantry" featured

Bibles,*

Angels,

Hymns, 

beautiful Works of Art,

folksy Works of Art,

and... 

Miracle on 34th St.,

three showings (including the cartoon) of A Christmas Carol,

Rudolf, 

and... 

a LiGhTS and DisPLaY CONTeST!!

God bless us, everyone. 

December

"Winter" by Grandma Moses

December 

by Aileen Fisher

I like days

with a snow-white collar

and nights when the moon 

is a silver dollar,

and hills are filled

with eiderdown stuffing

and your breath makes smoke

like an engine puffing.

I like days

when feathers are snowing,

and all the eves

have petticoats showing, 

and the air is cold

and the wires are humming,

But you feel all warm...

with Christmas coming.

Thanksgiving Turkey

"Catching the Turkey" Grandma Moses 1940

More in the "Catching the Turkey" series here. 

Though I know little about Grandma Moses, primitivism, or art, I am a fan of Anna Mary Robertson, and enjoy looking at her work.

"A Blizzard" 1956

Let this sink in a minute

Via Instapundit at Business Insider a "Beautiful Visualization Of Nobel Prizes By Country Since 1901.

It is beautiful, isn't it?

Suggestions for further reading:

Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Edward R. Tufte. Graphic Press, Cheshire, Connecticut. 1997.

Sign, Image, Symbol. Gyorgy Kepes, ed. George Braziller, New York. 1966.

The Great Books Foundation Set One Volume Four: Aristotle, The Federalist Papers, Adam Smith. Great a Books Foundation, Chicago. 1966.

Foundations of Liberty: Independent Study Materials. Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University.

Our Wonder World: A Library of Knowledge in Ten Volumes Volume Two Invention and Industry. Howard Benjamin Grose, ed. Geo. L. Shuman & Co., Chicago and Boston. 1914.

Being a Boy. Charles Dudley Warner. Hard Press at Amazon. Offprint originally copyright date 1877.

Recipe: Fruit Dumplings

Cherry Dumplings topped with cinnamon sugar

Before we go to the recipe, I'd like to say a word or two about 'Dumpling Culture'. Dumpling Culture refers to the crappy old times in which folks ate a lot of dumplings-- usually with sauce or gravy. I will not say that those were simpler times because making dumplings is complicated business. But they were good times because dumplings are yummy. 

We used cherries rather than plums.

FRUIT DUMPLINGS

3/4 C milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 C flour (or more)
2 eggs
plums cut into pieces
cinnamon sugar

Combine milk, salt and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add flour and stir constantly until mixture is stiff and doesn't stick to spatula or pan. Remove from heat, let cool slightly. Add eggs. Roll out on a lightly floured surface. Cut into squares. Wrap each square around a plum piece. Spoon dumplings into rapidly boiling water and boil for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

At an Overgrown Vacant Lot on Laurel St. It Ain't Even Dark Yet

From America, With Love by Kathleen Winsor (1957). 

Begun happily enough, this tale soon takes a sad turn. The next morning the paddy wagon comes 'round to collect the parents who have committed the unspeakable crime of letting their kids play unsupervised-- in a vacant lot!!

Zzzzz Part II

ZZ Part I here.

Bing Crosby singing White Christmas

That was the #1 song in 1942. (Other top-selling bands/artists include such rocking names as Glen Miller, Woody Herman, and Jimmy Dorsey along with their respective orchestras.)

I did find the book I was looking for-- The Encyclopedia of American History (1965) which I've written about, it's a great book. It put me on the trail of White Christmas which I've written about. Wikipedia confirmed the song's status for '42. 

So to recap... .

ZZ Top : undergraduates in 2014 

= 

Bing Crosby : undergraduates in 1978

I don't know what to say other than go see ZZ Top in concert at Mississippi State University October 30th. 

ZZ Part I

Be there or be square.

According to that infallible source Wikipedia, ZZ Top created its signature sound during its first decade, 1973-1982. Let's use 1978 as our half-way mark thorough that decade and do a little arithmetic.

In 1978 I was a 20 year old undergraduate. 

2014 - 1978 = 36

1978 - 36 = 1942

Somewhere I have a crappy old book (or maybe two) listing top ten songs, popular bands and singers, and so on from years gone by. I'll see if I'm able to find out who was marching in the hit parade in 1942. 

But what have you read lately?

[from http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/cities/economics/most-educated-places-america/]

[from Miss M's G.M.O.Y.A. Pinterest board]

I, myself-- lowly Country Mouse from rural Mississippi that I am-- am about to read Katherine in my spare time. And finish the book about Mises. And some other crappy old books (yet to be decided upon) which I shall pack into my traveling library.

And by the way-- there are other definitions for "educated" in addition to how many years one suffered through formal schooling. Don't believe me? Look it up!

A Day Late But Still Worth Remembering

May 26, 1907 - June 11, 1979

John Wayne... was the movies' most powerful and popular embodiment of masculinity. He personified all of the qualities that were once considered admirable and good about the male sex: He was six-foot-four and broad as a horse, with a craggy face and heavy-lidded mastiff eyes, strong and generally silent but with an authoritative, resonating voice that Life magazine once described as sounding "like someone sandpapering the strings of a bass fiddle." Beyond his majestic physical presence, John Wayne created an image of heroism in this movies that stood for generations of Americans... as America's brightest beacon of moral purpose, gallantry, and honor.

[From Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Jane & Michael Stern, Harper Perennial, New York, 1992.]

Everyone knows 'John Wayne' wasn't his real name-- but did you know how he came to be 'John Wayne?' The director John Ford-- with whom he made many many epic films-- suggested he choose the name of "someone in American history he really liked, so he chose Mad Anthony Wayne, the American Revolutionary War general." 'Tony Wayne' was too Italian sounding (!) and so 'John' it was.

Your favorite John Wayne movie? 

Mayfest Meanderings

So one thing led to another today and we wound up at Mayfest-- a celebration of the founding anniversary of a little town down the road.

As a GRIT, this offended Miss M. Here's my counter: Look how fat that's lady's thighs are! She's trying real hard to be Southern. 

And then we stopped in at the junk/"antique" stores on our way home.

WE SCORED.

This is real wood. Not that flimsy teaky stuff.

:-) Life is weird. 

We already have this. And Miss M has more.

Picnic!

Stuck in Traffic

Miss M went to town yesterday

and got stuck in a traffic jam.

She said they trotted right past her car window but she couldn't snap a photo because she was, you know, driving!

etsy 2A

https://www.etsy.com/shop/2ndAmendmentJewelry

Hat tip to Aggie who found the etsy site for 2nd Amendment Jewelry. Thank you!

As you can see, Brenda and Glenda really do create their jewelry in Starkvegas, Mississippi!

Here's the necklace Daughter C got for me from their stand at the Arts Festival this weekend.

WARNING! I'm in a Bad Mood.

I'm sort of sad about the Courthouse vote. 

I tried to occupy myself today as I thought through the implications. Traffic is going to be a nightmare as they build a new courthouse.

Mr. Big Food's Dad sent me a few little ditties that cheered me up.

Missy had a Big Day! So did Rocky!!

"Ruff."

Restore Or Replace?

January 17, 2013

Things move pretty fast here in rural north central Mississippi. Just 446 days after the Courthouse burned, the citizens of my little county are voting-- in a non-binding referendum-- on whether to restore or to replace the crappy old Courthouse.

We've been debating this-- and by "we" I mean the county supervisors and other officials, the mayor of the little village which is the county seat (who just happens to be an architect specializing in old building restoration), Mr. & Mrs. County citizen, and folks who haven't lived here in a coon's age but just happen to have been born here-- for over a year. These discussions (along with my Books Bygone column) have kept the weekly county newspaper in business! Some fellow even wrote poems about the Courthouse that appeared in the newspaper. And a coalition of citizens had machine-made signs made up supporting restoration!

We also are being sued by the company that insured the courthouse. And almost lost our opportunity at a half-million dollar grant for restoration. 

Diddle daddle.

The Supes (as we call our supervisors) finally decided to put the question to the People. 

Today Mr. Big Food and I voted. O'course, we couldn't vote where we usually do because our polling place burned down. I was #56 to vote in our precinct. 

This is such a BIG DEAL the mainstream media out of Tupelo even sent a reporter to cover the event!

I might be on television!!!

Look! Girls! I Made A Video!!

The final still. 

It ain't great, photo-wise, but it was a lot easier to upload.

Happy Birthday, Miss M. We all hope you had a great day.

Love you!

A Crappy Old Book about a Crappy Old Magazine

Field & Stream Treasury: Memorable Articles and Stories From the Pages of America's Number One Sportsman's Magazine (1955)

I'm cleaning my desktop. It tends to accumulate a lot of crappy old books that either need to be returned to their homes or find homes somewhere besides my desk.

I'd forgotten all about this one which I picked up last Friday at the Book Mart in downtown Starkvegas. You remember the Book Mart-- 

I was puzzled by the arbitrary pricing, but I gathered up my two little crappy old books-- leaving Madame Currie: A Biography by Eve Curie (1939; on sale for $29) and The Ultimate T-Shirt Book: Creating Your Own Unique Designs (1998; $14.95) on the shelf and headed downstairs to the cash register. 
"That will be $7.49, ma'am," the well-mannered young man informed me.
My articulate response was, "Huh?"
"The prices on these old used books don't mean anything. We discount them."
I asked what system-- what percentage-- was taken off because a 2/3 discount seemed rather odd, I was told there was none. He just looks at the book and how old it is and how yellow the pages are and decides on a price. This is a change since I'd last been in the bookstore.
"Hang on a minute," I said as I ran back upstairs. 
I'm all for free-wheeling capitalism, but this pricing system strikes me as a bit arbitrary.

Typically I file books about sports under the Sports section in the Bunkhouse. But this one is such a gem I think I'll try to keep it handy.

I should do a post on politically incorrect advertising. I've got more than enough material.

And now, to find places for Toynbee's Mankind and Mother Earth: A Narrative History of the World (1976; published posthumously) and Bennett's The De-Valuing of America: The Fight for Our Culture and Our Children (1992).

DG

Without your knowledge, I have just placed you, my dear loyal readers, into one of two categories: 1) DG? WTF does DG stand for? OR 2) Oh, I see! A post about Dollar General! How exciting!!

You may find yourself in the former category if you've had no exposure to the "largest small-box discount retailer" in the nation.

offering a remarkable variety of everyday items.

11,000 stores in 40 states

Oh oh. What will Daughter C do??

Or you may be in the former category because you are... well... "storist"-- one who has a preconceived notion of what a Dollar General store is and that's just not good enough for you. (Perhaps you can afford to overpay for paper towels. 99% of us cannot.)

The Dollar General store in a small town is the great equalizer. One is just as likely to be in line behind a bedraggled family doing its weekly grocery shopping as one is to be in line behind the bespectacled county attorney buying a pack of legal pads. Christine-- the check out lady whose niece runs the gas station/plate lunch restaurant just down the road from us-- knows all of our names.

Speaking of equalizers-- did you seen this the other day?

Gunman invades Dollar General, meets concealed carry permit holder.

This happened in Orrsville, Alabama. We looked Orrsville up on the map. Who walks into a DG in Orrsville, Alabama and doesn't see this coming? Some people just aren't cut out for a life of crime.

How old does a book have to be

before it gets my "crappy old book" designation?

Apparently not as old as once I thought.

Those who read along on an even semi-regular basis know I love crappy old books. I have a lot of crappy old books. I get most of them from junk stores and usually shell out one United States Dollar for each. I've got over 1200 volumes. Sure. Included are a complete set of Zane Grey and a bunch of crappy old cookbooks and several sets of encyclopedias. I have preserved a fair amount of Western Culture for a buck a book.

As you know, I am a BIG fan of the philosophical underpinnings of the Declaration of Independence, and of the Constitution of the United States of America.  I get that when one calls oneself a Libertarian with a BIG L one has to be able to argue for the big L. So my library is my resource. And yes, I have books in my library that are antithetical to my view. I do not like WEBDuBoise but I have some of his books. And I think Russel is a blowheart but I have one of his zillion autobiographies AND his history of philosophy. It does take all kinds. These are outweighed in kind and number by the books I have trumpeting the "American experiment", all written before Wilson. 

So it was a little out of character for me to have spent a buck on Bennett's The Death of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals (1998). 1998 is too new, It's not crappy old.

But I bought it. And then I read it.

In the introduction I wrote that if the arguments made in defense of Bill Clinton become the coin of the public realm, we will have committed an unthinking act of moral and intellectual disarmament. Here is one specific example of what is now becoming a thoroughly mainstream, perfectly respectable point of view: in order to cover up an adulterous relationship between the president and a young White House Intern, acts of perjury and obstruction of justice should be considered inconsequential. That this matter is even a subject of a serious national debate is revealing and alarming. It is the New York Times which offered this eloquent reminder of what was once a common, elementary grade civics lesson:

"Law is the keystone of American society and political culture. If it does not apply to small matters concerning this president, the day will come when the public will be asked to believe that it should be ignored in large matters concerning some other president. Neither Mr. Clinton's political convenience nor Mr. Starr's clumsiness must tempt us into paying so high a price. The rule of law, whether applied to matters trivial or grand, is the central magic of the American governmental experience. To abandon it today will lead to peril tomorrow."

WTF do I care?

WTF do you care?

I do care. Call me a corny old country mouse. I care. I'm not seeing how that end-round suit is going to go very far. But SOMEONE has to do SOMETHING.

And to bring this back down to the real world... the boys were crow hunting. I asked them to pickup their shotgun shells.

Books Bygone: The Life of Anna Mary Robertson

 

Courtesy Wikipaintings.org

I have a new essay out in our little weekly newspaper. It's online at the paper's site but behind a paywall-- you may want to subscribe so you so you can keep up with what's happening. (Extra! Extra! There was an arrest made in the school flag theft!)

The essay is also available here, along with all of the others.

Daughter C did a dramatic reading last evening for our Cincinnati Friends.* She says this one is her favorite!

*below