Tag: Heimatkunde
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Bad marketing, halfway good idea
Via the local newspaper: Some state legislators want to add “creating a signature” to civics classes. The marketing focuses on John Hancock, but the proposal is somewhat more meaningful than the usual civics crap. It turns out that poor signatures are a real problem for voting officials. Mail ballots require a signature which is checked…
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Distillate?
Thought-provoking observation from Chris Arnade, who knows lots of places: If a foreigner asks me which single US city to visit to understand America, I would say Chicago. LA/SF are coded as an Asian city, NYC/Boston European, Miami Latin America, but Chicago is very much an American city. Caught my attention since I’m thinking about…
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Glamorous?
Somebody on substack said “People think traveling for work is glamorous.” … then showed some of the unglamorous places she traveled to. I never thought it was glamorous. Back in the 70s I traveled for work, mainly driving a 1955 Ford flatbed truck, and went to faraway places with strange-sounding names like Meade and Goltry.…
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Normal Spokane
Spokane has been comparatively quiet for a while, now back to normal…. 24000 East Mission (Liberty Lake), Reported naked male on a balcony threatening to jump. Also reported male is throwing swords off the balcony. I’m curious. How do you organize a sword collection for easy throwing? And how do you store your sword collection…
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Positive signs from the neighborhood
For 20 years a vacant apartment building was the worst thing in the neighborhood, constantly squatted and constantly visited by cops who weren’t allowed to do anything. This situation was NOT understandable. The property was owned by an LLC who could afford to fix things if they wanted to.** In 2017 the squatters burned the…
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Raking record
Time to start the roof-raking record for this winter. As always, this should be in my private daily worklog, but I started doing it here, so I’ll continue the tradition. = = = = Last winter started late and needed only one raking. First raking this year Jan 8. Depth was 3″, not necessarily enough…
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Book didn’t disappoint
Somebody on substack recommended ‘A Field Guide to American Houses’ by McAlester. Recommended books are often disappointing but this one turned out to be splendid, just right for repeated browsing. It’s packed with actual lived-in houses, not architectural dreams. The ‘field guide’ classifies all American houses, starting with the huts and tipis of the old…
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Year end shit for 2025
I guess I’ll turn this 2014 reprint into the annual Year End Shit. It’s a heartfelt piece expressing how I feel about the world, and has some up-to-date resonance. Normally I try to reprint or link my best tech history piece or my best blog writing. This year I’ve been tired and distracted by external…
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Winter is here!
Winter is here! Caught me by surprise. Fortunately all the current errands are done.
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Less urban
Random observation spawned by looking closely at towns in Massachusetts for my next tech history item. The downtown areas in smaller Mass towns look much less urban than the downtowns in Kansas and Oklahoma small towns. In Mass, industrial buildings and stores are mixed randomly among houses and apartments. In the plains, stores are grouped…
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400 year sync
Evan Barker’s podcast on the NYC win by Mamdani accidentally creates a 400 year resonance. One of her guests is smoking the modern vape version of an old Dutch long pipe. Strange as it Seems was the best of the 1930s human interest podcasts. My favorite episode dramatizes New Amsterdam’s governor Willem Keeft, a petty…
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Not entirely predictable
This is one of the EXTREMELY RARE cases where journalists actually work both ways. Via Nieman, journalists have universally derided Trump’s Napoleonic effort to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. This, of course, is more predictable than gravity. Journalists NEVER go along with anything ordered by Official Wrong Party. Locally, journalists…
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Followup
Nice followup to previous item. The Spokesman lists results of a survey conducted for several years. = = = = = START QUOTE: About 70% of survey takers said they lacked confidence in their local government to effectively address their concerns, still better than 80% in the last survey in April. Respondents rated their quality…
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More Democrat campaigners for Trump
Deadpan reporting from SpokaneNews: 22300 East Appleway Ave, caller reports a naked male in the parking lot. Reported the male has entered the business and is refusing to leave. Stating he had a venomous snake thrown on him One in custody = = = = = If this is “democracy”, we need a king.
Polistra's Mill 