Tag: Heimatkunde
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Brief fashion, random memory
Noticed this article in an old appliance dealer mag. Central vacuum systems were trendy in the 60s, but never widespread. When we lived at the top of the hill in Manhattan, a rich prof built a new house next to ours. He had Euro connections and owned the first Squareback I’d ever seen, brought directly…
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Fucking up everything
In previous item I mentioned that the Hudsons Bay Company had been the first explorer of the Columbia basin around here. Now it turns out that Trump is fucking with the Columbia along with every other damn thing. The Columbia starts in BC and flows into Wash, then turns west toward the ocean. Water is…
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Landmark dies
Hudsons Bay Company, a historical landmark, is closing down. Another victim of the endless march of globalizing and financializing. HBC is the oldest company in North America by definition. At the start it WAS the British part of North America. Most of Canada and US except the east coast were controlled by HBC. It was…
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Itemizing national pride
Interesting piece at TheHub on how Canadian wine drinkers can stop buying US wine. His first suggestion is excellent. The rain-shadow zone of BC is identical in climate and soil to the rain-shadow part of Washington. Any grape that grows around Wenatchee will also grow around Kelowna. The author says BC does have some vineyards…
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Today is Life in the Cracks Day
From the National Days website: The Festival of Life in the Cracks Day on March 10 celebrates the sprouting of greenery in the cracks of sidewalks and walls to commemorate the coming of springtime. This annual event acknowledges the complexity of the cycle of life and how renewal and rebirth are integral parts of it.…
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Correction Line Road
Musing about rectangular vs polar views of the world led to an old memory. Once in the 80s I visited a friend who had moved to the country near Dodge City. He lived on Correction Line Road. The name has nothing to do with jails. It has everything to do with the Louisiana Purchase and…
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Not a citizen
A couple weeks ago I detailed a Zillow listing in Manhattan that closely resembled the house my family occupied from 1957 to 1962. In bed tonight as a sheep-counting exercise I tried enumerating the neighbors I remember in those two blocks. Somewhat geographically: Adams, fireman. Matthews, city engineer. Danskin, prof of counseling. (Unknown name), Ft…
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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. 2/6/2025 First raking of the season. EXTREMELY late; normally most of the…
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I’m everywhere!
Social media relies on your iPhone to keep you located at all times. For “underprivileged” nonphoners the location can be way off, which is just fine by me. In the real world I live in the northwest corner of Spokane. When I was using Comcast, most websites claimed I was in Millwood at the east…
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Indulging a time capsule
On impulse I looked at Zillow for Manhattan, wondering about the houses my parents owned. Didn’t find any of them, but this one is close. It’s part of the huge Phelps Addition. Phelps built exactly two floor plans during the ’50s, then switched to a slightly larger plan in the ’60s. My parents owned one…
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Cherokee Terrace (WPA)
EnidBuzz showed a fairly new ‘midcentury modern’ store that wasn’t present in the ’70s when I lived there. The building is now on the national historic register, which seems surprising. I got curious and looked up the other Enid sites. Unsurprisingly the WPA project Cherokee Terrace is on the list. I used to see the…
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Gotta be branded
Pew takes a highly detailed look at the religions in Congress, comparing them with the general population. The big conclusion: Congress has more Christians than the country. The details reveal a more subtle distinction. Congress belongs to named religions far more than Americans. In percents, Congress vs America: Overall Protestant 55 to 40. Baptist 14…
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Nobody gives a fuck about this.
Spokane News facebook page just published: = = = = = We reached out to the Medical Examiner and asked how many Fatal Drug Overdoses happened in 2024. Here is the response: Confirmed Fatal Drug Overdoses of 2024: 336 This number will likely rise once pending toxicology results are received back to our office. =…
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Brilliant!
Stoller is on a roll. People who make a lot of money from killing people with spreadsheets like to pretend to be very offended when anyone points out health care is a matter of life and death. Brilliant line. Direct echo of a perfect song for our times. Some will rob you with a six-gun,…
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The gardener
Local magazine The Inlander has an article highlighting each of the official Neighborhoods. This Neighborhood includes Boulevard Park along with larger areas to the south and north. The article gives a special salute to the work of Norbert Leute, who decided to improve the Boulevard in 2020. Googlestreets shows part of his work: The real…
Polistra's Mill 