Tag: Heimatkunde
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Neighborhood note
The house kittycorner from me is a rental with an excellent landlord. For 20 years he’s always managed to keep nice decent families in the house. They change once a year or so, but they’re always fine people, usually married, often with kids and dogs. The current tenant fits the model. Right now the whole…
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It’s more about the sand
Everyone seems to recognize that Spokane has stopped bothering with snow removal. I don’t really trust my own judgment since I’m a walker, not a driver, and I don’t see areas outside my neighborhood. Still, I noticed the change in 2010. Before then, Spokane had used ample quantities of basalt sand on the roads, which…
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Reprint on Heimatkunde
Previous item about the role of geography in letting students imagine their future, reminded me that I had spent some time on this topic in 2012. This introduced the concept of Heimatkunde or Home Geography. = = = = = I was doing my 1901 thing, trying to locate a specific account of Puget Sound…
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Inland waterways
Random thought triggered by another of those Natl Assn of Mfrs films. This one was showing how Houston became a major port after building the 60-mile Houston Ship Channel. A wide variety of industries, not just oil, built factories along the channel. I knew about Houston’s role as center of the oil industry, but I’d…
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Year-end shit
Not gonna bother with a complete list. Mostly I’m just tired and used up this year, after three years of defending my soul from the “virus” monsters. Trying to step away from the keyboard into a more analog life. For my own records, this item from February is probably the best new understanding of the…
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Status all the way
Spokane had a mayoral “election” yesterday. The results seem to give a majority, not a landslide, to Lisa Brown (D) over Nadine Woodward (R). Brown will continue ruining the city, with a D label instead of an R label. There might be some differences in flavor on the question of homeless camps, but otherwise no…
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Definite and speculative
Noted on this morning’s walk… A walnut tree dropped a dozen nuts in a dozen seconds from one branch, then stopped. Caught my attention because most of them were falling on a roof, making a loud noise. The same branch on the same tree dropped nuts on the same roof during my walk a few…
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Three rings
From Phonographic World in 1889, an article that rang several of my bells. 1. This may be the first letter from an Okie in any published journal. The eastern part of Okla was in the middle of the first Land Run at that moment, and the only Euros in the state were in missions and…
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Speaking of chickens
Speaking of chickens… A free-range Rhode Island Red videobombed one of the Youtubers specializing in the Philly fentanyl folks. Chickens are scavengers who will eat anything, so they certainly belong in the same niche as rats and seagulls and humans. How did it get there? Well, chickens can fly, though like quail they prefer walking.…
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Deer
Saw a couple of deer on this morning’s long walk. The last time I saw them was 2018. I’ll take this as a sign that the universe is trying to return to normal after three years of NAZI TORTURE.
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Random overheard
Bit of conversation overheard on this aft’s walk: … and I was like Why do you want to build another electronics store? And he was like YEAAAH! So I spent another six years underground… Not the same house as previous overheard leprosy conversation, but equally mysterious. I think it might be the same guy; voice…
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Smart civil engineers
Last week the city paved a short street that has been dirt since 1910. Most city construction projects are pointless or destructive, obeying EPA or ADA grants. Building flood generators to avoid a few PPT of phosphate in a lake, or installing disabled ramps on all corners whether the block has a sidewalk or not.…
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Still more rancher rambling
Following on this and this. The standard ‘rancher’ and the standard bungalow are domesticated versions of two truly vernacular house types, which are rarely seen in books of house plans. The genuine Ranch, developed on genuine western ranches, was one room DEEP for full cross-ventilation. A Ranch is designed for the wide-open spaces. Each room…
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More pointless rancher rambling
A few days ago I was thinking about bungalows vs ranchers. I have a Poser version of a LONG rancher, which would have made the point better than the squarish rancher I ended up using. The long rancher has an attached garage so it wasn’t suitable for the turning and flipping I needed in that…
Polistra's Mill 