GEORGE WASHINGTON GETTING READY TO GO! The year is 1732. George Washington is born to his father, Augustine, and his second wife, 23- year-old Mary Ball. The home is simple, along Pope's Creek off the Potomac River. Not far upstream is the Fall Line where our interior eastern rivers "fall" off their higher Piedmont basement [...]
Category: Blog
The Forum Romanum
THE FORUM ROMANUM Perhaps you've been there before, or just wanted to go. You know, "Et tu, Brute?" That was Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Don't we learn most about ourselves and our history through Shakespeare and the Bible? That is what Orson Wells thought, but he also thought we were being invaded by Martians. At least [...]
Making Soap in Shelby County
MAKING SOAP IN SHELBY COUNTY I teach the four general categories of organic compounds in my Junior College class. "Organic" originally meant that such a compound was produced by life forms. Not always the case, but a good enough definition for this essay. The four categories are carbohydrates (simple sugars, starch, cellulose), proteins (amino [...]
When Radio Ruled
WHEN RADIO RULED When I came of age, television had invaded our lives. Ed Sullivan showed us the Beatles, and the nightly news showed us the daily body counts of the dead in Vietnam. Civil Rights, and the Women's Movement. Revolution in our culture. Rebellion in our generation. But change had had preceded us. [...]
Without William Hartnell, there would be no Dr. Who!
WITHOUT WILLIAM HARTNELL, THERE WOULD BE NO DOCTOR WHO! Jennifer Lawrence is a big Louisville movie star. Oscar caliber talent in "Winter's Bone." She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in "Silver Linings Playbook." But perhaps her most popular roles are in "The Hunger Games" and "X-Men." Fantasy and science fiction film features. [...]
The Protean Life of a Vernian Flight
THE PROTEAN LIFE OF A VERNIAN FLIGHT Scientist, sailor, continental trader. Playwright, poet, lawyer, dreamer. We are all familiar with the famous characters of Jules Verne and the places he took them in exploration. Not just on the land, but in our struggles upon those spaces wherein we live today. He had fought them just [...]
A Jules Vernian Voyage to Kentucky
A JULES VERNIAN VOYAGE TO KENTUCKY My mother was French. French-American as I look back on her lineage now. Good names. Good families. Just like yours. We all have had such similar backgrounds, or I wouldn't be writing, and you wouldn't be reading, this recitation. Congratulations to us all. My mother was a Charette, a [...]
The Caves, Cane, and Coal of Kentucky
THE CAVES, CANE, AND COAL OF KENTUCKY "Paradise" is what the first European explorers called Kentucky. And Kentucky still fashions itself as a Commonwealth. But it was known to many people, plants, and animals long before Thomas Walker crossed the Cumberland Gap in 1750, Christopher Gist visited Lower Shawneetown in 1751, or John Findley showed [...]
Surrounding Munfordville
SURROUNDING MUNFORDVILLE Kentucky. In the center of that Common Wealth. At the crossroads. The Green River running west, and Interstate 65 north and south. You have driven passed Munfordville many times. Why didn't you stop? Confederate General Braxton Bragg and Union General Don Carlos Buell stopped there. Fought there. For there is where the Louisville [...]
Three Rivers in the Civil War
THREE RIVERS IN THE CIVIL WAR Why is it called "Civil?" It was anything but. Still isn't. And to me, no buts when it comes to the carnage. Lives torn away from homes and families. Then bodies. And, in Kentucky, armies lined up along three rivers. The Cumberland, Green, and Tennessee Rivers. When Confederate [...]
The Mighty Mucal Mussels of the Muddy Moving Mansions!
MIGHTY MUCAL MUSSELS OF THE MUDDY MOVING MANSIONS Lucky am I, to look after my interests. Listen to my heartbeats. Fashion my feelings. Lucky am I, to focus on meanings. Seeing the real things. Touching with reason. That moving within me. That living without. Have we too easily escaped the shallows? Where we could have followed [...]
The Sea Peoples
THE SEA PEOPLES Rarely is change so complete. So damaging. So replete. Maybe when the Neanderthals were killed off? When the Roman Empire collapsed? When Chinese dynasties died? Catastrophic change. And none greater than the destruction of the great Mycenaean Palace states of Greece and the Middle East. Empires of chariots and bronze! Who did [...]
The World Order That Collapsed Before
THE WORLD ORDER THAT COLLAPSED BEFORE We often think that new weapons change the balance of power. Chariots in old Egypt. Nuclear bombs in World War II. And now, nuclear weapons in North Korea. It is tempting to believe that the great collapse of the late Bronze Age civilizations, around 1,200 B.C. in the Mediterranean, [...]
Federal Trademark for “Bareham Tsuga Press”
AKHENATEN, TUT, AND ZANNANZA!
AKHENATEN, TUT, AND ZANNANZA! "My husband is dead. I have no son. But they say that you have many sons. If you would give me one of your sons, he would become my husband." And Pharaoh! The request is in Akkadian cuneiform, but from the wife of an Egyptian King. It is written to Suppiluliuma, [...]
THUTMOSE III OF EGYPT: GREATER THAN EITHER ALEXANDER OR NAPOLEON?
THUTMOSE III OF EGYPT: GREATER THAN EITHER ALEXANDER OR NAPOLEON? Power is a growing fire. The more it consumes, the larger the slaughter. It is only bound by the fuel it finds. Opportunity found to grow and follow. Follow a Pharaoh willing to wield its power. Follow him to Canaanite Megiddo. Chariots race the Jezreel [...]
HATSHEPSUT, THUTMOSE, AKHENATEN, AND TUT; THE PRICE OF POWER IN THE 18TH DYNASTY!
HATSHEPSUT, THUTMOSE, AKHENATEN, AND TUT; THE PRICE OF POWER IN THE 18TH DYNASTY! It had to do with a splendid security. Life leavening waters following long, linear banks. A green-fringed river flowing north, flooding north, through the cruelest of deserts. Water! Food! Food for many! And many man made monuments celebrating gods and rulers for [...]
Egyptian Obelisks and their Teeth of Time
EGYPTIAN OBELISKS AND THEIR TEETH OF TIME Obelisk. That is a Greek term meaning "meat skewer." The ancient Egyptians called them Tekhenu. And they made still smaller monuments called Stelae. The great Assyrian King Ashurbanipal boasted about being the first to steal an obelisk from Egypt in 663 B.C. "Two tall pillars made out of [...]
Vascular Plants of Allen Dale Farm, Shelby County, Kentucky
The Historical Geography of Boston
Bunker Hill! Well, Breed's Hill, actually. And not really part of Boston, then. It lay across the Charles River on a peninsula that looked like an island. That is where Charlestown was established. Now it is a nice, upscale residential area with the Bunker Hill monument in the middle. The USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides" (which [...]
The Yemen of Old
THE YEMEN OF OLD I am fascinated by Yemen. Frankincense and myrrh, spectacular Aden of the spice trade, ancient Saana, the Marib dam, the Port of Mocha, and the lands opposite on the Horn of Africa. But not by its tragic, almost unceasing civil wars. Nor do I seek to wallow in the world [...]
Giants of Gas and Ice
GIANTS OF GAS AND ICE We pass by, as if we fly, or if you wish to sail the sky, within your craft a sailboat be, atop the solar sea beside. Remember Apollo 8 and the first picture of "Earth-Rise" beyond the moon. You are farther away now. In the realm of giants! They are [...]
The Rocky Planets
THE ROCKY PLANETS Why do you want to get off this one? There are no gods to visit on those spinning orbs, and they are not very nice places on which to live. Let's take a quick look in our scientific shuttle. THE SUN Nope. Don't want to go there. Nuclear explosions. Fusion. The conversion [...]
The Family Human-part 3
THE FAMILY HUMAN - part 3Neanderthal PeopleThe excitement began when bones were first discovered in the Neander Valley in Germany in 1856. It was Homo neanderthalensis, a cousin that evolved in Eurasia about 450,000 years ago.Neanderthal People had been widespread in Europe and Asia, and living strong and long before our species arose in the [...]
The Family Human-Part 2
THE FAMILY HUMAN - Part 2 Homo habilis The "Handy Man," Homo habilis, was discovered in the Olduvai Gorge of East Africa. Upright and capable of making primitive "pebble stone" choppers from 2.5 million years ago. "Oldowan" tools, we call them. That was a long time ago. Handy Man never left Africa. But [...]
The Family Human, Part 1
THE FAMILY HUMAN, Part 1 Well, Huwoman in actuality. Without the latter, you don't get the former. Hominids for this essay. The family Hominidae includes the Great Apes: Orangutans, Gorillas, and Chimpanzees. Humans are also classified as Great Apes. And we act that way sometimes. We are all in the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Class [...]
The Dzungarian Gate
THE DZUNGARIAN GATE And what it is not, location is. And here is the place. A 3,000-mile, nearly impenetrable chain of mountains blockading China from the rest of Eurasia. 1.4 billion people, and all looking to get out. Or at least to expand a little, like they did in 471 A.D. THE TIAN CHAN [...]
DILMUN: THE PLACE YOU NEVER HEARD OF!
DILMUN: THE PLACE YOU NEVER HEARD OF Pottery shards. Pottery shards and flint flakes. You look for them, don't you? I do. They are like movie tickets for the latest film. The one that's already been shown. A film that seems to halt the flow of time long enough to look at the product of its [...]
Gilgamesh
GILGAMESH You see him every winter evening on a clear night. And when it is cloudy, he sees you. He is the oldest myth of the humankind, and the first to be placed in the heavens to honor their power. And he kinda, sorta, looks like a person. Not like one of those later Greek [...]
Special Metals and Useful Minerals
PALLADIUM It is worth more than gold! What is Palladium? One atom with 46 protons. Where does it come from? God, if you consider suns exploding into supernovas to be such an expression of wonder. Where is it now? In your car, the catalytic converter. Palladium is a catalyst that allows unburned exhaust to [...]
The Trouble with Trilobites
DON'T STEP THERE! Yikes! Look down where you stand. Walk with care. Trilobites are everywhere! Well, at least here in Kentucky. Pick up a rock in your stream. Chances are that it contains trilobites. Or maybe just parts of them. That's the problem. We want it all now. A big, beautiful, completely whole [...]
The Story of the Horse in America
YIPEEI-YO-KIY-YAEEI! That's Gene Autry in the 1935 science fiction western serial entitled, "The Phantom Empire." He was one of the first actors in movie serials to play himself. You see, Autry wasn't a trained actor. And he couldn't ride very well either. But director William Witney could. And he taught Autry how to handle a horse. The great horsemanship [...]