Month: February 2011
All Quiet on the Western Front
World War I: a War so Great that it demanded a sequel.
One that topped the original.
In bloodshed.
Long after the guns fell silent on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the one thousand nine hundred and eighteenth year since the year Dennis the Small misidentified as the year Our Lord came in the flesh, the war raged on the in the memory of those caught up in the collective madness that consumed Western Christendom. The last living soldier who experienced World War I died today.
Frank Buckles was 110 years old when he died. He was 16 1/2 when he lied about his age in order to join the U.S. Army:
“I went to the state fair up in Wichita, Kansas, and while there, went to the recruiting station for the Marine Corps,” he said. “The nice Marine sergeant said I was too young when I gave my age as 18, said I had to be 21.”
Buckles returned a week later.
“I went back to the recruiting sergeant, and this time I was 21,” he said with a grin. “I passed the inspection … but he told me I just wasn’t heavy enough.”
Then he tried the Navy, whose recruiter told Buckles he was flat-footed.
Buckles wouldn’t quit. In Oklahoma City, an Army captain demanded a birth certificate.
“I told him birth certificates were not made in Missouri when I was born, that the record was in a family Bible. I said, ‘You don’t want me to bring the family Bible down, do you?'” Buckles said with a laugh. “He said, ‘OK, we’ll take you.'”
He enlisted Aug. 14, 1917, serial number 15577.
His war service wasn’t the end of Buckles’ adventures:
In the 1940s, Buckles worked for a shipping company in Manila, Philippines. He was captured by the Japanese in 1942, and spent the next three and a half years in the Los Baños prison camp. He became malnourished, with a weight below 100 lb, and developed beriberi, yet led his fellow inmates in calisthenics. He was rescued on February 23, 1945.
Buckles married after the war and moved to the farm in West Virginia where he passed away today:
When asked about the secret of his long life, Buckles replied: “Hope,” adding, “[W]hen you start to die… don’t.” He also said the reason he had lived so long was that, “I never got in a hurry.”
IKC Dog Show Chicago 2011
On Saturday I went to the IKC Chicago Dog Show. I don’t really go to see the events or judging that they typically show on TV; I like walking around and looking at all the dogs and their owners while they are being groomed and resting before and after the performances. The dogs are all so well behaved and trained and the vast majority of the owners are happy to show off their prizes, although many of the owners are extremely busy grooming so I try not to bother them.
Thinking and Memorizing, continued
Here’s a post by a pseudonymous teacher whose school is following the “21st century skills” model now being heavily promoted by various “experts.” Apparently one of the cornerstones of this approach, at least as implemented at this teacher’s school, is that content knowledge isn’t really all that important…”most content, after all, can be googled anyway.”
This post reminded me of something I wrote back in 2005, in response to other assertions by educationists to the effect that technology makes memorization unnecessary. I quoted some lines from a song by Jakob Dylan:
Cupid, don’t draw back your bow
Sam Cooke didn’t know what I know
…and observed that in order to understand these two simple lines, you’d have to know several things:
1)You need to know that, in mythology, Cupid symbolizes love
2)And that Cupid’s chosen instrument is the bow and arrow
3)Also that there was a singer/songwriter named Sam Cooke
4)And that he had a song called “Cupid, draw back your bow.”
Shutdown of the Capitol
It is past four pm central time. Four pm was the time that the Wisconsin DOA said they needed to have the capitol building cleared for cleaning and sanitation. And BOY does it need cleaning. From now on the capitol building is supposed to have regular hours.
Fox News just had a reporter assaulted there, while he was being shouted down by angry protesters.
I assume that there will be arrests. I think that footage of people being arrested, especially if it gets violent, will backfire in a huge way.
If they do not clear the capitol building, I can safely assume that we are now in an essentially lawless society and I will be taking some precautions for the safety of myself and my family. First and foremost will be not to have my wife and children anywhere near that building.