January 18, 2008
Without the fanfare the act deserves, Elektratig has been revealing secrets of the history of Millard Fillmore, including this one, “Millard Fillmore, fulcrum of history.
Fillmore’s role in the creation and passage of the Compromise of 1850 may be more substantial than most accounts of the time allow.
In any case, for our much-overlooked 13th president, Electratig points researchers to more information to tell the story. He’s got several posts on Fillmore, more than a dozen in the recent past; noodle around and find all of them. For example:
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5 Comments | 
Civil War, Historic documents, History, History blogs, Millard Fillmore, Politics | Tagged: Civil War, History, Know-Nothings, Millard Fillmore, Politics | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
January 17, 2008
Today is the 302nd anniversary of the birth of Ben Franklin (1706-1790).
At one time, this was the only day of the year on which a tornado had not been recorded in the U.S. Does anyone know: Is that still so?
Happy birthday, Ben. And, happy Ben’s birthday, America. We were lucky to have him.
Image and Quicktime Movie from Franklin Institute
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1 Comment | Ben Franklin, Heroes, History | Tagged: Ben Franklin, Heroes, History | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 17, 2008
Beautiful, indeed!
I’ve often recommended students diagram the Preamble to the Constitution, to better understand the source of authority in our government (“We, the People”).
Betsy (I have no surname) sent me a link to this:
Preamble to the Constitution as your English teacher wishes you would have diagrammed it.
Sentence diagram of the Preamble to the Constitution. GIF version
The work is done at a the site of Capital Community College, their “Guide to Grammar and Writing.”
Here’s the Preamble as it usually appears:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I wonder: Has anyone diagrammed the Mayflower Compact?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Betsy at The Reality Based News Feed, and to Boing Boing.
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5 Comments | Historic documents, History, History images, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Grammar, History, Law, Preamble, U.S. Constitution | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 17, 2008
Earlier than I expected, in the wee hours of this morning this blog slipped over 400,000 clicks, 400,000 page views.
To the core fans of the site: Thank you. To random visitors: Thank you, and come back.
The spam-to-comment ratio is horrendous, but WordPress’s Akismet makes that very manageable. The comment to visit rate is too low, too, but I suppose that means I’m avoiding some of the needless controveries that build comment traffic.
Gee, I wish I had a nickle for every visit . . .
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2 Comments | Administrivia | Tagged: Administrivia, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 16, 2008
January’s meeting still has the item on the agenda, officially, but the actual vote won’t come without considerably more study.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board had been scheduled to consider the proposal by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research at a meeting Jan. 24.But Eddy Miller, dean of the institute’s graduate school, said in an e-mail to the coordinating board Monday that the school needs more time “to do justice to the concerns you raised,” according to a news release issued by the coordinating board. Miller asked the board to delay consideration of the matter until its April meeting.
Texas’s science community panned the motion. Rumors say many of Texas’s top scientists wrote or called to urge disapproval of the motion.
There’s still time to send a letter calling for a stand for good, hard science. Details, as always, at the Texas Citizens for Science page.
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3 Comments | Creationism, Education, Education quality, Higher education, Religion, Science, Texas, Texas Citizens for Science | Tagged: Creationism, education standards, Religion, Science, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 15, 2008
Utah’s Cache Valley is home to the city of Logan, and to Utah State University, the land-grant college for the state. For several humorous reasons, some of them good, the place sometimes is called Happy Valley.
Small county in a beautiful setting + good university with a good school of education = good conditions for teacher recruiting. Logan’s schools have been very good over the years, in academics and all forms of competition.
As we discovered with the voucher fiasco in 2007, Utah’s education situation is not completely happy any more. Classrooms are crowded, teachers are overworked, and for the first time since the Mormon pioneers first settled Utah, educational achievement is declining.
The editorial board at Logan’s Herald-Journal noticed the problems. It’s tough to recruit teachers. If Milton Friedman were alive, we’d look for a classic free-market economics solution, something like raising teacher pay to stop the exodus from the profession.
Milton Friedman is dead. His ghost doesn’t seem to have much clout in Logan, Utah, either. What does the Herald-Journal propose? Loosen standards, look for uncertified people to teach.
When people leave the job they worked hard to earn certification for, what will happen with people who are not certified and are untrained in classroom management?
Why not just raise teacher pay, and attract more well-trained teachers?
Let me ask the key question, more slowly this time so I’m sure it’s caught: Why not just raise teacher pay?
Fishing for teachers? Bait the hook with money.
(Full Herald-Journal opinion below the fold.)
Read the rest of this entry »
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2 Comments | Economics, Education, Education quality, Education reform, Teacher Pay, Teaching | Tagged: Education, Politics, Teacher Pay, Utah | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 15, 2008
A few days ago, via Peoples Geography, I discovered the work of graffiti artist Banksy — rather behind the curve, judging from his history. I posted a particularly provocative work of his in this post within the past week.
Today CBS Evening News and other outlets report some enterprising building owner in London who recognized Banksy’s work, preserved it, and has auctioned it away on eBay. It fetched $407,000 US. (CBS video here)
The work, depicting an artist in old-fashioned clothes putting the finishing touches on the word “BANKSY” spray-painted in red, was scrawled on a wall on the Portobello Road in the west London district of Notting Hill.
It was offered for sale on the e-Bay auction site and went for 208,100 pounds after attracting 69 bids.
The winner of the auction may well get the painting and the wall it is on, but they will have to calculate how to get the whole work delivered and pay to replace the wall.
“I am selling the wall because I can’t really justify owning a piece of art worth as much as it is,” said Luti Fagbenle, the owner of the property on which the graffiti is sprayed.
A political cartoon changed the life of one London building owner.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Art, Cartoons, Dissent, Political cartoons, Travel | Tagged: Art, Banksy, Dissent, eBay, Media | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 15, 2008
Is this a state school board member urging teacher unions and — heavens to Betsy! — a strike? Tim Beagley, at Educating Utah:
In very real terms, I’m afraid that the reason the teaching profession has fallen so far is that teachers have allowed it to happen. In the face of ridiculously low wages and poor academic environments, teachers keep showing up and going through the motions of their job. That must change if the system is going to improve. We need (and I believe would ALL be well served) for teachers to be more forceful with their demands for respect and dignity. The standards that our accountability plans are based upon should be high and the expectations teachers have of us need to be just as high and stringent. There was a time when the teacher was known to be one of the most respected and strongest members of society. We need to get back to that. Respect and dignity are likely products of strength.
His post reminds one of Bill Bennett’s old “$50,000 solution” — hire a good principal, which in 1986 and 1987, would run about $50,000 (it’s higher now).
When will legislators and school boards really get the message that to make our schools competitive, we have to hire people who can make them compete, which means we need to compete against other hiring authorities to get the best?
Beagley is a member of the Utah State Board of Education, and a biology professor at Salt Lake Community College.
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3 Comments | Education quality, Education reform, Education spending, Labor and unions, Teacher Pay | Tagged: Education, Teacher Pay, teacher unions | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 14, 2008
State legislatures shouldn’t micromanage the classroom, parents should monitor student progress, and students should take difficult classes, to get a better education. Utah math teacher Allen Barney lists inexpensive — and unlikely — methods for improving education, in Salt Lake City’s Deseret Morning News.
Read the rest of this entry »
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4 Comments | Education, Education quality, Education reform, Teacher Pay, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 14, 2008
Florida may be ahead in the race to see which state can get slapped down first for illegally denying science to students in public school science classes. The problem in national, however.
It’s not always a question of setting standards. Sometimes teachers are told to dumb down classes, regardless the standards. Fort Bend County, Texas, offers an example: “Religious Beliefs Trump Thinking In Our Schools.”
No, Fort Bend County is not in rural, far west Texas. It’s just southeast of Houston, Texas’ biggest city.
Be sure to scan the comments, too.
Belated tip of the old scrub brush to Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
Read the rest of this entry »
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2 Comments | Biology, Creationism, Religion, Science, State school boards, Teaching, TEKS, Texas | Tagged: Creationism, Education, Evolution, Religion, Science, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 13, 2008
Thomas Nast helped bring down the crooks at Tammany Hall with cartoons. Boss Tweed, the chief antagonist of Nast, crook and leader of the Tammany Gang, understood that Nast’s drawings could do him in better than just hard hitting reporting — the pictures were clear to people who couldn’t read.
But a cartoon has to get to an audience to have an effect.
Here’s one below, a comment on the security wall being built in Israel, that got very little circulation in the west at Christmas time. Can you imagine the impact had this drawing run in newspapers in Europe, the U.S., and Canada?
It’s a mashup of a famous oil painting related to the Christian Nativity, from a London-based artist who goes by the name Banksy. (Warning: Banksy pulls no punches; views shown are quite strong, often very funny, always provocative, generally safe for work unless you work for an authoritarian like Dick Cheney who wants no counter opinions.)
Tip of the old scrub brush to Peoples Geography.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | Art, Cartoons, Dissent, History, Palestine, Political cartoons | Tagged: Art, Banksy, Cartoons, Dissent, Israel's Wall, Mary and Joseph, Media, Palestine, Political cartoons, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 13, 2008
January 13, 1794, President George Washington signed the law adding two stars and two stripes to the U.S. flag, after Vermont and Kentucky joined the union.
This was the only U.S. flag ever officially to have more than 13 stripes.
Replica of the flag flown during the War of 1812, with 15 stripes and 15 stars. Very few examples of a 15-stripe flag remain. The flag that flew over Ft. McHenry, the original “Star-spangled Banner,” is one. This replica flies in the peace garden in Oswego, New York.
The “Star-spangled Banner” that flew over Ft. McHenry, near Baltimore, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem which was put to music to form our national anthem, had 15 stripes. President James Monroe signed a law in 1818 that specified 13 stripes, with a new star to be added on July 4 of any year after a new state was added, a practice which has held through our current 50-star, 13-stripe flag.
Tennessee was the 16th state. I have been unable to clarify what happened with the number of stripes between Tennessee’s admission to the union on June 1, 1796, and the law passed in the Monroe administration in 1818. Does anyone know? Got links?
More (added after August 2013):
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20 Comments | Flag etiquette, History, Patriotism | Tagged: flag, History, Patriotism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 12, 2008
There’s a fun blog, Tugster: A Waterblog, that usually features photos of tugs that ply the waters around New York City. Good to wonderful photos; and I’ve been hoping for a reason to mention the blog.
Here’s one: What do you see peeking through the trees and wires?
It’s the masts of the barque Peking, a sailing ship built for a German shipping company in 1911 — the same year the Titanic was built. This was a freight hauler, used originally to take nitrates mined in South America to Europe.
After a relatively long sailing career, the ship has been retired as a museum ship at the South Street Seaport Museum (a great place to visit when you get to New York). It’s in dry dock right now, which is where these photos were taken.
Tugster points to a lot of details, with several photos. It’s interesting to see a ship of the vintage of the Titanic, out of water. It’s interesting to see one of the faster sailing ships, especially one built for use in the 20th century. You can see how the technology of ships and shipbuilding allowed for faster sail vessels; this is part of the story of how technologies get eclipsed, too — when sailing could no longer keep up with steam, advances in sailing ships slowed to a stop.
This was one of the last, fast sailing vessels built — one of a chain of “flying P-liners.”
Get on over to Tugster and see what you can do with the photos, and the history.
4-masted barque Peking under sail, in the River Thames, unknown year. The ship was originally named Arethusa. Wikimedia photo
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5 Comments | Capturing history, Geography - Economic, History, Museums, Technology, Transportation, Travel, World War I | Tagged: Barque Peking, Economics, foreign trade, History, sailing ships, South Street Seaport Museum, Technology, Tugster | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 12, 2008
. . . would still be a Texas town.
But Texas towns have some of the best names of towns in the U.S. Plus, there are a lot of Texas towns, plus 254 Texas counties.
Freckles Cassie at Political Teen Tidbits has a great list:
Need to be cheered up?
Happy, Texas 79042
Pep, Texas 79353
Smiley, Texas 78159
Paradise, Texas 76073
Rainbow, Texas 76077
Sweet Home, Texas 77987
Comfort, Texas 78013
Friendship, Texas 76530
Go see the entire list — and maybe add a few of your favorites in the comments. An ambitious geography teacher could make a couple of great exercises out of those lists. “What’s the shortest distance one would have to drive to visit Paris, Italy, Athens and Santa Fe? How many could you visit in the shortest time?”
See updated version, here, with more links.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
4 Comments | Geography - Political, History, Maps, Place Names, Texas, Travel | Tagged: geography, History, Maps, Place Names, Texas, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 12, 2008
The East Aurora (New York) Advertiser brings news that Millard Fillmore has offered himself as a candidate for president in 2008.
No flip-flops — as he points out, he has not changed any position in more than 100 years.
Perhaps surprisingly, he has remarkably progressive views on issues of 2008.
Second Reporter:
Mr. President, there’s nothing in your record on your views on same sex marriage. Will you comment?
Fillmore:
I was married twice, both times to a person of the same sex… a female…. and it seemed appropriate to me….
Millard Fillmore: A man unconcerned about his place in history. Millard Fillmore: The only candidate to have reduced the cost of postage.
He might have a chance.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Campaigns, History, Humor, Millard Fillmore | Tagged: History, Humor, Millard Fillmore | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 