7th time the charm: Exhibit on Utah’s becoming the 45th state

January 19, 2010

Interior of main floor (second floor) of Utah Capitol, looking west from the Rotunda to the House of Representatives' chamber - Wikimedia photo by BigBen

Interior of main floor (second floor) of Utah Capitol, looking west from the Rotunda to the House of Representatives' chamber - Wikimedia photo by BigBen

Got a couple of hours in Salt Lake City?

Utah’s copper-domed capitol building is among my favorites in the U.S. for style and grace.  The high-hillside location gives one a hawk’s eye view of Salt Lake City and especially State Street (which runs, by tradition, south about 400 miles to the Utah-Nevada border).  So it’s a good piece of architecture to tour.

Starting March 3, it will also have a display on Utah’s many attempts to become a state.  Between 1847 and 1896 when finally admitted to the union, Utah submitted seven different constitutions trying to get approval of Congress.  Utah relocated its capital to the center of the state, named the town Fillmore and the county Millard to flatter the sitting president.  That didn’t work, either.  Later the capital was moved back to Salt Lake City, nearer to where most of the people resided.

To assuage fears that Utah would upset the balance of power in Washington, at one point Latter-day Saint church authorities designated every-other household Democrat or Republican, giving Utah a 50/50 split electorate that survived in that fashion until the 1970s.

It’s all there at the exhibit, in the capitol building.

It took 7 Constitutions and 47 years to get Utah admitted as the Nation’s 45th state. The Utah State Capitol celebrates that effort in a free exhibit opening on March 3,2010. Open March 2010 through Jan. 2011! Free to the Public! Docent guided tours available! For more information visit www.utahstatecapitol.utah.gov Hours: Mon-Fri: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sat & Sun: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. This exhibit is a building-wide exhibit. Main displays are located on the 1st and 4th floors. Ask any Capitol Docent for additional help.

Tip of the old scrub brush to UtahPolicy.com.

Utah Capitol, dlmark photo

Utah Capitol, photographed from the headquarters of the LDS Church - dlmark photo

2 Comments | Historic documents, History, History images, Millard Fillmore, Statehood, Utah | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Tonight in Iowa City! DDT and myth lecture

January 19, 2010

A reminder that Prof. O’Shaughnessy’s lecture on DDT and myths rolls tonight in Iowa City.  We hope to have a report, later.

As we posted earlier:

Do we have any readers in Iowa City?  Near Iowa City?

A presentation on the history of malaria and DDT, and the recent use and abuse of those stories to flog environmentalists and others on the internet, is set for the Hardin Library for Health Sciences at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, on January 19, 2010 (next Tuesday).

If you’re there, can you snap a couple of pictures to send, and get any handouts, and write up a piece about it?

Here is the press notice on-line:

Presentation on the History of Malaria and DDT

The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society invites you to hear Patrick T. O’Shaughnessy, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, speak on “Malaria and DDT: the History of a Controversial Association” on Tuesday, January 19th, 5:30 to 6:30, room 2032 Main Library. [in Iowa City, Iowa.]

Dr. O’Shaughnessy observes:  ”Although it helped prevent millions of cases of malaria after its widespread use in the 1950’s, the pesticide DDT was banned from use in the United States and fell out of favor as an agent to reduce cases of malaria around the world. This history of the events associated with the effort to eradicate malaria, as well as the environmental movement that led to the ban on DDT, will center on the story of a story that incorporated both issues and grew into a modern myth still seen in books and multiple websites today.”

The session is free and open to the public.  Light refreshments will be served.

Hardin Library for the Health Sciences stands on the campus in Iowa City.

Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
600 Newton Road
Iowa City, IA 52242-1098
319-335-9871

The Hardin Library for the Health Sciences is located on Newton Road, directly north of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and approximately 1/2 mile east of Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  Go here for directions and more information.

Maybe I’m not the only bothered by the usual abuse of history and science on the issues of DDT and malaria.

Note: Tim Lambert notes at Deltoid that O’Shaughnessy is the guy who wrote what may be the definitive work on the famous — or infamous — Borneo Cat Drop. If you live in or near Iowa City, this lecture may be a wise investment of time.  High school teachers, your students could benefit, too.

Leave a Comment » | DDT, Environmental protection, Green Politics, Health care, History, History of Science, Hoaxes, Junk science, Malaria, Politics, pollution, Public health, Rachel Carson, Science | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Monckton’s profiteering: Climate denialists rake in the money

January 19, 2010

Bizarre as it may seem, the imagined profiteering of environmentalists has becoma favorite complaint of global warming deniers.  Ignoring the fact that he’s on the board of Apple Computers and a very savvy investor, and ignoring the facts of his donation of proceeds he gets from lectures, deniers claim Al Gore has gotten rich off of warning people about global warming.

They even complain when researchers get grants to study the stuff, as if the researchers were buying Maseratis and taking vacations to the Caribbean on the money.

How could they think that?

Might it be because the deniers really are pulling in high dollar, luxury fees to campaign against the science?  Christopher Monckton, warming denialist extraordinaire, is touring Australia.  Comes this little slip of public relations:

During this tour, Lord Monckton will be chaperoned by wealthy mining consultant and geologist Professor Ian Plimer. Lord Monckton will also be getting a fee of $20,000 and all his travel and accommodation – somewhere in the region of $100,000 – will be paid for.

Who might be paying for Monckton’s tour?* China?  India?  We don’t know, but following Monckton’s lead, we might hope that the western intelligence agencies are investigating Monckton to see just what he’s up to.

$120,000 to make up political smears that damage national policies and science?  Mencken would be ashamed.

More:

_____________

* It’s a paraphrase of Monckton, who evilly worried about funding for climate research and ill-funded environmental groups, “Goodness knows where they get it from!  Foreign governments, possibly!  I don’t know!  I haven’t looked.  But it’s certainly an alarming question:  Are the environmental movements being backed by China or India so they won’t have to compete with us for natural resources because we will have shut our industry down.  It’s a question that the security services, I hope, are looking at, because it certainly worries me.”

7 Comments | Climate change, climate_change, denialism, Environmental protection, Global warming, Green Politics, History, Hoaxes, Political Smear, Politics, Science | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell