More Gold

The Real Reason We Left the Gold Standard
Maxinomics

I don't think he ever tells us what 'The Real Reason' is, but he does give us some history, past and current mining, and a look at the world view. Pretty cool.

Gold Rush South Africa/"Forgotten Fortunes: Chronicles of Gold and Glory"
Good Morning South Africa

I looked for a video about current deep (2 miles) mining being done, but I did not find anything I liked. I found a bunch of stuff I didn't like: AI slop, stuff in low resolution, and one long one by Simon Whistler, but I'm not in the mood to listen to Simon today. This video doesn't talk about mining so much as the political history, and that part was significant.

Witwatersrand Basin and major goldfields

Copper

What the Ojibwe Knew About America's Lost Copper Mines
Last Cartographer and Ageden Pro

Now I wonder if maybe The Sea People had an advanced civilization living in the far north, or maybe in Doggerland / Atlantis, and they were sending ships across the Atlantic and through the Great Lakes to get this copper. That sounds kind of nuts, but if it wasn't The Sea People, then where did all the copper go?

I posted about upper Michigan copper mines before.

For more Copper posts, click on the Copper label.

Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee (1807 – 1870)

A little history. Found on Lone Star Parson, who got it from Civil War Profiles.

August 9, 1960 

Dear Dr. Scott: 

Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War between the States the issue of secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity*, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted. 

General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was a poised and inspiring leader, true to the high trust reposed in him by millions of his fellow citizens; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his faith in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history. 

From deep conviction, I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s calibre would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the Nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained. 

Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall. 

Sincerely,

Dwight D. Eisenhower 

* Probity is the adherence to the highest moral and ethical principles, characterized by absolute honesty, decency, and integrity. While similar to standard definitions of honesty, probity often implies tried, proven, or established incorruptibility and strong moral character.

 

The Decemberists

When The War Came
TheDecemberists

I'm reading a story about a new Russian play about The Decemberists. Okay, but who are the Decemberists? Google knows:

A Decembrist refers to one of the liberal Russian noblemen and military officers who led an unsuccessful uprising against Emperor Nicholas I in December 1825. Inspired by Enlightenment ideals and Western European reforms, these revolutionaries sought to abolish serfdom and establish a constitutional government in Russia.

The term has expanded over time into a metaphor for someone willing to sacrifice personal comfort, privilege, or status for a greater political or social cause.

The 1825 Uprising
Following the sudden death of Tsar Alexander I, there was a confusing succession crisis. Taking advantage of the chaos, a group of about 3,000 officers and soldiers gathered in Senate Square in St. Petersburg on December 26, 1825. They refused to swear allegiance to the new Tsar, Nicholas I, and instead called for the accession of his brother Constantine and the creation of a constitution.The rebellion was quickly suppressed by forces loyal to the Tsar. In the aftermath, the leaders were executed and hundreds of other conspirators were imprisoned or exiled to the harsh climates of Siberia.

Historical Impact
Despite its failure, the revolt became a foundational myth in Russian history. The martyred Decembrists became a powerful source of inspiration for succeeding generations of Russian dissidents and revolutionaries throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Cultural References
The name has since been adopted by modern entities, most notably the indie folk band The Decemberists. Frontman Colin Meloy chose the name to draw on both the historical drama of the 1825 uprising and the general melancholy associated with the month of December.

Did The Decemberists sing any songs about Russia? Yes, they did:

Yes, The Decemberists sing the song "When the War Came" (from their 2006 album The Crane Wife), which is explicitly set in Russia. The song tells the true story of the agricultural scientists and botanists at the Vavilov Institute in Leningrad during World War II. To protect a massive, priceless seed bank from being eaten by the starving, besieged population, the scientists made a pact to guard the seeds and tragically starved to death in the process.

 The Decemberists are famous (in my mind) for The Mariner's Revenge Song.

Whitworth

Whitworths 1862 Slotting Machine
Iron Jonesy

Totally enjoyable. Jonesy takes apart an ancient machine tool and gives us a history lesson along the way. It's funny how there seems to be a sharp dividing line between people who are mechanically inclined and people who aren't.

Whitworth Wrench

I first ran into Whitworth when I bought a custom Triumph Bonneville when I lived in Houston. It had an Italian front brake, so there were some metric parts. The engine may have been older than the frame, or maybe it was vice versa. In any case some of the nuts and bolts were American and some were Whitworth. It came with a set of Whitworth wrenches, which I had never seen before, or since, for that matter.

Whitworth has pretty much gone away, but back in his day, he was a big deal.

I Have This Old Gun: Whitworth Rifle
NRApubs

Pena Palace

Pena Palace

This castle was built in the middle of the 19th century, maybe twenty-five years before King Ludwig II built his fairytale castle in Bavaria. Pena Palace was built for King Ferdinand's amusement, so it was never a fortress. It was built on top of the ruins of a monastery that was built in 1493, the year after Columbus discovered America. Wikipedia page here.

Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal
Curious Traveler TV Series

Pena National Palace, Sintra, Portugal

Pena Palace

Château de Costaérès

Château de Costaérès

19th century castle on an island not far from Mont-Saint-Michel. Wikipedia page.

St Michael's Mount, England, left
Château de Costaérès, bottom left
Mont-Saint-Michel, France, bottom center

Chicago

Chicago Timelapse - 1870 to 2026
RealGoodVideo

Video actually starts in 1761.

Very cool. Via The Feral Irishman

Update August 2026 replaced missing video.

The Ice King

Why Cold Drinks Were Lethal before 1914
Veritasium

Now I wonder which business was bigger - the ice business or the railroad box cars cooled with ice.

Reefers

They Tried to Kill Swift’s Fridge Car — and Created a Monster Instead
Ewan Hargreaves

Swift and Armour, boy, those names are a blast from the past. I haven't come across them in a coon's age, but evidently they are still in business. Swift was purchased by Brazilian company JBS in 2007 and continues to operate. Armour has become Smithfield Foods.

Reefer Rail Car

I vaguely remember having a book about trains when I was a kid. It had pictures of various kinds of railroad cars, like boxcars and reefers, and they were loading ice into the reefer. I'm old, but I don't think I'm that old. Turns out the last ice cooled reefers were built in 1957, and the first mechanical refrigerated railcars were built in 1958.

Icing Reefers

Google gave me some numbers about railroads in North America. 

There are:

• 28,000 locomotives
• 1.6 million freight railroad cars, including:
• 570,000 covered hoppers
• 439,000 tank cars
• 208,000 flat cars
• 195,000 gondolas
• 104,000 box cars.

However, there are only 8,000 to 10,000 reefers.

Mechanical refrigeration (Thermo King) was adapted to long haul trucks in the late 1930's, just in time for WW2.

1965 DIVCO Milk Truck

Remember these old milk trucks? I got a look at one once. They had a weird refrigeration system. They had big blocks (tanks?) lining the freight compartment. These blocks were hooked up at night, chilled all night long, and then kept the truck cool all the following day. DIVCO stands for Detroit Industrial Vehicle COmpany.

Great Hedge of India

The route of the 1870s Inland Customs Line (red) and Great Hedge (green)

More weirdness from 19th century British India. Giant hedge grown from prickly, thorny and otherwise nasty plants.

From Wikipedia:

The Inland Customs Line, incorporating the Great Hedge of India (or Indian Salt Hedge), was a customs barrier built by the British colonial rulers of India to prevent smuggling of salt from coastal regions in order to avoid the substantial salt tax.

Via Bayou Renaissance Man

Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House

Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House

Summary from Wikipedia: 

The Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House (also 867 Madison Avenue and the Rhinelander Mansion) is a French Renaissance Revival mansion at the southeastern corner of Madison Avenue and 72nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Built between 1894 and 1898, it was designed by Alexander Mackintosh of the architectural firm of Kimball & Thompson. Though the house was constructed for the heiress Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo, she never moved in. The mansion was converted to a commercial building in the 20th century, becoming the New York City flagship store of the Ralph Lauren accessory and clothing company in the 1980s. The mansion is a New York City designated landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

American Aristocracy has a page about this building. They give a couple of prices, so I thought I would compare the increase in the price of the house to what gold did in the same time frame. The house did much better.

Relative Inflation

Year	Price of Gold (USD per ounce)	House Price (millions of USD)
2005	500	80.0
1984	360	6.4
Percent Increase	39%	1150%

The Empress: Season 2 - Netflix Series

The Empress: Season 2 | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix

We watched part 1 two years ago. On the political side, Italy is in ferment. Right now it's cut up into half a dozen pieces and Garibaldi wants to make them all one country. The old guard wants to quash the rebels, the new kids want to change things.

The bigger portion of the show is about having kids and the risks that come from being alive. i.e. sometimes people, including kids, die.

The cast is German and includes no one I have heard of. I took the data from Wikipedia and put it in a spreadsheet. It's complicated. We've got names, nicknames, titles, relations, affiliations and former roles.

Austrian Empire 1850

Austrian Empire 1850

• Archduchy of Austria/ Vienna (German, Italian)
• Lands of the Bohemian Crown/ Prague (Czech, German)
• Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria/ Lviv (Polish, Ruthenian)
• Kingdom of Hungary/ Budapest (Hungarian, Slovak)
• Grand Principality of Transylvania/ Sibiu (Romanian, Hungarian, German)
• Serbian Vojvodina/ Temeschwar (Serbian, Romanian, German)
• Triune Kingdom of Croatia/ Zagreb (Croatian, Serbian)
• Kingdom of Illyria/ Ljubljana (Slovene, Italian)
• Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia/ Milan (Italian)

Thinking

When The Smartest Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer Finally Snapped
Thought Architect

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) was a German philosopher. He seems to have an even more pessimistic view of people than I. Or maybe his village was inordinately full of stupid people. Or maybe intelligence is not a survival trait. Or maybe cooperation is more important for survival. People who stand out, especially those who make themselves noticed, tend to get hammered down.

Long form video: How Intelligent People Deal With 'Idiots' – Schopenhauer's Philosophy

Failure to Synchronize

Starboard Engine Room of the City of Paris Steamship After The Accident
looking down

Wikipedia has the story:

City of Paris was launched seven months after City of New York and began her maiden voyage on 3 April 1889. A month later, she won the Blue Riband with an average speed of 19.95 knots on the first westbound voyage under six days. On March 25, 1890 City of Paris was steaming towards Liverpool when her starboard propeller shaft broke, causing the starboard engine to race and then disintegrate. Fragments pierced the hull and the bulkhead causing both engine rooms to flood. Fortunately, the ship's extensive subdivision proved successful and she was not in danger of sinking. However, City of Paris was dead in the water and was towed to Queenstown by the tramp steamer Aldersgate, commanded by Captain - and Master Mariner - George Humphrey James Chesshire. It was ultimately determined that the accident was caused by failure to synchronize the engines, a common problem with early twin screw express liners. City of Paris was out of service for a year undergoing repairs.^[2] In July 1891, her westbound speed record was broken by White Star's Majestic and then Teutonic. City of Paris regained the Blue Riband in 1892 and held it until 1893 when Cunard's Campania entered service.

Bustednuckles got me started.

PS: AI is not to be trusted. I asked Google about this image and it got the name of the ship right, but for context it said: 

After an accident, which involved a collision with the steamship The Agoudent in 1890.

When I asked about The Agoudent steamship, it tells me there is no such ship.

Last Samurai Standing - Netflix Series

Last Samurai Standing | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix

Evil plot to rid Japan of the Samurai. Perry opening Japan was the beginning of the end of the Samurai. From Wikipedia:

The Japanese realized that in order to match the industrial and military might of the Western imperial powers, Japan had to abandon feudalism for a capitalist economy with a strong central government. In November 1867, the unpopular shogun relinquished his authority to the emperor, who was seen as a unifying figure by the Japanese. Thus began the Meiji Restoration. Between 1869 and 1871, the daimyo (Japan's feudal lords) were stripped of their lands and titles. Their domains became prefectures subject to the authority of the imperial government. Some former daimyo were given government jobs, but most retired with lavish pensions.

The dissolution of the daimyo class made the samurai defunct as a feudal retainer caste, so the Meiji government began repealing their special rights and privileges. In 1869, the government reclassified high-ranking samurai as shizoku (warriors) and lower status samurai as sotsuzoku (foot soldiers). In 1872, the sotsu rank was abolished and the sotsuzoku were reclassified as shizoku. In 1871, the government banned the samurai topknot. From 1873 to 1879, the government started taxing the stipends and transformed them into interest-bearing government bonds. The main goal was to provide enough financial liquidity to enable former samurai to invest in land and industry. In 1876, the government forbade anyone outside the military to wear swords even if they were of samurai lineage, and repealed the right of a samurai to strike an insolent commoner with potentially lethal force.

So by the time of this movie the Samurai have been thoroughly disenfranchised, nobody wants them, but they are still out there rattling around and occasionally making trouble, so some big shots come up with a scheme to get rid of them. They'll stage a contest where the winner takes all. All he has to do is kill all the other contestants. Then when he comes to claim his prize, the big shots will only have to kill one man and they'll be rid of the troublesome Samurai once and for all.

It's a fairly stupid show, but we get boat loads of sword fighting and people getting chopped up, so, entertaining.

Based on the novel written by Shogo Imamura.

Wikipedia has a list of the actors and their character's name, but not much about their roles. I guess it doesn't matter much, they are mostly all cut-throats.

6 episodes, 50 minutes each

The Abandons - Netflix Series

The Abandons | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix

Feels a bit clumsy. Set in the 1850's, we've got two strong women opposing each other over the expansion of a silver mine in the fictional town of Angel's Ridge in Washington territory. On one side we have Lena Headey (famous for her role as Cerci Lannister in Game of Thrones) as Fiona Nolan the matriarch of a small cattle ranch. On the other we have Gillian Anderson (X Files) as Constance Van Ness, matriarch of the local silver mine. The silver mine built the town, but the mine isn't performing as well as they like and Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the primary investors, is threatening to pull out. Gillian/Constance's solution is to buy out four land owners to expand the mine, but those four owners have no interest in selling. Cornelius is famous for having gotten rich by building a railroad empire, but  there is no mention of mining in his Wikipedia article. However, like all uber-wealthy people he no doubt had his fingers in a number of pies. Early on in the show he visits Angel's Ridge, arriving in a fancy carriage pulled by four horses. Would he have actually made such a visit? Seems unlikely, but hey, it's TV.

Interesting bit. Fiona has made a group of orphans (The Abandons) into her 'family', most of them are teenagers. Our sympathies tend to lie with this group, Constance is obviously the evil capitalist. So I kind of expected the other land owners to side with The Abandons, but a couple of guys don't want to have anything to do with this mess and just want to be left alone. Can't you guys see what's coming down the pike? Are you blind? They're not blind, they're just not looking. I see that a lot in modern day politics.

Anyway, push comes to shove, and then the situation escalates and then it escalates more and we get a spectacular finish.

The show was filmed in Alberta, Canada, at the CL Western Town & Backlot.

7 episodes, about 40 minutes each.

Latex

The little-known tree that revolutionised global communication – BBC REEL
BBC Global

Ask Google Shopping for Gutta Percha and all you get is dental supplies. It comes from trees and sounds a bit like rubber, but it is different. Some notes I collected from Wikipedia articles about Latex, Gutta-Percha and Natural Rubber:

Gutta-percha was difficult to harvest. Only trees that had grown for 35 years or more were economical to harvest. Felling a single tree could yield 12 catties (16 pounds) of gutta-percha; cutting boreholes to harvest gutta-percha from a living tree yielded much less, and often killed the tree anyway due to fungal infection.

Rubber latex is extracted from rubber trees. The economic life of rubber trees in plantations is around 32 years, with up to 7 years being an immature phase and about 25 years of productive phase.

Latex is not to be confused with plant sap; it is a distinct substance, separately produced, and with different functions. The word latex is also used to refer to natural latex rubber, particularly non-vulcanized rubber. Such is the case in products like latex gloves, latex condoms, latex clothing, and balloons.

The latex of many species can be processed to produce many materials.

• Balatá and gutta percha latex contain an inelastic polymer related to rubber.
• Chicle and jelutong tree latex was used in chewing gum.

Gutta-percha . . . is a polymer of isoprene which forms a rubber-like elastomer.

Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, caucho, or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds.

Dullbozer

Bulldozer

Curious tale of the origin of the word:

The Shrouded, Sinister History Of The Bulldozer by Joe Zadeh

According to an 1881 obituary in a Louisiana newspaper, the word “bulldozer” was coined by a German immigrant named Louis Albert Wagner, who later committed suicide by taking a hefty dose of opium dissolved in alcohol. Little else is recorded about Wagner, but his term became a viral sensation in late 1800s America, going from street slang to dictionary entry in just one year. It likely originated from a shortening of “bullwhip,” the braided tool used to intimidate and control cattle, combined with “dose,” as in quantity, with a “z” thrown in for good measure. To bulldoze was to unleash a dose of coercive violence.

If, like gods, we aspire to create machines in our own image, then it’s fitting that the original bulldozers were humans. Leading up to the corrupted U.S. election of 1876, as the Southern states were being reconstructed following the Civil War, terrorist gangs of predominantly white Democrats roamed about, threatening or attacking Black men who they thought might vote for the Republican Party. The men were the bulldozers, and the acts they carried out were bulldozing.

The story goes on to tell of some of the crimes committed and the eventual application of the word to the machine.

Title was coined by one of my kids many moons ago.

Via Bayou Renaissance Man

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse

The Brutality of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse - Terrible Tilly
Big Old Boats

The pacing on this video is a little slow, but given the hardships the builders went through to construct this thing, I'm willing to cut him a little slack.

Tillamook Lighthouse

The lighthouse is just off the coast of northwest Oregon. Highway 26 (near the bottom of the map) runs by my house on its way to Portland. The Columbia River is at the top of the map. It runs by Astoria on its way to Portland. Area shown is about 30 miles square.

Wikipedia has a page.