Posts Tagged ‘history’

John Quincy Adams the Tweets from beyond the grave

Posted: August 8, 2009 by datechguy in oddities, tech
Tags:

I’m not much of a twitter person (I don’t even have a facebook account) but I am very into John Quincy Adams and anything that gives more attention to one of the most remarkable statesmen to ever serve America is ok with me.

The micro-blogging site Twitter wasn’t around in John Quincy Adams’ day, but a recent visitor to the MHS suggested he might have found it a very natural addition to his routine. JQA was a prolific diarist, filling fifty-one volumes over sixty-nine years (amounting to nearly 15,000 pages) – and not only did he keep a diary, he often kept multiple diaries simultaneously (there are three different entries for the day he was inaugurated as president, for example: a long entry, a draft entry, and a line-a-day entry).

What started as interesting note is now a project:

when we realized that JQA begins a long series of line-a-day entries on 5 August 1809 as he departs on his voyage to Russia (where he would serve as the first American ambassador), we decided some opportunities are just too good to pass up.

So, beginning on 5 August 2009, we’ll be posting JQA’s line-a-day diary entries on Twitter, one per day exactly 200 years later. You can check out the project at http://www.twitter.com/JQAdams_MHS, and if you use Twitter too we hope you’ll follow along and receive the daily updates. We’ll be posting JQA’s exact words (his entries really do work perfectly as 140-character tweets), and where possible we will augment the posts with maps showing his location (thank him for providing regular latitude and longitude readings), links to longer diary entries, and other information. His short entries are surprisingly rich, full of wonderful details about his reading, meals, weather, and shipboard activities.

“His” twitter page is here.

Remembering these are the days before the common use of steam let alone electricity so this would be heady stuff for people.

One interesting Adams fact. In addition to being President, Sec of State and a Congressman AFTER being president Adams was nominated for the Supreme Court BEFORE all of that and voted in unanimously by the Senate but turned it down because he didn’t consider himself qualified enough.

Some things never change

Posted: August 4, 2009 by datechguy in fun
Tags: , , ,

Still reading Hart’s Volume one of American History told by Contemporaries. I still have 150 pages or so to go. It’s a very small font and interesting but slow reading, both due to the age and the style of the documents and of the writer, but there is one thing that jumped out at me today as I read it at Funspot in between games of Paragon pinball and Red Baron (sitdown model)

On page 388 there is a small section written in 1641 by a person named Thomas Lechford called “A note of what things I misliked in the Country (Massachusetts)” Professor Harts subnotes on this section had me laughing aloud. I quote them directly:

The first lawyer in the colony (se No 91 above): he was not kindly received and his notes are rather prejudiced.

I guess our early ancestors aren’t all that different than the rest of us, either that or lawyers haven’t changed in centuries.

I didn’t get Joker/Obama photoshop…

Posted: August 4, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: , , , ,

…mainly as an old comic guy I didn’t see the connection and frankly didn’t think the Dark Knight movie portrayal was the end of all things as some do but the predictable reaction has produced a very great line from Bob Owens:

A lot of people are getting their noses out of joint about a poster popping up around Los Angeles comparing President Barack Obama to the Joker.

Frankly, I don’t get it.

One embraces terrorists and madmen, is dedicated to anarchy and the destruction of capitalist society, and sends the population fleeing in horror from his creations.

The other is a fictional character played by the late Heath Ledger.

Absolutely classic, the Anchoress adds some serious perspective:

Obama’s predecessor endured 8 Years of Assassination Fascination. Actually, the “Assassinate Bush Chic” began even before the 2000 election, when Craig Kilborn flashed “snipers wanted” under a picture of Bush. So-called “newsmen” like Keith Olbermann repeatedly called the president “a fascist” and “a terrorist.” And Obama supporters can’t handle The Joker and the word “Socialism”?

Politics is ugly, and it is often over-the-top but that’s not new. Photoshop happens; it’s a free country. I myself have been photoshopped next to a dancing condom, a commentary on my annoying habit of being a Catholic.

And a sliver lining:

This Obama/Joker portrait is actually heartening to me. I may not have liked the press’ incessant attacks on Bush, and some of the uglier media put out about him, but I never found any of that as worrying as I have found the unquestioning incuriosity of the Obama-press, or the inclination by some to treat him as something more than a mortal politician voted into office by the people. The self-censoring we have seen in media has been sad and a little chilling. More chilling than any of the pics used here.

Gotta love that left. Now its off to funspot with the youngest for the day.

S.D. Hoyt and Michelle rebut

Posted: July 31, 2009 by datechguy in amazon reviews, opinion/news
Tags: , ,

In my review of Culture of Corruption I argue that there are two chapters that don’t support Michelle Malkin’s thesis of the book:

The chapter on the Clintons:

The Chapter on Chris Dodd:

Today Michelle Malkin answers me on Dodd in her column:

But Dodd’s cratering numbers and mounting ethics scandal aren’t just about Dodd. Damaged birds of a feather flock together. Even before these latest disclosures, Dodd’s approval ratings had dropped to their lowest levels ever. Yet, President Obama – agent of the “new politics,” erstwhile Breath of Fresh Air, guarantor of all that is good and clean in Washington — declared his support for Dodd’s 2010 re-election campaign bid.

“I can’t say it any clearer: I will be helping Chris Dodd because he deserves the help,” President Obama announced in April. “He just has an extraordinary record of accomplishment, and I think the people of Connecticut will come to recognize that.”

The problem with this argument is that I can’t think of any president that has rejected a member of his party up for re-election in the senate due to ethics issues, particularly one with power and seniority of Dodd. The president’s endorsement has everything to do with his legislative agenda and nothing to do with Dodd’s corruption.

The second point comes from a S.D. Hoyt who left this comment at my Amazon review:

In case you did not know, Hillary Clinton was born in Chicago and did her senior thesis on Saul Alinsky, the original Chicago community organizer. Access to that thesis was limited when Bill Clinton became President. So there is some connection between the Clintons and the Chicago clan. Not nearly as much as the Obama’s thorough indoctrination.

It is a good point, I reply as follows:

That is true but the Clintons where not included in the administration due to their Chicago connections or their knowledge on how to play ball. The Clinton concessions were necessary to unite the party and avoid the risk embarrassment on the convention floor before the election and to make political peace afterwards. This would have been the case even if the Clintons were as clean as Paul Tsongas.

One might make the argument that if the Clintons were clean they would not have been in that position but that’s not the books thesis.

When you get past the 1 star reviews from non readers the discussion is actually quite interesting.

Older Entries
Newer Entries