Non Civil War Books and Movies

[Matt McKeon]

A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe.

A very short, under sixty pages, historical novel about a nameless narrator's experiences in London during the 1665 outbreak of plague. Its written like an eyewitness account, with plenty of details as to place, tables and numbers, and other convincing details. Defoe based it on a journal kept by his uncle who was in London during this time.

Defoe describes the various strategies to avoid infection, the psychological impact on city dwellers, the host of fraudsters hawking miracle cures. Rather uncomfortably familiar.

 

[Jim Klag]

A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe.

A very short, under sixty pages, historical novel about a nameless narrator's experiences in London during the 1665 outbreak of plague. Its written like an eyewitness account, with plenty of details as to place, tables and numbers, and other convincing details. Defoe based it on a journal kept by his uncle who was in London during this time.

Defoe describes the various strategies to avoid infection, the psychological impact on city dwellers, the host of fraudsters hawking miracle cures. Rather uncomfortably familiar.

Cool subject. The book is available free at https://www.gutenberg.org.

 

[Matt McKeon]

In the Shadow of the Dam
There is a small river, a stream really called the Mill River, that runs into the Connecticut River at Northampton, Mass. In the late 1860s a group of local businessmen had the bright idea to build a dam to create a reservoir that could be used to waterpower a series of mills making silk, or buttons or brass items along a series of tiny villages: Williamsburg, Leeds, Skinnerville, Florence. Irish or Canadian immigrants, mostly women worked in the mills. Tidy farms and pasture dotted the banks of the Mill River valley.

They didn't do a good job on the dam.

 

[Matt McKeon]

An engineer of a sort was consulted, but it was a time of enormous confidence. The dam was supposed to have a stonecore, mortared, then wooden covers, sealed tight, waterproof, with a release value if the water got too high. But that cost money, so they didn't cement the 43 foot stone core together, then they didn't put in the wooden covers, but piled up earth. The release value was smaller then recommended as well.

It held for years. Piles of earth would saturate and fall off. It always leaked, but years went by. People farmed and went to work.

On the morning of May 14, 1874, after weeks of rain and snow melt filling the Mill River was too much. The dam keeper saw sections of the dam tottering. He threw himself on his horse and galloped down the path to the first town. With a crash, the center section of the dam collapsed and roared after him.

He got to the first town, yelled the news to a milkman. The quick thinking dairyman whipped up his horses and galloped down to the next town. The dam keeper argued with the mill foreman to clear the mill and head for the hills, but the man couldn't process the information. Some people began to climb the slopes out of the river valley. Then a wall descended on the town. A survivor recalled you didn't see any water at first, but a wall of dirt and brush and trees ripped from the slopes. The houses and mill buildings were in the words of another survivor, swept away like a child's blocks being swept off a table.

 

[jgoodguy]

An engineer of a sort was consulted, but it was a time of enormous confidence. The dam was supposed to have a stonecore, mortared, then wooden covers, sealed tight, waterproof, with a release value if the water got too high. But that cost money, so they didn't cement the 43 foot stone core together, then they didn't put in the wooden covers, but piled up earth. The release value was smaller then recommended as well.

It held for years. Piles of earth would saturate and fall off. It always leaked, but years went by. People farmed and went to work.

On the morning of May 14, 1874, after weeks of rain and snow melt filling the Mill River was too much. The dam keeper saw sections of the dam tottering. He threw himself on his horse and galloped down the path to the first town. With a crash, the center section of the dam collapsed and roared after him.

He got to the first town, yelled the news to a milkman. The quick thinking dairyman whipped up his horses and galloped down to the next town. The dam keeper argued with the mill foreman to clear the mill and head for the hills, but the man couldn't process the information. Some people began to climb the slopes out of the river valley. Then a wall descended on the town. A survivor recalled you didn't see any water at first, but a wall of dirt and brush and trees ripped from the slopes. The houses and mill buildings were in the words of another survivor, swept away like a child's blocks being swept off a table.

FWIW
More info based on the book

The Mill River Flood of 1874 kills 139 people - New England Historical Society

Photographs tell the story of the Mill River Flood of 1874. In one hour, the flood drowned 139 people and plunged four prosperous western Massachusetts towns into years of poverty.

www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com

 

[Matt McKeon]

The heroic milkman alarmed the towns all the way to Northampton, but some people stayed in the mill buildings, which seemed sturdy, others fled in a few minutes they had, but not far enough. The wave descended the valley, 700 million gallons of water, tons of soil, shrubs and houses that were actually rolling over and over and human bodies.

Eventually the flood killed 140 people, the worse disaster of its type until the Johnstown Flood.

I climbed the river valley up to the ruins of the dam this morning. The stonecore wings are still there, with the central section missing. The family that farmed the land in 1874 still owns it, but allowed a trail to be built to the ruins.

 

[rittmeister]

guess what happened when one of our dams ... äh ... broke - click -

 

[Jim Klag]

guess what happened when one of our dams ... äh ... broke - click -

The Ruhr and Eder valleys got wet.

 

[jgoodguy]

guess what happened when one of our dams ... äh ... broke - click -

A movie was made about it?

 

[O' Be Joyful]

I have seen what a flood can do, it ain't pretty by any measure of the imagination.

Hell on earth, then the water recedes and Hell remains for others to...

 

[Matt McKeon]

Dr. Sax by Jack Kerouac

This surrealistic blend of pulp horror and childhood memoir is definitely worth reading. Kerouac recalls his French Canadian childhood in the mill city of Lowell, the terrifying racket of the mills, his warm home, the solitary games he played on rainy days, hanging out with his friends, playing baseball and football.

The centerpiece is an actual historical event: the Flood of 1936, when the Merrimack River, swollen with snow melt and rain, burst into the city. For the adults its a disaster, but for the kids its a romp. Gleefully "Ti Jean" observed city officials surveying a flooded golf course. "Civilization had been caught with its pants down; by an enemy it had forgotten even existed."

 

[Matt McKeon]

Dick Johnson is Dead

Kristin Johnson, a documentary cameraperson and maker, made her 86 year old father, descending into dementia, the subject of this moving, often funny film. She loves her father, and he loves having a project to do with the daughter.

His life is slowly constricted, as he retires, giving up his psychiatric practice, his car, his home, his memory and awareness. He moves in with Kristin. and his grandchildren.

The surrealistic motif is that she stages his death, again and again, using stuntmen, stages a funeral, his ascent into heaven. They are both trying to come to terms with his death. There's an old cliche that you receive the love you give, and Dick, a loving father, a caring doctor, considerate and curious about others(he gently quizzes one the stuntman about the risks he's taking. The brash man admits he loves the work, but is afraid sometimes) is surrounded by the family and friends who love and care for him.

 

[O' Be Joyful]

Dick Johnson is Dead

Kristin Johnson, a documentary cameraperson and maker, made her 86 year old father, descending into dementia, the subject of this moving, often funny film. She loves her father, and he loves having a project to do with the daughter.

His life is slowly constricted, as he retires, giving up his psychiatric practice, his car, his home, his memory and awareness. He moves in with Kristin. and his grandchildren.

The surrealistic motif is that she stages his death, again and again, using stuntmen, stages a funeral, his ascent into heaven. They are both trying to come to terms with his death. There's an old cliche that you receive the love you give, and Dick, a loving father, a caring doctor, considerate and curious about others(he gently quizzes one the stuntman about the risks he's taking. The brash man admits he loves the work, but is afraid sometimes) is surrounded by the family and friends who love and care for him.

Dementia is an insidious and cruel thief. It requires immense patience--and occasional time-outs--to deal with it up close and personal.

 

[Matt McKeon]

Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
The small village of Grafton, NH, has a long history of noncooperation with the government, going back to the Revolution. They are on the edge even in a state that celebrates and practices "live free or die."

So a large number of libertarians decided to move there in the 2010s and take it over, like rabies steering an animal against his wishes. Nearly at the same time, another community with a history of noncooperation invaded Grafton as well: black bears. Usually a not particularly aggressive, these animals are a little edgier than the norm.

The libertarians are a mixed bag, but definitely the worse possible neighbors. The already almost nonexistent services are further starved, the roads go unrepaired, and it turns out being sharp on an internet message board is not that useful in the teeth of a New Hampshire winter. Buildings burn, businesses go under, feuds smolder.

And then the bears. Animals that cooperate, solve problems and have no fear of human beings, their main characteristic is an alien, calculating intelligence. Not particularly aggressive, the degradation of their environment has pushed them into human spaces, gobbling up pets, livestock, garbage(the libertarians resist getting bearproof garbage bins: freedom!). And when that fails, they bust down flimsy doors and windows and help themselves in the kitchen.

Interesting and thought provoking book on nature, the environment, bears, parasites and politics.

 

[Wehrkraftzersetzer]

Are the Liberterians armed or is it a good investment to put my money on the bears?

 

[jgoodguy]

Are the Liberterians armed or is it a good investment to put my money on the bears?

My money is on the bears

 

[Matt McKeon]

The Libertarians are absurdly well armed. But without giving too much away, the bears are still there.

 

[jgoodguy]

The Libertarians are absurdly well armed. But without giving too much away, the bears are still there.

The best argument against Libertarianism is to list the Libertarian governments. We had our own experiment with the AOC.

 

[O' Be Joyful]

The best argument against Libertarianism is to list the Libertarian governments. We had our own experiment with the AOC.

The fight has never ended and continues.

 

[jgoodguy]

The Mises folks need to be reminded that their idol's austerity practices provided the Nazis with much needed gold when they took over Austria. The Austrian Economic folks seem to be running puppies with the Neoconfederates.