Category Archives: History

Laguna Gloria is still for lovers

If they can ignore some of the more tasteless modern stuff. Contemporary “art” is for the educated, no longer the masses. Some of it is just plain weird. But Laguna Gloria’s grounds and 1906 villa are quite magnificent. Especially their setting on the shores of Lake Austin. Quiet, treed beauty in the heart of West Austin.

Ten bucks per person these days but there is a cafe.

Memories

Years ago when I was a captain soon to leave the Army, I wanted a job with Associated Press in West Virginia (where I was living at the time) but they turned me down for not enough daily reporting experience. I had only worked for weeklies before being drafted in 1967.

At the same time United Press International offered me a job. But I had to relocate to Pittsburgh. So I took a Charleston, WV TV reporting job instead and eventually got into daily newspapers. Always have wondered what the UPI job might have been like. Not to mention Pittsburgh. UPI apparently still strives for objectivity. While AP has joined the Fake News in harassing Trump.

The James Ossuary

JNS was the source of a story I saw recounting a 20-year-old argument over whether a limestone ossuary (bone box) was authentic or an elaborate forgery. If real it authenticates for the first time (other than the New Testament) that Jesus existed. So I got interested. If you’re not, like I am not, a biblical scholar, you may still find it interesting.

“Clearly, if the James ossuary came from the Talpiot tomb, most would agree that the probability of that tomb being associated with Jesus of Nazareth and his family reaches a high level of likelihood,” James D. Tabor

That’s nice, but Jesus’s presence in the Afterlife, as recounted by many Christian NDEers would seem to be proof enough.

Via University of Arizona

Gettysburg: America’s ‘Love Battle’

The failed Rebel attacks on the Union defensive lines of July 2 and 3 ended with both armies licking their wounds on July 4, while the Southerners buried their dead on the battlefield and mourned their great loss.

Via PJMedia

Shark attacks

Seem to be increasing on both coasts (and probably in the Gulf as well), according to Fox News.

“Please stay close to the shore. Being far from the shore makes it harder for lifeguards or police or anyone who is going to help you get to you,” [New York beach authority] Curran said. “Swim in groups. If you are swimming alone, a shark may think you’re their natural prey.”

Sharks are big and scary. I had an encounter years ago while scuba diving in deep water off Palm Beach. A Tiger Shark, a good ten feet long, circled the anchor line I was holding onto about six feet below me. I would have gotten out immediately but I was decompressing after a sojourn at 100 feet so I had to wait a few minutes while the circling went on. Was never so happy to be out of the water when time was up.

My take on abortion

I think it should be available with a 10-14 week cutoff or to save the life of the mother-to-be. But the widespread use with few or no restrictions, under Roe v Wade, was depressing, especially after the revelations of Planned Parenthood selling baby body parts.

(Fetus, it’s a fetus. And tissue.)

And now, shortly after the Supremes aborted Roe, PP is going out of business, altogether, despite assurances that abortion was only three percent of their business and women’s health the other 97 percent. I never believed that was true. But it may have been that the 3 percent (or whatever percent was true) enabled their body part business, which brought in the most money.

Abortion will undoubtedly still be a business in California, New York and other blue states, with probably few restrictions, while Texas and other red states reverse the country’s dwindling birth rate and possibly even take it back to where it was not so long ago. Well, before the almost fifty years of Roe.

The Supremes expand gun rights

It’s instructive to read the court’s opinions on their decision to expand gun rights while Congress is attempting to limit them. Of course those opposed to gun rights in the first place are upset.

“The majority opinion, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, held that New York’s ‘proper cause’ requirement for obtaining a concealed carry license violated the Constitution because it ‘prevents law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms’ in public.”

Lyin’ Biden finds the ruling discouraging, but who cares what the author of high gas prices and inflation generally wants.

Via Reason Magazine & PJMedia