Once a year, the Light Station at Pigeon Point near San Francisco, California, is lit as it was over 100 years ago, its light generated by five kerosene lamps pouring through 24 rotating Fresnel lenses. Tyler Westcott captured this stunning image November 17, 2007, when light emanating from the Pigeon Point Lighthouse was particularly picturesque because of a thin fog that also blurred the distant Moon. Still active, the light house now uses a more efficient flashing aerobeacon.

An interesting side note, during the latter 1970s, the lighthouse was guarded by an 800 pound pig named Lester. I’ve tried to find a photo of Lester “on duty” but have so far been unsuccessful. If you have or find one, I hope you’ll share it here.

How three graphic designers re-created D-Day on a shoestring budget for the Timewatch program “Bloody Omaha”. Due to interest in the “making of” video, the complete program will be repeated January 27 on BBC television. In the U.S., the full production of BLOODY OMAHA will be shown on the Smithsonian Channel HD in May, 2008.

Amazing what can be done with just three actors, some props, a camera, four days and some amazing cgi (computer generated images), isn’t it?

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Day. I ran across a well written article by Carolyn Garris that I recommend everyone read in its entirety. Take a few moments and remember, if you can, how racism once so divided our nation that we were, quite literally, at war with ourselves, and how King carried the banner of unification that ultimately led us to the better America we enjoy today. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Martin Luther King, Jr. was no stalwart conservative, yet his core beliefs, such as the power and necessity of faith-based association and self-government based on absolute truth and moral law, are profoundly conservative. Modern liberalism rejects these ideas, while conservatives place them at the center of their philosophy. Despite decades of its appropriation by liberals, King’s message was fundamentally conservative.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott, triggered by Rosa Parks’ refusal to abide by local segregation laws, sparked King’s rise from ministering a small church in Montgomery to national renown. King’s primary aim was not to change laws, but to change people, to make neighbors of enemies and a nation out of divided races. King led with love, not racial hatred. From a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, his message inspired the nation. And his message and achievements inspire us today.

Dr. King believed in the principles of the American Founding. He maintained, “We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.” Throughout American history, racism has posed a peculiar obstacle to the achievement of that goal. However, Dr. King believed that the Founders had set the nation on the right course. He did not reject the principles of our nation because contradictions existed; instead he hoped that racial groups would put aside their differences and acknowledge the principles that unite all Americans. Today, it is conservatives who seek to unite. In a nation divided by cultural diversity, conservatives defend and celebrate the characteristics that we share as Americans. As America drifts from the ideas and ideals of the Founders, conservatives stand with King as believers that the principles of the American Founding are as relevant today as in 1776…More

Remember that today isn’t just another day off. It stands for something important in our nation’s history, a time when we made a wrong turn and yet managed to find our way back. It’s a day to celebrate just how far we’ve come since then.

Amazing what interesting trivia you sometimes stumble across on the Internet. For example:

During WWll, the Red Cross delivered special Monopoly games to POWs that included real “get out of jail free” cards, writes Brian McMahon in the November-December issue of Mental Floss, a magazine of far-flung trivia.

In 1941, the British Secret Service asked the game’s British manufacturing licensee, John Waddington Ltd., to add secret “extras” to some sets, which the Red Cross delivered to Allied POWs inside Germany. These specially marked sets included metal files, compasses and silk maps to safe houses in the areas of the respective POW camps (silk, because it folds into small spaces and unfolds silently). Even better, real French, German, and Italian currency was hidden amongst the game’s fake money. Soldiers and pilots were told that, if they were captured, they should look for these “special editions” identified by a large red dot in the game’s “Free Parking” space.

Of the 35,000 prisoners of war who escaped prison camps, “more than a few certainly owe their breakout to the classic board game,” says McMahon.

Here are some more fun facts about Monopoly from the Hasbro site.

You’ve all heard that well worn quotation but I’d wager few of you remember its origin. Well, it delights me to so inform you, faithful readers, by way of an article from the editorial page of The New York Sun, written by Francis P. Church, Sept. 21, 1897:

“Dear Editor — I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O’HANLON
115 W. 95th St.
New York, N.Y.”

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.

All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.

Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.

There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies!

You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus.

The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond.

Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

See how much you can learn reading IM?

“…a date which will live in infamy…”. And today we remember. If you’ve not visited the Memorial at Pearl Harbor and stood above the sunken tomb that was the USS Arizona to pay tribute to the men who lost their lives aboard her on that fateful day 66 years ago today, it should certainly be near the top your list of important things to do. It’s a reverent, almost spiritual experience you will long remember.

You may not realize that, every year, the ranks of veterans who lived through that horrific day grows thinner. They are old men now. Their memories are still tinged with the sadness that comes from the realization that soon they will all be gone and, as with other landmarks in American history like Gettysburg and Antietam, it will be up to the rest of us to keep the remembrances alive and never, ever forget what happened on that impossibly beautiful Sunday morning when the world turned upside down and changed all of us forever.

0755, 7 December, 1941.

Air Raid Pearl Harbor. This is no drill.

John Renn sent me a series of photos a couple years ago taken during and immediately following the air raid on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. I’d not seen them before and posted them on my AFP web site. I’m linking to them here as a reminder of the death and devastation that wakened “the sleeping giant” and caused Congress, the following day, to declare war against the Empire of Japan. The war lasted nearly four years and was indeed costly by every measure. But it taught us that, when our cause is just and we possess the will to fight, we will be victorious. We must never forget.

Janet put together this nicely produced tribute video. It’s about five minutes long. Take the time to watch it. And remember.

My mother-in-law sent this with the caption, “Ask the American Indians what happens when you don’t control your borders.”

The graphic has been in use for a few years, at least since 2005, and is usually found on t-shirts or bumper stickers. I was surprised to learn, though, just how many opinion pieces had been written about it and what writers believe it means.

Some, it turns out, see it as an affront to native Americans or believe that those who display the graphic are America haters. Joseph Farah’s article is an example. I thought he had completely missed the point, but it got me thinking. So I looked again at the graphic, this time without the caption that had accompanied it, and decided that he just might have a point or two.

But when I view the graphic in the context of the accompanying caption, I see it the way I suspect it was originally intended, to illustrate the importance of border security by implying (with tongue in cheek) that, had native Americans protected their borders against the invading European terrorists, the complexion of America might today be quite different.

I think as a society we need to develop a collective thicker skin and stop looking for things to find offensive. What do you think?

Like many of you, Dawn and I will be enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with family. But this year, with our house still under renovation and with the size of our family, we collectively decided that, this year, we should let someone else cook the turkey - and do the dishes! So we’ll be among the thousands of families that, for one reason or another, will be enjoying Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant.

Oh, I know, it’s not the same as sitting around your own dinner table and saying, “Pass the gravy.” But, except for Dawn and I, none of our family have a table that can accommodate all thirteen of us. And this year, we’ll have three additional guests! So we’ve picked a nice restaurant we know will do a first rate job and, when we’ve all eaten our fill, we’ll just push away from the table… and leave the cleanup to someone else.

Of course, the best part of the holiday for us, besides the magnificent dinner table, is having my family together. We’ll miss James this year - he’ll be celebrating with Liz and her family - but there’s always something wonderful about having family come together, give thanks and share a fine meal. I love the family part the most.

Lori introduced a new family tradition a couple years ago where we all wrote down the things we were thankful for during the year to be read aloud at the dinner table the following year. I doubt the setting this year will be conducive, but I hope we do it next year. It’s a great tradition! Dawn and I have so much to be thankful for and making “Thanks” part of our Thanksgiving is what it’s all about. And a great way to begin is to remember how it all began.

The first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, starred the Pilgrims, Squanto and the friendly Wampanoag tribe led by Massasoit, who celebrated a bountiful harvest and the promise of making it through the harsh New England winter. Here are some lesser-known facts about that first Thanksgiving in 1621:

Squanto was a Patuxet Indian who almost single-handedly saved the first Pilgrims from starving to death. He taught them how to catch eels and trap fish during their spring run, plant corn and pumpkins and trap beavers. He helped the Pilgrims despite having been captured and sold into slavery by an English sea captain. According to Peter Marshall and David Manuel in The Light and the Glory, Squanto was shipped to Malaga, Spain, where he was rescued by local friars, and eventually returned to Plymouth, where he discovered not one member of his tribe was left alive.

During that first Thanksgiving celebration, the Wampanoags brought to the feast fat wild turkeys and introduced the Pilgrims to a local delicacy called popcorn. Next time you enjoy some at the movies, thank the Wampanoags, not Orville Reddenbacher.

They celebrated that first Thanksgiving in October, not November. In 1941, Congress issued a national proclamation setting our observance of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

During the winter of 1621-22, an influx of new settlers eventually forced the pilgrims to live on a daily ration of five kernels of corn a piece. At the next Thanksgiving, Marshall and Manuel noted, “the first course that was served ‘…on an empty plate in front of each person were five kernels of corn… lest anyone should forget.’”

We have a lot to be thankful for, as those first pilgrims did. And for all its faults, we live in a country where we can write, speak and worship freely, and where we can attempt to right wrongs without being thrown in jail or exiled. Solomon wrote, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Well, where there is no thankfulness, people sour, slowly, like leftover cranberry sauce. We need Thanksgiving, if for no other reason than to remember that while there may be only five kernels of corn on our plate, there are still five, and that the promise of harvest is only a season or two away.

This column has made the rounds over the years since it was first penned in 1993 by Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko (1932-1997), but it’s just as poignant today. And while I didn’t always agree with him, I think Mike was right on target here.

I just phoned six friends and asked them what they will be doing on Monday.

They all said the same thing: working.

Me, too.

There is something else we share. We are all military veterans.

And there is a third thing we have in common. We are not employees of the federal government, state government, county government, municipal government, the Postal Service, the courts, banks, or S & Ls, and we don’t teach school.

If we did, we would be among the many millions of people who will spend Monday goofing off.

Which is why it is about time Congress revised the ridiculous terms of Veterans Day as a national holiday.

The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans.

So how does this country honor them?

By letting the veterans, the majority of whom work in the private sector, spend the day at their jobs so they can pay taxes that permit millions of non-veterans to get paid for doing nothing.

As my friend Harry put it:

“First I went through basic training. Then infantry school. Then I got on a crowded, stinking troop ship that took 23 days to get from San Francisco to Japan. We went through a storm that had 90 percent of the guys on the ship throwing up for a week.

“Then I rode a beat-up transport plane from Japan to Korea, and it almost went down in the drink. I think the pilot was drunk.

“When I got to Korea, I was lucky. The war ended seven months after I got there, and I didn’t kill anybody and nobody killed me.

“But it was still a miserable experience. Then when my tour was over, I got on another troop ship and it took 21 stinking days to cross the Pacific.

“When I got home on leave, one of the older guys at the neighborhood bar — he was a World War II vet — told me I was a ——head because we didn’t win, we only got a tie.

“So now on Veterans Day I get up in the morning and go down to the office and work.

“You know what my nephew does? He sleeps in. That’s because he works for the state.

“And do you know what he did during the Vietnam War? He ducked the draft by getting a job teaching at an inner-city school.

“Now, is that a raw deal or what?”

Of course that’s a raw deal. So I propose that the members of Congress revise Veterans Day to provide the following:

- All veterans — and only veterans — should have the day off from work. It doesn’t matter if they were combat heroes or stateside clerk-typists.

- Anybody who went through basic training and was awakened before dawn by a red-neck drill sergeant who bellowed: “Drop your whatsis and grab your socks and fall out on the road,” is entitled.

- Those veterans who wish to march in parades, make speeches or listen to speeches can do so. But for those who don’t, all local gambling laws should be suspended for the day to permit vets to gather in taverns, pull a couple of tables together and spend the day playing poker, blackjack, craps, drinking and telling lewd lies about lewd experiences with lewd women. All bar prices should be rolled back to enlisted men’s club prices, Officers can pay the going rate, the stiffs.

- All anti-smoking laws will be suspended for Veterans Day. The same hold for all misdemeanor laws pertaining to disorderly conduct, non-felonious brawling, leering, gawking and any other gross and disgusting public behavior that does not harm another individual.

- It will be a treasonable offense for any spouse or live-in girlfriend (or boyfriend, if it applies) to utter the dreaded words: “What time will you be home tonight?”

- Anyone caught posing as a veteran will be required to eat a triple portion of chipped beef on toast, with Spam on the side, and spend the day watching a chaplain present a color-slide presentation on the horrors of VD.

- Regardless of how high his office, no politician who had the opportunity to serve in the military, but didn’t, will be allowed to make a patriotic speech, appear on TV, or poke his nose out of his office for the entire day.

Any politician who defies this ban will be required to spend 12 hours wearing headphones and listening to tapes of President Clinton explaining his deferments.

Now, deal the cards and pass the tequila.

Mike Royko

Amen, Mike. And for the record, just about every veteran I know is working today, too!

Whether or not you have today off, I hope you take a minute to thank the veterans you know for their service. And if you’re a veteran yourself: Thank you.

Formerly called Armistice Day, Veterans Day is the day America commemorates the contributions of those who have served in its military. It falls on the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended the First World War. All major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice. The day is celebrated elsewhere in the world as Remembrance Day.

Today we salute America’s 25 million living Veterans and join the rest of the nation in remembering their sacrifice and thank them for their service to our country. There will be parades, including one in downtown Sacramento and, at 11:00AM, the parade will stop where it stands, Taps will be played, and all will observe two minutes of silence.

Take two minutes… It’s a pittance of time.

Here’s another tribute to our veterans, this one apparently by a student at Kuna High School for a Veterans Day assembly…

As a veteran of the Viet Nam War, I am proud to stand beside the brave men and women that now serve and have served our country in time of need. To all our veterans, thank you. The Republic is well served. And as long as we find men and women willing to do the hard, dirty work - there will be a Republic.

Today marks the 232nd anniversary of our U.S. Marine Corps Larry P. sent this nicely done PowerPoint slideshow to honor their proud heritage (requires MS PowerPoint):

To the Few. The Proud. The United States Marine Corps. Semper Fi.

My brother, Ken, emailed me an image entitled “Human Statue of Liberty” the other day that fascinated me enough to do some research into the photographer who created it. Here’s what I learned:

Arthur S. Mole (1889-1983) was a British-born commercial photographer who worked in Zion, Illinois, just north of Chicago. During and shortly after World War I, he traveled with his choreographic collaborator and partner, John D. Thomas, from one military camp to another posing thousands of soldiers to form gigantic patriotic symbols that they photographed from above. Mole called them “living photographs.” From the photographer’s perspective, the emblems were brought to life by means of the living soldiers who embodied them.

The formations depicted such images as the Statue of Liberty (click to enlarge), the Liberty Bell, the Marine Corps emblem and a portrait of President Woodrow Wilson. The Statue of Liberty portrait, for example, was formed using 18,000 officers and men at Camp Dodge, Iowa, and stretched over 750 feet. The photo was apparently intended to help promote the sale of war bonds but  never used. Note the way spatial depth and perspective are defied - there are twice as many men in the flame of the torch as in the entire rest of the design!

Mole and Thomas spent a week or more preparing for these immense works which were taken from a 70-80 foot tower with an 11X14 inch view camera. They began by tracing the desired image on a ground-glass plate mounted on Mole’s camera. Using a megaphone, body language and a long pole with a white flag tied to the end to point to the more remote areas where the bulk of the troops would be stationed, Mole would then position his helpers on the field as they nailed the pattern to the ground with miles of lace edging. In this way, Mole also figured out the exact number of troops required. These steps were preliminary to the many hours required to assemble and position the troops on the day of shooting.

According to a July 3, 1986, story in the Fort Dodge Messenger, “On a stifling July day in 1918, 18,000 officers and soldiers posed as Lady Liberty on the parade grounds at Camp Dodge. … Many men fainted - they were dressed in woolen uniforms - as the temperature neared 105 degrees Fahrenheit.”

The monumentality of this project somewhat overshadows the philanthropic magnanimity of the artists themselves. Instead of prospering from the sale of the images produced, the artists donated the entire income derived to the families of the returning soldiers and to this country’s efforts to rebuild their lives as a part of the re-entry process.

When the demand for these photographs dropped in the 1920s, Mole returned to his photography business in Zion. But many examples of his patriotic photographs in true perspective still exist. Mole and Thomas images are in the collections of the Chicago Historical Society, the Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress.

On “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day” and during Constitution Week, we celebrate the anniversary of our Nation’s Constitution and honor the Framers who created the landmark document that continues to guide our Nation.

In the summer of 1787, delegates convened in Philadelphia to create “a more perfect Union” and craft the document that is the foundation of our country. With great diligence, they worked to develop a framework that would balance authority and inherent freedoms, Federal interests and State powers, individual rights and national unity. On September 17th of the same year, the delegates signed the Constitution of the United States.

Today, every American shares in this legacy of liberty, and we are grateful for the courage, conviction, and sacrifice of all those who have helped preserve and uphold the principles of a free society. As we remember the enduring importance of the Constitution, we also recognize our responsibility as citizens to respect and defend the values of our founding and participate in the unfolding story of freedom.

In celebration of the signing of the Constitution and in recognition of the Americans who strive to uphold the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, the Congress, by joint resolution of February 29, 1952, designated September 17 as “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day,” and by joint resolution of August 2, 1956, requested that the President proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as “Constitution Week.” More

During World War II, the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant to protect it from possible Japanese air attacks. They covered it with camouflage netting and trompe l’oeil to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air. As this series of 9 photographs illustrates, the ruse was quite effective, allowing workers to carry out their daily routines without fear of becoming targets…

Tip o’ the hat to Davey!

“American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year. The average U.S. worker
produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries…”
-International Labor Organization

Today is the first Monday in September, Labor Day, a legal holiday in the U.S. that serves as our unofficial “last gasp of summer” three-day weekend. It also marks the beginning of the season for the National Football League and NCAA College Football. The NCAA usually plays their first games the weekend of Labor Day, with the NFL playing their first game the Thursday following. Traditionally celebrated with parades, picnics, and barbecues, Labor Day also marks the date after which it is no longer appropriate to wear white. But have we forgotten what Labor Day actually celebrates?

The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the “working man” and became a federal holiday by Act of Congress in 1894. It’s celebrated today mainly as a day of rest that marks the symbolic end of summer for many.

In keeping with tradition, Dawn and I spent the three-day weekend with family and friends. We ran a few errands, ate a few hotdogs and took Steve and Lori’s boxer dog, Jasmine, on a walk along Lake Natoma. Jas is a real sweetheart and a pleasure to take on walks. Our regular route takes about an hour, but with Jas it took two, was considerably shorter and was much more “fun.” She stayed right beside us while we walked, laid down on the grass next to us for rests in the shade, wasn’t at all bothered by other dogs or people, chased sticks at the edge of the lake (and laid down in the water while we chatted with a kayaker), and was a joy to have along. We look forward to doing it again!

Tomorrow begins a four-day work week as we head towards cooler weather and the official end of summer. I’ll miss the longer days and summer activities but, truth be told, fall and spring are my favorite seasons. Winter, well, let’s just say that cold and wet are not my friends.