Today’s lunchtime news chum brings you a collection of posts all related to history. Yes, I could wait until tonight, but some of these are so good I’ve just gotta share…
- A History of Everything, Pixar. Strange, warped, but oddly sensical… here’s a unified theory of how all the Pixar movies are actually in the same universe.
- Computer History. Turning to computer history, here’s a history of how the Control-Alt-Del keysequence came to be. In other computer news, Playbill announced a new musical, “IF – THEN”. It was hoping it would be a musical about the creation of FORTRAN or PL/I, but alas it isn’t.
- History Never Goes Away. A big topic in the news is the whole Zimmerman/Martin case and the reaction thereto. But for some, it is just same old-same old. Here’s an interesting contention: we’re still fighting the Civil War. This is certainly seen in the reaction against Obama. Remember: the South in the Civil War didn’t like Lincoln because he came up from nothing — trash elected President. They preferred leaders who came from money, power, and in particular, powerful families. Hmmmmm.
- Transit History. Those who know me know I’m familiar with highway and transit history, and that Los Angeles once had a great transportation system that withered away (due to poor maintenance, not any conspiracy)… and there were plans for a much bigger system than we currently have. It’s getting better, but it takes time. Here’s another one that got away: San Francisco’s Subway System That Almost Was.
Remember: the South in the Civil War didn’t like Lincoln because he came up from nothing — trash elected President.
Wow . . . oversimplifying much?
If I’m not mistaken, you’ve never actually lived in the South correct?
There’s a lot I love about the South. There’s a lot I hate about it. There’s some wonderful aspects about the places, the people, and the culture(s), and there is also a great deal of ugliness and a great deal of unfortunate history. But one thing that’s constant about the South is that it’s a very complex place and can’t be summed up in sweeping generalizations without missing a great deal.
The notion came from a Backstory podcast from the University of Virginia, which noted that one of the reasons the south did not like Lincoln was that he didn’t come from power or privilege (see Backstoryradio.org , look for the podcasts on the Civil War 150th). Looking at recent presidents, one can see that a similar pattern still exists — the south — or more precisely, the conservative fringe — tends to look down on the presidents that did not come from wealth or power (Clinton, Obama) and look up on those that came from powerful families (Bush).
Try this link: http://backstoryradio.org/shows/civil-war-150th-why-they-fought-rebroadcast/ . It should be a two-part show; I think the assertion was in the 2nd part. Alas, work is blocking the link (streaming audio block), so I can’t check it now.