The sun returns

[altivo]

Took till this afternoon, but the sun came out and melted all the snow, or nearly so. Only well shaded places still have remnants. We're supposed to be headed back into the 50s each day this week, thank goodness.

Packaged up Aero's little postcard painting and it's ready to mail in the morning, so that's taken care of. Next up will be one of two favorite images of our two geldings that I've had in mind to turn into paintings for a while.

I think this is likely to be a hectic week with people missing at work again, including the boss herself. I'm not particularly looking forward to it.

Today's "writer's block" question over on LJ asked what the earliest news media event you can remember was. Several people pointed to Sputnik (1957) or the JFK assassination (1963) but my memory extends a bit farther, to 1956. In July of that year two ocean liners collided in the Atlantic, off the coast of Massachusetts, and I remember the coverage in considerable detail. The SS Andrea Doria, owned by the Italian Line, capsized and sank a short time after the collision. The SS Stockholm, Swedish owned, went on to port under its own power. It was huge news, largely because almost all the passengers and crew survived, despite the sinking. The numbers could have been worse than the Titanic, but better communications and navigation (including radar) made it possible for other ships to reach the scene soon enough to rescue nearly everyone aboard the crippled ship. I believe the death toll was well under 100, most of whom were killed or severely injured in the actual collision. The photos of the damaged ships, including the Andrea Doria as it sank, were in newspapers and magazines and made quite a horror story that was hard to look away from (or forget, evidently.)

I was reminded of the incident regularly through the years after, because my parents discovered at that time that I was already able to read on my own. I had only finished half of kindergarten at the time, but they caught me reading the newspaper aloud to my younger brother. They and my grandmother, who lived just a few houses up the street, had read to us daily for several years by then, but they didn't realize that I had put together the reading and the words in the familiar books they read over and over and actually developed rudimentary reading skills. I'm sure the basic alphabet stuff from school contributed as well.

Comments

[moonhare]

My remembrance was the Space Race in general, 1960, when some of the kindergarten teachers were discussing it in dire tones. There was an uneasiness associated with those times, and looking at the stars at night I imagined bad things (nebulous and generic 'bad' things to a 5 year old).

[altivo]

It was viewed as a military operation by many people, and in fact the Soviet efforts were spearheaded by the military. That's what sparked so much concern. Unfortunately, the US wasted a lot of money and energy just proving that we could "do it first" rather than on the actual science and practical engineering. That in turn created the culture that has dragged NASA down to a great extent in the years since.

[(Anonymous)]

Me being a bit younger, the first major news I remember on t.v. was the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. I was 4 years old.

Isn't it scary that I qualify as a member of "greymuzzles"?

Chibiabos

[altivo]

*checks* You're still wet behind the ears, cub. ;p

When replying here, if you click "using OpenID" above the comment box and supply your LJ URL, your comment will not be screened. You already had access, I granted that to all my LJ friends list. ;D

If you go to http://www.dreamwidth.org/openid and log in, then on the next screen click "keep me logged in" and SAVE, you will be logged in here as long as you stay logged in at LJ. Makes things quite a bit smoother. I do the same thing in reverse so I can still comment on LJ posts.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

My earliest memory was little snippets of the Falklands War, but I was very young at the time so could not furnish you with much details. I think they were just images of win bladed helicopters on the TV while I was having my family dinner. The news was just background noise for me back then. I was too young to fully grasp it. The first news report I remember with any real detail with Chernobyl, back in 86. My mother was totally paranoid when the dairy refused to release the radionuclide milk-burden count to her, and made us all drink powdered milk. I guess she forgot about the water she would have had to have used to make it. ;)

The next big event was this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Herald_of_Free_Enterprise

I remember that quite clearly.

[altivo]

The Falklands was certainly a bizarre incident and all the proof you need of human stupidity. I kept waiting for the sheep to form batallions and throw all the humans off the islands. It would have made a much better story.

The most interesting thing that came of that war in my opinion was an erotic farce written by Samuel Steward in which his character Phil Andros encountered someone who appeared to be Prince Andrew and had a brief affair with him before he revealed the fact that he was a stand-in double who appeared in dangerous places to keep the Royal family looking good and involved without endangering any of its real members. ;p

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Who is to say that is not actually how it works? ;)

[altivo]

Only those with inside information, and who's to say that Steward didn't have it? He certainly "got around." In the 1980s he was probably the only living person who could (and did) say that he had seen Gertrude Stein naked. ;p

Actually, didn't the British Empire officially come to an end with the death of George VI? Seems to me he was Emperor of India at his coronation but by the time Elizabeth was crowned India was no longer British. When I was in school, Elizabeth was still titled Queen of Canada, too, but I think that has gone. So in a sense, the royal family are no longer much more than what Hollywood stars are to the US. Well, except that they last a lot longer. XD

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

The empire was seen as being a bit of an expensive extravagance in the years after World War I. So it was on the wane anyway by the early 30s. It was the financial disaster (for the UK anyway) of WWII which finally put the empire out of it's misery though.

I think Elizabeth is still Queen of Canada. But usually not much of a fuss is made about it. Empire been replaced with the concept of commonwealth. It’s much more politically correct.

[altivo]

Ah yes, I was forgetting about the titular nonsense of the Governor General. Shame on me, having been reminded of that as recently as last year when Harper suspended Parliament in order to avoid a vote of no confidence. I was outraged that the Governor General failed to override him, which she could properly have done but the recent tradition of "hands off" was followed and she let him get away with it.

I have considerable respect for Elizabeth II, actually. While no human monarch can be perfect, she treads that narrow balance pretty well (dowdy duds aside.) It's unfortunate that her siblings and offspring have all been so often fodder for the tabloids (and deservedly so, which is even worse.)

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I am not tremendously fond of the entire concept of titles and birthright. I have long been a supporter of the formation of a republic here in the UK. It's sad that my ideology had to take a back seat to common sense a while ago, when the House of Lords become the only thing standing in the way of our government and their desires for banana republic like powers of house arrest. I am still not happy with their existence, but they have won a reprieve.

I personally had no idea Harper could legally do what he did. It’s the first I’ve heard of it.

[altivo]

I was appalled as well. Even though I was assured by Canadian friends that it was legally permitted, I was outraged at the very concept. I think it was an abuse of a power intended to be used for something else.

I agree that hereditary titles generally seem dubious, and hereditary power over others even more so. Unfortunately, we have proven time and time again that "democratic" election of leaders elevates morons just as frequently and perhaps more often than royal lines descend into idiocy through inbreeding and isolation. I have no solution to the conundrum, and consider all forms of human government equally corrupt and disastrous.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I'll get back to you on that after the election here...whenever that might be...he's running out of time to call it now.

[hrrunka]

Of course everyone knows it'll be on May 6th, but nobody's said so, officially, because it could, technically, be on a few other dates...

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I dunno why he does not just announce that as the date. Maybe he thinks that if he shuts his eyes and pretends it's not happening, it will all go away like a bad dream?

[hrrunka]

I think it's to do with legal requirements about the timing of the announcement and the dissolution of Parliament.

[schnee]

We're supposed to be headed back into the 50s each day this week, thank goodness.

Heh. I had to read that several time until I realized you meant the 50s (°F) temperature range, not the 1950s...

-ENOCOFFEE. ^^

[altivo]

*snicker*

Well, I can see how you might think that given the context that followed, but no, I have no desire to return to the 50s or even the 60s for that matter.

[schnee]

"several times", even. Ack. x.x

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I know you don't like LJ for the dodgy stuff but I do miss seeing you there :) I think it was Halley's comic that was my first "world" article I remember :3

[altivo]

You did add the altivo_dw_feed to your friends' list on LJ, right? That will let you keep reading my drivel right there. the only nuisance is the extra click to get your replies over here on DW where I'll see them. Don't respond to the feed, I won't see that.