On this date 208 years ago, the United States Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty by a vote of twenty-four to seven.
France had lost control of Louisiana to Spain at the end of the French and Indian War (1763). In the Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800), Spain ceded the territory back to France (along with six warships) in exchange for the creation of a kingdom in north-central Italy for the Queen of Spain’s brother. Napoleon promised never to sell or alienate the property. His promise was good for about 10 months.
The First Consul of the French Republic desiring to give to the United States a strong proof of his friendship doth hereby cede to the United States in the name of the French Republic for ever and in full Sovereignty the said territory with all its rights and appurtenances as fully and in the Same manner as they have been acquired by the French Republic in virtue of the above mentioned Treaty concluded with his Catholic Majesty [Spain].
The purchase included 828,000 square miles — all or parts of the modern states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.
With interest the total cost was $23.5 million, or about 4 cents an acre.
“At this point, [the Catholic Church] is little more than an elaborate international conspiracy to obstruct justice that also happens to have a really good art collection.”
How come talking to a computer seems so awkward? For some reason my voice becomes more stilted than the computer voice. Do I think a machine is stupid?
Anyway, I dictated this blog post. Scintillating, isn’t it?
“And for your Christmas shopping convenience, I do not have a Ferrari FF that I can drive 200 miles per hour over to the Target. That seems such a shame because you never know when you might have a Target emergency.”
“An Ohio County Sheriff’s Department is hunting wolves, lions and bears after they escaped an ‘animal preserve,’ which we all know is code for a magical board game called Jumanji.”
Yes, I am an early adopter. Computers, gadgets and such are my hobby, so I didn’t give too much thought to the fact that this was my third iPhone in 38 months. And that I actually was quite happy with my iPhone 4.
But, hey, life is short. So I got a 4S yesterday at the Apple Store (reserved it the night before online). That place was like Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve (well, smaller and the people were better dressed), but crazy busy — at noon on Tuesday.
The 4S is exactly the same size as the 4, so for once all your existing (that is, iPhone 4) stuff will fit. Most of the griping two weeks ago about the fact that it wasn’t an iPhone 5 (and therefore “different”) probably came from the after-market vendors — makers of cases and such.
I have only taken one photo so far, but all of the reviews say the camera is terrific, even for video. As good as any $200 camera (but as an add-on in a phone!).
The antenna problem is fixed. You can use the 4S naked. The phone I mean.
It’s faster than the 4. Apps open more quickly.
(But they’re the same old apps.)
Except, of course, for Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant. To my mind this technology is as significant, perhaps more significant than the introduction of the mouse or the touch screen. Human beings could talk long before they could write and eons longer than before they could type. This is the beginning of the end of typing.
Just to experiment.
Me: “Pizza”
Siri: “I found 19 pizza restaurants…13 of them are fairly close to you:” [listed with reviews and distance].
Me: “Directions to Donna’s house”
Siri: “Which Donna? Donna [Surname] or Donna [Surname]?
Me. “[Surname]”
Siri: “Here are the directions to Donna [Surname’s] House” [with distance and map].
Me: “Population of Albuquerque”
Siri: Statistics (via Wolfram Alpha) of population of city, metro area, nearby suburbs, and a graph of change over 100 years.
Last night I was able to text and send emails completely by voice. Blogging will be next.
How soon before Siri is available on my computers? (Of course it already is in other forms, but Apple will make it a must-have.)
There are all kinds of problems in the world, none of which Siri or iPhones will solve. The device is just a tool (and in many ways just a toy). But what a tool! What a toy!
I would give up my iPad without much fuss. I would kill you if you tried to take my phone.
… of Bob Strauss, the politico and diplomat. Ambassador Strauss is 93.
… of John le Carré. The author is 80.
… of Peter Max. The artist is 74.
… of John Lithgow. He’s 66. Lithgow has twice been nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar — Terms of Endearment and The World According to Garp.
… of Jeannie C. Riley, singer of the 1968 hit “Harper Valley P.T.A.” She, too, is 66.
… of one of the evil influences in American political life. Grover Norquist is 55.
… of Jennifer Holliday. The Tony Award winner is 51.
… of Evander Holyfield, 49.
… of one-time first daughter Amy Carter. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s little girl is 44.
… of Academy Award nominee for directing Jason Reitman. He’s 34. The nomination was for Juno.
Robert Reed was born on this date in 1932. A fine actor but one who will always be remembered most as the dad on The Brady Bunch. Reed’s best TV role was as Kenneth Preston, son in the excellent early 1960s father-son lawyer drama The Defenders. His father was played by E. G. Marshall. Reed died in 1992.
Winston Hubert McIntosh was born on this date in 1944. A founding member of The Wailers, Peter Tosh also was an international solo star and songwriter. He was shot and killed along with five others by a friend during an argument on September 11, 1987.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22% (508 points) on Black Monday, October 19, 1987. Shouldn’t they have called it Red Monday?
… was authorized on this date in 1978. It is one of four national historic sites in Kansas; there is also a national preserve in Kansas.
Promises made and broken! A town attacked at dawn! Thousands made homeless by war! Soldiers fighting settlers! Each of these stories is a link in the chain of events that encircled Fort Scott from 1842-73. All of the site’s structures, its parade ground, and its tallgrass prairie bear witness to this era when the country was forged from a young republic into a united transcontinental nation.
Two-hundred and thirty years ago today the British army surrendered to the Americans and French at Yorktown, Virginia, in essence ending the War for American Independence.
The siege of Yorktown was conducted according to the book, with redoubts, trenches, horn-works, saps, mines, and countermines. Cornwallis had about 8000 men in the little town on the York river, which French ships patrolled so that he could not break away. The armies of Rochambeau and Saint~Simon were almost as numerous as his, and in addition Washington had 5645 regulars and 3200 Virginia militia. The commander in chief, profiting by D’Estaing’s error at Savannah, wasted no men in premature assaults. There were gallant sorties and counterattacks, one led by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton. Casualties were light on both sides, fewer than in the naval battle; but Cornwallis, a good professional soldier, knew when he was beaten. On 17 October he sent out a white flag, and on the 19th surrendered his entire force. Pleading illness, he sent his second in command, Brigadier Charles O’Hara, to make the formal surrender to General Lincoln, whom Washington appointed to receive him. One by one, the British regiments, alter laying down their arms, marched back to camp between two lines, one of American soldiers, the other of French, while the military bands played a series of melancholy tunes, including one which all recognized as “The World Turned Upside Down.”
Lafayette announced the surrender to Monsieur de Maurepas of the French government, in terms of the classic French drama: “The play is over; the fifth act has come to an end.” Lieutenant Colonel Tench Tilghman carried Washington’s dispatch to Congress at Philadelphia, announcing the great event. Arriving at 3:00 a.m. on 22 October, he tipped off an old German night watchman, who awoke the slumbering Philadelphians by stumping through the streets with his lantern, bellowing, “Basht dree o’gloek und Gornvallis ist gedaken!”
Windows flew open, candles were lighted, citizens poured into the streets and embraced each other; and after day broke, Congress assembled and attended a service of thanksgiving.
— Samuel Eliot Morison, The Oxford History of the American People, 1965.
Today's photo is of aspens in my north yard. The trees (one behind the other in the photo) are well past prime early this year. They are no longer healthy at this altitude (6,070 feet). Beautiful blue sky though, eh?
But the real reason this is Today’s Photo is that it was taken with an iPhone 4S. 🙂
… is 85 today. I’ve been busy celebrating the national holiday.
You? What have you done to celebrate the birthday of this Great American?
While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, “Maybellene.” Combined with quick-witted, rapid-fire lyrics full of sly insinuations about cars and girls, Berry laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance. The song included a brief but scorching guitar solo built around his trademark double-string licks. Accompanied by long-time piano player Johnnie Johnson and members of the Chess Records house band, including Willie Dixon, Berry wrote and performed rock and roll for the ages. To this day, the cream of Berry’s repertoire—which includes “Johnny B. Goode,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Rock and Roll Music” and “Roll Over Beethoven”—is required listening for any serious rock fan and required learning for any serious rock musician.
I know you’re sick of people always running that FDR clip all up in your grill, the one from 1936 in which the offspring of New York patroon society gets up in Madison Square Garden and says,
“They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.”
“While the OWS folks in New York will remain where they are, at least for the moment, the temptation to send in the cops was too great for the people running several other cities, most notably Chicago and Denver. (Tearing down the tents and using the pepper spray. Well done, Denver. A two-fer!)”
¶The 400 wealthiest Americans have a greater combined net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans.
¶The top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent.
¶In the Bush expansion from 2002 to 2007, 65 percent of economic gains went to the richest 1 percent.
As my Times colleague Catherine Rampell noted a few days ago, in 1981, the average salary in the securities industry in New York City was twice the average in other private sector jobs. At last count, in 2010, it was 5.5 times as much. (In case you want to gnash your teeth, the average is now $361,330.)
… of Lee Iacocca. The former Ford executive and Chrysler chairman is 87.
… of Barry McGuire. The rock/folk singer is 76. His “Eve of Destruction” is even closer at hand.
… of Linda Lavin. Television’s “Alice” is 74.
… of Carole Penny Marshall. The actress turned director is 69.
… of Jim Palmer. The baseball hall-of-famer is 66. Palmer won World Series games in three decades (1966, 1970 and 1971, 1983).
Jim Palmer was the high-kicking, smooth-throwing hurler of Baltimore’s six championship teams of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. His impressive numbers include 268 victories, a .638 winning percentage, eight 20-win seasons and a 2.86 ERA over 19 seasons. He also pitched his entire career without allowing a grand slam. Intensity was the trademark of this three-time Cy Young Award winner, who combined intelligence, strength, competitiveness and consistency to become the Orioles’ all-time winningest pitcher.
… of Dominic West, foremost Detective Jimmy McNulty of The Wire, 42.
In his honor, the 100 greatest lines from the best TV series ever.
ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK AND SOME SPOILERS!
The economist John Kenneth Galbraith was born 103 years ago today. Galbraith once wrote a speech for President Lyndon Johnson. Galbraith was a very prominent economist and not a speech writer, but he worked diligently on the draft and was impressed with what he produced. It was given to LBJ who, out of respect for the economist, told him personally what he thought. “Ken,” LBJ said. “Writing a speech is a lot like wetting your pants. What feels warm and comforting to you can just seem cold and sticky to everyone else.” Galbraith died in 2006.
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. was born 94 years ago today. By the time of his death in 2006 Schlesinger had become a celebrity — a person known mostly for being well-known — but he was the winner of two Pulitizer Prizes in history — The Age of Jackson and A Thousand Days.
Before Schlesinger, historians thought of American democracy as the product of an almost mystical frontier or agrarian egalitarianism. The Age of Jackson toppled that interpretation by placing democracy’s origins firmly in the context of the founding generation’s ideas about the few and the many, and by seeing democracy’s expansion as an outcome of struggles between classes, not sections. More than any previous account, Schlesinger’s examined the activities and ideas of obscure, ordinary Americans, as well as towering political leaders. While he identified most of the key political events and changes of the era, Schlesinger also located the origins of modern liberal politics in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, and in their belief, as he wrote, that future challenges “will best be met by a society in which no single group is able to sacrifice democracy and liberty to its interests.”
Mario Puzo was born on October 15th in 1920. The Writer’s Almanac told us this in 2004:
[Puzo is] best known as the author of the novel The Godfather (1969), which was made into a movie in 1972. People had written novels and made movies about the mafia before, but the mafia characters had always been the villains. Puzo was the first person to write about members of the mafia as the sympathetic main characters of a story. The son of Italian immigrants, he started out trying to write serious literary fiction. He published two novels that barely sold any copies. He fell into debt, trying to support his family as a freelance writer. One Christmas Eve, he had a severe gall bladder attack and took a cab to the hospital. When he got out of the cab, he was in so much pain that he fell into the gutter. Lying there, he said to himself, “Here I am, a published writer, and I am dying like a dog.” He vowed that he would devote the rest of his writing life to becoming rich and famous. The Godfather became the best-selling novel of the 1970s, and many critics credit Puzo with inventing the mafia as a serious literary and cinematic subject. He went on to publish many other books, including The Sicilian (1984) and The Last Don (1996), but he always felt that his best book was the last book he wrote before he became a success – The Fortunate Pilgrim (1964), about an ordinary Italian immigrant family.
Puzo died in 1999.
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson was born on October 15, 1872. The 59-year-old president and widower Woodrow Wilson married the 43-year-old widow Mrs. Galt in 1915. (Michael Douglas was 51 and Annette Benning 37 when they played a fictional “first couple” in the 1995 film The American President.)
[President Wilson’s] health failed in September 1919; a stroke left him partly paralyzed. His constant attendant, Mrs. Wilson took over many routine duties and details of government. But she did not initiate programs or make major decisions, and she did not try to control the executive branch. She selected matters for her husband’s attention and let everything else go to the heads of departments or remain in abeyance. Her “stewardship,” she called this. And in My Memoir, published in 1939, she stated emphatically that her husband’s doctors had urged this course upon her.
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts began as a gift to the American people from Catherine Filene Shouse. Encroaching roads and suburbs inspired Mrs. Shouse to preserve this former farm as a park. In 1966 Congress accepted Mrs. Shouse’s gift and authorized Wolf Trap Farm Park (its original name) as the first national park for the performing arts. Through a fruitful partnership between the National Park Service and the Wolf Trap Foundation, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts offers a wealth of natural and cultural resources to the community and to the nation.
