One of my favorite scenes from the movie Apollo 13 is when a bunch of engineers remap the spaceship’s trajectory with nothing but a pen, paper and a slide rule.
This almost seems impossible in this day and age, when we delegate all of our calculations to a computer. I may be a part of a dying breed of people who can still figure things out without the calculator, but I can’t take credit for this – in my day we just didn’t have calculators; I got my first one after the 8th grade. Trigonometric tables, slide rules, pen, paper or even a chalkboard were just as much a part of my education as computers in today’s schools. There is nothing wrong with using technology but it’s amazing what we can do without it.
This was a long and winded introduction to the old photos of the Severe Local Storm Warning Center (SELS) which was located in Kansas City from 1954 to 1997 (brief history of SELS could be found here). Long before the word meteorologist was associated with associated with clueless jokers on TV, these people were saving lives without 3-D motion maps, scary graphics and “one degree guarantees”. I don’t know how accurate these guys were but given what they had to work with our modern TV meteorologists wouldn’t know where to start. Apparently technology does not a meteorologist make.
This time of the year is the apple season around here, the time when we make our annual trip to our favorite apple orchard in Williamsburg, KS. Over the years we’ve done quite a bit of driving in this part of Kansas, visiting small towns like Garnett and Osawatomie, Burlington, Ottawa, Williamsburg and this year we stopped for a few minutes in Lebo and Osage City.
Some photos depicting student activities in Springfield, MO in 1939.
Toy train…
A view of a children playing during class.
…and the real thing.
A view of a class learning about trains first hand at a railroad station.
A view of a class field trip to the local stockyard
Now that’s tough, even I had a cot when I was a kid.
A view of children in school taking a nap in the middle of the day.
This must be the other side of the tracks.
A view of a class doing an exercise in practical carpentry.
This kid grew up to invent the overhead projector.
A view of child giving a presentation in school.
Something tells me the old guy is not an actor.
A view of a class learning about slums by visiting the local slum area.A view of a class field trip to a farm to study the soil.A view of the Springfield sewage disposal plant.
Before the air-conditioning the government meetings were brief and to the point.
A view of a sixth grade class attending a town meeting during a lesson on government.Continue reading →
Recent post by M.Toast (it rhymes) where she effectively came out as a jam addict made me take a look at my fridge.
Guilty, but there is a difference. With my shopping habits you can say I’ve been preparing for a financial crisis all my life. While M.Toast is paying big bucks at high-end stores and at the City Market, I get my fix at the Big Lots. Today’s trip netted some French concoctions (it’s French, so it must be delicious).
I am sure these run probably close to $5-6 at some fancy stores; Big Lots -$2.50. Inventory always changes. Couple of months ago, I picked up a couple of jars of the “Fantastico Fig Jam”.
I am still mad at myself for not picking up a whole case. Who knew fig jam would be so popular in Olathe.
If you are wondering about the item in a plastic tub in my fridge with Russian/Hebrew writing on it, it’s a hard-to-find fresh black currant ground up with sugar. It’s not exactly a jam, it’s preserved by exorbitant amounts of sugar so it doesn’t have to be cooked. We used to preserve raspberries this way. Fresh all winter. Locally found only in the Russian stores and is not very cheap but totally worth it. Make sure you are not buying similar-looking but heat-treated version of the same.
Even when the times are hard you can sweeten up your life a little with some money to spare for your other vices like prostitutes and drugs. You just have to know where to look.
