moon traveller herald

  Edmund Morris’s Edison Thomas Edison was born in the years before the American Civil War, and as a lad came under the thrall of popular writings on electricity. The phenomenon had only recently evolved from spooky mystery thing to moneymaking entity. In the form of the commercial telegraph was forming the basis for new industries and ways of life in the United States. As a boy in Port Huron, Michigan, he muddled through some schooling, became a news boy, and then a telegraph operator as the Civil War commenced. He used his time. Riding the rail running from Port Huron to Detroit, and he began to produce his own paper in a baggage car on the train. In Detroit between the morning and evening trains he’s go to the Young Men’s Society Reading Room (public library) and commence to read every book, starting at the beginning of book shelf (that’s something I heard, not something detailed as such in the book we’re going to look at here). Read Les Misérables, Robert Burden’s The Anatomy o...

 

The open web is setting like a big red sun — at least if you buy Richard Kramer’s point of view. The financial analyst with Arete Research recently noted that the open web is on its way out because Google AI is reducing content providers to mere sources of raw data. This perspective stems from a New York Times story, “In AI Era, Google Expands Search Box for Longer Queries.” [In another article, the NYT notes that it is suing Google, as well as OpenAI, in this regard.] Read the Rest on Medium >>>

  My hero (above) - The Preakness Stakes arrived this year with not a lot of build up. There is a one-year sojourn from Pimlico for the Preakness.  It was held at Laurel Park, which called for a new contour for the 1 3/16 th mile distance. The home stretch seemed long. The field of contestants generally is a bit lackluster. Derby winner Golden Tempo, passed it up. Like last year’s Derby Winner Sovereignty, the horse is skipping the second jewel in the Triple Crown and targeting the Belmont Stakes set  for Saratoga [Belmont’s re-build is still uncompleted. 9-5 says we'' say that about Pimlico's re-design one year from today.] Read more at my Epitomime Racing and Markets site.

Grandma couln't write. The kids took jobs.  A sister went to teachers' college. The baby My father went to BC.  Fashioned himself after Dick Powell. Read Milton and Shakespeare. He wanted to go into advertising. Was told you might have to go to New York for that - as this was Brahman   Boston. This was the mid 1930s and there was no job. Well, did some pipe fitting in the Navy Yard. Riding the subway in asbestos laced work clothes. The, promoting/selling Lucky Strikes, store to store and bar to bar up to Maine.  He gets an interview on Stillings St with Johnsons Wax. "Why should I hire a college man?" he's gruffly asked. He labors to field the rough query. Walks out and says to self "well I won't get that one.' But he gets hired. The boss was trying to see how he reacted under pressure. Now, a very long haul followed. Including 6 years in Army. But he always ready to sell the idea of a liberal education. Colleges increasingly are vocational. I don...

A great poem found. The tortuous and transforming time. We still don't understand what we are going through.