Oddments (1)

 

   In my last post ("A Gathering of Kestertons"), I indicated that I had to figure out what to call short posts, quickly posted en masse. I have decided to label them "Oddments" and produce some since I have written nothing at all for ten days and still have nothing much to write.  I will try to do better in March, unless the weather improves significantly. 

Line 5

  I wrote about Line 5 a year ago and wondered, since it is cold outside and gas prices are very high, if it was soon going to be shut down. The earlier post contains sources and even a map, but if you have forgotten what Line 5 is, it is the pipeline that provides petroleum products to our general area. Governor Gretchen over in Michigan is worried that it may rupture and ruin our Great Lakes. Most on our side of the Lakes, seem to worry much more about having heat and cheap gas, and not many Liberals note the irony involved. 

   I checked; the pipeline is still open and has not yet ruptured.  Apparently we can relax a bit, according to this headline: "Canada Has Replacements for Line 5 if Pipeline Shuts Down, Report Says," James McCarten, The Canadian Press, Feb. 16, 2022. The replacement is Line 78 and I suppose its rupture will be less devastating. The article is linked above, but it does not give the title of the report mentioned in the title of the article. The reason premium subscribers pay big bucks for access to this blog is that such information is supplied. Here it is: "Closing Enbridge's Line 5 Pipeline: What Are the Options and Alternatives Available," by Environmental Defence Canada. The executive summary indicates:
Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and gas pipeline has been the subject of considerable debate. Opponents want the pipeline shut down due to the risk it poses to the Great Lakes, the largest body of freshwater in the world, while proponents of the pipeline have claimed that a Line 5 closure could trigger an energy crisis. But new research shows that a Line 5 shutdown is entirely manageable and that options exist to meet demand for oil and refined products (e.g. gasoline) in Ontario and Quebec without Line 5. This new research also finds that with a planned shutdown of Line 5, any gas price changes would essentially go unfelt by consumers. Our report summarizes the findings of this research. The full research paper is linked within the report.

A link to the report is provided above, along with the citation, so you will be able to find it if the link rots. Let's hope Line 5 does not rupture, while all of this is being sorted out. 

Quote of the Week (2)

  I hope I am sufficiently far enough down the page that no one notices this quotation. It was obviously not produced this week since such a remark would not now be allowed to surface. I did notice it this week, however, and while it is not a good one to display during "Black History Month", I will do so since it perhaps represents the zetigeist of a different period. Here it is: "In a letter to a friend, describing America, Freeman wrote, "This would be a grand land if only every Irishman would kill a negro, and be hanged for it." (No exclamation point required!!)

I will add that the letter writer is Edward Augustus Freeman who was the Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford. I need not add that I do not endorse the sentiments expressed, since the title of this blog indicates I may have some Irish blood, and like ex-President Carter and Elvis, may even have a bit of black as well. 

Advance Noise Alert

   The days are getting longer, if not warmer, and they will soon be louder. There are many fellows eager to cruise around in the fine weather in noisy cars and they will be joined later by those on motorcycles and crotch rockets, which are usually noisier.  I thought about this because of an article in the New York Times, which indicates that the French are doing something about it: 
"With Sensors on Streets, France Takes Aim at 'Noise From Hell': The French Authorities Are Installing "Sound Radars" in Some Cities to Detect and Photograph Vehicles Making Excessive Noise, Which They Say is a Public Health Hazard," Emma Bubola, Feb. 21, 2022. Here are some sentences from beyond the paywall which you will not be able to surmount:

"When France introduced speed cameras 20 years ago, it drastically reduced the number of car accidents and helped save tens of thousands of lives. Now the government is taking aim at another scourge: the earsplitting noise that has been a fact of life for residents of French cities.

New sensors, or “sound radars,” were placed in seven cities last week as an experiment. The sensors can detect and take pictures of vehicles making excessive noise, a problem that officials say has gotten worse in recent years. The hope is to eventually set a noise-pollution limit and fine those motorists exceeding it....

“If the mayor didn’t buy a radar, we would have bought one ourselves,” said Raphael Bianchi, who lives in the Place de la Bastille in Paris. He said his 1-year-old son was constantly awakened by motorcycles roaring outside their apartment: “It’s unbearable — it’s a constant acoustic aggression.”

The initiative follows a mounting intolerance by the French to street noises, particularly motorcycles and souped-up scooters. According to a study by Bruitparif, a state-backed center that monitors noise in the Paris area, a modified scooter crossing Paris at night can wake as many as 10,000 people.

The center has developed a sensor that is being tested in Paris. At the end of the testing period, in 2023, the city plans to start handing out fines of 135 euros, about $150, to vehicles that break noise-level rules."

 

   You will be pleased to know and I am pleased to be able to offer some Canadian content which indicates that we (or at least the Albertans) are ahead in this regard. Here is what they tried in Edmonton: 
"Microphones on Edmonton Streets Listening for Loud Pipes: Similar to Photo Radar, Cameras With Microphones Set to Target Noisy Aftermarket Exhaust,"

"Four cameras with microphones have been placed throughout the city of Edmonton in an effort to catch drivers and riders with loud exhaust that exceed 85 decibels, the first implementation of this technology in North America.

Along with the four cameras, another four display boards with microphones are being installed at different locations throughout the city.

According to the CBC, city councillors agreed to continue testing the noise-monitoring equipment to determine whether it can be used to enforce extreme noise, similar to how photo radar tickets drivers for speeding. But as this is a test project, there will be no tickets handed out." From, Driving, Aug. 20, 2018. 

The word "Aftermarket" refers to the market for mufflers and "sound boosters" that can increase the sounds your vehicle makes rather than muffle them. 

Some Sources For This Section:

   The NYT article mentions some reports that relate to the health hazards associated with high decibel levels. Here are a couple. By the way, to increase your concern about the noise issue, I should note that the lower classes are more likely to be affected by loud vehicles since social housing is often closer to major thoroughfares. 
The World Health Organization report is: "New Evidence from WHO on Health Effects of Traffic-Related Noise,"March, 2011.

The French report by Bruitparif is available in English: "Transport Noise in Ile-De-France: Exposure to Transport Noise, Particularly in Dense Areas, It a Real Public Health Issue." 

   The decibel laws related to such things are available and vary from city to city. Here is one Canadian source, "Come On, Feel the Noise: How Canada's Noise Regulations Compare City to City," Coleman Molnar, Driving, Mar. 11, 2021. 

Post Script:

 One never knows when such information might be required. For example, residents in our area recently were blinded by "light pollution" which made our back yards light up like Stalag 17 when the prisoners tried to escape at night. The sudden illumination came about when a commercial property nearby, was renovated. The lights have been dimmed somewhat because our dutiful and civic-minded neighbour contacted our local Councillor and the property owner cooperated, even though the London bylaws about "light pollution" are lacking. 

The Bonus For This Section: 

   I recall in my youth, guys in dungarees under cars removing the mufflers all together, or installing "Glasspacks". Such options these days seem better since "backfires" are often emitted as well.

   This all reminded me of the bonus - Suicide Knobs. I learned they are called, more properly - Brodie Knobs. 

Pickleball and Noise Pollution

  If I had any readers who were hotrodders, they would likely chastise me for not also picking on the pickleballers. In my defence, I can only say that I did not realize what a serious problem pickleball noise is. It must be a serious problem since the CBC is concerned, as you will see in this article which has a headline that the headline writer must have enjoyed writing:

Pickleball is One of Canada's Fastest-Growing Sports: But the Paddle and Ball Can Make a Racket - Some Residents Who Live Near Pickleball Courts Have Grown Sour on the Burgeoning Sport," CBC News, Feb. 21, 2022.

"Pickleball has been a blessing for some during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering up exercise, fresh air, and a chance to socialize outdoors. 

But for some who live near pickleball courts, the cacophony that comes with the burgeoning sport can be a curse.  

Many pickleballers play their sport on reconfigured outdoor tennis courts. The sport has ties to tennis, but uses a paddle instead of a racket, and a hard ball instead of a fuzzy tennis ball. The results can be noisy. 

Connie Ball, who lives near pickleball courts in Blue Mountain Park in Coquitlam, B.C., has been fighting against the sound for 18 months.

"You can't go down for a nap," she said of the noise. "It's just invading. It goes right into our home."

The courts in Blue Mountain Park were repurposed in 2020 for pickleball, but after noise complaints from Ball and other neighbours, the city limited play to the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a one-hour break at noon."

For now, I will remain silent about this subject. 

Castrati 

The Sad Tale of the Castrated Singing Boys

   I realize that this is a rather abrupt shift in subjects, but surely I am far enough down the page to safely bring up this one.  Although some people appear to think that bad things have happened only in modern times and only to members of a certain sex or ethnic group, in fact, awful things have always happened to everyone. You will know about the castrati and these posts are rather longer than expected so I will get to the point. Young boys with good voices were sometimes castrated so they could continue singing as sopranos for the remainder of their much longer careers. The songs were typically sung in Catholic churches where women were supposed to remain silent, but higher voices needed, What is not usually discussed, is the method of making male children into eunuchs. The issue was raised recently and I happened to notice it. At least now you will know how they did it in olden times. I am still not sure how it was done in the more enlightened 18th century. Gents, you might want to wait for my next post and skip this one. 

What method of castration was used for Byzantine eunuchs?

"Although eunuchs were prominent in Byzantium, few sources deal with the technicalities of castration. The matter was considered too sensitive, distasteful and shameful to discuss openly... Thankfully, there is a Byzantine source that offers a detailed description of the operation. It’s the 7th-c. Medical Compendium in Seven Books by a physician named Paul of Aegina, aka Paulus Aegineta. This influential work discusses castration based not only on theory but also the author’s own medical practice — Paul claims to have performed castrations under pressure from certain powerful people. The methods he goes over are two.

That by compression (kata thlasin) is performed thus: children, still of a tender age, are placed in a vessel of hot water, and then when the bodily parts are softened in the bath, the testicles are to be squeezed with the fingers until they disappear, and, being dissolved, can no longer be felt.

The method by excision (kat’ ektomēn) is as follows: let the person to be made a eunuch be placed upon a bench, and the scrotum with the testicles grasped by the fingers of the left hand, and stretched; two straight incisions are then to be made with a scalpel, one in each testicle; and when the testicles start up they are to be dissected around and cut out, having merely left the very thin bond of connection between the vessels in their natural state. This method is preferred to that by compression; for those who have had them squeezed sometimes still desire intercourse, a certain part, as it would appear, of the testicles having escaped the compression."

The above was taken from Quora Digest, Jan. 5 and was provided by, Eleftherios Tserkezis. 

Sources: 

   I am sure there is a good Wikipedia entry relating to this subject. Those of you who are more serious and concerned about the castrati should see:

"Castrati Choir and Opera Singers," Meyer Melicow and Stanford Pulrang, Urology, Vol. III, No. 5, May, 1974.

"Some authors note that as many as 4,000 to 5,000 youngsters were castrated annually, sacrificed through greed on the alter of music."

   "The Age of the Castrato Voice," Fredrich S. Brodnitz, Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders," Vol. 40, No.3, Aug. 1975.

"Castration has been administered for punishment or for cruel revenge of which the great Abelard is the best known example.... The castration of children for the sole purpose of producing a special type of voice is a historic phenomenon of unusual interest."

   "The Keepers of the Bed: Castration and Religion," Vincent J. Derbes, JAMA, Vol.212, No.1, April 6, 1970. 

"Partial or complete excision of man's genitalia, castration, eviration or eunuchism, is the most cruel of all mutilations and not the least practiced. According to ancient tradition, the knowledge of castration was obtained from an animal, the castor or beaver, who practiced it upon himself when being hunted, abandoning his testicles rather than allowing himself to be captured.' 

That is enough for this Sunday and Oddments (1) is done. 

A Gathering of Kestertons

   I just indicated in my last post, which was my first one in a while, that I have had trouble producing one every day. If I had any readers and they showed up daily they would be disappointed that the blog remained unchanged and soon would stop coming.  I thought that, perhaps what I could do to attract an audience of loyal, returning readers is grab short, catchy, bizarre, humorous, happy, or sad items and post them while I worked on creating something original.  When I did so, I would group them under the clever title of,  "A Gathering of Kestertons" so readers would know what to expect and anticipate that the content would be more enjoyable and interesting than something manufactured by the usual author of Mulcahy's Miscellany.

Michael Kesterton and "Social Studies"

   "Gathering" is the collective noun I chose and you know all about them because you have read "A Murder of Crows." "Kesterton" you may not immediately recognize, but if I mention the Globe and Mail column, "Social Studies: A Daily Miscellany of Information", you may recall that he was the compiler of it. It was the first page of the paper that most of us turned to during the period from 1990 to 2013. Short facts, figures and tidbits were offered along with a "Thought du jour." Surely a similar approach by me would lead to a consistent increase in the imaginary Ipsos blogging ratings. 

   After writing all of that, I have decided against proceeding with this project and the first "Gathering of Kestertons", will be the last.  Although Mr. Kesterton is deceased, I now realize it is  inappropriate of me to associate his name with MM, since he would gain little and such an association could actually sully his reputation. As well, it is unfair because Mr. Kesterton would have had to do far more work for most of the period during which he gathered material. Work involving things like reference books, trips to the library and reading extensively, none of which one needs now to do. The Internet has made gathering much easier and the market is already crowded with publications offering listicles and trivia stolen from other publications. Plus, it is so easy I would be inclined to slack off and offer only the material of others and never do any heavy lifting myself.  But, before I go, I might as well say a little more about Mr. Kesterton and his "Social Studies," and provide a few of his examples and, perhaps a some of the ones I would have offered had I proceeded with "A Gathering of Kestertons."

   Mr. Kesterton passed away late in 2018 and Elizabeth Renzetti of the G&M notes that: 
"Mr. Kesterton, who died on Dec. 5 at the age of 72, was the shy, quick-witted writer behind one of The Globe and Mail’s most popular features. By the time Social Studies ended on Canada Day, 2013, Mr. Kesterton had compiled more than three kilometres of arcana, world history, scientific breakthroughs, anniversaries and odd news, such as the time Sophia Loren apprehended a handbag thief."

   The first "Social Studies" I have found is from July 4, 1990 and the items in it are topical ones even for our times. Under the subject of "Waste", figures are given for how much of it is being sent by us to countries in the Third World and how much more Toronto wants to have taken by truck into the third world hinterlands elsewhere in the province. Texans back then were thinking just like Texans now. Under the title "Texas Chainsaw Reasoning" a regulatory official did not think it terribly important to control the sale of the toxic chemical chlordane: "Sure, it's going to kill a lot of people. But they may be dying of something else anyway." Many interesting facts are provided and the tabloids can always be counted upon for attention-grabbing headlines: "Dog Lands Plane After Pilot Has Heart Attack" and "Strange Cult Worships Studebakers.'

   The last "Social Studies" is found on July 1, 2013 and among the facts included are some about the column. It began on June 12, 1990 and "Social Studies" was only to be a temporary title. The difference between "Geeks" and "Nerds" is explained and the last "Thought du jour" was thought by Sir Wilfred Laurier and it still has some relevance for our time - "Canada is free and freedom is nationality."

   I have offered snippets, quotes of the day, headlines of the week, factlets and even the odd apercu, when I didn't have much myself to say and I will likely keep doing so, but I won't gather them under the name of the late Mr. Kesterton.  Here are a few for now.

Funny Quotes: 

P.J. O'Rourke just died and left us some humorous ones: On leaving Maoism behind:
“But I couldn’t stay a Maoist forever,” he wrote. “I got too fat to wear bell-bottoms. And I realized that communism meant giving my golf clubs to a family in Zaire.”
About the difference between "Democrats' and "Republicans" - “The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer and remove the crab grass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then get elected and prove it.”

Funny Names:

There were many in the old Wild West and Bret Harte says nicknames were the beginning of a "rude heraldry." Here are some: Antelope Jack; Albuquerque Alice; Hog-Eyed Nellie; Gunny Sack Bill; Pie Biter Baker; Cemetery Sam; Peckerwood Pete; Catacorners Ketchum, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody. Bartholomew Masterson, thought it wise to change his name to "Bat." He was born in Quebec and if you read the Wikipedia entry for him you will see that he was a very interesting character. For more nicknames: "Trailing the Alias," Waldo Koop, The American West, Jan./Feb. 1977.

Sad Place Names: 

Point No Point, Washington; Dismal, North Carolina; Cape Disappointment, Washington; Little Hope, Texas; Boring, Maryland; Misery Bay, Michigan; Tombstone, Arizona; Dead Horse Bay, New York; Murder Island, Nova Scotia. "14 of the Most Depressing Place Names in North America," Bess Lovejoy, Mental Floss, May 11, 2015.

On Somnambulism:

This story was reported by CP back in July, 1979: (Barrie)- "A man wearing only a pyjama top was found walking along a highway early Wednesday about five kilometres from the motel where he was staying. Provincial police, who picked up the man after a call from a person who found him, said he was sleep-walking. The man was in good shape except for sore feet, police said. They did not identify the man, but said he was from the London-Windsor area." 

On Statues:

Many are now being torn down and in this Reuters story from 1989 we can learn how to profit from such destruction:
"Budapest: Right Hand Man: A museum here had paid 500 (pounds) for the right hand of Stalin which was part of the huge Stalin monument toppled in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. It was sold by the widow of a rector who had it in his Budapest garden as a decoration.
  The Stalin statue, which was 28 metres high, was torn down during the night of 23 October 1965. The fragments were collected as souvenirs. The museum intends to show the right hand in an exhibition next year on the epoch of Hungarian Stalinism."

The Price for a Tongass Tree:

A 180 foot tall Sitka spruce is standing (for now) in the Tongass National Forest where it has been standing for a long time. Here is what it is likely to be worth:
"Even when the top and branches are lopped off, a tree this size would yield at least 6,000 board feet of lumber, said industry consultant Catherine Mater, who assessed the spruce’s potential market value for The Washington Post. It would fetch around $17,500 on the open market."

Another Murder of Crows:     

Mentioned above and written about before, the murder of crows in Burnaby has a rival murder far to the south in Sunnyvale, California. See for proof: "A California City Overrun With Crows Turns to Lasers and a Boombox to Scare Them Away: City employees will spend an hour every night shining green lasers and playing corvid distress calls to humanely harass the birds into leaving, Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, Jan. 20, 2022. And: "A California City Is Overrun by Crows. Could a Laser Be the Answer? In a move befitting its Silicon Valley setting, the city of Sunnyvale, Calif., will aim a laser at 1,000 birds that have overwhelmed the downtown area during the pandemic," Alyssa Lukpat, NYT, Jan. 17, 2022

Literary Unproductivity

Joyce Carol Oates

   I am the unproductive one, not Ms. Oates.  I was aware of her many literary activities since it is hard not to notice them. One week she publishes another book and the next she reviews a book published by someone else. I have not written even a short post in about ten days, so it was irritating to receive an email from The New York Review of Books, offering me a free essay by Oates (on boxing!), which served to remind me of how literally lazy I have been. There are seventy-seven other essays by her in just The New York Review of Books and according to the Wikipedia entry,  "Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction."

   It is true that I don't attempt to write every day, don't get paid if I do and don't have any readers, but if I did I would would still struggle to come up with something to put down. Apparently Trollope would time himself and write 250 words every fifteen minutes and continue writing on the train on his way to his job in the Post Office. Other examples of prolificity are easily found (too easily) and while they make one feel inadequate, searching for and reading about them provide more excuses for not writing. 

   Additional productive authors include Isaac Asimov who wrote more than 500 books and around 90,000 letters. And, like Oates, he had a full time university job. Barbara Cartland authored 723 novels and published 191 books in one year (and she wrote biographies of Metternich and Christina of Sweden.) James Patterson is currently writing a lot, but apparently he has a lot of help.  I will get to work producing more, right after I look for some sources for you.

Canadian Content

   Ms. Oates was born on a farm next door in upper New York state, lived in Michigan and taught, for a while, here in Ontario at the University of Windsor. She and her husband started The Ontario Review. 

Sources: 

  The Wikipedia entries for all involved will be enough for most of you. 

  The deceased Cartland still has her own site. If you prefer one in pink, see Literary Hub. 

   The Ontario Review: A North American Journal of the Arts, ceased publication in 2008, but, like many artistic Canadians now resides in California. You can read the complete archive at the University of San Francisco. 

The Bonus:

   To make this more topical, you should know that Asimov was apparently a dirty old man and, like most of them, was guilty of sexual harassment: 

"Asimov would often fondle, kiss and pinch women at conventions and elsewhere without regard for their consent. According to Alec Nevala-Lee, author of an Asimov biography and writer on the history of science fiction, he often defended himself by saying that far from showing objections, these women cooperated. In the 1971 satirical piece, The Sensuous Dirty Old Man, he wrote, "The question then is not whether or not a girl should be touched. The question is merely where, when, and how she should be touched." [From the Wikipedia entry for him.]

On Witches

   

  I suppose that beginning a title with "ON" may prepare the reader for something serious and scholarly, but when I look back at what I have done, it doesn't seem to be the case that the posts with such a title were particularly thoughtful. The two I found were: On Barfing and On Worms. This one is "On Witches" because they are again in the news. 

  The headline is: "Women, Killed as Witches, Pardoned." The pardoners are the members of Catalonia's parliament and those pardoned were the witches disposed of between the 15th and 18th centuries. Apparently the parliamentarians were following the fine example provided by those in the "Witches of Scotland Campaign" who are advocating for a pardon for the almost 4,000 witches tried under the Witchcraft Act of 1563. Apparently, as well, the UN recently passed a resolution on the issue of people currently being accused of witchcraft.

  I suppose I noticed the headline partially because it was good to have another example of victims from the past, since some of the ones today seem to think they are the only ones who have ever existed, and to remind them that their victim status probably resulted from something less severe than, say burning at the stake.

  The execution of witches is a serious historical matter since there were many of them in many places in different periods. Why many of the victims were women is a good question to be asked. There are also many other questions involving the disciplines of psychology, sociology and theology.

  The current pardons also create some good philosophical issues, the basic one being, does such retrospective contrition do any good since those pardoned are deader that the parrot in the Python sketch. I guess it does suggest that we are smarter now and now implicitly condemn the actions of those who killed the witches, although they won't know, since they are also deceased. We might also face a problem if the number of pardons issued increases exponentially as has the number of statues toppled.  Should those punished for blasphemy or the violation of what were known as "Blue Laws" now be forgiven? Probably not the former since it is still a crime in large sections of the world. 

  I admit both, that I am skeptical that such pardons do much good, and that I am not a philosopher. I don't think current Catalonians are responsible for the deeds done by those in the past, just as I don't think, as a former citizen of the U.S., that I am guilty of the crimes of dead slaveholders there. But, on your behalf, beyond reading the headline, I did a bit of research and found this:

"Like downed statues, posthumous pardons do not change public policy. They do not repeal bad laws. They certainly do not have any discernible effect on their recipients. But they have the potential to do much more than simply make people feel a little better about the past. In fact, they may be most valuable precisely for what they promise. In repudiating miscarriages of justice, especially those with racial overtones, such pardons make a statement that what was done in the past was wrong, and they serve as markers that make it more difficult for such wrongs to be repeated. At their best, they have the potential to restore faith in a judicial system in which many people have lost confidence, and to further the work of building a more just, more tolerant, and more equitable society."

Given the above and that the pardons probably "Do No Harm",  I guess they are harmless, so pardon me.

Sources:
  The basic headline, "Women, Killed as Witches, Pardoned," is found in The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 28, 2022.
   For the Scottish situation see: "Three Centuries After the Horrific Treatment of Women and Others Under the Witchcraft Act in Scotland, an Apology Could Finally be Granted in 2022," Hannah Brown, The Scotsman, Dec. 21, 2021.

The Bonus:
   If you wish to study this issue at the university level, you can shop around in the syllabi found on the campus nearby. Here are a few from the past: 

History 2459G (530)"Midwives, Madonnas, Witches and Whores: Women in early modern Europe, 1500-1700."

Philosophy 2006: Metaphysics & Epistemology of Witchcraft

HISTORY 2503F: "HERESY, WITCHCRAFT AND SOCIAL CONTROL:

THE INQUISITION IN THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE EMPIRES 1478-1800"

100 Years of Newbery Medals

Literature For Children

    I happened to receive from AbeBooks, this link which you may find useful and which is interesting to look at. It contains images of the covers of the best children's books since 1922.  We have two young grandchildren (boys) and I find it difficult to identify books to buy them and often consult various "good book" lists of which this is one. Many of the newer lists seem to contain books that are didacticized and diversified to a degree that makes it difficult to determine if they are also enjoyable.

Kiddie Lit
  The ones above are from the last few years and the ones below are from the early years of the last century. 

 It is likely the case that some of the best books found in the earlier years would not be acceptable now. Here is the subtitle of The Dark Frigate, which might be deemed too frightening these days: wherein is told the story of Philip Marsham who lived in the time of King Charles and was bred a sailor but came home to England after many hazards by sea and land and fought for the king at Newbury and lost a great inheritance and departed for Barbados in the same ship, by curious chance, in which he had long before adventured with the pirates,

   If you wanted to find out, you could read The Dark Frigate(1928) or Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon (1924) and assess them yourself. Interestingly enough, both of those old books are available in the the London Public Library System and, perhaps more surprisingly to you, in the Western Libraries at Western University.

  The reasons for this are discussed in my post about the children's book series, Landmark Books, in the section about "Kiddie Lit." Although the books are in storage in the university libraries, it is good to see they are still there.  I hope they will find good homes if they are discarded.

Sources:
For other university collections of children's books and the reasons why they have them, see my post about Landmark Books. 

There is a good Wikipedia entry for the Newbery Medal. 

The Caldecott Medal is awarded for the best illustrated children's books. 

Mouth of Wilson

    

     A few days ago, there was a headline indicating that the temperature in Canaan Valley had plunged to -31 Farenheit. That is newsworthy when you consider that Canaan Valley is located far southeast of here in West Virginia. I looked to see where it was and while doing so saw Mouth of Wilson which is located farther south and even farther west, although it is in the state of Virginia. State boundaries in the United States tend to wander around a lot.

  It was while surveying the boundary that young Wilson died in 1749 and he was buried near the mouth of the creek which was named after him. Mouth of Wilson is a very small and isolated community, but you may have heard of it since it is the home of the prep school, Oak Hill Academy. The reason you have heard of this small Baptist academy is because of basketball. 

  In the late 1970s the small school was in trouble and the saviour for this Baptist entity was basketball. Trips were made to the big cities where the best and tallest basketball players were recruited. Particularly the very best ones who had hopes of getting into NCAA Division I schools, but were unlikely to do so because of poor grades. 

  There was (is) nothing to do in Mouth of Wilson and nowhere close to go. It was the case (and probably still is) that "Breakfast is at 7 a.m., classes are from 8:20 a.m. to 3:35 pm....Study hall is at 4:30 p.m. Practice (against the other very tall best players) is from 7:30 to 9:30 and then lights out. Beds have to be made and uniforms worn and there are few temptations.

  USA Today started publishing high school rankings in the early 1980s and small Baptist schools like Oak Hill Academy began to appear to a national audience along with Catholic ones like Dematha and Mater Dei. Oak Hill  was usually one of the top schools in the country, so Mouth of Wilson showed up and was noticeable among the names of the big cities. 

  It appears to still attract top players and the team is highly ranked. The members of it do get out of Mouth of Wilson some, since most of their games are played at major tournaments, some in places like the Virgin Islands and Los Angeles. The unofficial team motto is "Have Team, Will Travel" and I notice that their game on Feb. 4, is against Wasatch Academy which is in Utah.

  Canadians also know about Mouth of Wilson. Lindell Wigginton from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was the first Canadian  boy to go there and he was shocked when he arrived. Girl players also seek full scholarships and the Montrealer, Nirra Fields, passed through Oak Hill on her way to Mater Dei. She now plays professionally for Ismit Belediyespor in Turkey.

Sources:
  The article about Canaan Valley that started this all: "West Virginia's Canaan Valley Plummets to minus-31, Setting Record Low for Region," Jason Samenow, Washington Post, Jan.22, 2022.
  For background on Oak Hill see: "Giant Oak: From a Tiny Academy, Oak Hill Grew," Bob Ryan, Boston Globe, Jan. 31, 1986 and "College Prepping: This Is the Spot," Mark Whicker, Hartford Courant, Dec. 7, 1995 - This is the story of how the president of a small Baptist preparatory school gambled the Institution's very existence on basketball-- and won.

  For the Canadian content see: 
"Fields of Dreams: This Young Canadian Draws Praises From Some of the Biggest Names in Basketball, Including the Coach of the L.A. Lakers. 'With the Way She Plays the Game, Her Upside is Tremendous... Nirra is One of the Best Girls I've Ever Seen'," Eric Duhatschecksean Gordon, G&M, Feb. 11, 2012.  And: "Nova Scotia Teen Chases Hoop Dreams at Elite Basketball Academy, by Lori Ewing, G&M, Jan. 18, 2017.

For Oak Hill.
For the Team.

The Bonus:
  If Oak Hill had only started earlier, they could have grabbed this recruit from close by. In 1933 the director, Robert Fechner, of conservation work at the CCC camp in North Carolina complained that a new recruit required extra-extra size clothes and shoes and two cots. The headline reveals most of the story: "Boy 7 Feet 3 Inches, Problem to Fechner: Forestry Camp Must Clothe Him- Left Home Because Older Kin 'Picked On Him'", New York Times, Aug. 15, 1933.

For those of you who are disappointed that this post is about BASKETBALL, I will say that I think I have only done two that are sports-related, and both about golf: Joy in Mudville and Rod Spittle. 

For those of you more interested in geography, here is a bonus that will help you identify places farther west than or farther south than, etc. 

For the U.S. 

For Canada.