Sunday, September 14, 2025

John F. Peto

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John F. Peto (1854–1907) was a painter who was unknown in his day. Early in his career he entered paintings to the Philadelphia Academy, but in 1899 he moved to the resort town of Island Heights and his public work as an artist ended. He rented rooms and played clarinet in a local band to support himself. Occasionally he sold paintings to tourists. He primarily painted still lifes.  

John F. Peto 

Friday, September 12, 2025

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

September 11

9/11 sketch by Laurie D. Olin

I will never forget seeing what hate can destroy…
I will never forget seeing what love can heal…

― Steve Maraboli ―

 

Japanese pirates

Japanese pirates were call Wakō. While originally entirely Japanese, later they included Chinese, Philipino and other southeast Asians. The video is a good history that covers the growth, spread and the ebb and flow of the Wakō's fortunes (as well as a fight over a slave girl mentioned in passing, a seeming constant of history when it comes to warriors).   

 

Sunday, September 07, 2025

Cantinières and other camp followers

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Old-timey armies, and for that matter modern ones as well if you consider civilian contractors, almost always had a cloud of non-combatants that traveled with them. Cantinières were women attached to an army to provide canteen services. Camp followers were people, generally women and their children, who would informally travel with an army. They provided a variety of services: cooking, laundry, nursing, selling goods, and companionship, both unpaid and paid. 

Friday, September 05, 2025

Wednesday, September 03, 2025

Turning scrap metal into rebar

This is a video of a Korean Daehan Steel plant where scrap metal is salvaged and turned into rebar. They also, oddly enough, grow vegetables at it. The photography is excellent; several shots are quite spectacular. The video is not narrated, but you'll want to turn the captions on. They are informative and amusingly flippant at the same time.    

 

Monday, September 01, 2025

Happy Labor Day

Going to Work by L. S. Lowry
Work - Henry Van Dyke

Let me but do my work from day to day,
In field or forest, at the desk or loom,
In roaring market-place or tranquil room;
Let me but find it in my heart to say,
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,
"This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;
"Of all who live, I am the one by whom
"This work can best be done in the right way."

Then shall I see it not too great, nor small,
To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;
Then shall I cheerful greet the labouring hours,
And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall
At eventide, to play and love and rest,
Because I know for me my work is best.