some punishing cuatro

today's apple: the newton pippin

Cultivated by Jefferson at Monticello, this was the favorite apple of Queen Victoria. Granny Smith has usurped its rulerhood somewhat.

william walker

I have been rekindling my interest in William Walker, still the only native Nashvillian to ever serve as the head of state of any country. Though in his case, the country in question, Nicaragua, hadn't invited him to take over their affairs. He was a self proclaimed conqueror of the pre-Civil War era, an imperialist visionary who saw the future expansion of the slave holding South branching ever farther down into Central and South America. He was executed in Honduras in 1860, having run afoul of all of his benefactors, including Cornelius Vanderbilt, but he was a popular hero in the South. Most Americans today are probably only familiar with him as the subject of a failed late eighties Alex Cox flick starring Ed Harris, but in Costa Rica, the day of his defeat at the Nicaraguan town of Rivas is a national holiday. More on this loony soon.

the power of babel

The flag of constructed language enthusiasts

the first paper hats video

Today's Tocqueville Tidbit

Good essay here:

http://web.austin.utexas.edu/chenry/civil/resources/PittsAPSA.htm

A lot of great men have really bad ideas. Tocqueville was remarkable for his time in that he was a vocal supporter of American Indian rights and was justly horrified at American colonial expansion and Southern slavery. But even he wasn't immune from the appeal of empire building, specifically in regards to France's incursion into Northern Africa. At a time when bread was becoming the necessary worker food for the exploding factory culture of Europe and Northern America, empires of wheat were replacing empires of spice. America was the world's breadbasket but Tocqueville thought Algeria could be turned into France's breadbasket; that with a little bit of inventive agriculture this corner of the Maghreb could be transformed into a stretch of grain to rival the American midwest. To do this, Tocqueville had no problem in calling for the ruthless suppression/extinction of the native Arabs.
Remember, World War 2 and Hitler's wars of conquest were basically European colonialism turned in on itself. The genocide and oppression generated by the European scramble for Africa, both northern and Sub-Saharan, was ruthless and with little precedent.

leo live

the good old boys from Brazil

I was reading some track notes on a Mutantes cd recently and was reminded about the family history of Rita Lee. She was descended from a family of ex-Confederates who had emigrated to Brazil from the South after the Civil War. There were actually several thousand Southerners who left for Brazil in the post war years, remembered in the country as "Confederados". Some came because of Brazil's tolerant policy towards slavery, hoping that they could continue an antebellum lifestyle in the southern hemisphere. Others came simply to avoid being a part of the reunited United States. They were given generous tax breaks as immigrants, in part because Brazil had an eye towards recruiting experienced cotton planters.
Though they were a fairly small group they left a mark on Brazilian culture. One of Jimmy Carter's relatives was a Confederado in fact. There is still a town in Sao Paulo called "Americana", though Confederado descendants are a minority now.