2017 Summer July 18 Tuesday

79 degrees this morning (feels like 82): Walk 34:16 minutes

Walk was relatively pleasant this morning.  Actually I am sitting on the back patio and it is very pleasant, almost cool, in spite of the temperature.  

Pace was 21 seconds below my goal, which is good.  What is strange is yesterday I was 17 seconds above and I really don’t see or feel the difference.  

The morning outside here is wonderful, almost regardless of the heat,  at least until mid-morning, when the sun rises.  

I am amazed that it is actually July 18, 2017.  I believe when time speeds by so fast, there is no alternative but to hang on and enjoy the trip.  It only seems like a very short time ago that I was thinking that it was a long time until July/August of 2017.  (A marker for several reasons.)

Already I am starting to notice the days getting shorter, and some preparations for school to start again, a sign that winter is coming again. 

The Courter Reunion is coming up soon, something I always look forward to and enjoy.  I think this might be the 70th one this year, although I could be wrong.  Actually, I am pretty sure I am right, that it is the 70th Anniversary of the Courter Reunion.  Like any event, it has evolved throughout the years.  

Listening to the Great Course on “The Industrial Revolution”  It is actually a fascinating book, as much for the details as for the information provided.  For example he goes into the production of coal, some of the major events in the mining and use of coal etc.  

He also reviews how iron and steel are made, something that has probably always been at the back of my mind as to how that happens, but something I never consciously go to find out.

Actually, without sounding too condescending, I am amazed at some of the equipment invented in the early 1600’s etc.  One piece of machinery (I didn’t quite figure out what) used in the coal minds could (and did) last for several hundred years.  

Some of the abuses of children labor back then (and probably now) are rather brutal and hard to take, when you consider that it could have been you, your children or grandchildren etc.  

I am struck by the fact the lying bully is basing much of his emphasis on early Industrial Revolution traits (Apprentices, coal mining etc.) and is at war with advanced technology. 

The apprentice system (according to the book) was frequently akin so slavery or unpaid labor, although it did have a positive use of educating a person into a trade.  

Coal has also been a means of exploiting the coal miners and communities around them, although again I’m sure  there are positive aspects. 

I really wonder if we will be able (as a country) to survive the abuses of the lying bully and the destruction of public education, the destruction of the environment led by a criminal who is beholden (basically “owned” ) to the very companies he is supposed to be regulating etc.

What is really scary is the attempt to limit the right of voting, one of the basic rights of our country.  

Unfortunately, a nut from Kansas is the  leader in this attempt to take away our voting rights.  I used to be proud to be from Kansas, now I am proud I am “from” Kansas, and ashamed of the shameful antics of the Governor etc.  Hopefully Kansas will eventually get on the right track.  If nothing else, it serves an extremely bad example what can happen, but I expect the damage to the educational, financial and social systems  etc.  to be long term.

That’s it for now, Tuesday, July 18, 2017.