I suppose the more recent Russian pull-out in 1917 might have still been in their minds too -
no chance of another Revolution, but a last-ditch deal with Stalin?
The old fox's tricks and turns could never be predicted, even by astrologers ...
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Milestones
- Thread starter admihoek
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no chance of another Revolution, but a last-ditch deal with Stalin?
The old fox's tricks and turns could never be predicted, even by astrologers ...
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
| On this day in 1838, John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland. The famed naturalist moved to the United States with his family as a boy, and a life-changing accident in his twenties steered him away from his career as a mechanic and put him on the path to help found the environmental movement. |
Muir Wood National Monument
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Muir sparked Ansel Adams interests in Yosemite. One of Adams' earliest books of photography was Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada with text by John Muir.
God! No man ever did greater black and white photographs of nature than Adams!
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Another Adams:
On this day in 1800, the Library of the Congress was created when President John Adams approved $5,000 to buy books for legislators to use. Today, it's the largest library in the world, with more than 170 million items in its extensive collections.
On this day in 1800, the Library of the Congress was created when President John Adams approved $5,000 to buy books for legislators to use. Today, it's the largest library in the world, with more than 170 million items in its extensive collections.
poem21045
Tribunus Plebis
It's probably more than the average university library's annual book budget these days
Do college freshmen buy books? Or read them?
Or know what they are? $5000 in 1800 is said to be $102,426.59 today, not a bad pump-primer.
In 1600, Thomas Bodley raised about £1700 (say £234,390.56 today) to buy books for the library he'd founded in Oxford,
though he depended much more on donations of books from his network of aristocratic friends.
windar
Teller of Tales
The Library of Congress ended up with the entirety of Thomas Jefferson's personal collection in 1815, though they paid for them. Jefferson died in debt, because he wasn't as good a farmer as he thought he was. His estate outside Charlottesville, Virginia, Monticello, was bought after his death by Commodore Uriah P Levy, a Jewish officer who faced considerable discrimination during his long naval career. He was instrumental in eliminating flogging in the US Navy.It's probably more than the average university library's annual book budget these days
Do college freshmen buy books? Or read them?
$5000 in 1800 is said to be $102,426.59 today, not a bad pump-primer.
In 1600, Thomas Bodley raised about £1700 (say £234,390.56 today) to buy books for the library he'd founded in Oxford,
though he depended much more on donations of books from his network of aristocratic friends.
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Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
What library is that? Never heard of him! Fake news!
windar
Teller of Tales
Levy fought in the wars against the Barbary Pirates. Did he run into a certain Lady Barbara Moore? I will never tell...
poem21045
Tribunus Plebis
It's [$5000] probably more than the average university library's annual book budget these days
From the Association of College and Research Libraries, in an article titled, "New ACRL Publication: 2013 Academic Library Trends and Statistics":
"The 2013 data show that library expenditures for collection materials averaged $6,305,337 for doctoral degree-granting institutions; $774,701 for comprehensive degree-granting institutions; $462,929 for baccalaureate schools and $144,062 for associate-degree granting institutions."
But university libraries have become increasingly stressed of late due to budget cuts and rapidly escalating prices of academic books and journals.
poem21045
Tribunus Plebis
Agreed. But $5000 per annum? They spend that in a week, on average. I have two kids who are university professors. They each spend over $5000 a year on books on their fields.
When I taught high school, I spent about $400/year on books. It is tax deductable (or was, then--not too sure now).
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
For its design in the state quarters program, California chose John Muir and the Yosemite Valley (Oregon chose Crater lake, the remnants of the eruption Mount Mazama, and Arizona featured the Grand Canyon). Above Muir is a California Condor, a relative of the Great Andean Condor (both are vultures). These birds had almost been hunted out--some people in the United States like to shoot majestic birds like eagles and cranes just of the hell of it, and lead shot in carrion they fed on was rapidly driving them to extinction. San Diego Zoo global and the Los Angeles Zoo started a breeding program, and there have been successful introductions back into the wild. San Diego Zoo Global's website features a "condor cam"--they don't do much, but I find them interesting. (Royal Mail has issued a set of stamps for British owls, and another for British raptors).
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
I buy a lot of books too. A science book or a math book isn't the sort of thing you can just check out, read, and return in two weeks. And journals are very expensive. Fortunately, more and more is becoming available on-line free or at modest cost. On-line publishing is cheaper, but somebody pays--mainly granting agencies, but there are a lot of lab supply companies who take out ads as well.
Are the books written any better now???
poem21045
Tribunus Plebis
History texts generally are. There's less white bias. And literary collections also, for the same reason. I would imagine science texts are improved, too, as new research reveals better understandings.
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
I just got one on "Casimir Physics"--about how pairs of particles "pop out" of the vacuum and then go away, but their presence has real effects (although tiny) on metal plates, and can be used to levitate gold spheres. So, if "weird" is "better", things are definitely getting weirder--in biology and chemistry as well. It even beats politics.
