A World of Black and White: The Student of Prague

By Craig: I do not watch television anymore. In fact, I no longer have cable. It's not that I can't afford it, but to me it is an unnecessary expense. There is nothing on cable television that is worth watching anyway to justify the expense, except perhaps a few programs on the History Channel or Discovery. When we moved into our new house three years ago my wife insisted on getting a plasma TV. I could have done without it. When I did watch television, I always felt that I was wasting my life. I can't explain why I feel like this, but it might have had something to do with the fact that television takes the creativity out of the human mind. It is like a big leach, sucking the brain cells out of a person's head.

     I was born in 1968. When I was a young boy growing up in the 1970s  I somehow perceived that the world was in colour. To me, any event that occurred before I was born happened in black and white. Most news footage from the years prior to 1968 were in black and white. Most movies and television re-runs before the year 1968 were in black and white. Absurdly I also believed that people walked faster in the old days. Naturally I was real young when these notions crossed my juvenile mind, but I still remember having them. I was nothing but a mere product of my limited experiences. The world evolved from the black and white state to that of colour the moment that I was born. Alas! Everything emerged from the darkness on that September day back in 1968. Should not the whole world thank me for giving them colour? It was an absurd and ludicrous notion, yet to me it was real.

     The other day I was going through a few old cardboard boxes and found a DVD that my brother Jay had given me a few years back. Jay likes the old silent movies from the 1920s, especially Lon Chaney movies. I don't believe that he has watched anything on the screen that was made after 1930, but I can't be sure of this. The movie that I pulled out of the box was called The Student of Prague. I can remember Jay raving about it a few years back, but I had never gotten around to watching it. I guess that I was just too busy to sit down and watch a movie that was made the year my grandmother was born. That's right...The Student of Prague was filmed in 1913, a year before the Great War. It is a German film, sort of a gothic/horror that tells the tale of a poor university student named Balduin (played by Paul Wegener) who makes a bargain with a shady sorcerer in which he receives gold in return for his reflection. Balduin spends most of the movie running from his reflection, and at the end of the movie gets the not so bright idea of shooting it with a dueling pistol...which...of course ends up killing him! Not too smart, but hey, if I were running from my reflection I might resort to the same desperate act. Don't we all at some point in our own mundane lives run from our own reflections?

                                                Balduin Sees His Reflection
                                              (The Student of Prague) 1913

     The movie was only about 40 minutes long and I watched it with my 9 year old son who thought it was interesting. I told him that his great-great grandmother played the organ for silent movies when they were in the theatre those many years ago. He asked me if she played for this movie, but of course I had to answer that I had no way of knowing that. Her name was Cora. I can remember my grandmother talking about her. She died of a Brain Abscess at the tender age of 27 back in 1920. My grandmother who as I already mentioned was born in 1913 had very few memories of her. Although she died 48 years before I was born...when the world was still black and white, an image has formed in my mind. There she sits with her hands on the black and white keys of her chosen instrument. She plays a dirge as Paul Wegener glances in horror at the looking glass and is horrified to see that his black and white reflection is not there! Cora observes the reaction of the black and white audience who sit spellbound by the performance. Eventually the movie ends, as does the scene and the act that makes up the duration of Cora's short life. However,... before the scene closes.... as she leaves the theatre, and walks outside into the balmy air of her black and white world, a faint smile crosses her face as a vision of a futuristic world comes to her....a world of colour, a world perhaps where people will no longer have to run from their own reflections.

                                                             Cora O'Hearn (At the Organ)
                                                                    (1892-1920)

Did a Comet strike the Earth in 540 A.D. ?

By Craig: Fireballs and asteroids have received a lot of attention over the last ten days or so. First there was the Siberian meteor, and then the near miss of Asteroid da14 on Friday last. Although my knowledge of fireballs, comets, and meteors is primarily on the historical side, I do know a little bit about the statistics that relate to these otherworldly cosmic bodies. For instance, some of the news reports have erroneously stated that the 2013 Siberian fireball was the largest meteor to enter the earth's atmosphere since the Tunguska blast of 1908. This is wrong. First, there is no concrete evidence that the Tunguska event was the result of a meteor impact. Second, another Siberian fireball, the Sikhote-Alin meteor of 1947 was estimated to have been in the neighborhood of 70 tonnes. As of now estimates regarding the 2013 Siberian meteor range from 10 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes (which I find kind of hard to believe.)

       I have previously written on this blog, and on my website www.fireballhistory.com about historical encounters with fireballs. I have seen a few wild ones in my many years of looking up at the night sky. On the evening of January 24, 2007 at approximately 1950 hours I observed a large bright green bolide in the north-eastern sky. I had a clear view of the meteor and watched it for a good eight seconds or so before it completely disappeared, as if someone had turned off a light switch. I estimate that it's apparent magnitude was about -11 or -12 which is about as bright as the full moon. Other people reported the bolide, and the newspapers soon got hold of it. It found it's way to the Drudge Report, and even the late night talk show Coast-to-Coast. It was the brightest meteor that I had ever seen, and I have seen a few bright ones over the years.

      As spectacular as this bolide was back in 2007, it was nothing compared to what a lot of Russians observed last week in the Ural mountains of Siberia. However, this latest Siberian impact event can not even compare to what this planet has encountered in the past. Even the Tunguska event which has been estimated to be a blast 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima would be considered a chump relative to what could one day strike the earth. In fact, "COULD" is not being really accurate. One day in the future a random fragment from space "WILL" careen into our planet destroying civilization as we now know it. When this event will occur is not known. Comet's routinely enter the inner solar system, and the historical, and archaeological records show (even in recorded history) that cometary debris has struck the earth. The year 540 A.D. (or possibly 541) seems to be a good candidate for a possible encounter with a comet. The chronicler Roger of Wendover records that "there appeared a comet in Gaul, so vast that the whole sky seemed on fire." It is also recorded that "blood fell from the heavens, and a great mortality ensued." Irish chroniclers also took note of the dreadful mortality that took place at around this time. The author and Dendrochronologist Mike Baillie who is the author of the book, Exodus to Arthur: Catastrophic Encounters With Comets has made note of growth reduction in the tree rings of European oaks and North American bristlecone pines suggesting that some widespread global event took place around this time. Did the earth have a close interaction with a comet? The jury is still deliberating on this one.

The 2013 Siberian Fireball

By Craig: I don't know what it is about Siberia. For some reason, perhaps known only to the Tungus God, Ogdy, another great fireball has streaked across the sky. Unlike the great Tunguska fireball of 1908, or the Sikhote-Alin fireball of 1947 this one was caught on camera by numerous people. Of course, in 1908 and 1947 cameras with the ability to instantaneously capture an event as it was happening were rare and almost non existent. The 2013 meteor met it's demise over the Ural mountains in Southern Siberia.

2013 Siberian Meteor

                                                            1947 Sikhote-Alin Meteor

                                                              1908 Tunguska Event

      The meteor broke apart in the stratosphere about 25 miles above the earth's surface early this morning. Witness' state that the fireball was as bright as the sun, and footage confirms these reports. As of now it is not certain how large the meteor was, but some sources including the Russian Academy of Science say that it was perhaps 10 tonnes, and about 50 feet long. It is believed that the meteor was of the iron type. In the city of Chelyabinsk the shock wave blew out windows in buildings causing numerous injuries. A large fragment of the meteorite was thought to have landed in a lake near the town of Chebarkul, not far from Chelyabinsk. According to the BBC, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a rescue and recovery party to assist people who have been effected by the blast. In a startling coincidence (or perhaps not) asteroid 2012DA, a moderate size near-earth object measuring about 150 feet across, passed within 17,000 miles from the earth today.

www.fireballhistory.com

Battles and Dragons in the Ancient Sky

By Craig: Imagine living in an age before airplanes, weather balloons, helicopters, and, well ok...drones. For most of recorded history this was the way things were, so if a person happened to look up in the sky and see something other than clouds, the moon,  the stars, or the sun, what might that person think? It has been only a little more than a century since the Wright brothers got off the ground at Kitty Hawk. Before this time humans had ventured up into the sky in balloons, but these were rare occasions, and they were for the most part well publicized events. Before the 18th century an airship would have been looked upon as some sort of magic, or perhaps the god's playing tricks! It is interesting to see how our ancestors treated these anomalies from the sky. Meteors were often interpreted as dragons in the air, while aurora's were seen as great battles in the sky.

523 A.D. Strange sights were seen of dragons,lions and other furious wild beasts fighting in the air.

540 (541) A.D. Roger of Wendover records "there appeared a comet in Gaul, so vast that the whole sky seemed on fire. In the same year there dropped real blood from the clouds...and a dreadful mortality ensued.

555 A.D. There was seen the appearance of lances in the north-west quarter of the heavens. (Roger of Wendover)

655 A.D. Fire fell from heaven and great fear came upon men. (The Annals of Waverley)

793 A.D. In this year dire forewarnings came over the land of the Northumbrians, and miserably terrified the people, these were excessive whirlwinds and lightnings, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine soon followed these tokens. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)

945 A.D. From the Chronicon Scotorum: Two fiery columns were seen a week before Allhallowtide which illuminated the whole world.

www.fireballhistory.com

The Anonymous Earthlings

By Craig: The man lived many centuries ago. He was a humble man who lived in a small cottage with his wife and children. He was a blacksmith by trade, and spent many a day standing at the forge. Was he sharpening a blade? Perhaps he was fitting some shoes for a neighbors horse? No, wait, he might be making a suit of armor for one of the Duke's knights! It was nearly dark but the glow from the forge along with an open flame nearby cast his burly medieval shadow on the stone wall behind him. His apprentice, a young man barely removed from his teens operated the belows as the blacksmith swung his mighty hammer.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The mighty hammer fell bending the iron to the blacksmith's will.

The blacksmith's wife was also humble. She spent her days raising the children and keeping house. Was one of the children sick today? She would be making a trip to the apothecary. Her calloused hands added more lye to the barrel where the linen lay soaking in water. She took hold of the big wooden stick that resembled a paddle.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! The paddle went round and round moving the linen to the washerwoman's will.

The children played in the yard. A young girl, perhaps 3 or 4 cuddled with a doll on the stone steps in front of the cottage, while her older brother and sister sat down for a game of marbles. "No fair!" cried the girl to her brother as he scooped up one of her marbles outside of the circle.

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! The marbles went as they traveled through the circle moving in the direction of the children's will.

These were the ancestors of old. Your ancestors, my ancestors. Most of them are nameless, yet they lived in a more remote time. Like us they busied themselves with the mundane chores of everyday life.  They were living people. They ate, they drank, they worked, they slept, they laughed, they cried, they aged... they were us, and one day we will be them...anonymous earthlings who perpetuated the species...soon lost through the vast infinite highway of time.

Great Runners of the Past: Tom Longboat

By Craig: Sometimes I feel that I am at a disadvantage when I show up at a race. I am not that scientific about my running. In fact, since my watch broke I haven't even been clocking my times. I can sort of gauge my time by how I am feeling along the way, but oh well...just get out there and run... right? Perhaps this is how Tom Longboat felt when he showed up at his first race wearing a pair of ratty looking running shoes. Is this guy for real? This is what some of the other runners must have thought when they first observed the lanky warrior at the starting line.

                                                     Tom Longboat (1887-1949)
      Tom Longboat was born on the Six Nations Reservation in Ontario, Canada in 1887. He was in his mid-twenties before he started entering foot races. It wasn't long before people began to take notice. Standing at roughly 5 feet 9 inches and weighing a buck fifty Longboat had a natural runners physique. In 1907 he won the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:24:24. He had set a new course record, shattering Jack Caffery's six year old record by 5 minutes! He was naturally one of the favorites to win the Olympic Marathon in London. However, after running with the leaders for much of the race, Longboat was forced to drop out due to exhaustion. The American runner, johnny Hayes was declared the winner after the Italian runner dorando Pietri was disqualified for receiving assistance before crossing the finish line. After the Olympic race, Longboat returned to the United States where he met Pietri for a one-on-one race around an oval track at Madison Square Garden. Pietri led for most of the race, but was passed by Longboat during the last mile. Longboat also held races against the great British long distance runner Alfie Shrubb. In a series of races between the two men, Longboat lost most of the races shorter than 20 miles, but won most of the events that were over that distance.

During the Great War, Longboat served as a messenger on the front lines in France, and ended up being wounded twice. He died on January 09, 1949 at the age of 61.

The United States of America: The Police State, Suicide by Fear

By Craig: The other night my wife and I went to a movie at the local Regal Cinema. I don't go to the movies too often these days. First of all, the tickets and concessions are ridiculously overpriced. Secondly, there are not too many movies that I deem worth seeing. After my experience the other night, I seriously doubt I will be going to too many more, at least at the theatre that we typically go too. Before the movie even started, the manager, or someone acting in that capacity stood up in front of everyone in the theatre with a policeman at her side. She then began a short lecture about cell phones. She threatened everyone in the theatre that if a cell phone was taken out and used they would be removed from the premises. Okay, look...I am just like the next guy. I find it irritating when someone is talking loud on a phone in a place like a theatre or a restaurant, but unless this person is being real obnoxious, or loud I don't really have a problem with it. This is the 21st century. It has become a part of our society. What I do find more disturbing is the fact that I need to be threatened with police force. Later on in the evening near the end of the show. People were reacting to a scene in the movie that caused them  jump and say a few choice words about the experience. The young cop, who I don't believe ever left the theatre, and stood at parade rest like a Marine Corps sentry shouted at the top of his lungs:
"You people need to be quiet!!"

     Okay buddy, you have a gun, you have a badge, and you have an ego the size of Mt. Everest, but do you really have to threaten me? What is wrong with the culture we live in today? Cops in movie theatre's, Cops in schools, Cops asking me why I am walking down the road instead of driving? (I was walking on the shoulder of the road during one of my runs.) We live in a society dominated by fear. To be sure, there are bad guys out there that need to be dealt with. But do I have to prove that I am not a bad guy? Or am I just being paranoid? It seems that everywhere you go these days someone is checking your identification, doing a background check, or wanting to get you to sign up for some bonus card, or rewards card so that our government can secretly check your purchase history. I no longer fly on airplanes. Not that I am afraid of flying. I just don't want to be patted down, and violated by some Nazi looking security force. I read somewhere that nearly 25% of the American workforce has something to do with security. What happened to our manufacturing industry? Isn't that what made this country prosper in a bygone age?
Abraham Lincoln once said: "If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be it's author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
Is the United States of America committing suicide by fear?"

     I readily agree that the 9-11 attacks were a game changer. This, along with the Columbine massacre a few years earlier set the tone for the next decade of U.S. policy, both foreign and domestic. now we have maniacs going into movie theatre's and schools and blowing people away just for the hell of it. However, as terrible as these events were, are they any worse than Pearl Harbor or the Triangle Shirwaist Factory fire of 1911 where scores of child laborer's died? Did we willingly give up our liberties for security back then? Sure, one of them led to the second world war, and the other led to much needed labor reforms, but did they lead to despotism? I don't think so. So why are the people in this country today reacting to the passion of the moment? Wouldn't it be more prudent to try and figure out the source of the problem? This insidious disease that pervades the fabric of 21st century America...and Europe for that matter (I wouldn't want to leave out my friends from Europe who read this blog!).

"I do not believe that the kind of society I describe in 1984 necessarily will arrive, but I believe...that something resembling it COULD arrive."
George Orwell