Dapper Days of Yore

Looks like we're back in business and I'm able to post photos once again (for free)!  Thanks everyone.

Today I'm featuring a photo of my great-grandfather, E.S. Goodner.  He is always well dressed in every photo I have of him, but particularly so in this one.  I can't tell what I enjoy more, the straw hat or the prices in the grocery store!

Thank You Everyone!

A hearty thank you to everyone for all the helpful advice.  There are lots of good ideas out there and I think I may try a few before paying (if need be).

First up will be to try Ellena's suggestion and give myself extra mail accounts and make them "administrators" of this blog to see if I can get more space that way.

I appreciate you all and humbled by the kind responses.  I appreciated the very nice e-mail notes as well and in particular the touching offer from Virgil who offered to contribute to keep the blog going.

You guys are the best and the reason I keep writing!

Thanks everyone.

Conundrum

Here's an interesting problem, this morning, when I went to upload a blog post, I was told by Blogger, the hosting site, that I had now exceeded my 1GB photo limit for this blog.  This was news to me as I was unaware that there were limits.  I'll be looking for a solution soon, but if there is a reader out there who has already encountered a similar issue and has figured out a good work around for this problem, let me know.  I could just pay the money that Google wants me to upgrade my storage size on Picasa, but I'd rather do it for free as this blog is still somewhat of a hobby.

So I'm open to suggestions and thanks for your help.

Place-of-Mystery

I've been busier than I imagined I would over the holiday break.  Earlier in the month, we had a small amount of weekend rain, so the younger boys soccer games have been pushed back, so we're attending a number of their playoff games.  Jonathan's team pulled off a last minute win last night and Andrew's team tied, so they're both still in the running.

I spent yesterday putting together a new grill for the family we purchased in the shopping sales and Tim set up the Christmas lights.  It all seems a bit early looking at the calendar, but  Thanksgiving fell early this year.

Out here in California there are only mild changes to the weather, so unless businesses started putting up decorations, you'd never know what season it was.  Yesterday it was in the mid 80s.  It's always odd to be thinking about grilling and setting up Christmas lights in shorts even if that's what I grew up with.

Enough about that though, now on to the game!

Below you will find an image of a place somewhere in the world.  The winner will be the first one who can tell me where it is located.

Good luck!

So, where could this be?  That's the mystery!  Go ahead and take a guess and then go enjoy your day.  Check back tomorrow and I'll reveal the answer.  The first correct post will be declared the winner.

If you'd like to make sure that your guess is correct, enter this place name into Google Images and photos like these will be found on the first pages of the image results.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to my readers!  I wish you and your family an enjoyable and restful day.

And here's a bit of interesting trivia for you, whether they realize it or not, about one in ten Americans are descendants of Pilgrims who came to the New World on the Mayflower.

Person-of-Mystery

You've found the home of everyone's favorite weekend pastime, where a stylized photo of a somewhat famous person from history is provided here for you to identify.

The theme for today is:  Thanksgiving

So, who could he be?  That's the mystery!  Go ahead and take a guess and then go enjoy your day.  Check back tomorrow and I'll reveal the answer.  The first correct post to be right on the money will be declared the winner.

If you'd like to make sure that your guess is correct, enter his name into Google Images and this photo will be found on the first pages of the image results.

Septentrion

One of the most enjoyable and unintentional things about blogging is all the interesting new knowledge I happen across as a result of meeting blog friends (there should be a more appropriate word for this) and exchanging knowledge.  Today, I would like to highlight a wonderful and unintentional find I made while perusing Rob from Amersfoort's delightful website, Robs Webstek.

Rob had written about an early North American map (shown below) by Dutch cartographer, Cornelius van Wytfliet.

Like Rob, I enjoy maps.  I love looking at every little detail and I enjoyed this one too.  One detail that caught my eye this time however, was the compass rose.  Van Wytfliet had labeled the map in the Latin language including the cardinal points:  Oriens, Occidens, Septentrio, and Meridies.  Most people are familiar with the English words Oriental and Occidental as somewhat archaic terms for Eastern and Western, but I became curious if these other Latin words had spawned equivalent terms for Northern and Southern.  As a matter of fact, the answer is yes, although the terms really never caught on.

It would seem as though all the terms are archaic, but some more so than others.  Orient is used most frequently and some people will still talk about the Orient in reference to China, but the term is dying out.  Most likely this is due to the slightly derisive connotation of using the term Oriental to describe people from East Asia.  Curiously enough, to orient a map comes from the time of the Middle Ages when most maps put east at the top of the map, so to orient a map would be to arrange it towards the east.

Pietro Visconte's map of the world from 1321

The term Occident is used significantly less frequently to describe the Western World.  Oftentimes this would be in reference to Europe instead of Asia.  Although this is a rarely heard term, it still comes up from time to time.  For example, President Obama attended Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Until I had seen Van Wyfliet's map, I had only been familiar with Orient and Occident and I hadn't put much thought into why there were no comparable terms for Northern and Southern lands.  Checking the dictionary, I did see that there is a term for Northern lands, it's Septentrion.  What a wonderful word!

You might have noticed the Latin sept- prefix.  Septem is Latin for the number seven, just like September.  I can already hear some of you saying, "But September is the ninth month, not the seventh!"  Well, actually in the original Roman calendar September was the seventh month, followed by the rest of the numbered months up to the tenth month, December (e.g., septem, seven; octo, eight; novem, nine; decem, ten).  July and August were originally Quintilis and Sextilis (fifth and sixth respectively) until they were changed to honor Julius Caesar (July) and Augustus Caesar (August).  The Romans later added Ianuarius and Februarius to account for the previously unaccounted winter time period.

So how is something to do with seven related to the north?  Septentrion is a combination of the Latin septem (seven) and trion (plow oxen).  The group of stars that most of us recognize as the Big Dipper is a collection of seven stars in the northern sky.  These stars are today part of the Ursa Major constellation and the ladle of the dipper forms the bears tail.  However, in ancient times, this dipper was sometimes depicted as an ox plough.

The accompanying Latin term for things southern, "meridional," never really caught on and appears to have been eclipsed by its association with the sun's meridian or noontime.  Although I suppose for Europeans the sun was always a tad southernly.

So, thank you to Rob from Amersfoort!  But now that I'm thinking about words, shouldn't that be Rob van Amersfoort or Rob uit Amersfoort?  Either way, I always appreciate a good think.

Person-of-Mystery

You've found the home of everyone's favorite weekend pastime, where a stylized photo of a somewhat famous person from history is provided here for you to identify.

The theme for today is:  Deranged Texas Villain (with or without black hat).

So, who could he be?  That's the mystery!  Go ahead and take a guess and then go enjoy your day.  Check back tomorrow and I'll reveal the answer.  The first correct post will be declared the winner.

If you'd like to make sure that your guess is correct, enter his name into Google Images and this photo will be found on the first pages of the image results.

What Was There

It looks like the feud is cooling down for the moment as PJM appears to be promising the moon to his readers over on the Old Picture of the Day blog.  In response to reader requests for a domestic update (launched by DADD), he's now saying maybe he'll do something about it next week.  People are so eager to believe the best – they're now content with a maybe.  I swear that rascal nemesis of mine should run for political office.  With his silver tongue, I'm sure he'd win!

Well, some good did come from this latest cyber spat.  I did find a wonderful new (or new-to-me) website that I'm enjoying.  Yesterday, in response to the photo of oxen lined up along Main Street in Sturgis, Dakota Territory, Dave 107 wrote in that he wished he knew what it looked like today, so I went about seeing if I could locate it for him.  This was when I stumbled upon a great website called, What Was There.  Basically, they take old photos from the past and with a nifty map interface, place them over Google Street View maps from today.  By happy chance, they even had the exact photo of old Sturgis.

Although, the site isn't yet extensively well developed, their interface is amazing.  The best feature is the ability to fade the photo over the street view and see what it looks like today.

And for those with an iPhone/iPad, there is even a free What Was There app you can use when when you're on the go.  It is a little different than the online version in that it shows you the original picture with GPS navigation and then when you get there, it uses your camera to allow you to fade the old photo into the modern scene with your camera phone.  I think I may try and partner with our local historical society and see if I can get them to release some old photos of our town and have my high school students find the modern locations for those images.

Thanks to my long time readers who have written and expressed their support for me in this latest tussle with PJM.  I hope my more recent readers have picked up on the notion that it's all in fun.  The feud has a long history and it really started when PJM ran a Mystery Person contest every Saturday morning.  Ah, good times.  You relive one of my more favorite mornings HERE, but here were so many.

And just to end on a note that ties it all together, if I were to run the "What Was There" way back machine on our Super Villain, of course he'd be out in the West Texas countryside wearing the black hat and looking a lot like this:

Dakota Territory Photos for Everyone!

I'm sad to report that Super Villain PJM of West Texas is continuing his campaign of cyberbullying on his propaganda blog, Old Photo of the Day.  While I did not choose to start this feud, I am man enough to take the constant barrage of vitriol he throws my way.  Unfortunately, PJM has taken kindly Nate's Nonsense reader, DADD, into his diabolical crosshairs today and is currently withholding photos of Dakota Territory unless DADD abandons his noble crusade against Super Villainy on OPOD.  In an attempt to provide relief to DADD while he is currently under assault, today I am posting not one, but two photos of Dakota Territory.

The above photo is labeled, but this is Sturgis, Dakota Territory, streets packed with oxen teams.  I found it interesting as Sturgis still packs its streets with vehicles even to today.

Adept readers of OPOD will also note that the Super Villain posted what he said was a photo of ordinary Indians in a Montanan teepee.  For DADD, I'll post famous Indians and Dakota Territory teepees!

So, DADD, here's to you!  Hope you remain resolute in your righteous Comment Embargo!  May PJM soon relent and provide you the Domestic Updates you desire – and may peace prevail in Chickie Town.

Domestic Update - Feud is Back!

For those who have been long-time readers to this blog, you may realize that this site arose from a feud started by Super Villain Paul McWhorter (alias, PJM) of West Texas over on his propaganda blog, Old Photo of the Day.  I'm sorry to inform you that after a period of uneasy peace, my nemesis has decided to heat things up again by insinuating that I'm starting some kind of rebellion among his readers as he refuses to update anyone with the goings on at his Texas compound.  While we've known for some time that he's been less than stable, I'm afraid that PJM's likely coming unhinged.  I didn't want to have to share this publicly, but perhaps there is someone out there with a degree in Abnormal Psychology who can help with what we're up against here:

Above was PJM's Christmas card this year.  On the surface it seems very mild mannered and tame (if perhaps a tad early) – that is until you dig a little deeper.  Please set aside the far-away crazed look on PJM's face and the dungeon like appearance of the stone walls and iron lamps of his compound.  Perhaps his daughter Elizabeth who had previously been so fearful of his attempts to run her over with his z-boom has reconciled (you'll recall she was so fearful, she fled to Africa where she was placed in an undisclosed orphanage for safety).  Has she come to terms with her super villain father?  No!  If you look closely, this is not even her, but a clever substitute (or hostage) that PJM is using to hide the fact that his daughter fled his clutches at her first opportunity.

Elizabeth (note the differences between her and PJM's fake Christmas daughter) in a safe location on the opposite side of the planet

Perhaps you say, PJM is suffering some kind of trauma (like one of those poor creatures who loses their young and adopts a surrogate in its place.  Though Elizabeth has physically escaped PJM, this staged photo became the subject of chatter, when he tried to psychologically abuse his daughter from the other side of the planet.

Apart from the curious question of who sends out a Christmas card in September, a few other questions arise.  What is Mrs. PJM doing joining this villain in his evil schemes?  Is she a willing collaborator or is this a sorry case of Stockholm Syndrome?  Why do they feel the need to physically restrain Ms. Dees with their hands?  Was she about to run?  But more importantly, what is going on with Chickie Town?  Beyond these obvious unsettling issues, what sick individual feels so comfortable in this his nefarious schemes that he would pose for his Christmas card in his stocking feet?  Full photo below:

For those recently joining the history of this feud late, you may view earlier feud posts HERE.

Place-of-Mystery

Sorry for the delay today - too many kid activities all at the same time this morning, but we're up and running now!

Below you will find an image of a place some place in the world.  The winner will be the first one who can tell me where it is located.

Good luck!

So, where could this be?  That's the mystery!  Go ahead and take a guess and then go enjoy your day.  Check back tomorrow and I'll reveal the answer.  The first correct post will be declared the winner.

If you'd like to make sure that your guess is correct, enter this place name into Google Images and photos like these will be found on the first pages of the image results.