Banking by Mail

I know the trend for sometime now has been for people to do their banking online.  I think most people enjoy the convenience of having their bank come to them and it definitely saves the increasingly expensive cost of postage.  Back in 1916, William H. Coltharp of Vernal, Utah, found a unique way of using the mail to bringing banking to the town and save money in the process.

Bank of Vernal

In the 1910s, Vernal, Utah, had a population of a little over 800, but was keeping an eye toward future growth as the county seat.  A fine town like Vernal needed an upscale brick bank to express its cosmopolitan outlook, but the nearest brick works was in Salt Lake City over 170 miles away.  Shipping the bricks would cost over four times the purchase price.

Parcel Post Wagon, c. 1914

It was then that Coltharp hit on a novel idea.  The United States Mail had in 1913 begun domestic parcel post service.  To encourage people to use the service, rates were kept rather low.  Coltharp did the math and realized that he could mail the bricks from Salt Lake City cheaper than having them delivered by wagon, so he had the Salt Lake Pressed Brick Company bundle the bricks into packages of about 50 pounds (to stay within parcel post weight limits).  The company would mail about 40 crates (or one ton) of the packages a day.

Salt Lake Pressed Brick Company

To get the crates to Vernal, the US Mail sent the bricks to Mack, Colorado, via the Denver and Rio Grande RR, then by narrow gauge Uintah RR to Watson, Utah, and finally by freight wagon to Vernal.  Each of the 80,000 bricks traveled over 400 miles across tough terrain, including steep mountain roads, at a final cost of about seven cents per brick!

Freight Wagon Arriving in Vernal, Utah

Postmasters along the route expressed their frustration with the volume of weighty crates and the US Mail quickly realized that if Coltharp's scheme caught on, it would hopelessly clog their transportation systems and strain their mailmen.  So in response, Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson, allowed the remaining bricks be sent to Vernal, but issued a new regulation allowing only 200 pounds per sender each day and stated, "it is not the intent of the United States Postal Service that buildings be shipped through the mail."

"The Parcel Post Bank" Today

The bank was completed the next year and was nicknamed "The Parcel Post Bank" by locals.  The building still exists and still serves as a bank at 3 West Main Street in Vernal.

Caine's Arcade

It seems like keeping things fresh is becoming ever more difficult with the Internet.  I recall telling my students something in class one time and one of the kids said, "Oh, yeah, I saw that like two days ago!"  He made it sound as though it was already ancient history.

So, it's with a little trepidation that I'm going to post a link to a short film called Caine's Arcade.  If you haven't seen it, I don't want to tell you a whole story and spoil the film.

Check it out.  I think you'll like it:

See No Evil, Speak No Evil

While preparing for one of my history classes, I came across the following photo from 1918 of Charlie Chaplin and Helen Keller.

She was out in Hollywood to film the movie, Deliverance, a story about her life.  Keller met Chaplin on the set of his current film, Sunnyside.

Wonder if she did all the talking?

Is Cold Weather the Father of Invention?

Is is said that necessity is the mother of invention.  If this is the case, cold weather must be the father.

Fridtjof Nansen

I was raised in rather warm climates.  I never even saw snow until I took a trip in the fourth grade, so it's always been somewhat fascinating and exotic to me – perhaps this is why I loved reading about arctic explorers.  Even now, I'm reading a book about a Norwegian expedition of 1893 to 1896 by Fridtjof Nansen, titled Farthest North.  It's a fascinating tale about an early attempt to reach the North Pole.  One of the things that fascinates me about arctic exploration is the wonderful ingenuity of many of these explorers – making do with so little and improvising all the time.  If you want to read Nansen's book, you can download it here in PDF vol.1 and PDF vol. 2 or EPUB.

Nansen's ship, the Fram, frozen in ice with a wind turbine for electric light generation

Perhaps it's my lack of familiarity with winter gear, but it seems as though there's always some new kind of snow gadget I notice when we head to the hills.  Last year, the kids pointed out a snowball maker.

The Sno-baller prepared for action

We didn't get it, but I was curious how well it worked.  It seemed to us as though your hands would pretty much to the same job, unless you needed a snow arsenal.

I also noticed a unique snow shovel as I drove by, which I later discovered is called a Wovel.  I had to look it up later as I only noticed it in passing as I was driving and kept thinking it was curious.

The Wovel in action

Any snow-bound individuals have experience with this contraption?

And here's where it gets really strange.  As I was trying to figure out what the Wovel (wheel shovel) even was, I came across some photos of a snow bicycle called a Ktrak!

Downhill Ktrak

I don't know how fun a snow bicycle would be.  The image above shows it going downhill, but I imagine it is more often used in a cross-country manner.

And here's where it gets really crazy, as I was searching for snow bicycles, I even found a recumbent snow bicycle (or maybe it's better called a quadricycle).

The heretofore unknown to me Sno-Ped

(oh, and why do snow gadgets seem to dislike the w in snow)

So what do you think?  Is it the harsh climate, cabin fever, or something else that causes all this creativity in colder climes?

Signature Man

Joel, one of my Scouts, wrote me a note the other day.  At the bottom, he had a very interesting signature.

When you turn the note sideways, his signature becomes a little man.

I wonder how long he'll sign his name this way.  I hope for a few more years at least.  It's pretty unique.

The Feud that Jumped the Shark

Yesterday, Anonymous posted that the feud with PJM had "jumped the shark."  I was unfamiliar with this idiom, so I looked it up.

Interestingly enough it comes from an old Happy Days television episode.  A very popular show when I was younger, Happy Days definitely ran longer than it needed to.  It was cute at first, but the later shows (especially at the new Arnold's) were a disappointment.  To bolster ratings, sometimes they'd mix up the show with an unusual attention grabbing stunt.  In season five, the crew goes out to Hollywood, California, and Fonzie steals the show by taking on a bet to jump with waterskis a shark being held in an ocean pen.

Well Anonymous, thanks for your input.  And if this were just a fun blog written for my own amusement, I would certainly change things up and inject new material.  But I don't know how to get this across to a sleepy citizenry, PJM of West Texas is a real and dangerous person!  And I don't mean to be flippant here, but how many of you have had a Super Villain declare war on you?

Official Commencement of Hostilities as posted on my Facebook account

Ridding the world of super villainy is not an easy process, sometimes the work is not glamorous, but stay with me as we "jump the shark."

Just to give you a taste of what we're up against, I have obtained evidence of one of PJM's earliest acts of horror, the creation of a two-headed cat.  Warning, the following image is not for the feint of heart:

A young PJM with his Felineinstein

I hope that didn't scare you all too badly, but I think people need to awake to the danger.  If he can do this with a kitty, imagine what he could do with a mutant peafowl army!

Recently, PJM made the world aware that I was seeking photographic evidence of his villainous past.  I would like to thank the following people for their submissions to date:

An unnamed artist by the initials R.A.M.

The Eldorado Volunteer Fire Department

Boy Scout Troop 18

Fairy Princess Ballerina Camp

Certain members of the Multimedia Class at Eldorado High School.  Go Mighty Eagles!

The Mias Amigas Club

An anonymous tipster at the Eldorado Success

The Christoval Vigilance Committee

Members of the Christoval Baptist Church

too many former friends to name here

two jilted former girlfriends

one retired judge

three former professors at Stanford University

former co-workers from the oilfields of Texas to the laboratories of New Mexico

and a person currently in witness protection somewhere in Africa

Of course, additional submissions from my readership are always welcome and may be sent to the e-mail found in my profile.

Together we can stop the spread of super villainy!

Cuban Idol

This morning, Cuban state television aired a revealing glimpse into the mind of Fidel Castro.  In an intimate interview with a Cuban reporter, he spoke uninterrupted for about seven hours on topics ranging from the country's plans for peafowl weaponization to his relationship with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.  Excerpts from the interview follow:

Fidel educating Hugo on his personal hero

"A lot of people think that Hugo and I get along so well because we're both communist dictators.  Yeah, okay, so we're both villains and we both speak Spanish, but I think most people don't realize that our bromance really centers on a shared admiration for PJM of West Texas.  I guess at first I was just curious why some guy in the US was buying so many of our cigars.  And don't get me wrong, without the steady influx of cash from West Texas, we would have had to go democratic years ago, but as I looked into him, man, he's a genius!"

Looking at the results of Mystery Person and hoping for a "Victory Breakfast" day

"I used to like to think of myself as one bad hombre!  You know, I am like, 'My people shall drive nothing newer than a 1960 Impala,' but then I read that PJM doesn't allow his people to drive anything newer than a brake-less 1926 Model T!  I may be genius, but he's super genius.  I may be villainous, but he's super villainous!"

Hey guys, where do you rank on the Super Villain scale?

"So a few years ago, I call Hugo and I'm like, 'Hey buddy, you know how we think we're pretty bad fellows with nifty hats and hip threads?  Well wait until you hear about this guy I just read about.' I mean, it's one thing to thumb your nose at the world when you're an island or on another continent, but this PJM, he's done it from inside the United States itself.  So I tell Hugo, 'Dude, we are clearly bush league.'"

Castro lost in thought in his office

"So I guess you all read about Hugo going public with his man-crush song.  I have to say it disappointed me a little, Hugo going public and all.  You know, I guess I just had this fantasy where I would meet PJM first and be able to tell him all he means to me.  Maybe we'd be at a League of Villainy Convention and I'd hear his maniacal laugh from across the conference room and I'd get the courage to go over and say hi and he might even be like, 'You're the guy that rules Cuba, right?' And I'd say something like, 'Why yes, how did you know?' And then that conversation would lead to him coming to Cuba and we'd go take a walk on the Bay of Pigs Beach.  I don't know, I've replayed the scenario in my head so many times. Maybe I just wanted him to notice me first and now Hugo's probably got his attention."

"And it's not just his villainous schemes either.  Hugo's right, he's a fashion cat.  I stopped wearing my fatigues after I came across a photo of "PJM the Revolutionary" in a sporty tracksuit and blue earmuffs.  Now it's mostly tracksuits for us in public now.  I can just imagine him wearing those earmuffs in the compound, 'What? What? I can't hear your screams with my sporty earmuffs!' The guy really is my hero!"

Caracas Crooner

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, stunned supporters when at a rally yesterday a Mariachi band appeared behind him and he suddenly donned a large sombrero.  Breaking into song he announced "This one goes out to mi hombre aplaste, PJM of West Texas.  You're my numero uno, Amigo!"

He then started singing a slightly off-key number which he had composed.  The chorus of which is translated as follows:

I know it's not popular to sing of man love

But PJM, your villainy, is one cut above

I thought I loved Fidel for his funny hat

But the West Texas gringo is one fashion cat

You Occupied Pugh Park while we were apart

but you should know now, you occupy my heart.

A shocked audience stood motionless as Chavez ended with a loud,

I would nationalize the world for you!

+ + + + + + + + + +

In other news, Super Villain PJM of West Texas recently revealed that he has hacked into private e-mail accounts and is actively engaged in intercepting international telecommunications.  I'm very concerned that he now possesses SPAM capability, so if you receive suspicious e-mail with titles like, "buy cheap peacock eggs," or any e-mail from a Texan Prince asking for your assistance in moving millions of dollars from his homeland in exchange for a percentage reward in assisting him, delete these immediately.

He even went so far as to post snippets of my e-mail (intentionally edited to make me look bad) to one of his former victims now in hiding in a remote location in East Africa.  In the e-mail, I was asking for photographs of the elusive villain.  Why, you ask?  PJM is a man with a thousand disguises (most of them hats).  As he slips in and out of our peace loving society, we must remain vigilant in keeping the public aware of his every move.  If you recognize him, please take every precaution for your own safety.  Remember, this is the man who ended the beloved Mystery Person contest and who weaponized peafowl excrement.  Who knows what other villainy he may be devising.

Person-of-Mystery

Welcome to Cipher Saturday!

Today, I'm out in the field helping my son with his Eagle Scout Project, so I don't know how often I can check in, but not to worry, I've pre-posted a new mystery for you.  If you recognize the stylized picture of the person, you can go ahead and guess who it is.  Or for extra fun, you can try and crack the cipher for bonus points.

You should be able to tell if you have the correct person if you type his name into Wikipedia as this will be the first photo in his entry.

Now, here's the cipher:

GYEJYKIVAZ  CORAFRYKEN  ALKTOGIDWE  GULROGUJYR  TYRZAEVWIG  STOP  VOREKPAVOZ  GYEJYJUGZA  END

+ + + + + + + + + +

Well, it's been quite a week!  The world has again changed dramatically as the foundations have once again been moved.  When I was growing up, we only had to worry about nuclear missiles landing in our town.  Oh, for those halcyon days of yore!  Alas, we now live in a world where madmen summon peafowl legions to do their doodie.

Well, as they say, there's no turning back the clock.  Unless you live in the United States or Canada –  where we turn back our clocks tonight.

I was speaking to my wife recently and she was remarking on how strange it was to be married to someone who has a nemesis.  I told her that I don't hold any ill-will towards the Super Villain PJM of West Texas, but it's hard to rest when he's threatening defenseless missionary nurses in Africa.  My wife's words did give me pause, however.  That is until I was going through some old family photos.  Curiously I was still reflecting on the earlier nature verses nurture question when I came across the one below.  I didn't recognize the fellow, but on the back side in my great-grandfather's handwriting was scrawled, "Baron von Whorterstein, my nemesis."  I guess fighting villainy must run in my family.

At least some things never change.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

I try and keep this blog as light as possible and shield you from the worst aspects of what I know is going on in the world, but I think it is my duty to keep my readers as educated and prepared as possible.  Yesterday, Super Villain PJM of West Texas, somehow broke through our security and hacked into this blog for the express purpose of threatening one of my readers.

If you will recall, EAM is the former captive that PJM had kept for years in his West Texas compound until her recent flight to a remote location in Africa.  As if it wasn't enough that she had to endure years of embarrassment at his hands, you'll notice that he threatens to pursue her even to the corners of the globe to continue torturing her by ruining her chances to form relationships with potential friends.  Now, the man who recently revealed to the world that he had weaponized peacock turds, is planning on crossing international waters to pursue his prey with all manner of outlandish headgear and equipped with musical warfare capability (a la our psy-ops against Noriega in Operation Just Cause).  How this will end, I do not know, but right now I fear the worst.  The photo below comes from a recent reconnaissance mission into the Christoval Compound.  We lost several good men to obtain this information, but fighting villainy is not without costs.

In other news, Kim Jong-il appeared on North Korean TV and announced that his country (on their own and without the idea of anyone else anywhere on the planet) is planning on constructing a personal peafowl hatchery to the glory of their Dear Leader.

While Western observers remained troubled by the latest announcement, North Korea said it remains committed to providing all the nations of the world with peafowl technology for peaceful purposes.  Afterwards, Jong-il, in a lighthearted moment, spent some off-camera time trading jokes with his cabinet.

"Rook at me!  I be a rest trexas rillain.  Take rat, you reevle rate maas."

Nature or Nurture?

Ah, the age old question, nature or nurture?  Are people born with their character or are people the product of their environments?  Did little Genghis Kahn like pulling the wings off butterflies from the time he was a baby or did act out because his classmates mercilessly called him "Lamest Kahn?"

Recently the science world was rocked by new evidence emerging from Africa that a person's character may be genetically fixed from the time of birth.  It had been previously assumed that nurture or a child's interactions through the developmental years may have a profound impact on their later development.  However, while many have sought Obama's birth certificate in Kenya, medical officials in that country stumbled upon and released what may be the earliest known photo of Super Villain PJM, now of West Texas.

PJM as he appears in an undated file photo from Kenyan officials.

The photo shows the distinct profile of the criminal toddler mastermind, replete with outlandish headwear, dressed in black, crouched and at the ready to pounce on an unsuspecting victim with weapon in hand.  At first American observers were skeptical.  How could environment have so little influence on the development of a child over time?

The brooding mind of a troubled young man – cleverly disguised penknife at the ready.

"When comparison is made with later photos, no other hypothesis than the 'bad seed' one seems to fit," said one bewildered professor at the now defunct Stanford School of Psychology and Human Behavior in Palo Alto, California.  A stunned Dean of the Harvard School of Psychology echoed the sentiment, "We had some good guesses about personality, but facing incontrovertible proof, I figure our program here is now headed the way of phrenology."

PJM identified at a recent "Occupy Pugh Park" rally

Hopes that people can change with age were quickly squashed when a reporter from the San Angelo Standard-Times noticed that he had inadvertently captured a rare photo of PJM just last summer.  "I was doing a piece on lack of mental health services in our county, so I went down to the river to see if I could get a personal interest angle on some poor fellow.  Anyway, there was a clearly disturbed individual in an outlandish hat.  When I went up to talk to him, he started calling for his 'henchmen' and when I got closer he reached for his pocket, but realizing that whatever he was reaching for was gone, he made a gun with his hand and started pointing it at me.  I obviously thought he was off his rocker, but when I saw that photo from Kenya, I knew that I had somehow survived a brush with a super villain!  It makes by blood run cold just thinking about it now."

Joy!

I don't usually repost funny things I see online, but I couldn't help it this time.  A friend of mine posted this adorable photo a girl and a camel.  I can't figure out where it originally came from or the context, but I can't help but smile when I look at it.

Pigeon Poop

I was speaking with a city maintenance worker recently when the conversation somehow turned to the trouble with keeping structures free of bird droppings.  He provided me an interesting statistic:  A single pigeon produces its weight in poop every eight days.  Skeptical, I googled this when I returned home and it appears he might be correct.  No wonder the cleanup is such an ongoing process.

Armchair Archaeology

I've always thought archaeology was cool!  When I had more money, I even used to subscribe to several archaeological journals to keep up to date on the latest news.  It would be a thrill for me someday just be an ignorant laborer on a dig.  So it took me by surprise when I read HERE that the Egypt Exploration Society was looking for online volunteers to help decode the more than 500,000 papyri fragments they have in their collection.

To be honest, the thing that really caught my eye was the funny picture of the goddess Agnoia pictured above.  Agnoia is the Greek word for ignorance, so I don't think Agnoia was seriously a goddess, particularly since this picture came from one of Menander's comedies.  But you never know about those wacky ancient peoples!

The texts are in Greek, but you don't need to know Greek, they have a handy interactive guide to help you decode. What they're really looking for is multiple sets of eyes to help them transcribe these ancient writings.

Click HERE for more detailed instructions and to get started!  

McGurk Effect

Yesterday, I mentioned optical illusions in my post.  Many are unaware that visual illusions can also alter speech perception.  That is to say, the way you view something can change the way something sounds to your brain!

One great example of this is the McGurk Effect.  Watch the video below and listen to the sound that the man is making.  Make sure you are watching the man talk.  Then close your eyes.  Does the sound change based on whether you are watching him or not?

This effect is produced by visually recording the man making one sound and then dubbing a separate sound for the audio.  The interesting thing is, that for many, you can look away and look back and the sound will change for you depending on whether you are looking at the man speaking or not.

Akiyoshi Kitaoka

One of my students asked about optical illusions the other day.  Most optical illusions were created years ago and are commonly used in many books.  However, Dr. Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a professor of psychology at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, continues to create some very nice illusions.

Dr. Kitaoka is best known for his rotating snake illusion which does not actually move, but certainly appears to do so.  Click on the image below for best viewing.

More illusions can be found on his website, HERE.

Dutch Mountaineering

The title of this post may sound like an oxymoron as the highest point in the Netherlands (at least the European part of the colonial empire), Vaalserberg, is a small rise of 1,059 feet.  To put this in perspective, I'd like to inform my readers that there are higher hills in my hometown and we're a 10 minute drive to the beach.

Last month, a Dutch journalist and cyclist, Thijs Zonneveld made the humorous suggestion that the nation build a 1k mountain.  He said, tongue-in-cheek, that it would only take €300 billion and maybe 30 years to build.

Well, proposals for the hypothetical mountain (dubbed Die Berg Komt Er, or the Mountain Comes) have now been drafted by a tiny architectural firm of Hoffers and Kruger.  The idea has also gained backing from the Dutch Cycling Union, the Dutch Climbing and Mountaineering Association, and the Dutch Ski Association.

Well, it's certainly an ambitious proposal – building a mountain that might cost half of the country's GDP for a few sporting events.  I guess their next big hurdle will be to find a location to put it.

Washington Crossing the Delaware

Most people are familiar with Emanuel Leutze's famous painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.  It commemorates the famous crossing of the river 234 years ago yesterday in preparation of his surprise attack on the Hessian soldiers at Trenton, New Jersey.

This morning, on the website Boston 1775, the less famous poem, Washington Crossing the Delaware, was highlighted.  The poem is a sonnet written in 1936 by David Shulman, an eccentric wordsmith and champion Scrabble player.  Here is his work:

A hard, howling, tossing water scene.
Strong tide was washing hero clean.
"How cold!" Weather stings as in anger.
O Silent night shows war ace danger!

The cold waters swashing on in rage.
Redcoats warn slow his hint engage.
When star general's action wish'd "Go!"
He saw his ragged continentals row.

Ah, he stands - sailor crew went going.
And so this general watches rowing.
He hastens - winter again grows cold.
A wet crew gain Hessian stronghold.

George can't lose war with's hands in;
He's astern - so go alight, crew, and win!

If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "So what!  I've read better poetry."  True, but the amazing thing about this work is it's an anagram (scrambled letters rearranged) of the phrase "Washington Crossing the Delaware," each and every line!

Shulman, the founder of the American Cryptogram Association, did all of this before computers could even assist him in his effort.  He was noted in his day for sending in corrections to the Oxford English Dictionary, considered the authority on the English language and it's origins.

Kinky Colorado

Colorado is typically considered a pretty square state (or at least rectangular), but upon reading some geography blog postings today (yes, there are those blogs), it turns out Colorado is rather kinky!

If you use Google Maps and journey around the border, you'll discover a bunch of kinks in the boundary line.  See one of many examples below...

The strange thing is there's actually a pretty major kink that wanders about 1.5 miles about 80 miles north of Four Corners between Utah and Colorado just south of the town of Paradox, Colorado.  See below...

So how did it happen?  In 1879, a survey was conducted to set the boundary and surveyors journeyed north from Four Corners placing mile markers along the way, when they got to the Wyoming border, they discovered that they were about a mile west of where they expected to be.  Unfortunately, by the time it was discovered where the errors lay, the ground boundaries had already been accepted by the various states, territories, and congress, so the error was fixed.

In reality Colorado is actually a polygon.  Go figure!

Fun Fact

Did you know that in 1939, a particular author, Mr. Wright, thought up a book 50,000 words long without using a symbol following "D" but prior to "F?"  This author of "Gadsby" took pains to lock stationary this symbol button on his typing apparatus so it wouldn't work.  That's just crazy!  How could such a notion occur to him?