Dac Crossley's Western Blog

The Discovery of America

I’ve written before about my “special” bookshelf, which holds those books that have made me want to read them over and again. I restrict that shelf to 20 volumes. To add a new book I must remove one of the others. Yes, that can be troubling.

My new addition is Samuel Eliot Morison’s “The Great Explorers; The European Discovery of America.” It’s an abridgement of two previous volumes, one devoted to the northern voyages and the other to the southern ones. It’s also Morison’s last effort. He died in 1976. My copy is a paperback edition, published in 1986. Used.

Morison was a noted maritime historian, a Rear Admiral in the Naval Reserve, an accomplished sailor. His passion was the adventures of those seaman who set out into the unknown. Not satisfied with scholarly research, Morison sailed the routes for himself. He became the authority on Christopher Columbus.

“The Great Explorers” is told in detail – their ships, their lives aboard, their passions and their rewards, the political milieu in which they lived. The book is well supplied with illustrations, old and recent. It is an example of historical scholarship at its finest.

What struck a chord with me, was a comment in the introduction. Morison writes:

“But it has fallen to my lot, working on this subject, to have read some of the most tiresome historical literature in existence. Young men seeking academic promotion, old men seeking publicity, neither one nor the other knowing the subject in depth, write worthless articles, and the so-called learned journals are altogether too hospitable to these effusions.”

That made me wince. In my career as a scientist I’ve published on some rather worthless or trivial subjects. And may do so again, I fear.

And it made me wonder – what would Morison have made of the internet? Would he find it of value in his research? Would he cringe at historical or scientific information couched in political frameworks?

Read The Great Explorers for enjoyment. Sail the Atlantic with Morison. See the world through his eyes.

Dac Crossley
August 25, 2013.

“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.” – Joyce Carol Oates.

Revenge of the Texas Ranger

The Wolf spoke to him urgently. “Whitey, we need you back in the field.” Lone Wolf Gonzaullas, the legendary Texas Ranger, held Whitey’s elbow in a vice-like grip. “It’ll be an easy assignment. Only two or three weeks. The job requires a Ranger with your experience. I would count it a personal favor.”

“I ain’t never turned down no assignment.”

This short excerpt will appear on Weekend Warrior Writers (http://www.wewriwa.com/).

The Spider and the Fly

Archy the cockroach was created by the whimsical humorist Don Marquis (“Archy and Mehitabel,” back in print). From Archy we have the parable of the Spider and the Fly.

One day a fly became entangled in a spider’s web. As she tried to free herself, the spider approached.

“Wait,” said the fly. “You mustn’t eat me because I have important work to do.”

“And what would that be?” asked the spider.

“I am an essential part of Man’s ecosystem. My larvae reduce Man’s wastes, freeing essential nutrients for his crop plants. And I carry diseases that help to control Man’s burgeoning population. Release me immediately, so I can be about my work.”

The spider scratched her forehead above her left three eyes. “That’s all and well,” she said, “but mine is a higher calling. The beauty of my gossamer webs inspires mankind, bringing joy to the human race. And my industry encourages them. Robert the Bruce was inspired to conquer Scotland after watching the endeavors of one of my ancestors. So you see, it is all together fitting that I should eat you.”

The fly composed herself for her demise, and muttered, “I might have won, if I’d had a better argument.”

And the spider said, “The end result is the same as if neither of us had spoken at all.”

Now – doesn’t that raise a question about the lasting value of blog posts such as mine?

Dac Crossley
August 19, 2013

“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” Attributed to Albert Einstein.

A Question of Numbers

I enjoy an August evening on the deck, among the oaks and sweet-gums. Twilight lingers, yielding reluctantly to darkness. A lone bat patrols the alleyway between the trees, sampling the aerial plankton. Snowy tree crickets sing their love song. A late firefly calls, dot-dot-dot above me. Noctuid moths crash against the light of the window pane. We take our flashlights and climb down to poke amid the fallen litter beneath the trees. A black beetle scurries away. Among the dead leaves the eyes of hunting spiders shine like little jewels, reflecting our flashlights.

We return to the deck, refill our glasses and ask ourselves – again – the question of insect ecology. Why are there so many different kinds of insects?

The Darwinists have given us answers, very satisfactory explanations of natural selection, competition, fitness. Their theories are robust; they’ve passed every test.

And yet. At some time after the carboniferous era the plants changed their story. Flowering plants arrived, and it is as if they said to the insects, “Pollinate our seeds, and we will feed you from our vegetation.” The harsh chemicals that protected the conifers yielded. Dead vegetation decomposed more rapidly and released its nutrients. And insects and their relatives increased in kind and number, as did the flowering plants.

There is another story of life on earth. It tells of mutualism, the advantage of coexistence over competition. A story we humans must study if we are to survive. We are all part of that ecosystem, the living, thriving film that covers our planet.

Tonight I am grateful to be here, on the deck, enjoying the earth. Wherever you are, join me in spirit.

Dac Crossley
August 11, 2013

“We all have our time machines. Those that take us back are memories. And those that carry us forward are dreams.” – H. G. Wells.

Making Rain

Here in Georgia we’ve been getting a lot of rain this year. So have some other regions of the country. What’s happening? Is it something we humans are doing, upsetting the natural order of things, once again?

Probably not our fault. As my old climatologist friend Lloyd S. used to proclaim, “It’s all part of a normal pattern.” But you gotta wonder.

There was a time not too long ago when people thought that loud noises would cause rain to fall. Perhaps an association with thunder? Plutarch wrote that rain followed battles. Napoleon believed him.

And it was inevitable that “rainmakers” would appear on the scene, offering loud noises as a remedy for droughts. George Dryenforth was such an entrepreneur. In 1891 he set out to make a fortune creating “natural rain” in drought-stricken Midland, Texas. Dynamite, cannons, kites and balloons carried explosives aloft. Dryenforth claimed success but few checked up on him. Midland was too remote for major newspapers.

Robert Kleberg of the King Ranch hired Dryenforth to dynamite the heavens, and it actually rained a bit. But his experiments in San Antonio blew out the windows in a downtown hotel.

C. W. Post the cereal magnate was another rainmaker. He founded the town of Post, Texas in 1910. He planned it to be a utopian village, and it might have been but for problems with weather and water. The gardens he designed failed. Post jumped onto the loud-noise bandwagon, using dynamite to make rain. He claimed some success. Atop the nearby Caprock, Post ignited bundles of dynamite spaced 50 feet apart. By some accounts a refreshing rain fell. The strain of keeping his utopia on track was too much for Post; his spirits flagged and he abandoned the effort..

Rainmaking? All well and good. But has anybody looked at a method to make it stop raining?

Dac Crossley
August 7, 2013
And a tip of the hat to Bobbert G. for a note about rainmaking.

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” – Bob Dylan.