Abraham Lincoln and the Fall Line.

The term "Fall Line" is not heard much today. It was a term used much more in the 18th and 19th century. It was basically where the water collected inland would fall back at its greatest power in its return to the sea. It lead to several areas getting names that matched its importance. One place that comes to mind was Fall River, Massachusetts. This was an area that had a great deal of industry as the water was very strong here and the factories could take advantage of the water power.

 Remember in the mid 19th century  water was still the most used method of power for factories. In these places they would build massive water wheels to make the most of the waters power.The Fall line ran close to the coast of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey. This would be the areas of the greatest manufacturing in the United States. It would be one of the reasons why the north was always the industrial part of the nation. The Fall Line allowed materials to be made and since they were close to the coast, shipped to where ever needed. It was one of the greatest weapons of the north.

In Lincoln's own words he knew how important the Fall Line was. Saying that it was only a matter of arithmetic that the north would win the war due to the great industry provided by the Fall Line.

Often in the talk of the Civil War we mention many things, but we so often forget that item that was always in  the back of Lincoln's mind...The Fall Line.   He knew that it would help to win the war and it did!

How fast time flies. How the world has changed in just my lifetime. 1957 onward so far :)

I have not been on this earth too long, some may say I have. But I am amazed at times to think how much this world has changed. How our feelings and attitudes have changed and how much of what is around now has changed. It is frightening that the world is nothing like it was just 55 years ago. In reality that is not too long ago at all.

All you have to do to start this off is look at a penny. In 1957 the Lincoln penny had wheat ears on its back.
A half dollar was a Franklin
And silver dollars were all over.
There were silver certificates and all silver coins were...silver.

There were 48 states in the USA
There was terrible racism
The USSR was our enemy to east and everyone was afraid of them
In 1957 for the first time in history more people flew in planes across the ocean, than in ocean liners
The first satellite was put into space on Oct 4 by the USSR.
Eisenhower was president
There were 96 members of the US Senate
It was the tail end of the war of the record speeds
The first super highways were being built
Cars had fins
The greatest passenger planes around were the Lockheed Constellation and the DC 7.
News programs on TV were 15 minutes
Just about everything was broadcast on TV in black and white
Candy bars were 6 cents
Hamburgers at McDonald's were 15 cents
If you had two dollars in a toy store you could buy a lot.
All cheap crap that was sold in stores came from Japan
Gas was 20 cents a gallon
A long distance call was amazing
Everyone was in awe of technology
Color film and TV were just things few people had
 Wars had just been fought in Korea and China. We were always told to clean our plates for children were starving there. These were mysterious places in the east. I never quite understood that. As Allen Sherman once quipped "They starved and I got fat"
There were no sear belts
If you went out for dinner you dressed up
If you traveled in a plane you dressed up
Teachers were always right
Wagons were always such fun and you could roll down hills in them
Taking baseball cards and close-pinning them to the spokes on your bicycle wheels would make your bike sound like a motorcycle. That was always very neat and soon to be groovy
A cars dashboard was made of metal ..if you hit it you were a mess.
No one thought of trouble if you went out at night
Trick or treating was fine and kids when out alone
1957 was the first year of the new world order. It was the year we first went to space and when we first had fears of what could happen to us from space.
Starting that year space became a big thing and no kid was without dreams of going into space  In those days being on line was being at a check out lane at a super market...What fun we had.
TV dinners were an exciting adventure

There was no mass media, we read, we talked, we drank out of garden hoses, we played ..I kind of feel sorry for kids today...I am glad I was born when I was.

A chance encounter in Benardsville New Jersey with Millicent Fenwick in 1987

I was short on Pipe Tobacco (back when I used to smoke a pipe) and was driving home. I was living at the time in Bernardsville, NJ and I came to my usual store which was a Kings market. It was a rather upscale super market, but Bernardsville was a very affluent community so it was well placed. I was renting a small place in town...Not too affluent but nice. It was a lovely town.

 I picked up a few items and got on line to buy some pipe tobacco. Who would be in front of me buying some for herself ? None other than Millicent Fenwick. I always liked her and found her rather saucy ways fun and better the average none entity who usually assumes office. She also had which i did not know at the time a Lusitania connection. Her mother was lost on the Lusitania when it was torpedoed on may 7, 1915.


I said to her as she finished her transaction "It is pleasure to to meet you. I see you are getting some tobacco, I am too ." "Well that is lovely, you can always trust a pipe smoker" she responded to me as we shook hands ..So after a few more pleasantries she was on her way and I was on mine.  Just fun to meet her, even if a short time. But it was shared in the love of pipe tobacco. She was fun!


One small postscript was that the cartoon of  Lacey Davenport in the Doonesbury cartoons has been attributed to her. However the creator of the strip says no. Perhaps with a wink.....Oh well who knows?

30 years of the Personal Computer 1982 - 2012

I remember when they came out...It was a big thing. I had worked in a company that made payroll checks and there was a fellow there who was very much the computer geek. He wanted me to read a book in 1981 when I worked there, it was all about the personal computer and what it would do. Well I read it half - hearted and gave it back to him. It talked of a world in which the personal computer would have a major focus in a persons life. I thought that was nice but did not believe it,,,So much for being a visionary.

 We used a computer in that office. It was a monster with tape reels, lights, and a computer console to write commands.  It was at this time I learned all the light bulbs that went on and off in front of a computer did really nothing but convince the user the computer was doing something.

In 1982 the IBM company introduced the IBM XT and later the AT. They were so cool and did so much. Well at the time we thought so. I think the hard drive on the AT was 5 Megs. Everyone said why so big?

Well it was the beginning of a revolution . I had seen it from the beginning when you had computers that used cassette tapes and all other things that were around. I write this now on a device that is far removed from that AT..But is in its lineage.  30 years of the personal computer and it has come here and what will the next 30 years bring?

I can only dream......... But now I will believe it

John F. Kennedy and Mimi Alford. His sexual affair with an intern. She just wrote her tell all book called "once upon a secret"

JFK and sex...Well what is new about that?  It seems what ever was warm he was ready to jump on. He had sex with so many different people and acquired so many venereal diseases it is a wonder he was able to do what he needed too.
 We can see now he had unprotected sex as this (at the time) young lady talks about a possible pregnancy scare. He comes across in her a book as bit of sick predator, which indeed he was.


The files on JFK's sexual problems has been some how lost (surprising) But it is known that he required more and more Penicillin to deal with his reoccurring bouts of gonorrhea. But it was with this young lady and her book that he comes across as a kind of sad and pathetic sex maniac.


  Who does not know this already about Kennedy? It is kind of well known in most histories. Even his statement to Prime Minister Macmillan of England in which he said "I get a headache if I don't have strange piece of ass every few days"  I am paraphrasing.  But Mimi Alford, was outed..... So she spoke up and shared the info.


The TV show the VIEW panned it, but when has anything important ever been said on the VIEW. It was an an interesting book.But they were not happy to have the info come out.


Kennedy as you may know if you read this blog was always my hero. He still is, but he is more human now and bit more sick..But many people do sick perverse things and that is their fun.  I guess this was Kennedy's thing.. Sex with one person, groups, and who knows what else... i have heard several stories about Provence town, but I will not go there.  I know he liked to do it in the bathtub with M. Monroe. Easier on the bad back.  He had Fiddle and Faddle in the White House if he needed a quickie. The Secret Service would procure a few hookers when needed.


So ask not what you can do for your Country ..what can you do for your President?


Well he had his fun and she talked about ...Good for her!

How CD recording changed the listening habits of people.

Now of course it has been 30 years since the CD was introduced ...Commercially I think it was introduced in 1985. To everyone who had listened to records who had a few years on them they would remember 78RPM records, 45 RPM records, 33 RPM records and to many young folks in the 50's and 60's 16 RPM records. This is what we had and what we listened too. It set up certain styles of listening and of care to the records. I can remember parties in the early 70's in which some folks had a large stereo with a changer. So you could play 6 or 7 LP records without worry.  That would pretty much last the whole party.  But when it came to 45's you needed  to change them often as they played for 3 minutes or so. Even if you had a 45 changer you could only play maybe 10 records. Be it 33, 45 or 78, one thing every one of those records had in common was the little reassuring crackle as the needle worked it way to the recorded grooves. It was something everyone had grown up with. It announced the music was about to start!

This is what brings me to this point. I recall the first party I was at in which I heard a CD recording. It was in November of 1986. I remember as my friends had just got married and I had sung at the wedding. It was a month after the wedding and one of their presents was a CD player. They were very expensive then.

There was a group of about 10 of us. So all of us were ready to hear a CD for the first time and were excited about it. So he turned it on and the music started and we all jumped!  There was no reassuring crackle to prepare for the music..The music just came with out a sound. I never jumped again with a CD as I knew how they worked after that...But the Cd brought about the end of that crackle that had been a part of our listening experience through our lives till then. The CD was the end of the disc record. You could play a CD record or groups of them just like LPs and they never wore out..Just were easily scratched.

Now the CD is becoming part of the past as we now download music in a way I do not understand.  But I am sure I will. And I have heard my fair share of downloaded music. But the new ideas of recording have left the crackle to older peoples memories and museum exhibits.

Memories of Christopher Street in New York in 1981

It is amazing that 31 years have passed since the time I am talking about. I remember the great wonder I felt when I first saw New York City in the later 1970's.  I was always a small town boy, I had lived in places so remote that we had our own well to drink from. That is not that uncommon, but to people in the city, it is as foreign as the moon. So I was more  used to quiet dirt roads and not the big city streets.  But seeing NYC was an experience, and one that I am not ever ready to give up on. I walked everywhere in the city to see this or that. One of the more fascinating areas was Christopher Street. I was there for the Gay Pride Parade in 1981. Oh how much the world has changed and that area has changed since those days of 30 plus years ago.

I recall the very warm friendly atmosphere that was all around. This was the age of pre-AIDS...What a different world it was then.  I went with a few friends and we decided to see and march in the parade.  I was terrified to do so, but they pushed me on and so I did   I am glad I did as so many of those friends of mine would be dead in but a few years from AIDS.  I remember Richard, Glen, Trixie, John and a few others...all gone. That brought about so many changes in the whole area and culture.

What I found most interesting about Christopher Street was the many shops that were on it as well as bars and clubs. It was alive 24/7.  People would walk in the middle of the street as it was always so crowded. You'd see people in all kinds of dress or dresses!  It was such fun and so unique and special. It was a time that just is no more.

We were dressed as to the time with Roach Clips and feathers. We would hang them off our ears belts and hair. The music played and many people danced in the streets. It was a special time.  I recall one shop that caught my attention, it was called the Erotic Bakery. By its title you can tell what the various baked goods looked like. It brought a whole new meaning to hard rolls. 


 As you worked your way down to the water you would see the overhead roadways that used to be there. That was where lots of people parked. Right there also were old dock houses that were a play ground for many in that area.  Also at this spot was where there were two old ships docked.  one was a liberty ship from World War 2 and was used as a boys school.  The other ship as I recall was pretty much not in use. I used to go and look at the ships there, although it was not the safest of areas. It was there you could buy any drugs, share time with people who you did not know but when you are all drinking and smoking it didn't really matter, and lastly it was something to see..although we did not know it then it was very soon going to disappear.

I walked around the Village a few weeks ago and tried to recall where things were and how it was.  It is hard to believe that Christopher Street is that same street from those 30 plus year old memories. All but a few bars are gone. All of the clubs are gone. The Erotic Baker  has long since vanished. The street is now frequented with baby carriages where once drag queens trotted. The docks are gone, replaced by a new playground area that includes walking lanes and bicycle lanes.  It is all so health related as when I was a kid no one thought of that. The dock buildings that were a playground for many were torn down in the mid 1980's. as were the over head roadways. 

As I walked the area the ghosts of my past came and went and smiled. I recalled the grating were we all sat at in 1981 drinking and smoking ...I see kids in it now having a health drink. I went by building after building I had known but now could hardly recognize. The world has changed so much from that time. People have changed so much from that time. I am still as I was. Which is probably one of my problems, but I am not changing.  Not too much at least. But what was then is no more and my memories give me a special view of what had been. When AIDS became fact and known. How the entire world changed. Perhaps the greatest barometer of that was Christopher Street.  

So I close this little bit of reflecting and remembering. It is interesting to walk in the places I had walked in 30 years earlier. I am not the same either, I would look stupid with Roach Clips and feathers. But part of me will always be there, perhaps joining my friends who have gone before me. Sitting on that grate having a hell of a good time.

Hey guys, I will always remember you .... Thanks for being my friends.

What is our money worth today? What is it made of? When did it all change?

Money, money, money....The old story says it makes the world go round. Of course it does economically, but American coinage has changed a lot over the years.  It was once as I have written here the half cent through the 20 dollar gold piece. I remember as a boy talking to an old man who described his Christmas mornings to me. He said in the the early 1920's as the Christmas dinner was prepared and served, everyone would find a five dollar gold piece under their plate.  That was a lot of money in 1920. And gold was always the standard in money.  Our whole money system ran on it, it was called the "Gold Standard".  There were some battles over gold in the later part of the 19th century. This led to a showdown between the gold and silver forces. Through it's champion, William McKinley, gold resumed its place and the silver bugs who were championed by William Jennings Bryan, lost out.  The old cry was 16 to 1...That was the value set to the silver and gold. Gold would be 16 times more valuable than silver. Don't we wish it was so now?

But our coinage stayed pretty constant through the 19th century. Save for sizes being reduced. But when we reached the 20th century many things started to change The silver dollar which was and had been minted for years was so well produced they did not make any for a number of years. In 1921 after a long lapse the silver dollar was produced again in the old style which was called the Morgan and the new that was called the peace dollar. But then as now, it was a lot easier to use paper money than have a pocket full of coins.  Being that they were silver they rang out quite loudly and that was not wanted as you walked around. But paper money was huge. It would by the end of the 1920's be reduced in size by a third.

Gold coins were the norm till 1933, when they were made illegal, which of course made everyone hoard them. In 1935 the minting of  the silver dollar  was stopped.
The main materials used for coins after this would be copper, nickel, and silver.

By the early 1960's it was being noticed that the silver used in coins was worth more than the value of the coin. Therefore starting in 1965 there was major change in American coinage. the most drastic in the lifetime of the American mint.

Copper became the most used metal, followed by nickel. Silver usage was taken down massively


Here is an example of the change in many of the coins from 1964 to 1965

1964 penny = copper                                  
1965 penny = copper

1964 nickel = nickel
1965 nickel = nickel

1964 dime = silver 90%
1965 dime = copper core and nickel cladding

1964 quarter = silver 90%
1965 quarter = copper core and nickel cladding

1964 half dollar = silver 90%
1965 half dollar = copper core and silver clad 40%


Eventually, there would be a silver dollar again , however it too would be 40% silver cladding.
By the early 1970's this too would change and nickel would replace silver on every coin made. By this time there was no more silver coins in production and the only silver coins made were special ones for collectors. This brought a lot of fun in my eyes to seeing the words silver dollar still used for the Eisenhower and Susan B Anthony dollar coins. Cause there was not a bit of silver in them!

The last major change was in 1982. It was found that the copper to make a penny was worth more than a penny. So the penny ceased to be made mainly of copper. It was then after made of zinc and thinly coated with with copper. In my mind I think ...Why bother?  Why do we need to waste hundreds of millions of dollars changing and refitting a penny?  Just round out the amounts charged and get rid of it

So the great worry was that the materials in the coins would be worth more than the coins value. We can now relax some. There is no silver used in our coinage, Gold although legal again to own will never be used for coinage again.   So our coinage is worth less in its material value than the coins value.  If that changes, the only option would be to get smaller coins to be made.  But who knows?