When Coal First Arrived, Americans Said ‘No Thanks’ Back in the 19th century, coal was the nation’s newfangled fuel source—and it faced the same resistance as wind and solar today Clive Thompson from Smithsonian Magazine July/August 2022 Steven Preister's house in Washington, D.C. is a piece of American history, a gorgeous 110-year-old colonial with wooden columns... Continue Reading →
From yesterday's Writer's Almanac: It's the birthday of poet Ernest Thayer, born in Lawrence, Massachusetts (1863). He went to Harvard, where he studied philosophy with William James and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. After graduation, his fellow Lampoon writer William Randolph Hearst convinced Thayer to come to San Francisco, because his father, George Hearst, had bought the San Francisco Examiner and almost... Continue Reading →
[Preview of Coming Attractions ... start getting excited. In October, Silverback Digest will be hosting what might be the musical event of the century. Grendel: The Four-Chord Opera will be debuting right here. Details are not being released yet, but prepare yourself for glamor, innovation, and surprise beyond your wildest dreams. And remember ... you'll... Continue Reading →
[Sorry to post something this long, but I found this account of people living in their own remote Jungle to be mesmerizing. Among the many lessons to be learned is the impact that organized religion has on a culture. SB SM] A trek through the Hindu Kush to seek out the ancient Kalash people, who... Continue Reading →
Best of the 'Gest from March 9, 2021, the first of an entire week of postings on Silverbelle Dolly Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com From Dolly's Wikipedia page: In 1990, the American Eagle Foundation entered into a multi-year corporate partnership with the Dollywood Company and cooperated with them to develop Eagle Mountain Sanctuary at Dollywood... Continue Reading →
[ Honorary Silverback status to this guy. SB SM] On July 31st, Etienne Klein, research director of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, tweeted the photo to his 90,000+ followers on Twitter and claimed that it was a new Webb telescope photo showing the closest star to our Sun. “Picture of Proxima Centauri,... Continue Reading →
[Published 5 days ago by visualcapitalist.com, brought to our attention by thebrowser.com. We keep things non-political in The Jungle, but this gives valuable historical perspective to the current world situation. SB SM] on August 3, 2022 By Avery Koop Timeline: A Century of Unions in Europe (1920-2022) On February 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine launching one of the biggest wars on European... Continue Reading →
[It's so much easier in The Jungle. Oo-oo covers it all. SB SM] Rude words are a constant, but their ability to cause offence is in flux. Historians should know their flim-flam from their fiddle-faddle. Suzannah Lipscomb | Published in History Today Volume 72 Issue 8 August 2022 Scene from The New Art and Mystery of Gossiping, Being a Genuine Account of... Continue Reading →
[Silverbelle Jane is on the road, promoting the hell out of her book, Spirit Traffic. You can order yours at https://cjanetaylor.com/ SB SM] We thought we had enough gas and rolled through the eye-blink town of Shaniko (population 18, we later learned) enroute to Fossil, Oregon 36 miles away according to Google maps. My bike... Continue Reading →
[Images from SB John (Mendocino Bonobos) taken at the lowest tide of the year. I find these images as amazing as anything from the Webb Telescope. How about that albino nipple inside the everything bagel? Good job on these, Silverback John. You've raised the bar for other Silverbacks! SB SM]
