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I just bought a book I’d been wanting for a while. It’s about the West Coast during the Civil War – how often do you hear _anything_ about that?! More specifically, the book focuses on the Russian fleet sent to San Francisco Bay during the Civil War and stayed there for a year, implicitly to support the Union. The Russian fleet was incredibly popular in San Francisco, and parades, dinners, etc. were held in their honor. Everyone here was worried about Confederate raiders and British and French ships attacking targets along the West Coast, but the Union had almost no naval presence here, so the Russian presence was very much appreciated. The cover blurb notes that Russia was the only major European power that didn’t support the Confederacy; I gather the Russians felt the Union was a major bulwark against British power, hence the Russian fleet hanging out in San Francisco for a year for moral support.

It’s always interesting to read about unexplored aspects of history. It's also interesting to read more about the international backdrop to the Civil War, another thing that is largely skimmed over in textbooks. I can remember one teacher saying that the British and French nobly restrained themselves from interfering in the Civil War, which is flat-out untrue. They didn’t send troops, but they did send aid and such to the Confederate side.

Or, what about the US and Canada engaging in skirmishes and spats well into the mid-1800’s, e.g., the Aroostoock War? Speaking of odd stuff no one has ever heard about, did you know about the time France invaded Mexico? Neither did I, in any detail, until I happened to read about it a few months back. Anyway, this all happened around the time of the US Civil War and definitely tied to colonial powers trying to influence the New World. While the French and British and others might not have landed troops in US during the Civil War, but they did right next door in Mexico, a not very subtle message to the US (or, obviously, to Mexico). After the Civil War, the US sent troops and eventually established a naval blockade to prevent French reinforcements from landing and so on. “Get the hell off our continent” or some such (only WE can exert influence over our neighbors, thank you very much). I suppose this all goes to show the colonial powers were right that the US was going to be an incredible pain in their collective asses (except perhaps Russia, which I imagine was happy to see another power annoying the British and French and etc....although, in the longer view, the Soviet Union certainly came to resent American interference in their sphere of influence, and vice versa. Thus go international affairs.).

It’s starting to make me a bit annoyed, though, because the history we Americans are taught in school is biased towards the East Coast and occasionally South; the West Coast gets a brief mention during the Gold Rush and not much else. California apparently started to exist in 1849 and ceased to exist sometime around 1850. What about the Bear Flag Republic, from which our state flag derives? I suppose it could be worst: the rest of the world barely warrants a mention at all in US history textbook, as if everything happens in a tidy little vacuum where nothing has any influence on anything else. “Lies to children” as Terry Pratchett and co-authors phrased it in one of his non-fiction books. By this, they meant drastic oversimplifications that are supposed to make it easy for children to “learn” something devoid of complications and details. The problem is most people don’t go on to learn the full stories behind the “lies to children” they learned in school. As a result, we all have an incomplete and simplified understanding of so many things. History and science are especially impacted because they involve such complex, intertwined systems. It’s a bit scary…no, actually, it’s a lot scary.

Okay, I finally got around to getting my blog up and running again...It's been over a year since I've posted any of my thoughts and musings, or even a nice, long rant. I've been putting more things on Facebook, but still not quite the same. So, here is a random musing on a Russian movie, _The Captivating Star of Happiness_, about the Decembrist revolt of 1825-1826.

I love that the Russians are pretty scrupulous about correct period in their historical dramas, even if they overplay their hand a bit when it comes to, e.g., our brave, noble revolutionary brothers who suffered for the cause, and the women who loved them. Of course, stories are always reinterpreted through the lens of the current age, but it's not as if these particular brave, aristocratic revolutionaries whose activities were based largely on Enlightenment political theory wouldn’t have been absolutely horrified - although the brighter ones probably not horribly surprised - by the people who actually succeeded in bringing about revolution in Russia. Without delving too deeply into the schools of philosophical thought in Russia at the time, the Decembrists and other Western-oriented Enlightenment sortswere diametrically opposed in their reasoning and their aspirations to the Slavic-oriented revolutionaries who focused more on a return to a purer form of Slavic culture. The Slavic-oriented sorts were the closer ancestors of the Communists, but somehow (to stereotype rather broadly and take some historical liberties of my own), I gather that skulking, nihilist, bohemian proto-communists don’t cut the brave, dashing, idealistic figure of the Decembrist officers. At least, not when you're making a movie that focuses on the women who love said officers and give up their status and privilege to accompany them in exile in Sibera.

The movie's execution scene emphasizes the epic theme of Russian history. What has always fascinated me about Russia is the truly epic scale of their history. They don't deal in small change (I find French history alluring for somewhat similar reasons, but even the French never worked on quite the same scale...the Romans and Greeks perhaps a bit more so, maybe a reason I also enjoy Classical history). When the Decembrists fail in their uprising, a few of them are sentenced to death, the rest for exile. The tsar and others had to wait around several hours while the gallows were built, then the gallows collapsed before the hanging, then the ropes were too short so the condemned had to stand on benches, then the ropes broke before they died, then a couple of the semi-hanged ex-officers took advantage of their extra moments of life to tell off their old buddy the tsar before being hanged with stronger rope. They should have been pardoned after the failed execution, but weren’t; so much for tradition.

But perhaps that's not an entirely bad thing. A Russian professor later told me the traditional punishment was being drawn and quartered.

For those of you keeping score, the literary tie-ins are that Pushkin was friends with a number of the Decembrists and wrote poems about them. Tolstoy was the grandson of one of the rebels who was exiled; I've read that War and Peace started as a novel about this revolt, although Tolstoy shifted to the Napoleonic wars. Prince Bolkonsky in W&P has a suspiciously similar name to Tolstoy’s exiled gpa, Volkonsky.

Tipping points reach a tipping point.

I was just reading an article about the current financial woes. The article mentioned that things have reached a tipping point, and it occurred to me that the phrase "tipping point" has reached a tipping point. It's become a buzzword for any sort of major change. I see it in articles all the time, but didn't really think about it until a few weeks back when I was moderating a discussion on the decline and failure of civilizations. Of course, we ended up talking about Jared Diamond. I said something along the lines of "I don't think we've reached a tipping point - speaking of another buzzword" and everyone in the audience laughed in recognition of the overuse of the word.

A tipping point is a useful concept. At first I thought it was frivolous to apply them to every possible situation, but now that's what I think I'll do. My hair just reached a bad hair day tipping point, I need to find a brush. I've reached a hunger tipping point, so I think I'll have some lunch. And so on.

A new odd insect today. The name that springs to mind is leaf bug, but I'm sure that's entirely descriptive. Any idea what it is? I still get stick insects - the little cat went crazy over one last night as the insect ambled its way along the patio screen door - but this type of bug is new. I find its red fringe especially stylish. It was standing in the kitchen in a bit of water (perhaps the little cat had something to do with this, as the little cat went crazy when she saw me with the bug), now it's in a terrarium with a small African Violet. Maybe I'll try to keep a stick insect as well.

My grunion greeter appreciation certificate. I'm quite taken with it. Check out the fine print.

Went grunion greeting last night. I posted several pictures on a separate webpage - http://www.twilight-storm.com/Grunion.html - but here is one of my favorites: