Went to my hometown this weekend for the grand re-opening of the historic Bell Farm Round Barn , a reconstruction of the original building which had been near collapse only a few short years ago which would've been a shame, both for the loss of history and also, on a more personal note, as this farm was on the way to our own family farm and I've spent much of my life driving past this building, which often inspired thoughts about the people who settled in the area and the groundwork they laid for our present lives here on the prairies.
The reconstruction used many of the same stones and materials from the original structure although with a few added touches to keep with modern building codes (the original had neither plumbing or electricity.)
It did however have many firsts and significant accomplishments including the first phone system ever operated in Saskatchewan. This was how the founder, Major Bell, kept in touch with the twenty-seven cottages where his foremen lived and worked across this 53 000 acre farm - a farm so large that that passing trains would often stop so passengers could have a gander!
Hopefully one of the areas original tourist attractions can once again regain that mantle. If you're in the area, I encourage you to check it out.
My hometown of Indian Head is one of two Saskatchewan finalists for a $25 000 make-over courtesy Kraft & TSN. You can vote for Indian Head today until noon. If we get the most votes, the money will be used to upgrade our historic ball diamonds (20 000 people used to come to our small town of 2 000 people in the 1950's for games!) and build a new kid's splash park which I'm sure Pace would love! Click on the link to vote (you can vote multiple times so feel free to do so) and for more information about these two projects.
German copyright law grants an author copyright for 70 years after their death. Hitler died in 1945 so that means "Mein Kampf" will enter the public domain in that country in 2015. Or will it?
There is a well-known German law banning the dissemination of Nazi ideologies which was put in place after the fall of the Third Reich. Germans (including many Jewish groups) claim that this law trumps any right the infamous work has to freely enter the public domain. Opponents counter that the diaries of Goebbels and Himmler are easily available in Germany already (as is Mein Kampf for anyone with an Internet connection).
German scholars want the work to enter the public domain so they can prepare an annotated version of "Mein Kampf" for 2015 while the government fears that Neo-Nazi groups would prepare their own propagandized version.
Libraries get a mention in the linked article as well.
"Stephan J. Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany
in Berlin, said the publication of “Mein Kampf” continued to split the
Jewish community in Germany, with many Holocaust survivors opposing its
publication. “I have the highest respect for this opinion, but on the
other hand I’m saying very openly: The copyright is going to be waived
anyway. It’s a matter of time before the book is available in shops and
libraries,” Mr. Kramer said." I've already discussed my own early exposure to Mein Kampf on this blog and I'm pretty sure it's clear what side of the debate I'm on - it is Freedom to Read Week after all! (I should do a post and try to list which books I think *should* be banned, if any. That'd be a fun challenge.)
Then remember this as the second decade of the new millennium begins. This year should be referred to as "twenty-ten", not "two-thousand ten" (no matter what the Vancouver Olympics are being hyped as.)
And yes, I know it's not technically the start of the new decade until next year but just like everyone celebrating the turn of the Millennium in 2000 instead of 2001, sometimes you just can't fight popular opinion.
We went to Indian Head to have an early Christmas with my folks this weekend and at one point my mom suggested renting a movie to keep Pace entertained. It did not even cross my mind that she meant VHS movie instead of DVD (let alone streaming video or BitTorrent or some of the other technologies I tend to use to watch movies these days.) But that's indeed what we ended up getting. It was a good reminder that people live at different technological time points even if we're all at the same time point on the calendar.
This experience reminded me of this video which does a great job of capturing how different technology time points might intersect when taken to the extreme:
Linking to this post is becoming another annual blog tradition...
I don't know if the Army was where Grandpa got into the habit of wearing his hats just slightly askew but it was something he did for the rest of his life. And without guidance or instruction from us, Pace has picked up the same mannerism, always wanting to wear his hat just slightly cocked to the side. My eulogy for Grandpa Peet, given just a week after Pace was born, talked about biology and genetics so who knows, perhaps there's a gene for "hat-tilting" too?
Does anybody know why a company would prevent embedding of their YouTube clips? Just to maintain control of how their content is presented I guess? (This is also the first YouTube clip I've seen with a short ad embedded in front of it as well - hmmm, is that a new Google initiative or did the record company put it in there?)
