Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
When Montana Residents Lost Their Right To Free Speech
After the terrorist attacks in the US in 2001, the Patriot Act was enacted, causing some Americans to fear that their days of free speech were over. However, Montana residents had already experienced a frightening loss of their free speech rights in the early 1900s during World War I. At that time, Montana’s new Sedition Law made it a crime to criticize the US government, including any opposition to the war. Even trivial infractions could be punished with fines and long prison sentences. The convicted were finally pardoned in 2006, but they were all dead by that time and the pardons couldn’t undo the damage to their lives.
After the terrorist attacks in the US in 2001, the Patriot Act was enacted, causing some Americans to fear that their days of free speech were over. The members of the nonprofit Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) were particularly concerned that they would be unable to champion human rights and arbitrate international disputes in some instances without going to jail. They argued that a section of the Patriot Act made it a crime to work on behalf of any group identified as a terrorist organization by the Secretary of State. By definition, that work would include counseling a designated group on how to settle conflicts in a peaceful manner or make an allegation of human rights abuse in front of the United Nations.
While this may seem like a new occurrence in wartime, free speech issues have surfaced before in America. Although it wasn’t exactly the same as the Patriot Act, Montana residents experienced a frightening loss of their free speech rights in the early 1900s during World War I. At that time, Montana’s new Sedition Law made it a crime to criticize the US government, including any opposition to the war. Even trivial infractions could be punished with fines and long prison sentences.
One of the most egregious cases was that of German immigrant Herman Bausch. He worked hard to establish a successful farm in Montana.
A pacifist, he was against America’s participation in World War I, which would cost him dearly. In April 1918, some prominent citizens of Billings, Montana, strode onto Bausch’s farm, insisting that he buy Liberty Bonds because he had the money. Bausch wouldn’t do it and voiced his opposition to the war openly. Declaring that his words were treasonous, the self-appointed group was going to hang him from a tree when his wife rushed outside with her baby son to stop them. Shortly after, Bausch was convicted under the Sedition Law in a two-day trial. His sentence: four to eight years in state prison. He served almost two and a half years of hard labor. During that time, he wasn’t permitted to see his sick baby son, who died of influenza during the pandemic of 1918–1919.
“My father came out of prison a broken man,” said daughter Fritzi Bausch Briner. “To not be considered an honorable citizen was a huge disappointment to him and he suffered mentally because of it. He was depressed and it all went downhill after that. We did not have a happy family situation.” Eventually, Bausch separated from his wife. He died in 1958.
Altogether, Montana tried 125 people under its Sedition law in the early 1900s. Seventy-nine were convicted and faced prison terms of as much as 10–20 years and fines as high as $20,000. Most of the convictions stemmed from casual remarks that were deemed to be anti-American or pro-German.
Paranoia spread, with residents informing on each other and the local newspapers questioning whether the enemy had already invaded Montana.
The prosecutions didn’t last long because World War I was over in late 1918. But the damage to these families was permanent in many cases. Some people lost their homes and their children, who were put in orphanages in some cases. Many siblings didn’t see each other again for decades. But as quickly as these lives were ruined, they were also forgotten for a long time. As a University of Montana law student once said, “This is a little embarrassing [for] someone who’s grown up in Montana her whole life, but I had no idea that such a law had ever been passed.”
On that same day in 2006, the convicted were finally pardoned. But they were all dead by that time and the pardons couldn’t undo the damage to their lives.
Show Me The Proof
Smithsonian: The Year Montana Rounded Up Citizens for Shooting Off Their MouthsThe Montanan: Speech Wasn’t Free
The Montana Sedition Project
NPR: Does The Patriot Act Violate Free Speech?
How A Swiss Mountain Town Ended Up In Africa
From finding hills in Kansas to palm trees in British Columbia, many places on Earth look nothing like you think. Well, we’ve found another one for you: Ifrane, Morocco, also known as Africa’s “Little Switzerland.” It was established by French colonialists in the 1930s as a hill station, a mountain retreat reminiscent of the Swiss Alps that served as an escape in the summer months from the uncomfortably hot conditions below. Africa’s lowest recorded temperature, –24 degrees Celsius (–11 °F), happened here. When Morocco gained its independence from France, local Moroccans began to move in, bringing some of their own culture to Ifrane. Nevertheless, the town remains a vacation playground for the wealthy.
From finding hills in Kansas to palm trees in British Columbia, Canada, many places on Earth look nothing like you think. Well, we’ve found another one for you: Ifrane, Morocco, also known as Africa’s “Little Switzerland.” The word yfran actually means “caves” in the Berber language of the region, which comes from the many caves carved out of the limestone plateaus surrounding the modern village. In earlier times, around the 1500s or so, local people lived in these caves. As they moved aboveground, though, the caves were used mostly for storage.
Modern Ifrane was established by French colonialists in the 1930s as a hill station, a mountain retreat reminiscent of the Swiss Alps that served as an escape in the summer months from the uncomfortably hot conditions below. Africa’s lowest recorded temperature, –24 degrees Celsius (–11 °F), happened here, just kilometers from the Sahara desert.
The first hill stations were established in India by the British. Hill stations then spread to many other countries, including Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Rather than the vacation playgrounds for the rich they’re often known as today, these towns and villages began as medical centers to treat tropical diseases such as cholera and dysentery that were rampant in earlier centuries. In the 1800s, one British doctor determined that a young soldier in peacetime had a fivefold greater chance of dying in India than England. At that time, English expatriates in India usually lived to only about 38 years old for the men and 28 years old for the women.
However, hill stations soon evolved beyond mere medical facilities to summer retreats from the hot weather and noisy cities at lower altitudes. They were designed to remind European expatriates of home, from the architecture to the parks and flowers. Ifrane is a stylish green oasis almost 1,700 meters (5,500 ft) above sea level in the summer that can double as a popular Alpine ski resort in the winter. However, snow doesn’t fall heavily every winter, so visitors can’t count on the ski season. Ifrane is a small village that often serves as a way station for tourists on their way to more bustling cities like Fez and Marrakesh.
When Morocco gained its independence from France, local Moroccans began to move in, bringing some of their own culture to Ifrane. Rich Berbers come for vacations and students for an education at the prestigious Al Akhawayn University, which opened its doors in 1995 as a public university with an American curriculum. The Moroccans made the town bigger by building a mosque, modern condominium complexes, and a public market. There are also gated housing plans and vacation centers popping up on Ifrane’s borders. The town is a popular destination for one-day skiing trips for the locals.
Show Me The Proof
Travel the Middle East: Ifrane, Morocco: Africa’s Little SwitzerlandSmithsonian: Review of ‘The Great Hill Stations of Asia’
Amusing Planet: Ifrane, The Switzerland of Morocco
Morocco.com: Take a Trip to Ifrane in Morocco
The Strange Story Behind The Invention Of Revolving Doors
In the late 1800s, Theophilus van Kannel supposedly designed a revolving door because he hated chivalry. He didn’t like to parry with other men over who should enter or exit a door first. Even worse, he hated to open doors for women. As early skyscrapers were built in US cities near the turn of the 20th century, revolving doors became important for internal temperature control. However, although a social phobia may have spurred van Kannel to design revolving doors, phobias, such as claustrophobia, may also keep people from using them.
Improving upon German inventor H. Bockhacker’s patent for a “door without draft of air,” Theophilus van Kannel received a patent for a “storm-door structure,” later called a “revolving door,” in 1888. As the story goes, van Kannel supposedly designed this type of door because he hated chivalry. He didn’t like to parry with other men over who should enter or exit a door first. Even worse, he hated to open doors for women, so we may have a social phobia to thank for his invention.
Fortunately for van Kannel, the revolving door turns etiquette on its head. Rather than wait for a woman to go first, a man is considered to be chivalrous if he leads the way through a revolving door, using his strength to push it into motion. “A gentleman should always go first and assist the woman through the revolving door, and I observe this on a daily basis,” said Joe Snyder, a doorman at the Park Hyatt Chicago hotel.
As early skyscrapers were built in US cities near the turn of the 20th century, revolving doors became important for internal temperature control. With regular hinged doors, outside air would rapidly flow in and rise to the top, making it difficult to keep buildings cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Revolving doors overcame that problem by producing airlocks, although people could still enter and exit. This type of door also reduced the influx of noise, dust, rain, and snow. In recent years, energy costs were estimated to fall by 30 percent when revolving doors were used instead of hinged doors.
However, revolving doors do pose one significant danger that became apparent when almost 500 people died in a fire at a Boston nightclub in 1942. The club had one revolving door that slowed the escape of fleeing patrons. As a result, many revolving doors now have traditional hinged doors placed on either side to make it easier to evacuate a building in an emergency.
Ironically, although a phobia may have spurred van Kannel to design revolving doors, phobias may also keep people from using them. Whether it’s the fear of being in a confined space, of getting your arms or legs caught in the door, or of getting trapped with another person in one of the compartments, many people avoid revolving doors. In 2006, some MIT researchers observed that no more than 30 percent of the students entering a particular building on campus used the revolving doors. The researchers put up some signs to encourage revolving door usage by touting their benefits.
Designer Andrew Shea repeated the MIT experiment a few years later at Columbia University in New York. He also observed that less than 30 percent of students entered a particular building through its revolving doors. When he placed signs on campus to promote the benefits of revolving doors, their usage increased to 71 percent.
Show Me The Proof
99% Invisible: Revolving DoorsReal Simple: A Man and a Woman Arrive at a Revolving Door. Who Goes Through First?
ABC: Circular logic: phobia, design and the revolving door
The Rockefeller University: Green Tip of the Month: Choose the Revolving Door
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Michelangelo Made His Money With Forgeries
Michelangelo built his career on lucrative forgeries, although he went beyond mere imitation. He often borrowed drawings to make copies of them, keeping the original and passing off the copy as the real thing to the owner. In 1496, when he was only 21, he copied the marble sculpture Sleeping Eros. Through an art dealer, Michelangelo sold the fake for a large sum of money to Cardinal Raffaele Riario, a Roman antiquities collector. Instead of becoming angry when he learned of the forgery, Riario became the artist’s first patron.
At a young age, Michelangelo amassed great wealth that can’t be explained by sales of his original works. With antiquities up to 10 times more valuable than contemporary art during the Renaissance era, forgery was a lucrative profession. “We don’t have enough works like the David that we can connect to [his] money,” said art historian Lynn Catterson. “It means there might be a few more [forgeries by Michelangelo that] we don’t even know about that are hiding in Greek and Roman galleries pretending to be antiquities.”
Back then, forgery wasn’t considered a crime but instead a sign of artistic ability. It was also a way for young artists to train. Michelangelo built his career on forgeries, although he went beyond mere imitation. He often borrowed drawings to make copies of them, keeping the original and passing off the copy as the real thing to the owner. When Michelangelo made a painting of Martin Schongauer’s print of Saint Anthony, no one could distinguish between the two works. Michelangelo was skilled at using smoke to age his paintings, so they would look as old as the original.
In 1496, when he was only 21, Michelangelo copied the marble sculpture Sleeping Eros. Then he buried it to age it with scratches, dents, and stains. Through an art dealer, Michelangelo sold the fake for a large sum of money to Cardinal Raffaele Riario, a Roman antiquities collector.
Later, when Riario learned he had purchased a fake, he brought the sculpture back to the art dealer. By then, Michelangelo was Rome’s most popular artist, mainly because of his Pieta, the famous sculpture (seen above) in St. Peter’s Basilica that showed the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Jesus. The art dealer eagerly took the return and resold the work of the now-famous Michelangelo to someone else.
In the Renaissance era, experts were often impressed by artists who fooled them. “Whether undertaken as a practical joke, to show that his work was as good as that of the ancients or for reasons of more nefarious intent, Michelangelo’s deception does not seem to have angered the original owner of the Sleeping Eros,” wrote art crime expert Noah Charney in The Art of Forgery. “Cardinal Riario became Michelangelo’s first patron in Rome.”
That forgiving attitude changed around the late 1800s, when forgery became an immoral deception. In modern times, many art forgers are unsuccessful artists whose own work was disregarded early in their careers. While money is certainly a factor, the main reason for most forgeries is passive-aggressive revenge. Art conservators who are forgers can also counterfeit documents to verify their fakes. That makes it difficult to detect some forgeries.
We used to rely on experts to authenticate works of art. However, the fear of costly lawsuits has stopped many art scholars from voicing their opinions, keeping some forgeries in the market and some recently discovered works off the market due to lack of verification.
Show Me The Proof
The Independent: Michelangelo’s fame built on forgery, claims authorNY Daily News: Forgery was part of doing business for Renaissance master Michelangelo: experts
CNN: Spot the fake: The art world’s pricey problem with forgery
Phaidon: Why forgery was a good move for Michelangelo
NY Times: In Art, Freedom of Expression Doesn’t Extend to ‘Is It Real?’
The Huge Controversy Behind Project Prevention
After Barbara Harris adopted four children abandoned by the same drug-addicted woman, she decided to found Project Prevention. This nonprofit actually pays addicts to use long-term birth control or undergo sterilization. As you might expect, it’s a pretty controversial organization.
Despite her drug-using ways, Destiny’s birth mom kept having and abandoning babies. It was so bad that one of Destiny’s brothers experienced severe heroin withdrawals for weeks after his birth. Angered by this woman’s irresponsibility, Barbara Harris began worrying about other children with smackhead parents. Not every child was lucky enough to end up in a loving, caring home like Destiny. That’s when Barbara decided to do something radical.
Inspired to save these kids from a horrible fate, Harris founded a non-profit called C.R.A.C.K. (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity), but today it’s best known as Project Prevention. Founded in 1997, Project Prevention has paid over 4,000 women $300 apiece to undergo tubal ligations or receive contraceptive implants.
According to Barbara’s way of thinking, that’s thousands of kids who’ll never have to grow up in crack houses, scrounge in the streets, or suffer from years of abuse.
Over the years, Project Prevention has widened its horizons, and since 1997, it’s begun paying men to undergo vasectomies and has even opened up headquarters in the UK. Of course, not everyone agrees with Barbara’s methods. Quite a few people draw parallels between Project Prevention and the eugenics movement. Others claim she’s taking advantage of women when they’re incredibly vulnerable.
However, as RadioLab producer Pat Walters pointed out, the most interesting argument against Project Prevention is Destiny Harris, Barbara’s adopted daughter. While she was born to a drug-addicted mother, today she’s a college graduate with a loving family and a daughter of her own. But what if Barbara Harris had paid to sterilize Destiny’s mom? How many potentially happy lives has Project Prevention, well, prevented?
Of course, if you asked Destiny herself, she’d tell you in no uncertain terms that she supports Barbara’s program. In fact, if she had the choice between possibly growing up in a world full of drugs and abuse or never being born at all, she’d go with the second option. “I wouldn’t want to put it up to chance,” she says, “because what kind of life is that?”
Show Me The Proof
Project PreventionRadioLab: What If There Was No Destiny?
VICE: An Interview with the Woman Who Pays Drug Addicts to Get Sterilized
TIME: Why Drug Addicts Are Getting Sterilized for Cash
When A 17-Year-Old Girl Struck Out Two Baseball Legends
Jackie Mitchell loved sports. This 17-year-old leftie was especially fond of baseball. So when she was offered a chance to play for the Chattanooga Lookouts—and thus become the second woman to play professional baseball—she jumped at the chance. And in her first game, Mitchell found herself pitching against two legends: Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. And she got ’em both.
Her name was Jackie Mitchell, and she was the second woman to play professional baseball. Sure, that’s an impressive feat, but that’s nothing compared to what happened when Jackie stepped onto the field. In 1931, this 17-year-old southpaw went up against two of the greatest hitters in baseball history: Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.
Growing up in Memphis, one of Jackie’s neighbors was Dazzy Vance, a future Hall of Famer who taught the girl how to throw a mean sinker. During her teen years, Jackie played basketball in winter and women’s baseball in spring, and that’s when she caught the attention of Joe Engel, president of the Chattanooga Lookouts, a men’s minor league team. Known as the “P.T. Barnum of Baseball,” Engel loved a good gimmick. It was the Great Depression after all, and you had to fill those seats somehow.
A woman playing alongside the guys was a guaranteed draw, especially if she pitched in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees.
When Engel offered Jackie a contract, she didn’t hesitate, even though she only had a few days to practice for the big game. Finally, on April 2, Mitchell stepped into a stadium packed with 4,000 people and was introduced to the dynamic duo, Ruth and Gehrig. After Jackie took a few publicity photos with the Great Bambino and the Iron Horse, the game got underway.
When Ruth stepped up to the plate, the Lookouts replaced their starting pitcher with Jackie. The 17-year-old made her way to the mound, ready to face baseball’s most legendary hitter . . . and she struck him out.
Her first two pitches were curves that baffled the Sultan of Swat, and her third was a fastball straight down the middle. Babe was so upset that he tossed his bat in frustration.
Gehrig also went down in three. She’d destroyed the greatest batters on the planet in just six pitches.
Jackie walked the next batter, probably because her arm hurt (remember, she only had a few days to warm up) so the Lookouts replaced her.
When she stepped off the field, everybody in the stadium cheered in admiration. But while she struck out Ruth and Gehrig, her career with the Lookouts didn’t last. Some say baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis canceled her contract although there’s no proof of that. Whatever happened, Jackie eventually left baseball and ended up in her father’s optometry business.
Sure, there are doubters, people who think the whole thing was a hoax. But up until the day she died in 1987, Jackie Mitchell swore she’d really struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, back to back, a feat most male pitchers only dreamed of.
Show Me The Proof
Featured photo via Wikipedia
Baseball Hall of Fame: Dazzy Vance
VICE: The Woman Who Struck Out Babe Ruth And Lou Gehrig
The Daily Beast: The Myth of Jackie Mitchell, the Girl Who Struck Out Ruth and Gehrig
Smithsonian: The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig
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