I like to look at programs like 'Before they were Stars' and I have asked myself if I saw anything stellar in them before the studio groomed and then PRed and then sold the public on their character. Sometimes the star quality is obvious and sometimes not. Mostly it IS. I see some entertainers making LOTs of money and I think hmmmm they must be well connected with all the right fellows.
Yesterday I was viewing a clip of Sammy Davis at age 7. He was dancing. Totally amazing. The charisma was there and I'm sure that I would've been one of the first to notice.
Where I used to work they had talent scouts come out and interview people for all sorts of productions from HALLOWEEN horror films to commercials to JC Penneys catalogs. There was always a wait and a sign in and another wait. The waiting area was in the convention rooms or sub lobbys next to me. I did not always have a heads up that auditions were going to be scheduled while moms brought their kids from hundreds of miles away. I can honestly say that it was pretty obvious looking at the children hanging out, which were a standout and who wasn't. Some people just exude a self confidence and a radiance and a sense of humor and mastery about life from the get go. I used to peek inside the rooms to watch the auditions. I'd say Yep, knew that one was special. They were comedians and acrobats, actors, model, singers etc.
I watched a six year old casting her fishing rod into the river with such dexterity last month that I had to approach her. Her family was poor from the islands and proud to know how to eat. The point is I NOTICED. I always like to notice.
Sorry Hats…aint gots no pics…‘ceptin’ my memories.:confused2:
5 and 5A, R6EW, Clear were fairly new as was KSW the early Ethics Conditions but there wasn’t the rabid ness and things weren’t all that serious. Saint Hill was a place somewhere “in the clouds” and half a world away. The SO wasn’t “Senior Management”, the Apollo wasn’t “Flag” yet and there wasn’t any “Command Intention”. Good folks were having fun, helping each other and there was a palpable “spirit of play”. One’s “Case” wasn’t some dreadful, dark and dangerous ogre and Sec Checking was not yet the tool of control and enforcement. Field Auditors and Practices were respected and generally admired by the “body politic” and most folks were kinda “doing their own thing” within a moderately “large tent”. But the times were a changin'. At least that’s my “take” on it, anyway.
Face
Thanks, Sock1...cool pics and info
The 3 story building in the foreground was (outside of the town's water tower and grain elevator) the next tallest building in town when I was there years ago.
As incongruous with the surroundings as the structure is, somehow it really “works” and FLW was truly a genius talent, IMO.
Face
I like to look at programs like 'Before they were Stars' and I have asked myself if I saw anything stellar in them before the studio groomed and then PRed and then sold the public on their character. Sometimes the star quality is obvious and sometimes not. Mostly it IS. I see some entertainers making LOTs of money and I think hmmmm they must be well connected with all the right fellows.
Yesterday I was viewing a clip of Sammy Davis at age 7. He was dancing. Totally amazing. The charisma was there and I'm sure that I would've been one of the first to notice.
Where I used to work they had talent scouts come out and interview people for all sorts of productions from HALLOWEEN horror films to commercials to JC Penneys catalogs. There was always a wait and a sign in and another wait. The waiting area was in the convention rooms or sub lobbys next to me. I did not always have a heads up that auditions were going to be scheduled while moms brought their kids from hundreds of miles away. I can honestly say that it was pretty obvious looking at the children hanging out, which were a standout and who wasn't. Some people just exude a self confidence and a radiance and a sense of humor and mastery about life from the get go. I used to peek inside the rooms to watch the auditions. I'd say Yep, knew that one was special. They were comedians and acrobats, actors, model, singers etc.
I watched a six year old casting her fishing rod into the river with such dexterity last month that I had to approach her. Her family was poor from the islands and proud to know how to eat. The point is I NOTICED. I always like to notice.
No access to clean uncontaminated water. No enclosed sewer systems. No public highways. No advanced weather warnings for public safety. Little routine public road maintenance, including de-icing, flood control, etc.. No access to public education. No public health measures, e.g. control of disease vectors, public sanitation, epidemic prevention, etc.. Limited crime prevention. Very minimal crime investigation. Widespread prevalence of vigilante "justice" involving hanging & torture of individuals based on general unpopularity, religious bias, and ethnic discrimination. No minimal standards for workplace health or safety. No minimal standards for food safety. No protection from exploitation economic cartels. ....
Who gives a shit about most of this stuff, the only items of merit in my humble opinion are sanitation and epidemic prevention. I was not speaking of MEST type of improvements, the human race seems to be able to forge ahead with those in spite of whatever else is going on.
The mood and quality of life was much much much higher in Revolutionary day America than it is now. A brand new country was forged and the wherewithal existed to set up a brand new form of government which would become a beacon of freedom for mankind. In about 125 years it became the most powerful and influential country on Earth. It defeated Nazism, Facism, and Communism, preventing the world from being permanently enslaved by Hitler, Stalin, and Imperial Japan. People retained their freedom and their right to pursue happiness unfettered by the whims of a dictator.
Nowadays, a state such as Arizona, tries to enforce their borders so as to protect their citizenry, a job which the Federal government is supposed to do but refuses to do. Arizona's new law basically states that the state of Arizona will temporarily wear the hat of the Federal government and do their duties until such time as the Feds are willing to assume their rightful and constitutional duties. This is a proper application of a Hubbard type Danger Formula. What does the Federal Government do but sue the state of Arizona to block implementation of their new law voted into existence by the citizens who are being harmed by the Federal governments derelection of duty.
The Fed's lawsuit prevailed in the first court test. The reason given was that policing the borders is a Federal duty and not a state duty. DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THAT SAYS. The Federal government elects not to do their job and when the state government steps in to protect their own citizens they are told they cannot do so because it is a Federal duty. In order for this ruling to be correct, the Feds would have to actually be doing their duty. If they are not, then all bets are off and the state governement must step in on a bypass basis. The Feds file suit and say the the state is attempting to do their job but fail to take into account that they are refusing to do the job themselves. This type of criminal horseshit is being foisted on the citizens of the United States and being heavily Promoted by a biased and out ethics press To me this one insanity in present day society more than offsets all the various purported creature comforts which you list above as missing back in frontier days. And the Arizona case is just one example of many.
A large group of citizens, assemble across the country, as Tea Parties, trying to emulate some of the spirit which was prevalent in our early days. Instead of being engaged on the issues they believe in, they are immediatly labled as racist. Why? Well, most of them seem to be white, there are not enough non whites in the group, although it is open to all races and creeds. No, it seems to be mostly white so it must be racist. Again more horsehit reinforced as correct by a corrupt press. When pressed to name something racist which the Tea Party has done or has in their platform, someone found one guy wearing a tee shirt which had a slogan which they construed to be racist and that was their proof that the Tea Parties were a racist group. For this to happen in the 1780's of which I speak would have been impossible. Society has sunk, not in creature comforts but in its fabric, its fiber and its values.
Another flaw in your argument is that I cite the 1940's and 1950's as frontier like and by then most of the items which you listed as proving the frontier days were terrible were in existence in society and those that were not were on the drawing boards being developed. Still the traits of a fronteir society existed then. YOUR ARGUMENT TOTALLY MISSES AND AVOIDS THIS KEY POINT!! WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD EQUATE ROADS, MEDICINE AND ALL THE THINGS YOU LIST WITH MY COMMENTS ON THE FABRIC, FIBER, MORALS AND VALUES OF A SOCIETY. CITING MEST PROGRESS AS SUPERIOR WHILE TOTALLY DISCOUNTING THE DECLINE IN SPIRITUAL AND MORAL VALUES AND THEN COMPOUNDING THIS STUPID ERROR WITH INVENTING A CLASS OF PEOPLE WHICH DOES NOT EXIST (THOSE WHO WANT TO SEE THE RETURN OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS) AND THEN INFERING THAT I AM IN THAT CLASS EXPOSES WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM AND IT AIN'T PRETTY!
What strikes me as interesting is how many at present are thoughtlessly eager to bring back these "happy days of yore".
Who might those people be, I sure am not one. I made no mention of "bringing back these days". I don't know of anyone else who has either.
You seem to be doing an A=A=A. Someone says something nice about frontier days or that things seem to start out as froniter days and then get more complex and this "strikes you as interesting as to how many at present are thoughtlessly eager to bring back these "happy days of yore". You make a quantum leap which is non sequitor. You jump from my merely describing some of the good things about frontier days to assuming a desire to bring back frontier days. Can you be more specific in who you are refering to when you slur an imaginary group which you have created?
Truth is the "glorious days of yesteryear" never were. Only fools ignorant of the reality of history believe otherwise.
Despite your usage of large words, you seem to lack the ability to think straight or talk straight. Who are these fools, ignorant of history which believe otherwise than your opinion? Why don't you direct a slur directly to the party to whom you have a beef? Aren't you man enough to tell a person that you disagree with him or her. Why the innuendo's sluring indiviual people on the sly such as "these fools" instead of specifying who, in particular, you disagree with and directing your comments to him? Anyone reading your post would infer that you are refering to me.OH I FIGURED IT OUT, TO DO IT DIRECTLY TO ME WOULD NOT BE POLICITCALLY CORRECT!!. You on the left must be politically correct!
If you said it to me directly, then I would respect your opinion and examine my position to see if I am in error and I would still hold you in high esteem but to take cheap shots as you do, using vague insinuations to put down an opponent who you create in your imagination from nothing - Well, for what it is worth, I have no respect for a person who whould do that.
If you want to test the heady air of "true freedom" for a bit go live in Somalia for six months.
What the hell does that have to do with the topic Frontier Societies? Somalia is not a bright, fresh and new frontier society. Why would you recommend I go and live there. What point are you trying to make?
Mark A. Baker
