History
Remember the last time you went to the movies? There might have been a line to get in, but with movies now available at home on TV, the lines probably aren’t what they used to be…if people go out to the movies at all. I remember standing outside for over an hour just to get inside, even in the freezing winter, because you really wanted to see that movie. When I was a kid, the theater would be packed with children eager to watch the latest Disney film, and as soon as the lights went out, the excitement would erupt into loud screams. It was pure, uncontainable joy spilling out in the form of shouts. That is a thing of the past for sure.
Let’s take a trip back to when movies were brand new, and the thrill of them hadn’t worn off like it has today. Back then, not everyone had seen a moving picture show. Even as kids, brimming with excitement for the latest film, we couldn’t imagine the level of wonder that came with those very first shows. Sure, some people might have thought this new kind of entertainment wasn’t a good idea, but most saw it as something thrilling they wanted to experience. I doubt anyone back then could have guessed the enormous impact those early moving pictures would have on humanity.
Today, we have much more than old-fashioned moving picture shows, and television, found in nearly every American home, offers far more than just entertainment. With a simple click, we’re instantly connected to weather alerts, breaking news, politics, sports, and, of course, entertainment. We can explore learning channels that teach us about everything from animals to languages to space and even watch programs from our favorite religious leaders.
A lot has changed since the days of the first moving picture show. While we still go to the movies, the lines are rarely as long, likely because films play in multiple theaters with several showings a day, including matinees. 
Many people skip the theater altogether, opting to wait for a release on television. They feel like the snacks have become such an expensive part of the show, that it’s cheaper to skip the theater an make our own snacks at home. These days, we have even more options, like watching on a PC, laptop, tablet, or even smartphones. However we choose to enjoy it, it all began with the moving picture show.
Palais Bulles, also called “Bubble Palace” is a sprawling residence in Théoule-sur-Mer, near Cannes, France. It was designed by Hungarian architect Antti Lovag and originally built for French industrialist Pierre Bernard. It was later purchased by fashion designer Pierre Cardin as a holiday retreat. I can see why these people might like the Bubble Palace. After all, it is unique. Certainly, no one else is likely to have the same house. Many people are very opposed to “cookie cutter houses” after all….and this house was definitely not cookie cutter!! This 13,000-square-foot house was built between 1975 and 1989 for French industrialist Pierre Bernard. Architect Antti Lovag, who saw straight lines as “an aggression against nature,” designed it as a playful space full of joy and surprises.
After Bernard’s death in 1991, fashion designer Pierre Cardin purchased the house. Strangely, Bernard never lived there, yet he described it as his own slice of paradise. He mentioned that its cellular shapes had long mirrored the essence of his creations. He considered it a museum showcasing the work of contemporary designers and artists. It is strange to purchase a palace to use as a museum, but never open it to the public. I 
guess he wanted his own museum, or he simply never got the whole plan into place, unfortunately.
In 2016, French architect Odile Decq completed a five-year renovation. By March 2017, the property was on the market for €350 million, but it didn’t sell. Instead, it could be rented out to groups for $33,200 a day…not something the average family could afford. After Cardin’s death in December 2020, there were suggestions to transform the building into a public space for art exhibitions. The house features a reception hall, a panoramic lounge, a 500-seat open-air amphitheater, 10 bedrooms, and multiple swimming pools and waterfalls set within expansive landscaped grounds. The Palais features 29 rooms, 11 bathrooms, and ten bedrooms, each uniquely decorated by a different artist, including Patrice Breteau, Jerome Tisserand, Daniel You, François Chauvin, and Gerard Cloarec.
The house has been featured is several movies and music videos. While its design is unique, it is really a unique oddity that began in the mind of an artist-architect-designer, and probably never a practical building. It does have a bubble-like look, which makes it interesting, but not practical. I think designers of unusual buildings might be a bit eccentric, and maybe that explains the Bubble Palace.
Sometimes, I am amazed by the eccentricity of people, especially when they are people in power. Eccentricity is putting it mildly when it comes to Roman Emperor Gaius, also known as Caligula. Emperor Gaius may have been a great leader, but that is not what he has been remembered for unfortunately. He is remembered for being…maybe a little crazy. Emperor Gaius was a kind enough man, both to people and to animals. He loved his horses especially…so much, in fact, that he made one of his favorite horses a senator within his government. His horse was named Incitatus, and Emperor Gaius made sure he lived in luxury, giving him a marble stall, an ivory manger, a jeweled collar, and even a house…for a horse!! Emperor Gaius also allegedly planned to make his trusty steed Consul before he was assassinated.
Gaius was born on August 31, 12 AD, to Germanicus, a well-loved Roman general, and Agrippina the Elder of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Soldiers fondly called him “Caligula,” or “little boot,” because of the tiny military boots he wore as a child. After his father’s death in 19 AD and the political chaos that followed, Gaius and his family endured many hardships, including the execution of several relatives under Emperor Tiberius, leaving a lasting impact on him. Caligula became emperor in AD 37 at just 24 years old, after the death of Tiberius. At first, he was well-liked and introduced reforms, including public works and building projects to help the people of Rome. But things soon shifted, as his reign grew marked by extravagance, cruelty, and demands to be treated like a god. He’s often remembered for strange behavior, like supposedly wanting to make his horse a consul, along with acts of violence against those he saw as enemies.
Caligula is still seen as a controversial figure, often remembered as one of history’s most notorious rulers, representing the extremes of power and the risk of tyranny in the Roman Empire. His life and reign continue to spark fascination and debate among historians and scholars. Caligula’s reign lasted only four years. The eccentric Emperor met his fate in a conspiracy involving the Praetorian Guard. After a serious illness, Gaius’ 
bizarre behavior and bold claims of divinity stirred unrest among the people. On January 24, 41 AD, he was assassinated by Cassius Chaerea, Cornelius Sabinus, and others, along with his wife and daughter. His rule had been infamous for extravagant spending, ruthless treatment of rivals, and even naming his horse as consul…a symbol of his unchecked power. this likely led to the unrest among the people. His death signaled the end of an era and stood as a warning to future emperors about the dangers of their actions and the threat of violent uprisings. It was a pivotal moment in Roman history, paving the way for his uncle Claudius to take the throne. While historical accounts often depict Caligula in a negative light, some modern historians believe many accusations against him were likely exaggerated or driven by political agendas. I suppose we will never know for sure.
John Moses Browning, often called the “father of modern firearms,” was born in Ogden, Utah, on January 23, 1855. He was the son of a talented gunsmith, Jonathan Browning. As was typical in the Mormon church community at the time, Jonathan Browning practiced polygamy, marrying three wives. He had 22 children, including John Moses, and also helped raise two stepdaughters with his wife Elizabeth Caroline Clark.
Browning started working in his father’s Ogden shop at just seven years old. There he learned basic engineering and manufacturing skills. His father also encouraged him to try out new ideas, thereby fostering his creativity. While still apprenticing under his father, Browning built his first rifle…a single-shot, falling block action design. In 1878, he teamed up with his younger brother to found the John Moses and Matthew Sandefur Browning Company, later known as Browning Arms Company. There, the brothers produced their own designs and other non-military firearms. By 1882, their half-brothers Jonathan, Thomas, William, and George had joined the business. Many legendary guns associated with the American West…like those from Winchester, Colt, Remington, and Savage…were actually based on Browning’s designs.
At 24, Browning earned his first patent for a rifle that Winchester produced as the Single Shot Model 1885. Impressed by his ingenuity, Winchester asked Browning to create a lever-action repeating shotgun. He did, but he soon realized a pump-action design would be more effective, leading to his first pump-action shotgun patent in 1888. At their core, all of Browning’s manually-operated repeating rifle and shotgun designs focused on one goal…making it faster and more reliable for shooters to fire multiple rounds, whether aiming at game birds or people. Lever and pump actions let the user fire a shot, work the lever or pump to eject the spent shell, load a fresh cartridge, and fire again in just seconds.
By the late 1880s, Browning had mastered the manual repeating firearm, but to make guns fire even faster, he needed to remove the slow process of humans operating the mechanisms. What could replace the effort of pulling a lever or pump? The answer came to him at a local shooting competition, where he noticed “reeds between a shooter and the target being blown violently aside by gases escaping from the muzzle.” Browing had the idea of harnessing that escaping gas to automatically operate the repeating mechanism. He started working on his idea in 1889, and by 1892 he had a patent for the first rough version of a fully automatic weapon. It worked by capturing gases at the muzzle to power a mechanism that reloaded the next bullet automatically.
I am amazed at the mind of this man. Over the years, he improved the design, and by the time US soldiers headed to Europe in World War I, many were armed with Browning Automatic Rifles and his powerful machine guns. Over a career lasting more than fifty years, Browning’s firearms evolved from iconic weapons of the American West to lethal instruments of world war. Remarkably, since his death in 1926, the modern firearm industry has seen no major fundamental changes. No improvements could be made, it seems.
On January 22, 1879, American soldiers chased Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife and his people as they made a desperate run for freedom. The clash ended in a devastating defeat for Dull Knife and his band, as the soldiers brought the so-called Dull Knife Outbreak to a crushing end.
Dull Knife, also known as Morning Star, was a prominent chief of the Northern Cheyenne tribe. He had long advocated for peace with the powerful Anglo-Americans moving into his homeland in the Powder River region of present-day Wyoming and Montana. But the 1864 Sand Creek massacre, where Colorado militiamen killed over 200 peaceful Cheyenne, made him doubt they could ever be trusted. Reluctantly, he led his people into a war he feared they couldn’t win. In 1876, many of his people fought alongside Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in their victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn, though Dull Knife himself did not take part.
In the winter after Little Bighorn, Dull Knife and his people camped near the headwaters of the Powder River in Wyoming, only to be caught in the army’s winter campaign for revenge. In November, General Ranald Mackenzie’s forces found the village and attacked, costing Dull Knife many lives. Along with other Native leaders, he reluctantly surrendered the following spring. By 1877, the military had moved Dull Knife and his followers far from their Wyoming homeland to Indian Territory 
on the southern plains, in what is now Kansas and Oklahoma. Unable to hunt traditionally and reliant on scarce government rations, they suffered from hunger, homesickness, and disease. After a year, they rebelled, and in September 1878 joined another band in an epic journey back to Wyoming. Though Dull Knife declared peaceful intentions, the government saw them as renegades, and soldiers from across the Plains pursued them without success. Still, running for your life can take its toll.
When Dull Knife and his people reached Fort Robinson, Nebraska, near their Wyoming homeland, they surrendered to the government, hoping to be allowed to remain in the area. Instead, officials threatened to keep them captive at the fort unless they agreed to return south to the Indian Territory. Refusing to give up when his goal was so close, Dull Knife led about 100 of his people in a final desperate bid for freedom in early January. Soldiers from the fort pursued the already weak and starving group of men, women, and children, and on January 22, attacked and killed at least 30, including several members of Dull Knife’s immediate family.
Wounded and weary, most of the survivors returned to Fort Robinson and resigned themselves to their fate. Dull Knife escaped and eventually found refuge with Chief Red Cloud on the Sioux reservation in Nebraska. Allowed to stay there, he died four years later, filled with bitterness toward the White Man he had once hoped to live alongside in peace. That same year, the government finally granted the Northern Cheyenne a permanent reservation on the Tongue River in Montana, close to their ancestral homeland. At last, Dull Knife’s people had returned home, though their great chief did not live to see it.
Anyone familiar with the Civil War knows the Union emerged victorious, but that doesn’t mean they won every battle. Few wars see completely one-sided battlefield results, and the Battle of Fredericksburg was a clear example. On December 11, 1862, Ambrose Burnside, newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac, set out to cross the Rappahannock River in Virginia with more than 120,000 troops. Delays meant the crossing wasn’t completed until December 13th, when they faced Robert E. Lee’s 80,000…strong Confederate Army at Fredericksburg. With 200,000 soldiers engaged, it was the largest troop concentration of the Civil War…and a devastating loss for the Union. Nearly 13,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded, compared to about 5,000 Confederate casualties.
People might think that Burnside was not much of a commander, but it should be mentioned that this was the first time he had commanded an army. He was a graduate of West Point, had risen quickly up the ranks, and had seen action in several battles prior to this fateful day. Abraham Lincoln had approached him about taking control of the Union’s Army. He hesitated, partly out of loyalty to the current commander and former classmate, and partly because he was unsure of his own ability. In the end the prior commander’s failure assured that he was on the way out, and rather than have Major General Joseph Hooker, a fierce rival, pass him up, Burnside accepted the commission on November 7, 1862.
Knowing he needed the element of surprise, Burnside devised a plan to face Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Fredericksburg. His idea was to move his troops to the banks of the Rappahannock River, quickly assemble pontoon bridges, and cross over to catch the enemy off guard. Lincoln admired the boldness of the plan and approved it, though he doubted its chances of success. Burnside moved swiftly, arriving at the river by November 19, 1862. Whether the plan could have worked remains unknown, as some Union generals, including Winfield Scott Hancock, believed the river could be crossed without boats and failed to send them, urging Burnside to proceed anyway. Convinced the river was too swift and deep, Burnside refused. They ended up waiting a week for the boats…right under the watchful eyes of Confederate scouts.
The element of surprise was gone. As soon as they started building the pontoon bridges, the Confederate Army opened fire. Burnside responded with a massive bombardment of Fredericksburg, marking the first time a city was shelled in the Civil War. The Union held off the Confederates just long enough to finish the bridges and rush across the river. Two days later, Burnside ordered his left flank to strike Lee’s right, hoping to force Lee to shift troops south and leave the center and Marye’s Heights exposed. For a while, it seemed like the plan might work—General George Meade broke through “Stonewall” Jackson’s line…but the Union didn’t send enough reinforcements, allowing the Confederates to launch a successful counterattack. Lee kept James Longstreet’s men in place at Marye’s Heights, where they crushed Union forces. Burnside lost eight soldiers for every Confederate killed. Though he briefly considered another assault, the battle was over. The Union suffered nearly 13,000 casualties compared to fewer than 5,000 for the Confederates, and they had to regroup before making another attempt.
Burnside was an unpopular commander, partly because he tended to rush into action without much planning. His insecurities ultimately led to his downfall. While preparing his next attack, some of his officers went to President Lincoln with their concerns, prompting Lincoln to call it off. On January 20, 1863, Burnside was ready to try again, but delays with the pontoon bridges and worsening weather got in the way. What had been a dry month turned rainy, leaving roads nearly impassable. Troops who had once marched 40 miles a day to Fredericksburg now struggled to make even a mile. For three days, they slogged through what became known as the “Mud March,” taunted along the way by Confederate forces watching from dry ground. Five days after it began, the offensive was over…along with Burnside’s brief six-week command of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln quickly replaced him with the very man Burnside had feared: Joseph Hooker.
Fredericksburg marked a low point for the North in the war, while the South celebrated. Burnside might have been better off sticking to his side career in weapon design, which he returned to after retiring in 1853. In 1856, he earned his first patent for a .54 caliber breech-loading firearm. Impressed by its performance, the U.S. Army gave the Bristol Firearm Company in Rhode Island, where Burnside worked, a $100,000 contract. But the deal was abruptly canceled under suspicious circumstances, allegedly due to a rival munitions company bribing the army ordnance department to change suppliers. Burnside’s misfortune continued the next year with a failed Congressional run, followed by a fire that destroyed the Bristol factory, forcing him to sell his patents. Others profited when, at the start of the Civil War, demand for his invention surged. By 1865, over 55,000 carbines had been ordered, making the Burnside one of the Union’s most popular weapons—second only to the Sharps carbine and my ancestor Christopher Spencer’s Spencer Carbine.
Burnside eventually found his claim to fame, but it wasn’t for war or weaponry. He sported facial hair in a style very unusual for the era…a bushy beard and moustache paired with a clean-shaven chin. Burnside’s distinctive whiskers were originally named for him…named “burnsides,” but over time, the name was flipped to become “sideburns.”
Over the history of the world, there have been many forms of “currency” or at least what was used for currency. In the Old West, doctors often took chickens or eggs for their medical services. During the gold rush, those who found gold dust knew that they could also spend the gold dust. Many other forms of currency have been used, but possibly one of the strangest was tulip bulbs. Nevertheless, it was a real thing for a short time. Tulpenmanie, tulip mania in English, was a period during the Dutch Golden Age. During that time, the prices for certain bulbs of the newly introduced and fashionable tulip soared to astonishing heights.
It’s strange to think of a flower bulb being so expensive that it could be used a currency, but the rapid rise began in 1634, only to collapse dramatically in February 1637. I guess they finally realized how strange it was. Tulpenmanie was seen as the first recorded speculative or asset bubble, it was more of an unfamiliar socio-economic curiosity than a major economic crisis. It had little impact on the prosperity of the Dutch Republic, which remained one of the world’s leading economic powers in the 17th century, boasting the highest per capita income from around 1600 to 1720. Today, the term “Tulip Mania” is often used to describe any large economic bubble where asset prices stray far from their intrinsic values.
Forward markets emerged in the Dutch Republic in the 17th century, with one of the most famous revolving around the tulip trade. A forward market is “an over-the-counter marketplace that sets the price of a financial instrument or asset for future delivery.” At the height of tulip mania in February 1637, some bulbs sold for over ten times the annual income of a skilled artisan. It was crazy!! Studying this period is tricky due to scarce and often biased economic records from the 1630s. Some modern economists suggest that price swings may have had logical causes rather than being pure speculation. For instance, other flowers like hyacinths also started with high prices that dropped as they became easier to grow. Prices may have been further boosted by expectations of a law allowing contracts to be canceled cheaply, reducing risks for buyers.
The 1637 event drew renewed attention in 1841 with the release of the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, who claimed that at one point, “5 hectares 
(12 acres) of land were offered for a single Semper Augustus bulb.” He wrote that many investors were ruined when prices collapsed, dealing a severe blow to Dutch commerce. While Mackay’s work is often cited, his version of events is debated, and many modern scholars think the mania wasn’t as devastating as he portrayed. We will likely never know, but rather there will always be merely speculation, mostly due to the era in which the mania occurred.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Coast Guard came up with a unique idea to better search for people lost at sea. These birds, often seen as mere city dwellers, were transformed into heroes with a keen eye for survival. Their natural ability to detect colors and movements made them perfect candidates for this life-saving role. This simple action would alert the Coast Guard to the location of the stranded individual. They tested it by using pigeons attached to the underside of helicopters. Through Project Sea Hunt, the U.S. Coast Guard trained these pigeons to spot life vests and debris floating in the ocean. The project set out to boost the odds of rescuing people lost at sea by using trained pigeons as real-time spotters. While often seen as pesky birds, pigeons are highly trainable and have exceptional eyesight, including the ability to see UV light, which might give them an edge over human vision.
For six months, pigeons were trained to spot yellow, orange, and red objects in the ocean, the most common colors for flotation devices and rafts. They were placed in special chambers beneath helicopters with a view of the water. When they saw a bright color, the birds signaled Coast Guard pilots by pecking a pedal that lit up a signal in the cockpit. Tests showed the pigeons spotted targets 90% of the time, far better than the 38% success rate for humans.
The training process was both challenging and fulfilling. Each pigeon went through thorough conditioning to ensure they could carry out their duties consistently. Trainers relied on positive reinforcement, rewarding the birds with food whenever they correctly identified a target. Over time, the pigeons became remarkably skilled, showing impressive focus and precision. The beauty of this project lies in its simplicity—creatures often overlooked or underestimated playing a role in saving lives. Experts have noted that it showcased the untapped potential of animals in emergency situations. The project ended in the early 1980s due to federal budget cuts, 
and the Coast Guard has since turned to other methods for quick and safe sea rescues. Still, the abilities of pigeons were proven to be quite varied. They had been used during World War II to send messages concerning enemy locations because they could usually fly unnoticed, until their mission became better known. Then, they were shot down and unfortunately, even used as food for starving citizens.
When my husband, Bob and I began going to Thermopolis, Wyoming each year for our wedding anniversary, the one thing I noticed about the place, that always reminded me of Thermopolis, were the crows that hung out there. Crows can be annoying birds, and most people don’t like them, but they don’t bother me really. They always make me think of our anniversary trips. Now, crows that had migrated to the Casper area. They settled near our house, as well as other areas around town. I don’t recall seeing them around before, but now that they are here, they remind me of the lovely times we had in Thermopolis.
The reality is that crows are incredibly smart birds, showing off problem-solving skills, social smarts, and cognitive abilities similar to those of young kids. Their intelligence is often compared to that of a 7-year-old, as they can tackle tricky problems, use tools, and grasp abstract ideas. Research has found that crows are capable of tasks involving planning and foresight, like figuring out how to get food through a series of obstacles. They’ve been seen using sticks to pull insects from tree bark. Their problem-solving abilities have been 
showcased in various experiments, including the well-known Aesop’s fable test, where they dropped stones into a pitcher to raise the water level and reach the food…clearly demonstrating their understanding of cause and effect, and their willingness to stay with a task until the problem is solved.
Crows are highly social animals that live in complex family groups and engage in cooperative behaviors. They can recognize individual human faces and remember those who pose threats, passing this information down to their offspring. This ability to hold grudges and teach their young about dangerous humans showcases their advanced social intelligence. They have even been known to observe a person who lost something, followed them, and returned the item…provided the person was not one they disliked. I’ve seen them swoop down and “dive-bomb” a person they didn’t like, however.
Even though crows have relatively small brains, they pack “a high density of neurons, especially in the pallium, which is similar to the human cerebral cortex.” This helps them process information quickly and engage in complex behaviors. With a brain-to-body ratio comparable to primates, crows show just how intelligent they 
really are. They’re not only clever but a true example of the depth of avian smarts. From solving problems and adapting to new situations to keeping complex social bonds, they rank among the smartest animals in the world. Recognizing their intelligence challenges old ideas about animal minds and showcases the impressive abilities of these remarkable birds. No wonder they have held a fascination for me for so many years now.
Indians of the Most of us think of the Indians of the Old West as violent and murderous, but the truth is that not all of them were that way. When people move to a new area or a new country, they don’t really know some of the important things, like the weather and what to do when it comes in with a vengeance. Such was the case in the Winter of 1886 in Dakota Territory, when a Swedish family had recently immigrated.
As the story goes, during the harsh Dakota Territory winter of 1886, two families…one Lakota and one Swedish immigrant…were stranded just miles apart in the worst blizzard in ten years. The Anderssons, new to the plains, had no idea how quickly the storm would hit. Their oxen froze, their woodpile disappeared under six feet of snow, and their baby grew weaker with each passing hour. The family was totally unprepared for the severity of the blizzard, and in the absence of immediate help, they were headed for death and very soon. The problem was that they were on a homestead, and it was very remote. Thankfully for them, help was closer than they knew.
Across the frozen creek, Elk Woman of the Oglala Lakota felt something was wrong. Her sixteen-year-old son, 
Wiyaka, had noticed smoke becoming thin at the Anderssons’ cabin. She loaded pemmican, blankets, herbs, and fuel for the fire onto a sled and set off with him into the silent white. They arrived just before dark to find the Anderssons on the edge of frostbite, crying with relief. Elk Woman, who didn’t speak English, acted swiftly…feeding the baby warm broth from a horn spoon, wrapping the mother’s hands in rabbit pelts, and feeding the fire with the dried buffalo dung she’d brought from home. They couldn’t talk to each other, and I suppose the Anderssons could have been terrified initially, but then they were dying anyway, so if the Indians had killed them, it would have simply hastened their release in death. They were suffering horribly, so death would not have been the worst option. Nevertheless, they were not killed, but rather Elk Woman and Wiyaka were there to save them.
For six days, the Lakota family stayed with the Anderssons, showing them how to insulate walls with snow, melt water safely, and preserve food. On the seventh day, the skies cleared, and they left quietly. There was 
still no way to talk to each other. No way to say, “thank you” for all they had to for them. The Anderssons shared the story for generations, though many neighbors doubted it. Then, years later, their granddaughter discovered a beaded sash in a box of heirlooms, marked with the Lakota word wowachantognaka: generosity. I suppose there might still be those who doubt the story, but I personally believe it. Elk Woman was a mother, and she knew what she would want to happen if the roles had been reversed. She knew she couldn’t sit idly by while the Anderssons perished. She knew she was the only one who could save them, and she knew that she would do so.
