In the World

Recently I’ve been on a bit of a local history kick.

I like to know about what’s happened before me, before the European/African migration to North America, and even before the Asians/Mongols/Peloponesians migrated to North America (as some of that seems to still be a bit up in the air).

Pennsylvania, as recently as 80 years ago, was a major world producer of iron ore. Scattered throughout the countryside are places like Pine Grove Furnace, which was the smelting destination for iron ore mined from the many, many pit mines which surrounded it.

In fact, many of the ponds, lakes, and reservoirs in Pennsylvania are actually iron pit mines that went too deep and hit water (I should note here that the water table in many places of central Pennsylvania is less than 100 feet down). My parents own a house on one such pond, and according to local legend the pond is about 90 feet deep and is still full of mining equipment. When the mine hit the water table, the water rose so fast that the worker had to leave all the equipment behind.

I know of at least 9 other lakes in central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland created in this way.

But the biggest note of historical significance? That’s coming!

The next time you are in Pennsylvania (or see pictures or video of it), take note of all the trees. Pennsylvania is home to huge tracts of state-owned land, organized into State Parks and State Game Lands.

It wasn’t long after Pennsylvania was established that the wheels of commerce began to turn, and it was discovered that in addition to being fantastic farmland, Pennsylvania was rich in mineral wealth. Coal, iron, copper, lead, limestone, dolomite, oil, natural gas, clays and shales, and even uranium and thorium (although these last two weren’t mined until the 1950s). Coal and iron were the big ones.

The coal and iron industries, followed in the 1850s by the discover of the oil in Titusville, led to a vast network of rails and roads that crisscrossed Pennsylvania, connecting the multitude of new mining towns, smelting furnaces, and refining facilities. Many of these places have been forgotten, but their lore can still be seen throughout the countryside in names, old pit mines, and derelict train tracks (or the trails they left behind when they were removed).

Eventually, the bulk of these industries faded out, as new, easier locations for the mining and refining of minerals were discovered. What was left behind were entire abandoned towns, derelict farms, and an industrial infrastructure that, once left to nature, was quickly and thoroughly returned to the earth.

What’s the point of all this?

Well, all this industry needed fuel, building materials, farmland, and all the things that made the modern society of the 1800s work.

You wouldn’t think that just 100 years ago, at the last turn of the century, that Pennsylvania was very nearly clear-cut of trees.

That’s right! There are no forests that can be considered “old growth” (by the environmentalist standards, anyway) in Pennsylvania. All the forests in Pennsylvania are, at the most, 100 years old. Yet, to look at the beautiful state today, you would think that it had always been forest-covered. The beautiful Caledonia State Park (which I can see from my house) has only been forested since about 1903.

Nature, when left to its own devices, is able to reclaim the earth faster than we can really imagine.

Near where I live, there is a plot of forested land that my wife and I considered buying to build our dream home. On the land was the foundation of an old house (which, in our land-plan, would have ended up being a detached patio for outdoor entertaining). After a bit of digging, we uncovered some of its history. The house itself (a 2-story brick farmhouse constructed sometime around 1880) had been demolished about 20 years ago. There was a tree growing through one corner of the foundation, though the brick fireplace and chimney had been left intact. The house had been the basis for a 100-acre farm, one of more than 50 such farms in the immediate vicinity. Yet there isn’t tillable farmland with a mile of the foundation. It’s all forest now, and there is little sign that it was

You can see bits and pieces like this all over Pennsylvania, especially in the little towns in western Pennsylvania.

Amazing, isnt’ it?

I would encourage you to research the history of your own area. But don’t just depend on the internet! Visit your local libraries (especially newspaper archives) and government offices, and talk to some of the “older locals”. You’d be surprised by the directions that some of the oral history can take you.

Here are a few of my favorite links on Pennsylvania history, but they’re a poor substitute for actual exploring:

http://home.comcast.net/~StAnthonyWilderness/anthony.htm

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/index.aspx

http://www.gribblenation.com/papics/eng/kinzua.html

http://user.pa.net/~nrwing/pennsylvania/

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand people who think they have a corner on absolute truth?

“Don’t step on the street, you’ll get killed!” was an absolute truth I learned from my mom–at least until I was old enough to learn how to cross the street properly. Then the truth changed–because I had changed.

I think K said it well in Men in Black: “Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.”

Don’t be too sure of yourself. As soon as you think you’ve got the universe figured out, it may just vanish only to be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. Of course, it could have already done so. (With apologies to Douglas Adams for borrowing: Wherever you are, I hope the dolphins are nice and you’ve got your towel.)

∏

The Dark Knight.

If you haven’t seen it, you should. If you haven’t heard of it, you need to climb out from whatever rock you’re living under.

Every so often a movie comes along that is more than a “movie” or an “event”. It’s prophetic. I believe that when God can’t get His Word out through His People, He will use whatever avenues He can.

The Dark Knight is one of those Words.

On the surface, this movie is a fantastic superhero tale: One man’s personal crusade against the wrongs that plague his world. Like Superman, but with angst (and somewhat better writers).

Below the surface, however, is a striking commentary on events that have been playing on the world stage for more than 50 years.

Bruce Wayne/Batman is Israel: A singular force, surrounded by sycophants and phonies who tell him how wonderful he is to his face while scheming behind his back. But he tolerates them, even welcomes them, hoping beyond hope that they prove themselves better than they appear. He is longsuffering, and slow to anger, but unstoppable when provoked to action.

Harvey “Two-Face” Dent is the world–or more specifically, the U.N.–who publicly supports justice, truth,  and the sovereign right of self-defense, but only as long as it’s on their terms. This support and approval lasts only until Batman has to make the ultimate choice of who lives and who dies. And because no one else would make the hard choice, Batman is made the villain to appease the “righteous anger” of those who allowed things to go down the tubes.

The Joker is Hamas, and those like them, who have no true goal other than simple and wanton destruction. It’s amazing the damage you can do to a civilized society with a few bullets and some gasoline. He is the true threat that no one wishes to acknowledge; that everyone agrees is dangerous but no one will confront. Until Batman–who can make the hard choices that others can’t.

And Batman is reviled for his heroics. Damned for saving lives. Condemned for making the hard choices that no one else was willing to make. Hated for making the world safer.

Some men just want to watch the world burn. And there are few who will stand up to them.

I support Israel. They make the hard choices every day. With prayer, perhaps one day soon the world will unite against those with hate in their hearts, and we will have peace.

Not with a bang but with Jerry Jenkins, Joel Rosenberg, and Phil Plait all appearing in the same TV show.

(With apologies to ts eliot.)

I watched “Seven Signs of the Apocalypse” tonight on the History Channel. They are doing a whole week of end-of-the-world scenarios, and it promises to be rather entertaining. Tonight was their big Biblical prophecy bit, with their trademark leading-statement guests and misleading psuedo-science/research.

At least it didn’t turn into a “mankind is killing the world with global warming” evangelism piece until the last 30 minutes. That’s always the most entertaining. I mean, they spent 90 minutes telling us how unavoidable death by asteroid, gamma-ray death beam from space, supermassive earthquakes, virulent influenza, toxic algae, and ultraviolent shield volcano explosions were, and then at 10:30 they decided to try and scare us all by telling us how bad cars are.

At least they didn’t talk about ancient Egypt in this show. They usually have me rolling on the floor with how badly they get Egyptian history.

One thing I am fairly certain of concerning the End Times, though, is that it really doesn’t matter whether the end comes tomorrow or in another thousand years. The alien armada will most likely win.

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was the latest installment of one of my favorite video game franchises: Koei‘s Dynasty Warriors 6.

I own Dynasty Warriors for the Playstation, Dynasty Warriors 2 of the PS2, and I’ve played 3, 3 Extreme Legends, and 4.

I’ve had a PS3 for a while, but never really picked up any games for it. I just don’t have much time for video games any more, even though they are intensly relaxing and entertaining for me. (I must admit, though, that I fell for the marketing hype and bought The Force Somewhat Restrained By Poor Game Mechanics as soon as it was released.) The demos were always enough to keep me entertained for the 45 minutes or so I had to spend on games in any given week.

So anyway, I was pretty happy when I loaded up Dynasty Warriors 6 last week.

You have to have something kind of special to be able to get people to buy it six times (although, admittedly, the original Dynasty Warriors was not a battlefield game; it was really a one-on-one fighting game with gorgeous–by original Playstation standards–graphics). Still, there’s enough new here to keep me interested, and as always, I feel like I mist defeat the computer and unlock as many additional characters as I can.

One major new addition that I must make mention of (primarily because it caught me by surprise) is the idea that tactics–that is , where you go, the officers you do battle with, and the order in which you accomplish your goals–actually matter this time around. In previous games it was a simple matter to win each engagement: you simply had to beat down as many opponents as possible as fast as possible. Now, while planning isn’t really necessary, you need to at least think about your actions and suit them to the overall strategy the battle is set to accomplish. This throws a bit of enjoyable strategy into what is otherwise a fun-fun button masher.

I do have a suggestion for Koei: You obviously already check the screen resolution of HDMI connections. When the PS3 connected to a widescreen would it be too much to ask for the 2-player screens to be side-by-side instead of above and below? You know, split the screen in half vertically instead of horizontally? That would be sweet.

Next up in video game land? Lego Indiana Jones! And maybe Mass Effect if I borrow my friend’s Xbox 360 before I get around to buying Mirror’s Edge (whose music I hailed a few days ago).