Monthly Archives: June 2008

Movies for the Classroom…

The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth (History Channel, 2007) This two-hour documentary is based on the Michael Kauffman book, American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies, and is another solid presentation by The History Channel. It is both … Continue reading

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Weekly Energy Notes and Tidbits

UPDATE 6/26/08: Not sure if I buy it, but I can guarantee Congress will DO NOTHING: The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit … Continue reading

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Irksome!!

Well this is a little upsetting. I noticed last week that a fellow blogger posted the complete transcript of a letter from a soldier in the 11th Wisconsin that was part of my research for my book that I posted … Continue reading

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Battle at Bayou Cache

Semi-centennial History of the Illinois State Normal University, 1857-1907, “THE SCHOOL AND THE WAR,” BY JOHN H. BURNHAM, CLASS OF l861, (1907). John A. Burnham, who was a member of the 33rd Illinois from Normal, provides an interesting account of … Continue reading

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Hypocrisy: Gore’s personal electricity consumption up 10%, despite “energy-efficient” home renovations

Arrogance and hypocrisy… This just in: the energy “guzzled” by Al Gore’s home in the past year would have powered 232 U.S. homes for a month. I’m sure his carbon offset purchases and the fact that he is fighting the … Continue reading

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Energy Updates: more Drilling and Microbes that eat Garbage, and Excrete Crude Oil

Lots of movement on off-shore drilling!! UPDATE: (6/18):  Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has dropped his long-standing support for the federal government’s moratorium on offshore oil drilling and endorsed Sen. John McCain’s proposal to let states decide. “I mean, let’s face … Continue reading

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More Mexico Pictures

As promised, more pictures from the “pilgrimage.” Pictures include my children,  loving wife, and, of course, our “backyard” the ocean. Also the contrast between high and low tide, which is significant. The water gets, at times, very close to our … Continue reading

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Hollywood & History: Spike Lee should “Shut his face”

I am a teacher who utilizes movies (and/or parts of movies) as a teaching device. I find that they are excellent attention grabbers and great for developing thoughtful reflection and discussion in my classroom. As we know, rare is the … Continue reading

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Civil War Letters of Charles and Kate Ramsay

[As a kind of celebration of Father's Day I want to highlight a series of letters from Soldeirstudies.org: The Civil War Letters of Charles and Kate Ramsay. But also, please visit the website SoldierStudies.org, we need help with volunteers, donations … Continue reading

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Pilgrimage to the Ocean

(Note: Part of the following was supposed to have been posted last Thursday, but instead of hitting publish I hit save.) Every year we are fortunate enough as a family to take what we have come to call our “Pilgrimage … Continue reading

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