Route 1 Laurel Geocaches

We did a bunch of geocaches located on and around the Route 1 corridor in Laurel, Maryland. The only connection between the caches is the area in which they are found.

Nostalgic for Old Laurel took us to the location of the old Laurel Mall, now turned into the Laurel Town Centre, basically retaining its retail identity. From the geocache we saw an old grocery store sign, probably dating back before there was even a Laurel Mall!

An iconic Laurel sign

View from the cache (the sign and tree are just visible)

Nearby is the Keep Looking cache which we were not able to find. The difficulty rating is 4.5 of 5, so we didn't feel too bad about our Did Not Find. The last two people trying to find it couldn't find it either. I bet it is still there, we just didn't follow the title's advice.

Somewhere near here?!?

The shopping center nearby (where the Giant sign is) also has a cache, this one called Family Snapshot. This shopping plaza was the location where Governor George Wallace was almost killed during the 1972 presidential election. Wallace was a die-hard segregationist but changed his tune after the shooting. He never became president but did return to Alabama where he built a legacy of civil rights support, a 180 degree political turn. Truth is stranger than fiction.

An easier find

Hat! has a fun container underneath another iconic sign. The greatest difficulty with this geocache is being stealthy. The restaurant is in the middle of Route 1, so traffic is going both ways around you!

Didn't actually eat here

Book Review: Signs and Mysteries by Mike Aquilina

Signs and Mysteries: Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols written by Mike Aquilina and illustrated by Lea Marie Ravotti

The earliest Christians used a wide variety of symbols in many different contexts. The most viewed nowadays are those on graves in catacombs. But Christians also used symbols in decorating where they worshiped (they didn't always have churches, so again some of those decorations are in catacombs where the superstitious Romans wouldn't go) and where the early Christians lived. Sacred vessels and vestments were adorned with images of fish, birds, vines, and wheat, among other symbols. Rings had an anchor or a Chi-Rho symbol on them; household items also had faith-inspired decorations. Aquilina goes through twenty-five different images that can be traced back to the earliest years of the church.

Each symbol has a meaning that is explained, though sometimes the intent of the artist can be ambiguous. When discussing depictions of the cross (which is now a central symbol of Christian Faith), Aquilina acknowledges that all sorts of intersecting lines could be interpreted as crosses. Some clearly are; others could be happenstance. The chapters end with references to ancient and modern authors who have discussed these symbols.

Each chapter includes five to ten images of ancient art and artifacts that have the symbol discussed. The images are black and white, giving a sense of their ancient and timeless character. The art is both distant and familiar. I am sure the black and white was also to save publishing costs, but it is effective nonetheless.

Highly recommended.

More Random Bits of Washington, DC

Some stuff from our travels to DC that weren't part of another blog post..

Near Virginia Avenue and C Street is a bronze sculpture by John Dreyfuss (B. 1949) called "Full Count." It's a fun, baseball-themed work that Dreyfuss completed between 1988 and 1990.

Full Count, bronze sculpture 1988-90

The pitcher

A fan at home plate

Side view of home plate

We visited the Lincoln Memorial again (see our earlier visit here) and took one or two extra pictures.

View of the Reflecting Pool

View from the Reflecting Pool

Behind the Lincoln Memorial, two neighboring bridges lead off to Virginia and to Rock Creek Park. The Rock Creek Park bridge is flanked by two sculptures called The Arts of Peace. We parked near the bridge and saw them close as we walked back from the Lincoln Memorial. The statues were designed by James Earl Fraser and erected in 1951. 

Arts of Peace

Music and Harvest sculpture

The bridge to Arlington was under repair, with some impressive floating platforms in the Potomac.

This work might be done by now

Book Review: Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier by J. Ottaviani et al.

Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier written by Jim Ottaviani and artwork by Maris Wicks

This graphic novel looks at the experiences of female astronauts, centering on NASA astronaut and scientist Mary Cleave. As a child, she wrote a letter to President Eisenhower asking to join the Astronaut Corps. He wrote back graciously declining her offer. Her ambition remained and was eventually fulfilled. The book chronicles all the challenges that went into joining the space program, with a little side stop in the Soviet Union to tell the story of Valentina Ponomaryova, the first female in space. The bigger context of women joining the American space program naturally fits into Cleave's story as she works through school, the application process, and the training process in NASA.

The narrative is fascinating, whimsical, and delightful. Cleve can give an insider's view of the space program with a lot of nuance and fun anecdotes. Her first mission, on the Shuttle Atlantis, is told in detail toward the end of the book. The end includes the authors' list of resources and some book recommendations for further reading.

Highly recommended.

Movie Review: Harriet (2019)

Harriet (2019) co-written and directed by Kasi Lemmons

The story of Harriet Tubman is fascinating and exciting. She was born a slave on a Maryland farm in the early 1800s. She eventually fled north, winding up in Philadelphia where she joined the Underground Railroad. She went back south to free her husband, only to discover him remarried (he heard she died on her way north). Instead, she brings other family members north. She became a regular conductor on the Underground Railroad, bringing many slaves out of captivity. When slave hunting laws became more permissive, she took people all the way to Canada. After the American Civil War started, she became a spy for the Union and led a battle in South Carolina that freed 700 slaves. Her life was full of adventure and excitement.

The movie starts her life in slavery as Araminta Ross. She goes through a lot of hardship before she leaves the farm and adopts a new name as a free woman in Philadelphia. She has visions that help her to guide the runaways and inspire her to do her incredible work. Cynthia Erivo gives a fine performance as Tubman. Her character's religious convictions are shown in a positive light and her heroism is unquestioned. The chases are exciting, though the score is a little more than it needs to be in those scenes. The cinematography is fairly plain, which is fine because the focus is on the story and not on being stylish. I would have thought the vision sequences would be more stylized--they look like blue-tinted memories, there's nothing odd or surreal about them. Even so, the movie is thrilling and moving in just the right combination.

Highly recommended--Tubman is a great American and role model. She deserves more attention.

Underground Railroad Experience Trail, Montgomery County, Maryland

The Underground Railroad Experience Trail is located in Montgomery County, Maryland. It starts at the Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park, which has some historic buildings of the sort we'd usually visit but they were closed for the pandemic. We will probably go back to visit again in more amenable times.

The trail is outdoors with signposts identifying various features and giving history of the area. The trail begins at the Woodlawn Manor and Barn.

The start of the trail

The home was built in the early 1800s by a Quaker family named Thomas. Dr. William Palmer got the house in 1822 and had Isaac Holland built the stone barn in 1832. Palmer was a Quaker but his membership was revoked because he used slave labor at the farm. The barn is now a museum.

Across the road is the beginning of the trail, a wide greenway next to some horses.

Horse pasture

Guidepost

Having a snack

Can they share?

The next posted spot on the trail is the entrance into the woods. Escaping slaves would use the woods rather than open fields as they headed north on the Underground Railroad. The sign said that slaves often ran at Christmas, if they had some time off from work and would not be missed for a few days. Another good time to run away was during rain storms. The rain covered over the trail by erasing both the tracks and the scents that dogs would follow.

The woods

The only drawback to the woods was obscuring the sky. The stars were handy for finding the way north.

Explaining the value of the woods and sky

Further on we discovered a geocache named Happy Hauntings, presumably because the history of the area probably has some tragedy involved. We spent time searching and then gave up. On our way back to the main trail, we came upon the cache!

In there somewhere

Back on the main trail

The next postmark is a bramble patch. Fleeing slaves would hide in such patches or under thorny bushes. Pursuers like dogs, horses, or men avoided such spots.

The brambles

A nearby bridge

We found a bench on which we took a little rest.

Relaxing

Another sign warned of a hazard along the Underground Railroad--crossroads! Moving stealthily through the woods might disorient the traveler, especially when the markings for the trail are hidden. Going in the wrong direction could turn into a big mistake!

Crossroads

Another spot in the woods had two features. First, a hollow tree makes an excellent hiding spot, especially at night. A small fire would only be visible from one direction. It's also good for hiding supplies or food. The stone in front of the tree marks the boundary between Woodlawn Manor and Snowden's Manor.

Tree and stone

My son doesn't know what side to be on

Further down the trail we came across a blocked part of the trail. We assumed some storm damage washed away the trail, making it hazardous.

A blocked path

A period bridge is built over a small creek. Slaves might not be able to swim, turning a large creek or river into an impassable barrier. It was important to know where bridges and fords were located. 

Bridge across troubling waters

Actually, not so troubling waters

Another hazard was an open farm field. Being exposed in the open was not safe. The only time a farm was safe was when the crops, like corn or tobacco, were tall enough to hide people.

An open field

Walking down the field's trail

At the north end of the field is The Sandy Spring, for which the town of Sandy Spring was named.

Entrance to the spring

The spring itself

The arch over the spring has the date 1745, the year that the local Quakers formed the Sandy Spring Friends Meeting.

The area also has some benches.

Bench

An old road leads north to the meeting house (a newer one stands at the end of the road).

A road north

The end of the road also has a housing development. Just on the edge of the development is the Champion White Ash Tree. The tree is estimated to be 300 years old, dating back to the time when the first residents cleared the land and founded the village of Sandy Springs.

Champion white ash

The top of the tree

The memorial stone

View from the tree

The trail was not a loop, so we had to walk all the way back to Woodlawn Manor. By the time we got back, new horses were out in the field!

New grazers

A view to the farm

The visit was fun and educational.

TV Review: Doctor Who: The Sensorites (1964)

Doctor Who: The Sensorites (1964) written by Peter R. Newman and directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Frank Cox

The First Doctor (William Hartnell) lands the TARDIS on an Earth spaceship from the 28th century. The ship is trapped near the Sense-Sphere, where the locals (the Sensorites) have kept them. The locals do some brain manipulation on the humans but are otherwise not hostile. One of the crew has been driven mad--he was a geologist who discovered a valuable mineral on the planet. The locals fear being wiped out by humanity when they come to mine their homeworld. The Doctor works with the future humans and the Sensorites to resolve the situation.

The show is fairly interesting. The Sensorites' government is clearly patterned after Plato's Republic, with a leader class, a warrior class, and a working class. These classes live in harmony for the most part. The occasional bad eggs are messing up the system with their personal ambitions and xenophobia. They want to solve the problem by killing the humans. The good leaders are very mild and forgiving. The conflicts with the humans and the hard work of peaceful negotiation and trusting others makes for good drama. Even the costumes and makeup for the Sensorites looks good by Doctor Who standards.

Recommended.

Book Review: The Poverty of Historicism by Karl Popper

The Poverty of Historicism by Karl Popper

Predicting the future used to be the job of prophets and charlatans. In the 1800s, philosophers like John Stuart Mill and Auguste Comte looked at history and society with an eye to crafting laws of history, social development, and progress. Given enough information, the future of history and society could be plotted scientifically. These ideas were and are very popular in academia, politics, and general culture. People naturally hope that society is constantly improving and is on its way to perfection.

Karl Popper analyzes this philosophy which he calls historicism. He puts historicists in two groups. Many historicists pattern their method after physics, assuming that science can only be done in one way. Other historicists are reluctant to have a strictly mathematical theory since the phenomena being observed is much more diverse and variable, so general principles need to be developed. Popper calls the first group Pro-Naturalistic, the second group Anti-Naturalistic. He gives a thorough overview of both viewpoints, showing their strengths.

In the second half of the book, he refutes both groups while suggesting a more realistic and fruitful form of social science. Popper gets fairly deep and technical in his presentation of the issues. The arguments are precise, detailed, and convincing. Predicting the future (with the obvious end of changing or shaping it) is not possible since sociology is not a science in the same way as physics. The isolated lab experiment is not viable for social phenomena. Too much detail is lost and the very act of conducting the experiment influences the subjects, thereby altering the outcome in a way that never happens with physical matter. The principles governing that are so vague as to be impractical at predicting the future of society or history.

The book is fairly short (about 150 pages) but packed full of information and insight. I enjoyed what I learned and the need to be very focused as I read. I want to read more of Popper, but not a 500 page tome.

Highly recommended.

Sample quote:

We all have an unscientific weakness for being always in the right, and this weakness seems to be particularly common among professional and amateur politicians. But the only way to apply something like scientific method in politics is to proceed on the assumption that there can be no political move which has no drawbacks, no undesirable consequences. To look out for these mistakes, to find them, to bring them into the open, to analyse them, and to learn from them, this is what a scientific politician as well as a political scientist must do. Scientific method in politics means that the great art of convincing ourselves that we have not made any mistakes, of ignoring them, of hiding them, and of blaming others for them, is replaced by the greater art of accepting the responsibility for them, of trying to learn from them, and of applying this knowledge so that we may avoid them in the future. [p. 88]

Book Review: Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 27 by Hiromu Arakawa

Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 27 by Hiromu Arakawa

The final volume of this story does not disappoint. The heroes have their big battle with the main homunculus, who seems initially invulnerable thanks to his use of multiple philosopher's stones and his assuming God-like powers. The heroes make some interesting combination attacks and some self-sacrifices to gain the victory. The fight is exciting to the end. The aftermath nicely wraps up various plot points and personal relationships between characters. It's a great finale for a well-developed story.

This series is well worth reading, even though it's twenty-seven volumes long. The occasional lulls in excitement and story development are more than made up for by the great world-building, fascinating characters, and overall plot excellence. Each volume takes less than half an hour to read, so it does go quickly if the reader is focused. I borrowed this volume by volume from the library, which worked great for me.

Highly recommended.