Ayn, Neal and the world around me...

[dover]

Adams and horror. Neal did some great work on the horror covers. He enjoys extreme facial expressions and what better way to showcase that than using this genre. Always hard to pick favorites so this time I'll post a seldom seen cover by the master.

 

 

 

 

 

House of Mystery

 

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House of Secrets

 

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Tales of the Unexpected

 

 

 

 

the Unexpected

 

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the Witching Hour

 

.

 

 

 

[dover]

I am the king of the world......beholden to my subjects.......nuturing their life....loving all the time......

 

 

 

never take them for granted

[dover]

.......

 

 

First day of school for our kids. I have to admit it is always a little sad and a little exciting. They were excited and nervous as well. It is a good school, they do well and enjoy it. But.....another year gone.....a little older....a little closer to leaving, growing up and becoming.....people. I have to admit, I am a little attached to them. The thought of them graduating and going away to college leaves me a bit empty. I know it is far off but it will come running up behind us very soon.

 

I thoroughly enjoy teaching them, helping them with math and science. Correcting their teacher's errant understanding of history....

Getting to go to the library for research books. Boy Scouts begins again. Always new things to do and learn.

 

Then I started thinking of my youth and what I had to learn in school. I always remember shool house rock. What a great way to learn and get at least a beginning understanding of how things work in our country.

 

To all the kids going back to school: knowledge is power. Enjoy, learn, absorb and question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[seanfingh]

 

Schoolhouse Rock was the best. One of the things that bothers me about today's society is that entertainment and social activities have become so fractionalized that there are many fewer shared experiences for today's kids than there were for us.

 

Find me 10 Americans ages 36-42 that don't know some of the words to Schoolhouse rock songs and I will be flabbergasted.

[dover]

Schoolhouse Rock was the best. One of the things that bothers me about today's society is that entertainment and social activities have become so fractionalized that there are many fewer shared experiences for today's kids than there were for us.

 

Find me 10 Americans ages 36-42 that don't know some of the words to Schoolhouse rock songs and I will be flabbergasted.

 

 

Age 42.....and the one about the Preamble sticks in my head to this day....maybe that is why I am who I am.

 

God Bless America and the Founding Fathers.

 

 

 

 

I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill and I'm sitting here on capital hill.

 

[Jeffreykli]

Get the Schoolhouse Rocks DVD and play it for your kids. They hold up surprisingly well, and it's actually stuff all kids should know.

[dover]

the evolving mind of children.....

 

 

1 -

My son is in Cub Scouts. My daughter, who has to do what he does, wants to do something as well. She is of the age to join Daisies (sub group of Girl Scouts) so we set that in motion. Wife called, found a troop and signed her up. The first meeting of the troop is coming up and we asked her one more time just to make sure she wants to join. Her response is classic:

 

"I want to join if I get to sell cookies." Conversely, a year early, my son wanted to join Cub Scouts because they get to shoot bow and arrows.

 

 

 

2 -

For his birthday, my son got two hermit crabs. The only pet I would consider at this time. Great, gets them, watches them has a great time. Seems like fun. Well one died the other day. WOW! It was very traumatic for the kids. There was crying (for an hour), wailing, sadness; you name it we went through it. We buried him (her?). Made a little placard to commemorate him (her?). Then we each had to draw an image of how we remember him (her?) and write some words to remember him (her?) by. Then the next day they made a book with all the drawings and writings, quite the production. Also went and bought a new hermit crab to replace the deceased one.

 

Well, two days later the older one dies.......and what happened? Not much. No tears, no drawings, no writings, no memorials.....I think the only acknowledgment from the boy was to look up from Rock Star on the DS and say, "oh well".

 

 

Lesson learned; life and death.

[dover]

Happy Labor Day!!

 

It would be nice to think it was a very simple and honest holiday, but burries deep in its history there is plenty of polotics to be found, amazing. Lets try to keep it simple.

 

 

http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

 

The History of Labor Day

 

For other Labor Day information, visit our Labor Day 2010 page.

 

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

 

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

 

Founder of Labor Day

 

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

 

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

 

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

 

The First Labor Day

 

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

 

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

 

Labor Day Legislation

 

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

 

A Nationwide Holiday

 

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

 

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

 

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

 

[dover]

the World's Finest

 

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.

 

best cover:

 

 

one of the worst....ever....right up there with Adventure 365

 

 

Here are some interesting tidbits. I have mentioned before that Neal really tried using different colors in the covers, these two are perfect examples of late 1960's Neal adams goodness.

 

 

[dover]

 

 

9/11

 

For a day the world became a smaller place.......

 

Country Total fatalities

Argentina 4

Australia 11

Bangladesh 6

Belarus 1

Belgium 1

Brazil 3

Canada 24

Chile 2

China 4

Côte d'Ivoire 1

Colombia 17

Democratic Republic of the Congo 2

Dominican Republic 1

El Salvador 1

Ecuador 3

France 3

Germany 11

Ghana 2

Guyana 3

Haiti 2

Honduras 1

India 41

Indonesia 1

Ireland 6

Israel 5

Italy 10

Jamaica 16

Japan 24

Jordan 2

Lebanon 3

Lithuania 1

Malaysia 3

Mexico 16

Moldova 1

Netherlands 1

New Zealand 2

Nigeria 1

Peru 5

Philippines 16

Portugal 5

Poland 1

Romania 3

Russia 1

South Africa 2

South Korea 28

Spain 1

Sweden 1

Switzerland 2

Republic of China (Taiwan) 1

Ukraine 1

Uzbekistan 1

United Kingdom 66*

United States 2,669

Bermuda 1

Venezuela 1

 

[dover]

Neal Adams, year by year...

 

I was looking at covers and thought it might be interesting to look at them sorted by year rather than title. This gives a good idea at just how active he was and the range of his work. 1968 still seems to be his break out year, the year he did most of his color experimenting but I'll let it open for opinion.

 

The Action and Detective covers are a bit light on the Adams flair but the rest are very detailed and show the future to come.

 

covers from 1967..

 

 

..

..

[dover]

Constitution Day (or Citizenship Day) is an American federal observance that recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.

 

 

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

 

 

 

 

[dover]

Neal Adams, year by year...

 

I was looking at covers and thought it might be interesting to look at them sorted by year rather than title. This gives a good idea at just how active he was and the range of his work. 1968 still seems to be his break out year, the year he did most of his color experimenting but I'll let it open for opinion.

 

The Action and Detective covers are a bit light on the Adams flair but the rest are very detailed and show the future to come.

 

covers from 1967..

 

 

..

..

 

 

covers done in 1968

 

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...

 

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...

 

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...

 

...

 

 

 

[dover]

the world around me lead me to China...

 

I spent the week in China on business. After visiting Taiwan and Japan several times over the last decade I was very interested in what I would find.

 

The first two days were spent in a city west of Beijing. It was big by US standards but not by China. It is an understatement to say there are a lot of people there. And it soon becomes obvious that they are very comfortable with being crowded. They may not like it but they are comfortable. Bumping and pushing is just a normal thing.

 

The number of cars is also growing much faster than they can keep up with. Here, the US, and other places, we can remember driving with our parents as we grew up; learning by seeing how to drive and navigate the roads. I think they had less of this and were, in theory, just thrown into the car culture without having grown up in one. And watching the traffic move, it shows. When driving in traffic, the nicer your car is the more you can get away with. We were riding in a company Audi and literally when leaving the hotel, the driver drove straight across traffic, and it stopped. No horns, no yelling, nothing, he just went across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic and turned left. WOW!!! Military cars have a red character on the license plate. Let’s just say, they can do anything. On one of my taxi rides, we drove on the burm of the road because, well, it was clear. I stopped looking at one point just so I would not scream.

 

In the smaller cities and country side, children do not wear diapers. Some even wear pants with no back side. When they have to go to the bathroom they go in the street. There are lots of trees along the street with little dirt border around them. They go in there. Landfill problem of diapers solved! I was told in the bigger cities this is less of an occurrence.

 

Toilets, standard Asian fare: squat over the hole. Being close counts.

 

I did get to go sightseeing one day in Beijing and headed for the Forbidden City. I can't suggest enough to visit this place.

 

It is where for 600 years the Emperors of China lived in seclusion. I had a day in China and took a tour. Hard to fathom just how big the place is, 9999 rooms all total. I even hired a guide just to add to the trip. They are outside just looking for the dopey American torists.

 

The Emperor had an Empress and 72 concubines. They were serviced by 6,000 eunuch. This is their crib. You walk through a series of courtyards and gates to finally arrive where the Emperor would conduct business. Notice the path down the center where only the Emperor would travel. The family would use one side, the others the third entrances.

 

 

Random pics:

 

 

 

 

Taihe Gate:

 

Taihe Hall:

 

 

 

 

 

Once we left the back gate, we were looking at the hill with an over looking temple. I had time to kill before a meeting so the guide and I continued. You go up the hill to a temple and can look back at the Forbidden city to get a real feeling for the size of it. You are actually inside a large park containing all of this. We went from temple to temple seeing the past, literally.

 

Outside the back gate, looking up at a temple we would walk to:

 

from the Temple looking back at the Forbidden City

 

Along the way we stopped at a Tea house and had a Tea ceremony preformed. Something to see and enjoy, as well as a nice rest.

 

 

Also had some calligraphy done while in the Forbidden city. This is Aisin-Gioro Yuming, a nephew of the last Emperor Puyi. It is double happiness for my family. Also has our surname along one side and good luck on the other. I never thought much about Chinese calligraphy but when confronted by a descendant of the Emperor, it seemed to hold a higher value.

 

 

 

[dover]

Tiananmen Square

 

I wanted to see this place for personal reasons. It is very large. The building seen off in the distance (in the second picture) is the same one in the last picture just from the other side. This should give some perspective.

 

Many websites were blocked for me in China and it felt as if in person, knowledge of this site was blocked as well. I asked my tour guide what she knew about it and the events of 1989 she said only that she was too young to know anything about it. Older Chinese knew about it but they never speak of it.

 

Like other historical places involving struggles of freedom, I was left wondering what it must have felt like.

 

 

 

 

 

[TeddieMercede]

That looks really cool I should go there 1 year.

[dover]

..my changing tastes and favor.

 

 

I have noticed as I go along collecting I have become a more shrewd collector. I have moved away from just the grade to the presentation, the centering, the cut of the book. I have even chosen quality over the grade as well.

 

There are just too many books coming to the market to settle for a not so great looking copy with a high CGC stamp. A bad cut with a white spine, cream pages ( ). I must be getting old, I look for the fine wine rather than chase the "cheap" stuff.

 

 

 

Here are two examples where I sought better looking books.

 

Bought this first, then moved to the 2nd book recently:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Same thing here, I purchased the 9.8 over a year ago and have really not liked it ever since. I recently won the 9.4, my new keeper, and love it even more.

 

 

 

 

 

[dover]

 

The 9 teenagers who simply wanted to go to school in Little Rock, Arkansas in September of 1957 are an incredible group of Americans. Americans attempting to enjoy their Life, Liberty and their pursuit of Happiness in the land of the free.

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

 

Thomas Jefferson

 

***********

Part the First: A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

“ Article I. All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.

 

John Adams

 

 

Two of our founding fathers writing about the inherent nature of being free and equal, granted by the sole act of being born into this country. How could they be so very right and yet it take so long to make the words and ideas a reality?

 

It is amazing to think about what had to happen along the way, how many people had to suffer to get slow steps forward. But the idea that it would take teenagers to join this painful movement is both amazing and horrifying to me.

 

Can you imagine? Can you imagine needing the United States military to get to school? Could you have the courage to face your nation, face your state, face your town, look into their eyes, look into their hatred and walk though it? Can you imagine being 15 years old and walking through a line of soldiers to get to school? Soldiers designed to protect the freedoms and liberties of Americans against foreign invasion, now set to defend the same liberties right here at home. It is hard to believe that we as a nation had to have armed soldiers lining the walk just so that 9 children could go to school. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness......how about I want to go to school, a good and decent school as free and equal citizens and I need and armed escort to do so.

 

I can't imagine a country like ours needing this kind of action from the Federal Government in the form of President Eisenhower just so a child could get to school. It is a sorry time for me in retrospect. I take nothing away from all those who did and have fought for equality and freedom, I highlight the notion of children doing so.

 

Today, on September 25, 1957, the bravest 9 children I could ever imagine walked into school. They should be honored, respected and remembered for the chance they took, the courage they showed and the belief they must have felt in the true concept of America, where all people are created equal, born with certain unalienable rights to pursue life, liberty and happiness.

 

 

 

 

Little Rock, Arkansas

September of 1957

 

In September of 1957, Woodrow Mann, the Mayor of Little Rock, asked President Eisenhower to send federal troops to enforce integration and protect the nine students. On September 24, the President ordered the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army to Little Rock and federalized the entire 10,000 member Arkansas National Guard, taking it out of the hands of Governor Faubus. The 101st took positions immediately, and the nine students successfully entered the school on the next day, Wednesday, September 25, 1957.

 

 

 

[dover]

....and so it begins...

 

I tend to get distracted from time to time. I collect Neal Adams covers as well as Peanuts covers in various series, but a new theme is emerging.

 

Thanks to a prominent collector and quiet board member who takes a sympathetic look at my collecting problems, I have aquired the taste for Adam Strange comics. He was kind enough to sell this to me. It is a VERY nice 9.4, bordering on 9.6 in many ways. And of course it starts another collecting theme.

 

Here is to Adam Strange!

 

 

 

[dover]

and today we have a birthday.....

 

 

Happy Birthday to Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins and Maria