People to know

TL;DR -- Today's subject comes out of a recent issue of The Economist. It about the descendant of New England families that went west into Kentucky, out of Virginia. One of them had gone south out of Massachusetts. Wendell Berry was 

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The subject of this post came from a rambling bit of stuff. I saw an issue of The Economist recently and started to read due to the cover page. Yearly, I get the "Double Issue" at the end of the year which has the normal articles plus timely articles of length. The British way of seeing things is always nice to encounter. Too, the writers are referred to in the 3rd person. Some columns are regular topics: the U.S. (Lexington & Concord); European stuff (Charlemagne); ... 

The weekly covers the world, in more depth than with others which reminds us of our privileges. This issue looked at childbirth deaths, using information from Nigeria. Of course, technology is covered; we'll pay more attention to topics, especially MSET+ (or last post touched upon that - 12 Oct 2026). 

They have a memorial article every week. This one was very instructive. Wendell Berry lived in Kentucky on the land where he was born. Though, being a writer and professor, he traveled the world. But, he came back home. There is a lot that we can discuss about his life and work. 

For now, some particulars: 

• Wendell_Berry - Wikipedia's take on things. 
• His father -  John Marshall Berry (1900-1991) 
• His mother - Virginia Erdman Perry (1907-1997)

Those last two links are to WikiTree where Gardner Research does our research. The family of both parents were early to Kentucky. We will look further at those pedigrees. Both families were out of Virginia which is New England south, to us. His father's line has families out of Massachusetts and Connecticut.  

As we go through the seven years of the 250th, we will be looking at families who have ties back to the era plus we will emphasize the 400th which goes on for a few more years up in New England north. Hence, "People to know" is an endless set that will unfold over the next few years. 

Interestingly, we picked childless couples earlier. An example was Ann and Joseph (of the house - she that married Simon - after he signed a prenup - Joseph had been killed in an early war with the natives). The reason is that those with children, many times, are recognized and represented via modern means, such as WikiTree. Those without are missing. We will go back and collect these posts in order have a continual theme to address. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/13/2026

10/13/2026 -- 

12 Oct 2026

TL;DR -- Quiet day. Why? Little hubbub. Columbus' arrival. Other days, like National Farmer's Day. We could pay attention to those. But, from a technology sense, we need a day for the history of mathematics. 

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Today is the one set aside for yearly commemoration of Columbus' arrival. 

Salem, MA 1892

Other celebrations on this day? 

• National Farmer's Day -- necessary look at those who produce that which we eat. 
• National Gumbo Day -- southern disk of much notoriety. 
• Canadian Thanksgiving -- definitely more early than ours do to the earlier onset of winter weather.

There are more. For these, we will look more closely at them soon. 

 From a technology sense, perhaps we could suggest a History of Mathematics Day (post on LinkedIn). We used a post from the TGS blog for this writeup which started by noting Einstein's one experiment in a discussion of an experience by Guass. In other words, the STEM focus ought to start with mathematics which we noted in 2024 (namely, MSET+).  

Remarks: Modified: 10/12/2026

10/12/2026 -- 

 

Trains and planes

TL;DR -- Trains first, and then planes. These move from place to place, carry people and goods, or just amaze us like the fighters. Children play with toys representing these. The train is from our first century and helped build the country. The plane is later and serves similar roles but speeds up the process. 

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Last post, we reiterated on coach travel (Butterfield, for example). Now, let's take the engines of trains, first, as they're on the ground doing real work. The 250th has been an occasion to bring out some big iron. This type of locomotive was designed to pull up to a mile of loaded railcars over the mountains, in the western part of the U.S. 

Big Boy is Union Pacific 4014 which was built in 1941. This photo is from 2026 when a rebuilt engine started to travel the country while we all celebrate the 250th of ink on paper (declaring independence). It was several years before the conflict was over with the Mother Country. 

In the photo, the 4014 was leaving Denver, CO. Its size is apparent from the photo. 

"rebuilt" was from the state of last use after which the engine sat in a Museum. Once it was decided to revive the engine, it was taken to New York and dismantled. There are several things to look at with respect to that, including tooling, handling things of matter of this size, 

Big Boy, Leaves Denver, CO

Now planes are added to the topic of the post. We have mentioned some aviation themes in our posts and will do more. This is where technology excels. But, the Big Boy is heavier than the Boeing 747 which is to be expected. One slogs along the ground for miles and miles. The other jumps into the sky and moves across the Earth to another site that is configured for its arrival and eventual departure. 

Big Boy moves about on rail. That was a topic as it was not until after the Civil War that the rail industry boomed. And, at a later time, there was one track of rail from the east to the west coast. We have had many posts on the technology and history of railroad 

To end this introductory post, as kids play with toys of rails and trains: both are featured in children stories which includes multi-media. 

But, let's look at mountains. We have covered rivers for a while. These carry water out of the higher elevations. Some of those elevations were troublesome to early travelers. 

The Wasatch Range
viewed from Jordan Campus of
Salt Lake Community College, March 2006

That brings up another topic, namely Trails. We will look at another (Mormon trail) as we add to the list of note, Oregon, California, Sante Fe. 

Nowdays, one can still take a train from Denver to the west coast. But, the plane schedules are literally 1000s a day domestically. 

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Postnote: Ships on water? That's how we got here. Movement by foot? Earlier inhabitants migrated without our conveniences. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/11/2026

10/11/2026 -- Review and edit.