A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day...11-14-03...California ~ The Golden State

Mama_Bear

[Mama_Bear]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Mama_Bear, dansangel, dutchess, Aquamarine ~

Please join us as we make a cyber-visit to another great state in this Union of ours. As we present each of our 50 states we also salute the proud FReepers who call their state 'home'.

Over the past few months each "Finest" hostess has profiled her home state and I will be presenting the other states in random order. Please FReepMail me if you would like to participate in spotlighting your state. I would love to have your input on what you would like to see highlighted.

These are the states we have presented to date:

05-23-03 Alabama 06-27-03 Maryland 07-11-03 Vermont 07-25-03 Utah 08-05-03 Texas 08-22-03 Nevada 08-26-03 Wash DC 09-05-03 Tennessee

09-17-03 Florida 09-19-03 Minnesota 10-03-03 New Mexico 10-14-03 Georgia 10-17-03 Louisiana 10-22-03 Michigan 11-04-03 South Dakota

Today we are visiting
my neck of the woods ~

California as a state is only a little over 150 years old. It was admitted to the Union on September 9th, 1850, so its history is still visible even now. Here are a few historical events that have set the paradigm for the way that California would be.


The Missions of California (1769-1834)

200 years after the Spanish landed on California, the Spanish king Charles III was eager to set up local supply and trading posts for the Spanish gallons and to convert the native Indians to Christianity. In 1769, Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra were dispatched to California to establish missions.

Over a period of 60 years, 21 California missions were established, and many Spanish priests were sent there with an intent to bring the local Indians to live at the missions and to cultivate them with Spanish culture and skills. Unfortunately, tensions between the natives and the Spanish gradually increased due to the Spanish's cruel treatment of the Indians, resulting in Indian uprisings and the destruction of one of the missions. Today, many of the old missions have been restored, or rebuilt and serve either as active parish churches or historic ruins.


The road that linked the missions, pueblos, and presidios in early California was called El Camino Real. While typically called "The King's Highway" the term "camino real" is more usually used to denote a crude road, almost a trail, used mostly by wagons. Modern day U.S. Highway 101 follows the general route of the original trail.

Click on the map to see a larger version
with links to the California Mission websites.



The Gold Rush of 1849

On January 24th, 1848, a sawmill carpenter named James Marshall found a gold nugget at Sutter's Sawmill. When the word spread across America in 1849, fortune-seekers from the Midwest and other regions traveled in large numbers up the Sacramento River to the gold fields.



The truth is, very few people made any money out of the gold rush. Some of the fortune seekers went back home with nothing, or with less than they came with, but many of these folks stayed in California. Although the financial return was virtually zero to most people, it was the discovery of gold that hastened California's statehood.





Building of the Transcontinental Railroad

Following the US Pacific Railway Act of 1862 that authorized the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, four wealthy California men, Leland Stanford (Stanford University is named for his son), Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins began to invest in the building of the railroads. Many Americans would not be willing to take on the dangerous and hard jobs, so the Big Four hired many Chinese, and even sending to China for more immigrants. The money that these investors made from the railroads was such a huge fortune, that they became known as the Big Four. From then on, California was linked to the rest of the country.


Central Pacific locomotive No. 1

This is the first engine to be placed in construction service on the western end of the transcontinental railroad. The maiden trip was made at Sacramento, November 11, 1863, after having arrived from the East on a clipper ship via Cape Horn. This locomotive was named in honor of Leland Stanford, then California’s governor, and one of the “Big Four” builders of the Central Pacific.

Ten 'Cool' California Facts

1. Highest elevation in the 48 contiguous states - Mt. Whitney: 14,494 ft. above sea level.

2. Lowest elevation in North America - Death Valley: 282 ft. below sea level.

3. Highest recorded temperature in North America - Death Valley: 134 F on July 10, 1913.

4. Greatest snowfall in a storm in North America - Mt. Shasta: 189 inches on February 13-19, 1959.

5. Greatest depth of snowfall on the ground in North America - Tamarack: 451 inches on March 11, 1911.

6. Tallest living thing in the world (at Redwood National Park): a 367-foot coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)

7. Largest living thing in the world (at Sequoia National Park): the General Sherman sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), 272 ft. high, 36.5 ft. diameter above the base, estimated weight of 2,150 tons - That's 4,300,000 pounds!

8. Oldest living thing in the world (in Eastern California): a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) estimated at nearly 5,000 years old.

9. Sky surfing started in 1980 in Southern California when skydivers decided to try something new by jumping with Styrofoam boogie boards.

10. According to the U.S. Ski Association, the forty-niners were the first to hold organized ski races in the United States. Scandinavian immigrants taught the miners how to use the huge wooden "shoes," as the skis were called then, some of which were as much as 13 feet long.

California - a land of sunny beaches, majestic redwood forests, great skiing, wineries ... I hardly know where to begin. Since they say "a picture is worth a thousand words", I will briefly describe the photos below and then let them speak for themselves.

California's beautiful coastline near Big Sur.
Lupine wildflower fields near Lancaster.
The Golden Gate Bridge.

Poppies and Lupine - found throughout California.
Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.
Wine grapes from the Napa Valley.

California Quail - the state bird.
Lake Tahoe, bordering Nevada.
Horses on Gorman Ranch.

Mount Shasta in Northern California.
Beautiful Santa Barbara Harbor.
Malibu Beach at sunset.

"Earth laughs in flowers"
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

.....and I believe nowhere more joyously as it does each spring in the California foothills and deserts. The March rains blanket the hills and deserts in breathtaking colors of bright orange poppies and purple-blue lupine.

"The biggest surprise for many first-time visitors to the desert, especially in spring after the winter rains, is the subtle beauty and sheer variety of life that thrives in what is usually an arid environment. The spring landscape can be a palette of poppies, coreopsis, or goldfields, with appealing wildflowers stretching like a living carpet from underfoot to the horizon."

Learn more about the California desert HERE
Antelope Valley wildflower photos HERE

A Finest salute to our California FReepers who have worked and continue to work diligently to turn the tide of liberalism in our beautiful state. Your efforts give us hope that someday we may be able to bring sanity back to our government and reclaim our state.

Thank you to the following websites for facts and graphics:

A virtual Tour of the California Missions
San Diego Biographies - Father Serra
Driving the Last Spike
California State Symbols



Have a great FRiday
and a wonderful weekend!

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 11-10-03 Military Monday 11-11-03 A Tribute to Our Veterans Past and Present 11-12-03 Sapelo Island, GA Lighthouse 11-13-03 John's Two Cents ~ JohnHuang2

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
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4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5)If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me a FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

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submit your photo, please contact dansangel or .45MAN danbh59@yahoo.com
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[MeekOneGOP]

Mornin', everybody ! Happy Friday !

Have a cup while you Freep !

[MeekOneGOP]

Californee, huh ?? ...

[Mama_Bear]

Hiya, Meekie. :-)

[SerpentDove]

Pardon us while we talk "Photoshop"..:-)

If you'll notice on your Photoshop 7 tool bar, where I've highlighted here in red, there is a "Jump to Imageready" button.

If you click on that, your image will automatically open in Imageready, which is included as part of your Photoshop 7 package.

In Imageready, you can optimize your JPEGS to small size/high quality, visually. It's really not as complicated as it might sound.

If you've used Fireworks, it's similar. Very simple, very intuitive.

Also, you may separate images as frames in an animation, and select how long you want each frame to be seen.

None of this is as complicated as it might seem at first.

But the main thing is, you have Imageready already, and if you go to Imageready Help, you can be doing animations in a snap!

:-)

SD

[SerpentDove]

Mornin' Meek!

Pretty chilly FReepin' weather down here, eh?

[Mama_Bear]

Wow! Thank you. I will check that out.

One little question....does imageready also compress (for lack of a better word) the individual images into a single animated gif? I bought "GIF Movie Gear", tried preparing each graphic in photoshop and then uploading them to Movie Gear which will put them together in a single animation, but I have been having some problems getting the program to work just right. Anyway, you are saying I can do the entire thing in Photoshop?

This opens up a whole new world of possibilities, as soon as I get a few minutes I will check it out.

[SerpentDove]

I have never heard of GIF Movie Gear, but I can advise you to throw it away. LOL

It may be a fine program, but with Photoshop 7, you don't need it.

Yes, Imageready compresses it all into a single animated GIF and exports it. VERY easy.

To get started, you can place all your frames into a certain folder, then in Imageready, you do file/import/folder as frames and they automatically import as an animation. There is an animation pallette, with VCR controls, etc.

You set the sequence of how you want the frames to appear, plus the duration of each frame.

I think you can even import a layered file where each layer is a frame, but I've never done it that way yet.

Then you export as a GIF. It is VERY easy. It may take a LITTLE trial and error, but I don't think it will take you long.

You can be doing animations by lunchtime, probably. Let's see, California is two hours behind Texas, I think.

Yeah, by lunchtime, definitely. :-)

[JustAmy]

You've done an excellent job with California, Lori.

Though we studied California History in elementary school, the refresher course is wonderful.

After I get caught up, I will try to get some pictures scanned. Don't want to post what others have posted. Below is the coastline just south of Morro Bay.

[SerpentDove]

Now if GIF compresses VIDEOS it may be great to have.

Imageready doesn't do that, to my knowledge.

SD

[Mama_Bear]

You can be doing animations by lunchtime, probably. Let's see, California is two hours behind Texas, I think. Yeah, by lunchtime, definitely. :-)

LOL! Okie dokie, I will try it out....and I will let you know if or when I am able to create something. But it won't be by lunchtime. Heck, it probably won't even be by next week, but I will get to it eventually. I love working with graphics.

Thank you so much!

[JustAmy]

LOL

Thanks

[SerpentDove]

:-)

[Mama_Bear]

Now if GIF compresses VIDEOS it may be great to have.

I don't think so, it's a pretty simple, basic program. I think I will take your advice and toss it out. I didn't pay much for it...and, it's true, you do get what you pay for. :-)

Speaking of paying...I was at Staples the other day and looked at PhotoShop7 there, $699.00! We use photoshop in our business to retouch portraits and restore old photographs, and we DID pay a lot for it, but I don't think we paid that much!

[MeekOneGOP]

Yep ! We get cooler weather and just when I used to wearing more clothes (jeans vs shorts), it turns warmer again. And vice versa, lol ! That time of year !

[Mama_Bear]

Oh, that's a beautiful picture of the coast. I see some poppies in it too.

We try to get over to Morro Bay once a year....but it has been at least two years since we've been there. And, it's less than 2 hours away. :-(

[FreeTheHostages]

Ok, here's the details.

We got our Senate passes via a friend, a son of a Senator. It turns out that when we went, Wed. eve, that was unnecessary: they had enough space to give out passes to people who were just out on the street.

We got there at 11:45 and left around 1 a.m.

We heard Sen. Boxer -- over and over again with the 98% -- and then we heard Sen. Chambliss' very funny retort: "My wife wouldn't accept a 98% faithfulness record. I wouldn't want my food 98% free of e coli. And I don't think a 98% compliance with the Constitution is something my friends on the other side of the aisle should be boasting about."

Both Sen. Chambliss and Sen. Lindsey Graham "grew up" together politically in the House, part of Gingrich's revolution. And they were both there when we were there, obviously enjoying each other's company. Joking, whispering, their staffs consulting.

Sen. Hutchinson of Texas was a sight to behold! In person, wearing a bright red jacket with gold jewelry, she was a prim and proper as ever! Perfect demeanor: rigid, at attention, carefully watching the Dems as they talked. Once the Dems tried to pass their minimum wage bill when Sen. Hutchinson was on watch and talking, and even though she was whispering to someone else on the floor she plainly heard it and interrupted her own whisper to turn and address the Senate President and list her objection. Seems like a very efficient person.

Hmm, what else is there to say? Ah, yes, I suppose the dreadful part will all the self-important staff and pages that cluster around the Senators of both parties. These kids scare me. They're really too young, if I may say so, to be taken seriously, and yet they take themselves so seriously . . . . Sen. Boxer and the other Dems were really big on charts, and so you'd see in person -- it doesn't show on CSPAN -- all these self-important pages rushing around preparing the next chart, and you could even see through the cloak room doors the pages hurriedly arranging charts in there. There was plainly a chart war going between the Dems and the Republicans. The Dems were playing to CSPAN.

I would definitely say the following: it was apparent to me from the hour and a half that we stayed that the Republican Senators were operating in a more team-like fashion. They were consulting and whispering and coordinating. There were about 4 Republican and 3 Senators actually on the floor. (You gotta figure the rest were standing by in their officies, monitoring on CSPAN or the like.) The Democrats didn't seem to be coordinating. Like Boxer once went and whispered something in the senior Senator from New York's ear, and he seemed annoyed she was bothering him.

[The Thin Man]

Great job Mama Bear at regaling us with stories of California's interesting past.

Of course there is always a fly in the ointment.....

Hisortic Sutter Creek

:-)

[FreeTheHostages]

I would add, for those who regret being there, that from our up-above gallery positions, we weren't far from the CSPAN camera monitors and I could see what the monitors were showing. So don't feel bad -- CSPAN did a good job of showing you what was actually going on on the floor. There were just 3 or 4 Senators of each party, but when they weren't talking, there wasn't much to look at except the speaker and their charts. And that's what CSPAN neutrally broadcast. So I have to say the experience of being there was similar to the experience of watching it later the next day on CSPAN.

[FreeTheHostages]

oh -- and Sen. Boxer is *really* think. really really thin

[jwfiv]

Good morning, Mrs. Bear...such a beautiful tour of CA you've given us this morning...thank you....some vry nice pics in their...I've been to most corners of the state, at least in passing through...you've stirred a lot of good memories.

Good morning to all our lovely Hostesses and all the Finest...a thousand million blessings upon you all this very good Friday...)