Month: April 2017

USS Porter

ATLANTIC OCEAN (April 15, 2015) The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) pulls alongside the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE 13) before a replenishment-at-sea. Porter is participating in Joint Warrior, a United-Kingdom led training exercise designed to provide NATO and allied forces with a unique multi-warfare environment in which to prepare for global operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Rohn D. Wallace/Released)

There’s an interesting timeline posted at USNI regarding the missile attack on the Syrian military airbase on 6 April 2017 that I haven’t seen elsewhere, and it gives hints about the strategy behind it… and more.

[Image and caption found here. USNI is updating their post as more information is released.]

Syncopated Polyrhythmic Hot Links

Mark Twain’s study was designed to simulate the pilot house of a Mississippi steamboat.

Rogue Punctuation Nazi strikes after-hours in Bristol, England. He specializes in fixing apostrophe errors on business signs.

Need a Computer Science paper at the last minute? This generator is for you.

I knew that rebooting and hitting F8 gets you into safe mode for trouble shooting. Here’s what the other keyboard function keys do.

“The Frog Survey Letter” went viral a couple years ago.

Never heard of Hooverball? Now you have.

Click “play.”

Like early jazz? You’ll love this free download of 1920s recordings. It’s six hours of syncopated awesome.

[Top image found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Tool, Elvin Bishop & Lonnie Brooks

Very odd video. I like it.

Elvin Bishop goes fishin’. Guy has an amazing history, and I’m surprised he isn’t a full-fledged Rock God by now. His website www.elvinbishopmusic.com is back up and running.

We lost another great bluesman recently:
Lee Baker, Jr., aka Lonnie Brooks (1933-2017).

Lonnie Brooks was another classic bluesman with an interesting background.

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll be back here tomorrow, whether you like it or not.

The .Gif Friday Post No.478 – Hare Transporter, Prep School Flappers & Buster Keaton

[Found here, here and here. And yeah, I made ’em flap.]

Yoneji Inamura’s Contribution To The World: 20,000 Beetles

Although [Yoneji] Inamura created several sculptures out of beetles, he spent 6 years in the 1970s constructing this one, which has become his masterpiece and the largest sculpture he ever made. When it was done he donated it to the city.

The sculpture, made from rhinoceros beetles, winged jewel beetles, drone beetles, longhorn beetles and other types of local beetles, depicts the senju kannon bosatsu (1000-armed bodhisattva), a popular Buddhist deity in Japan.

[Click on the smaller images to enlarge. More here, found here. Somewhat related posts here.]

Meretricious Rhadamanthine Hot Links

Johnny Rotten weighs in on Briexit… and Donald Trump.

Roger Daltrey weighs in on Briexit… and Donald Trump.

Luke and Sean share a shirt.

Earliest known definition of “cocktail” as a beverage appeared in 1803. The actual origins of the word are disputed; here’s one analysis.

Groucho Marx once hawked cocktail napkins.

Ever wonder why cocktails are served in different glasses? Me neither.

No idea what the 1927 Jiggling Chair was supposed to remedy.

Attempted Escape of the Maniac from The Wild Witch of the Heath, 1841.

This is mildly amusing. Move your curser, then do it real fast.

From the You Gotta Be Kidding Me Department:
Cloned Woolly Mammoths are planned to be introduced to an Arctic Siberian park in order to stop “global warming climate change.”

Horrific April Fools Day pranks of the 19th Century, and some were lethal. More pranks here.

[Top: Original image of the TV-HiFi console hottie found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Billy Blob, Superstitions & Stevie Wonder

Clever animation from Billy Blob: Two radiation particles travel to Earth with a mission and a cool soundtrack.

Origins of some common superstitions [via]. They missed the obvious. Walking under a ladder is dangerous because you might dislodge it, or whoever’s working up top might accidentally drop something on you. I’d guess that the business about stepping on a crack likely has to do with walking on thin ice. Seven years of bad luck for breaking a mirror? Not so sure about that one.

Stevie Wonder, live at Sesame Street, 12 April 1973. What a killer groove. I liked this one even better:

Yeah. That. Head-bobbin’ trad-blues-funk at it’s best.

Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ve got more cool stuff coming soon.