Category: History

Condoned by Congress, The USS Comfort Carried Captured Camels

In 1855, Congress approved a plan developed by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to import camels as pack animals for the U.S. Army operating in the American Southwest.

The camels were also considered for use as a long-range mounted force that could drive “hostile Indians out of the country.” The storeship USS Supply was refitted with special hatches, stables, hoists and a “camel car” for the sole purpose of loading and transporting dromedaries.

Once the first herd of camels was obtained in North Africa, Supply [w]as further modified to compensate for the towering humps of the camels by cutting away part of the main deck. The camels were delivered to Texas where their potential was recognized but the plan was never fully implemented due to the advent of the Civil War.

So instead of wasting them, the U.S. Army sold the camels to zoos. TRUE

[Image and story found here. More about the Camel Corps here.]

“Bank of America will no longer lend to companies that make ‘military-style’ weapons.”

LMAO.

[Related post here.]

Fallen Astronaut Memorial

Fallen Astronaut is an aluminum sculpture of an astronaut in a spacesuit which commemorates astronauts who died in the advancement of space exploration. It is currently at Hadley Rille on the Moon, having been placed there by the crew of Apollo 15.

It’s the only art installation on the moon. Fourteen names are listed on the memorial plaque, but three are missing. The deaths of two cosmonauts were unknown to the western world, and one astronaut was accidentally overlooked.

[Found here.]

“Farting Against Thunder.”

In 1783, a political cartoonist could illustrate farting, but was forbidden to say the word. The cartoon above is in reference to The Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779-1783), an attempt by the French and the Spanish to capture Gibraltar from the British who were distracted by the American War for Independence.

“I fart in your general direction!” – Monty Python & the Holy Grail 1975

[Image found here. Related post here. Other potty humor posts here.]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Saturday Matinee- PSA, Yola Singer, Dervish & The Pogues

St. Patrick’s Day

Try not to puke in front of children.

____________________________________________________

Map and Yola song found here. Northern Ireland hadn’t been invented yet.

Dervish is awesome.

What’s St. Patrick’s Day without a tribute to the Pogues? Contrary to popular belief, frontman  Shane MacGowan is not dead.

I jumped the 3rd vid to one of my favorites, Young Ned Of The Hill  [full concert starts here]. It’s a traditional Irish song about one Éamonn an Chnoic. Legend says he became an outlaw after shooting a tax collector dead during a quarrel over the confiscation of a poor woman’s cow.

Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here soon.

[Related posts here.]

 

Don’t kiss her until you’re sure she doesn’t have a mouth full of bugs.

“Do not kiss her until you know that she uses Listerated Pepsin Gum, the only antiseptic gum in the world, the only chewing gum that makes it safe to kiss.”

[Found here. Related posts here and here.]

Chewing Rubber Paint

The Rubber Paint Company of Cleveland, Ohio created the Zeno Manufacturing Company in 1890. W.N. Brewer, an employee at the Rubber Paint Company, had the idea to start making chewing gum with rubber as one of the ingredients as a sideline of the company. He created the Zeno company.

[Image and caption found here. The history of chewing gum here.]

It was a bit breezy, and yes, there was a shark attack and a giant bottle opener.

johan5030 · 5 Aug 2014
Its in the city of Kristinehamn in Sweden.
I live here and was here when it happend. Never experienced such wind.

Sounds like one of the Nordic Storms of 2013 when the region was pounded by hurricane-force winds. [Image and comment found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Human Fountains, The Band and The Black Crowes.

Might have been better with four NFL cheerleaders in skimpy wet chamois skins, but that’s just my non-judgemental politically correct sexist micoagressional opinion [via].

That’s one of the best songs by one of the best bands ever.

That’s one of the best covers of one of the best songs by one of the best bands ever.

Have a great weekend, folks, and remember that President’s Day is a construct designed to minimize the historical importance of both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two of the greatest and most influential Presidents in the history of the United States of America.

497-519 Broadway, New York City 1853-55 and now

I spotted that in a collection of photos with the description:

Broadway looking north from between Grand and Broome Streets in New York City, 1853–55.

The photo includes visible addresses, so I decided to take a drive down Grand [via Google Maps] and look for 497, 499, 501 & 519 Broadway.

A lot changed in +160 years. Some buildings were razed and rebuilt, others have been refaced, but a few are still there, like the large white building, the 2nd building closer (with the fire escape), and the one on the far right of the top image.

Also note that there is a blurry horse pulling a trolley in the top photo and a car named after a horse in the other, and if the drivers swapped places in time, neither one would know how to steer.