Category: History

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.

North Korea celebrates 50th Anniversary of the capture of the USS Pueblo


Captured crewmembers of the USS PUEBLO giving the “Hawaiian Good Luck Sign,” 1968.

[USNI News 24 January 2018.]

North Korea celebrated the 50th anniversary of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) incident on Tuesday via broadcasts on state television and in an international press statement.

In 1968, the North Korean Navy captured the signals intelligence ship USS Pueblo (AGER-2) and its crew of 82 sailors. The sailors suffered starvation and torture and were used for propaganda purposes for almost a year before a release was negotiated in December of 1968.
[…]
Pueblo’s crew resisted when possible, most notably by frequently raising their middle fingers to ruin propaganda photo ops staged by the North Koreans, telling their captors the gesture was considered a “Hawaiian Good Luck Sign,” according to the Navy investigation. The crew was severely beaten near the end of their confinement when the North Koreans learned the gesture’s true meaning.

[More at the link above.]

 

Julia Child was a Muppet.

[Found here.]

The .Gif Friday Post No.519 – Ancient Fertility Figurine Pron

This collection of animated figurines by Nina Paley is pure awesome [via].

Related post here.

Harp Closet

As one of the first women members of The Cleveland Orchestra—and one of only a few women musicians in any orchestra—Alice Chalifoux (principal harpist 1931-74) faced unique challenges such as orchestra halls without women’s dressing rooms. Alice sometimes used her harp case as a backstage dressing room when the Orchestra was touring across the U.S.

[Found here.]

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Always Remember which political party supported slavery, promoted racism and segregation, and which political party successfully fought against it.

Some things never change.

 

 

 

Stop the madness.

The hole diameter shrank 5/8″ in 10 years, 4/8″ the next decade. At that rate, donut holes should have disappeared by 1958 and should be negative 7/8″ in diameter by now.

π [(7/8″)/2]^2 = .60 sq. inches, so 7 decades later, donuts should have no holes and be larger in diameter, but if you define the circumference of the section of the torus as a constant k you realize that donuts don’t come in uniform sizes, yet they should be significantly larger than they were 70 years ago. Hostess and Little Debbie got some ‘splainin’ to do. Cake donuts typically weigh between 24 and 28 g (0.85 and 0.99 oz), whereas yeast-raised donuts average 38 g (1.3 oz) and are generally larger, and taller (due to rising) when finished. Say a donut weighed an ounce in 1927. That means the volume of the torus would be Oh nevermind.

This is what a lot of Californians are discussing now that pot is legal.

[Found here.]

We Remember- 7 December 1941

Correction. WAR was declared upon U.S. by Japan by the unprovoked attack, and the U.S. responded.

Dad always stamped his letters with this:

Thanksgiving Pageant ca. 1910 Louisville, Kansas

[Image found here.]