History – Page 53 – Tacky Raccoons

11/11/11 11:11:11

And it’s the first (and likely the last) Nigel Tufnel Day in Recognition of Its Maximum Elevenness.

Armistice Day / Veterans Day / Remembrance Day

“One of the guns of Battery D, 105th Field Artillery, showing American flag which was hoisted after the last shot had been fired when the armistice took effect. Etraye, France., 11/11/1918”.
Sergeant First Class Morris Fineberg, Photographer.

My grand-uncle was stationed in France in the U.S. Signal Corps in WWI, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew some of the men in the photo above. On 10 November 1918, he sent this letter home:

“Mom and Dad. Well, nothing much new, only today we got the news of the peace plenipotentiaries arriving for a conference with General Foch. It sounds good to me. There is something here now that I would like to tell you but can’t, so when I return you mustn’t forget to ask me about the civilian refugees in the church. It will be some story. Not much excitement lately. We had our balloon burned by a boche plane with American insignia on it.”

Then on 14 November, this:

Dear Mom and Dad:

Well, of all the wonderful things that could ever happen. The war is “won”. As the French say, “Fini la Guerre.” Every Frenchman we meet hollers, “Fini la Guere, Merci! Beaucoup.” It means – The war is over, thank you many times. We are sure some glad bunch. I sure will have a lot of stuff to tell you when I return. And that won’t be long. We are now away from the front for the first time. I just got rid of a bunch of cooties yesterday. I hope that they will be the last, too. They are sure the cause of one hell of a feeling.

Well, this is all for the present. So long and hoping to see you soon.

Soldier Bill

May God Bless All Veterans, both past and present.

[Image from here. Related posts here and here.]

Ramona Lisa

[Gwen found this.]

The Extraction of the Stone of Madness

A detail from “The Extraction of the Stone of Madness“, a painting by Hieronymus Bosch depicting trepanation (c.1488-1516)

[Found here.]

Hot Lynx

When I googled “Hot Lynx,” this came up. No explanation offered.

Cool illusion bro.

Gladys Knight sings her hit “Neither One Of Us” a capella. Here’s the original with the Pips.

Think you’ve got a good eye for colors? Try this hue test. (I got a score of 17.)

Throwable 360 degree camera ball has a thingy that detects the whatsit and takes pictures at the whatchamacallit so that you can look at where you were in 3D. If you get one, I want you to lob it into the polar bear exhibit.

The original version of “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” by The Exciters.
(h/t to planetross for telling me something I should’ve told him.)

If you missed the linky quietly added to the sidebar, I’m on Twitter, and I’m collecting followers. No content, one single tweet, that’s it. Retweets will bring you good luck and stuff.

Saturday Matinee – The Charts, The Pyramids, The Belmonts, The Mills Brothers & Zappa

To all readers of Tacky Raccoons who have Utoobage accounts:
Please capture and repost these. They’ve been blocked and vaporized before, but they should be available to everyone, if only because they’re so entirely awesome.

“Dance Girl” by The Charts, who earn the award for Best Non-Rock-Band-Name in the business. (Not to be confused with “Dance Girl,” a song recorded by Norman Fox & The Rob Roys, which is an entirely different awesome song.)

The Pyramids’ 1958 hit “Hot Dog Dooly Wah” is a favorite around here.

Dion DiMucci trashed a slut and everyone heard.

The Mills Brothers‘ “Till Then” is a classic.

Zappa’s Black Napkins.

And with that, I’m outta here. Have a great weekend, folks.

Private First Class Hannibal Shirley Dobbs

The end of the Civil War was near

When quite accidentally,

A hero who sneezed, abruptly seized

Retreat and reversed it to victory!

His Medal of Honor pleased and thrilled

His proud little family group;

While pinning it on, some blood was spilled

And so it was planned he’d command… F TROOP!

Where Indian fights are colorful sights

And nobody takes a lickin’,

Where paleface and redskin

Both turn chicken!

When drilling and fighting get them down

They know their morale can’t droop

As long as they all relax in town

Before they resume with a bang and a boom… F TROOP!

[Story here. Image found here. Click the image for a bonus.]

911 -Ten Years Ago

I was running late, just gotten out of the shower, and the missus had the TV on in the bedroom. She said a plane had crashed into the WTC. I figured a Cessna pilot had lost control. I got dressed, kissed the wife and left for work.

I didn’t understand what had happened until a coworker brought in a portable TV and we watched the towers collapse. When I got home I watched the news replays showing people jumping to their deaths.

My kids were young then. They couldn’t understand why their dad had tears in his eyes.