Category: History

Independence Day

In Congress, July 4, 1776,

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. Continue reading “Independence Day”

Captain Kangaroo 1927-2004 [Updated]

Captain Kangaroo, aka Bob Keeshan, was my favorite as a lil’ tad. There he is, with a pocket full of carrots, and Bunny Rabbit in the other. My memory of Cap’n K does not include that screaming red jacket. It had to be blue, because I watched him every day in glorious black and white. Now check this out:

Yep. Captain Kangaroo liked Heineken. BTW, the urban legend is false – Bob Keeshan did NOT fight on Iwo Jima in WWII, and neither did Lee Marvin, although both were Marines.  Film at 11.

[Update: Apparently that photo is from a Halloween party circa 1980 something, and is not Bob Keeshan. It’s still awesome. Hat tip to Dave.]

[UPDATE 2023: The Full Story!]

The Real Captain Hook?

London’s Miss Zena Dare, in a pantomime production of  “Peter Pan,” 1906.

[Found here.]

STAX Stay In School

Stay in School, Don’t Be a Dropout (1967) was not a commercial release and less than 10,000 copies are known to exist in its original vinyl format.

Guess what’s in Bunk’s old vinyl collection!

This is a DJ album, distributed to R&B/Soul radio stations in urban areas. It’s got no lead-in tracks, meaning that the DJ had to pick what announcement or song he wanted to play and place the needle by hand. Stax/Volt was clever, in that the tracks of songs they were selling were preceded by public service announcements by the artists themselves.

“Hi, this is the big O, Otis Redding.
I was just standing here thinking about you,
Thought I’d write a song about you,
And dedicate it to you.
Take a listen.”

More info on this nice collectible here. Click to enlarge, check out the playlist, and read the commendation from Vice President Hubert Humphrey. There’s some great stuff on this album.

6 June 1944 – Remember the Sacrifice

[Image found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Escalator, The Green Men & Louie Louie

The guy had never seen an escalator, didn’t trust it for good reason. [Found here.]

The Vancouver Canucks are like the Chicago Cubs of hockey. They always come close to winning the Cup, but never quite pull it off. To be honest, I don’t follow the NHA, let alone professional sports. But I saw these guys, and I had no idea that they had earned recobanition as a National Treasure of Canada. [via]

Toots & The Maytals play Richard Berry.

George Duke and Stanley Clarke play Richard Berry.

Others played Richard Berry here, here and here.  Oh yeah, and this one’s good, too. But here is the original originator:

There you go – the originator of the classic fratparty song. Have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for more fun stuff.

R.U.R. Robot

Looks like the tin man’s wants to pop Dorothy because Toto peed on his leg. Fortunately he’s been restrained. He wasn’t a nice guy in those days.

Actually it’s a promo for a 1928 production of the 1921 play R.U.R. [“Rossum’s Universal Robots”] that introduced the word “robot” to the world. Ever since then the control panel has always been in the front.

[Found here.]

Revenge


[via]
“What’s for dinner, hon?”
“Flatbird casserole.”

Never eaten pigeon, but here’s an interesting recipe:

Lark, or Sparrow Pye.
You must have five dozen at least; lay betwixt every one a Bit of Bacon as you do when you roast them, and a Leaf of Sage and a little Force-meat at the Bottom of your Crust; put on some Butter a top and lid it; when bak’d for one Hour, which will be sufficient, make a little thicken’d Gravy, put in the Juice of a Lemon; season with Pepper and Salt, so serve it hot and quick. (Charles Carter’s “City and Country Cook … “ 1736)

Yeah, serve it hot and quick and run out the back door before your guests realize what those gamey little crunchy things that they’ve been snarfing down really are.

Nothing much happened today, but we cured some rats.


[via]
My first impression was that someone messed with an old sot who passed out at his delinquent son’s frat party, but sometimes the truth is more bizarre.

JINAN, Sept. 14, 2010 A patient receives treatment of Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion at a hospital in Jinan, capital of east China’s Shandong Province, Sept. 14, 2010.
[…]
Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine technique that involves the burning of mugwort to facilitate healing. (Credit Image: © Xinhua/ZUMApress.com)

It’s believed by some that Moxibustion “…stimulates blood-flow in the pelvic area and uterus. It is claimed that moxibustion militates against cold and dampness in the body and can serve to turn breech babies.”

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Mugwort is effective for treating rats with trichinellosis. (Gotta be honest here – I never knew that.)

So if any of you have sick rats or need to turn a breech baby or two, cover your eyes with walnut shells, fire up some mugwort and stick some needles in your forehead.

Just more helpful tips for health-minded followers of Tacky Raccoons.


The history of trollface

Last week I posted this picture:

Then I wondered about the origin of the ubiquitous Trollface.

Trollface first appeared in 2008 on the website DeviantArt. Although the internet icon is sometimes called “coolface,” its creator, “Whynne” said:

“It’s trollface, not coolface. Eat a dick.”

And the late great Jim Varney (aka Ernest P. Worrell) shows how it’s done:


So now you know. Fun facts to know and tell, courtesy of Tacky Raccoons.

[Update: Jump to 2:40.]