Category: Real News

America Truly Is The Greatest Country In The World.

Kitty Werthmann was born in Austria and witnessed the effects of Hitler’s policies first hand. The article below dates to at least 1996 -I found it in the July 2012 issue of Military. As we approach another Independence Day it seems entirely appropriate for recirculation, especially in this election year.

Commentors on the websites where the article appears generally consider it to be historically accurate, with the exception of her description of the Austrian election which was a contrived fraud. Others corroborate her story. Left-leaning blogs dismiss Werthmann due to her religion, her position on the 2nd Amendment, her age, and especially because she’s a popular speaker at TEA Party rallies. One website even described her article as pure propaganda.

Regardless of the criticisms, it’s a must-read, IMO. -Bunk
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

America Truly Is The Greatest Country In The World.

By: Kitty Werthmann

What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or will ever read in history books. I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide – 98% of the vote. I’ve never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.

Continue reading “America Truly Is The Greatest Country In The World.”

Saturday Matinee – Cat Fail Sail, Mechanical Principles, & Tom Waits

[Tip ‘o the tarboosh to Mrmacs who found it here and insisted that we post it.]

“Mechanical Principles” – Simple gear actions from 1930 by Ralph Steiner, set to classical music. From the UToobage comments:

Some of the mechanisms featured:
0:16 Positive displacement pump
0:26 Four-stroke engine piston;
0:50 Simple steam engines or pumps;
2:00 Steam engine reversing gear as on ships;
3:10 Differential gear;
4:05 Worm gear;
4:10 Archimedes screw;
5:22 Geneva gear;
5:32 Pawl and ratchet;
5:55 Grasshopper escapement;
7:15 Scotch yokes;
8:07 Positive displacement pump (same as 0:16);
9:29 Wheel and disc integrator used in analog computers;
9:54 Possibly a turbine.

The only other soundtrack I can think of that might go along with that vid would be something by this guy:

Tom Waits’ Private Listening Party. I’m there if you need to get in touch with me. Have a great weekend, be back here tomorrow.

Undulatus Asperatus – Holy Crap Clouds

No new cloud type has been officially classified since 1951 but Gavin Pretor-Pinney who runs the Cloud Appreciation Society believes that there is a new cloud that deserves international recognition. He calls it asperatus, which means rough in Latin. [via]

Top:  Schiehallion, Scotland.
Middle:  Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US.
Bottom:  Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand. [Previously posted here.]

Apparently the unusual cloud formation is benign, not related to precipitation, violent weather or mass extinctions.

Election Day In California

Sacramento has been out of control for years. Not too long ago, the State of California, were it a separate and independent country, would have ranked at No. 8 in prosperity world wide. Not so any more.

California is not completely lost… yet. Watch what happens in the regional and local elections. The results will tell you if California has a ghost of a chance of recovering from gross fiscal mismanagement and fascist socialism.

[Image found here.]

Post 2K! WooHoo!

This is the 2,000th post on Tacky Raccoons.

Just think of all the time I could have been doing something more productive than shirking my responsibilites. On the other hand, this blog has given me much enjoyment over the years because every post was the result of a trek, an internet safari to look for and post oddities that amuse me, or at least hold my attention for more than a few seconds.

It has had it’s benefits. I’ve learned about image manipulation and editing, .gif animations, and that there are some sites out there that no one should visit. I’ve also “met” people from all over the world.

One thing that’s always puzzled me is what generates traffic. Sure, putting up a post titled “Lesbian Amputee Dwarf Porn” got a lot of hits  (it’s No. 15 on the list of most popular) but those who are really looking for it won’t find it here. With very few exceptions,  I’m still running on Anita Bath’s blogging Rule No. 1: Don’t post anything that will cause a Pastor to block the site from viewing by his 12 year-old daughter.

In case you’re curious, here are the Top Five posts that garnered the most attention since we started in 2007:

No. 1 – Another Great Christmas Gift Idea

No. 2 – LOL FERRET: Episode 1

No. 3 – Um, Nice Stained Glass?

No. 4 – Capybara Lapwarmer

No. 5 – Batmobile Babe Magnet

Are those the best posts of Tacky Raccoons? Not in my opinion, but who cares. I’m having fun, and I hope you are, too.

We’re SO Screwed.

You can find out how he got it (and what he did with it) at the Daily Mail, or at Archie McPhee’s Endless Geyser of Awesome.

Next thing you know they’re gonna be whittling lifesize human decoys. [Found here.]

20 May: Everybody Draw Mohammed Day & The 1st Amendment

That is an image cut and pasted from an Iranian website and it’s a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.

Not too long ago, a cartoonist posted a sarcastic cartoon, and she became the target of death threats. Real threats, not imagined. She got seriously spooked and backed off, but others took up her cause. Why should anyone in the blogosphere need to cower to those who want to squelch the Freedom of Speech?


So in support of The First Amendment, here’s my contribution to Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.

UPDATE 3 October 2021: Swedish artist who survived two murder attempts after drawing a cartoon of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed has died in a horror car crash. Lars Vilks, 75, was killed Sunday when the police car he was traveling in veered onto the wrong side of the road and collided with a truck. [LINK]

Why Boobs?

On the previous post, we mentioned boobs, and here’s why. For years WordPress discouraged advertisements on its platform, and apparently a lot of peeps complained enough to get them to change their policy.

Several months ago we received an offer from WP, that due to the level of traffic and other factors, Tacky Raccoons might be eligible for embedded advertisments with the promise of becoming filthy rich.

Okay the filthy rich part was not in the agreement, but we decided it was worth a shot, even if it only funded a couple of beers a month. So now we have adverts. The first one that showed up was this:

Yep. The algorithm that generates ads decided to eliminate raccoons and sell poop-shaped pillows. Made me smile, and that brings us back to boobs.

The word “boobs” generates a lot of traffic, and if we can make a few clams by posting other phrases like “Lesbian Amputee Dwarf Porn” then so be it. It’s an experiment, and no, we’re not going to start posting pictures of humongous breasts,  sex trapeze circus bimbos, or naked silicone sluts smothered in Chee-Tos. Carry on.

Update: When I previewed this post prior to posting, this ad showed up:


I think someone’s trying to tell me something.

Sheep Circles

From the “What To Do With This” file. [Found here.]

Reminds me of a Super Bowl Party we hosted years ago. I took some flour, “painted” yardlines on the lawn in front of the house. People showed up and asked, “How the hell did you get all the birds to line up in rows?” True story.

1,200,000 Visitors

A short while ago our 1,200,000th visitor showed up and quietly LOL’d to him/herself. Whoever/whatever it was came from somewhere here.

I’ve said it before (at least I think I did) that Tacky Raccoons has a pulse. The hits drop off on the weekends, yet they perk up again on Mondays, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays generating the most traffic. The good news is that the spike difference amounts to only about 3%, and I think that’s a good thing.

Rock on.