Category: True Stories

1988 vs. 2021

[Images from a FB post.]

Die Schnabelperchten

12 drummers drumming won’t stop them.

With a gentle “Ga Ga Ga”, they make their way from house to house, checking that homes have had the appropriate upkeep, whether the floor has been properly swept and every corner has been dusted. Heaven forbid you don’t clean your house correctly – the ancient version of the legend says that, if that’s the case, the Schnabelperchten will slice open your stomach with a long pair of shears and empty all of the rubbish inside!

Let it be said, however, that the Schnabelperchten are generally welcome guests – especially since they bring happiness and blessings for the coming year.

Schnabelperchten (more than one beaked Perchta) roam around the Alpine region of Austria in midwinter, appearing on or before the eve of the Twelfth Night, the last of the “Twelve Days” of Christmas, the “Haunted Season.”

[h/t Mme. Jujujive. Top image and caption found here. More Perchta lore here and here.]

Update: Just spotted this, and I wasn’t even looking for it.

The Fuzzy Wonder Goat… & More!

The DeMoulin Bros. Co. supplied hazing equipment for fraternal organization initiations in the early 1900s. Some of the gaffes were truly bizarre.

Apparently the company is out of the fraternity prank business and has moved onto other products: scary marching band uniforms.

[Top image from here; tiled images from .pdf found here; more info here.]

Bonus: Here’s a restored “Fuzzy Wonder” (and a “Spanker”).

USS IOWA BB-61

The battleship USS IOWA (BB-61) circa Christmas 1983.

“It usually took us (Electricians Mates with assistance from the ICmen, Gunners Mates, Bos’n Mates, Quartermasters) three days to rig & test this light display… 10,856 light bulbs total.

This is the award winning display that won us the “Best Large Surface Combatant” award for four out of our six year commissioning during the eighties. (MED Cruise in 87, lost to USS America in 84)

I served aboard from Dec.1983 to June 1989, was involved with each and every one of those displays.”

Martin A. (Marty) Palmiere EMC(SW) USN(ret.)
USS Iowa BB-61 ’83-’89

[Image and comment found here.]

Antarctica

“Henry was a hard man of the rarest kind. There’s a superficial toughness a lot of men like to portray – all strut and swagger and aggression; men holding ugly masks up to conceal their fear. And then there’s the serene equanimity that radiated from Henry: a steadfast, resolute solidity that came not from fear but from love, from a positive human spirt, and from a heart that shone. – Henry usually signed off his messages with a single word. – Onward.” –

Henry Worsely (1960-2016)

[Image & story found here, quote found here.]

Houston Aerial Transp’t Co. 1925

Maybe it’s Transparent or Transplant. I’m going with Transplat.
Oh wait…

[It was known as] C.C. Cannan Field since 1918 and as an informal flying field and race track before that. In 1925 the field was purchased by Vince Hays for his Houston Aerial Transport Company. It was on this field that Shorty Walker and Guy Hahn made and flew their airplanes and aircraft engines. [Source]

[Top image found here, 1923 C.C. Cannan Field article found here, 1923 Detroit Free Press ad here.]

Absurd.

Now about those bacteria/virus-laden spit valves…

What’s more inane than that? Masks for pictures of people on freeway billboards.

[Top image via FB, h/t Paul Y. ]

Saturday Matinee – Andre Antunes, The Cleverlys, Ricky Skaggs & The Whiskey Gentry

Hold onto your earflaps people. Andre Antunes has a hit on his plate, and he included the lyrics so everyone can sing along.

The Cleverlys Who’s That Knockin’ At My Door is pure gospel bluegrass. Awesome happens at 02:30 with Irl Hees on bass. He’s no longer with the band.

In November 2019, Mr. Hees was charged with felony domestic battery in the second degree and felony aggravated assault of a household member.

“Hees said the argument was over his communication with an ex-wife. He said at some point during the argument, Heather DuBroc walked into the kitchen, picked a pistol up off the kitchen table, and pointed the weapon at him.” [Source]

Ricky Skaggs is one of the greatest mandolin players to come out of the 1980s bluegrass revival, and Highway 40 Blues is one of my favorite early morning roadtrip songs. Skaggs continues performing at the Grand Ole Opry.

Another of my favorites is the ballad of Colly Davis, written by Steven F. Brines and Jim Smoak. I’ve heard a few versions, but this one by The Whiskey Gentry blew me away.

That should keep you rollin’ a while. Have a great weekend folks, and do whatever seems righteous. See you back here tomorrow for more things to click on.

Thanksgiving Day Parade

The early Thanksgiving Day parades often had a circus orientation, and hence the animal elements. Actual lions, tigers, and bears were trucked down city streets, traumatizing them and causing the elicitation of roars and growls that frightened observing children. Wisely, the use of living animals was abandoned after a few years, with animal balloons and floats substituted, together with some great vintage cartoonish stuff that was rather surreal.

[Image and text found here; previous Thanksgiving posts here.]

I found a button hole.

The Niva button factory in Patisia, Greece, opened in the 1940s and remained in operation for decades before being abandoned.

“The photo was available on various international websites. Most of them state that it is an abandoned button factory in China. […] With a little searching and a lot of luck, we found where the ghost factory really is! It is not in the Chinese city of Longhua Shenzhen, as mentioned in most posts, nor are we talking about a set photo. The abandoned button factory is located in Patisia!”

[Top image found in here, other images and story here via here.]