On Lynching.

The CHAMBER OF HORRORS at the Southwestern Historical Wax Museum in State Fair Park of Dallas, Texas, recreates an event that took place in Ada, Oklahoma, April 19, 1909, when a lynch mob took four suspected murderers from jail to a barn where they administered frontier type justice.

According to the Tuskegee Institute, 4,743 people were lynched between 1882 and 1968 in the United States, including 3,446 African Americans and 1,297 whites. More than 73 percent of lynchings in the post-Civil War period occurred in the [Democrat-controlled] Southern states. [Wiki]

[Image and caption found here.]

The Battle of Midway – 4-7 June 1942

77 years ago, The Battle of Midway dramatically changed the outcome of WWII in the Pacific.

An out-gunned flotilla of US warships took advantage of information provided by Joe Rochefort‘s codebreakers and caught Imperial Japan’s massive attack force off guard. It was perhaps the most decisive battle in naval history.

By mid-1942, Rochefort’s codebreakers could read much of the Japanese Purple Code (Rochefort was fluent in the language) and they knew that an attack was imminent on “AF” but they didn’t know where AF was. They arranged that an un-encrypted message be sent from Midway Island claiming that the desalinization plant was down and the island was almost out of fresh water (it wasn’t).

Japanese intelligence intercepted the alert and sent coded messages that “AF” was out of water, and the codebreakers confirmed that “AF” was Midway. Rochefort’s team also predicted the direction that Admiral Admiral Yamamoto’s armada would attack from.

It wasn’t an easy fight. The U.S. Navy lost the USS Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann (DD-412), and nearly 150 aircraft. More than 300 Sailors were killed or injured. But when you stack it up against Japanese losses (four carriers, a heavy cruiser, more than 300 planes, and some 2,500 casualties) there’s little room for doubt as to who won.

Admiral Yamamoto’s armada was successfully ambushed while attempting to ambush the US Navy.

[Image and quote from here. More at the links above.]

P.S. If you think Hollywood’s version of Midway is accurate, it’s not.

Big Chief Buffalo Hot Links

How to create a portal.

The Corgi & the Gauntlet.

The exploitation of Peter Max.

Cool EcoVid, but why the porn soundtrack?


Desert BluesJimmy Rogers, 1929.
Desert BluesSkeets McDonald, 1965.
Desert BluesRicky Nelson, 1967.
Desert BluesLeon Redbone, 1975.

More versions listed here.


If in Riverside, California, take this tour.
If in Wilmington, Delaware, take this tour.
If in Lynchburg, Tennessee, take this tour.


Max Mueller II, mayor of Idyllwild, California, is a real SOB and everyone knows it.

Mom ordered a t-shirt from China for her 3-year-old and it came with a surprise bonus feature.

And it’s all supposed to be spontaneous. Yeah, right.

Un-Aborted Pro-Abortion woman tries to make the argument:
Let’s eliminate suffering by killing those who MIGHT suffer.” Pheew. Even Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was against abortion as a contraceptive (except for blacks). The entire premise is false.


From the archives: 10 years ago. 5 years ago. 1 year ago.

[Top image from here.]

Saturday Matinee – Leon Redbone (1892-2019)

“Why don’t they play pretty music any more?”

Leon Redbone was an iconic performer who reinvigorated the music of the late 19th to early 20th century, including blues, ragtime, dixieland jazz and country. That he pulled it off in the mid 1970s is an interesting commentary of the state of music of the time (mainstream rock was sucking donkeys). You couldn’t get more retro than Leon Redbone at that time, and he stepped right into the mix.

Rolling Stone described his repertoire as “so authentic you can hear the surface noise of an old 78 rpm.” During a 1974 interview (prior to release of any album) they asked where he first played in public. Redbone responded, “In a pool hall, but I wasn’t playing guitar, you see. I was playing pool.” Apparently he was pretty good at it.

I learned of the song “Ain’t Misbehavin” via some sheet music my late grampa had, and I liked the tune. I’d never heard of Fats Waller before I heard Leon Redbone’s version.

Then I heard Redbone’s over-the-top absurd version of The Sheik of Araby, a cover of this (1937) which was a cover of this (1922). I became a fan.

In the early ’80s I saw Mr. Redbone perform at The Golden Bear (a small but famous venue with no bad seats). His props were a rattan chair, a side table with a lamp, and his guitar. He was in the middle of a song when he saw the flash of a Kodak Instamatic camera. With lightning speed, he stopped, grabbed a Polaroid Swinger and took a photo of the photographer, then sat quietly humming until the image appeared. He held it up to view.

“Ahhh. Not a bad likeness.”

Then he resumed the song exactly where he left off.

I wasn’t aware of this until today, but there is a documentary on Leon Redbone. Here’s the trailer:

“He was always mysterious, he was always coming and going. It was almost like he was there one second and he’d be gone the next… and you never knew where he’d gone or why or how he’d even left, but suddenly he wasn’t there anymore.” – Jane Harbury, Publicist.

Here’s a link to the full documentary if you’re interested. It’s only 16 minutes, but it’s worth it.

Leon Redbone, you were a breath of fresh air into the stagnant late 70s music scene. May You Rest In Peace.

[Related posts here.]

The Horn Section Is Here.

No, that’s not the “Taliband.” Apparently they’re in Morro do Turano, a favela [slum] in Rio de Janeiro, and there’s a program that donates musical instruments and teaches kids how to play them.

[Found here.]

Declassified Hot Links

This.

How to make a bug.

What’s the big idea?

Renewable resources.

Der Schweißermeister [via].

What does a zero sound like?

Free breakfast. And lunch. And dinner.

Sports Illustrated and creeping sharia.

Ancient beer recipe translated and brewed by monks.

All of Don McClean’s songs were sappy. There. I said it.


This creeped me right out. [G] [via]

This creeped me right out, too. [PG13]

This creeped me right out even more. [PG13]


From The World is Run by C Students Department:
In 2017, Jim Kenney, the democrat mayor of Philadelphia increased the soda tax to 1.5 cents per ounce, raising the price of a two-liter bottle of soda by roughly 67%. Tax revenue fell by 51%, shops closed and workers lost their jobs as people began shopping out of town. Brilliant move, moron.

[Top image found in here. Happy 30th Anniversary to Bunk & Bunkdalene.]

Shadow Puppet Tutorial

Okay, so there’s a bird, a turtle in love with a river rock, a dinosaur with antennae, an ambient lawn light, an ex-girlfriend, a mock turtle, a bat sleeping upright, and a giant hummingbird riding a whale.

Not sure of the original Japanese artist who created this, but he’s got nothing on these guys.

[Image found here. I enhanced it a tad.]

My Girl Is Red Hot Links


Check out the 1st link here. (Thanks, Stacy.)


Ronnie Hawkins‘ girl is red hot, but your gal ain’t doodley squat. Just sayin’.


Can’t promote religion in public school except for this one.

“At least be forthright about your desire to subvert and dismantle our democracy into a creepy theological order led by a mad king.” -NY Rep. Alexandria Occasional Cortex


School lunch lady did the right thing and got fired for it.
[UPDATE: There’s more to the story.]

Lunch Lady action figure demonstration.


Woman gets suspended from FaceBook for posting easily verifiable facts.


From The Irony Department: Every Pro-Abortion advocate in history was not aborted. TRUE.


The Myths of the Minimum Wage. Yeah, I did my own research in 2014.

The Myths of Gasoline Pricing. Yeah I did my own research in 2009.


Need Bingo stuff? Here you go.


ZAP!


[Top Image:  Great Gift Idea from here, via here. More great gift ideas here.]

R.I.P. Tim Conway (1933-2019)

The guy was naturally funny, especially when ad-libbing, and he did it all without profanity. Tim Conway was a real class act. We’ll miss him.

[Update:

A cartoonist named Randy Bish posted that tribute (via here).]

 

The All-In-One Radio Of The Future ca.1935

This telephone, radio, video, news link, photo transmitter/receiver, printer included a “Like” function to transmit audio applause. It was an all-in-one Victrola on steroids, a paleo Smart Phone that went up to 11.

[Images found here and here. More here.]