φ + φ

Nautilus Shells 1947 Edward Weston

φ =\tfrac{1 + \sqrt{5}}{2} \approx 1.618033988749894848204586834

φ is the best number derived since π .

[Image found here.]

Stairway To Aleppo

[UPDATE: Some images and commentary have been deleted. They were posted long before I realized the true horror of the atrocities in Syria.]

Stairway to Aleppo Original

Residents try to find their belongings among the rubble left of their homes after what activists said was an air attack from forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad in Bab Neirab, Aleppo, on July 27, 2013.

[Caption and image from The Atlantic.]

Saturday Matinee – Rock Rock Rock, Rockabilly & R.L. Burnside

Rock Rock Rock” was the first video tape I ever purchased. Got it for $9.99 in a sale bin, then I saved up for a VCR player so that I could watch it. Classic performances by classic rockers wrapped around an unbelievably crappy story. It’s 90 minutes of fast-fowarding awesome (but I suggest you follow the plot at least once).

Rockabilly LA. Considering that Los Angeles had just about nothing to do with the advent of Rockabilly except to lure the hayseeds into fraudulent recording contracts, we’ll post it anyway.

So where do we go from here? How ’bout some vintage country ‘lectra blues?

That’s R.L. Burnside from 1978. Let’s go one more. This one’s from 1998.

That should hold y’all for a while. Have a great weekend, folks.

Full Moon in Oknata

Full Moon_Bulgaria

The Eyes of God, Prohodna Cave, Bulgaria.

By the way, tonight’s full moon is a Blue Moon, as in “once in a…”

[Found in here. For those of you who were awaiting The .Gif Friday Post, it’ll return next week. Promise.]

The .Gif Friday Post No. 399 – End of an Inning, Base Hit, Korean Baseball Taunt & My Favorite Out

End of an Inning

Base Hit

Korean Baseball Victory Dance

You Catch That

[Found here, here and here. Video clip of the tagout here. 4th .gif previously posted here, and it’s pure awesome.]

Deep Sea Diving Hugs – Roberto Galeazzi’s Contribution To The World

Deep Sea Hugs 1935

Deep Sea Hugs 2 1935

[Found here.]

Pat Reidy’s Contribution to the World: Coca-Cola Museum, Xalapa, Mexico

Coke 3

Coke 2

Coke 5

Coke 6

Coke 1

Hi, Pat. I see that your love for Coca-Cola is still alive and well. Why do you love it so much?

Pat Reidy: Well, firstly, I really like the flavor, but I also think that it represents one of the best publicity campaigns that there’s ever been in the world. It’s international, it’s intelligent, and uses everything to promote its brand. People see a T-shirt, a toy, a poster or whatever, and want to drink a Coke. Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus, and that says everything.

[…]

Yes, please. Tell me about the steps I need to follow in order to be a professional Coca-Cola drinker.
You should always drink it really cold; always from a glass bottle, or maybe from a can, but never, ever from a plastic bottle. The best Coke is the one that comes from the tiny glass bottle. I always buy the 355-milliliter glass bottle, though.

How many Cokes do you drink a day?
I don’t drink it much nowadays. I drink one 355-milliliter bottle a day and I really enjoy it—you have no idea. Unless there’s a party or a special occasion; then I drink more. But that’s what I do now, because for years, when I had to teach 12 hours a day, drinking Coke was my salvation. I used to drink 15 355-milliliter bottles a day.

Was it ever bad for your health?
Never. Back then there was no water. There was no purified water and they didn’t sell water gallons to keep at home. So between drinking boiled water or Coke, well, there is no contest, really. I also cook with Coca-Cola.

What do you cook with Coke?
You can cook many things with Coca-Cola. I even have recipe books. My specialty is a hamburger that I make with my secret recipe. I fry it on my grandmother’s pan—which is huge—with Coca-Cola instead of oil, a bit of English sauce, pepper, garlic salt, and onions. It’s wonderful. I call it Pat’s hamburger. I also use it in soups. I love it.

[Images and commetary found here, via here.]

Song O’ The South

Confederate Paint

I was born in the North, lived in the South, have ancestry in both, and this fabricated hoopla over the Rebel Flag is completely inane and without warrant. It’s a symbol of regional pride and self-sufficiency. To reinterpret the Rebel Flag as something other than that is absurd, and it IS fabricated hoopla.

The War of Secession ended, the Union was preserved, slavery was abolished by The 14th Amendment, and all at a great cost in lives and expense a century and a half ago. It was a brewing war of economic inequity and the Southern States decided they’d had just about enough of it. Then someone popped some warning lead across the bow of a ship heading to Fort Sumter.

Here’s a mind game. Since the majority of the Southern population was dirt-poor in the 1800s (few could afford a mule, let alone a slave) what would have happened had they turned to subsistence farming for a few years and stopped cotton and tobacco produce from moving to the industrial North who weren’t sharing the profits and benefits? The Union would have invaded the South to quell the protest.

What if the North had merely coughed up some bucks to reimburse slave owners to free their slaves from bondage? Much unnecessary death and destruction could have been avoided.

Of course it didn’t turn out that way, hindsight and all, but to condemn a symbol of pride to augment a specious left-wing political agenda (i.e., dividing the Nation once again) is abhorrent in my opinion.

If we don’t stop this nonsense soon, eventually we’re gonna have to ban Elvis, Duane Eddy, Billy Idol, all of CSN&Y, and most of the Democrat Party including Hillary (unless she can crank out her version of “Wedding Bell Blues.”)

[Image found here.]

Greater Than Great Hot Links

Duck People
Mr. Rogers’ acceptance speech.

For those who think wearing rings with monster eyes makes you look cool, they’re available here [via here].

Children’s songs, 1970s Belfast

Medieval illustrations of cats licking their butts [via].

Propaganda vs. reality.

Okay, this is brilliant.

bestrooftalkever:

Great Barrington – Business is Greater than Great! 

It appears that someone/some people have created a YouTube channel about the town of Great Barrington, MA that has a video for EVERY business in the town.

The song is the same in all of the videos and each video is just filled with some exteriors of the business.

I am obsessed.

this is real, people. and it’s realer than real.

It’s true. Business in Great Barrington is greater than great, and here’s proof:

Watch the entire play list. I know where I want to go on my next vacation, and I’ll check each establishment off my bucket list one at a time. Wait for the Great Barrington Cemetery
It’s greater than great.

[Top image from here.]

Nothing Much Happened Today.

Nothing Much Happened Today 15

Sinabung has been erupting sporadically since 2010, when it killed two people, but farmers refuse to leave its deadly slopes because the land is so fertile.

That’s Sinabung, as in Mount Sinabung, Sumatra, Indonesia.

[Unattributed image found here,  story here.]