Category: True Stories

Embryonic Bat Skeleton

Embryonic Bat Skeleton

[Found here.]

Molossus Rufus

Bat Black Mastif Embryo

Destined to become a gargoyle, that’s a Black Mastiff Bat embryo.

[Images found here, via here.]

A TR Milestone – 1,500,000 Big ‘ol Honkin’ Views

15000k

According to the Tacky Raccoons Statistics Department, we received our 1,500,000th blog view sometime this morning, and this is our 2,329th post. Thanks a wad for the all the visits. – Bunk

Oscar Big Grouch Bird

Big Oscar Bird

That image was in the “One Of These Days I’m Going To Post It” file. Might as well post it now since Jane Henson, muppeteer and wife of the late Jim Henson, passed away 2 April 2013.

[Image found here.]

Parakeet

Parakeet Story

That made me smile.

More Than A Watch Dog

Stare Dog

[Found here.]

Celtic Round Hounds

Celtic_round_dogs grn

Many Irish myths and legends include mentions of hounds. The most famous involves the Celtic hero Cuchulainn (The Hound of Ulster) or (The Hound of Culann) who stroked a blacksmith’s Celtic hound with his bare hands. When Culann, the blacksmith asked who would now guard his shop the young Cuchulainn offered to take the dog’s place thus gaining himself the title of ‘The hound of Culann’. The offer was turned down and Cuchulainn went on to become one of the greatest warrior legends of that era, but the nickname stuck. Other famous Irish hounds were Bran and Seolan who belonged to the warrior, Fionn mac Cumhaill. The mother of Bran and Sceolan was Tuiren, and was Fionn Mac Cumhaill’s aunt, transformed into a hound by a fairy or Sidhe. [via]

Sunday Go To Meetin’ Hot Links

Cat Camo

10 Camoflage Cats.

You had one job… [via]

A Bacterium on a Diatom on an Amphipod. [via]

George Thorogood discusses his influences and his switch from acoustic to electric guitar.

The Beatles’ most counterfeited album: Introducing The Beatles.

First known image of computer porn. (Don’t worry. It’s cool.)

“I swear! He just went into another cow’s butt!” Kids discuss Cyriak’s “Cows & Cows & Cows.”

All about Kenny, Bush Chooks, EB, sport, E squared, red can, green stuff, kero and wife bashers here.

The Bible, translated into Gullah, is apparently not a parody: Gullah Nyew Testament.

It happens.

VERY COOL sciency images with brief descriptions here.

Natural Sunscreen

Snail Burn

Kinda creeps me out, not so much for the snails, but for everything else – the solar cooker, the scary dude lurking behind the canvas recliner, the ominous black car that the thug drove up in…

Apparently that’s Fin Keheler from Sandy UT, attempting to break the Guinness Book of World Records for keeping the most live snails on his face for ten seconds.  He succeeded with 43 in 2009, breaking the previous record of 36.

[Found here.]

Introducing The Beatles – COLLECT ‘EM ALL

I spotted an article about the resurgence of the popularity of vinyl records recently. The Missus and I were discussing dumping our collection of LP records (actually, only the Missus was) and I remembered that I had some albums that might be of value to someone. The first one that came to mind was this:

IntroducingtheBeatles

I knew a little bit about the history of Introducing The Beatles. It was their first release in the US. Capitol Records and others had turned them down, but VeeJay Records took the plunge and released it in 1964. Quite the collector’s item for an audiophile, but what might it’s value be?

Copies list on Ebay with a surprisingly large spread for such a well-known rarity: $25-$900. Certainly the condition of the disc and album cover affects the value, but it’s still an odd price range.

Ebay Introducing The Beatles

So I went to fetch my copy of “Introducing…” and I found TWO – one a bit worse for wear, and the other in good shape. There were noticeable differences. The Copy A songs on the disc don’t match the album cover list, but those on Copy B do, and there is an obvious disparity in printing quality of the cover faces. Both copies have the “stereophonic” banner.

Front Covers

That’s my Copy A on the left with my Copy B on the other left. It’s a single photo of the two copies, side-by-side, cropped for posting.

Back Covers

Here are the reverse sides of the covers. Copy A is matte finish and faded; Copy B is glossy.

Introducing The Beatles V2 V1 Comparison

Here’s a detail with the bottom of the banners aligned. Both images were scanned and cropped with the same software. Obvious differences are obvious, and they’re even more obvious when one looks closer:

Introducing The Beatles Details

Kinda suspicious, eh? By now I was curious, and I found an article entitled “Collector’s Corner – ‘Introducing The Beatles’ (the world’s most counterfeited album)” penned by a guy who calls himself Happy Nat. The guy knows his stuff, and described the history of the album. There were two basic versions printed due to a dispute between VeeJay Records and Capitol records over recording rights.  I determined that my Copy A was Version 2, while my Copy B was Version 1. I also noted that the stereo versions are the rarest, and a genuine copy may be worth thousands, depending on other minor variations.

I was convinced that my Copy A was a counterfeit, but what about Copy B? I was drooling, so I emailed both Happy Nat and Gary Hein. Continue reading “Introducing The Beatles – COLLECT ‘EM ALL”