Pigeon Pong. [via]
New Axe Cop animated series! (If you don’t know why Axe Cop is pure awesome, you haven’t been paying attention. CLICK HERE and follow the links.)
A fun holiday song (that Bunkarina named “dafuq?”). Watch for the possum.
Have a great weekend, folks. There’s more awesome coming to a blog near you.
Day/Month/Year Hour:Minute:Second and every permutation therein. 
(West Poondongwalla, Australia) – Strutts News Services
Only the wealthiest of the wealthy were able to keep their lights on when the entire power grid of Australia failed just days ago, and no one knows why the continent now glows blue. Some locals blame global warming, while others point accusatory fingers at The Mayans for their probably prophetic Calendar of Doom that caused the utility companies of Oz to hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete simultaneously and just for the hell of it.
In any case, the well-to-do panicked wisely and moved inland to avoid the rising seas that subsequently swamped the coastal regions.
[There’s more info here that can’t possibly be true. Related post here.]
Scanned image of a rubber stamp that Papa Strutts had made. He used it on much of his correspondence to commemorate that Day of Infamy.
With all the recent Huffin’ N Puffin’ N Rapier Rattlin’ from some small sectors about States seceding from The Union (due to rampant fiscal insanity emanating from Washington D.C.) kudos to Key West and Mayor Dennis Wardlow. His preceding secession succeeded.
On April 23, 1982, the Florida keys seceded from the Union. Frustrated that a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint was obstructing the main artery to the mainland, Key West mayor Dennis Wardlow opted for a lighthearted public relations campaign: He proclaimed his “Conch Republic” a separate nation, declared war on the United States, surrendered one minute later, and applied for $1 billion in foreign aid.
Since then the republic has maintained an uneasy peace with its giant neighbor. On Sept. 20, 1995, when an Army reserve battalion forgot to notify Key West of local training exercises, Wardlow mobilized for war. He sent letters to Bill Clinton, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and secretary of state Warren Christopher, and his militia engaged La Dichosa Bakery to bake Cuban bread with which to pelt the convoy (“our historic weapon of choice for dealing with Federalist Forces”) and Key West Lager “to provide the beer.”
By 10:50 p.m. they had received a fax from the battalion’s leaders stating that they had “in no way meant to challenge or impugn the sovereignty of the Conch Republic.” An official surrender ceremony was held two days later.
[Story burgled in its entirety from Futility Closet because Greg Ross is so entirely bitchin’ and everyone should send him money. There’s a somewhat related post here.]
A somber ceremony at Pike’s Peak 1876. The dangers of the new frontier were many, and there were many horrible ways one could part from the living.
The U.S. Signal Service (an early Weather Bureau) built a telegraph station on the summit [of Pike’s Peak] in 1873 to monitor the weather, and a guard was posted in Manitou at the beginning of the trail to collect a toll for hiking to the summit.
In May of 1876, tragedy befell the O’Keefe family when their daughter Erin was apparently eaten by mountain rats. The true story may be found here.
[Bottom image found here, top image here. Related post here.]
Mail Call Letterpack – You get two players that play only the cartridges you can buy from Smith Corona and you can send a 3, 6 or 10 minutes letter. Just $70 a pair in 1967, these would be $450 in today’s dollars. How is this better than a phone? They say, it has no static and it’s cheaper!
Life, 1967
Make a 10 minute telephone call that will get to its destination in 4-5 business days, and in 4-5 business days you might get one back and can continue the conversation. Beats buying a reel-to-reel, and squelches telemarketers, too.
[Found here.]
Actresses featured in the Moriarty playing card series issued in 1916 by the Movie Souvenir Card Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The back of each card is a reproduction in multiple-colors of the painting “The Chariot Race.” The ad card within the pack proclaims: “Get a few packs of “Movies”–A Veritable Picture Gallery of the celebrities of the Movie World, treated with such a genius that it is the greatest novelty ever made in Souvenir Playing Cards, and is complete for playing all card games.”
I pick 3, 10 & Q diamonds, 8 & 10 clubs as if it matters. (5 hearts is an obvious slut. Don’t mess with her for more than one night.)
[Found here.]
15 Seconds.
Helicopter/Camera Synch. [via]
Happy Shining.
Big Splash.
BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Etta James at the Ebony Showcase Theatre Los Angeles, 15 April 1987, with The Wicked Wilson Pickett‘s “Midnight Hour.” (Check out the amazing background of Nick Stewart, founder of the EST linked above.)
Great way to wrap up this edition of The Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks, see you back here tomorrow.
Who’s that good lookin’ kid in Row C Column 1? He liked the good lookin’ girl at C8. Her name was Karla. That same year my family moved to a different school district.
I still remember some of the kids in that picture, even though I don’t remember their names. A9 was funny. A5, B7 & D3 were trouble makers. C1, D1, and a couple of others got detentions the first day of school for having too much fun. True. We had a blast and thought we were being rewarded.
My mom was pissed because nobody called from the school to tell her that Bunky had been detained. She thought I’d drowned in the creek.
Several years later I recognized Karla sitting next to me in Literature Class. She’d transferred into my High School in our senior year, and was a jaw-dropping knockout. I could barely stutter out my name, but she said she remembered me. She said C3 grew up to be a complete rumpswab.
Any of you recobanize your photo?
Tacky Raccoons 