From Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda:
Freyja is the most famous of the goddesses. She has in heaven a dwelling which is called Fólkvangr, and when she rides to the battle, one half of the slain belong to her, and the other half to Óðinn… When she goes abroad, she drives in a wagon drawn by two cats.
I’d say those two cats have some nice penmanship, but there’s more to them than that. They were huge, mean and they loved to draw. They were The Skogkatt.
[More here.]
How’s it feel to be a Green Dot? That’s right, one of those little World Peas is just for you. View the Live Map here. It will display little blinkies that show you who else is here, and it’s anonymous. (We’re at the ass end of the US, just in case you were wondering.)
It’s intuitively obvious to the casual observer that we’re on the verge of taking over the world, so be content in the knowledge that you have assisted with the conquest.
We added an online store and a widget that sort of links to another online store. WorpDress now allows adverts, and they also allow PayPal Tip Jars, so we added that as well. Has any of it paid off? Nah.
We’ve featured the Top Posts for each year since we started in 2007. The numbers indicate this year’s ranking followed by last year’s, and we’ve added a third for all-time ranking (2012/2011/All-Time Rank). NR indicates Not Ranked.
Click on any image and it’ll take you to the original post.
No. 11/nr – Popeye Dead at 108
No. 10/nr – Mickey Possum has a good attitude.
No. 9/nr – The .Gif Friday Post No.104 – Catsup
No. 8/nr – Babe Cannon
No. 7/2/5 – Amy’s Motivational Poster Collection
No. 6/7/8 – Giant Woolly Bear Caterpillar Discovered Near Las Cruces, NM, Predicts Global Warming for Decades to Come
No. 5/nr – 10/10/10 10:10:10
No. 4/nr – 10:11:10 11/10/11
No. 3/nr – Possum Haiku
No. 2/1/4 – Capybara Lapwarmer
AND THE NUMBER ONE POST FOR 2012 IS:
The .Gif Friday Post No.93 – Cat Fish Robot Jam
It scored at No. 6 in 2011, and it’s at No. 7 on the 5-Year popularity ranking.
We plan to keep going with this baboso unless it becomes a chore, but considering all the fun stuff we’ve found just to keep our self-imposed goal of One Post Per Day, it looks like we’ll be around a while. Cheers!
Don’t worry. Tacky Raccoons is not going to morph into a political blog, yet we’re not going to completely ignore current events either. If common sense offends you, you won’t like what we’ve posted below the break, and you can click on the image and listen to Peter Tosh instead. Continue reading “Abhorrence and Misplaced Animosity”
One of Milton Friedman‘s best known examples of Free Market Economics came from Leonard E. Read who wrote a famous article published in 1958 entitled, “I, Pencil.” (Download the .pdf here.)
The basic concept is so full of common sense that it amazes me that it’s not required reading for every student, every civilian and every government politico of every country on the face of the earth. Get government out of the way of the free market, and the free market will take care of everything else.
It’s that simple.
Friedman’s timeless presentation of “I, Pencil” is well worth the 10 minutes it takes to view. Proven throughout history, practical common sense transcends politics, and it always has and always will, except when bureaucratic forces prevent it from doing so.
[Don’ t miss Dr. Thomas Sowell’s tribute here. “I was still a Marxist after taking Professor Friedman’s class. Working as an economist in the government converted me.”]
Update: We’ve posted about Milton Friedman previously. Here’s a link to the archive.
The red crab is by far the most obvious of the 14 species of land crabs on Christmas Island. Every year over 150 million red crabs move from inland shelters to the shore for their annual breeding season. This occurs at the beginning of the wet season (usually October/November).
That synchronized QuadriCombo of .gifs makes for a stand-alone post here, and it’s true that some crabs suddenly materialize while others disappear into vapors. More info at this awesome site – “Colors of Fauna.”
The top sign is good enough for me. It needs no clarification UNLESS the second sign means “Don’t Take A Single Step In Any Direction – Just Sit Down And Pray For Your Soul.”
It’s more likely a warning not to fire up a cigarette because you’ll ignite the atmosphere and kill off all life for miles around except for cockroaches.
Sol de Mana Geyser Basin, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.
This is not a trip for the faint-hearted or picky eater. The round trip is long and extremely bumpy, nights are freezing and the days are hot, accommodation is shared, the bedding dubious and the showers ice-cold. So go prepared, take food and drink supplies, warm bedding and clothing, tissue wipes, hand sanitizer, toilet paper and plenty of batteries for the camera… and book a room for when you get back because boy are you going to need a shower! But the inconvenience of all these things palls into insignificance when sitting under the cold silent star laden sky at night with a bottle of wine and newly made friends, being steamed cleaned by the geysers at dawn as the sun rises, or having lunch by multi-coloured lakes dotted with hundreds of pink bobbed flamingos.
[Image and story found here, with more amazing photos.]
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Continue reading “Independence Day”
Kitty Werthmann was born in Austria and witnessed the effects of Hitler’s policies first hand. The article below dates to at least 1996 -I found it in the July 2012 issue of Military. As we approach another Independence Day it seems entirely appropriate for recirculation, especially in this election year.
Commentors on the websites where the article appears generally consider it to be historically accurate, with the exception of her description of the Austrian election which was a contrived fraud. Others corroborate her story. Left-leaning blogs dismiss Werthmann due to her religion, her position on the 2nd Amendment, her age, and especially because she’s a popular speaker at TEA Party rallies. One website even described her article as pure propaganda.
Regardless of the criticisms, it’s a must-read, IMO. -Bunk
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By: Kitty Werthmann
What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or will ever read in history books. I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide – 98% of the vote. I’ve never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
Continue reading “America Truly Is The Greatest Country In The World.”
Tacky Raccoons 