Category: True Stories

Hot Links From Around The Globe

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Great watercolor paintings of scenes from war-torn Afghanistan by British illustrator Matthew Cook. [Kudos to TR reader Nikolay Kotev for posting it.]

If you haven’t seen the vid posted here, it’s worth the 15 minutes. An OWS boy learns about collectivism from someone who lived in Soviet Russia… and he LISTENS.

Orlando Florida, home of Disney World, Epcot Center, and these pretty people.

Give your kids nightmares the easy way. Buy these. Sin duda todos estaremos de acuerdo en que el mejor sitio es delante de la taza del váter.

The latin name for it is Blobimus Maximus.

Any of you on Twitter? I am, but only for the purposes of collecting followers with the promise of tweeting absolutely no content. 20 or so get the joke. I haven’t “followed” anyone, yet I’ve been pre-blocked and reported as a spammer by some.
Think about that.

This a must read for everyone. We’re talking Freedom of Speech.
[Parental Advisory – disturbing content.]

Saturday Matinee – Doc Watson, Chet Atkins & Leo Kottke

Doc Watson, one of the most influential guitar pickers, passed away 29 May 2012. Blind before he reached the age of 1, he overcame his handicap with hard work and earned talent.  Here he is with Chet Atkins (d.2001) and a young Leo Kottke. I’m guessing the vid is from the late 70s.

[Personal gripe: Peeps who post these vids on the Utoobage should give some detail in the descriptions. Many do, but too many don’t.]

Here’s Chet Atkins, early 1960s, with “Black Mountain Rag.”

In 1982, Leo Kottke performed Tom T. Hall‘s “Pamela Brown” on a late night variety show.

Well I think three vids are enough for one post these days, so have a great weekend and we’ll see y’all pickin’ and flickin’ back here tomorrow.

Dirt Poor Pool

THIS is called dirt poor. All I know is that it’ s somewhere in Africa.

[Found here.]

Post 2K! WooHoo!

This is the 2,000th post on Tacky Raccoons.

Just think of all the time I could have been doing something more productive than shirking my responsibilites. On the other hand, this blog has given me much enjoyment over the years because every post was the result of a trek, an internet safari to look for and post oddities that amuse me, or at least hold my attention for more than a few seconds.

It has had it’s benefits. I’ve learned about image manipulation and editing, .gif animations, and that there are some sites out there that no one should visit. I’ve also “met” people from all over the world.

One thing that’s always puzzled me is what generates traffic. Sure, putting up a post titled “Lesbian Amputee Dwarf Porn” got a lot of hits  (it’s No. 15 on the list of most popular) but those who are really looking for it won’t find it here. With very few exceptions,  I’m still running on Anita Bath’s blogging Rule No. 1: Don’t post anything that will cause a Pastor to block the site from viewing by his 12 year-old daughter.

In case you’re curious, here are the Top Five posts that garnered the most attention since we started in 2007:

No. 1 – Another Great Christmas Gift Idea

No. 2 – LOL FERRET: Episode 1

No. 3 – Um, Nice Stained Glass?

No. 4 – Capybara Lapwarmer

No. 5 – Batmobile Babe Magnet

Are those the best posts of Tacky Raccoons? Not in my opinion, but who cares. I’m having fun, and I hope you are, too.

Queen of Soul

© Art Kane, 1967, Aretha Franklin, “Halos”, Esquire Magazine

Wanting to highlight her strong Gospel roots, Art Kane tried waving the camera in a circular motion to try to make halo shapes from the light in Aretha’s eyes. This photo is also a rare, Art Kane crop, as virtually all his images are composed in full frame.

[Found here.]

We’re SO Screwed.

You can find out how he got it (and what he did with it) at the Daily Mail, or at Archie McPhee’s Endless Geyser of Awesome.

Next thing you know they’re gonna be whittling lifesize human decoys. [Found here.]

20 May: Everybody Draw Mohammed Day & The 1st Amendment

That is an image cut and pasted from an Iranian website and it’s a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.

Not too long ago, a cartoonist posted a sarcastic cartoon, and she became the target of death threats. Real threats, not imagined. She got seriously spooked and backed off, but others took up her cause. Why should anyone in the blogosphere need to cower to those who want to squelch the Freedom of Speech?


So in support of The First Amendment, here’s my contribution to Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.

UPDATE 3 October 2021: Swedish artist who survived two murder attempts after drawing a cartoon of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed has died in a horror car crash. Lars Vilks, 75, was killed Sunday when the police car he was traveling in veered onto the wrong side of the road and collided with a truck. [LINK]

Why Boobs?

On the previous post, we mentioned boobs, and here’s why. For years WordPress discouraged advertisements on its platform, and apparently a lot of peeps complained enough to get them to change their policy.

Several months ago we received an offer from WP, that due to the level of traffic and other factors, Tacky Raccoons might be eligible for embedded advertisments with the promise of becoming filthy rich.

Okay the filthy rich part was not in the agreement, but we decided it was worth a shot, even if it only funded a couple of beers a month. So now we have adverts. The first one that showed up was this:

Yep. The algorithm that generates ads decided to eliminate raccoons and sell poop-shaped pillows. Made me smile, and that brings us back to boobs.

The word “boobs” generates a lot of traffic, and if we can make a few clams by posting other phrases like “Lesbian Amputee Dwarf Porn” then so be it. It’s an experiment, and no, we’re not going to start posting pictures of humongous breasts,  sex trapeze circus bimbos, or naked silicone sluts smothered in Chee-Tos. Carry on.

Update: When I previewed this post prior to posting, this ad showed up:


I think someone’s trying to tell me something.

Saturday Matinee – Hey Baby ’59

Before you click on that first video, I gotta tell you something. Bunkarina sent it to me from the living room last night. Although I recognized the song immediately, I couldn’t name it or identify the original artist, let alone date it correctly. Had I been betting, I would have lost my shorts.

Now THAT is how to ask a girl to Senior Prom. Had I only known.

Hey Baby. On the beach.

In the rec hall. From the comments: Ha! – check out :34 – :36, looks like she’s popping her head in the door and thinking about being your girl!

DJ Ötzi’s version is cool, too.

That’s Bruce Channel and Delbert McClinton in 2003. Channel wrote it in 1959, recorded it, and it became a No 1 Hit in 1962.

50 years later, it’s still a hit for a high school prom invitation, and that makes me smile. Have a great weekend folks. See you back here tomorrow, when I will explain why “boobs” is now in the tagline.

Sheep Circles

From the “What To Do With This” file. [Found here.]

Reminds me of a Super Bowl Party we hosted years ago. I took some flour, “painted” yardlines on the lawn in front of the house. People showed up and asked, “How the hell did you get all the birds to line up in rows?” True story.