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.]

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.]

Gimme Me A Hand

Gimme A Hand

[Found here.]

Awesome Clock Is Awesome.

Awesome Clock 2

No, it’s not a Harry Potter movie set. It’s a functional astronomical clock in Prague, Czech Republic. Its workings date to 1410AD and it’s still in operation after over 600 years.

[Image found here, story here. Here’s a video with an annoying soundtrack.]

Now let’s talk about volume and displacement.

Mercury - Please Don't Hit Us

Most people have no concept of the size or depth of the Atlantic Ocean or the distances between continents, so this graphic is useless, inane and awesome at the same time. Very cool.

Now if the Planet somehow managed to violate its orbit and dropped in unexpectedly, Global Warming would indeed be something to worry about.

[Found here via here.]

Saturday Matinee – R.I.P. B.B. King (1925-2015)

BB King

The Blues had fallen out of favor in the U.S. recording market in the 1960s, as it was considered retro and passé. Many talented blues musicians from the ’40s and ’50s were left with few options until British rock bands took notice and revived the genre by covering various classic American blues songs, often without credit, which fomented a resurgence of interest in the original recordings. The British were largely responsible for restarting the careers of such notables as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Even early blues-based rock and rollers Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley got career boosts, and all were more popular in England than they were in the United States at that time.

Riley B. “Blues Boy” King was one of the greatest bluesmen of all time, known for his roaring vocals and understated guitar solos. He paid the cost to be the boss, and this BBC documentary from 1972 is amazing. There’s no posing, no strutting or preening, just straight talk about influences and style in a refreshingly honest manner. There’s no point in posting other B.B. King videos here because this one covers it all.

R.I.P. Mr. King. That’s one hell of a legacy you left us.

4 May 1970 Kent State – Remember Always

KSU Taylor Hall parking lot

Remember Always that this atrocity was planned and choreographed, not by students of Kent State University, not by the City of Kent Police Department, not by the Governor of Ohio, not by the Ohio National Guard, and not by the Nixon administration.

Many poor decisions were made by people in charge in the days leading up to this atrocity, but those who deliberately set up the scenario for purely political reasons are the ones who deserve the blame for the injuries and lives of innocents. Those people were self-identified socialists, fascists, communists and anarchists, and that’s not conjecture. The people who incited the violence freely admitted it, and were indeed proud of it.

They wanted it to happen, and they made it happen.

Kent State University was chosen, just like Ferguson Missouri was chosen, just like Baltimore Maryland was chosen.

Never forget.

[Related posts with links here. Image from here.]

ANZAC DAY 25 April

ANZACDayANZAC DAY to the diggers

Apologies, mates. Missed an important date.

The .Gif Post No. 384 – Current Events

Pool Stunt FAIL
Iran

thermonuclear 1thermonuclear 4thermonuclear 2thermonuclear 3

A THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON DOES NOT BELONG IN THE HANDS OF AN ENEMY OF THE STATE.

WE ARE

NOT AMUSED

MR. OBAMA.

 

Israel

[Found here, here and here.]

The Bug That Wasn’t A Bug But Was.

1942 Renault 4CV Prototype front

1942 Renault 4CV Prototype rear

Take a guess as to what it was – the answer’s below the break. Continue reading “The Bug That Wasn’t A Bug But Was.”