US Civil War Recap

Five years in four minutes. Keep an eye on the casualties counter at the bottom.

People Who Famously Did Nothing

I wondered today about how many famous incidents centered around a person doing absolutely nothing. Now, I'm not talking about people who got famous even though they do nothing of artistic merit (Paris, you know who you are), but rather points in time when doing nothing had famous consequences.

Here's what I've got so far:

God: On the seventh day he rested from making the world, thus creating the first weekend. We are all eternally grateful!

Marie Antoinette: "Let them eat cake" was a famous quote that proceeded her beheading, but it was attached to a refusal to feed the starving commoners of France. They killed her for it.

Hitler: This one has always fascinated me. Hitler had the French and British army on the run on the coast of Dunkirk and instead of attacking them and cutting them off, he famously did nothing and let 300,000+ enemy soldiers escape to fight again.

David Blaine: Street magician and all around weirdo decided to sit in a plexiglass box hoisted up in the air over the Thames River in London and starve himself. And he was in the news every single day for it. *rolls eyes*

This is a tiny, tiny list, I realize, of the famous nothings accomplished in history, but I only have so much time to devote to it today. Please add your own... or don't. : )

Happy Birthday, Spam!

You old son-of-a-gun! : )

(Click pic for the birthday scoop)

Ghost of a Town

Lostdog sent me this link to a wonderful site full of photographs of ghost towns around the US. There is something oddly comforting and eerie about ghost towns. I like being reminded that the earth I live on is older than the span of my own life. I like imagining how long it took those boards and windows to fall into such disrepair. I like letting my mind wander through the decrepit mines once the hubs of civilization, now abandoned and unmarked holes in the ground.

It reminded me of a coal pit mine in West Virginia that I played on once as a child. I was 11 or so and our family had traveled that way to visit friends. I and another child (can't remember who at the moment) went for a walk through the land of an old, abandoned coal mine. The entrances to the mine were large, gaping caves, the entrances blocked with iron gates. I remember the surprising coolness of the air gushing from the caves into the hot, humid air. It was like a giant, outdoor air conditioner. We walked down a steep set of stairs (and by steep, I mean, nearly perpendicular to flat ground) flanked by a pair of rails. I tried to imagine how fast a cart would roll down that hill on those rails, but it made me dizzy. The steps were made of large, roughly-cut blocks of wood and stood about a foot high. It was a great workout!

At the bottom of the hill was a processing or refining machine. It was rusted out almost beyond recognition. We took turns walking up the steep ramp which was used as a conveyor belt to move coal up to the top of the three story structure to be piled high and to the side. The belt and conveyor mechanism were so rusted and full of holes that there were places a child might have fallen through. We, however, did not fall through, but climbed to the top and looked out from the mouth of the yawning rusted beast at a desolate, but beautiful mountain landscape. Of course now one would never send a child to play on a rust heap without full body armour and a tetanus shot, but for that day and that moment in time I was playing on the skeleton of a dragon. I still remember it as clearly as I see today and the image of that place will never leave me.

This Day in History - February 22nd

Hello, History lovers and welcome to another addition of This Day in History! (Little known fact: the study of history is called history!)

Today, February 22nd, has a long and colorful history in the events of our planet. Let us begin.

First of all, it was on February 22, 300009BC that fish completely evolved into flying turnips. And that is why we have land vegetation.

February 22nd also gave us the births of George Washington in 1732, first President of the United States and the bain of cherry trees everywhere; Jean-Bédel Bokassa in 1921, military leader and later self-proclaimed king of Central Africa (reputed to be a canibal, but never proven); Jeri Ryan in 1968, American Actress who would haunt the reveries of lonely nerds for years to come, thanks to her tightly-clad portrayal of Seven of Nine on the popular space-age series Star Trek: Voyager.

Oh, and Drew Barrymore in '75.

Moving on to the deaths of February 22nd. Since someone has to die on this day, we are selecting a handful of eventful deaths to show that February 22nd is even-handed when it comes to mortality. Dead as a doornail on this day in 1799 Heshen, imperial brown-noser and eventual destroyer of the Qing dynasty, allowed to commit suicide at home rather than suffer the "death by a thousand cuts" promised him by the judge. Other notable dead leaders include a sheik, a Sicilian king, a Count named Flanders, and this guy who apparently helped keep things chilly during the cold war only to end up full of hot lead in 2002.

In other dead news, lots of artists went down on this day in history. Among them were Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot in 1875, father of the Impressionist movement, and Andy Warhol in 1987, father of the weird, albino, fruitcakes movement (aka Pop Art).

And last but not least, February 22nd was a good day for the Catholic Church. Not only is today the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter (they eat chairs? What?), but it also marks the auspicious day to celebrate the celebate St. Isabel of France (and for a Frenchwoman, that's a pretty impressive feat). They also saw two popes bepoped in the years 1281 and 1288.

Happy February 22, 2007! What's going on today in your history?

The Empty Space and You

I've been a little busy of late, adjusting tags on my old posts. So if things seem slow here on the front end, it is because I am tinkering with the guts of the blog.

Also, I have a new (old) site on wordpress waiting for me to spur it on to greater things. (Have I mentioned it before? Only two years ago!)My new glorious web address is ksrasra.com. What could be simpler or more refined than that? Nothing, I tell you. And right now, nothing is exactly what I have posted over there.

Before I blaze trails and haul my worthy readers to a new site, I thought I would ask you all, what would you like to see on the new site? Are there features of YLSN(a)ED that you like, features you don't like? I'm asking your opinion. You don't even have to be a regular reader. Your vote counts!

Who Died Today

Seems that November 22nd was a good day in history to die:

1718 The Pirate Blackbeard (British bastard of the high seas)
1873 Horatio Spafford's four daughters drown (prompting the hymn, It Is Well With My Soul)
1896 George Washington Gale Ferris (invented the Ferris Wheel)
1955 Shemp Howard (actor, 3 Stooges)
1963 Aldous Huxley (author, Brave new World)
1963 C.S. Lewis (author, Narnia Chronicles)
1963 JFK (American president, good with the ladies [bad year for the world!])
1980 Mae West (American actress, not pretty but very sassy)
1993 Bill Bixby (actor, My Favorite Martian)

11/11 11:11:11

Today is Veteran's Day. It's about ten thirty here. At 11:11 am I will be sitting quietly at my desk thinking about the many men and women who have served, fought, and died for my freedoms. I am grateful to them and for them. Grandpa included. My Dad, too. All y'all.

Thank you.

The Dueling Rules

Seriously, if you can't handle it like men then get out of the boardroom.

(normzone sent it.)

iPod Time Warp

Steve DeGroof sent me this forum thread from 2001 about the then-rumored iPod. Very amusing to read from the perspective of 2005. Lots of interesting predictions like:
"it wont sell, and be killed off in a short time"

Occupations from Days of Yore

This guy to the left would be known as a "Laster." Ostensibly because he makes shoes and boots "last" longer.

Batman takes on a significantly less exciting meaning...

(thanks, Calum!)

Just Weird

Thomas Edison's Last Breath.

(thanks to lostdog)

How Halloween Happened

A History of Halloween. (which is a stupid holiday, but whatever.) The article also has an annoying door which opens and closes to reveal a large, poorly manicured hand. This makes it hard to read the article because I keep gettting distracted by that hand. Maybe if I press the stop button at the top of the page it'll quit poking that hand out and distracting me from my reading. Ah! It worked. That's better.

(thanks to honestus)

"Fresh Up!"

Cooking with Seven-Up!

*80's

Watch this video: It's Out of Sight!

Random Photo of the Day

Who are these people and what are they doing?

"Ya Whippersnapper!"

A college student at a recent Carolina football game challenged a senior citizen sitting next to him, saying it was impossible for their generation to understand his.

"You grew up in a different world," the student said loud enough for the whole crowd to hear. "Today we have satellite television, jet planes, space travel, man has walked on the Moon, our spaceships have visited Mars, we even have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with light-speed processing and, uh .."

Taking advantage of a pause in the student's litany, the old geezer said, "You're right. We didn't have those things when we were young; so we invented them, you little shit head! Now what the hell are you doing for the next generation??"

(via email)

The Well-Preserved Pickle

Did you know the pickle has been around since antiquity?

Did you know Napolean, Caesar and George Washington were all pickle enthusiasts?

Did you know Cleopatra attributed some of her beauty to pickles? (Although there's no telling which part.)

In the 13th century pickles were served as the main course at the feast of St. John.

Famous pickle quote: "On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's cellar." - Thomas Jefferson

My personal favorite is the Pickle in a Bag found in the heart of New Orleans. Can't find a link, but did find someone giving them away as prizes. I feel that is apt.

Take some time to savor the history of the pickle.

The Two Must-See Videos of the Day

Have a cold glass of Space Dancing with an Apache Boy Chaser. Goes down smooth! (Worth the wait.)

(Thanks to Joey for the Apache find. Thanks to Amy for the Space Dancers.)

Lost Liberty Bed and Breakfast Wasn't Enough

A case of overreacting? Or is it just desserts?