Some Safety Pin History...!

At different times in our history, folks have come up with some really neat inventions and then sold the patents for next to nothing.

I reckon that in hindsight, the inventors realized that wasn't always a good move on their part! Here's a case in point.

Safety Pins

Walter Hunt was a New York City mechanic and prolific inventor. He held patents for a fountain pen, knife sharpener, rifle, streetcar bell, stove, ice plow, sewing machine, street-sweeping machine, and nail-making machine, among many others.

To pay off a $15 debt to his friend, Hunt decided to invent something useful that he could quickly turn a profit on. One day, while fiddling with a 20-centimeter (8 in) piece of brass wire, it came to him. His idea was the safety pin—the first pin to have spring action and a clasp to protect the fingers.

Hunt filed the patent on April 10, 1849, which he later sold to W.R. Grace and Company for $400. With that, he paid off his friend, keeping the remaining $385 for himself. W.R. Grace and Company made millions off of the safety pin, as would Hunt, if he had kept a share of the rights.

I guess it's easy for us to sit back and say "I would have waited" but who knows? I reckon he wished he hadn't sold so cheap.

Coffee out on the patio this morning. How about some cheese and sliced fruit? 

Freaky Friday...!

Sounds almost like a movie title, doesn't it? Well, I think that from now on we'll start having some weird and freaky stories for Friday, OK?

This one should well qualify, I believe. I think that even Dizzy Dick will find this one to his liking! He likes the strange and weird post! I got this from the folks over at Listverse, so it should be well verified.

The San Pedro Mountains Mummy

Cecil Mayne and Frank Carr were prospecting in Wyoming’s San Pedro Mountains in October 1932. Hoping to find gold, they blasted through some rocks. Instead, they found a small hidden room containing a mummy. In fact, it was one of the strangest mummies ever discovered.

Seated in a cross-legged position, it was only 18 centimeters (7 in) high, and it would have measured no more than 36 centimeters (14 in) in a standing position. The mummy only weighed one-third of a kilogram (0.75 lb) and had an oddly shaped head. It didn’t look much like a human, but an X-ray eventually determined that the mummy had human bones and was likely a miniature human being.

There was much debate about how old this unidentified human could have been when he was mummified. Some experts believed that he was an infant who suffered from anencephaly and looked like an adult because of his facial deformities. However, because he appeared to have adult vertebrae and teeth, others believed the mummified individual might have been up to 65 years old when he died. This stirred speculation that the mummy originated from the Nimeragir. According to folklore, the Nimeragir were a race of “little people” who lived in Wyoming many centuries ago, but their existence has never been verified. The mummy passed through various hands over the years but seemed to disappear after its last owner died during the 1980s.

See? I told ya this was a strange and freaky tale! Just imagine what these guys thought when they found this...thing. It might be enough to give you a few nightmares, that's for sure!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Bacon sandwiches for all!

Sherlock Holmes For Thursday...!

As most of my readers know, I'm a really big fan of Sherlock Holmes, and all things relating to his creation by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I believe that I've read most all of his books and stories pertaining to Sherlock.

However, this post isn't about Doyle but rather about one of his most famous stories involving Holmes. That would be the story of the "Hound of the Baskervilles" and it's inspiration!

The Creepy Inspiration For ‘Hound Of The Baskervilles’

By Debra Kelly on Tuesday, June 10, 2014

One of the most popular of the Sherlock Holmes stories, The Hound of the Baskervilles tells the tale of a family haunted by a curse that’s exacted by a vicious hellhound. The legend behind the story is that of a despised, feared, and hated man named Richard Cabell. Cabell supposedly sold his soul to the Devil, and after being entombed in a sepulchre by villagers fearful he would rise from the dead, Satan’s hellhounds returned to the grave every night, howling in frustration at being denied access to their soul.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous Sherlock Holmes stories. For those not familiar with the story, Holmes sends Watson off to investigate a mysterious murder surrounded by stories of a mysterious, spectral hound seen roaming the hills of Devonshire, supposedly part of a curse on the Baskerville family that has been haunting them for generations.

A great story, no doubt, but the real legend that it’s based on is no less creepy.

According to legend, a man named Richard Cabell lived in West Buckfastleigh in the late 17th century. A squire by trade, he was, by all accounts, an absolutely hated man known for his violent tendencies. Supposedly his family had supported the wrong side during the English Civil War, and Richard ended up marrying the daughter of the man who had imposed fines on the family and sent them into financial ruin. The marriage meant that he got his estate back, but the ending was anything but happy.

The locals were convinced that he had sold his soul to the Devil, apparently finding this a much more likely explanation for the return of his fortunes than the idea that he was just a stand-up sort of guy.

In an absolutely unproven version of Cabell’s story, it was said that his wife eventually found herself the target of his rage. (Death records show, however, that the historic wife actually outlived him by more than a decade.) Cabell was said to have chased her out onto the moors in a jealous rage one night, killing her. In retaliation, her faithful hound ripped out his throat.

Cabell was laid to rest in the local church, but the villagers were afraid that he would rise from the grave and return to torment them. Instead of a simple grave, he was buried in a sepulchre lined with iron bars and a tomb sealed with a massive slab, all designed to keep him inside.

Almost immediately, villagers claimed to hear hounds howling in the night, pacing outside of his grave. Naturally, they were the hounds of hell, sent by the Devil to collect the soul that he’d been promised. Other stories claim that the sepulchre is regularly visited by demons, hoping to succeed where the hounds have failed.

That’s not the end of the weirdness, either.

Beneath the graveyard is a series of limestone caves, stretching for miles and once home to—oddly—prehistoric hippos. Deep in the caves beneath the grave of Richard Cabell is a strange formation, occurring where a stalagmite and a stalactite have come together. Known as the Little Man, it’s said to look a little too much like a man in 17th-century clothing.

Even today, it’s said that if you run around the grave seven times and then reach through the iron bars of the tomb, Cabell will start chewing on your fingers.

There’s definitely some non-supernatural weirdness going on around his grave as well. Not long after he was buried there, the cemetery became a popular haunt for body snatchers. The church attached to it has been struck by lightning, partially destroyed by fire more than once, and decimated by German bombs during World War II. Rumor has it that it’s also a favorite haunt for Satanists, but the church now stands empty and gutted after the latest fire.

Now don't you just love the fact that I dig up these strange and weird facts to share with you? I love to share this kind of stuff!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I'm thinking some lemon pie would go good with the coffee.

What Happened To General Santa Anna...?

The Mexican general that led his troops against the Alamo is surely remembered by many, but do you ever wonder what eventually happened to him?

Over at History.com, I found out a little more of the later years of the infamous general, and I wanted to share it with you.

Jun 22, 1876:

General Santa Anna dies in Mexico City

Embittered and impoverished, the once mighty Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna dies in Mexico City.

Born in 1792 at Jalapa, Vera Cruz, Mexico, Santa Anna was the son of middle-class parents. As a teen, he won a commission in the Spanish army and might have been expected to live out an unspectacular career as a middle-level army officer. However, the young Santa Anna quickly distinguished himself as a capable fighter and leader, and after 1821, he gained national prominence in the successful Mexican war for independence from Spain. In 1833, he won election to the presidency of the independent republic of Mexico by an overwhelming popular majority. His dedication to the ideal of a democratic role proved weak, though, and he proclaimed himself dictator in 1835.

Santa Anna's assumption of dictatorial power over Mexico brought him into direct conflict with a growing movement for independence in the Mexican state of Texas. During the 1820s and 1830s, large numbers of Euro-Americans had settled in the area of Texas, and many of them remained more loyal to the United States than to their distant rulers in Mexico City. Some viewed Santa Anna's overthrow of the Mexican Republic as an opportunity to break away and form an independent Republic of Texas that might one day become an American state.

Determined to crush the Texas rebels, Santa Anna took command of the Mexican army that invaded Texas in 1836. His forces successfully defeated the Texas rebels at the Alamo, and he personally ordered the execution of 400 Texan prisoners after the Battle of Goliad. However, these two victories planted the seeds for Santa Anna's defeat. "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad" became the rallying cries for a reinvigorated Texan army. Lulled into overconfidence by his initial easy victories, Santa Anna was taken by surprise at San Jacinto, and his army was annihilated on April 21, 1836. The captured Santa Anna, fearing execution, willingly signed an order calling for all Mexican troops to withdraw. Texas became an independent republic.

Deposed during his captivity with the Texan rebels, Santa Anna returned to Mexico a powerless man. During the next two decades, however, the highly unstable political situation in Mexico provided him with several opportunities to regain-and again lose-his dictatorial power. All told, he became the head of the Mexican government 11 times. Overthrown for the last time in 1855, he spent the remaining two decades of his life scheming with elements in Mexico, the United States, and France to stage a comeback.

Although he was clearly a brilliant political opportunist, Santa Anna was ultimately loyal only to himself and he had an insatiable lust for power. While Santa Anna played an important role in achieving Mexican independence, his subsequent governments were also at least partially responsible for the loss of the Southwest to the United States. He died in poverty and squalor in Mexico City at the age of 82, no doubt still dreaming of a return to power.

I guess like most politicians, he just didn't want to give up the power and didn't know when to call it quits. We still have some of that going on in politics today, know what I mean?

How about coffee out on the patio again this morning? Sound good?

You Sure You Want Figs...?

Sometimes what we think we know about a certain fruit can be so wrong. After reading this article from KnowledgeNuts about the fig, you'll see what I mean!

The Disturbing Truth About Figs

By S. Grant on Sunday, June 8, 2014

If you always thought your childhood friends were pulling your leg when they told you figs were full of dead insects, it turns out they were right and you were wrong. Indeed, figs do contain digested wasps, which become trapped inside the fruit during pollination. Without this gross and deadly cycle, neither the fig tree nor the wasp could reproduce.

Figs are sweet, chewy, healthy, and yes, they do contain the digested remains of dead wasps. How did the wasps get in there? And why, if this knowledge exists, are figgy baked goods still flying off store shelves? The bizarre truth has to do with reproduction.

The whole fig-wasp relationship boils down to the fact that neither of them are very efficient reproducers; they just found an unusual way to help each other. The fig “fruit” is actually an inverted flower known as a syconium. But, because it’s inverted, most pollinating insects just can’t get to the pollen. Without pollinators, the fig tree wouldn’t bear fruit or seeds and would fail at its fundamental purpose: to produce offspring. Luckily, there is one insect, the fig wasp, that’s figured out a way to travel into the syconium and consequently pollinate the plant. Unfortunately for the wasp, the journey into the fig is a one-way trip.

Still, it isn’t all bad news for fig wasps. As mentioned, these wasps are inefficient reproducers. They need a very specific environment in which to grow and feed their larvae. It just so happens the inside of the fig is the perfect wasp nursery. So, the female wasp will travel into the fig through a tiny passage known as the ostiole. The only problem is the ostiole is so narrow the wasp’s wings and antennas are torn off as she moves down the passage, which means she’s never getting out of there. Nevertheless, this kamikaze mission has enabled her to find the ideal place to lay and nurture her eggs.

But wait, how was the fig pollinated if the wasps can only ever get inside one fig flower? Well, once the eggs are hatched, there are a bunch of male and female baby wasps. After mating, the males spend all of their short existence tunneling through the fig, so the females will have an escape route when they are fully developed. Once a female flies out, she carries a bit of pollen with her and delivers it to whatever fig she flies into next. Of course, that’s also the last fig she’ll ever crawl into. And, to complicate matters further, if she enters a “female” syconium (figs have both male and female flowers) she won’t find the perfect egg-laying ground that she’s after (as in the male syconium) and instead will get lost and eventually die in a long stylus. Although she wouldn’t be able to lay her eggs, she would have successfully pollinated the fig tree.

So now to the big question: Does this mean every time we eat a fig we’re consuming bits of suicidal female wasps and her dead male offspring? Kind of, but not really. Figs have an enzyme called ficin that breaks down the deceased wasps into protein, which become part of the ripened fruit. Nothing of the actual wasp body remains. The crunchy parts of the fig fruit are actually seeds and not leftover wasp pieces.

If you still can’t stomach eating something that was once part-wasp, there are some varieties of self-pollinating figs (usually for home growers) that don’t even involve wasps. Either way, we’ll bet you never look at a fig the same again.

I'm one of those folks that only eat figs in something like fig newtons, and I may have lost my taste for them after reading this. Way more information than I really needed to know.

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Figs anyone?

The "Little Miss" Mystery...!

One of the saddest things I can think of is the disappearance or death of someones' child.

Perhaps it's made even more heartbreaking when a child is killed and cannot be identified for some reason! Such is the case of today's mystery.

Little Miss 1565

The tragic Harford circus fire has made an appearance on Listverse before: On July 6, 1944, a performance of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was interrupted by a blaze that killed over 160 people. Easily the most tragic death was that of “Little Miss 1565,” a blonde girl of only a few years whose identity remains unknown. Police investigated for decades, and the child’s picture was printed in newspapers across the country, but she remained unidentified. “1565” was merely the number provided to her corpse in the city’s morgue.

Over the years, several have claimed that her name may have been Eleanor Emily Cook. Eleanor Cook was killed at the scene, but her body was never identified. She was likely one of the two children burnt beyond recognition in the fire. Although Eleanor’s mother vehemently denied that the mystery child was her daughter, the body was eventually exhumed and buried next to Edward Cook (Eleanor’s brother, who was also killed in the blaze). It is likely Little Miss 1565’s true identity will never be known.

I can't imagine what suffering the family must have gone through over the years. I believe that the not knowing for sure must be the worse part. Hopefully, none of us will ever have to go through that!

I got this story from the folks over at Listverse.

Coffee in the patio, but if starts to rain again, we'll move to the kitchen.

Ready Or Not, It's 'Toon Time...!

We go through this every Sunday, don't we? Nothing ever seems to change except the character of the day!

I reckon I need to find another way to start off the Sunday postings. Ya know, something besides the 'toons. Until then, here we go!



Bugs is always good for a start. At least, it seems that way!



Ya know, Daffy has been around almost as long as Bugs. Getting old like me, I reckon!



Let's have just one more!



OK, that's enough of the silly stuff for now. I know you all have other things to do! Me...I'm gonna read a book!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Gonna be hot later, so we should enjoy the morning cool!