Bela Kiss On Monday Mystery...!

The past is full of the killer types, many who were caught and punished and just a few that got away!

Probably the rarest of all the killers in history fall in to category of mass murderers, and thankfully they are not as plentiful as many have been caught. However, some did escape justice. This is the story of one!

Béla Kiss

Kiss of Death

Béla Kiss (born in 1877) was an Hungarian serial killer. He is thought to have murdered at least 24 young women, and attempted to pickle them in giant metal drums that he kept on his property. He was a tinsmith who had lived in Cinkota (a town near Budapest), since 1900. He was an amateur astrologer and was fond of occult practices. Members of the community noticed that he was amassing a number of large metal drums, which he said were filled with gasoline to prepare for rationing in the First World War, which was looming. He was conscripted into the army and left the town. In July 1916, Budapest police received a call from a Cinkota landlord who had found seven large metal drums. The town constable had remembered Kiss’ stockpile of gasoline, and led needy soldiers to them. Upon attempting to open the drums, a suspicious odor was noted. Detective Chief Charles Nagy took over the investigation and opened one of the drums. There they discovered the body of a strangled woman. The other drums yielded similarly gruesome content. A search of Kiss’ house resulted in a total of 24 bodies. Kiss’ housekeeper assured police that she knew absolutely nothing about the murders, and showed them a secret room Kiss had told her never to enter. The room was filled with bookcases, but also had a desk that held a number of letters, Kiss’ correspondence with 74 women and a photo album. Many of the books were about poisons or strangulation. Kiss was found recuperating in a hospital in Serbia, but he escaped by putting a dead soldier’s body in his bed. He was never caught, but people claimed to have seen him in various places around the world, including leaving a New York subway.

I guess that once in a while, in spite of our best efforts, one of the bad guys does get away! We can only hope he met with some justice somewhere along the way!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Watch for the rain just in case!

Sunday 'Toons and Rain...!

Nothing like the gentle sound of rain on the roof to make you want to sleep in, ya know?

Even though I don't have a tin roof on my house, the carport roof makes a good substitute. Quite a soothing sound if ya ask me! Just right for watching a few old cartoons!



Even after all these years, I kinda find it hard to understand Donald. Am I the only one?



Sure are some nice looking melons in Donald's garden. I'd like to grow some that pretty!



Great! Now I'm hungry for some popcorn! Good weather for it, too! Nothing like the smell of freshly popped popcorn, except for the smell of fresh brewed coffee!

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. Rain is lingering, so we better play it safe!

Bees And Coffee...!

It's nice to know that bees have the same need for coffee that many of us. That morning buzz is more universal that we imagined!

I can just see it now...all of us gathered around the patio table, enjoying our morning coffee, when suddenly here come the bees to join us. Of course, they won't drink much as they prefer the flowers. How could we ever turn away another few coffee lovers?

Thanks to the folks over at Listverse, I have even more respect for the humble bee than ever before!

Coffee Contains Caffeine To Attract Bees

Every other coffee list on the Internet will tell you that coffee was discovered by goat herders, whose goats got a little jolly after munching on coffee berries. But why does coffee contain caffeine to begin with? Well, it’s toxic to slugs and other pests, but it turns out it also has an effect on pollinators such as bees. In fact, scientists think they get—wait for it—a buzz from the caffeine in the flowers of plants.

Scientists found that consuming caffeine helped bees to improve their long-term memories. The caffeine acts on the brain chemistry of bees in a way that makes the flowers more memorable, so the bees are more likely to return to plants of the same type. Though bees and humans are very different, some experts suggest the capacity to be affected by caffeine could be as old as the common ancestors we share, as it impacts our neurological activity on a very fundamental level.

I'm happy to know that Mother Nature lets us share our craving for caffeine with some of her finer creatures. Kind of a special feeling, being able to share!

Coffee on the patio this morning. I'm in the mood for sausage and biscuits, OK?

The Buffalo Hangman...!

You may not know this, but President Grover Cleveland actually had the nickname of the Buffalo Hangman!

How he came by this nickname is a really interesting story, and gives us a glimpse into the life of a former president that we actually don't remember too much about. Just one more reason our history is much more interesting than we ever knew!

President Grover Cleveland Was Also An Executioner

If you know Grover Cleveland for anything, it’s that he was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, making him the only president to serve non-consecutive terms, and that he had a funny name. What you probably didn’t realize was that earlier in his life, he actually acted as a hangman for his county and performed an execution.

Grover Cleveland was the 22nd (and 24th) President of the United States of America. He has never been a particularly well remembered president, standing out mainly for sharing a name with a Muppet and for being the only president who ever served two non-consecutive terms in office. However, there’s something else pretty fascinating in his past: he was an honest to God hangman.

That’s right, Cleveland actually bears the nickname “The Buffalo Hangman” because he personally performed multiple executions while serving as the sheriff of Erie County, New York in the 1870s. He was in his 30s at the time, and the first fateful event took place in September 1872 when a man named Patrick Morrissey was convicted of killing his mother.

Cleveland could have passed the duties off to a deputy, but despite not necessarily being on board with execution, he carried out the task himself. It would not be the last time he would act as hangman, either, having also personally executed a man named John Gaffney on February 14, 1873.

Of course, Cleveland could hardly turn down the task considering the office of sheriff in Erie County was one of the most well-paid public offices around in that day and age. He was reportedly making $20,000 per year, which is primarily what brought the young Cleveland to agree to take the office in the first place. And that was in the 1870s: The modern-day equivalent would be more than $350,000.

Before Cleveland took on the role of sheriff, his predecessor had actually passed all of the responsibilities for executing, well, executions to his deputies. Cleveland simply was not having that. The deputy who had performed the previous executions was growing weary of taking lives and felt some serious shame and embarrassment for bearing the nickname “Hangman Emerick.”

By most accounts, Cleveland grew ill after carrying out his first execution, but the fact that he took on the role of executioner to spare his deputy any further moral crises should be more than enough to earn him at least a little bit of respect—respect not always given by the history books.

Here is a statement made by the man that might give some more insight of the type of leader he was...“Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.” —Grover Cleveland. Sounds like a pretty good man to me!

BTW, this information came from the site KnowledgeNuts.

Coffee out on the patio this morning once more. I have some carrot cake snack bars I'll share!

Let's Talk About Avocados...!

Nearly everyone I know likes the Avocados, mainly when it's made into a dip (guacamole) or when used on a sandwich!

I'll be the very first to admit that I never knew about this information I found over at KnowledgeNuts! This is why I love doing research! You can find out the most interesting things!

Avocados, The Toxic Berry

By Jamie Frater on Monday, July 15, 2013

Avocados are toxic to almost all animals (including cats and dogs). Humans are a rare exception. It is the only fruit to contain persin, a fatty acid, which, when eaten by animals causes vomiting, diarrhea, and other nasty symptoms. Consumption of large quantities can cause death within twelve hours.

Avocados are berries (fleshy fruits coming from a single ovary). Interestingly, this broad definition of a berry means that bananas, pumpkin, tomatoes, watermelon, and coffee are also berries (you can tell that to the next person who tries to argue that tomatoes are vegetables). Curiously this also excludes strawberries as berries.

Eighty percent of modern avocados originate from one “mother” tree which was patented by mailman Rudolph Hass from California in 1935. The tree survived until 2002 when it died of root rot. Unfortunately Hass only made $5,000 in his lifetime from his patent on the tree because his partner sold cultivars to anyone who wanted to buy them. Subsequently Hass spent the remainder of his life working for the California Mail Service.

Avocado also has an interesting characteristic: it is the only berry with no living animal large enough to spread it through consumption and release as dung. This has led scientists to believe that it co-evolved with prehistoric megafauna that were large enough to eat the fruit whole. The megafauna went extinct but the avocado remained as an unusual monument to an unknown dinosaur.

All I know is that I love them, especially as a side with some good Tex-Mex food! I like 'em sliced as well. I usually squeeze a little lemon on 'em to keep 'em from turning black!

Coffee out on the patio again this morning. Summer seems to be back with us again!

Messing With Texas...!

Even from the very early days, messing with Texas was not a good idea! General Santa Anna found this out the hard way!

The Mexican movement to disarm the folks in Texas caused quite the stir in Gonzales, as pointed out in this article from the folks over at History.com. I think this is widely accepted as the start of the Texas Revolution!

Oct 2, 1835:

First shots of the Texas Revolution fired in the Battle of Gonzales

On this day in 1835, the growing tensions between Mexico and Texas erupt into violence when Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, sparking the Texan war for independence.

Texas--or Tejas as the Mexicans called it--had technically been a part of the Spanish empire since the 17th century. However, even as late as the 1820s, there were only about 3,000 Spanish-Mexican settlers in Texas, and Mexico City's hold on the territory was tenuous at best. After winning its own independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico welcomed large numbers of Anglo-American immigrants into Texas in the hopes they would become loyal Mexican citizens and keep the territory from falling into the hands of the United States. During the next decade men like Stephen Austin brought more than 25,000 people to Texas, most of them Americans. But while these emigrants legally became Mexican citizens, they continued to speak English, formed their own schools, and had closer trading ties to the United States than to Mexico.

In 1835, the president of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, overthrew the constitution and appointed himself dictator. Recognizing that the "American" Texans were likely to use his rise to power as an excuse to secede, Santa Anna ordered the Mexican military to begin disarming the Texans whenever possible. This proved more difficult than expected, and on October 2, 1835, Mexican soldiers attempting to take a small cannon from the village of Gonzales encountered stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia of Texans. After a brief fight, the Mexicans retreated and the Texans kept their cannon.

The determined Texans would continue to battle Santa Ana and his army for another year and a half before winning their independence and establishing the Republic of Texas.

Guess the moral of the story is fairly clear here. As the saying goes..."Don't start nothing, there won't be nothing!" Makes sense to me!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. How about some fried apple pies?

The Start Of 3 Squares A Day...!

Seems to me that the more I learn, the less I really know!

I guess I never thought much about the actual start of the " 3 meals a day" thing. I more or less figured that it was always that way. I love learning new stuff, especially when the topic is eating!

Three Meals A Day

For those of us in the West, our parents and grandparents have pushed three squares on us for so long that many of us assume that consuming breakfast, lunch, and dinner is how it’s always been. In reality, eating three meals a day is a fairly recent practice that only became popular with the advent of the electric lightbulb. Before then, our third meal was virtually nonexistent since it was difficult to prepare food in the dark. In fact, eating a meal after dark became a symbol of wealth, since it meant a person could afford electricity.

In Ancient Greece, it wasn’t uncommon for people to only eat once a day, and the average Medieval European only had two meals. Those who ate twice usually had a light breakfast of only bread and ale while dinner was consumed in the afternoon. If anything was eaten in the evening, it was usually something small that required little to no preparation. Such eating habits carried into colonial times and were common among agrarian people until the early to mid-20th century.

One good thing about being single and retired, I don't eat according to a clock. Instead I eat when I'm hungry. But then I always drink coffee before going to bed if I want. Doesn't seem to bother me or keep me awake!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I think the rain has stopped for a bit, so let's enjoy it while we can!

The Hermit Mystery For Monday...!

Sometimes the folks that we think we truly know turn out to be someone totally different! I mean really different!

One thing you can say about this old boy is that folks will not forget him for quite some time. I would imagine that he will continue to be the conversation topic for many years to come!

Joseph Newton Chandler III

On July 30, 2002, Joseph Newton Chandler III, an elderly hermit from Eastlake, Ohio, committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. An autopsy discovered the presence of colon cancer in his body, which likely motivated his decision to take his own life. When probate courts attempted to work out the man’s estate, they tracked down his surviving relatives. They were shocked to discover that nine-year-old Joseph Newton Chandler III had actually been killed in a car crash in Texas in 1945!

It turned out this unidentified man had been using Chandler’s identity for decades. In 1978, he had requested a copy of Chandler’s birth certificate and used it to apply for a Social Security card. Many theories were formed about who this man really was. Crime buffs began to speculate that “Chandler” might have been the Zodiac Killer since he bore a resemblance to the suspect’s composite sketch. They also noted that “Joseph Chandler” happened to be the name of an investigator who found one of Jack the Ripper’s victims. The man also bore a striking resemblance to Stephen Craig Campbell, a fugitive who had been wanted for attempted murder since 1982 and was never caught. However, there is no conclusive evidence to prove any of these theories, so no one knows the real story behind the man who stole the identity of Joseph Newton Chandler III.

I'd say the old man did a good job at hiding his real identity from everyone. Sad if they didn't find his true family, if he even had one! It's sad that he took his own life, though.

Coffee in the kitchen again this morning. It's nice and cool outside, but it's still a little rainy!

Cartoons For A Soggy Sunday...!

We are finally getting some much needed rain here in Houston, so I figured that a little soggy silliness was in order!



I wonder when Popeye discovered that eating his greens was a good thing? Didn't help his eyesight much! I mean, have you taken a good look at Olive ?



Did you ever wonder how these guys spend their time during the day? Do they have hobbies? Do they do anything for fun besides fight and chase women? Wait! The last part doesn't sound too bad, ya know?



By the way, I was just kidding about the chasing women! Kinda like the dog chasing cars...I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one, ya know? Getting old ain't for sissies!

Coffee inside again today. It's OK though, 'cause I've got some iced lemon cookies I'll share!

Beware The Red Tide...!

Living so close to the Texas coast, I've seen the Red Tide and experienced the effects that it brings.

A large amount of the coastal animal and plant life is adversely affected by the occurrence of the tide, and because of that the livelihood of the fishermen is also hurt. No wonder that many believe that the biblical "water turning to blood" was actually a reference to a Red Tide!

Red Tide Algae

The Red Tide is a terrifying phenomenon that haunts the Earth’s coastlines. At certain times of year, the waters may turn a rust color as thousands of tiny seaweeds known as (Algera pelagius) multiply after mysterious influxes of nutrients, often in combination with temperature changes. The algae is rapidly absorbed by shellfish, and is extremely neurotoxic. The highly lethal bloom may rapidly paralysis limbs, and even worse, it anesthetizes the respiratory pathways upon exposure through contaminated shellfish. The Red Tide is considered to be the basis of the Biblical Plague where the waters turned to blood, and was noted to have caused the death of one of Captain George Vancouver’s crew upon the navigation of Western Canada. States and provinces have been closed to harvesting as a result of “paralytic shellfish poisoning” threats. In addition to human victims, entire beaches have been covered dead seabirds and ducks that were exposed to the toxic algae. Red Tide just might explain some of the mysterious animal deaths noted on a recent list.

It really wouldn't bother me if I never saw another Red Tide, ya know? Enough is enough in some cases.

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. It's still raining, but today that's a good thing!

Eye For An Eye...!

In some cultures, the idea of justice calls for the "eye for an eye" path to settle things.

While I'm not defending this, I can see where it could be some determent for certain crimes. As far as it being inhumane, I'm not sure of that claim either. Punishment to fit the crime doesn't seem to far removed from hanging or death by injection to me! I guess we could argue that one is payback and one is revenge! Pretty close to the same thing, don't ya think?

Acid Thrower Feels Victim’s Pain

In 2004, Iranian jerkmuncher Majid Movahedi showed the world what a terrible person he was by throwing acid over Ameneh Bahrami as she walked home from work, blinding her. Bahrami had previously turned down his offer of marriage, and in Movahedi’s disturbed little mind, that slight apparently demanded a face full of acid. But here’s where things get interesting. Iran operates under strict sharia law, and sharia law allows “eye for an eye” style punishments. In Bahrami’s case, she took this literally. When Movahedi came to trial, she asked the court for a special favor. She wanted Movahedi blinded by acid.

And the court said yes.

For the next three years, Movahedi lived knowing he was going to feel the exact same pain and fear that his victim had. In 2011, he was taken into Tehran hospital and sedated, knowing he’d be blind when he woke up. Before you think I’ve gone totally mad and started advocating cruel and unusual punishment, I should add that Bahrami called off the procedure at the last second, saying she’d never intended to actually go through with it and would rather forgive her attacker. Movahedi got to keep his sight, but crucially he got to understand exactly the sort of fear and misery his victim must have felt all those years before. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.

This story is taken from the site Listverse.

I can only imagine what kind of fear this man must have lived in for those 3 years. To know that you will face a punishment like this down the road must take it's toll, and maybe that's a good thing. I'm not saying I'm for it or against it, but I can bet it isn't pleasant at all!

Better have coffee in the kitchen this morning. The rains have finally showed up and it's wet outside! Cake donuts on the table there!

Now This Is Class...!

How would you act if you were faced with certain death? Scared of dying, or standing up and looking your demise square in the eye with courage and style?

I'm not sure how I would react, but I would certainly hope that I would show just a portion of the class shown by this gentleman!

Benjamin Guggenheim

Benjamin Guggenheim was a passenger on the Titanic and on the fateful day it sank, Guggenheim realized he wanted to go to Valhalla looking sharp.

As the boat was sinking, Guggenheim and his valet, Victor Giglio, immediately set about helping as many women and children as they could into lifeboats. However, after around an hour, the boat crew noticed that they were missing. Several minutes later, Benjamin and Giglio emerged on deck without their life preservers. Instead, they were now wearing their finest evening wear. When asked why they had changed, Guggenheim simply responded that he wanted to go down like a gentleman and asked for someone to get a message to his wife.

You may remember Guggenheim from the Titanic movie—he’s the one who sips brandy on the deck as it slowly sinks into oblivion. Well, believe it or not, Guggenheim actually did that. Except the real Guggenheim was even more awesome than his fictional counterpart, who simply asks for the brandy and walks away without actually helping anyone.

In real life, he saved dozens of lives first.That’s the image we want to leave you with, a guy dressed to the nines sitting on a deck chair with a brandy in hand as the entire world collapses around him, completely content that he was going to die like a gentlemen should.

It's nice to know that having money and stature didn't always mean a person had to be stuffy and all high and mighty. I would venture to say this man was classy all the time, and I think that's a good thing!

Coffee on the patio this morning. Still waiting on the stormy weather, ya know?

The Fight At Beecher's Island...!

I think that we tend to forget how the advances in firearms drastically increased the odds for survival of some frontiersmen.

When one armed man can fire 7 times faster as those using single shot weapons, that can make a big difference!

Sep 17, 1868:

Cheyenne and Sioux decimate frontiersmen at Beecher's Island

Early in the morning on this day in 1868, a large band of Cheyenne and Sioux stage a surprise attack on Major George A. Forsyth and a volunteer force of 50 frontiersmen in Colorado.

Retreating to a small sandbar in the Arikaree River that thereafter became known as Beecher's Island, Forsyth and his men succeeded in repulsing three massed Indian charges. Thanks to the rapid fire capability of their seven-shot Spencer rifles, Forsyth's volunteers were able to kill or wound many of the Indian attackers, including the war chief Roman Nose. But as evening came and the fighting temporarily halted, Forsyth found he had 22 men either dead or wounded, and he estimated the survivors were surrounded by a force of 600 Indians. The whites faced certain annihilation unless they could somehow bring help. Two men-Jack Stilwell and Pierre Trudeau-volunteered to attempt a daring escape through the Indian lines and silently melted into the night.

The battle raged for five more days. Forsyth's effective fighting force was reduced to ten men before the Indians finally withdrew, perhaps reasoning that they had inflicted enough damage. Miles from help and lacking wagons and horses, Forsyth knew that many of his wounded would soon be dead if they didn't get help. Fortunately, on September 25, the 10th Cavalry-one of the Army's two African-American units nicknamed the "Buffalo Soldiers"-came riding to their rescue with a field ambulance and medical supplies. Miraculously, Stilwell and Trudeau had managed to make it through the Sioux and Cheyenne and bring help. Thanks to their bravery and the timely arrival of the Buffalo Soldiers, the lives of many men were saved.

Thanks to the folks at History.com for this information. They always have some interesting stories about our history!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. We have to enjoy it because a storm is supposedly on the way!

Murder For The Sake Of Science...!

In a move that makes no sense to me at all, we sometimes make stupid moves and call it "scientific" research.

I don't go along with the notion that we have to kill or destroy something to study it. Maybe I'm old fashion, but that's the way I feel! Cutting down something as magnificent as this live tree must have been just to see how old it was...that's crazy!

The Oldest Living Thing To Ever Be Killed By A Human

In 1964, a bristlecone pine tree was cut down in Nevada in the name of scientific research. After counting the rings several times it was determined to be the oldest tree found on earth. Incidentally it had been alive when cut down, and an emotional and political storm followed.

In 1964, Donald Currey was looking for evidence concerning the “Little Ice Age,” a period of time between approximately the years 1300 and 1800 where the Earth’s temperature presumably dropped slightly, reaching its lowest point sometime in the 1600s. He was hoping to find a tree that had lived through this entire period so that he could study its growth rings. He got much more than he bargained for.

He located a tree in what is now Great Basin National Park in Nevada and decided to use a Swedish tree-coring tool to take a sample. However, the wood was quite dense, and the tree was large, and at some point he got his coring tool stuck. Too stuck to get out . . . without a chainsaw.

So he asked the Forest Service District Ranger if he could cut it down. At this point, nobody knew how old these trees really were. They were living in a harsh climate, had grown slowly and laboriously, and the tree he was asking about was a gnarled, beaten-looking tree, appearing somewhat puny at only five meters (17 ft) tall. The District Ranger checked with his superior to make sure it was okay and, after getting permission, went with Currey to help him cut it down.

After laboriously cutting down, chopping up, and hiking out pieces of the tree, the real work began—counting the rings. When he had counted them all (more than once, just to be sure), it appeared that the tree was over 5,000 years old. At the time, this made it the oldest known tree in the world. And he had killed it.

Unbeknownst to him at the time of the cutting, there were actually a small group of people who loved the trees in the stand from which he had cut . . . and they had even named them. The tree he cut down was named Prometheus, and the cutting of Prometheus became a powerful symbol in an ensuing battle over whether science is worth the cost of the resources it destroys.

The media and public went to town with accusations. Politicians got involved. Different agencies responsible for the natural resources of the area blamed each other. Local newsman Darwin Lambert wrote a paper titled “Martyr for a Species.” Words such as “murder” and “rape” were thrown around carelessly. But ultimately, nothing was decided, and the world eventually moved on.

It is now estimated that the tree was closer to 4,800 years old rather than the original guess of more than 5,000. It’s not as easy as just counting the rings because a new ring is not necessarily produced every year. Just think: We might never have known about it at all if Donald Currey hadn’t gotten the Forest Service to cut it down.

Thanks to the site KnowledgeNuts for showing just one more way that we look the fool trying to appear smart! Almost makes you sick to your stomach, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio this morning! About time for some donuts, don't you think?

Time For Monday Mystery...!

Today's mystery is something a little different. The reason is that it may not really be over!

This story has a little bit of a sad undertone to it for that very reason. We normally don't hear about mysteries like this, but thanks to the folks at Listverse (where else?) we now know about this one!

Atuk Curse

A small handful of productions have garnered a reputation for being cursed. Well-known examples include the Poltergeist franchise and Rosemary’s Baby, where people attached to both films succumbed to untimely deaths. A lesser-known example is a movie that has never escaped development hell, a screenplay adapted from the 1963 novel The Incomparable Atuk. Atuk is a fish-out-of-water comedy which features an Inuit moving to the big city.

The screenplay has been kicked around Hollywood for over 30 years. Numerous stars have been attached to the project, and each has been executed by fate. In the early 1980s, John Belushi was slated to play Atuk, but he died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 33. Next, stand-up comic Sam Kinison was offered the role, but he was killed by a head-on collision with a drunk driver at the age of 38. Lovable lug John Candy was also considered, until he succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 43. Lunatic SNL star Chris Farley was next in line, until he too died of a drug overdose at just 33 years old, a grim mirror of the passing of his idol Belushi.

Atuk’s influence was so sinister that it appeared to have struck people who merely read the script, including Saturday Night Live writer Michael O’Donoghue, who died of a cerebral hemorrhage at 54, and actor Phil Hartman, who was killed at age 49 by his wife Brynn in a drug-fueled murder suicide. Does Atuk exert some kind of evil, deadly force? This is likely a mystery we will never know the answer to, as the movie is no closer to being made now than it was three decades ago.

I get the feeling that maybe this movie just shouldn't be made. After all, somethings are best left alone, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I have to go to the V.A. later, so I need some extra coffee!

Saturday Was A Bust...!

Since Saturday was such a bust as far as a post went, I'm hoping that today is better, ya know?

After all, we all need a little fun to start our Sunday off right, don't we? Sure we do! What would Sunday morning be without some old-fashioned cartoons?



Gotta love the ol' Foghorn Leghorn! Always trying to pull the wool over someones eyes. Maybe he's a politician, ya reckon?



We'll mix it up a bvit today. Don't want anyone to get bored, ya know?



That should be enough to get us started, don't you think? BTW, don't forget to keep our friends in Colorado in your prayers, OK? In fact, you might mention any and all in the way of the floods and high water! I'm sure they would appreciate it!

Time for some coffee out on the patio this morning. Rains coming (supposedly) but we will take a chance!

Internet Problems...!

I only have the internet off and on, so no post today!

Thanks, Comcast!

Thoughts From Andy Rooney...!

Andy Rooney had a good way of saying things that we all could understand, and do it in very few words.

Even though most of these came from a talk about older folks, I think that all of us can find something in his words.

I've learned.... That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.

I've learned.... That when you're in love, it shows.

I've learned.... That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.

I've learned.... That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.

I've learned.... That being kind is more important than being right.

I've learned.... That you should never say no to a gift from a child.

I've learned.... That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.

I've learned.... That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.

I've learned.... That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.

I've learned.... That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.

I've learned.... That life is like a roll of toilet paper: the closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

I've learned.... That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.

I've learned.... That money doesn't buy class.

I've learned.... That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.

I've learned.... That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.

I've learned.... That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.

I've learned.... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.

I've learned.... That love, not time, heals all wounds.

I've learned.... That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.

I've learned.... That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.

I've learned.... That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.

I've learned.... That life is tough, but I'm tougher.

I've learned.... That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.

I've learned.... That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.

I've learned.... That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed away.

I've learned.... That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.

I've learned.... That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

I've learned.... That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.

I've learned.... That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.

I've learned.... That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

Like I said, maybe we can all pick up something we can use from these sayings. Sure couldn't hurt, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Another hot one on the way!

Dangerous Dolphins...!

This may be hard to believe, but I found an article about some countries around the world that actually trained Dolphins to play like warriors.

Things are bad enough when we train our own kind to go to war, but to take some of Mother Nature's creatures and train them as instruments of destruction is a bit much, in my opinion! The saddest thing about this, is that our very own Navy was part of this group and very possibly still is! Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

True to form, humans just love coming up with creative ways to kill each other. One crazy way has been enlisting the help of dolphins. Dolphins have been trained to do things like sweep for mines, incapacitate terrorists, and even kill.

Ahh, dolphins: Sweet, smart, delicious, and also capable of blowing your brains out. As animal lovers around the globe love to point out, our aquatic bottle-nosed allies are quite intelligent beasts. But as slightly more intelligent beasts, humans have figured out the best use for dolphins—as part of our militaries.

Thanks to their aforementioned intellect and superhero-like underwater sonar skills, our flippered friends are perfect for assisting human divers in locating underwater mines. In Iraq, the US used dolphins to clear harbors of mines which their technology could simply not detect without them. They are clever minesweepers as well, with the ability to distinguish between a mine and other underwater paraphernalia like coral or man-made debris. And it’s safe for the dolphins as well. Since there are so many aquatic animals in the harbor being swept, the mines are designed not to go off when fish, sharks, or dolphins swim by them; otherwise they’d be exploding all the time.

The dolphins are versatile, too. They can even be trained to kill. In 2000, a group of dolphins trained by the Soviets to kill enemy soldiers were sold to Iran. They were taught how to attack enemies with harpoons and even undertake kamikaze strikes.

It’s even happening closer to home for Americans. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a group of military dolphins may have escaped into the Gulf of Mexico equipped with poison dart guns and with a license to kill. Well, not kill, but the poison could incapacitate any swimmers or surfers the dolphins mistook for an enemy terrorist.

The US Navy refused to confirm if the dolphins were missing, although they admitted they existed. So there’s every chance there could be a dart-loaded dolphin out in the ocean, just waiting for its next military mission. Guns don’t kill people; dolphins with guns kill people.

You can thank the folks over at KnowledgeNuts for this great little article. I wish it were made up, but sadly it isn't!

I think we should have coffee out on the patio this morning. Anyone want some cinnamon toast?

Bowie On Western Wednesday...!

By now I'm sure that everyone has heard of Jim Bowie, or at least heard the legend of his famous knife!

As usual, we only know part of the story. Seems like his brother was as wild as he was! That is so often the case!

Jim Bowie stabs a Louisiana banker with his famous knife

After a duel turns into an all-out brawl on this day in 1827, Jim Bowie disembowels a banker in Alexandria, Louisiana, with an early version of his famous Bowie knife. The actual inventor of the Bowie knife, however, was probably not Jim Bowie, but rather his equally belligerent brother, Rezin Bowie, who reportedly came up with the design after nearly being killed in a vicious knife fight.

The Bowie brothers engaged in more fights than the typical frontiersman of the day, but such violent duels were not uncommon events on the untamed margins of American civilization. In the early nineteenth century, most frontiersmen preferred knives to guns for fighting, and the Bowie knife quickly became one of the favorites. Rezin Bowie had invented such a nasty looking weapon that the mere sight of it probably discouraged many would-be robbers and attackers. Designs varied somewhat, but the typical Bowie knife sported a 9- to 15- inch blade sharpened only on one side for much of its length, though the curved tip was sharpened to a point on both sides. The double-edged tip made the knife an effective stabbing weapon, while the dull-edge combined with a brass hand guard allowed the user to slide a hand down over the blade as needed. The perfect knife for close-quarter fighting, the Bowie knife became the weapon of choice for many westerners before the reliable rapid-fire revolver took its place in the post-Civil War period.

Looks to me like the Bowie boys were not to be messed with! Funny, but I've known a few folks like that! Wonder if they are related?

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I'm in the mood for some danish, OK?

What About Electric Spiders...?

Now this is something about this that scares me more than a little!

When I first read this, I couldn't help but imagine how frightening it would be if these things were the size of a small dog. I certainly would NOT want one in my yard or house, even at the smaller size!

Electro Netting

Everyone knows that spider webs are sticky. Bugs are hard pressed to escape from the gooey tendrils of an arachnid’s carefully lain trap. But the eight-legged hunter is still relying on a fly or bee to just blunder into it. It’s like fishing without bait—you’ve just got to hope you’re in the right place and that your lunch runs headfirst into your house. But as it turns out, spiders have a few tricks up their hairy sleeves to help even the odds. Recent research has revealed that they’re using electricity as a weapon.

Many flying insects generate a positive charge. The rapid flapping of their wings around their fuzzy little bodies gives them the whole socks-right-out-of-the-dryer effect. Bees can generate a charge of up to 200 volts. How do spiders take advantage of this? Their webs are negatively charged. So guess what happens when a positively charged insect comes soaring past a negatively charged glue net? You’ve got a magnetic trap. The webbing will actually lurch toward the bug, so that they’ll get snared even if they’re just flying close to it. There is no pulling up at the last minute when dealing with a spider’s web. A fly won’t be able to buzz the tower Top Gun style and get away with it. And once they’re tumbling around the web, all the silk lines nearby will be attracted to the positively charged victim too. Spiders have managed to turn static cling into a hunting tool.

Just think. If it weren't for the folks over at Listverse, I would never have know about this particular spider...and I probably would sleep a whole lot better at night! This could make for some very interesting nightmares, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Mama Kitty has moved the babies again, so keep your eyes peeled!

A Texas Monday Mystery...!

Not many things in life are more sad than for someone to pass away and their family having no idea.

I know that families sometimes have trouble and spent years apart, but the idea of not knowing what happened to the missing family member goes beyond sad to me. Family should mean everything to us all! Believe me when I say that I know what the "not knowing" is like!

Several years ago, one of my nephews was found floating in a lake, his teeth had been knocked out and his shoes were missing. The actual details of his death were unknown and remain so to this day! The saddest part of this is that he had been separated from his family for a couple of years. They had no idea where he was or how he lived. The whole family was affected by the mystery of his passing, and there was a lot of guilt shared by some family members because of this.

Princess Blue

In Brazoria County, Texas on September 10, 1990, a motorist who pulled off the highway to relieve himself in a trash-dumping area was shocked to discover a skull inside an old tire. The skeletal remains of a female, believed to be between the ages of 15 and 25, were then found on a pile of debris. Cause of death is unknown, but it is estimated she died one to five years before being discovered. She was initially thought to be Hispanic, but later analysis has determined that she was probably white and descended from at least one black parent or grandparent.

Even though no clothing was found, the victim had six rings on her fingers and a bracelet. The most distinctive piece of jewelry was a silver-colored 1975 class ring from Robert E. Lee High School in Houston. The blue stone in the ring is what led to her being nicknamed “Princess Blue”. Given that the victim was too young to have graduated high school in 1975, investigators were baffled about why she would have this ring and have tried to find out if anyone from that graduating class might have lost or given their ring away. Thus far, they have had no luck solving this mystery.

Being that this story takes place almost in my neighborhood makes it all the more personal. Unfortunately, in this day and age we have become almost numb by all the tales we hear of murder and mayhem, all without thinking about the families affected by the tragedy. When we stop feeling at least some of our neighbors' pain, we loose part of our humanity. Just my opinion, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio this morning, but be ready to scoot to the kitchen!

Yep! It's Sunday 'Toons Again...!

I reckon that many of you are hoping someday I'll put something other than 'toons on here for Sunday, but today ain't the day!

I figure that there are enough serious blogs around where you can get all the latest on politics, religion, and war without me becoming involved, know what I mean?



Believe it or not, I bought one of those "voice throwers" when I was a kid...didn't work for me, though.



Back in the '50s, things were a lot simpler and more positive! Don't you think?



Guess that's all we have time for today. Hope you enjoyed it, folks!

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. More rain supposed to show up, know what I mean?

Let's Talk Dolphins...!

Not only are these animals pretty to look at, but they have some amazing qualities.

I never knew just how special these critters were until I read this article at Listverse. Some absolutely wonderful talents, that's for sure!

Skin

Why aren’t dolphins covered in barnacles? Whales are coated in the things, but the dolphin family seem to be immune. Look at Flipper or Shamu (killer whales are just big dolphins by the way): They’re clean and glassy smooth. So what’s their secret? Super skin.

Dolphin’s unique skin gives them all kinds of advantages. To start, while their epidermis is no tougher than ours, it is about 10 to 20 times thicker than any land animal. It also grows about nine times faster than ours. An entire layer of skin is replaced every two hours. This rapid skin regeneration helps to keep dolphins smooth, silky, and hydrodynamic. Dolphins also have microscopic ripples in their skin, which help them travel faster through the water and prevent parasites from grabbing hold. But the real secret of why dolphins are so clean is that they secrete a special gel, which resists the mucus that barnacles and their ilk cling on with. So dolphins are covered in some sort of natural glue solvent. Even if something does find a way to latch on, this dolphin grease also contains enzymes that attack parasites.

Pretty interesting, don't you think? There are plenty more special attributes of these dolphins that you can read about if you go to Listverse and read about them!

I reckon we can have coffee out on the patio again. I have some macaroons I'll share!

A Jefferson Type Protest...!

In an age where nearly anything we do can list us as "Domestic Terrorist", this is a good way to protest whatever you like.

In doing it this way, nobody gets hurt and nothing is destroyed. No damage of any kind is done and you are never in danger of becoming what you are protesting, ya know?

Thomas Jefferson's Silent Armies

Thomas Jefferson was the primary author the Declaration of Independence, the first Secretary of State of the United States, its third President, and in general, a central figure in America's early days as a republic. He's depicted on Mount Rushmore along with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. If you live in the United States, you probably have a few images of him lying around; just check your pockets. He's on the nickel. He's also on the $2 bill, but it's unlikely you have one of those at the ready, because they're not all that common. While $2 bills are still in circulation, less than 1% of the bills produced each year are of that denomination. Retail cash registers don't typically have slots for them, and if you get one as change, that'd be surprising, to say the least. In many cases, banks do not even have them. Two dollar bills certainly exist -- but you wouldn't know it.

Which makes them an effective protest tool.

Throughout history, there are many examples of relatively small groups of people feeling neglected or taken for granted. In many cases, the impact of that smaller group on the local economy is significant, but hard to quantify, and even harder to see. To fix this, maybe grab a large pile of Jeffersons?

The idea is simple. First, gather a group of people who each support an issue. Then, have them patronize local businesses, paying only in cash, and wherever possible, using $2 bills. Eventually, the stores will have to give the recently-received $2 bills to other customers as change, and as the bills spread, so will the bemused puzzlement of the townsfolk: where did all these $2 bills come from? Finally, you take to the local paper to explain, demonstrating your group's impact on the local economy.

This is by no means an original idea, though. Hardly. This tactic has been used for decades and by many very different groups. One of the earliest examples is cited by a newspaper article from 1964, notable because the $2 bill would be discontinued just two years later (and reintroduced for the U.S. bicentennial in 1976). In that example, military bases threatened with closure would advise soldiers stationed there to use $2 bills within the local area. Unfortunately, the scheme then often failed because bills of that denomination were often considered a bad omen (really) and downstream recipients would either refuse them or otherwise make them disappear.

In 1977 -- just a year after the currency's reintroduction - the $2 bill tactic was used by football enthusiasts. Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, and Clemson University, South Carolina were football rivals, playing at each other's stadium in alternating years. But for some reason, Georgia Tech refused to travel north, and in response, Clemson announced that the 1977 game in Atlanta would be the final one between the schools. A Clemson booster encouraged fans traveling to that game to spend $2 bills to show the revenue that the area would lose out on. While the story made the press, it's hard to say if it worked -- the rivalry resumed in 1983, but there were other factors at play.

Nevertheless, many others have tried the same type of economic-signalling marketing campaign. Other examples range from the strange -- participants at a barbershop quartet convention, skydivers, and nudists have all employed the tactic -- and more serious, politically-charged ones. In any event, the next time someone hands you back your change with a $2 bill in it, there may be a reason why.

I don't know about you, but I like this form of protest. Now if I could only get someone to lend me the money to get started!

Coffee out on the patio today. The kitties are outside now, so watch where you step!

A Simple Deck Of Cards...!

It seems like a simple thing; 52 pieces of cardboard that nearly everyone knows about.

Of course, even as children we learned many card games like "Go Fish", "Battle", "Slap Jack" and all the rest. As we grew older, Poker and Blackjack replaced the childhood games and card playing became a much more serious endeavor. But what about the history of the cards themselves? Ever given much thought to the simple decks we use and all that they represent? Here are a few facts about the  card decks that you may not know and just may surprise you!

There are more possible arrangements in a deck of cards than there are stars in the known universe. The full number is 52 factorial, which is (very, very roughly) an eight followed by 67 zeroes.

The standard 52-card deck has been around for 500 years or more. What is rather unbelievable is that there are so many possible arrangements of the cards, it is statistically unlikely that any two have ever repeated in all of history. There are in fact 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000 arrangements.

The above number, while impossible to get your head around in any conventional manner, is 52 factorial, the possible orders of a shuffled deck. While enormous, the number is rather simply arrived at, by multiplying 52 down to 1 (52 x 51 x 50 . . . ). There are more possible arrangements of cards than there are atoms on Earth.

With such an astonishing range, the science of “card counting,” or predicting the next cards to be dealt in a hand, seems more magic than math. There are, however, well-known formulas to tip the odds in a player’s favor. In American casinos, card counting is not illegal, though casinos frown upon it and employ various countermeasures to keep professional players from raking in huge pots!

Maybe the next time you sit down to a quiet hand of Solitaire or a friendly game of Gin Rummy with a neighbor, this little fact will pop up as a topic of discussion. Who knows?

Want to have coffee out on the patio this morning? It's not too bad yet.

More Fighting On Western Wednesday...!

In some ways, the old days in the west seem a lot like the modern times! Always looking for a fight somewhere!

I guess that the olden battles make more sense than the newer ones, but that will always be a matter of opinion! As usual mine doesn't count for much!

Sep 13, 1847

General Winfield Scott storms the Chapultepec fortress

On this day in 1847, General Winfield Scott wins the last major battle of the Mexican-American War, storming the ancient Chapultepec fortress at the edge of Mexico City.

The war between the U.S. and its southern neighbor began the year before when President James Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to advance to the disputed Rio Grande border between the newly-minted American state of Texas and Mexico. The Mexican government had once controlled Texas and refused to recognize the American claim on the state or the validity of the Rio Grande as an international border. Viewing Taylor's advance as an invasion of Mexican soil, the Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande and attacked the U.S. forces in Texas in April 1846. By mid-May the two nations were formally at war.

The Mexican army was larger than the American army, but its leadership, training, and supplies were all inferior to those of the U.S. forces. Mexican gunpowder was notoriously weak, and cannon balls from their guns often just bounced slowly across battlefields where the American soldiers simply stepped out of the way. As a result, by January 1847, General Taylor had conquered California and the northern Mexican territories that would later make up much of the American southwest. But Taylor was reluctant to take the war into the heart of Mexico, and Polk instead turned to General Winfield Scott to finish the job.

In March, Scott landed nearly 12,000 men on the beaches near Vera Cruz, Mexico, captured the town, and began to march inland to Mexico City. Flanking the Mexican defenses at Cerro Gordo Pass, Scott stabbed southward below Mexico City, taking the towns of Contreras and Churubusco. When a final attempt at peace negotiations failed in August, Scott advanced north on the Mexican capital. After Scott's forces stormed the fortress at Chapultepec, the last significant Mexican resistance was eliminated. The next day, September 14, Scott marched his army into Mexico City and raised the American flag over the Mexican National Palace-the "Halls of Montezuma" later celebrated in the famous Marine's Hymn. For the first time in U.S. history, the Stars and Stripes flew over a foreign capital.

Thanks to the folks at History.com, we can go back and revisit some of the battles of long ago. I wonder how history will ever keep up with our time and all the battles we continue to fight? Gonna be quite a job, I would imagine!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I think some apple pie is called for, don't you?

Cover That Mistake...!

Many of the things we take for granted everyday actually have an interesting beginning. We've seen that before here!

However, this particular item (probably used by a lot of us) is surprising. The reason for the surprise is why someone didn't think of it sooner! Pretty cool that the inventor was a woman, but everybody knows that women are smarter than the average guy, right? RIGHT?

In A Nutshell

Bette Nesmith Graham, an executive secretary for a bank chairman, saw a need and filled it—she invented liquid paper, which would make the lives of office workers and students everywhere more manageable (and make her rich). Her background as an artist gave her inspiration to paint over mistakes.

The Whole Bushel

By the age of 27, Bette Nesmith Graham had achieved the position of executive secretary to the Chairman of the Board of the Texas Bank and Trust—no mean feat, considering it was 1951. But Bette was smarter than most, having dropped out of high school in favor of secretarial trade classes when she was 17, and she came up with a solution to a nagging problem that would make her tenure as executive secretary a short one.

The problem was electric typewriters. Though they made loading paper and typing both faster and more efficient, mistakes were much harder to correct the old way (with a pencil eraser). The use of carbon ribbons meant that rub-outs often left ugly black smears across the document. Bette, who liked to draw and paint in her spare time, wondered why she couldn’t simply paint over her mistakes.

In her blender at home, she mixed up the first batch of a white, quick-drying, water-based tempera paint that she called “Mistake Out.” It worked just as it does today, and of course the others in her secretarial pool wanted to know where they could get some. It very quickly turned into a side business that took up so much of her time, it resulted in her getting fired from her job within the year. It didn’t really matter though—Bette’s product was selling like hotcakes.

Patented, trademarked, and renamed “Liquid Paper” in 1958, Bette’s company was selling a million units per year by 1967, and she sold it to the Gillette Company shortly before her death in 1980, for $47.5 million. Among the earliest employees at her home-based operation was her young son, Michael Nesmith, who would later achieve fame as guitarist for the legendary pop band The Monkees.

I wish I could take the credit for finding all this information by myself, but the truth is that I "borrowed" it from the folks over at KnowledgeNuts. Pop over there if you get a chance and see all the great information they have!

Coffee out on the patio this morning! We got some rain yesterday, so watch for the puddles, OK?

The Mysterious Doppelganger...!

This mystery was Taylor made for Monday Mysteries, without a doubt!

I personally have never seen a Doppelganger, but can't help but believe that others have! Especially after hearing stories like this one!

Emilie Sagee

Emilie Sagee never saw her doppelganger. Everyone else did, though.

Sagee worked in an exclusive girls’ school. She was a very good teacher, but for some reason she kept moving from one job to another. In 16 years, she had changed positions an impressive 19 times.

In 1845, the school found out why.

Sagee was allegedly the center of some very strange doppelganger activity. Her spectral twin was first seen during a class, as 13 students witnessed the doppelganger standing by Sagee’s side and mirroring her movements. Next, it stood behind her as she ate, pantomiming her movements. Sagee herself was completely oblivious to the apparition, despite the fact that everyone else could see it clearly. However, she did become strangely groggy and powerless during the times the doppelganger manifested, and the wraith was often seen doing things Sagee later said she had been thinking about at the moment, suggesting that she may have had some subliminal control over it.

Soon, the doppelganger ventured beyond Sagee’s immediate vicinity. At first, it appeared to a classroom full of students, sitting calmly in the teacher’s chair while Sagee herself was outside, working in the garden. The few people who dared to approach the doppelganger found they could pass through it, yet it had a texture that reminded them of thick fabric.

Time went by and the apparition became a permanent fixture of the school’s life, freaking people out on a regular basis. The girls’ concerned parents started removing their children from the school. Although Sagee was a model employee on all non-paranormal accounts, the headmistress had no option but to fire her and her ghostly double.

Different but cool...in it's own way! Welcome to September, everyone! Gotta be cooler at some point, right?

Let's have coffee out on the patio today. It's still shady out there and that helps!

Cartoons For The Day After The Reunion...!

We all seemed to survive the get-together with no bloodshed at all! That's a good thing!

One thing about these gatherings, there is always plenty of food! My favorite foods are stuff made by other folks! For some reason, it always taste better than what I make myself!!



Thought that last one would fit right in with our weather, ya know?



I don't know if many of you remember some of these songs, but I do! Gotta love it!



I guess that last one is enough to start the morning on! We can sit back now and talk about our weekend plans! OK?

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Want to join me in a rain dance?