The Long History Of Sandals And Socks...!

I can't really say just when socks were first worn, but according to this article I found, they have been around for a very long time!

Seems to me that one of the things we might find crazy in the way others dress in today's diverse fashion world was not that uncommon way back when. In fact, the first appearance of knit socks go much further back than we might have imagined...as in Egypt!

The First Socks Were Worn With Sandals

 Photo credit: Smithsonian Magazine

Today’s classic fashion faux pas was actually the first method of wearing this clothing item. The earliest-known knit socks are from Egypt, dating back to the 3rd–6th centuries AD.

Most of sock history occurred in colder climates, so why there were socks in ancient Egypt is a mystery. These were constructed of knitted wool, often in bright colors, with a division between the first two toes to allow for use with sandals. Basically, they were the first fashion socks because they were probably not needed for warmth.

The Romans also wore socks with their sandals. Bare-toed Roman soldiers suffered in damp northern climates like Britain, and archaeological evidence (the Vindolanda tablets) shows they would write home to request more socks be sent.

How do we know they wore them with sandals? A dig in Britain turned up a sandal with fabric fibers caught on pieces of metal inside the shoe. So, yes, this world-conquering empire expanded at the hands of armed warriors on the frontiers who wore sandals with socks.

I knew that socks had been around for a while, but never that long...and I had no idea that Roman soldiers ever wore them with sandals. Somehow it makes the typical dress code at some of the resorts around seem a lot more fashionable, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio again this morning!

Some Of Nature's Beauty...!

Believe it or not, but I have never been to Yellowstone Park. My family went at one time, but I didn't. Don't know why...

As much as I used to like camping, I am surprised I never made it there. Guess I need to put it on my bucket list, ya know?

Yellowstone National Park

 

 Almost thirteen hundred kilometers (800 miles) away from Crater Lake is Yellowstone National Park. The park is a unique combination of flora, fauna, and fountains that shoot steaming water into the sky. Yellowstone is well known for the geyser “Old Faithful,” whose regular blasts can reach up to 56 meters (185 feet). Other rare sights include the Yellowstone Sand Verbena and Yellowstone Sulfur Wild Buckwheat. They are endemic to the area, meaning they are only found in the park. It is not uncommon to see bison, moose, wolves, and bears after spending only a few hours inside the beautiful landscape.

However, there is a dangerous history to Yellowstone. Many people know about the potential of the Yellowstone supervolcano erupting in our future. What few know about are the three major explosions that overtook the land before it became a national park. 

Dating back 2.1 million years, the park was home to three massive eruptions. The strength of these explosions reached up to 6,000 times the strength of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption. The resulting calderas, plants, and animals are what now makes up most of the park today. 

It would be my luck that if I went, that's when the next eruption would happen. Don't relish that idea at all!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I think the rain is all gone for now!

National Road For Western Wednesday...!

Even the great projects of the western days were more often than not held up by politics. Here is a good example of what I'm talking about!

Congress authorizes survey of Cumberland Road

Congress authorizes surveying to begin for the construction of the Cumberland Road, which sped the way for thousands of Americans heading west.

Four years earlier, Congress had recognized the importance of building a network of national roads to facilitate western immigration. The 1803 act that admitted Ohio into the Union included a provision setting aside money from the sale of public lands to use in “laying out, opening, and making roads.” By 1806, enough funds had accumulated to begin surveying a proposed national road from Cumberland, Maryland, through the Appalachian Mountains to Wheeling, Virginia, on the Ohio River.

The task of surveying the route for the new national road went to the Army’s Corps of Engineers, setting an important precedent for the military’s involvement in building transportation routes that would be used for non-military purposes. The Corps of Engineers also built the road once construction began in 1811. Progress was slow, and the Corps did not complete the 130-mile road until 1818. Its value, though, became apparent well before it was completed. Stagecoaches, heavy freight wagons, and droves of stock animals soon crowded the route in numbers far surpassing those expected. The Corps even had to maintain and repair older sections of the road before the entire route was completed.

The Cumberland Road proved such a success that Congress agreed to continue extending it westward. By 1850, this National Road, as it came to be called, reached all the way to Indianapolis. By that time, mid-western excitement over the National Road was fading in favor of a fever for canal building. The Cumberland-National Road, however, set the precedent for further government involvement in road building. The resulting network of roads greatly facilitated American expansion into western territory, and parts of the route blazed for the Cumberland Road are still followed to this day by interstate and state highways.

Pretty amazing that we managed to get anything done from the old days to now. Involving politics seems to always slow things down more than a little .

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. We are expecting high winds and possibly hail as a storm system moves through later

Beautiful But Closed Forever...!

Seems like a shame to have something so pleasing to look at closed and listed as unsafe, don't you think? That's the case with this subway station in New York.

Abandoned Subway Station

 

Photo credit: weburbanist.com

 

Imagine arriving at a station and slowing down but never actually grinding to a halt to let people off. This is exactly the case for City Hall subway station in New York City. Built in 1904 with the sole purpose of being the glamorous station for the city’s brand-new subway system, it was designed to attract people into the subway type of transportation with its beauty.

It worked for a while. Over time, however, the severe lack of passengers and redesigned trains that made the station unsafe ultimately rendered it unsuitable for use. Thankfully, due to its beautiful look and the potential renovation cost, the city decided to leave the station there.

At the end of 1945, it was closed forever. Today, although deemed unsafe to get off at the station, the No. 6 train always passes slowly through City Hall station and takes passengers back in time to witness the beauty of this regal station.

I'd like to actually see this place, but I don't want to go to New York city to do so. Guess I'll just have to pass!

Coffee out on the patio this morning, providing you don't mind the 85 degree temps.

N.A.S.A.'s Floating Turd Mystery...!

Certainly something different today for Monday Mystery. Like all good mysteries, this one is still unsolved.

NASA Has An Unsolved Turd Mystery

 Photo credit: vox.com

Waste management has always been one of space travel’s more unpleasant yet completely necessary subjects. Although modern astronauts use high-tech toilets, the first spacefarers had nothing more than plastic bags to tape to their butts.

This led to an interesting discussion between the members of Apollo 10 on Day 6 of their mission. While orbiting the Moon, Commander Tom Stafford uttered the memorable phrase, “Give me a napkin quick. There’s a turd floating through the air.”

Once he retrieved the item in question, Stafford asked where it came from. Both lunar module pilot Eugene Cernan and command module pilot John Young denied it was theirs. In the words of Cernan, “If it was me, I sure would know I was sh**ting on the floor.”

Nine minutes later, the trio was interrupted by another floating piece of poop. They all dismissed the event with laughter, but none of them admitted the turds belonged to them. The mystery remains unsolved to this day.

I would have never guessed that this kind of problem could or would occur on one of the space flights. Guess you just never know what to expect in space, right?

Coffee out on the patio yet again, but don't worry...nothing floating around out there!

Some Real (Fake) News...

With all we've reading about and hearing about lately is a thing called "fake news."

This kind of news story isn't a new thing at all. In fact, it was fairly common in the days of the Great Depression...namely the crash of the stock market! Exaggeration of the news, especially in newspapers, was and is a fairly common practice Here's an example...

Stock Market Crash Suicides

 

Photo credit: Wikimedia

 

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 is widely credited with two things: causing the Great Depression of the 1930s and leading to a mass suicide of stock brokers. The former is still taken quite seriously, but the latter has become a bit of a dark joke. Any film set during the crash is guaranteed to include legions of distraught bankers leaping from the windows of office buildings.

But only two men leaped to their deaths on Wall Street that day. A few more killed themselves by hanging and shooting afterward, but overall, suicides were fairly rare. In fact, the suicide rate was significantly lower than the previous summer when, ironically, the market peaked. 

As is usually the case, exaggeration was to blame for this complete non-story. Newspapers billed the few actual suicides as a full-on national tragedy, claiming New York pedestrians had to “pick their way among the bodies” in the streets. And the rest was (completely nonsensical) history.

Like I said, nothing new about "fake news" other than the fact we hear so much more and much faster than ever. Still, fake news is still fake!

Coffee out on the patio again this morning.

Close Call For Coffee...!

Can you believe that at one time, coffee nearly became against the law in England? True, so help me!

Seems that those of us that enjoyed the fellowship of other coffee drinkers and the establishments  (think coffee houses) that sold the stuff were considered ne'er-do-wells by the King. The law passed, but lucky for us, was abolished before taking effect. Here is the terrifying story for ya.

Coffeehouses

In 1675, Charles II of England issued a proclamation to end the legality of coffeehouses. According to him, too many people spent the whole day in coffeehouses doing nothing other than gossiping and spreading rumors about the government. The law did not stop there. It also forbade people from selling coffee, chocolate, sherbet, and tea from any shop or house.

Back then, coffeehouses were centers of gossip. The phrase “coffeehouse politician” was even coined to refer to men who spent the whole day in coffeehouses, doing nothing other than discussing politics. The law was passed on December 29, 1675, and was supposed to become active on January 10, 1676, but it was abolished on January 8. The undoing of the ban was backed by several ministers of Charles II, who themselves were lovers of coffee. 

Like I said, that was a close call for all us coffee drinkers. I'm certainly glad that the law was abolished, because if it had remained in place and had found it's way to the states...that would NOT have been a good thing! Know what I mean?

Coffee out on the patio again today. Let's be thankful that no such law has ever been passed here...yet!

Boy, What A Miser...!

Hard to believe that some folks can be such penny pincers, even when they have enough money to do anything they want anyway. Human nature, I reckon!

Hetty Green

1834 – 1916

Hetty Green was an eccentric miser who became known as the “Witch of Wall Street”. With her business acumen she accumulated such wealth that she was the richest woman in the world. In order to save money, Hetty would work out of trunks at her local bank so she wouldn’t have to pay rent. When her son fell ill, she disguised herself and took him to a charity hospital; when they realized who she was, she fled claiming she would cure her son herself. Unfortunately he contracted gangrene and had to have his leg amputated. She always wore the same black dress and never changed her underwear unless it wore out. She moved back and forth between New York and New Jersey in order to avoid the taxman.

I can't imagine anyone living like that on purpose. Guess she was not only rich, but probably a bit touched in the head as well.

Coffee out on the patio again this morning.

How About Some Riddles...?

Everyone loves a good riddle, right? If that's the case, let's have a few! OK?

Q: What has a foot but no legs?
A: A snail

Q: Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it?
A: Nothing

Q: What comes down but never goes up? 
A: Rain

Q: I’m tall when I’m young and I’m short when I’m old. What am I? 
A: A candle 

Q: Mary’s father has 5 daughters – Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughters name? 
A: If you answered Nunu, you are wrong. It’s Mary! 

Q: How can a pants pocket be empty and still have something in it? 
A: It can have a hole in it. 

Q: In a one-story pink house, there was a pink person, a pink cat, a pink fish, a pink computer, a pink chair, a pink table, a pink telephone, a pink shower– everything was pink! What color were the stairs? 
A: There weren’t any stairs, it was a one story house! 

Q: A dad and his son were riding their bikes and crashed. Two ambulances came and took them to different hospitals. The man’s son was in the operating room and the doctor said, “I can’t operate on you. You’re my son.” How is that possible?
 A: The doctor is his mom! 

Q: What goes up when rain comes down? 
A: An umbrella! 

Q: What is the longest word in the dictionary?
A: Smiles, because there is a mile between each ‘s’ 

Q: If I drink, I die. If i eat, I am fine. What am I? 
A: A fire! 

Q: Throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it? 
A: Corn on the cob, because you throw away the husk, cook and eat the kernels, and throw away the cob. 

Q: What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? 
A: Short 

Q: What travels around the world but stays in one spot? 
A: A stamp! 

Q: What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in one thousand years? 
A: The letter M 

Q: What has 4 eyes but can’t see? 
A: Mississippi 

Q: If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it? 
A: A Secret. 

Q: Take away my first letter, and I still sound the same. Take away my last letter, I still sound the same. Even take away my letter in the middle, I will still sound the same. I am a five letter word. What am I? 
A: EMPTY

I know, I know...some of them are childish. But you have to admit there are some pretty good ones scattered in there as well, right? Besides, they are kinda fun for a change!

Coffee outside again today! Predicted high of 84 again!

Remembering Broncho Billy...!

We often forget about how the cowboy movies really got started. We can all thank Broncho Billy for that.

His real name was Gilbert Anderson, and he became well known as the famous Broncho Billy seen in the first westerns to hit the silver screens.

“Broncho Billy” Anderson born

Gilbert M. Anderson, the first western movie star, is born in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Better known as “Broncho Billy,” the name of the western hero he played in over 300 short films, Anderson was the first western movie star. Furthermore, he played several small parts in one of the first movies ever made, The Great Train Robbery. In 1903, Anderson won a role as a bandit in the film after telling the director he could ride like a Texas Ranger. When it became clear that Anderson could hardly get onto a horse, he was made an “extra” and played several minor parts. Later that year, the 10-minute movie received an enthusiastic reception from the public, and Anderson decided to make a career in the promising new business of telling stories in moving pictures.

Anderson moved to Chicago, which was becoming a minor moviemaking center. After a few years directing and occasionally starring in movies produced by others, Anderson decided to create his own production company. Forming a partnership with old friend George K. Spoor, in 1907 Anderson created the Essanay Company, which would later be credited as one of the best of the early movie studios.

At first, Anderson made comedies, but remembering the brilliant success of The Great Train Robbery, he eventually turned to Westerns. Anderson was one of the first movie producers to realize that the public needed a central character in the movies, a “star” on which they could focus their attention. In 1909, though, there were no movie stars and stage actors were reluctant to risk films. Anderson decided to make himself the star, creating the character “Broncho Billy” out of ideas about the West culled from popular dime novels.

In 1909, Anderson released his first western, Broncho Billy and the Baby. It was an enormous success and convinced Anderson that he should stick with Westerns starring the Broncho Billy character. Over the next five years, Anderson made over 300 short one- or two-reel movies featuring Broncho Billy. Physically, Anderson was not especially handsome or dashing, but audiences liked Broncho Billy for his courageous virtue and bravery.

In 1915, Anderson released his last film in the series, Broncho Billy’s Sentence, and thereafter turned to writing. A few years later he attempted a comeback, but by then the western field was dominated by more dashing actors like Tom Mix and William S. Hart. He made comedies for several years before retiring. Later recognized and honored for his pivotal role in the development of the Western, in 1965 he made a cameo appearance in a modern Hollywood Western called The Bounty Killer, his first talking picture.

Anderson died in his sleep on January 20, 1971, at the age of 88.

I think that Broncho had a great idea in giving the public a hero to focus on. Not to mention being responsible for making the whole "cowboy movie" trend popular. Thanks Mr. Anderson!

Coffee out on the patio, where it feels more like Summer than Spring!

Can You Name This Fruit...?

What I am about to show you is from a list of strange and uncommon (at least here) fruits. I wanted to share this with you as I had never seen it before and thought it was pretty nice!

Myrciaria cauliflora

Jabuticaba, or the Brazilian grape tree, is a very strange plant native to the South Eastern parts of Brazil. What makes this plant so strange is that it fruits from its trunk. No, I did not make that up, and no the picture has not been photo shopped. Initially, yellowish white flowers will appear all over the trunk and main branches, these flowers will then turn into fruit, about 3 – 4cm in diameter. Inside the thick purple skin is the soft gelatinous flesh of the fruit, along with 1 – 4 black seeds. The fruit is sweet and can be eaten as is or made into a wine or liqueur. Unfortunately, the fruit does not keep long when off the tree and will start to ferment after about 3 or 4 days. I believe this would be a fascinating tree to have in the yard, but I'll bet I couldn't get it to grow. Isn't that always how it goes?

If you want to see some more strange and marvelous fruit plants, you can find the at Listverse, with pictures of the fruit.

Coffee out on the patio this morning. High of 84 or so is predicted.

Jean Spangler For Monday Mysteries...!

Once in a while, even movie stars can become a part of an unsolved mystery.

While Jean Spangler wasn't as well known as many were, she certainly had the potential to become better known in the movies. Instead she became the focus for a missing person case that seemed to have no answer.

Jean Spangler

One of the biggest mysteries in Hollywood history occurred on the evening of October 7, 1949 when 26-year old Jean Spangler disappeared. Spangler was a model and aspiring actress who had done bit parts in a handful of films. She left her daughter with her sister-in-law and claimed she was going to meet her ex-husband to talk about child support before going to work on a film shoot. However, there were no film shoots scheduled that night, and Spangler’s ex-husband claimed he never saw her. Spangler’s purse was found in Griffith Park two days later.

Things took a bizarre turn when a note was found in the purse which read: “Kirk, Can’t wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away”. Spangler had recently worked as an extra on a Kirk Douglas film and some eyebrows were raised when Douglas contacted police to confirm he wasn’t the “Kirk” in the note before they even considered questioning him. Police also heard rumors of a local man named “Scotty” who was known for performing illegal abortions, leading to speculation that Spangler was pregnant and that he was the aforementioned “Dr. Scott”. Spangler was also rumored to be involved with an organized crime figure named David Ogul, and there was even a sighting of them together in Texas three months after she disappeared. In spite of all these theories, the Jean Spangler saga is still a mystery.

Seems to me that folks can disappear as easily in Hollywood as anywhere else, maybe easier. So many times there doesn't seem to be any trace of them anywhere. At least with a body, you know what the result of their disappearance was, if not the cause. Sad, really!

Coffee outside again today. temps are back up to the high 70s and low 80s.

Let's Watch Them Again...!

Sometimes the 'toons are worth seeing again, so let's do that! Better the second time around, right?







And maybe one more...

Coffee out on the patio again this morning, whadda ya say?

It Cost How Much...?

Sometimes even the rich folks get stuck with a bill they have trouble with. This story is about one such bill and a man named Henry Ford.

Ford Disliked Experts

Photo credit: Richard Arthur Norton

Ford greatly disliked experts and refused to employ them. In his 1924 book, My Life and Work, he said, “I never employ an expert in full bloom. If I ever wanted to kill opposition by unfair means, I would endow the opposition with experts.”

As a consequence, Ford Motor Company did not have any employees with advanced engineering or design engineering skills. In fact, it did not even have a proving ground and instead opted to test cars on public highways.

This lack of experts on-site often proved financially disastrous. One time, for example, when Ford’s electrical engineers couldn’t solve a problem with a massive generator, they employed the electrical engineer Charles Proteus Steinmetz (pictured above) to help them. On-site, Steinmetz rejected all help and solved the problem in two days with the aid of a notebook, a pencil, and a cot.

On the second night, Steinmetz climbed on top of the generator and made a chalk mark on its side. Then he told Ford’s engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace 16 windings from the field coil. Once that was done, the generator performed perfectly—to the delight of Ford.

But his delight only lasted until a bill for $10,000 came. Flabbergasted, Ford requested the bill to be itemized. Steinmetz responded to Ford’s request with the following:

Making chalk mark on generator: $1
Knowing where to make mark: $9,999

I hate to say it, but this makes perfect sense to me! Gonna dance...gotta pay the piper!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Temps are going up to 79 !

Bennington Triangle for Freaky Friday...!

Ever notice how some places seem to attract bizarre happenings? That's the case here.

The Bennington Triangle

Between 1920 and 1950, Bennington, Vermont was the site of several completely unexplained disappearances:

On December 1, 1949, Mr. Tetford vanished from a crowded bus. Tetford was on his way home to Bennington from a trip to St. Albans, Vermont. Tetford, an ex-soldier who lived in the Soldier’s Home in Bennington, was sitting on the bus with 14 other passengers. They all testified to seeing him there, sleeping in his seat. When the bus reached its destination, however, Tetford was gone, although his belongings were still on the luggage rack and a bus timetable lay open on his empty seat. Tetford has never returned or been found.

On December 1, 1946, an 18-year-old student named Paula Welden vanished while taking a walk. Welden was walking along the Long Trail into Glastenbury Mountain. She was seen by a middle-aged couple that was strolling about 100 yards behind her. They lost sight of her when she followed the trail around a rocky outcropping, but when they rounded the outcropping themselves, she was nowhere to be seen. Welden has not been seen nor heard from since.

In mid-October, 1950, 8-year old Paul Jepson disappeared from a farm. Paul’s mother, who earned a living as an animal caretaker, left her small son happily playing near a pig sty while she tended to the animals. A short time later, she returned to find him missing. An extensive search of the area proved fruitless.

So far as I can tell, none of these disappearances have ever been solved. It always bothers me when no explanation can be given for someone vanishing like that. Makes me wonder if we are overlooking some clue, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio where it's cool, but what the heck...!

Sorry, I forgot Again...!

What can I say? I forgot to post again. Seems to be happening a lot lately!

I know they tell us that the memory is the second thing to start fading and, to tell you the truth, I don't remember what was the first. All I know is that sometimes things just slip my mind all together. Surely it can't be an age thing, right? Anyway, whatever the reason...I did forget the post today. To make up for it, here is something Baby Sis sent me. It could be considered off color, I reckon, but we won't go there.

An old married couple no sooner hit the pillows when the old man passes gas and says, 'Seven Points.'His wife rolls over and says, 'What in the world was that?' The old man replied, 'its fart football.' A few minutes later his wife lets one go and says, 'Touchdown, tie score...'After about five minutes the old man lets another one go and says,'Aha. I'm ahead 14 to 7.'Not to be outdone the wife rips out another one and says, 'Touchdown,tie score.'Five seconds go by and she lets out a little squeaker and says, 'Field goal, I lead 17 to 14.' Now the pressure is on for the old man.He refuses to get beaten by a woman, so he strains real hard. Since defeat is totally unacceptable, he gives it everything he's got,and accidentally poops in the bed. The wife says, 'What the hell was that?'The old man says, 'Half time, switch sides!

There ya have it. If you need something to help you sleep at night, maybe this is the answer.

Coffee in the kitchen again this morning, OK?

Henry Plummer For Western Wednesday...!

Ol' Henry couldn't decide weather to be a good guy or a bad man, so he became both.

I have to wonder why people kept on putting him in office, given his background and all. Just no accounting for some people's common sense, I reckon.

Henry Plummer

In 1856, Henry Plummer was elected sheriff of Nevada City, California and served two terms before he was convicted of second-degree murder for killing his mistress’ husband. Having served only six months in San Quentin before being pardoned by the governor, Plummer returned to Nevada City, this time he was elected to Assistant Marshal. Avoiding prosecution for killing a man in a whorehouse brawl, Plummer fled in 1861, ultimately settling in Idaho where he took up with a gang of highwaymen.

Due to his influence, the gang became known as “The Innocence” who robbed and murdered travailing miners. In 1863, “The Innocence” followed Plummer to Bannack, Montana, where he was elected sheriff. While in office, Plummer ran an effective and deadly criminal ring, providing his henchmen with the routes of gold shipments, as well as their protection, all the while the gang ran rampant in Bannack without the fear of ramification. After the robbery and murder of more than 100 locals, a team of nearly 2,000 settlers turned vigilantes captured and hanged a weeping Plummer and two of his men on the same gallows the crooked sheriff had prepared for another.

Seems like Henry must have been a good politician, or else he wouldn't have been elected as often as he was. Probably should have remained on the side of the law. It would have been better for his health, for sure!

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. Freshly baked sugar cookies are available.

The Last Stage Robbery...

Somehow, I always figured that most stage coach robbing was in the past long before the last one reported. Shows how wrong I can be when not knowing all the facts.

Ben Kuhl

The last horse drawn stage robbery in the United States was on December 5, 1916, outside Jarbidge, Nevada. Fred Searcy, the driver of the first-class mail stage, was found shot in the back of the head with the culprits fleeing with $4,000 in gold coins.

Police later discovered, in the vicinity of the crime, a discarded black overcoat and a bloody envelope. The coat was recognized by townspeople to have belonged to Ben Kuhl, a troubled drifter with a lengthy rap sheet. Kuhl was tracked down and arrested along with three of his friends, one of whom would testify against him. In addition to countless testimony from several witnesses, the most damaging piece of evidence was the envelope containing the bloody palm print. For the first time in American history, palm prints were entered into court evidence, and this led to the Kuhl’s conviction and sentence of death.

After his death sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment, Kuhl was released at the age of 61 in April 1943. He would die of tuberculosis only one year later.

Somehow I can't believe that the robbery happened as late as 1916. I'm pleased that forensics, such as they were back then, allowed the courts an additional tool to use in cases such as this.

Coffee back in the kitchen this morning. Fresh baked bread with real butter and honey is ready...OK?

Antarctica again On Monday Mystery...

Once more, from the land of ice, we have a mystery that no one seems to have an answer to. Strange one, it is.

You can bet the conspiracy folks are having a ball with this one.

Antarctica 

Antarctica is one of the most desolate places on the planet and also the coldest continent. In spite of the cold and the fact that it contains about 90 percent of the world’s ice, Antarctica is classified as a desert because of its minimal rainfall. Over the years, scientists have made many discoveries here, including a valley deeper than the Grand Canyon that lies under the ice in west Antarctica as well as an undersea volcano off the Antarctic coastline.

Earlier this year, pictures of a structure resembling a giant staircase running up the side of an Antarctica mountain started making the rounds on the Internet. With it came the conspiracy theories. Some people are convinced the “staircase” is a remnant from the lost city of Atlantis, while others believe it to be a landing site for UFOs or a Nazi base. There has been no official scientific theory given as yet for the anomaly after it was spotted on Google Earth, leaving it open to the imagination as to just what that structure may be.

I don't know what this staircase leads to if anything, but it is strange to find it way out there, don't yo think?

I reckon we better have our coffee in the kitchen this morning.

Old Timey Cartoons...

Sometimes looking back at the 'toons from the past, I'm reminded of how many of them I didn't like at all. Guess I have mellowed out in my old age!







And just one more...



I think all of these 'toons were made back in the 40s, and that's a long time ago!

Coffee out on the patio again this morning!

Spreadable Coffee...?

Strange as it may sound, I understand that this is now a real item from Japan. Somehow this just doesn't do anything for me and my caffeine habit, ya know? I'll take my daily dose hot and in a cup, thanks just the same!

Spreadable coffee is now a thing that exists in Japan

What if—stay with me—what if, instead of coffee and toast for breakfast, you could have coffee on toast? Did I just blow your mind? Because as of March 1, we live in a world where such things are possible.

The Japanese company Snow Brand Milk Products has released a creamy spread flavored like its super-sweet coffee drinks. Caffeine addicts, take note: there’s probably not enough coffee in the spread to replace your morning joe. A look at the product’s nutritional information (loosely translated into English here) reveals a mix of sugar, emulsifiers, oil, and milk powder that will look very familiar to Nutella fans. Is this more of a coffee-scented spreadable sugar product than spreadable coffee per se? Yes. No matter. The age of spreadable coffee is here.

I can't see this ever replacing the java in our cups anytime in the near future. There is something about the smell and warmth of a fresh cup of coffee that hits the spot. Heck, a lot of folks that don't even like coffee do enjoy the smell, ya know?

Speaking of coffee' we'll have ours out on the patio again this morning!

Another Case For Freaky Friday...!

Sometimes we just have to wonder at the way the dead are treated. It seems that instead of showing some respect for the deceased, some places treat them no better than garbage. Here is a good example of such treatment.

Kendrick Johnson’s Mysterious Death

The Facts: In January 2013, in Valdosta, Georgia, Kendrick Johnson was found dead in his high school’s gymnasium. The 17-year-old boy’s death was declared an accident—it appeared he fell headfirst into a rolled-up gym mat and suffocated. There was no evidence of bruises or foul play, but the bizarre circumstances of the boy’s death raised suspicion with the family.

The Weird: After a long back-and-forth between the boy’s family, the coroner, and, eventually, a grand jury, a new report was filed that stated that Kendrick had in fact died from “unexplained, apparent non-accidental, blunt force trauma.” Nobody was charged with the murder, but the weirdness of the case does not end there. When the second autopsy was performed, it was revealed that the brain, heart, lungs, liver, and every other vital organ from the pelvis to the skull were missing—they’d been replaced with crumpled newspaper.

The owner of the funeral home claimed that the organs were most likely destroyed through natural process due to the position of Kendrick’s body when he died. Nevertheless, replacing organs with newspaper is obviously not standard practice for autopsies. All evidence points to foul play, yet authorities are no closer to understanding what really happened in this case.

I'd be willing to bet there is a lot more to this story we'll never hear about. Just more questions than answers, if you ask me.

Coffee out on the patio this morning.

The Champion Of Laziness...!

Some folks are too lazy for their own good. To them, procrastination is an art form. This next story shows how some folks work harder at being lazy than at their real job. It really doesn't make much sense to me.

The Crematorium Owner Who Made Laziness Terrifying

Imagine, for a moment, that you are a crematorium owner. Now also imagine that your crematorium has just broken. What do you do?

If you said, “Pay to have it fixed,” congratulations—you’re a sane human being. Ray Brent Marsh was evidently neither of those things. When the oven of his Georgia crematorium gave up the ghost in the late 1990s, Marsh decided that it’d be less of a hassle to just secretly bury the corpses in his backyard and give the families urns full of concrete dust so they wouldn’t notice.

That’s right: Marsh was so lazy that he preferred to do the much harder job of digging a pit and burying bodies than the much easier one of picking up the phone and ringing for a crematorium repair guy. He just didn’t just do this once or twice, either. When police finally raided the premises, they found over 320 sets of human remains that had essentially been left to rot. For his epic display of laziness, Marsh was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He’s expected to be released sometime in 2016.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that it would have made more sense to repair the crematorium, other than bury all those bodies. No one ever said that this man was the sharpest tack in the box, though.

Coffee out on the patio this morning, OK?

Ford And The SoyBean Car...!

Long before you would have expected, Ford was planning to build a car withplastic panels. Pretty advanced thing for his day and time.

Ford’s Soybean Car

Photo via Wikimedia

In the 1940s, Henry Ford experimented with making plastic parts for automobiles. These experiments eventually resulted in what became known as the Soybean Car or, more recently, the Hemp Car.

The frame of Ford’s Soybean Car was made of tubular steel and had 14 plastic panels attached to it. The exact ingredients of the plastic panels are unknown, but it is believed that they were made from a chemical formula that included ingredients such as soybeans, wheat, hemp, flax, and ramie.

The Soybean Car was designed for a number of reasons. First, Ford wanted to engage in a project that combined industry with agriculture. Second, there was a shortage of metal at the time due to the ongoing world war and Ford hoped that his new plastic materials would eventually replace the traditional metals used in cars. Finally, Ford claimed that plastic panels made the car safer than traditional steel cars.

In 1941, Ford unveiled the Soybean Car at the annual community festival called Dearborn Days. By that time, however, America’s entry into World War II had suspended all auto production. When the war ended, an abundance of cheap metal quickly ended the appeal of the plastic car.

Call me crazy, but I really like the body style of this car. It's clean and sleek, doesn't look boxy or outlandish, and I would imagine that it could be easily modified for anyone wanting to make it sportier.

BTW, you may have noticed that I posted Western Wednesday's post yesterday on Tuesday, so that's the reason for you get Tuesday's post on Wednesday. Thanks for not bringing that embarrassing fact up. Sorry if it caused any confusion besides mine!

Coffee in the kitchen again this morning. Chocolate chip cookies to share!

Isom Dart For Western Wednesday...!

Although he wasn't born with that name, Isom was one of the better known outlaws in the old west.

His story is an interesting one, to say the least. Well known around the Wyoming Territory, he just couldn't seem to go straight for very long. Here is a bit of his story.

Isom Dart

A Black outlaw and rustler was Ned Huddleston (also known as Isom Dart) he was born a slave in Arkansas in 1849.

He earned a reputation as a rider, roper and bronco-buster and was called the “Black Fox” and the “Calico Cowboy.”

He was also a notorious Wyoming Territory outlaw.

In 1861 twelve-year-old, Huddleston accompanied his owner, a Confederate officer, to Texas during the Civil War.

Huddleston was freed at the end of the war and took off for the southern Texas, Mexico border region where he found work at a rodeo as a stunt rider and became a master horseman.

He join a notorious band of rustlers called, The Tip Gualt Gang, and changed his name to, Isom Dart.

He trained horses for the Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s gang, and was a successful rustler.

He tried many time to give up his rustler’s life and go straight, but the call of the wild was too strong for him and he keep going back to it.

This would be his downfall.

On August 3, 1900, as he came out of the front door of his ranch, the notorious, range detective, Tom Horn, who had been hired by local ranchers to rid the area of rustlers, shot him dead..

How many of you have ever heard of Mr Dart? I thought so!

I've often thought that some of these guys must have really loved their work as outlaws to stay in it as long as they did. I think some of their relatives must be in the cities and carrying on the family traditions, ya know?

Better have our coffee inside this morning. Rain, along with a cold front, is moving back in.

Mystery At The South Pole...!

Murder can occur anyplace, as we all know. This report may just be the very first murder at the South Pole, however.

There may be some other explanation for this young man's death, but as yet it remains a mystery. I'm sure it's disturbing for the other folks working there.

South Pole

Photo credit: Wikimedia

Astrophysicist Rodney Marks was stationed at the US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in May 2000 when he inexplicably began to feel ill. In fact, he felt so awful that he made three visits to medical personnel in the period of 36 hours. There was no explanation found for his ailment, which included him vomiting blood, and on May 12, Rodney Marks died.

It took six months for his body to be flown to New Zealand, where it was found that the 32-year-old had died from acute methanol poisoning. Years later, investigators are still baffled by just how Marks could have become poisoned. It was fleetingly suspected that he may have committed suicide, but that theory didn’t hold water considering he was in a very happy relationship and loved his work. Some suggested he ingested the methanol to get high, while a darker theory suggests Marks had been murdered by one of the other 49 staff members stationed there at the time. To date, the cause of the fatal poisoning remains a mystery. So does the possibility of the first murder at the South Pole.

Whatever the cause of his death, I'm sure the rest of the crew will be happy to find out the answer to this mystery. I know I would.

Coffee out on the patio this morning again. It's a little damp from all the rain yesterday, but we'll make do.

Betty Boop Sunday...

I can remember when my Mom and sister's cut out Betty Boop paper dolls. Never quite got the whole "paper doll" thing myself.

She must have been fairly popular though. The very first cartoon sex symbol, from what I understand. I know that several of her cartoons were banned when they came out. Pretty strange, but what do I know?







Maybe just one mopre...



Coffee out on the patio again this morning. It's still cool, but it's dry.

Bluegrass Saturday...

Since the rodeo has rolled into Houston, I figured we should have a little Bluegrass type music. Maybe it should be plain ol' country, but Bluegrass seems to be more fun, ya know?







And one more...



Coffee in the kitchen again. Keep me company while I finish the cookies, OK?

Jefferson's Secret Lab...

I really don't know if the lab was secret or not, but that sure sounded good, didn't it?

While the lab may not have been secret, it definitely was hidden from view. Here is the story about this hidden Jefferson's lab.

Thomas Jefferson’s Lab

Photo credit: University of Virginia

As the project manager supervising a renovation of the University of Virginia’s Rotunda, Matt Scheidt wanted to know how thick the Rotunda’s walls were, so he crawled through a hole in one of them and discovered a chemistry lab designed by Thomas Jefferson. The lab was constructed in the 1820s, toward the end of the Rotunda’s construction, and was walled off in 1840, due to changing, more sophisticated teaching methods. As a result, it survived both a fire in 1895 and extensive renovations in the 1970s.

Until October 2015, when Scheidt entered the Rotunda, the lost lab had remained a secret. Now, one of a rare few such old “chemical hearths,” the lab is displayed as part of an exhibit in the Rotunda’s visitor center.

Just imagine finding a lab on the campus of a major university, especially one from the 1820s. Talk about a well kept secret!

Coffee in the kitchen once again!

The Law Of Headlines...

Did you know there have been several studies about this law? Basically, it says that you can bet that headlines can be nothing more than a way to draw you in, but we already know that...right?

It is really a little more complex than that, so let me see if this article explains it better.

Headlines

Law: Betteridge’s law of headlines

Betteridge’s law—sometimes referred to as Davis’s law, or the “journalistic principle” from Murphy’s law—states that “any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” The adage, named after British tech journalist Ian Betteridge (though he wasn’t the first to make note of it), displays a cynicism over headlines that attempt to lure readers into an often outlandish and unproven story. Headlines like “will the world end tomorrow?” and “have scientists cured cancer?” are pretty obviously answered in the negative.

The next time you run across a newspaper headline that asks a question (more specifically, a yes-or-no question), try to answer “no.” Most often, you’ll find that you’re right—Betteridge’s law makes note of the fact that this type of headline is a lazy, sometimes fear-mongering way of drawing a reader in.

I got this article from Listverse, where they have some other strange Laws you can rean about. Pretty interesting stuff!

Coffee in the kitchen this morning, if that's alright.

The Shoot-out At Going Snake Courtroom...!

Ambush was quite the thing in the old days of gun fights and such. However, many of those ambushes didn't quite go as planned.

The Going Snake Fight

Photo credit: Wikimedia

Nobody’s certain exactly what caused the feud that left 11 men dead in Judge Blackhawk Sixkiller’s courtroom at Going Snake. Whatever it was, it came to a head in 1872, when Zeke Proctor rode up to Jim Kesterton’s mill and opened fire. The miller recovered from his wounds, but his wife, Polly Beck, was hit by a stray round and killed.

The murder took place in the Cherokee Nation, and Proctor and Beck were both Cherokee, so it seemed obvious that the case would be handled by the Cherokee courts. But Proctor came from a well-connected family and was a member of the powerful Keetoowah Society. As a result, the Becks argued that they couldn’t get a fair hearing in Indian Territory. They wanted the case transferred to the federal court at Fort Smith. When their request was rejected, a group of Becks burst into the courtroom and opened fire.

But things went wrong for the Becks, who found themselves crowded in the doorway of the windowless courtroom. Zeke Porter somehow produced a gun and fired back, as did several guards. The planned massacre turned into a nightmarish close-range battle. Eleven men died: seven Becks, two Proctors, a lawyer, and a US marshal. The participants quickly scattered, and nobody was ever convicted over the incident.

Just goes to show how ambushes can go bad, and they are never a good idea. Certainly not a good idea when most everyone had easy access to a gun.

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. Another cool front is moving in.