Gravensteen Castle in Ghent, Belgium, dates to the 13th century, when Europe was politically unstable and very dangerous. Such fortresses dominate most every nation in the region and survive mainly as tourist attractions. Though it has been restored and was even on the brink of destruction, Gravensteen looks much like it did 800 years ago. Thanks to Knights Templar Forum for this photo.
“I think if President Obama came out as gay, he wouldn’t lose the Black vote.”
– Van Jones, former White House advisor, when asked if the president’s popularity among Blacks could be hurt by his position on gay marriage.
Filed under News
Survivalist Tip: Whether you hope to remain in your home at the start of the new Baktun, or flee somewhere, you need to make certain your battery vehicle is in good functioning order. Hopefully, you’ll have bought a heavy duty truck or SUV by then, so this piece of advice focuses mainly on batteries for those types of vehicles.
1) Get a dry-cell battery. A water-based battery will be more problematic. If you’re traveling long distances, for example, a wet-cell battery eventually will require more water. You don’t want to spend what precious bottled water resources you have in your supply to refresh the vehicle battery. If you’re not modest, however, you can urinate into the cells of a wet-cell battery, but that will leave you extremely vulnerable and could lead to arguments with the more uptight members of your posse, which then could lead to you expending much-needed energy to beat the crap out of that person or persons.
2) Check for and, if necessary, remove any corrosion, lead oxidation, paint or rust with a brass wire battery brush from the battery on December 20. Pubic hair is a good substitute for a wire brush, especially if it’s from someone over age 45.
3) To prevent any further corrosion, thinly coat the battery’s terminals, posts, terminal clamps, lugs and exposed metal around the battery with high temperature and water resistant grease. Petroleum jelly isn’t recommended because that’s for sexual acts performed by low-class people, and you definitely don’t want to be in that same category.
4) Test the battery by attaching it to a voltage counter. If you don’t have a voltage counter, then buy one! Don’t try to substitute it with something like a microwave oven. A good count will be at least 100 amp hours. If you don’t know what that means, then you shouldn’t own a vehicle in the first place!
5) As a precaution, you need to purchase at least one extra battery. If you have to evacuate your home, you never know how far you may have to travel, or how many piles of dead bodies your vehicle will have to climb over.
Even with power utilities out of service, your vehicle battery shouldn’t be affected. Battery maintenance is necessary no matter what the calendar says. It’ll be critical during the initial phase of the upheaval. You’ll need lots of power to run away from politicians, zombies and other varmints that might survive.
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
If your birthday is today, “Happy Birthday!”
Comedian – actor Shecky Greene (Splash, Tony Rome, Laverne and Shirley) is 86.
Actor John Gavin (Psycho, Spartacus, A Time to Love & a Time to Die) is 81.
Actor Stuart Pankin (The San Pedro Beach Bums, Nearly Departed, Knots Landing, Fatal Attraction) is 66.
Guitarist – singer Steve Howe (Asia, Yes, Tomorrow) is 65.
Author Barbara Kingsolver (The Poisonwood Bible, Prodigal Summer) is 57.
Actor John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard, Night of the Twisters, Texas) is 52.
Singer Julian Lennon (Valotte, Too Late for Goodbyes; son of John and Cynthia Lennon) is 49.
Actress Patricia Arquette (Medium, Flirting with Disaster, Holy Matrimony) is 44.
Filed under Birthdays
536 B.C. – Buddha (Gautama Shakyamuni Buddha) was born in India.
1834 – Cornelius Lawrence became the first mayor to be elected by popular vote in a city election. The voters of New York City decided to make him mayor.
1873 – Alfred Paraf of New York City patented the first successful oleomargarine.
1892 – Silent movie star Mary Pickford was born in Toronto, Canada.
1935 – Congress votes to approve President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA).
1953 – Jomo Kenyatta, leader of the Kenyan independence movement, was convicted by Kenya’s British rulers of leading the extremist Mau Mau in their violence against White settlers and the colonial government.
1969 – The Montreal Expos and the New York Mets played in Shea Stadium in New York in the first international baseball game in the major leagues.
1971 – Chicago became the first rock group to play Carnegie Hall in New York City.
1974 – Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record by collecting his 715th home run at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium. Aaron finished his career two years later with 755 home runs; a record that still stands.
1986 – Actor Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, in a landslide victory, receiving 72.5% of the vote.
Filed under History
Tulips stand proudly in the DeGolyer Gardens at the Dallas Arboretum. Landscape architects Arthur and Marie Berger designed the 4.5-acre DeGolyer Gardens in 1940.
Filed under News
“We’ve got to do something about these Asians coming in, opening up businesses, these dirty shops.”
– Former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Berry, at a victory party after a primary election to hold his D.C. council seat.
Poor Marion. He just seems to see everything in black and white powder.
Filed under News
Cheyenne Hendricks, 16, holds onto a rabbit named “No No Bad Bunny” at the Retired Rabbit Sanctuary. Cheyenne and her parents run the sanctuary in Eastern Bexar County. Photo by Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News.
Here’s a great Easter story. In far eastern Bexar County, Texas, 16-year-old Cheyenne Hendricks and her parents operate the Retired Rabbit Sanctuary, a refuge for unwanted rabbits. Other animals call the place home, but 78 rabbits are its primary residents. The animals most often were unwanted Easter gifts whose novelty wore off when the recipients realized that live rabbits aren’t stuffed toys. But, others were used as bait in hunting and dog-fighting and amazingly survived, albeit injured.
Cheyenne, 16, spends five hours each day and weekends tending to the brood. If there’s a negative to the work, she said, it’s seeing the injuries that people have inflicted upon the animals.
“How they treat them is heinous,” Cheyenne says. “What I’m striving to do is spend what time I can dedicated to helping animals that are less fortunate. I really enjoy taking care of them and making sure they’re safe.”
She supports city ordinances that forbid anyone to sell, lease, barter or rent rabbits, chicks or ducklings less than 8 weeks old as novelties or pets. They also make illegal the longtime practice of dyeing or tinting rabbits, ducklings or chicks as well as possessing animals that have been colored.
Founded in 1998, the sanctuary takes in rabbits that have been abandoned, injured, dropped off at shelters or set loose in the wild, where they’re ill-equipped to survive the 8 to 12 years of a normal lifespan. It works with several rescue groups including the Animal Defense League of Texas and the Houston SPCA. The family uses their own money and donations to maintain the facility. They ask people who wish to surrender rabbits to donate a bag of rabbit food also. When the rabbits arrive, they’re quarantined for 14 days and segregated by gender, so they won’t reproduce. The sanctuary also provides educational seminars in conjunction with the San Antonio Humane Society, warning people about the dangers of giving pets as gifts, which often leads to abuse and neglect.
Rabbit may be pests in the eyes of many, but like most animals, they definitely don’t deserve the maltreatment that’s often forced upon them by heartless fools. Visit the Retired Rabbit Sanctuary here: http://retiredrabbits.org/.
Chief Writing Wolf 