“My consultants agree that the incidents meet all of our definitions, based on experience and education, of a likely pedophile’s pattern of building trust and gradual introduction of physical touch, within a context of a ‘loving,’ ‘special’ relationship.”
– Alycia Chambers, a psychologist, in a report to Penn State University police about Jerry Sandusky in 1998.
Filed under News
Survivalist Tip: A fire extinguisher is a good thing to have in your household under any circumstances. But, they can be especially important during the immediate aftermath of the apocalypse, when power and telephone services likely will collapse. Therefore, if a fire breaks out in your house, you can’t just call the fire department. You shouldn’t rely upon the fire department for something like that anyway. Just as with the police, the fire department can’t be everywhere, so you have to take care of crises yourself. Fire extinguishers come in various sizes, but they’re very affordable and easy to operate. And, don’t just buy 1 one of them; stockpile them like you should stockpile chocolate and bottled water! You definitely don’t want to use your cache of bottled water to put out a fire anyway. The chemicals in a fire extinguisher are more adept at snuffing out a fire. Besides, not only could a fire injure you and your loved ones, it’ll melt your chocolate!
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
If yours is today also, “Happy Birthday!”
Poet – author Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Coney Island of the Mind, Starting from San Francisco) is 93.
Actor – writer – teacher – bodybuilder William Smith (Eye of the Tiger, L.A. Vice, Maniac Cop) is 79.
Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie (The Carol Burnett Show) is 72.
Harmonica player Lee Oskar (War) is 66.
Base guitarist Dougie Thomson (Supertramp) is 61.
Actor Robert Carradine (Body Bags, Double-Crossed, The Long Riders) is 58.
Actress Donna Pescow (Saturday Night Fever, Glory Years, Angie) is 58.
Actress Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks, The Practice, Wayne’s World) is 42.
Filed under Birthdays
1603 – Queen Elizabeth I died, and King James VI of Scotland ascended to the throne, uniting England and Scotland under a single British monarch.
1792 – Artist Benjamin West became the first American artist to be selected president of the Royal Academy of London.
1874 – Harry Houdini was born in Appleton, WI.
1882 – Professor Robert Koch announced the discovery of the tuberculosis germ in Berlin, Germany.
1932 – Singer Belle Baker hosted a radio variety show on WABC in New York City from a moving train – a first for radio broadcasting.
1949 – President Harry Truman authorized a U.S. resolution for $16 million in aid to Palestinian refugees displaced by Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
1955 – The Tennessee Williams play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, opened on Broadway, ultimately running for 694 shows and winning the Critics’ Circle Award as the Best American Play.
1958 – Elvis Presley reported to draft board 86 in Memphis, TN, to begin a 2-year stint in the U.S. Army.
1960 – A U.S. appeals court ruled that D.H. Lawrence’s novel, Lady Chatterly’s Lover, was not obscene and could be sent through the mail.
1980 – Capitol Records released some rare Beatles tracks, including stereo versions of Penny Lane and She Loves You, sung by the group in German, under the title, Sie Liebt Dich.
1989 – The Exxon Valdez, a 987-foot supertanker loaded with 1,264,155 barrels of North Slope crude oil, ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11.2 million gallons of oil into the sea and damaging nearly five hundred miles of shoreline.
1999 – NATO began air strikes against Yugoslavia with the bombing of Serbian military positions in Kosovo.
2002 – Halle Berry became the first African-American woman to win the Best Actress Oscar. Denzel Washington won the Best Actor award, marking the first time African-Americans had won the year’s top acting awards.
Filed under History
Filed under News
A gray wolf rests at Wolf Haven International, a wolf sanctuary in Washington State.
Since 1982, Wolf Haven International, a non-profit organization headquartered in Tenino, WA has focused on wolves; providing education about the animals and operating as a sanctuary for captive-born wolves. The gray wolf once was common throughout North America, but had been driven nearly to extinction by the 1930’s. Conservation efforts, including reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, have led to an increase in their numbers.
Filed under News
“We cannot afford to lose the Medicaid funding for low-income women to have health care services. We can’t keep turning back federal funds that every state gets and then try to find money in our budget, which is already being cut in key areas like education.”
— Republican U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, criticizing Gov. Rick Perry for his war on women’s preventive care.
I don’t have much regard for Bailey Hutchison, but I’m glad that – although she’s a token female in the White male-dominated Republican hierarchy – she has the decency to turn her back on the patriarchal decision by the state of Texas to control women’s health care.
Filed under News
Survivalist Tip: I’ve mentioned in previous posts that you should have a cache of weapons, such as guns, knives and naked before pictures of lap-band surgery patients, to ward off looters, vandals, zombies, rap singers and other miscreants who might survive the apocalypse. But, it would also be prudent for you to learn a martial art, such as tae kwon do or jiu-jitsu. Most forms of martial arts are ancient athletic practices, and many societies utilized them as learning tools for both the body and mind. In the chaotic aftermath, you’ll need to be both physically and spiritually strong. Besides, nothing will boost your self-esteem like knowing how to kick someone’s ass and hurt their feelings at the same time.
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
Located in Central Asia, the Aral Sea is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north and west and by Uzbekistan to the south and east. It once was the fourth-largest inland sea, or salt-water lake, in the world, fed by the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers. Now, it is a mere fraction of its former self, reduced to less than a quarter of its original size. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were part of the former Soviet Union and attained independence in the 1990’s, as the Soviet regime collapsed. In the 1960’s, the Soviet government began damning up the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers, as part of an expansive farming project. But, the consequences were dire for the Aral Sea. As its source waters were siphoned off, the Aral began to shrink, leaving a vast desert that has proven toxic for residents living near its former coastlines. Efforts by Kazakhstan to restore as much of the sea are ongoing, but the situation is still dire. Here are some photographs showing the refuse left behind, including plenty of ships that got stranded as the waters receded.
Locomotive Rock, seen here from the Ust-Urt Plateau on the western side of the South Aral Sea in September of 2005, used to be mostly underwater. Before the Aral Sea receded, Kazakh fishermen would climb the rock and leave fish as an offering for a good catch.
Filed under Curiosities
“Metropolis” is a science fiction film that came out in 1927 and has become a cult classic. Directed by Fritz Lang, who wrote the screenplay with his wife Thea von Harbou, “Metropolis” examines capitalism in a futuristic urban society. Produced by Germany’s Babelsburg Studios, it was the most expensive film of its time. It’s survived several edits since its premier and even colorization at the hands of modernists, but it remains a beacon of ambitious filmmaking; a hallmark of early 20th century German culture. Here are a few stills taken during the film’s production.
