BitWrench

Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow I see all kinds of sorrow... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ccw2t0FnVk

Mess O' Greens Hock O' Ham...

Won't Get Fooled Again http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/something-about-this-russia-story-stinks-w458439

At Old Dominion Speedway! Be There! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmNgKcsPV8M Originally shared by ****

The Widening Gyre The labyrinth without a center... Originally shared by Ralf Haring Trump discusses Citizen Kane #truthisstranger http://lithub.com/erroll-morris-on-the-time-he-filmed-donald-trump-missing-the-point

"Do I Look Civilized To You?" If this movie had been set in the South, the protagonists' motivations would have been easier to believe. Cars and dogs are Srs Bidness around these parts. Also, I perused the rest of the Bamf Style site, and saw no mention of Jack Palance, sartorial or otherwise. You can draw your own conclusions. https://www.bamfstyle.com/2015/03/27/john-wick-suit/

Originally shared by ****

A Wind-Up Jesus Bill Leonard is fired up. Worth the read. If you don't know who Will Campbell was: http://www.progressive.org/news/2013/06/182500/appreciating-will-campbell- “preacher-damned” https://baptistnews.com/article/a-wind-up-jesus/#.WGUtBrU8LYU

Just Another Brick In The Wall N.B. that the neither the article, nor the angry comments, discusses the need for professionalism and higher standards in the building trades (and other fields where illegals work). And, of course, the higher end costs that would result. The companies involved in this aren't even mentioned tangentially. If I have my dates right, the driver was working on Monday, December 26. A holiday, for many of us. http://www.wral.com/ice-man-charged-in-death-of-5-year-old-is-mexican-citizen-had-prior-dui-conviction/16381062/

And A Partridge... They're just resting... Pining for the fjords... http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/12/birthday_gift_gone_wrong_dead.html

There Could Be Only One http://www.vulture.com/2016/12/carrie-fisher-roasted-george-lucas.html

#WordlessWednesday #wordlessonwednesday

Entremet Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh "“Like most people in the US, I grew up knowing the words to this carol and even (shudder) singing them occasionally (singing is not a strong point of mine), but never really thought about what they meant, how the carol originated, or what birds were involved”, says Dr Rasmussen in email. So she decided to figure it out. Dr Rasmussen, who’s tied for third for the most bird discoveries in the world, is probably also the world’s foremost avian sleuth, due to her meticulous detective work a few years ago that uncovered the many ornithological thefts and records frauds in museums that were committed by eminent British ornithologist, Richard Meinertzhagen. But who would ever have thought that an old Christmas carol might also hold an avian mystery? “After all, it’s just a Christmas carol!” Dr Rasmussen points out." https://medium.com/@GrrlScientist/meet-the-real-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas-fame-grrlscientist-5a8bc09350c9

The Proof Of The Listening Is In The Correcting http://www.npr.org/2012/08/24/159975466/corrections-and-comments-to-stories

Great Chieftain O' The Puddin' Race http://www.robertburns.org.uk/Assets/Poems_Songs/toahaggis.htm

The Proof Is In The Pudding Yorkshire Pudding, that is... http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/food-lab-yorkshire-pudding-popover-best-method-science.html http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/12/the-best-yorkshire-pudding-popover-recipe.html http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/08/clarified-butter-recipe.html A stick and a half of butter makes 1/2 a cup of clarified butter...

These Twelve Days Rufus Wainwright-Spotlight On Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWWUd_uVkQM People love the working man Who does the best that he can but Don't forget all the horses and toys Never could fix the poor little rich boys. People say they love the maid who Sweats and toils just like a slave but Don't forget all the diamonds and pearls Never could fix the poor little rich girls. You could measure it in blood You could measure it in mud Let us say for these twelve days Put the measurin' away Cause it's Christmas And a spotlight shining on Christmas And a spotlight shining on us.

#NotThatKindOfApp Does TJ's have Hoppin' John and Greens? I thought not. Originally shared by Susan Jahn http://www.bonappetit.com/story/best-frozen-trader-joes-apps?mbid=social_twitter

Paperback Writer It's a dirty story, of a dirty man... The Beatles-Paperback Writer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VWqVZ8FMKs http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533624/The-man-taught-generation-sex-His-luridly-salacious-thrillers-British-schoolboys-guilty-secret-greatest-work-fiction-life-story.html https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Cab_for_Cutie_(song Originally shared by David McKeever

Home To Roost

The First Thing We Do... Let's Kill All The Lawyers... http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/12/26/499494248/a-dying-man-s-wish-to-donate-his-organs-gets-complicated

Deadpool Originally shared by Susan Jahn 2016 strikes again http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38432862?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central

Bells (Won't) Be Ringing The sad, sad news... Charles Brown-Please Come Home For Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itdNoGtPQ3I Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh The end of an era. "Britain’s oldest manufacturing firm, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, announced its closure on December 2nd [...] There was nothing parochial about the business. It shipped bells to Auckland, Sydney, St Petersburg and Montreal. As early as the mid-18th century it was sending peals of bells, or great single bells, to the American colonies. If the antipodean bells stirred sentimental memories of the old country, the American bells, as if galvanised by sharper air, became symbols of freedom and revolution. The Whitechapel church-and-lookout bells of St Michael’s in Charleston, South Carolina were captured by the British in the revolutionary war and seized back again. In Philadelphia in 1776 citizens gathered to the cry of the Liberty Bell, made in Whitechapel, to hear for the first time the Dec...

NOS New Old Stock.

Woot! "We need to put aside the complacent hyperbole..." And replace it with overzealous hyperbole? Oh, wait, that's been done. Ah, Chapel Hill, the Southern Berkeley. Has better barbecue, anyway. Originally shared by David Brin North Carolina is not only the worst state in the USA for unfair districting but the worst entity in the world ever analyzed by the Electoral Integrity Project. Of course the same thing applies to all but two red states. (In fairness, two blue states also do this wretched cheating.) They do this because the Murdoch-Koch masters know how slender is their grip on power. If gerrymandering and other cheats fail, then their entire neo-feudal design collapses. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article122593759.html#storylink=cpy http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article122593759.html#storylink=cpy

Marching Orders Originally shared by Alex Scrivener We certainly can't have people refusing to do their jobs for political reasons, can we! http://jezebel.com/the-rockettes-have-a-choice-perform-for-trump-or-lose-1790438403

Christmas Is A Comin' Bing Crosby-Christmas Is A Comin': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-Cn_sTwVQ

Papers, Please http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/22/504031635/you-say-you-re-an-american-but-what-if-you-had-to-prove-it-or-be-deported

Grownuppance Def., var. of comeuppance. https://writerthereseoneill.com/2016/12/22/presenting-new-york-time-bestselling-mega-brat-bigmouth-therese/

Jubilee Gig Originally shared by Randy Culler The Tall Tale of The Christmas Flounder Here’s the story: During the Great Depression, Cape Fear fishermen turned their trusty gigs toward the sea on Christmas Eve, trying to land a bittersweet alternative to holiday turkeys and hams they could no longer afford. The next day, The Christmas Flounder, stuffed with oysters, collards, crabs, and grits, would provide cheery sustenance, alleviating the sting of the drooping, empty stockings pinned to the hearth. https://www.ourstate.com/the-tall-tale-of-the-christmas-flounder/

(Not Just) Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire Originally shared by Al Tlön "Fire was to the Victorian era as Netflix is to our milksop age." http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/victorians-christmas-parlor-games-will-leave-you-burned-bruised-and-puking

Throwing Shade Originally shared by **** "Calculating the length and shape of a shadow cast from a simple object can be easily done with pen, paper and some basic math. But architects use a more sophisticated method known as ray tracing; it simulates the effects a ray of light can have on a building and its surroundings. Most analyses of shadows study just a few buildings at a time. What made it an interesting problem for the researchers at the Tandon School of Engineering at New York University was how to do it at a scale so you could quickly study whole neighborhoods." Via Map Dragons at that other social place. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/21/upshot/Mapping-the-Shadows-of-New-York-City.html

Riding The Robo-Reindeer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At3xcj-pTjg

#WordlessWednesday #wordlessonwednesday

Ear To The Ground Eye To The Sky... Looking For The Big Bang... Originally shared by Timothy Street Do You Hear What I Hear? A popular Christmas carol that was written during the angst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. #christmas   #music   #inspiration   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxO3MvfkKp4 http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/the-apocalyptic-fear-within-do-you-hear-what-i-hear/420459/ http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/the-apocalyptic-fear-within-do-you-hear-what-i-hear/420459

Not Effed Up Our tribe went to see it yesterday. Youngest said, "Best Star Wars Ever!" Scalzi does a good job of describing what they did, without spoilers. They did good. Originally shared by John Scalzi I've seen Rogue One (which I liked) and put a review up on my site. The review is spoiler-free; the comments that follow it might not be. Enjoy! http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/12/19/rogue-one-or-the-disneyfication-of-star-wars-is-complete-and-this-is-a-good-thing/ http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/12/19/rogue-one-or-the-disneyfication-of-star-wars-is-complete-and-this-is-a-good-thing/

Christmas Swing The princely sum of 101 people, probably not Dalmatians, have signaled their acclaim of my eclectic musical tastes by clicking the Like button. You might have to sign in to hear all 23 tracks playing in the browser window or app of your choice. For those of you that are curious, or want to build your own list, here are the tracks: 1. Here Comes Santa Claus-Ramsey Lewis Trio 2. Baby, It's Cold Outside-Leon Redbone & Zooey Deschanel 3. Cha-Cha All The Way-Capitol Studio Orchestra 4. Winter Wonderland-Peggy Lee 5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen-Oscar Peterson 6. Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney-Ella Fitzgerald 7. Christmas Island-Dinning Sisters & Bob Atcher 8. Sleigh Ride-Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass 9. Santa Baby-Eartha Kitt With Henri Rene & His Orchestra 10. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo [Malibu Remix]-Billy May Orchestra 11. Zat You, Santa Claus?-Banu Gibson 12. Santa Claus Baby-The Voices 13. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm-The Star...

Nightnoise Originally shared by Al Tlön "A man records himself talking in his sleep, to hilarious and alarming results." http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2016/12/guy_records_his_sleep_talking_and_it_s_hilariously_bizarre_video.html

Kirigami Kristmas Or to be more Xacto, the Night Of The Short Knives. Get your patterns here: http://www.anthonyherreradesigns.com/starwarssnowflakes/

Going To Weather

Opposite Tack The day started with subfreezing temperatures, fog, no wind, and my trimming partner hors de combat from the creeping crud. The wind picked up, and we proceeded to race fast and break stuff, most notably another halyard, with a working spinnaker attached to it. Enjoyment was heightened by the new warm front blowing in with erratic gusts that caused sudden changes in local vertical and boat heading. Everyone stayed connected to the boat, folks were only grazed by the boom tackle flying by, and bleeding was minor. We took two seconds and a first, and were rewarded by homemade cookies and rum cake. I expect to make Old Wookiee noises on arising tomorrow morning.

Originally shared by Don Komarechka Snowflake-a-Day #16 Today’s snowflake has a very “alien” feeling center, with many strange tentacles reaching towards the center. The fun thing is, that’s the where they start – not where they end! View large! A snowflake grows from the center outward, so picture this tiny crystal just at the point where those tentacles begin, that’s the start of cavities forming in the ice. The conditions change slightly to allow them to contract but then expand again, a process that repeats as the crystal grows until ultimately the cavities in the ice expand so much that they reach the corners, cutting the crystal into two planes. Immediately after that happens, the rules of engagement change. The lower plate accelerates its growth because it’s thinner (the knife-edge instability), leaving the top plate to grow out much more slowly. By the looks of the snowflake, nothing is growing fast – hard 60 degree edges are a sign of this – but the bottom layer expanded until...

Polar Express Off to the coast for a Frostbite race worthy of the name, with freezing temperatures and mixed precipitation forecast for the morning. All Aboard!

Anise Cookies For Christmas Care packages, Cara Evangelista... 2 eggs 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp soda, dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water 2 cups flour 1 tbsp anise seed, crushed 1 cup sugar Beat the eggs until light. I usually do this with a hand whisk, then dump it into the mixer bowl. Add brown sugar gradually & beat 15 minutes until thick. Yep, you read that right. 15 minutes. Stir in salt and dissolved soda. Fold in anise seed and flour. Put the granulated sugar in a pie plate. Drop 3/4” dia balls of dough into the sugar and roll to coat. Put cookies 1 1/2” apart on cookie sheets. Bake at 375º about 8 minutes until flat and crackled. Cool on racks. Store air-tight.

Sundown "When I feel like I'm winning when I'm losing again..." Gordon Lightfoot-Sundown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8rR7E6NfY4 Originally shared by Matt McIrvin How 20th century segregation worked in the North, and its persistent effect on racial distribution and election results. Another way to put it is that we had a huge internal refugee crisis originating from the South, which white Northerners responded to with ethnic cleansing. http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2016/12/sundown-towns-and-trumps-america.html

A Taste Of Christmas http://sharonrandall.com/2016/12/favorite-christmas-treat-dec-13-2016/ http://sharonrandall.com/2016/12/favorite-christmas-treat-dec-13-2016/

(No) Knock On Effect Originally shared by Will Shetterly "An innocent man and his mother were subjected to unimaginable terror. Both of their lives were put at risk. Rosas — who again had committed no crime and wasn’t suspected of any crime — was subjected to violent tactics deliberately designed to confuse and disorient him. When the police failed to secure the home in time to prevent Rosas from reaching for his gun, the state didn’t punish the officers for their lack of corroborating investigation, for their subjecting innocent people to unspeakable violence, for their incompetence in carrying out the raid or for their wildly disproportionate use of force. They punished Rosas for being disoriented and confused — for behaving in precisely the manner these raids are designed to make people behave. One detail about this case really underscores the outrage. During the commotion and confusion of the raid, one of the police officers inadvertently shot one of his fellow officers in the...

rms rmf Not to be confused with rm -rf. Originally shared by Susan Jahn "Richard Stallman’s quest to save us from a web of spyware—and from ourselves." https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201611/the-sorcerers-code

Originally shared by Drew McCarthy Fotheringay Sings Bob Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing." Sandy Denny formed this short lived band after leaving Fairport Convention. The band is named after the ruined Norman castle in Northamptonshire, which was the birthplace of the recently exhumed Richard III, and the site of the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S46KvLCBc2Y

"When I Consider How My Light is Spent" -John Milton Considering the Parable of the Talents... Originally shared by Caroline Dow https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/12/14/how-to-be-a-loyal-state-department-bureaucrat-in-the-trump-administration-rex-tillerson/

#WordlessWednesday #wordlessonwednesday

Platform 9 3/4 via Ralf Haring Originally shared by Allen Varney For a few Sundays each holiday season, the New York City subway system pulls some of its oldest train cars out of mothballs and runs a special "holiday train," complete with vintage ads in the cars and attendants dressed in period costume. (Business Insider): http://www.businessinsider.com/secret-nyc-subway-2016-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/secret-nyc-subway-2016-12

"You Took The Victorian Out Of My Gingerbread!" We had an outbreak of Modernism here in North Carolina. Really. You could look it up: http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com/ Originally shared by Robert Rambusch You're welcome A Selection of Modernist Gingerbread Houses http://blog.presentandcorrect.com/modernistmas-2 http://www.messynessychic.com/2016/12/05/13-things-i-found-on-the-internet-today-vol-ccvxiii/

The Neighborhood Of Make Believe I think there will be too much hand wringing and pearl clutching for anyone to turn the handles, but it's nice to dream about... http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a51430/russia-election/

Treasure Box

Shiny Brite Originally shared by Gene Capps CHEAP BAUBLES AND A BOY’S LOVE OF CHRISTMAS When I was a boy my family lived in a small rented house, a plain white box with windows framed by green shutters. The five rooms were barely large enough to fit our family of six, but we made do even though at times it felt like we were living inside a wooden bucket. Our house hugged Spruce Street, a car path of packed clay that doubled as the neighborhood playground. My family’s modest income came on the backs of my devoted and tireless parents, but it enabled us to live comfortably with a few amenities. Since we rented our house, the most expensive item that my parents owned was my dad’s automobile, always bought used but inevitably polished to a mirror shine. The scant furnishings inside the five rooms were basic, solid, practical, without frills. Not totally devoid of familial identity, we did own items of little dollar value that nevertheless helped define us, and thus they were held dear and ...

Seasonal Variants #NotQuiteRightFoods

Join The Club Originally shared by **** Perfect. We further note that nearly all faculty colleagues at other institutions listed on your site, the philosophers, historians, theologians, ethicists, feminists, rhetoricians, and others, have similarly devoted their professional lives to the unyielding pursuit of truth, to the critical examination of assumptions that underlie social and political policy, and to honoring this country’s commitments to the premise that all people are created equal and deserving of respect. This is the sort of company we wish to keep. We surmise that the purpose of your list is to shame and silence faculty who espouse ideas you reject. But your list has had a different effect upon us. We are coming forward to stand with the professors you have called “dangerous,” reaffirming our values and recommitting ourselves to the work of teaching students to think clearly, independently, and fearlessly. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/12/08/a-twi...

Kona Gold Originally shared by Moss Drake #420

Camelling Tom Chapin-Camelling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI3vyHD69XE

Yes, Let's... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUabyfwVDuI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUabyfwVDuI

Soap Opera Originally shared by **** There’s nothing in the Constitution about an inalienable right to be sponsored by multinational brands. http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/breitbart-treats-kellogg-to-its-smash-mouth-style?mbid=social_facebook

How The (Sizzle For The) Sausage Is Made via Ralf Haring Originally shared by Allen Varney Ten years later, a long, readable oral history (in two parts) of the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads starring Justin Long and John Hodgman. (The Campaign): http://www.campaignlive.com/article/oral-history-get-mac-part-1/1417003 Part 2: http://www.campaignlive.com/article/oral-history-get-mac-part-2/1417768 http://www.campaignlive.com/article/oral-history-get-mac-part-1/1417003

Chase The Rainbow “It’s scary. It’s like the ’60s, maybe worse,” Thurman says. “But I’m not afraid of it anymore — they can’t do that much more to me.” Well, I was caught, I was out of excuses, But I was not above re-learning all the rules, No, well, I found out the hard way, There ain't no color to the blues... Kenny Wayne Shepherd-Chase The Rainbow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crQHqS2X4CM Originally shared by Will Shetterly "He approaches a young white woman and encourages her to speak. At first she’s shy, but Lee and the YPO speaker say they don’t want to be doing all the talking, that they already talk too much and that their movement needs more leaders. She finally gets up and airs her worry over the police, how a cop pulled a knife on her brother and when she asked him what he was doing he told her it was none of her business and to “get the hell out of there.”" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/12/09/resurrecting-the-alliance-of-black-revolu...

Jumbo Shrimp "The term Jumbo Shrimp has always amazed me. What is a Jumbo Shrimp? I mean, it's like Military Intelligence - the words don't go together, man." George Carlin Probably need to add Internet Conspiracy News to the list... https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/alleged-gunman-tells-police-he-wanted-to-rescue-children-at-dc-pizza-shop-after-hearing-fictional-internet-accounts/2016/12/05/cb5ebabc-bae8-11e6-ac85-094a21c44abc_story.html?utm_term=.07d30759a2c7 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/05/did-michael-flynn-really-tweet-something-about-pizzagate-not-exactly/?utm_term=.1bb8499c6a1b http://www.wral.com/pizza-shop-gunman-s-life-showed-recent-signs-of-turbulence/16318969/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/alleged-gunman-tells-police-he-wanted-to-rescue-children-at-dc-pizza-shop-after-hearing-fictional-internet-accounts/2016/12/05/cb5ebabc-bae8-11e6-ac85-094a21c44abc_story.html?utm_term=.07d30759a2c7

Got No Reason TOBY, Robot Satan, has a new gig. Limited Stature Folk should watch out. http://www.gocomics.com/toby/2016/12/01

Other Uses For the world's most useful Useless Stuff, Silly Putty. Which is good, because it no longer picks up newspaper ink... Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh Nice. "A dash of graphene can transform the stretchy goo known as Silly Putty into a pressure sensor able to monitor a human pulse or even track the dainty steps of a small spider. The material, dubbed G-putty, could be developed into a device that continuously monitors blood pressure, its inventors hope. It also demonstrates a form of self-repair that may herald smarter graphene composites. [...] The researchers mixed graphene flakes, roughly 20 atomic layers thick and up to 800 nanometers long, with homemade Silly Putty, a silicone polymer, to produce dark grey G-putty that conducted electricity. Crucially, its electrical resistance changed dramatically when the researchers applied even tiny amounts of pressure. The putty was at least ten times more sensitive than other nanocomposite sensors. ...

ROE "In Afghanistan, the rules of engagement sometimes were stricter than use-of-force rules for civilian police in America. Erica Gaston, a human rights lawyer who studied the military's rules of engagement in Afghanistan, said that especially was true in the later years of the war." via Cara Evangelista http://www.npr.org/2016/12/08/504718239/military-trained-police-may-be-slower-to-shoot-but-that-got-this-vet-fired http://www.npr.org/2016/12/08/504718239/military-trained-police-may-be-slower-to-shoot-but-that-got-this-vet-fired

Shakira Law Because every donut goes straight to your hips... Originally shared by Tim Elkins

#WordlessWednesday #wordlessonwednesday

Beware, Brother, Beware “Good lord! That answer at the top. It’s a featured result. It’s called a “direct answer”. This is supposed to be indisputable. It’s Google’s highest endorsement.” That every women has some degree of prostitute in her? “Yes. This is Google’s algorithm going terribly wrong.” David Bromberg-Beware, Brother, Beware: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kXRLnq9BcI https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/google-democracy-truth-internet-search-facebook

Scots Wha Hae... The antithesis of a REMF. Originally shared by Susan Jahn @zulufucxs - Don’t be fooled, at times being a true bad ass doesn’t require a weapon or a high kill ratio. Take for example this man. His name is Bill Millin aka Piper Bill. At the outbreak of WW2, Bill joined the British Army and became the personal bag piper for Simon Fraser (another bad ass), commander of the 1 Special Service Brigade (a team full of bad asses). Now, bagpipers were restricted to rear areas and Fraser didn’t agree: “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply” So, next thing you know, Bill is at shore on Sword beach during the Normandy landings. Once on the beach, Millin calmly walked up and down at the water's edge, playing while carnage exploded and people died all around him. Song requests were being made during the beach assault and Bill obliged. After the beach was secured, Fraser once again ordered Millin to play for the commandos inl...

Birthday Flamingo!

Modeling Bad Behavior Originally shared by Susan Jahn "@atlasobscura - Had a chance to visit the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death in Baltimore, MD two days ago. In the early half of the 20th century, forensic science was non-existent. This would be changed, however, by an elderly Chicago socialite with a penchant for dollhouses and death. Mrs. Frances Glessner Lee dedicated her life to the advancement of the forensic sciences and is allegedly the inspiration for Murder, She Wrote. Among her other contributions Lee’s greatest contribution to forensics, was her 18 perfectly proportioned dioramas – based on real-life crime scenes – which she donated to the department in the 1940s. These painstakingly crafted dioramas include functioning locks and lights and details such as overturned cups, bullet-holes, and boxes of chocolates as well as miniature corpses in a variety of macabre positions. Twice a year, Lee would hold week-long seminars where participants would scour the scene...

Sailor's Rest Sacrificed a Leatherman to the Water Gods today, so the boom hit my buddy, not me. Fixed the topping lift, found an alternate foredeck guy, so there's that. We think we took two firsts and a second. I took a nap under the number two on the way back. BBQ sandwiches and coconut custard pie is our reward.

Due East

Status A Peach, A Pear, Or A Coconut, Please... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpp11sMXgcA

No Ho Ho Thrillkiller. http://www.bdtonline.com/news/attention-prostitutes/article_af1fbd6a-b769-11e6-b26c-e75af23f61e2.html

Lazy Afterguy (Not Working) AKA, me, usually. Unfortunately, we broke the topping lift last race, and repairs were ineffectual meantimes... Someone will have to go aloft in the morning, hold their mouth right, and fix it. Might be me, more's the pity... Plus, it's finally decided to be cold, probably something to do with the wind out of the NW. Aaand, now I hear our regular Bowman is AWOL, so I may end up on the pointy end. Hilarity will ensue. Wish me luck.

For Want Of A... EZ Load Toilet Paper Holder. I blame Bali. Many difficult and unexpected tasks were undertaken in order to accomplish this seemingly small goal.

PTSD Like the nitrogen bends, folks respond to stress differently. Life is often hard, in ways that go beyond micro-aggressions. We should do what we can to support each other in the hard things of life, whether they are job related, or not. But the hard things in life can't be eliminated, nor their consequences. http://www.jamesgeering.com/blog/2016/11/27/i-wish-my-head-could-forget-the-things-my-eyes-have-seen

Implicit Bias http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/special-reports/charlotte-shooting-protests/article118026963.html http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/special-reports/charlotte-shooting-protests/article118026963.html

Give Me Hope, Help Me Cope Bernie Sanders: "So the way you defeat or slow down your opponents is that you bring people together, and you show that he is on the wrong side of history. That’s the best we can do." George Harrison-Give Me Love: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s-KAvPbO8JY https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/26/bernie-sanders-spike-lee-conversation-donald-trump-us-politics

One Of A Kind She'll be missed. Originally shared by The Diane Rehm Show Journalists, colleagues and friends reflect on Diane Rehm's 37 years in public radio. What will you miss about Diane? Share with us: email thanksdiane@NPR.org or call (202) 930-1584. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yApqVX3zW0k&feature=autoshare

Originally shared by Don Komarechka Snowflake-a-Day #1 It’s that time again! This year’s series starts with a snowflake photographed at the end of last winter, as we haven’t gotten “the good stuff” yet this season. Be sure to view it large and enjoy the details! This snowflake reveals some interesting details about these crystals, in a number of ways. The lighting on the center can quickly reveal the differences in depth and thickness of the crystal, with the light coming from the upper right, it falls off sharply on the lower left half of the center, This seems to mark a somewhat domed shape in the center, but that’s very difficult to explain. Usually, the areas that grow faster are the areas that stick out the farthest (more access to water vapour), so how does the center maintain a thicker profile? I’m not sure. I might ponder on this one a little more or ask some people with an education that can help me find answers, but there has to be something more complicated at play here. I f...

No Exceptions Also, your Badly Behaving Bigoted Neighbors, Bless Their Hearts, but don't let them get away with their Bad Behavior. Originally shared by **** My disabled son brought this home from his church last Sunday and asked me to put it in the front yard. Done Buddy.

Those Were The Days What Reality TV looked like in the days of Richard Milhous Nixon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_in_the_Family We lived through it once, might survive it again. Who do you reckon will play Sam Ervin's part, this time around? #tbt #ThrowbackThursday https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZngGIw5ONWE

You Sit On A Throne Of Lies Like everyone else that has ever been President, I'm afraid. This part made me laugh: "We are all called to be leaders now, in the absence of leadership." Noppity Nope. It ain't absent. It's awful. More than a minor difference. And everybody being a leader, is often called Anarchy. For reasons. http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/11/a-shorter-guide-to-dealing-with-trumps-lies/508946/ http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/11/29/three-weeks-in/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBZk6JZwJCU

Jenny, I've Got Your Number Originally shared by Damn interesting The World's Least-Popular Four-Digit PIN: 8068 http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/09/19/how_to_choose_a_pin_code_avoid_birth_date_1234_or_8068.html

Originally shared by **** Glad - Traffic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v8YQ6sU6I4

Fourth Estate Sales http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/11/newsonomics-canadas-government-imagines-what-a-news-less-future-might-look-like/