Category: Meaningful Labor
11:00 | 11-November-1918
100 years ago today, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the guns along the 440-mile line stretching from Switzerland to the North Sea fell silent. The war started 1 August 1914 just as German Chancellor Otto von Bismark once famously predicted around 1884, by “some damned fool thing in the Balkans;” in this case, the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, a city of agony in the 20th century). But on 11 November 1918, it was finally “all quiet on the Western Front.”
9 November: Schicksalstag
In the next few days, there will be much remembrance of the events of 100 years ago—the end of World War I. Not as much in the U.S., where World War I is like the Korean War, a largely forgotten conflict, even though 115,516 Americans died between 1917-1918, along with over 320,000 sickened, most in the influenza epidemic of 1918.
Robicheaux by James Lee Burke
It’s absorbing, it sometimes makes you flinch, and it’s always about the bottom feeders and sharks of the dark underbelly of the American aquarium, and it always makes for fun reading.
World War II After World War II
“There are obviously many websites on WWII weapons, and many on post-war weapons, but I have always been fascinated with WWII weapons being used after the war.”
Tragically Brilliant
Steve Bell’s ‘toons for The Guardian are always brilliant. But «in this one», he’s surpassed himself.
Beery Originalist Quotables
Here are a few Original Originalist quotes worth Originally quoting, from a few of our first Original Founders:
Every Building
“On this page you will find maps showing almost every building in the United States. Why did we make such a thing? We did it as an opportunity for you to connect with the country’s cities and explore them in detail.”
German Roofer Finds Message from Grandfather
A message in a bottle on the roof of a Goslar, Germany, cathedral was found by the grandson of the
Squeezed to Death
“On every airline flight, a crew member talks to passengers in the exit rows to see whether they can, as Federal Aviation Administration regulations specify, “pass expeditiously through the emergency exit” if needed. Given how passengers have grown in inverse proportion to the spaciousness of airliner seats, anything like “expeditious” evacuation of an entire airliner seems doubtful.”
Of Manifestoes and Buildings and Truman and Stuff
[Edited two days later to fix some typos and unclear, stream-of-consciousness-type unclear phrases.] During the recent effort to rename the
Atomic Poetry
On 1-Jun-1945, six weeks after the death of Franklin Roosevelt, new U.S. President Harry Truman convened a meeting to update
The Conscience Stirs
I pretty much wish I had remained disconnected from FB while also being innovative enough to stay connected to the real people in my life without Facebook’s corrupting middle man kleptocracy. I sense that there is another housecleaning coming; my involvement will need to be further curtailed. I’m thinking of what we can do next … there are far better possibilities, surely, than this unholy mess of greed and venality.
TCM Tonight: Summer Under the Stars – Joan Crawford
Of COURSE we had to watch some Joan tonight. Not taking time to behold the wonder that is our patron
Remembering the Past
Remembering Bill Schock on his 100th birthday … and the 52nd anniversary of Braniff 250 in Falls City. Also …
Treading a Careful Path in Post-Castro Cuba
“There is a discrete left-opportunist trend that seeks to throw all developments in Cuba post-1959 into the dustbin and forget about it. This does as little for us as the right-opportunist line; both fail to grasp the full reality of revisionist corrosion and capitalist restoration in Cuba, although one cloaks itself in stultified theory.”
Warm Summer Night
Terrible quality, but is there anything better than a warm summer night playing in – er, rather sitting near the
A Final “Hangin’ Out the Warsh”
«This is Bill’s final column» out of countless ones he wrote over 71 years for the Falls City Journal. With
More Grief
This is kind of like how I feel about my (possibly four) upcoming surgeries: I don’t want to do this,
History as Prophecy
I have been attempting to read «Michael Burleigh’s The Third Reich: A New History» since it came out in 2000. Instead, I’ve read «William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich» twice. Nothing wrong with anything I’ve read of Burleigh’s work; quite the contrary. In fact, it has to do with how big the book is; the first edition is 950-plus pages and weighs a ton and I’ve had hand/wrist problems since, well, 2000. And I have Rise and Fall on Kindle.
Dean Allen, RIP (Jan. 2018)
Because so much has been messed up and unstuck during the first half of this god-awful year, I just discovered
We're Ready …
While waiting for “Sunset Boulevard” on Sunday at Opry Mills, Carol, Frank and I were … say it with me
BA223 Arrives
Welcome to KBNA, 787-8 BA223, arriving on 20R after an 8 hour, 56 minute flight from LHR. British Airways began
That Curtain-y Feeling
That feeling you get when you hang your first curtains in the first house you ever owned? Priceless. Posted by
Oh Frabjous Day!
It’s official!!! Frank opens the door for the first time on the first house he/we have ever owned! “Oh frabjous
Entitle This
Rep. Larson Slams GOP for Labeling Medicare and Social Security 'Entitlements' Congressman John Larson (D-Conn.) scolded Republicans in a fiery
Deer Tracks
With the recent freeze/heat weather cycle, the Saddlebrooke Deer Herd are a little pressed for food, it appears. The… Posted
Dictionarialy Speaking
Want to know what words were recorded in dictionaries for the first time ever in the year you were born?
S.T.E.V.E.
Finally, I have an identity. I am a "Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement." Strong. Thermal Emission. Velocity… Posted by Steve
We Want Dinner!
What happens when Unca Frankie goes to the store without first serving dinner to the Royal Family. (Kinda funny/sad at
Scenes from Old Age …
[Scenes from old age (level 54 edition)] From “Mail Call Three” episode of M*A*S*H (S6,E20; 1978, when I was 15),
The Speed of Events Overtakes Me
“BREAKING: An armed teacher reportedly fired a gun in a school in Dalton, Georgia, police say. No students have been
Happy 52nd!
“It burns! It burns!” Happy birthday to the better half! (Those candles were throwing off sparks which you can barely…
Yawny Fergus
Fergus Beagle avoids the camera studiously, so I snuck up on him and caught him mid-yawn. Incredibly, he turns 11
Sleepy Bosco
Bosco likes to sleep facing the wall, sun not required. (He’s hanging tough; while the osteosarcoma has spread from… Posted
Elegant Queen Sascha
The ever-elegant Queen Sascha likes the sun as well. Posted by Steve Pollock on Monday, February 26, 2018
Goose and His Elefunk
Some sun!!!! Goose and his Elefunk take advantage of rare sight in Music City: Light. He’s forgotten what it is,
Arm Me With …
#ArmMeWith … so many other things than a Glock. Posted by Steve Pollock on Saturday, February 24, 2018
Die weiße Rose
"Seventy-five years ago today, a group of young German idealists, students who had dared to speak out against the Nazis,…
An Army of Teachers
Fact/gut check: Arming 20% of the nation's teachers would result in an army of over 640,000 men and women, as
This is Our Reality Now
This is our reality … (another in a series): Posted by Steve Pollock on Tuesday, February 20, 2018
This is Our Reality, Teachers
[Yeah, it's long and snarky. Yes, again. Read and think or move along.] A teacher's perspective: This is our reality,…
Snow at Hermitage Station
Hard to tell in this pic, but it’s snowing to beat the band in Music City. Thoughts and prayers to
Face Mapped
In need of some … lighter moments around here, we checked out the new Google Arts and Culture Face Map
Bosco is Limping
Bosco started to limp today, indicating a spread of the osteosarcoma to his joint. He also just had a long