Why Do All New Apartment Buildings Look the Same?
The « bland, boxy apartment boom is a design issue, and a housing policy problem. » | Curbed.
End of Year Retrospectives: 75 Book Covers
“There are some gems among the 75 Best Book Covers of 2018.”
Deadly Chinese Fentanyl is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins
“Fentanyl’s potency has « transformed the global trafficking — and policing — of narcotics.”
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 …
Those Who Forget the Past …
Looks like my second book (about microburst crashes) just gained a new chapter, «as described at AvHerald». Passenger-point-of-view videos are
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
Latest Bad News: Sascha
Did you ever have one of “those” years? For me, 1993 was my, as the Queen said, “annus horribilus.” But
We're Ready …
While waiting for “Sunset Boulevard” on Sunday at Opry Mills, Carol, Frank and I were … say it with me
Sunset Boulevard!
Seeing Sunset Boulevard on the big screen Sunday was pretty fabulous. Noticed many things you can’t see on the tee-wee….
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
His Royal Snit Fit
Portrait: His Imperial Majesty The Roux throws the Royal Snit Fit, leading His Court in vocal protests against All This
The Vet, Again.
Mr. Goose is on his way to a nail trim and latest shots. He’s always up for a ride. Meanwhile,
Welcome to the Neighborhood
The moment when you close on your house and your new neighbor welcomes you with a giant batch of chocolate
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
Shooting Up the Waffle House, Naked
In all this pouring (and pouring and pouring) rain, how difficult is it to find a naked man running around
Closing Tomorrow
Closing on the new house at 11 a.m. tomorrow! VERY happy. His Majesty is preparing final addresses for the Cats
Entitle This
Rep. Larson Slams GOP for Labeling Medicare and Social Security 'Entitlements' Congressman John Larson (D-Conn.) scolded Republicans in a fiery
Moving to Donelson
On the road again … Moving packing has begun! Heading back to Donelson (yay!) to a smaller house (yay!) with
Deer Tracks
With the recent freeze/heat weather cycle, the Saddlebrooke Deer Herd are a little pressed for food, it appears. The… Posted
Goose's Most Favoritist Thing in the World
Goose loves when the sun goes down, because it makes great reflections off the phone, which is his MOST. FAVORITIST.
Bosco Comes Home
Bosco came home today. He now takes his place next to Bayley, Feargal and Fred. Thanks again to Lap of
I Could But I Won't.
“You do know I can jump over there and grab that cheddar at any moment, don’t you? But I am
Sascha Says Goodbye to Bosco
She was not very willing (a little freaked out, I think—she knew things were not right), but I did get
Memories of Bosco, Part 2
Here is a series of pics of Bosco (and Sascha) from the moment we first saw them in October 2015
Memories of Bosco, Part 2
Here is a series of pics of Bosco (and Sascha) from the moment we first saw them in October 2015
Memories of Bosco, Part 1
Some pics of a happy/sleepy Bosco. Always such a happy boy, until that last night. Farewell, Boscketty. Lordy do we