Dumb question from a modern writer

From something called waorsu.org:

“Is it acceptable for writers to incorporate aspects of cultures outside of their own into their writing? Where is the dividing line between a respectful use of other cultures and cultural appropriation?”

Who is to define “respectful use?” By that thinking, I cannot write about any character who is not male, white, a Baby Boomer, born and raised in Texas.

Here’s the thing: Anyone who writes, creates.

Here's another thing: Anyone who asks a question concerning "cultural appropriation" has no business claiming to be a writer.

‘According to a highly respected medium…’

That is a quote from the site.

10 haunted highways in Texas.

http://backpackerverse.com/texas-roads-hitchhiking-ghosts/

Laboring in obscurity

There was this baseball player, pitched four games for the St. Louis Maroons between May 28 and June 3, 1885. By calendar count, that is a seven-day major league career. The pitcher started all four games. He completed all four games. He lost all four games. His earned run average was 3.44. In 34 innings, he gave up 46 hits, 33 runs; 13 of those runs were earned. He walked 20 batters and struck out 9. He threw 6 wild pitches. He went to bat 11 times. He got 1 hit. He knocked in 1 run.

The pitcher’s name was Palmer. First name, unknown. Date and place of birth, unknown. Date and place of death, unknown. Bats/throws, unknown. Height/weight, unknown.

In these times, when we can find out just about everything on anybody, the lack of knowledge about a major league baseball player seems strange. Unknown Palmer shows up and suits out for the St. Louis nine, and seven days later, he is gone.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=palme01

The president we elected is doing things, and the Establishment is going nuts

“People should not be upset; they should be enjoying this. The Trump effect is a good thing. He is doing exactly what he said he would do and exactly what people elected him to do. Newsflash to the Beltway establishment: Americans who elected Trump do not worship the current gods of the city. They know you’re responsible for killing the old ones and they wish to return the favor now. We want your gods dead. That is sort of what ‘drain the swamp’ means. And, as Trump points out repeatedly: in America (at least in the middle part) we don’t worship government; we worship God. As in the one true God.

“Think of the glory of it all. This is the fight we have been waiting for. This is the turmoil we need.”

https://amgreatness.com/2017/07/29/killing-gods-city/

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/killing-the-gods-of-the-city/

August 1910 on a beach in New Jersey

“Presented for your contemplation: One wave breaking over a group of Americans who have waded into the Atlantic on the Jersey shore sometime around noon on a hot day in August in 1910.”

http://americandigest.org/wp/the-summer-of-our-content/#more-1817

(Comment: The man running from the camera, slightly right of center, has been in other photographs of the time, five years either side. In at least two photographs, he appears to be talking on a hand-held telephone. In another photograph, he is using an electronic tablet or pad. A vacationer from afar, perhaps.)

Rail gates will be timed, so there’s nothing to worry about

During “the peak hour” of high speed commuter rail in the San Francisco Bay area, a train will pass through every three minutes. Neat, huh? Except – The rail line will cross 41 streets. Every three minutes, a train will bring traffic to a stop at 41 different places. That means “the number of vehicles that can cross the rail grade in gate up periods between trains during the peak will decrease by 60%. During peak hours, gate down times will approximately double.” And, the trains crossing city streets will be running at speeds up to 110 miles an hour.

The system is expected to cost only a little more than $100 billion. BILLION.

http://californiapolicycenter.org/high-speed-rail-system-failed-promises/

Link at http://ace.mu.nu/#370850

Police can’t figure out why this guy wanted to kill people

‘Machete-wielding man “screaming Allahu Akbar” kills one person and injures several others during rampage in Hamburg supermarket’

There doesn’t seem to be a motive.

“One officer said there was 'no valid information on the motive of the attacker' who has yet to be identified.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4739888/One-dead-stabbing-attack-Hamburg-supermarket.html

Wull, dang, Wolfgang. Whadda ya think made ol Abdul do somethin like that?

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/will-germany-ever-open-her-eyes/

These days, Trumann makes its own kind of music

Baldwin pianos used to be made in Trumann. Baldwin opened its factory in 1980, and sold out to Gibson in 2001. Gibson closed its piano line in 2006 and moved all the jobs to China. Baldwin made banjos for a couple of years in DeQueen, Ark., and then shut down that plant. The company does not have a good record of longevity in Arkansas, nor did the company leave good memories to its unemployed workers.

Parker Hannifin also had a plant in Trumann, but closed in 2005 and sent those jobs to its site in Apodaca Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Parker Hannifin’s web site claims the company is “the global leader in motion and control technologies.” The site also says the corporation values its “empowered workforce operating in a supportive environment (that) fosters innovative ideas and solutions. We encourage our employees to pursue ideas, and more importantly, we listen to them.”

http://www.parker.com/portal/site/PARKER/menuitem.e631b67dc0285c0566b049e1237ad1ca/?vgnextoid=243880961f66e010VgnVCM1000000308a8c0RCRD&vgnextfmt=EN

Former Parker workforce members in Trumann might say “Bullshit” to corporate propaganda, but such is industrial employer vis a vis employee reality.

In 2010, Trumann had a population of 7,243, its highest-ever head count. Of those residents, 94.3 percent were white. Median household income was $26,533. About 21.2 percent of the overall population lived below the poverty line.

Trumann is in Poinsett County in Northeast Arkansas. The county is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779-1851) first American Minister to Mexico and a former Secretary of War. While in Mexico, Poinsett saw the flor de la noche Buena – Christmas Eve flower. He sent samples to the United States, where the plant became known as Poinsettia.

A Facebook page on Things to do in Trumann lists several restaurants. Trumann has a Walmart, too.

I-555 goes through the west side of town.

Here is a link to a satellite image: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.6616262,-90.5421516,13591m/data=!3m1!1e3

Lots of fields surround Trumann.

Auditors were surprised because …??

Hey, it’s New Orleans! You expected something else?

“New Orleans is taking federal taxpayers for a $2 billion ride in Hurricane Katrina spending, the inspector general who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday, concluding that the city is charging the government for repairs that had nothing to do with the 2005 hurricane and flooding that devastated the Gulf Coast.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/27/new-orleans-bilks-taxpayers-2b-katrina-repairs/

“The city claims records were destroyed during Katrina …”

Sounds like approving FEMA officials went all Louisiana, a’ la H.P. Long School of Politics.

Link at maggiesfarm.

Bula, Texas – It’s out there

Bula is in Bailey County in far West Texas. Baily County is about halfway down Texas’ long straight-line border with New Mexico. In 1980, Bula’s population was 105, but had dropped to around 35 in 2000. Bailey County’s population stood at 7,165 by the 2010 federal census.

There are two keys to any kind of success in West Texas: oil or ground water. Bula had the second, with water available at 20 to 40 feet.

The Handbook of Texas says: “Bula, on Farm Road 54 in southeastern Bailey County, was established in 1924 and named Newsome, for W. B. Newsome. The Newsome Ranch of W. B. and Tom Newsome was sold and subdivided into farms of 177.7 acres in 1924–25. Since the name Newsome duplicated another post office name, the name Bula was chosen in 1925, in honor of either Bula Maude Oakes, daughter of Methodist preacher Roma A. Oakes, or Bula Thorn, wife of William H. Thorn, the first postmaster. In 1925 Bula also opened a school and in 1929 a cotton gin. Its school later moved and was closed in 1975. Bula remained a farming community with a population of 105 in 1980 and 1990, when it still had its post office.”

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hlb61

Lots of towns, when you go looking for why they’re named that, the story is, “Well, it might have been this way, or it might have been some other way.” So, Bula Maude Oakes or Bula Thorn, you have a town in West Texas named after you.

Here is a link to a site that has more information and a picture of what remains of the Bula School: https://lost-texas.com/tag/bula/

Here is a link to a bigger picture of the school: https://www.flickr.com/photos/courthouselover/1435458133

And the old cotton gin: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bula_Cotton_Gin,_Bailey_County,_Texas,_2011.jpg

T. rex downgraded from king of the reptiles

'Improved computer modelling suggests that the leg bones of a T. rex would have snapped under the pressure of a sprint.’

“In a paper published in PeerJ, William Sellers of the University of Manchester and colleagues demonstrate a model that shows that a true running gait would have placed intolerable stress on the T. rex frame and led to snapped leg-bones.

“This reduces the range of possible speeds the dinosaur could have moved at, the authors write, and ‘essentially limits adults of this species to walking gaits’”.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/palaeontology/could-i-tyrannosaurus-rex-i-run-probably-not

Link at http://www.woodpilereport.com/


It could, it couldn't. Everything is a guess, absent eyewitness Video at 11. This year, yes. Next year, no.

Wait a minute! How many transgenders did you say?

President Trump this morning announced "that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military."

A very stupid BBC newsreader this afternoon asked, "What does this mean for the thousands of transgender military personnel?"

Wait a minute! Thousands? Are you serious? Thousands of transgender military personnel?

If we go by percentage of U.S. population reportedly/allegedly men masking as women and women masking as men, that means there are millions of homosexuals in the military.

Hooray for President Trump, who realizes a military is not a vehicle for social change, but an organization dedicated to cause confusion and bring death to our enemies.

Sam Adams, Vietnam veteran

The latest edition of Thunder Run, newsletter for the 11th Armored Cavalry’s Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia, says Sam Adams (Air Cav Troop, 1966-70) died in Lakewood, Ohio, in October 2015. That 1966-70 is correct. Sam must have found Vietnam more peaceful or meaningful or something, than the Cleveland he was from.

Sam was in the original Aero Rifle Platoon, assigned I think sometime in May 1966 while the regiment was still at Fort Meade, Md. When the platoon was reorganized into Long-Range Reconnaissance Platoon in early 1967 in Vietnam, Sam, as did a lot of us in the rifle platoon, declined to volunteer for the crazies. For some, the decision was, “Hey, the army already drafted me, sent me through 11B AIT, assigned me to an airmobile infantry platoon in an armored cavalry regiment, sent me to Vietnam, and now I’m expected to volunteer for LRRP?”

One night on ambush, while the Rifle Platoon still existed, I was beside a rubber tree, waiting for whatever might happen (or not happen), and all of a sudden a grenade goes “KA-WHUMP!”, dirt and twigs and leaves and stuff falling from the sky, and Sam is yelling, “I got him! I got him!” He had seen something/somebody moving in the dark darkness, too far out to be one of us, and it was moving, so he pulled the pin on a grenade and waited until the whoever was closer, and then he bowled the grenade along the ground. Throwing it, he explained at daylight, would have been too dangerous, because it might have hit a tree and come back. We didn’t find sign of anybody or any thing. No one was injured in the making of the ambush.

Sam was assigned to aviation maintenance after declining LRRP. At a reunion quite a few years ago, somebody asked when I was in RVN. I replied ’66 and ’67. The other man said, “You must have known Sam Adams.” I said I did, indeed. He said he was there in ’69-70 and Sam was still there. Sometime in 1970, he said, the army made Sam go home.

Sam was OK, entertaining, never at a loss for words. He made life interesting.

3,700-year-old vase has smiley face

“A team of Turkish and Italian archaeologists have discovered what may be the first known smiley face in the ancient city of Karkemish in Turkey’s southeastern province of Gaziantep near the border with Syria. The terminally cheery curved line topped by two dots was painted on the side of pitcher around 3,700 years ago.”

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/48171

Looks like the Kool-Aid jug, as a couple of comments say.

Surprise, surprise, surprise

French government “reintroduces” brown bears.

Bear chases 200 sheep over cliff.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/23/bear-chases-200-sheep-over-cliff-edge-france-spain

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

‘Rivalries’ led to South Carolina shootings

Po-leece note “concerns with the school system … security at the ballgames and whether or not to play Stanly County in football and things like that.”

Things like that included drug dealings and “teenagers involved” in shootings.

Right. Everybody knows teenagers involved in football rivalries often shoot up people’s homes.

Oh, and police also mention a chapter of the United Blood Nation as well as the Money Chasin Gang.

United Blood Nation sounds like some neo-Nazi right-wing survivalist domestic terrorist organization. Here are the names of the suspects in the shootings: Derias J’Shawn Little, Tyron Elijah Daquan Steele, Raekwon Tariq Graham, Jarvez Datwan Graham, Keshawn Datavis Steele and Jimmy Jaquavis Parker.

I would say those are names rarely found among neo-Nazi, and etc., organizations, but to say that would mean I am racist.

http://www.captainsjournal.com/2017/07/23/how-a-north-carolina-turf-war-led-to-myrtle-beachs-june-shooting/

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/how-a-north-carolina-turf-war-led-to-myrtle-beachs-june-shooting/

Not the way it works

I got a Facebook thing the other day asking if Trump should sign a bill placing congresspersons under coverage of whatever replaces Obamacare.

Uh, does the writer of the thing not know bills are passed by Congress and then sent to the president? Did the writer think Congress would voluntarily end its super-Cadillac/Rolls Royce coverage? Does the writer think a president can pass bills on his own?

I am often amazed at the lack of knowledge by people who stick things on the internet. Like the so-called story of Charles Manson paroled, to Fairfield, Conn., in one tale, to Joshua, Texas, in another.

Here’s your card, as Bill Engvall says.

News from crybaby colleges

College course too difficult? Get rid of it.

(HINT: It’s a civil rights issue.)

“Algebra is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a high school or college degree — particularly for students of color and first-generation undergrads.

“It is also the single most failed course in community colleges across the country. So if you’re not a STEM major (science, technology, engineering, math), why even study algebra?

“That’s the argument Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the California community college system, made today in an interview with NPR’s Robert Siegel.”

http://neveryetmelted.com/2017/07/21/first-california-community-college-then-yale/

College getting rid of dead white founders

“King’s College London is to swap portraits of some of its founding fathers with a ‘wall of diversity’ amid pressure from students, a dean says.

“The plans to move portraits of former faculty staff from the main entrance wall and replace them with more BME [‘Black and Minority Ethnic’] scholars are being implemented by the world famous Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, following concern among academics that the current classroom environment is too ‘intimidating’ for ethnic minorities.”

http://neveryetmelted.com/2017/07/20/kings-college-replaces-portraits-of-white-founders-with-wall-of-diversity/

Rodents fall from restaurant ceiling

Spokes-un says incident “extremely isolated and rare incident.”

Said a (former) patron: “If we would have been sitting at the table next to that it definitely would have fell on top of our food because it was literally right there.”

(Grammar exam not required for dining.)

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Rodents-Fall-From-Ceiling-of-Dallas-Chipotle-Customers-435476763.html

Checked that menu lately? (Yeah, that’s an obvious comment.)

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/meats-meat-pilgrim-5/

More stuff you can’t make up

Andrea Mitchell twits Bastille Day the 100th anniversary of U.S. entry into WWII.

https://twitter.com/mitchellreports/status/886397296442839040

If only the 800-pound gator had met the 820-pound hog

ORANGEBURG -- An 800-pound alligator has been captured in South Carolina, one of the largest caught in the state in recent years.

The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reports that Jonathan Smith and finance Melissa Davis pulled in the gator after fighting it for hours on Lake Marion last Saturday. It was 12-feet 10-inches long and weighed 806 pounds.

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article102061802.html?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

Link at fark.com

You can’t pass up a town called Monkey Run

Monkey Run, Ark., is in a narrow valley on the western border of Baxter County.

Baxter County is in the very center of North Arkansas and abuts Missouri. By official count, the county population in 2010 was 41,513, with 95.96 percent white of non-Hispanic lineage.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Monkey Run used to be called Pilgrim’s Rest. At least three versions exist as to why the name was changed to Monkey Run. You can read the three versions here:

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=6899

Whatever the reason, a town’s name does not change to something as unusual as Monkey Run unless a lot of people agree to the change.

All Wikipedia has to say about Monkey Run is, it “is an unincorporated community in Baxter County, Arkansas, in the United States.”

roadsidethoughts dot com has this to say about Monkey Run: “As far as we can tell, Monkey Run has not been included in past Census counts, so there is no population information for this community.”

Does that mean people in Monkey Run opted out of the latest census?

There is a Facebook page on Things to Do in Monkey Run. It’s blank.

Suburbanstats dot org? Nada.

Sotheby’s International Luxury Homes listings? None.

Found something!

http://globalsearchusrs.ca.com/cities/arkansas/monkey-run/

Population: 3,147. I think that is for the whole Zip Code. Average income: $29,797. Ditto.

Limousine service in Monkey Run is listed at a St. Louis, Mo., company. My guess is, you call the company in St. Louis and tell somebody you want to be picked up in Monkey Run, Arkansas, the somebody will reply: “Do what?”

Here is a link to Pilgrim’s Rest Cemetery near Monkey Run:

http://baxtercountycemeteries.blogspot.com/2011/07/pilgrims-rest-cemetery-is-in-monkey-run.html

There are four photographs.

Alabama man kills 820-pound wild hog in front yard

This sucker is huge. Huge.

“As he was about to get up and check on his dog, his daughter began screaming. ‘I jumped up to see what was going on,’ Wade explained. ‘I looked out the back window and saw nothing, so I ran to the front of the house where my daughter was looking out the window. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.’

“The dog had a huge wild hog bayed in his front yard, about 5 yards off of the front porch. ‘Cruiser had this huge hog confused with all of the barking and movement,’ Wade continued. ‘It was not a good situation.’"

http://www.al.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2017/07/man_shoots_820_pound_wild_hog.html

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/fire-up-the-smokehouse-woman/

Maybe the government needs to spend more money on education

Or: What is wrong with the over-educated moonbeams running the schools.

“In this article we contribute to this literature by considering citation as a problematic technology that contributes to the reproduction of the white heteromasculinity of geographical thought and scholarship, despite advances toward more inclusivity in the discipline in recent decades. Yet we also suggest, against citation counting and other related neoliberal technologies that imprecisely approximate measures of impact, influence, and academic excellence, citation thought conscientiously can also be a feminist and anti-racist technology of resistance that demonstrates engagement with those authors and voices we want to carry forward.”

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0966369X.2017.1339022?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=cgpc20&

Link at http://moonbattery.com/?p=86241

Comments: Geography is not a science, but long-term measurement. “Social sciences” aren’t. “Political science” is a contradiction. A graduate school professor referred to his class as “historians,” even though none of us had published a book or articles. Reality was, we were people studying history, nothing more.

Might be the dumbest tweet ever

"April H. @AprilHathcock

"Were there no POC soldiers who landed at D-Day cuz that #Dunkirk movie is looking white af."

5:12 PM - 15 Jul 2017

(Dunkirk/D-Day.

(Well, both start with D and Dunkirk is in France, which is where the D-Day landings occurred.)

Why do they have to pay for anything?

Here’s an undisputed fact: You dumb fuckers in NYC voted for Obama and for Clinton. You are getting on a local level what you tried to push off on the rest of us.

“The movement to stop prosecuting subway fare-beaters, announced recently by the Manhattan district attorney and soon to be adopted in Brooklyn, must be expanded citywide, public defenders argue.

“The Legal Aid Society, the Bronx Defenders, Queens Law Associates and other groups have joined efforts to pressure prosecutors in Queens and the Bronx to get onboard with the cause, which advocates say will help unclog the courts.

“Advocates say arresting turnstile jumpers unfairly disadvantages the city’s poor population.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/public-defenders-push-das-ease-turnstile-jumpers-article-1.3331696

Disadvantages the poor? Isn’t everybody who uses a public service supposed to pay for it?

Let’s see. Poor New Yorkers should get free passes on city buses. And give every poor person an unlimited taxi card. Oh, and a card so they don’t have to pay at restaurants. Socializers tell us poor people buy an inordinate amount of fast food, so give the underclass free meals at New York’s finest restaurants.

And, of course, “an arrest for fare evasion could mean the threat of deportation for undocumented immigrants.”

Link at http://moonbattery.com/?p=86202

Record label drops Texas band

Dream Machine is based in Austin. In an interview with a French webzine, band founders Matthew and Doris Melton hurt some feelings with their not-nice comments on immigration and feminism.

Castle Face dropped the band.

Said the record label: “Castle Face does not agree with the statements on ICE, immigration, feminism, and sexual assault and they are in no way representative of Castle Face or the other artists on the label.”

https://www.dailydot.com/irl/dream-machine-castle-face-records/

Okay. Band members have the right to say what they think, and the record label has the right to get all sissy-faced and fire the band. A business runs on PR almost as much as on talent, sometimes more.

And, the company has let other bands know, “You say stuff we don’t agree with, you’re gone, too.”

Here is a Dream Machine song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKLTcsnBNZA

Comments support the band, with questions “How can I get your stuff and not pay the record company one cent?”

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/how-dare-you-have-an-opinion-2/

I am not a conspiracist, but …

“Klaus Eberwein, a former Haitian government official who was expected to expose the extent of Clinton Foundation corruption and malpractice next week, has been found dead in Miami. He was 50.

“Eberwein was due to appear next Tuesday before the Haitian Senate Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission where he was widely expected to testify that the Clinton Foundation misappropriated Haiti earthquake donations from international donors.

“According to Miami-Dade’s medical examiner records supervisor, the official cause of death is 'gunshot to the head.'Eberwein’s death has been registered as 'suicide.'

“Eberwein, who had acknowledged his life was in danger, was a fierce critic of the Clinton Foundation’s activities in the Caribbean island, where he served as director general of the government’s economic development agency, Fonds d’assistance économique et social, for three years.”

…

“’The Clinton Foundation, they are criminals, they are thieves, they are liars, they are a disgrace,’ Eberwein said at a protest outside the Clinton Foundation headquarters in Manhattan last year.”

https://archive.fo/D33R8#selection-809.0-841.18

Link at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/fostered-2/

The world’s oldest virus makes a comeback

“Antisemitism is not a sign, a symbol, a bullet or a gas. It is a Virus. It is the oldest known virus to infest the human soul. In those infected, the virus is clever enough to mask its existence by renaming itself as ‘anti-Zionism.’ Through the renaming of this ancient disease as a ‘political problem,’ infected souls can transmit the virus to their friends, families. They can spread their disease at their schools and in their community, church, or nation. The virus is also transmitted by exchanging infected fantasies with infected ideologues. By changing its name the disease made it possible for many to deny that they have contracted the virus, and that their souls are chancre-ridden and rotting. This facilitates the current outbreak.”

http://americandigest.org/wp/ancient-virus-infect-human-soul/

Workers find large, old Madeira collection

“Workers renovating Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, discovered a rare collection of Madeira wines, some dating back to Colonial times. Museum staff knew the Kean family had wine storage shelves in the cellar, but they were obscured by a plaster and plywood wall built during Prohibition. When workers broke through the wall and the locked wooden cage behind it, they found a collection of 18th and 19th century wines far larger than they realized. There are three cases containing more than 50 bottles of Madeira, the oldest of which date to 1796. The attic held an unexpected wine cache as well, not in bottles but in 42 demijohns dating to the 1820s. It’s the oldest and largest known collection of Madeira in the United States.”

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/48003

Link at http://americandigest.org/

Otzi agrees with me

The Paleolithic Diet says our hunter/gatherer ancestors did not eat grains or nuts. My contention has always been my ancestors ate anything that didn’t eat them first.

Otzi the iceman backs me.

Otzi was killed around 5,300 years ago in the Alps. His body has been studied and photographed and CT-scanned since found in 1991. Scientists say his last meal was: deer meat, herb bread, wheat bran, roots and fruit.

http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/when-your-ancestral-forefather-mummy-19-descendants-5300-year-old-tzi-021477?nopaging=1

Link at http://www.woodpilereport.com/

Don't mess with Texas women

A couple of days ago, the wife of a friend back in Texas put her groceries in her car and then got in. She was about to start the car when a young man tapped on her window. She said his mouth was moving, but she couldn’t understand him. She rolled down the window and said, “I didn’t understand what you said.” The young man said, “I said give me your purse, bitch.” The friend’s wife reached into the door pocket and brought out her pistol, which she then positioned near the young man’s nose. She said, “You best get your punk white a$$ away from me before I blow your head off.” She said the young man stood stock still for a couple of seconds – Long enough for her to see he was peeing in his jeans. And then he was gone, in his car and leaving rubber in about two and a half seconds. The message, she said, is: Don’t mess with older Texas women. They will blow you away.

Kit Carson's last words (maybe)

“I just wish I had time for one more bowl of chili.”

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2017/04/17/ultimate-collection-manly-last-words/


(Carson died at Fort Lyon, Colo., and was more a New Mexican than anything else, so he probably meant he wanted New Mexico chili, and not real chili, which comes from Texas.)

Wikipedia disagrees with the above last words.

"His last words were 'Goodbye, friends. Adios, compadres.' Carson died from an abdominal aortic aneurysm in the surgeon's quarters of Fort Lyon, Colorado."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Carson#Death

Sgt. Kristie Ennis, USMC

“I honestly miss deploying. I think that's something all of us feel when we get back from overseas, or get out of the military. It was simple in a lot of ways. There was no worrying about how I did my hair or what I was going to put on. You know what you're doing immediately. You know where you need to be, how you need to get there, and who you need to be looking out for. You protect your ship, your helicopter, the men around you. It's very simple. In some cases, it's kill or be killed and that's it. You just have to be so conscious of everything around you that you don't have to worry about everything that's going on back at home. My deployments were also very entertaining. I loved being over there and knowing I could help those that couldn't protect themselves. I was helping the boots on the ground. In a way, it's one of the most rewarding things you can say that you've done.”

http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/sgt-kirstie-ennis-usmc-operation-enduring-freedom/

Grubbs Arkansas

Grubbs is Jackson County, up there in rice-growing country. Arkansas grows a lot of rice, 49 percent of the nation’s total, says farmflavor.com. Arkansas rice farms average more than 7,300 pounds per acre. Think about that many one-pound bags of rice, grown on an acre of land. That is a lot of bags.

The land around Grubbs is good for rice farming – flat, easily flooded and with plenty of water from Arkansas’ rivers. Here is a satellite image:

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.6512129,-91.0604641,2844m/data=!3m1!1e3

Grubbs is a small town. I’ve never heard of a town called Grubbs that had a big population. In 2015, Grubbs’ zip code population was estimated at 465, an increase of 64 over the 2010 census. Grubbs’ male/female ratio is 271/194. A better ratio would have those numbers reversed. Almost 95 percent of Grubbs’ residents are white. Almost 12 percent of families and more than 15 percent of the population overall lives below the official federal poverty level. The town’s highest population was 546 in 1980.

Here is a link to a floor plan for the Frisco Lines 1920 railroad station in Grubbs:

http://digitalcollections.missouristate.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/Depots/id/678

The plans show a “Negro W. Rm” and a “White W. Rm.”

Here is a link to a video made by an ass named Grubbs from Illinois:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1pZDVPwX8

Here is another video, “The 10 Worst Cities in Arkansas Explained,” by Nick Johnson, an asshole who judging by his comments, voted for Her. Johnson has another video called “The 10 Most Redneck Cities in Arkansas Explained.” I think Nick Johnson is a smartass who likes telling other people how dumb they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP2mx0dV9NU

Nick Johnson has nothing to do with the small town of Grubbs, it's just that I ran across links to his dumbass videos while searching for things about Grubbs.

Michigan union bleating over use of goats

“The grievance alleges that the university did not notify the union that it was planning to use goat crews on campus, according to a chief steward report supplied to the Battle Creek Enquirer.

“University spokeswoman Cheryl Roland said a small goat crew has been on campus this summer, but not to cut grass.

“’For the second summer in a row, we’ve brought in a goat crew to clear undergrowth in a woodlot, much of it poison ivy and other vegetation that is a problem for humans to remove,’ Roland said. ‘Not wanting to use chemicals, either, we chose the goat solution to stay environmentally friendly.

“’The area is rife with poison ivy and other invasive species, and our analysis showed the goats to be a sustainable and cost-effective way of removing them,’ she added.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/07/michigan-labor-union-blames-goats-for-taking-their-jobs/

Message to union: Oh, shut up.

President Trump vs. those who breathe old air

A couple of headlines on President Trump’s trip to Poland and Germany:

Reuters: ‘Trump, risking isolation over climate, arrives for G20.’

Politico: ‘Merkel warns Trump against protectionism.’

NBC News: ‘Trump faces ‘uncomfortable conversations with world leaders.’

The writers of those and many other stories were greatly overshadowed by the response of Poles to the president’s speech in Warsaw:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/07/06/remarks-president-trump-people-poland-july-6-2017?utm_source=World+Affairs+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2240f68be1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f83b38c5c7-2240f68be1-294583209

Old feminists ruining life as we know it

“We tend to think of feminism as a young woman’s game, but the real damage done to society is by the middle-aged feminists. They are like the post-graduate drug dealers that hang around high school kids, offering them booze and drugs. Not content with having thrown their own lives away, they give meaning to their lives by helping the next generation destroy itself. That’s the modern feminist. Her singular purpose is to pass the virus onto the next generation, while simultaneously ruining the lives of her peers.”

http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=10736

Hostile takeover of nations

Rule by syndicate on the way out.

“For the most part, the world is a being ruled by syndicates. Gangster states. China is a syndicate. Russia is a syndicate. Their outward forms do not reveal their inner power structure. You simply watch what they do to identify what they're driving at. Russia wants a port on the Black Sea. They will keep the Crimea. That's not fair, say the Ukrainians. Fair? What's fair got to do with it? It's going to happen.

“It appears that America is being run by a syndicate. There was a hostile takeover by an outsider who understood a proxy battle. The in crowd is attempting to put humpty dumpty back together again by any means they can muster. Looking for a head for this hydra is a waste of time. They do not need marching orders. They simply understand, as a group, that power is slipping away from them, so they might as well go all in, because if they don't, they'll be on the outside. You know, in the dreaded private sector.”

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/30199-Hostile-Takeovers-and-Other-Discontents.html

Comment by former intelligence analyst: The present Democratic Party and many, many Republicans have the same mission: Make President Trump meaningless. But they forget, Trump has something to say about their objective.

There are fireworks, and then there are deadly fireworks

Two men robbed a fireworks stand of $600* in Tulsa County Oklahoma. The rightful owner of the money got into a shootout with the robbers. The robbers jumped in a pickup and took off.

“As the robbers tried to get away, the stand owner's son jumped into the bed of the pickup and continued firing, before the owner got out.

“A passenger was shot in the chest. A woman later found the body in the truck.

“Investigators believe he was one of two suspects. They identified him as 15-year-old Jake Ulrich.”

http://www.fox23.com/news/body-found-in-trunk-near-shooting-at-west-tulsa-fireworks-stand/549533707

Link at http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=73203

A couple of things: The link writer at the TV station needs to read a story before writing the link. Story says body found in “truck”; link says “trunk.”

Second thing: 15 years old? That boy had a double dose of stupid. Robbing an established business is dumb in the first place, but robbing a business in Tulsa County Oklahoma? Note to potential robbers in Oklahoma: Somebody in the story is carrying a gun.

* Written story says $600; broadcast story says $600 in fireworks.

Hot air balloon, Florida, alligators …

This cannot end well.

“A hot air balloon has made an unexpected landing into a Florida pond filled with alligators on Monday, not far from Disney World.

“Some 16 people were on board, Fox 35 reported. One boy was rushed to the hospital after swallowing water but nobody else was hurt, according to the news station.

“The pilot told troopers that issues with the wind prevented him from landing on a strip adjacent to the pond, investigators said.

“The basket tilted into the pond, causing it to fill with water.

“A crew spent about an hour removing the hot air balloon from the pond, which contained multiple alligators, WFTV reported.

“Traffic wasn't affected during the incident.”

Comment the First: Well, thank goodness car and truck drivers weren’t discommoded whilst others floated amongst alligators.

Comment the Second: Do the words “16 people on board” and “hot air balloon” not indicate lack of common sense?

Link to story at http://knuckledraggin.com/2017/07/just-when-you-think-your-day-cant-get-any-worse/

Happy Independence Day

July 4th is a date on a calendar of days.

Independence Day is not a date.

On this day in 1776, Martin Johnston, my wife's great-grandfather times five, had been a private in the 3rd Virginia Line for just more than four months. Before Johnston's two-year enlistment was done, he had marched to New York, backtracked to Pennsylvania, fought in the Battle of Trenton, and then with most of the remainder of the Continental Army, entered winter encampment at Valley Forge. The next February, he took his discharge and went home, becoming a member of the Virginia militia, as was required by state law. His widow, Nancy Wright Johnston, said in her widow's pension application in 1821, a year after Johnston's death, that he had been a member of Morgan's Rifles for a time and that, with other Virginia militia, fought in the Battle of King's Mountain in South Carolina in 1780.

Martin Johnston was one of the men who made this country. Thank you, Martin Johnston, for giving us an Independence Day.

Greco-Roman Jasper, Arkansas

Jasper lies northeast of Parthenon and a much farther distance from Venus. Jasper is in Newton County, in the northwest part of the state.

The 2010 census lists 466 residents. The 2000 census had the population at 498 residents, 99.98% of whom are white. That comes out as 497.9 people. Census showed 0.01% Native American and 0.01% “other races.” Federal math at work. Jasper’s biggest ever population was in 1980, when 519 people lived there. The smallest population was 91 in 1880.

Jasper is not a wealthy place, with 25.9% of families and 31.6% of the population overall living below the poverty level.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Jasper was settled as a village along the Little Buffalo River by 1840. “Today, it is the hub for outdoor enthusiasts enjoying the Buffalo National River, one of the last free-flowing waterways in the United States, and the Ozark Highland Trail.”

Well, ain’t that nice – Outdoor enthusiasts enjoying one of the last free-flowing rivers in the United States. Let’s all go up to Jasper, mix and mingle with the almost 500 residents and then take our kayaks down the Buffalo River.

How did the town get its name, you ask?

“At least three different stories are told about the origin of the name Jasper. One oft-repeated legend says that Cherokee Indians traveling west on the torturous Trail of Tears gave the town its name after being surprised by the village’s warm hospitality. A second version of this same story tells of a precious ring, containing a jasper stone, given to the postmaster in gratitude for care given to the Cherokee travelers. Yet another account states that postmaster John Ross coined the name by comparing the mellow color of the local stone to jasper, one of the twelve precious stones mentioned in Revelation.”

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=365

Interesting, that John Ross part. There might have been lots of men with that name, but the most famous John Ross was principal Cherokee chief from 1828-66. Kind of coincidental, maybe, “Trail of Tears” and Postmaster John Ross?

Biggers and Peach Orchard Arkansas

Biggers and Peach Orchard are not too far apart, although to get from one to the other you would have to backtrack to Pocahontas and then take U.S. Highway 62 or Arkansas Highways 304 and 90, depending on whether you started from Biggers or Peach Orchard.

Or, you could take the shorter route, on foot or horseback, through the woods and over the Black River. Here is a satellite image, which gives an idea of the distance and terrain involved:

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.2767914,-90.7164016,22582m/data=!3m1!1e3

Biggers is in Randolph County; Peach Orchard is part of Clay County. The latest census data at Wikipedia shows Biggers’ 2000 population at 355, while Peach Orchard’s 2010 population was 135. Biggers is 95.5% white; Peach Orchard’s population is about 97.5% white. Not unusual for that part of Arkansas.

In Biggers, 17.3% of the total population and 13.5% of families live below the poverty line. In Peach Orchard, things are not quite as good, financially, with 24.5% of families and 18.3% of the total population below the Federal Government’s official poverty line.

Biggers’ largest population was 466 in 1930. Peach Orchard had 484 residents in 1920.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the area of Peach Orchard was explored and, to a very limited extent, settled by French before the 1903 Louisiana Purchase. The town was incorporated in 1910.

Go home. You are too old

At least two U.S. senators and two members of the House of Representatives need to step down, retire, get out D.C., go home and leave the rest of us TF alone.

Sen. John McCain, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Maxine Waters are too old to do the job. All suffer from CRSD (Can’t Remember Stuff Disorder), make outrageously stupid remarks (President Trump will kick 700 billion Americans off Medicaid -- Waters), confuse Bush and Trump (Pelosi) or sometimes just say stupid stuff (McCain and Collins).

I am 71 years old. I know what I can do and what I can’t do. It is obvious some people Congress have been in office way too long, so long they think anything they say is truth.

Old movie posters of interest on the internet

El Alamo -- Buen Estado. Doblado. Restos de cinta adhesiva en las esquinas superiores. Agujeros de chincheta en los márgenes. Mínimas roturas en márgenes, pliegues e intersecciones.

El Ultimo Pistolero -- Muy Buen Estado. Doblado. Pliegues de menor importancia en el centro de la imagen.

El Alamo -- Cartel de cine original de la primera reposición de la película en España en 1971. Medida aproximada 70x100 cm.

El Dia Mas Largo -- Cartel de cine original del estreno de la película en España en 1962.

One poster advertised the James Stewart movie “El Valle Del Violencia.” In the US of A, the movie was titled “Shenandoah.”

New! Must have for that studio apartment!

“Studio apartments aren't big, so you want to make the most of the space you get.

“One company is using so-called robotic furniture to turn tiny spaces into more functional living areas. If a closet, TV cabinet and bed had a lovechild, it would be the Ori system.”

https://www.cnet.com/news/robot-furniture-wants-to-make-your-apartment-feel-bigger/

Maggie’s Farm says: “You invented a Murphy Bed with buggy software added. Yes, you're all geniuses.”