The Burning of Rome, 64 AD

During the night of July 18, 64 AD, fire broke out in the merchant area of the city of Rome. Fanned by summer winds, the flames quickly spread through the dry, wooden structures of the Imperial City. Soon the fire took on a life of its own consuming all in its path for six days and seven nights. When the 
conflagration finally ran its course it left seventy percent of the city in smoldering ruins.

From the ashes of the fire rose a more spectacular Rome. A city made of marble and stone with wide streets, pedestrian arcades and ample supplies of water to quell any future blaze. The debris from the fire was used to fill the malaria-ridden marshes that had plagued the city for generations.

americana of the past

October 1935. View of the L.F. Kitts general store in Maynardville, Tennessee.

jpr: some moonshine as well?   Ma would have been a teenager.

Gravitational waves

In physics, gravitational waves are ripples in the curvature of space time that propagate as a wave, travelling outward from the source. They move at the speed of light and penetrate dark regions of space where light waves cannot travel.

An artists rendition of gravity  waves generated by two stars colliding. Such waves have been detected indirectly.

jpr: could such a wave propel a space craft?

ocean's foam

Caused by agitation of great amounts of decaying algal matter in the water.

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.   Ecclesiastes1:7.

world cup soccer fans

those who can play those who can't paint!

The Church as it should be.

The Community of Sant'Egidio  (St Giles) is a Christian community at the socialist end of Christianity,  recognized by the Catholic Church as a "Church public lay association". It claims 50,000 members in 70 countries. Main activities are prayer, spreading the Gospel, service to the poor, commitment to ecumenism (The Community is ecumenical, rooted in the Catholic Church), and dialogue with members of other religions and non-believers.  Often condemned by church traditionalists, it has won the praise of Pope Francis.Their activities include setting up refuges for the old, hospices for AIDS patients, and printing a handbook titled "Where to Eat, Sleep, and Wash in Rome" as gifts to the homeless. The  Catholic Community is a global leader on HIV/AIDS, runs programs across Africa, funds scientific research on mother-child transmission, and advocates passionately that everyone deserves the best care.  Their Sunday ‘Lay’ prayer service, famous for its music and preaching, draws thousands of believers and nonbelievers

father and son day

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.

Clarence Budington Kelland

1906 san francisco earth quake and fire

• over 225,000 of the city’s 400,000 residents were homeless.
• fires destroyed about 28,000 buildings and 500 blocks – ¼ of San Francisco.

jpr: never node they be cameras back then. 

Piebald Deer

posted for new blogger Alitz.

A piebald Is an animal, usually a mammal such as a white-tailed deer or horse having a spotting pattern of large white and black patches. A genetic variation (defect) produces the piebald condition in white-tailed deer, not parasites or diseases. Sometimes they appear almost entirely white. In addition to this coloration, many have some of the following observable conditions: bowing of the nose (Roman nose), short legs, arching spine (scoliosis), and short lower jaws. This genetic condition is rare with typically less than one percent of white-tailed deer being affected.

alert on HFMD very contagious

I

Hand, foot, and mouth disease, or HFMD, is a contagious illness that is caused by different viruses. Infants and children younger than 5 years old are more likely to get this disease. However, older children and adults can also get it. In the United States it is more common for people to get HFMD from spring to fall.

Symptoms usually begin with a fever, reduced appetite, sore throat, and a feeling of being unwell. A day or two after the fever starts, painful sores can develop in the mouth. A skin rash with flat red spots may also develop on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Sometimes a rash also occurs on the knees, elbows, and buttocks. This rash may blister but won't itch. The illness is typically mild, and nearly all patients recover in 7 to 10 days without medical treatment. 

jpr: Its an epidemic here abouts.

Mark this Day, sez Autredamus

This is a story within a story.
Part One - the sad part; government is shipping immigrants from Texas to Arizona.  Mark this day, sez Autredamus  How many sectors can we piss off in one day!
Part Two - the frightening part;  this is such a significant benchmark for the US Gov't' ability to govern and maintain protection and order.  this will be a case study in the future for public administrators, police departments, students of government etc cause this is the kind of thing that leads eventually and inevitably to insurrection, revolts, and widespread civic unrest.  It's the kind of "failure to govern" that caused the Soviet Union to fall in upon itself. etc.  Despite the BS, the USSR collapsed without our help.  Will the same happen to us USA?

Barrel bombs in the Sunni-Shiite War

A barrel bomb is a type of improvised explosive device first used by the Syrian Air Force during the Syrian civil war and later by the Iraqi forces during Anbar clashes. They are typically made from a barrel that has been filled with high explosives, with possibly shrapnel and/or oil, and then dropped from a helicopter. Due to the large amount of explosives that can be packed into a barrel, their poor accuracy and indiscriminate use in civilian urban areas, the resulting detonations have been devastating

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10618670/Syrian-military-drop-devastating-barrel-bombs-on-city.html

Pope Francis Help Us.

Irish police discovered a mass grave at a former home for unwed mothers in Tuam, Ireland, once run by an order of catholic nuns. The bodies of nearly 800 children and infants, interred in an unused septic tank, had gone unmarked and unnoticed for decades, until local historian Catherine Corless uncovered documents that led to the gruesome revelation.  Since the news broke, Irish media have reported that at least three similar church-run facilities also have mass graveyards. A spokesman for the nuns declared it  'very sad chapter in the history of Irish society.' She missed the point, its a very sad chapter for the Catholic church and the Irish religious.

last sacred IKON falls - not yet you putas!

Being a NERD is no longer uncool.  In some ways NerdHood is "in".  But like the Good Book sez and Shake's Spear too, a Dork by any other name is Still a Dork.
Auitredamus or Me,.

you oldsters probably agree with this - LAUGHING IS FUN

i have been on steroids and muscle relaxers, plus a little kettle juice, for the past week, after 3 weeks of can't stand, can't walk, can't poop, can't sit, can't sleep, shoot me soon sciatica.  the agony has subsided somewhat and the 1-10 pain scale is currently at "come back later you a-hole";  which is good, no - great!  if the lessening of suffering continues or not I'll gladly take this state.  I'm not on anything that would make me high so I'm guessing that this is what it would feel like if i didn't have some kind of chronic pain.  most do, especially oldsters.  if you're over 40 and especially if you've been under occupational or sexual prowess duress,  your spine is gonna crumble like peanut brittle.  so it ain't like i'm a lonely aching dude.  However as a side effect of having a couple pain-free days (and sure it feels like being high because it's been so long with pain) i'm laughing - finding stuff funny where usually i'm impossible to get a rise out of.  Laughing laughing laughing - hope the MJ laws change locally real soon cause laughing is fun.

Its Not Just France

As government ‘SNAFUS’  go, France has nothing on America.  Recently, nuclear waste storage drums stored at the Carlsbad Storage facility began exploding, spewing out life ending hazardous material.  Subsequent investigation revealed that management  replaced the traditional clay based Kitty litter, mixed with the ‘material’ to stabilize the contents, with organic cat litter for the sake of the environment.  Unfortunately, none of those involved passed Chem 101 or bothered to check with the ‘science guy.’   The ‘organic’ contains a variety of vegetable matter whose base chemicals initiated an explosive chemical reaction.  More than 1,000 barrels have to be reprocessed.

question (and answer) of the day

Initially when Eric Snowden first showed on the Radar, everyplace was like "his girlfriend, she's a college girl stripper drug slut, yeah".  That was the end of that sensational story.  She hasn't shown up or been newsified anywhere, at all.  That isn't only unusual that no sleuth or journalist has paid her for an exclusive; it's UNHEARD of.  I mean if owned the strip joint where she worked I'd put her name on the Effin Marquee and hire someone to manage the ensuing rush of  Secret Service Agents and other gentlemanly patrons.  Who wouldn't!

Some of my trusted sources (who are nearly as clever as I - or is it "as clever as me"?) tell me the real scoop, i.e "the rest of the Story" as P Harvey would have said.  She wasn't his GF - they were a cuddle-less duo.  She was also an Agent for CIA that he was working with, and blended back into the wallpaper once he did his shtick. .  I guess that means that her "COVER" was to "UNcover!".


(the prior sentence contains not an aphorism, but a joke, and thereby falls under the copyright act.  use it if you like with permission and a tip; or wait 20 years and use it without permission.)

Quote of the Day: (after burning all his personal papers before his death) "When you're dead, you're all dead"

John Watson, the father of behaviorism, a foundational figure in psychology, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who rose from poverty to prominence only to watch his academic career cut short by scandal. When he’s remembered now, it’s often in connection an experiment where he conditioned an infant to be terrified of practically everything, his legacy forever entwined with the baby nicknamed Little Albert.  Doc Watson is on very few "favorite hero" lists, usually right after Josef Mengele and Hannibal Lector.

For those Royal Family Fans, here's a nice Royal Bum, Kate Middleton.

Now this is much more newsworthy than Brad Pitt getting BitchSlapped.  Can't post it here but chek it out here: very American? Lopez, Kardashian, YumYum

i predicted this kind of thing would happen...

that when Bill Clinton made mucho dollars available to Police Work years ago that every eligible Police Department in the USA would have access and would do the following:  besides providing adequate policing or even quality policing, would find every possible way to get the extra $$, needed or not.  Consequently there is a town of about 4000 (Cordelia Ga) which typically can put together a small goldamn army, with high tech gear and power to blow the heads off of anyone or any group.  Remember if the only tool you got is a hammer, and a big effin hammer it is, then EVERYTHING starts to look like a NAIL.  Three things that the gold rush of dough was not used for were Proper Training, Proper Oversight, and Proper Recruiting. With good intentions every Podunk Villa across the Country is now filled with overpowered, undertrained, asshole Nazis with guns and badges - who attract not good but bad policemen.  Where have all the Good Policemen and Policewomen Gone?

Show me I'm wrong but if you drive much through small towns and little burgs you will soon know better.

WARNING (GRAPHIC) tell me tell me please!!! WHAT possibly could have been going on to warrant this??

(if accurate)

SWAT Team Frags Toddler During No-Knock Home Invasion By McCullough

ATLANTA —
A family says a SWAT team raided their home in the middle of the night and seriously injured a 19-month-old boy with a stun grenade. Alecia Phonesavanh told Channel 2’s Ryan Young her child is at the Grady Memorial Hospital burn unit and is in a medically induced coma. Phonesavanh said she was at her sister-in-law’s home in Habersham County early Wednesday when police raided the house.

“It’s my baby. He’s only a baby. He didn’t deserve any of this,” Phonesavanh said.

Phonesavanh told Young the grenade landed in the child’s crib; she showed him a photo of a charred portable crib.

“It landed in his playpen and exploded on his pillow right in his face,” Phonesavanh said.

She also showed Young pictures of her child in the Grady burn unit. Channel 2 has decided not to share most of the photos because of the graphic nature of the child’s injuries.

“He’s in the burn unit. We go up to see him and his whole face is ripped open. He has a big cut on his chest,” Phonesavanh said. “He’s only 19 months old. He didn’t do anything.”

Cornelia police Chief Rick Darby confirmed that the raid took place at the home just before 3 a.m. He said a multijurisdictional drug unit issued a warrant and organized the SWAT operation.

Deputies said they bought drugs from the house, and came back with a no-knock warrant to arrest a man known to have drugs and weapons.