Lord of the Rings (sidebar)

Marquette University purchased the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and other Tolkien writings for a pittance in the 1950's.  Tolkien was a seriously devout Mackerel Snapper so maybe that was an influence.  Wonder if they still have the originals?

The Flowers by Robert Louis Stevenson

All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,
Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.

Fairy places, fairy things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames--
These must all be fairy names!

Tiny woods below whose boughs
Shady fairies weave a house;
Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,
Where the braver fairies climb!

Fair are grown-up people's trees,
But the fairest woods are these;
Where, if I were not so tall,
I should live for good and all.

Heroes Collecion

Members of the French Resistance are photographed in the midst of battle against German troops. Most strikingly, we see a woman in shorts, a patterned top, and a military hat in the center. Her name was Simone Segouin, also known by her nom de guerre Nicole Minet. When this photo was taken she was 18 years old. The girl had killed two Germans in the Paris fighting two days previously and also captured 25 German during the fall of Chartres. She was involved in armed actions against enemy convoys and trains, attacks against enemy detachments, acts of sabotages etc. A national hero, she died aged 89.

Why COI can never rest

When rescuers arrived even the blanket was gone!

The Irish Pony

The horse has so docile a nature, That he would always rather do Right than wrong, if he can only Be taught to distinguish one from the other. - George Melville (1821-1878), Scottish writer

Composting toilet

Composting toilets are simple, low-tech, waterless toilets. They are designed to provide favorable habitat for biological agents of decomposition such as bacteria, mold and fungi which break down human wastes into compost. This miraculously transformative process encourages us to move beyond the concept of mere "waste disposal". 

jpr: Can u say "pending gov regulation."

COI update

Volcanist CLaus Hedicamp was last photographed by his companions on Mount Sorabochi
when attacked by a pack of illegal migrants. The good doctor has not been seen since.
The search has been discontinued for lack of manpower.

eagle Owl

One of these guys hunts the tree line behind my home. I find his left overs every summer.

What an Irish child does in the rain

Jpr: as kids  we never wasted a good down pour!

Mikey's last known galactic location

jpr: The distance is about right but the quadrant may be slightly off. Take extreme care in any event.

Let me nominate this chick for JP's Hall Of Flames - Ingrid Bolsø Berda

Popular Norweigan Actor.  I recently watched her in "Escape" (flukt) on Netflix; then was able to find her in the Cold Prey (fritt vilt) trilogy, Hercules and more.  She's talented as heck but most important, hot as hell.  I wrote her a fan letter and she responded but i can't understand it cause its Norway Talk.  My guess is she's pining or Pineing for my bones but who knows. 

Ingrid Bolsa Berda**my next wife if things go the way i plan.

It Takes All Kinds

A crowd of several hundred gathered Saturday night to see Detroit’s newest resident: A 9-foot, 2,000-pound statue of a goat-headed occult idol named Baphomet, a representation of  Satan.  The Satanic Temple unveiled the bronze figure to an estimated 700 attendees at an undisclosed location. The group’s initial venue canceled after local religious groups protested.

Mandy Moore

My students insisted that I watch the film, "A walk to remember". Worth the time!
The actress reminds me of many folks..all of whom I like.

the Irish in the rain

None of the creatures seem to mind the wet.

Emily Dickinson

When Roses cease to bloom, Sir

When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,
And Violets are done --
When Bumblebees in solemn flight
Have passed beyond the Sun --
The hand that paused to gather
Upon this Summer's day
Will idle lie -- in Auburn --
Then take my flowers -- pray!

WVa woman shoots attacker with his own gun

The incident happened along 6th Street in Charleston at around 3:30 p.m Saturday. A woman called 911 dispatchers saying she shot a man in her home after he attempted to assault her. A preliminary investigation found that the man had brought a gun into the house and that he had beaten and strangled the woman. At one point, he laid the gun down for a better strangle hold and the woman was able to reach for the weapon and blindly shoot it over her shoulder. Detectives said that’s when the bullet struck the man and killed him. 

They met on Backpage.com which is a website used for dating and escort services.

http://www.wtrf.com/story/29579271/chaleston-homicide-link-to-other-crimes

jpr: we are becoming a nation of demons!

What Has America Become?

The Arthur Ashes Courage Award?  Is this a joke?  Am I hallucinating?  What a national embarrassment.

health problems in the ancient world

Since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, there have been three major bubonic plague epidemics, which afflicted large segments of the population in the continuous Eurasian landmass and North Africa. Death quickly followed the trade routes of the times. The death toll is almost incomprehensible. The Plague of Justinian (6th Century A.D.), the Black Death (14th Century A.D.), and the Bubonic Plague (1665-1666, which coincided with the Great Fire of London) caused an estimated 137 million dead in a world much more sparsely populated than it is today.

To make matters even worse, one must also remember that these pestilences assailed and ravaged mankind at a time when the average life span was short --- less than two decades during the Middle Ages. Survival to age five was a miracle not only because of endemic disease, dirt and filth, concomitant poor hygiene and sanitation, but also because of the primitive state of medical knowledge. Pestilential disease thrived under such conditions. Moreover, during the Middle Ages, bathing and cleanliness, even in the upper classes, was a rarity, being viewed as unhealthy as well as irreverent --- acts of vanity in the face of God.

More Useless Factoids For Your Collection.

Built in 1929, Colorado's Royal Gorge Bridge is the highest suspension bridge in America with a deck high of 956 feet above the Arkansas River and 150 foot-tall towers. Our father closed his eyes Every time he drove over The Tappan Zee Bridge. This would have killed him.

Ain't Capitalism Grand?

Ashley Madison is a dating website for married people who wish to cheat on their spouse.  They claim to have 37 mil users in 50 countries. 

Green Bank Telescope, WVa

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), Green  Bank, WV, is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope, as well as the world's largest moveable land object. It can access  85% of the entire celestial sphere. The telescope sits near the heart of the United States National Radio Quiet Zone, a large area where all radio transmissions are limited to avoid emissions toward the GBT. The observatory borders the National Forest and is shielded from radio interference by the Allegany Mountains.  It is the center of a just announced $100 million research project to search for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth. They plan to cover 10 times more of the sky than previous programs and scan five times more of the radio spectrum, 100 times faster.

Oort Cloud

The Oort cloud is an immense spherical cloud surrounding the planetary system and extending approximately 3 light years, about 30 trillion kilometers from the Sun.

Kuiper belt

The Kuiper belt is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive.

 Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies, or remnants from the Solar System's formation. While most asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen methane, ammonia and water. 

The Kuiper belt should not be confused with the Oort cloud, which is a thousand times more distant. 

Asteroid belt

The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets.

The asteroid material is so thinly distributed that numerous unmanned spacecraft have traversed it without incident.

Dog days of summer

Jpr: me na would not permit anyone near her dog(s) in the heat of summer!

The Rainbow by William Wordsworth

My heart leaps up when I behold
A Rainbow in the sky:
                                                                           

So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!

The Child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

MORE BIZARRE STUFF

Sangha Tenzin is a 500 year old Tibetan monk mummy.  But unlike traditional mummification that occurs after death, old Sang mummified himself.  A rare ritual undertaken between the 11th and 19th Centuries by the most highly devoted and able spiritual masters in Yamagata, they would starve themselves to death very slowly in order to reach the highest form of enlightenment. The monks would eat a solely tree-based diet, ingesting only roots, nuts and herbs in order to completely deplete their fat reserves. This process could take anywhere from several months to 10 years. The monks also ingested poisonous cycad nuts and lacquer tree sap, which facilitated vomiting, removed moisture from the body and acted as a deterrent to flesh-eating insects after death. By the time the monk died, the body was so devoid of fat and the organs were so shrunken in size that the desiccated body wouldn’t start decomposing – thus preserving the physical form and beginning the baffling process of natural mummification.

Stranger Than Fiction

Taking inspiration from the world's most famous vampire, a Romanian music festival is offering free or discounted tickets to people who give blood. The Untold festival takes place in Transylvania at the end of July, and organizers are hoping that their "pay with blood" campaign will encourage more donors to come forward. Playing on the region's association with Count Dracula, posters for the campaign show a vampire hooked up to a blood bag. "Given that Romania faces an acute blood shortage in medical facilities, a campaign that takes inspiration from these myths in order to draw attention to a real problem is more than welcome," says the festival director Bogdan Buta.

black legged tick

The scientific name of the blacklegged tick is Ixodes scapularis. Many people still know the blacklegged tick by another common name, the deer tick. You may also hear it called the bear tick. They are all the same tick.The blacklegged tick is much smaller than the wood (or dog) tick.

Jpr: can't member a worse summer.  Ticks be  evewheres ..ifn the grass is up nears the ankle u can get one on you.

my kind of tent

Seems bear proof to me!

The pentaquark

A class of combined subatomic  (4 quarks plus 1 antiquark) particles that have been elusive to detect until now. It's a big deal in the subnano world.

More 'Strangness'

About 100 mourners, most dressed in Halloween costumes, many as witches, gathered a the funeral of Lorna Johnson, 56. One arrived as film character Betelgeuse from director Tim Burton's 1988 film Beetlejuice. Her son, Neil Johnson, said his mother loved Halloween and would have wanted a party. Mr Johnson dressed as a Tasmanian devil.  Takes all kinds.

Alexander the Great's horse

Alexander had noticed Bucephalas was afraid of his shadow on the ground. After turning the horse into the sun and away from the shadow, Alexander quickly quieted the mount and proceeded to ride the horse. From that day on, Bucephalas was Alexander the Great's horse who would carry Alexander into most of his battles over the ensuing years. When Bucephalas finally died in 326 B.C., Alexander had a state funeral for him and built a city in India where he died, naming it Bucephala.

Irish on death

May your neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you
And heaven accept you.

famous monsters on film

Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954): Staring Carl Malden....Based on "Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allen Poe.

jpr: one of my mother's all time favorites.

Famous Gladiators

Priscus and Verus

Two famous gladiators called Priscus and Verus who fought so evenly and courageously for so long that when they both acknowledged defeat at the same instant, the Roman Emperor Titus awarded victory to both of them, presented them with the wooden swords (the rudis) and they both walked from the arena of the Colosseum through the Gate of Life.


Jpr: one estimate was for 5000 gladiators killed in colosseum each year for 500 years

Deidre's grizzly

A regular intruder until a nearby moose hunter killed it!

Appalachia

The name Appalachian (App-a-latch-i-an) came from the word Appalachee from the Appalachee Indians. Appalachia is in the southeastern United States, which is located in North America. It is also the second largest mountain system of North America. The mountains begin at the south easternmost tip of Canada, and end in Central Alabama, stretching 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers).

Nicotine's Anonymous

Now the Irish have a new clinic for those who want to stop smoking. It's called Nicotine's Anonymous. If you get the urge to smoke, you call them and they send a man over and you get drunk together.

jpr comment: any reason is good enough!

Woman vs bear

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nLitt9Qf0YQ

Paul Lynde

Peter Marshall: What are "dual-purpose cattle" good for that other cattle aren't?
Paul Lynde: They give milk... and cookies, but I don't recommend the cookies.

Lady bush pilot

Michelle Masden, pilot and owner of Island Wings, arrived in Ketchikan in 1985. 

jpr: About half the small plane crashes in USA occur in Alaska

To Be a Woman by Fu Xuan (217-278) AD

How sad it is to be a woman!
Nothing on earth is held so cheap.
Boys stand leaning at the door
Like Gods Fallen out of Heaven.
Their hearts brave the Four Oceans,
The wind and dust of a thousand miles.
No one is glad when a girl is born:
By her the family sets no store.
When she grows up, she hides in her room
Afraid to look a man in the face.
No one cries when she leaves her home-
Sudden as clouds when the rain stops.
She bows her head and composes her face,
Her teeth are pressed on her red lips:
She bows and kneels countless times.
She must humble herself even to the servants.
His love is distant as the stars in Heaven,
Yet the sunflower bends toward the sun.
Their hearts more sundered than water and fire-
A hundred evils are heaped upon her.
Her face will follow the years’ changes:
Her lord will find new pleasures.
They that were once like substance and shadow
Are now as far as Hu from Qin
Yet Hu and Qin shall sooner meet
Than they whose parting is like Can and Chen

Creative camo at work

spot the sniper?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pRvI0fVPPbU

Civil War Fact-Horses

The North had some 4.4 million horses to the South's 1.7 million.

BOUT TIME

 West Virginia is now letting transgender people more easily change their gender on their driver's licenses and wear makeup and other accessories while taking license photos. The switch follows a similar change to the license photo policy in South Carolina, where motorists can now dress how they identify themselves in their licenses. That state's adjustment was required by a lawsuit settled in April. West Virginia joins a growing number of states that have stopped requiring proof of completed gender change surgery, a court order or an amended birth certificate to switch genders on driver's licenses.

fermions

Not just extraordinary any more. Now finding way into the high school curriculum.

Maria Goretti

Jpr: A child to be remembered for all times...hence her St.hood.