Trump Protestors in Scotland

A very Scotish protest sign.  So funny.

get ur mid-evil sword

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zueF4Mu2uM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zueF4Mu2uM

15th Century Hand and a Half sword 

Bastard medieval swords, also known as hand-and-a-half swords, are surprisingly diverse weapons. When wielded one-handed, they can be paired with a shield for extra defense. When wielded two-handed, they become brutally effective slashing or chopping weapons.

$425 with scabbard

jpr; not just for Sir Lancelot anymore

swimming

This life is like a swimming pool. You dive into the water, but you can't see how deep it is.

 Dennis Rodman

Vercingetorix of the Averni

Leader of the Gauls against Julius Caesar in 52 BC. Although defeated and captured at in the Battle of Alesia, he is yet revered as a national hero.

Eleanor of Castile (1241 – 1290)

Eleanor was the first queen consort of Edward I of England.The marriage was known to be particularly close, and Eleanor traveled extensively with her husband. She was with him on the Eighth Crusade, when he was wounded at Acre. When she died, near Lincoln, her husband famously ordered a stone cross to be erected at each stopping-place on the journey to London, ending at Charing Cross. The royal couple had 17 children together.

Another thought for the day

How stupid are some people?

The above billboard add for a pregnancy test kit has drawn roars of laughter across Europe.  The couple seem quite surprised at the test results despite the bulge. 

van gogh brothers

Vincent and Theo respectively; both gentlemen suffered from advanced stages of venereal disease,  both spent time in mental health institutions, and both died in stark agony. Vincent died from abdominal gunshot wound at age 33. Theo died 6 months later at age 34 in an insane asylum.

one for the ladies

Saw the Frenchman in the enjoyable Sottish film, "not another happy ending". If the man were British he'd be a candidate for next 007.

u decide

Thought for the day.

                      NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST.

                                                                                                                                           JRR Tolkein

The Battle of Lepanto, 7 October 1571

A fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of southern European Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece. The Ottoman forces sailing westwards from their naval station in Lepanto (Turkey) met the Holy League forces, which had come from Messina.

The Turks began a planned invasion of Europe with the intent  of making Rome the Muslim center of the continent.

The Ottoman galleys were manned by 13,000 experienced sailors in o 222 war galleys, 56 galliots, and some smaller vessels. The number of oarsmen was about 37,000, virtually all of them slaves and mostly Christian.An advantage for the Christians was their numerical superiority in guns and cannon aboard their ships.

The victory for the Holy League was historically important not only because the Turks lost 80 ships sunk and 130 captured by the Allies, and 30,000 men killed (not including 12,000 Christian galley slaves who were freed) while allied losses were 7,500 men and 17 galleys—but because the victory heralded the end of Turkish supremacy in the Mediterranean

check that sand pile near u

sand used well says I

Taking of Christ... by Caravaggio

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

From the left is John, Jesus, and Judas to far right with Caravaggio (self portrait) holding the lantern.

jpr: the dude is a favorite

Mateusz Ziółko from poland

jpr; is polish for zoweee _ voursha?

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

Mélanie Bernier

See the lady in the french film "Blind Date" C'est extrodinaire!

jpr: only the French can make a film as creative and enjoyable as this.

taxe$$$$$$$

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the Income Tax.” 
ALEinstein

the wolf pack

"A wolf pack: the first 3 are the old or sick, they give the pace to the entire pack. If it was the other way round, they would be left behind, losing contact with the pack. In case of an ambush they would be sacrificed. Then come 5 strong ones, the front line. In the center are the rest of the pack members, then the 5 strongest following. Last is alone, the alpha. He controls everything from the rear. In that position he can see everything, decide the direction. He sees all of the pack. The pack moves according to the elders pace and help each other, watch each other."  Snopes.com


jpr; Thanks to jpmII for link

jungle book

There must a ~1000 people listed in the 2016  movie's credits:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3040964/fullcredits/

Valle Crucis Abbey

the pond was built by the monks as a fish farm

Valle Crucis Abbey (Valley of the Cross) is a Cistercian abbey located in Llantysilio in Denbighshire, Wales. More formally the Abbey Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Valle Crucis ,the abbey was built in 1201.

At its height 120 monks lived here caring for the poor, the sick and the elderly. The monks introduced sheep farming into the remote regions of Wales bring economic improvement to the lives of the locals.

Wales had numerous prosperous abbeys until henry VIII.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland, appropriated their income, disposed of their assets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5gimSRNVCE


The monks have made a come back!

Castle Leslie...Monaghan

Still owned and operated by direct descendants for 1000 years. The castle was built by McKennas in 1591.This one survived time and the IRA The Leslies had always proved to be extremely kind landlords, particularly during the dreadful period of the Great Famine, 1845-47 and even suspended the payment of rents from ‘hardship’ cases in those years. They also organised ‘relief work’ in the building of an estate wall surrounding their thousand acres at Glaslough, a work that surely saved hundreds of lives, and that particularly wall still stands and is locally called the ‘Famine Wall’ to this day. Nor are there any records of Leslies ever having evicted a tenant in that or any other period of their history 

medieval castles of ireland

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


It is estimated that over 30,000 of such structures were built in Ireland, perhaps to numerous to count. The reality of that time declares if  you were an Anglo-Norman invader best hide behind a pile of stones.

Corey Booker and Elizbeth Warren, the future of America

God help us. CANADA anyone?

Meet a Geep.

In H. G. Wells's The Island of Doctor Moreau, written in 1896, the hero confronts Dr. Moreau's various animal-human hybrids. These 'chimeras' were literally the stuff of legend.  No longer.  Chimeras have emerged kicking and mewling in labs across the world. They included a goat-sheep chimera, dubbed a geep. The animal was striking to see, a patchwork of wool and coarse hair.  The goal is to produce human body parts in animals for human transplant.  God Help Us.

Wassling Season

Its wassling season in England.  Morris dancers and mummers led a procession to an orchard near Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, to perform the ceremony, which involves placing a cider-soaked piece of Christmas cake on the branches of an apple tree and sprinkling cider around its roots, dancing and singing the Wassail Song.  Lots of cidar drinking as well.

huh?

unusual home

Don't ask!

my hero's section

Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) recording artist, songwriter, businesswoman,and  humanitarian.

 just a reminder  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78-ftcqpNw


jpr: This beautiful lady is yet performing.

                    

overload

traffic control in Chicago

A man in Colorado used a remote device to change traffic lights on his route to and from work
Similar devices are used by fire/emergency  vehicles. City workers noticed that the disruption in control signals occurred with the passing of a white pickup truck. The gentleman was fined $50 for interfering with a traffic device.

mistakes with airplanes

Finally, proof the ancients Greeks had achieved flight!

Irish ballad

Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,
Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,
Live fairy-gifts fading away,
Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,

And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear!
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose! 

~~ Thomas Moore      listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxERpGTbKPA

jpr; Ah the blessed Irish indeed!

stonehenge acoustic resonance

The graphs show the stone circles ability to hold sound just as in a modern concert venue.

Acoustic measurements and state of the art acoustic modelling have been used to investigate the existence of audible effects at Stonehenge, such as echoes, resonances and whispering gallery effects. The finding of such effects could go some way into supporting claims of acoustic design of the space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUUfeQ3nVu8
the sound within :http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/res/fazenda/acoustics-of-stonehenge/

penguins in a snowstorm

jpr: Now don't they feel refreshed?

WWII Battle of the Bulge

16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev6FIlexpsE

In WWII  424 Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded, 266 were posthumous. In the Battle of the Bulge 17 Medals of Honor were awarded to green troops seeing their first days of combat.

Happy Nollaig na mBan

In the Christian calendar, the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January is viewed as the last day of Christmas - marking the revelation of God as human in Jesus Christ.  It was also, historically, a day when weary Irish women were freed from domestic Christmas chores to enjoy the festive leftovers with their female friends and neighbours,  an old Irish celebration known as Nollaig na mBan, or 'Women's Christmas' .  Nollaig na mBan has been reclaimed by a cultural movement, using it as an opportunity to pay homage to their female ancestors.

hollywood..hire this person!

BIll Gates goes #2 and makes millions doing it!

"In one regard poor people are very lucky.  When there's a down turn in the market, as a wealthy person I could lose millions in a single ordinary day.  Po folks would lose pennies, if anything.  You see, everything evens out!" - Me*

*(boy! do I feel lucky!) 

The good ol days, when life was simpler and happier. Ever wonder Why?

7 UP - introduced in 1929, contained the following ingredients:  carbonated water, sugar, citric acid, lithium citrate, sodium citrate, and essences of lemon and lime oils.  Lithium citrate is a chemical compound of lithium and citrate that is used as a mood stabilizer in psychiatric treatment of manic states and bipolar disorder.  They stopped using it as of 1948.

Let's not talk about CocaCola's cocaine ingredient.

the good ol days, yeppa.

Weather girl for News at Nine

There's a certain Slant of light

Winter Afternoons -
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes   -  Emily Dickinson

That's a Load of Sh-t.

This giant rooster is made entirely of frozen shit. An artist in Russia's Far East has marked the Chinese new year by fashioning a giant rooster sculpture out of frozen manure.  At 11ft 6in tall  and more than 12 feet long, the statue is sturdy enough to stand on.  Dung art is something of a specialty for Mikhail Bopposov, a former state farm worker. His previous work has included sculpting horses, a dragon and a snake out of manure. Last year, he turned his hand to a monkey scene that he said symbolized evolution.

Unbelievable

He may not be the fastest cyclist round a velodrome, but he is easily one of the oldest.Robert Marchand is 105 years old and has just set a new record for the furthest distance cycled in an hour by someone over 100.  The French cyclist managed 22.547km (14 miles) at the national velodrome, taking the top spot in a new category - for riders over 105.

do be?

Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. W. C. Fields

Best British Comedy?

Fawlty Towers has been named the best British sitcom of all time in a survey of comedians and comedy writers and actors.  The 1970s sitcom came out on top despite only running for 12 episodes across its two series.  While hilarious, it relies on slapstick more than many of its contemporaries.  Personal favorite,  Vicor of Dibly, hands down.

Who Knew

Genealogy detectives have discovered that Benedict Cumberbatch, the British actor who portrays Sherlock Holmes in the PBS television series, is distantly related to Arthur Conan Doyle,  author who created the iconic character more than a century ago. They share a great grandfather.  

Angels Flight

Riding on a Railroad Train
by Ogden Nash

Oh give me steel from roof to wheel, but a soft settee to sit on and a cavalcade of commerce and trade and a drummer to turn the wit on. Stuyvesant chats with Kelly and Katz, the professor warms to the broker, and life is good in the brotherhood of an air-conditioned smoker.

Called the  "shortest railroad in the world" ferries  passengers up and down Bunker Hill in L.A. 

wild horses of blackjack mountain oklahoma

The Colonial Spanish horse is a group of closely related breeds that descend from horses brought by Spanish explorers and colonists to the Americas beginning in the 1500s. A few herds of pure Spanish horses ­remained in the Southeast and the Southwest, owned by traditional ranchers or Native ­American tribes, and a few were found in isolated feral herds. 

happy new year

Times THey Are A-changing.

Sara Keenan, following a court challenge, has been reissued a NYC birth certificate listing her gender as "intersex," a third gender classification.  She was born with a mix of male and female sex characteristics and was raised as “a girl that can’t make hormones.”  The Germans have been issuing driver' licenses and passports with the gender 'X' to denote people who are neither male nor female.