History made. In living color. A White House pool report June 26, 2015, preserved for history:
As of 7:08 PM, the sunlight made it difficult make out the colors, but red, orange, yellow, green and violet were faintly visible
As night fell, the Friday night lights were very visible for the world to see.
The Deadliest Night for American Gays: In New Orleans, 1973: First there was tragedy. Then silence.
A history lesson about something that happened on June 24, 1973. And no history books dare to print anything about it..
REAL MOMENTS IN JOURNALISM..
Photos have been leaked and broadcast–through GAWKER–to the world.. New York TIMES journalists in the late 90s and June 2001 mocking mass killings. One was the Heaven’s Gate suicides.. the other, the top photo, is a spoof of the murders committed by the Crown Prince Dipendra, who took the lives of nine people including the king, queen, as well as his own. One of the weapons that he used was an M16…
And now the Old Gray Lady’s past sins are exposed. Smiles for the camera–long before Facebook and Twitter. Back when Polaroids were quick and private.. Back when the NET was only just beginning.
And now today, 2015, when the entire world is seeing the fun that the TIMES had thanks to leaked photos and a few websites making them be seen across the planet..
I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.
From a recently sold letter from Albert Einstein.. He spoke about theories. And God.
This is just a snippet of articles on Google News showcasing the amount of AP dispatches being picked up focusing on my little region in the woods lately.. The last remaining coal breaker in Pennsylvania is set to be demolished.. a little bit of a debate has surged within the coal region as to the merits of trashing the historical structure still standing after all this time.
I linked up a good video of a flyover the other day of the St. Nicholas Coal Breaker..
A few noteworthy things about this last massive piece of history to know:
It is a symbol of when coal was king, when barons placed their bets on the dusty underground that would be unearthed for profit.
From this breaker, coal was broken into various sized pieces–often young children were forced to take out the sharpest pieces–and it was loaded onto trains for nearby large cities. Hence the name: Breaker boys. Those same breaker boys went to work clean but home filthy, and their lungs eventually become highly toxic filled with soot..
Regardless of the dangerous conditions met in the breaker, the coal region at one time employed over 180,000 people in the mining system.
And that was then>
This is now: A region vacant its spirit, a land that time often forgot.. spectacular and monster buildings, like this breaker, are vacant..
When this building comes down, with it comes hundreds of years of mining lure..
The AP says this:
The St. Nicholas Breaker once held the distinction as the largest in the world, the size of a city block and capable of processing more than 12,000 tons of anthracite each day. Shuttered for more than 50 years, it now blights an area whose economy never fully recovered after anthracite’s reign came to an end.
The reign truly did end.
And it was replaced by nothing.
Keep in mind at one time people traveled from NEW YORK CITY to shop at department stores in Mahanoy City, the home to this breaker. Mahanoy City is now falling into pieces, filled with hard core drugs, and an aging population whose homes go vacant after the inhabitant meets the mortal fate.
Coal was king.
Long live the coal region.
Falling soon: The breaker along with the souls of the boys were toiled and troubled their lives with the work of men..
This is just a snippet of articles on Google News showcasing the amount of AP dispatches being picked up focusing on my little region in the woods lately.. The last remaining coal breaker in Pennsylvania is set to be demolished.. a little bit of a debate has surged within the coal region as to the merits of trashing the historical structure still standing after all this time.
I linked up a good video of a flyover the other day of the St. Nicholas Coal Breaker..
A few noteworthy things about this last massive piece of history to know:
It is a symbol of when coal was king, when barons placed their bets on the dusty underground that would be unearthed for profit.
From this breaker, coal was broken into various sized pieces–often young children were forced to take out the sharpest pieces–and it was loaded onto trains for nearby large cities. Hence the name: Breaker boys. Those same breaker boys went to work clean but home filthy, and their lungs eventually become highly toxic filled with soot..
Regardless of the dangerous conditions met in the breaker, the coal region at one time employed over 180,000 people in the mining system.
And that was then>
This is now: A region vacant its spirit, a land that time often forgot.. spectacular and monster buildings, like this breaker, are vacant..
When this building comes down, with it comes hundreds of years of mining lure..
The AP says this:
The St. Nicholas Breaker once held the distinction as the largest in the world, the size of a city block and capable of processing more than 12,000 tons of anthracite each day. Shuttered for more than 50 years, it now blights an area whose economy never fully recovered after anthracite’s reign came to an end.
The reign truly did end.
And it was replaced by nothing.
Keep in mind at one time people traveled from NEW YORK CITY to shop at department stores in Mahanoy City, the home to this breaker. Mahanoy City is now falling into pieces, filled with hard core drugs, and an aging population whose homes go vacant after the inhabitant meets the mortal fate.
Coal was king.
Long live the coal region.
Falling soon: The breaker along with the souls of the boys were toiled and troubled their lives with the work of men..
I am going to share a secret never before uttered: I copied all of my comedy material from someone else in grade school..
See, I was a bit of a class clown at times. I came up with some of my own stuff, my own jokes. By high school, there were times I even worked blue. But from around 1990 through the end of the 20th century, I was a hardcore David Letterman fan.
I would set my VCR nightly to tape every show. Those very tapes still exist in a box, tucked away deep in a closet in my bedroom. The day after, I would catalog the show and put notes on the front as whether they included my favorite bits. The guy under the stairs. Dave making toast.. Mujibar.. all of those bits and skits.. I don’t know if they would even work if I tried to watch them.. Quite frankly, I don’t even know where I’d find a VCR..
But David Letterman provided me some of the best ideas to translate jokes into my own life. In high school, ‘hallway races’ were popular because I loved the bit about sidewalk races that Letterman used to do. Other profound moments of teenage comedy often came because of inspiration I found on the Letterman show. Or shows.
I even was able to get a hold of old LATE NIGHT shows around my junior year in high school at a yard sale–skits that even if kids were staying up to see LATE SHOW, they would have never had access to. No YOUTUBE back then.. no ‘viral’ nonsense.
Just David Letterman, nightly with sarcastic wit..
Things changed for me a bit after high school.. I loved the post 9/11 show that Letterman did. But I soured on his humor. He seemed to give up.. he phoned it in. After his sex scandal, I sort of abandoned the new Letterman and just safely kept the ‘old Letterman’ in my head.
I have nostalgia for David Letterman for a number of reasons. Not only did his brand of humor inspire my own and make it safe to make the jokes I wanted to make, but he also got me through a number of dark times in my own life. Just knowing that he, the master of comedy, also suffered from moments of exhaustion and personal annihilation, depression, and harmful habits, made me feel just a bit better. It made me feel in some way like I knew David Letterman. And I think most of the fans who loved him–those who stayed with him until this bitter end–felt like they knew him too.
The Letterman fan isn’t the over achiever. Instead, a Letterman fan is the underdog. Smarter than his co-workers or bosses, but somehow ignored by most. Though a Letterman fan may be considered a clown, deep down that clownish exterior is simply masking the intelligent and moral person beneath. The man or woman who wants to learn about the universe, and does not accept a concept that we have already learned it. The man or woman who questions authority but agrees with the premise that we need it. And the man or woman who just wants to live life poking and prodding powers that be who so often simply want to force all to have their brand of humor…
Yes, nostalgia is building..
Sleepless nights were created by David Letterman. Inspiration .. a new brand of TV that thumbed a nose at the phonies behind the script writing. That was David Letterman. And also a reason why he was the constant underdog.. People usually happily accept the reality created for them–the Jay Lenos and the viral videos.. Even the Fallons with friendly skits. Dave–the honest Dave from the 80s and 90s–put all the trash out for all to see..
This is a strange year, in a sense..
For one, Brian Williams’ actions led to his potential downfall–no NBC decision made yet.
Jon Stewart, a staple and visionary in the world of political satire, is hanging up the cue cards.
Jay Leno is gone.
Conan O’Brien is marginalized.
David Letterman is saying goodbye.
There is a clear change in television–pop culture itself is altering. There seemingly is a new generation taking the helm. One that gives us happy go lucky humor that safety tucks us in at night. Gone is the wit and sarcasm that required careful thought for it to become funny. Instead quick laughs have replaced that.. Viral videos led to the Letterman downfall. Irony, after all, doesn’t work in a 10 second viral way..
I remember one fall night in 1994. It was late September, and my family and then girlfriend had just come home from a local fair as autumn waned. It was a beautiful night and slightly too cold for that time of year. It was a Friday night and I have no reason to go to bed early. That night, I remember distinctly, being overjoyed that I was home that night before 11:35 pm on the East Coast. My local news had ended with then weatherman Barry Finn giving his rooftop forecast.. and the Paul Schaffer orchestra opened up LATE SHOW with David Letterman. At that moment, at that time, all seemed fine and right.
All of these years later–21 years since that night as a matter of fact–Letterman is waving bye for the final time as WORLDWIDE PANTS and his LATE SHOW bid farewell..
This is a big pop culture moment, perhaps as large and important a time in TV as Johnny Carson giving his last golf swing as Bill Clinton began his first year in office.
But why is this big?
Because TV, itself, is changing. Perhaps in some sense over.
And maybe, in another, just beginning.
David Letterman is a 20th century boy who had borrowed time in the 21st. But my nostalgia and love for his show stayed in the 20th century.
And I have the aging tapes to prove it.
DAVID LETTERMAN.
Thank you.
A final note: Christmas without Darlene Love will just not be the same…………..
New science now revealed: Early humans, we are told by leading anthropologists, had general equality. A research study concludes that for most of the evolutionary history of human, both genders had equal footing in the chaotic game of life..
MORE:
Mark Dyble, the leading anthropologist on the study at University College London, said: “There is still this wider perception that hunter-gatherers are more macho or male-dominated. We’d argue it was only with the emergence of agriculture, when people could start to accumulate resources, that inequality emerged.”..
Anne Barnard in the NEW YORK TIMES has the best report online tonight regarding what ISIS has just to the ancient site of NIMRUD in Northern Iraq..
Barnard writes,
It was the latest in a series of attacks on ancient structures and artifacts in Syria and Iraq that the group has destroyed in the name of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Last week, Islamic State militants videotaped themselves destroying statues and artifacts in the Mosul Museum and at the Nergal Gate entryway to ancient Nineveh. The militants captured the city during its offensive blitz through much of Iraq last June. “The terrorist gangs of ISIS are continuing to defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity after they committed a new crime that belongs to its idiotic series,” the ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page, referring to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh.
And more:
Nimrud is the sprawling site of a city founded by the Assyrian King Shalamansar I, who died in 1245 B.C. Among the most impressive objects at Nimrud are the colossal statues known as “lamassu,” mythological creatures that depict either lions or winged bulls with bearded human heads. Pairs of the 17-ton statues are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum.
More on the breaking news today from NBC NEWS dispatches:
A statement from Iraq’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities didn’t elaborate on the extent of the damage, saying only that the group continues to “defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity” with this latest act.
Nimrud was the site of what has been called one of the greatest archaeological sites ever discovered in history..
Those ancients were wild and crazy..
Imagine the scene: A naked herd or folks dancing while the sacrifice of animals takes place.. There are smiles and cheers, and hopes that the burning animals will get the gods to give the dancing nudes fertility.. Oh, and then while the crazy Romans would continue in their deadly pagan rituals, men would draw names from jars and, for the duration of the festival, be ‘coupled’ with them.
All of this is described in this 2011 NPR story authored by Anne Seipel.. It showcases some of the darker origins of Valentine’s Day..
And just as Christians always took on pagan traditions to make them their own, the same occurred here as reported by Seipel:
The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.
Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine’s Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski adds, “It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn’t stop it from being a day of fertility and love.”
Around the same time, the Normans celebrated Galatin’s Day. Galatin meant “lover of women.” That was likely confused with St. Valentine’s Day at some point, in part because they sound alike.
There is more to the story besides the NPR article..
Countless news bits from history showcase the reason for the season.. the Roman Festival of Lupercalia is the heart of the whole thing, no pun intended. One highlight of the many things that occurred there: Two high-born young men stripped naked and sacrificed a dog and a goat. They smeared blood on their foreheads, then wiped it off with wool dipped in milk.. Sounds somewhat like the Bohemian Grove, don’t you think?
I am a romantic at heart.. of course when you have a child, your romance takes a little bit of a back seat to the more practical parenting moments. But regardless, I still think love in the air is one of the most beautiful things ever–but Valentine’s Day? Lust seems to be in the air.. fake emotions, and fake flowers.. the offensiveness of men ordering giant bouquets of flowers and sending it to women at work always made me chuckle at its ridiculousness. It’s all for show–and more of a modern way of dancing to the gods of fertility..
Restaurants will be filled tonight with the hopeless dopes who will spend way too much money on a dinner they’d much sooner make themselves to save time and effort. But it’s all about show..
Don’t get me wrong. I like going out to dinner, too! But there’s certain days to avoid restaurants. New Year’s eve is one of them (made the mistake this year of partaking in highly priced bad food though) and Valentine’s Day is the other..Mother’s Day is the final avoid all restaurants at all costs day, especially if you work at one!