Archive for May, 2011

Memorial Day

Monday, May 30th, 2011

There was a video I wanted to post for today, but I couldn’t track it down. Perhaps I’ll find it in time for Veteran’s Day. Since I couldn’t find it, I’ll repost some past Memorial Day items.

First, a poem Robert Service wrote after World War I:

PILGRIMS

For oh, when the war will be over
We’ll go and we’ll look for our dead;
We’ll go when the bee’s on the clover,
And the plume of the poppy is red:
We’ll go when the year’s at its gayest,
When meadows are laughing with flow’rs;
And there where the crosses are greyest,
We’ll seek for the cross that is ours.

For they cry to us: Friends, we are lonely,
A-weary the night and the day;
But come in the blossom-time only,
Come when our graves will be gay:
When daffodils all are a-blowing,
And larks are a-thrilling the skies,
Oh, come with the hearts of you glowing,
And the joy of the Spring in your eyes.

But never, oh, never come sighing,
For ours was the Splendid Release;
And oh, but ’twas joy in the dying
To know we were winning you Peace!
So come when the valleys are sheening,
And fledged with the promise of grain;
And here where our graves will be greening,
Just smile and be happy again.
And so, when the war will be over,
We’ll seek for the Wonderful One;
And maiden will look for her lover,
And mother will look for her son;
And there will be end to our grieving,
And gladness will gleam over loss,
As – glory beyond all believing!
We point … to a name on a cross.

And remember, when you think of those who gave their all for their country:

A veteran is someone who, at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America ‘ for an amount of ‘up to and including their life.’

Time for some music

Friday, May 27th, 2011

I first ran across this performance at the now-defunct site Bunker Mulligan. I downloaded the MP3 back then, and have continued to listen to it since then. I’m posting it now because I had a wild hair cause me to search for it to see if I could find out whether there were any more performances by the group, and because it has the only bluegrass cello performance I’m aware of.

There’s no way that this will end well

Friday, May 20th, 2011

But it is pretty freaking awesome.

This reminds me of a George Carlin punchline

Friday, May 20th, 2011

The headline reads:

Deputy: Strip Search Finds Crack Between Buttocks

Miscellany 15

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Got some good stuff today, some of which I’ve been holding onto for a week or so. A little video-heavy, too.

First, one of those quintessential Japanese culture things: a cute girl with cat ears. These, however, are controlled by brain waves. It’s everywhere now, but I found it at The Presurfer.

When Marion and I were vacationing in Ecuador, we saw this volcano off in the distance. We saw a column of steam and ash, but nothing like this, although we did hear an occasional booming in the distance. It doesn’t really look like the same mountain in my photos, but that could just be the vantage point from which we saw it.

Volcano in Ecuador

I’ve known some vicious cats in my time, but I would never have expected that I’d need to be medevac’d after a knife fight with one.

Whisky by the shot. Via Cool Material.

A remake of When Harry Met Sally? Looks like it has promise. Via Bad Example.

When Harry Met Sally 2 with Billy Crystal & Helen Mirren from Billy Crystal

Bad Example also had this one, which is pretty fun.

I missed Star Wars Day last week. Whether you did as well or not, you may enjoy these retro Star Wars propaganda posters.

If you prefer Star Trek to Star Wars, you may appreciate hearing that a German television station gave the Maquis credit for taking out Osama Bin Laden.

I want one of these when they’re available.

Want a big photo of the sky?

A town with a population of 1? Sounds sorta familiar.

This story has legs

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Well, one, at least.

I went in yesterday morning to have my cast removed and X-rays taken to evaluate how it’s healing. The break is healing, but not as quickly as hoped. What looks to be the big problem is that my foot is out of position within the ankle joint – it’s positioned too far to the outside, leaving a gap next to the tibia.

What this means is that I’m more likely to come down with arthritis in the joint at some indeterminate time in the future. There’s still a lot of bruising evident on the foot, and Dr. Shannon’s concern is that the ligaments on the inside of the foot may not be healing quickly enough, which could leave me with the dreaded “floppy ankle” if the ligaments lag too far behind the bone in healing.

In any case, I’ve got another cast on, and go back for my next scheduled evaluation in a month.