Yuri

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Sixth and last in the series. I'm hoping to get back there soon- it's been cloudy lately, which means the light isn't exactly ideal, but by the time the sun is shining reliably again, the deciduous vegetation might be so dense that the light won't be ideal again. We'll see.

In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth. This date is now celebrated internationally as Yuri's Night.
In 1975 villagers in Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, UK, were watching 'Around the World in Eighty Days' on TV. Just as the show's hero was about to set off on a balloon, there was a power failure in the village. Outside the village a balloon, attempting to land, had been blown into power lines.
In 1981 a pecan tree in Needham, Alabama, started whining like a puppy. The owners were unable to find a reason for the irritating noise.

Mona Lisa

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Sixth in a series of seven.

In 1722, Christopher Smart (author of what's probably my favorite poem) was born.
In 1956, Nat “King” Cole was attacked on stage by white audience members in Birmingham, AL.
In 1968, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law.

One man's best friend

Bookends

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Fifth in the series.

This is hilarious- a Finnish rock band, with the Red Army Choir, doing "Sweet Home Alabama" like they're from Mobile themselves. Honest, it's a riot. I wish I had been there!

In 1973, the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 12-1 in the first game to be played at Royals Stadium.

In 1981, a minor earthquake struck Guangdon province, China. Four-thousand junks had fled the region after astrologists and Taoist priests predicted the quake. Hong Kong authorities refused the refugees until the quake struck “right on time.”

Poisoning pigeons in the park

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Fourth in the series.

In 1928, Tom Lehrer was born.

In 1984, the crews of four airlines reported a mushroom cloud above the 14,000ft cloud deck, somewhere between Kuril Island and Sakhalin Island, a sensitive Soviet military area north of Japan. The cloud rose over 65,000 feet at a speed of about 500mph, and expanded to a diameter of 200 miles. No traces of radioactivity were found on the planes, and the aircrafts' electronics were undisturbed.

I'm so f-ing sick of the news media that I could vomit. Suffice to say BBC continues to kiss McSame's ass; Guardian continues to denigrate the Democratic candidates whenever possible while ignoring McSame; and CNN continues to publish crap-writing and manipulated-crap for editing. All of them continue to ignore McSame's complete ignorance of economics, foreign policy (especially the Sunni-Shiite conflict), and veterans' issues.

It's bread and circuses, bread and circuses for everyone. Hooray. Now shut up and go shopping.

I'm beginning to think it's time for me to let my good light shine again; to get out and re-redefine the word eccentric.

Hi ho!

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. Third in a series.

Got some new tools yesterday, looking for more today, though I know I'll never replace most of what was lost. Hi ho! I messed up my right arm (my good arm) last week, cleaning up the yard, so I'm on light-work duty for a while. I'll clean, maybe shoot some more pictures, do some drawing/design work, and rest the arm. Hi ho!

Wikipedia

Eastern Lewis County, Washington. I was out exploring near Mt Rainier, and saw an old truck off the side of the road in some trees. It was covered in moss and rusted out, clearly deserted for generations. I got out of the car, and as I approached it, I saw that it was not alone: I was in a graveyard of old trucks, an old farm trash heap full of rust and covered with moss, so long abandoned that a forest had grown up on top of it. #2 in a series.

In 1793, France adopted the Metre as the standard unit of measurement.
In 1915, Billie Holiday was born.
In 1943, Dr. Albert Hoffman first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).
In 1954, Jackie Chan was born.

Yeah, I know of wikipedia's "flaws." To my mind, those same "flaws" are known in other circles as "peer review." Peer review is simply the best system we have of publishing new ideas and having them critiqued and challenged in an orderly manner. The only essential difference between Wikipedia and established paper-based scientific/medical/technical journals is that information in Wikipedia can be revised on the spot, while information in journals takes months to revise. Remember: many scientists are just kooks with agendas, and many laypeople -Wiki users- are in fact just intelligent people with passionate interests.

Ghost truck

Eastern Lewis County, Washington.

Tartan Day (North America). Wear your kilt! Commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath (1320), which reaffirmed Scotland’s independence.

In 1869, Celluloid was patented. Beginning of the Age of Plastic.

In 1930, the Twinkie was invented.

Interesting development on the front. It's short: one paragraph and a short list. Critical, in more ways than one.