"Last" BBB Admin Note

All good things must end; so too the BBB. With 2030 entries off-and-on over five years (the anniversary was last Monday), it has served as an excellent vehicle for surfing and sharing BB web journeys. Thanks to all for checking in.

The BBB is dead, long live the BBB!




Wyatt and I are on to new adventures! See you along the path.

BBB Geeky Novelty

Two to beam up! Get ready for the ultimate Star Trek adventure with this original series Communicator! With sound effects and clips from the ground-breaking classic series, each of these limited collectibles features a pop-open design and deluxe window-box packaging. Don't be caught on your next away mission without one of these handy life-savers!

Today in History - 1959

Your Hit Parade ended after a nine-year run on television and many more years on radio. The show debuted in 1935. On the final show, these were the top five songs:

1 - Come Softly to Me
2 - Pink Shoelaces
3 - Never Be Anyone Else but You
4 - It's Just a Matter of Time
5 - I Need Your Love Tonight

News from all over - Leuven

It was to be one of the biggest science experiments ever seen yet there was not a bunson burner or test tube in sight. Around 1,500 students kitted out in waterproof ponchos discovered exactly what happens when you drop a mint sweet into a bottle of Coca Cola, in an attempt to break a world record. The students, from Belgium, tried to out-fizz the previous record for so-called Mentos fountains by simultaneously putting Mentos mints into bottles of the soft drink.

The resultant chemical reaction shot hundreds of streams of carbonated soda into the air. The explosive record-breaking event was held in Ladeuzeplein square in Leuven, Belgium.
Source

So Now You Know

Your Hit Parade was the first TV show to use the NBC living color peacock.

BBB Swell Site

Two words ... Aquatic Archeology.

Sounds intriguing, right? Explore the depths at this cool site.

News from all over - Holyhead

Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, Anglesey, admitted assaulting Barney Jones and cousin Michael with a metal crutch. Hughes, who was drunk and dressed in a black bin bag, shouted "Darth Vader!"

Earlier, when Hughes failed to arrive on time, District Judge Andrew Shaw issued an arrest warrant, adding: "I hope the force will soon be with him."

Hughes turned up and the case at Holyhead magistrates court resumed. The court heard he had jumped over a garden wall wearing the bin bag before the attack.

Outlining the case against Hughes, prosecutor Nia Lloyd said Barney Jones had recently started the Jedi church in Holyhead - in honour of the Star Wars' good knights.

It had about 30 members locally and "thousands worldwide". The cousins had been filming themselves playing with light sabers in the garden before the attack. Mrs Lloyd said: "He was wearing a black bin bag and a cape and had a metal crutch in his hand."

Mrs Lloyd said he was shouting "Darth Vader". She added that Hughes hit Barney Jones over the head with the crutch, leaving him with a headache.

Hughes could not remember the incident and only realised what had happened when he read about it in local newspapers, the court told. Defending, Frances Jones said alcohol was "ruining his life" and he had no idea where he got the crutch from.
Source

Today in History - 1951

The Associated Press began use of its new Teletypesetter circuit. The AP provided a perforated, paper-tape message to a news bureau in Charlotte, North Carolina. The message was then fed to a monitor for preparation into a printer. From there, the newspaper copy was completed.

Quotable Quote

The thing that makes this archeology and not treasure-hunting or salvage is the scientific approach, which includes precision navigation and mapping.
-Brendan Foley

Today's Chuckle

BBB Etymology - Home Sweet Home

The title of an immensely popular song taken from the melodrama Clari, or the Maid of Milan (1823) written by the American John Howard Payne (1791-1852) - who never had a home in his life - with six musical numbers composed by Sir Henry Bishop (1786-1855). The words do not actually occur in the body of the song, though 'home, sweet sweet home' does.

News from all over - New York

Mayor Bloomberg has been encouraged by advisers in his inner circle to consider making a bid for The New York Times after he leaves office, Newsweek magazine reports.

A source with close ties to the billionaire media magnate told the magazine that a friendly Bloomberg News-New York Times merger appealed to the mayor's sense of "civic-mindedness." "It is clearly a brand that Bloomberg could help preserve and that he cares about immensely ... and could pay a competitive price" for, the source said of The Times.

As shares in The Times company have dropped precipitously in recent years, speculation of a takeover has increased.

Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp., has been positioning The Journal in recent months to compete more directly with The Times on a variety of topics, rather than just business coverage. Murdoch told Newsweek that Bloomberg would be a formidable adversary. "I wouldn't look forward to going up against him," he told the magazine.

Bloomberg's term as mayor ends next year, and it remains unclear where he will devote his managerial prowess and $11.5 billion fortune.
Source

Today in History - 1931

A contraption known as the autogyro received publicity when veteran Pitcairn pilot Jim Ray landed on the White House lawn and took off again for the ceremony at which President Herbert Hoover presented the Collier Trophy to manufacturer Harold Pitcairn "for the greatest achievement in aviation, the value of which has been demonstrated by actual use in the preceding year." Pitcairn built 51 autogyros in 1931 and developed a number of models for the U.S. Navy as well as some models intended for private owners.

So Now You Know

The song Home Sweet Home is famous in Japan as "Hanyu no Yado" ("A Lodging"). It has been used in such movies as The Burmese Harp and Grave of the Fireflies and is also used at Senri-Chuo Station on the Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway.

BBB Pulp Pick - Elija's Manna

Cereal boxes are their own pulp art form, right? Back in 1904, Elijah's Manna corn flake cereal was created by CW Post. The name came from "Elijah" of Biblical fame. The cereal was renamed Post Toasties in 1908 reportedly due to pressure from Fundamentalists.

News from all over - Sheboygan

Police say a man left a Pick N' Save store around 4:10 p.m. Saturday carrying a three-foot-tall, yellow M&M statue but an employee saw him and followed him to his vehicle. The man put the statue in his back seat and the employee confronted him.

The thief offered the employee $5 for the statue, which is actually worth about $50. Police say the employee grabbed the statue out of the vehicle and the man drove away.

Captain David Derus says an officer was following up on the theft Sunday.
Source

Today in History - 1949

The prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Broadcasting was presented to You Bet Your Life star, "The one, the only, Groucho Marx." This was the first time the honor had been awarded to a comedian.

So Now You Know

Groucho's greasepaint mustache and eyebrows originated spontaneously prior to a vaudeville performance when he did not have time to apply the pasted-on mustache he had been using (or, according to his autobiography, simply did not enjoy the removal of the mustache every night because of the effects of tearing an adhesive bandage off the same patch of skin every night). After applying the greasepaint mustache, a quick glance in the mirror revealed his natural hair eyebrows were too undertoned and did not match the rest of his face, so Marx added the greasepaint to his eyebrows and headed for the stage.

Marx was asked to do the greasepaint mustache once more for "You Bet Your Life," but refused, opting instead to grow a real one, which he wore for the rest of his life.

BBB Destination - Hanksville

Is it too late to think about my trip to Mars? Age *is* a state of mind, right? While I contemplate these age-old (ha) questions, I'm also planning my stint* at the "Mars Desert Research Station". You can witness the missions (photos, journals and the like) from this site.
OK, it's a virtual "stint" but a guy's gotta dream!

News from all over - Tallahassee

The Florida Senate today debated and passed an amendment to impose a $60 fine, charges of a moving violations, and points against a driver license for displaying reproductions of bull genitalia on a vehicle or trailer.

The ban was proposed by Sen. Cary Baker, R-Eustis, who said the items are "not appropriate," even though he sees a lot of them in his district. Other members agreed on their popularity, but questioned how worthwhile a crackdown might be. Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said he had a set on one of his vehicles, which he described as "all pimped out." They are no more than "an expression of truckliness," he said, although he'd acceded to his wife's request to take them off.

"I find it shocking we'd tell people with metallic testicles on their bumpers that this is a violation," said Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale. "There's got to be better things for us to spend time debating."
Source

Today in History - 1775

On this night, the British army began its move across the Charles River toward Lexington, and the Sons of Liberty immediately went into action. At about 11 PM, Paul Revere was sent across the Charles River to Charlestown where he could begin a ride to Lexington, while another patriot, William Dawes was sent the long way around, via the Boston Neck and the land route to Lexington.

Riding through present-day Somerville, Medford and Arlington, Revere warned patriots along his route - many of whom set out on horseback to deliver warnings of their own. By the end of the night there were probably as many as 40 riders throughout Middlesex County carrying the news of the army's advancement. Revere arrived in Lexington around midnight, with Dawes arriving about a half hour later. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were spending the night at the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington and, upon receiving the news, spent a great deal of time discussing plans of action. Revere and Dawes, meanwhile, decided to ride on toward Concord, where the militia's arsenal was hidden. They were joined by Samuel Prescott, a doctor who happened to be visiting Lexington.
Paul Revere's ride.

Revere, Dawes, and Prescott were detained by British troops in Lincoln at a roadblock on the way to nearby Concord. Prescott jumped his horse over a wall and escaped into the woods; Dawes also escaped, though soon after he fell off his horse and did not complete the ride. Revere was detained longer and had his horse confiscated, leaving Prescott the only rider to make it to Concord. Revere was escorted at gunpoint back toward Lexington. As morning broke and shots began to be heard, his British army guards became concerned and left Revere in the countryside, horseless. He walked back to Lexington and arrived in time to see the beginning of the battle on Lexington Green.

So Now You Know

Revere certainly did not shout the famous phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"), largely because the mission depended on secrecy and the countryside was filled with British army patrols; also, most colonial residents at the time considered themselves British as they were all legally British subjects. Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was, "The regulars are coming out!"

Today's Chuckle

BBB Geeky Novelty

Two words ... Mathematical Quilts


Poincaré Plane

News from all over - Dortmund

Three days after stealing a rare collection of coins, a thief in Germany took them to the bank for safe keeping - and delivered them into the hands of the man he had robbed.

"I don't think the thief was expecting that," said a spokesman for police in the western city of Dortmund on Tuesday.

Soon after the thief made the deposit, a bank worker handling the coins recognized them as the set worth some 50,000 euros ($80,000) that had been stolen from his house.

Police tracked down the 36-year-old suspect and arrested him, securing a haul of other stolen goods in the process.
Source

Today in History - 1937

Daffy Duck makes his debut in the Warner Bros. short Porky's Duck Hunt.

So Now You Know

The origin of Daffy Duck's voice is a matter of some debate. One oft-repeated "official" story is that it was patterned after producer Schlesinger's tendency to lisp. However, in Mel Blanc's autobiography, That's Not All Folks!, he contradicts that conventional belief, writing "It seemed to me that such an extended mandible would hinder his speech, particularly on words containing an s sound. Thus 'despicable' became 'desthpicable'."

Daffy's slobbery, exaggerated lisp was developed over time, being barely noticeable in the early cartoons. In Daffy Duck and Egghead, Daffy does not lisp at all, except in the separately-drawn set-piece of Daffy singing "The Merry Go Round Broke Down", in which just a slight lisp can be heard.

BBB Swell Site

There's miniature and then there's really really tiny
Click the image above to go to the web page. You can see this slide show in full screen by clicking "Full" in lower right of the SlideShare window.

News from all over - McLean

Robyn Hooker, principal of Kent Gardens Elementary School, has told students they may no longer play tag during recess after determining that the game of chasing, dodging and yelling "You're it!" had gotten out of hand. Hooker explained to parents in a letter this month that tag had become a game "of intense aggression."

The principal said that her goal is to keep students safe and that she hopes to restore tag (as well as touch football, also now on hold) after teachers and administrators review recess policies.

The decision has touched off a debate among parents. Some call the restriction an example of overzealous rulemaking that fails to address root problems and undermines children's development; others say it's best to err on the side of caution.

"We are regulating the fun out of normal childhood activity," said Jan van Tol, father of a Kent Gardens sixth-grader.
Source

Today in History - 1900

The two cent stamp was first issued in booklets. It was of what is officially designated as the "Series of 1894," but known to collectors as the issue of 1898. Not quite 50,000,000 leaflets were issued, but this stamp is scarcer than the first one cent, of which only about a half as many were delivered. When the stamp was issued, 240 were hand-stamped, together with their cover, "Specimen." These are scarce. The discovery of forged overprints has recently been announced by a philatelist, who says they may be detected by the cover, which is of a later date than that of the original. Other booklets were overprinted 'Philippines' for use in those islands. The writer does not know how many were issued. This stamp was printed from twenty plates and bound in all three priced books 25, 49, and 97 cents as were all the following 2 cents.

So Now You Know

The most popular US postage stamp was the 1993 stamp of rock singer Elvis Presley. It sold over 124 million copies.

Today's Chuckle

[BBB Admin note - this is the 2,001 published post - "The BBB, over 2,000 entries" has a nice ring to it, eh?]

BBB Etymology - Tax

As a verb, circa 1290, from Old French taxer "impose a tax", from Latin taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle," also "censure, charge," probably a frequentative form of tangere "to touch". Sense of "burden, put a strain on" first recorded 1672; that of "censure, reprove" is from 1569. The noun is recorded from 1327.

Today in History - 1955

The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave the United States Congress the legal authority to tax individuals' income in 1913. The filing deadline was March 1 in 1913 and was changed to March 15 in 1918 and again to April 15 in 1955.

So Now You Know

The first known system of taxation was in Ancient Egypt around 3000 BC - 2800 BC in the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Records from the time document that the pharaoh would conduct a biennial tour of the kingdom, collecting tax revenues from the people.

Today's Chuckle

Click image for larger view

BBB Pulp Pict - Mechanix Illustrated reveals ...

I love not having to worry about possible space invaders while I build my very own tiled table-studio couch!

News from all over - Eureka Springs

Sitting on the lower floor of the convention center at the Inn of the Ozarks, author Don Ray Walton said his book, The Coming Human Aliens needs to be rewritten because beings from outer space gave him new information when they picked him up outside of Stephensville, Texas, earlier this year. He related the aliens’ most recent message: Our solar system is heading toward a massive black hole.

In the next four years, humans will be offered salvation from representatives of 143, 999 alien races, Walton said. The ships will only take those that are willing and ready, Walton said. It is up to each person to decide whether to go with the aliens or to stay and be devoured by the black hole.

At this conference, which continues today, he wasn’t the only one talking about other-world experiences. The three-day conference had nine speakers on topics ranging from crop circles to preparing to meet aliens.

There may have been a heightened sense of questioning authority at the conference, as a sign inside the door read: "All government agents must register at the front desk and must wear name tags at all times NO EXCEPTIONS." Featured speakers included Ted Phillips, a researcher from the Center for Physical Trace Research in Missouri.

“In Eureka Springs, anything is pretty much accepted as normal,” said Michael Teague, who was walking downtown with his daughter Marley. He would have been interested in attending, but Teague said that his daughter is “scared to death of the subject matter.” Saturday’s UFO convention was the first for Mike Smith of Springdale. Smith has been interested in UFOs for more than 20 years, he said. Although he doesn’t report them, he said that anyone can see them if they look hard enough. “It’s an escape of your thoughts of the everyday things,” Smith said, of watching for UFOs.
Source

Today in History - 1902

The year was 1902 and a 27 year old man arrived by train in Kemmerer, Wyoming to start a new business. He couldn't afford the train fare twice, so he made a committment in dollars before seeing the town. A scattered mining community, Kemmerer had about one thousand residents, a company store that operated on credit and 21 saloons where a good deal of spare cash was spent.

Two revolutionary ideas - cash only and do unto others as you would have them do unto you - were the basis for James Cash Penney's new business venture. He named the store the Golden Rule.

"When the sun rose over Kemmerer, Wyoming, April 14, 1902, it gilded a sign reading GOLDEN RULE STORE, and I was in business as a full partner. The firm name was Johnson, Callahan and Penney, but it was used only for bookkeeping purposes. In setting up a business under the name and meaning of Golden Rule, I was publicly binding myself, in my business relations, to a principle which had been a real intimate part of my family upbringing. To me the sign on the store was much more than a trade name. We took our slogan "Golden Rule Store" with strict literalness. Our idea was to make money and build business through serving the community with fair dealing and honest value, and did business cash-and-carry."

So Now You Know

In 1940, 22 year old Sam Walton (future billionaire and founder of Wal-Mart) began working at JC Penney's Des Moines, Iowa store.

BBB Destination - Eldon

A trip to the corn belt of the central US would be incomplete without a visit to a little white house in the Des Moines river valley where Grant Wood was inspired by its unusual Gothic window. You can celebrate Gothic Day in Eldon the second Saturday in June every year. The home-cooked meals at nearby Jones Cafe are not to be missed any time of the year.

News from all over - Boise

Sen. John Goedde, sponsor of the bill to sharply increase Idaho’s fines for speeding in school zones, was caught speeding in a Boise-area school zone Feb. 28 — the day his bill was being debated in the state Senate.

“There was some irony there,” Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, acknowledged Wednesday after news surfaced of his $141.50 ticket.
Source

Today in History - 1938

The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, or SPEBSQSA was held at the Roof Garden of the Tulsa Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Tulsa tax attorney Owen C. Cash ran into a fellow Tulsan, investment banker Rupert I. Hall, in the lobby of the Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City, stranded when a storm closed the airport. Striking up a few chords (after tipping the bellboy to find them a tenor singer), the men bemoaned the decline of that all-American institution, the barbershop quartet. Determined to stem that decline, they wrote a humorous letter to friends, stating:

"In this age of dictators and government control of everything, about the only privilege guaranteed by the Bill of Rights not in some way supervised or directed is the art of barbershop quartet singing. Without a doubt, we still have the right of peaceable assembly, which, we are advised by competent legal authority, includes quartet singing.

"The writers have, for a long time, thought that something should be done to encourage the enjoyment of this last remaining vestige of human liberty. Therefore, we have decided to hold a songfest on the roof garden of the Tulsa Club on Monday, April 11, 1938, at 6:30 p.m."

So Now You Know

The original intention of the name SPEBSQSA was a lampoon on the New Deal alphabet agencies. Because of name's length and the difficult-to-pronounce acronym, society staff and members often refer to SPEBSQSA as The Society. In reference to the acronym SPEBSQSA, The Society has said "attempts to pronounce the name are discouraged".

BBB Geeky Novelty

Working television sets so small that they can be installed in dolls’ houses were unveiled at the weekend by a miniature enthusiast.

Brett Foster designed the equipment, which is built to a 1:12 scale with a 2in (6cm) screen, to operate using a freeview box. The televisions can also be linked to DVD players.

“I’ve had a lot of jaws drop to the floor. People were amazed,” Mr Foster, of Doks Emporium in Shrewsbury, said after showing them at the Miniatura doll’s house fair at the Birmingham NEC.
Source

News from all over - Easton

The Crayola 64 box announced earlier this week will have some awesome new colors including Awesome. The newly named colors are aimed at appealing to a new generation of children, more than 20,000 of whom picked the names in an online poll.

Here are the other old names followed by the new names: laser lemon, super happy; wild tangerine, fun in the sun; screamin' green, giving tree; beaver, bear hug; turquoise blue, happy ever after; hot magenta, famous; orchid, best friends.
Source

Today in History - 1849

Walter Hunt patents the safety pin. Hunt's other inventions include a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a flax spinner, knife sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, artificial stone, road sweeping machinery, velocipedes, ice ploughs and mail making machinery. In 1834, Walter Hunt built America's first sewing machine, which was also the first eye pointed needle sewing machine. He later lost interest in patenting his sewing machine, because he believed the invention would cause unemployment.

The safety pin was invented while Hunt was twisting a piece of wire, trying to think of something that would help him pay off a fifteen dollar debt. He thought little of his safety pin as an invention and soon sold the patent for four hundred dollars.

So Now You Know

The Crayola 64 box made its television debut in 1958 on the Captain Kangaroo Show.

America's favorite Crayola color? Blue

BBB Swell Site

If you've ever been to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, you likely were amazed at how big the Assembly Building and it's contents are. Here's a nice pictorial essay of "Space Shuttle Processing: Rarely seen by the general public".
Cool.

News from all over - Mt Everest

Scott Parazynski is a man with many talents. This 47-year-old NASA astronaut has been to space five times, has a doctorate of medicine from Stanford University, lived overseas most of his adolescence, is an experienced pilot, has two children, and now, he is climbing Mt. Everest.

He left Houston on March 23 for a 24-hour flight to Nepal. He stopped in Denver, Los Angeles, Bangkok and Katmandu before arriving in the Himalayas to begin a seven-day walk to the base of Mt. Everest. The rocky, hostile mountain environment will be home to Parazynski and his team for six to eight weeks as they make a slow ascent to the summit of Earth’s tallest mountain.

“I’ve flown in space five times, but I am also a mountaineer and explorer. I just love going to challenging places and seeing what’s there,” Parazynski said.

Parazynski has been planning this expedition for more than 15 years. He was originally scheduled to join an expedition to climb Mt. Everest in 1992, but his selection into the astronaut corps and subsequent space mission postponed his expedition plans until this year. He recently returned from shuttle mission STS-120 and chose to spend his vacation time and money on the climb.
Source

Today in History - 1959

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America's first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald Slayton. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America's first manned space program. NASA planned to begin manned orbital flights in 1961.

So Now You Know

Kennedy Space Center's "Crawlers" are huge. Each the size of a baseball diamond weighs 3,000 tons; two diesel engines produce a total of 5,500 horsepower; and it takes a crew of more than a dozen to operate. Crawlers even have their own road, about the width of an eight-lane highway.

It has one job: to transport the space shuttle, mounted on a Mobile Launcher Platform -- combined, they weigh 5,500 tons -- from the building where it is assembled in Cape Canaveral to the launching pad. The three-mile trip can take a full day, since the Crawler never goes above 0.95 m.p.h. with the shuttle aboard. Tom Chabrak, 42, drives the Crawler and says it is draining: ''Driving it for one hour seems like driving on the highway for 10 hours.''

While every run involves several engineers on board and six observers walking alongside, there is only one person at the steering wheel, controlling speed and direction. ''It's kind of intimidating the first time you try it, but after a while it becomes second nature,'' Mr. Chabrak said.

On a typical run, the Crawler goes underneath the Mobile Launcher Platform and jacks itself from its regular 20-foot height to about 26 feet to pick up the platform.

The primary challenge in driving the Crawler is to keep it on the road, known as the Crawlerway, which is a sandwich consisting of 8 inches of gravel on top of 4 feet of crushed stone on top of compacted fill.
Source

Between the devil and the deep blue sea

Here devil is nautical slang for a seam between planks that was difficult to caulk, i.e. make watertight by hammering oakum (fibers of rope) into the gap and then adding tar. The word was particularly used for the long seam of the first plank on the outer hull next to the keel, and for the seam along the edge of the deck where only the thickness of the hull was between this devil and the sea. No doubt awkward and difficult seams were given this name because they were 'the devil' to get at. The whole phrase therefore meant, literally, a physical position between two unpleasant things and, metaphorically, a dilemma.

News from all over - Digital One airwaves

Listeners and Birdsong enthusiasts should note the transmission of Birdsong could cease at any time and that the recording is not commercially available.

Since the beginning of April 2008, the Birdsong channel has been upgraded to stereo and currently broadcasts 24 hours a day.

For sponsorship opportunities please contact info@digitalone.co.uk and include the word "Twitcher" in the subject line.

Please note that the line up of birds featured in the cast may change without warning due to illness, weather and migration.
Source including a link to listen

So Now You Know

On the April 1984 Challenger flight, 3,300 bees, housed in a special but confining box, adapted perfectly to zero gravity and built a nearly normal comb. But they didn’t relieve themselves. Since bees excrete only outside the hive, they held it in for seven days.

Today in History - 1935

Congress approved the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Created by President Franklin Roosevelt to relieve the economic hardship of the Great Depression, this national works program (called the Works Project Administration beginning in 1939) employed more than 8.5 million people on 1.4 million public projects before it was disbanded in 1943.

The Federal Writers' Project was one of several projects within the WPA targeted to people with skills in the arts. Among the well-known writers employed by the project were Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, John Cheever, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, May Swenson, Margaret Walker, and Richard Wright.

During the Project's early years, the Federal Writers produced a series of state guidebooks that offer a flavorful sampling of life in the United States. Now considered classics of Americana, these guides remain the Federal Writers' Project's best-known undertaking. But, the Federal Writers' Project also left a hidden legacy. In the late 1930s, Federal Writers recorded the life stories of more than 10,000 men and women from a variety of regions, occupations, and ethnic groups. Nearly 3,000 of these manuscripts are now available online as part of the American Memory collection American Life Histories, 1936-1940.

BBB Pulp Pick - Squirt

Back in the day, my family would travel to Florida pretty regularly and though I was a big Pepsi and Dr Pepper fan (not to mention Grapette), I would find myself 'laxing with a Squirt. Ah, refreshing!

Today in History - 1864

The first recorded Camel Race in the U.S. took place at the Agricultural Park in Sacramento, CA.

News from all over - Chicago

Schlitz beer, once the world's top-selling beer brand, has gone back to its original formula.

Woodridge-based Pabst Brewing Co. relaunches the formula -- packaged in the long-neck bottles it abandoned in the 1990s -- this week in Chicago.

The stunt is among those breweries are executing to mark the 75th anniversary of returning to business after Prohibition.

Lincolnshire-based Louis Glunz Beer Inc., Schlitz's longest distributor, chucked the canned product last month in anticipation of the original formula. The company first brought the beer to Chicago at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

"I believe this could be something very big in the future," said Glunz's general manager, Gerry Glunz.

Schlitz sales account for less than 1 percent of Glunz's business. It sells abut 6,000 cases a year. Glunz thinks the brand has the potential to sell 200,000 a year.

The beer will be fun to play with this summer, said Ric Hess, owner of Sheffield's bar, 3258 N. Sheffield. "It's based on your grandfather kind of beer. They're marketing to that nostalgia."
Source
Related BBB entry

Quotable Quote

Let's get together with a glass of Schlitz,
A friendly glass of Schlitz.
Brewed with pride and just a kiss of the hops,
To put real gusto into every drop.
So let's get together with a glass of Schlitz,
A friendly glass of Schlitz.
Real gusto in a great, light beer-- Schlitz!
(The beer that made Milwaukee famous, simply because it tastes so good!)
Here's a "classic" TV ad.

BBB Destination - Casselton

One of the tallest things in North Dakota, the World’s Largest Pile of Oil Cans, has been given a May 29 eviction date by its current owners. The 45-ft. tall pile was built in Casselton the 1930s next to a gas station, and quickly became a popular attraction. Its stewardship was assumed in 1973 by the property’s new owners, a locally-owned manufacturing company, which moved the tower 300 feet but otherwise respected its lofty position in North Dakota’s travel destination hierarchy.

According to the Grand Forks Herald, however, the company has been sold twice in the past four years. The current president of the plant, which manufacturers treads for bulldozers, says of the Pile, “Aesthetically, it’s not something we want around.”

The Cass County Historical Society is feverishly trying to figure out a way to keep the Pile in Casselton. Should that effort fail, the Pile might be moved 15 miles west to “Bonanzaville,” a vast, Harold Warp-ish aggregation of North Dakota treasures in West Fargo.

News from all over - Toronto

A Toronto butcher shop manager who won a $14.5-million lottery prize last week is making good on his promise to share his wealth. Jose Lima, known as "Joe the butcher" to the hundreds of customers he has served for 22 years, gave away free four-kilogram bags of chicken legs to his patrons on Thursday.

Some 800 residents received their free chicken by lunchtime and another 450 were still in line. Lima ordered almost 27,000 kilograms of chicken legs, and placed an extra order to make sure none of his customers would be walking away empty handed. The price tag was $30,000.

"For so many years I've been buying meat here, so it's very nice of him," said one happy elderly man.

"A million dollars is a lot of money. Fourteen million dollars is 14 times lots of money," Lima said with a large smile. He still hasn't decided on how to spend his millions, but plans on taking a vacation. He says he has no intentions of quitting his job.
Source

Today in History - 1932

Professor C.G. King of the University of Pittsburgh isolated vitamin C - the anti-scorbutic factor, calling it "ascorbic acid" after five years of research.

So Now You Know

The overwhelming majority of species of animals and plants synthesize their own vitamin C, making some, but not all, animal products, sources of dietary vitamin C. Topping the list: liver and oysters.

BBB Geeky Novelties

Lego sets come in all sizes and manner of complexity. Back in the day, there were pretty cool Star Wars sets including a Millennium Falcon as I recall. But never leaving a stone unturned or collectors wallet untouched, Legos reintroduces sets of "Ultimate" Star Wars items. Now you can pick up a Jawa Sandcrawler, Imperial AT-AT or AT-ST, and so on. But at the top of the Geek list are the Death Star and the coolest of all Millennium Falcon (weighing in with an impressive 5,195 pieces).

Check out this site of construction of the Death Star. And here's a cool video of sorting the pieces to the Millennium Falcon.

News from all over - Little Rock

Arkansas' marriage-age crisis is over. A law that mistakenly allowed anyone — even toddlers — to marry with parental permission was repealed by a measure signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Mike Beebe, ending months of embarrassment for the state and confusion for county clerks.

Lawmakers didn't realize until after the end of last year's regular session that a law they approved, intended to establish 18 as the minimum age for marriage, instead removed the minimum age to marry entirely. An extraneous "not" in the bill allowed anyone who was not pregnant to marry at any age with permission.

Rep. Will Bond, the sponsor of the botched 2007 law and its correction, apologized for the error and asked his colleagues to "throw me a rope and bail me out here."

"I always thought if you put your name on a bill, you should be ready to take the blame if you're willing to accept the credit," Bond said Wednesday.
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Today in History - 1953

TV Guide was published for the first time.

Quotable Quote

Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
-Darth Vader

BBB Swell Site

When it comes to numbers, there's no shortage of data (ha!). But here's a site that takes them one-by-one (so to speak) and tells you something unique about each one.

News from all over - London

Pay-per-view funerals go live online, allowing mourners who cannot attend services in person to pay their last respects via the Internet.

Despite criticism of the scheme as macabre, the company who launched the service, Wesley Music, is planning to offer it to crematoria across the country who will charge a one-off payment of around 75 pounds for access to a funeral Webcast.

Mourners use the password to access a live online broadcast of the funeral service captured by a small camera mounted in the chapel.

"Families are dispersed across the world these days and sometimes it's the case that someone cannot get home in time for a funeral," said Alan Jeffrey, director of Wesley Music.

"For those who need it, this is a very important service. It means that rather than being excluded, they can at least witness and be a part of a funeral as it happens. In a time of stress this is something that can ease the pain."
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Today in History - 1917

The first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, takes her seat as a representative from Montana.

Quotable Quote

As a woman, I can't go to war and I refuse to send anyone else.
I vote 'NO'.
-Jeannette Rankin (after the attack on Pearl Harbor - the only member of Congress to do so)

Today's Chuckles

BBB Etymology - Apple of one's eye

Originally meant the pupil of the eye, thought to be globular and solid like an apple, and acquired its present metaphorical sense because of the special preciousness of the pupil and the need to protect it. This sense is first found in the Bible in several places, e.g. 'he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye' (Deuteronomy, 32:10).

Today in History - 1955

Along with The Ballad of Davy Crockett by Bill Hayes, another number one hit on this day was Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White by the Perez Prado Orchestra.

So Now You Know

Back in the early 80s there was a turf war within Apple Computer to deliver the first Graphical User Interface-based computer. In early 1983 the Lisa team won the race and Apple introduced the first personal computer to be sold to the public with a GUI. However, the Lisa was a commercial failure as a result of its high price tag ($9,995) and limited software titles. In early 1984, the Macintosh was available for $1,995. The rest as they say ...

Today's Chuckle

News from all over - London

Self-help manual If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs won this year's oddest book title competition.

The book took an impressive one-third of the 8,500 votes cast online in The Bookseller trade magazine's 30th annual competition. Runner up I was Tortured By the Pygmy Love Queen, the story of a fictitious World War Two pilot forced to bale out over the jungle, polled a distant 20 per cent.

"'If You Want Closure', makes redundant an entire genre of self-help tomes. So effective is the title that you don't even need to read the book itself," said the magazine's deputy editor Joel Rickett.

The winner beat stiff competition from other shortlisted titles including the somewhat niche Cheese Problems Solved and How to Write a How to Write Book and the rather provocative Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues.

The annual competition was launched in 1978 at the Frankfurt Book Fair when it was won by the memorably titled Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice.
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