Only a hill ; earth set a little higher above the face of earth : a larger view of little fields and roads : a little higher to clouds and silence : what is that to you? Only a hill ; but all of life to me, up there, between the sunset and the sea.
| Speech by Robert Kennedy, 18 March 1968, University of Kansas. ”We will never find a purpose for our nation nor for our personal satisfaction in the mere search for economic well-being, in endlessly amassing terrestrial goods. We cannot measure the national spirit on the basis of the Dow-Jones, nor can we measure the achievements of our country on the basis of the gross domestic product (GDP) Our gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those [ continue reading happiness ] I’ve posted previously about Dr. Seuss’s “School of Unorthodox Taxidermy,” a sculpture series that Theodore Seuss Geisel created in the 1930s. Reproductions are available, but an incredibly-rare original set is now on eBay. They are currently on exhibit at the Chateau de Belcastel monument in France, but they can be yours for just $1,000,000. From eBay: This collection would have been originally purchased in the late 1930’s. They were kept in a child’s room, and eventually retired to the storage barn next to a chicken coop in upstate New York. The set was acquired for a substantial sum in [ continue reading Original Dr. Seuss taxidermy on eBay – Boing Boing ] Paul “Bear” Bryant was a coaching legend. During his 25 year tenure at the University of Alabama, he was college football’s winningest coach, leading his team to six national championships. As a young man he was tough-he earned his famous nickname by volunteering to wrestle a bear at age 13 and played in a game with a partially broken leg during his time as a college player. He carried this toughness over to his coaching where he demanded excellence of his men on and off the field, and looked dapper while doing it. Losing was not an [ continue reading Bear Bryant ] ascensiones in corde suo disposuit He has set ascents in his heart; or, as we should phrase it, He has set his heart on ascents. … Shackleton’s Lost Scotch « Camp Smoke. Chavasse and his brother extraordinary men … VC on the wikipedia “The story behind the gallantry medals of Captain Noel Chavasse is deeply moving: he was awarded the second of his VCs after dying from battlefield injuries in 1917. Since then at least 12 memorials have been erected worldwide in his honour – more than for any other recipient of the Commonwealth’s most prestigious bravery award. Captain Chavasse’s service and gallantry medals were left by his family decades ago to St Peter’s College, Oxford. The college has now sold the medals to Lord Ashcroft, the billionaire Tory peer. According [ continue reading Lord Ashcroft pays record price for Noel Chavasse’s VC ] Thomas Sands, died 28 March 1850 Hedy Lamarr (under her then-married name of Hedy Kiesler Markey) and composer George Antheil received U.S. Patent 2,292,387 for their Secret Communication System on August 11, 1942. This early version of frequency hopping used a piano roll to change between 88 frequencies and was intended to make radio-guided torpedoes harder for enemies to detect or jam. This idea was controversial and ahead of its time and technology. Lamarr’s frequency-hopping idea served as the basis for modern spread-spectrum communication technology used in devices ranging from cordless telephones to WiFi Internet connections. The technology in [ continue reading Hedy Lamarr …. what can you say? ] Tonight is a really big night for Clissold Swimming Club competing the National Arena Swimming league at Clissold Leisure Centre. A big leap for a small club on the up!! Seems strange to be so far away (for ‘strange’ substitute any of many words). A seventh place from the Clissold – well done. 10 October 2009  | tagged as: Clissold Leisure Centre, CSC forever, words |  | category: blue wobbly stuff, heroes, swimming, tank life  | comments are closed  While in Egypt this year we visited the CWGC cemetery at El Alemain and placed some McNeill of Colonsay tartan (ancient) over the headstones of the two McNeill fallen there. As you do. For Millie and I this was in addition to the tour of the Normandy Landing beaches that she and I cycled along a month earlier thinking of our friend Bill Nash who visited both spots during his ‘gap years 1940-45′. Bill said he once saw Rommel’s staff half-track off in the distance and was also on French sand de-mining the beach on that first night in [ continue reading Desert Rats & Beach Boys ] Lots of people asking me what the deal is on this photograph. I find it fascinating and have been known to stare at it for hours. It was taken by Geoffrey Winthrop Young in 1912 and is of Siegfried Wedgwood Herford and George Leigh Mallory Leaning against the wall of the Gorphwysfa Hotel at Pen y Pass, it is now the Pen y Pass Youth Hostel. They had just completed a “double girdle” of the face of Lliwedd then (but not now) a fashionable climbing spot. In the midst of their lives climbing they would surely have been aware of [ continue reading So what’s the big deal about this photo? ] Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light. “ To honor the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, NASA has just released these brand new restored videos of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s historic first steps on the moon. The space agency is working with Lowry Digital in Burbank to restore tapes from the July 20, 1969 moonwalk &mdash the project in its entirety will be completed in the fall, but they’re offering a sneak peek at some of the iconic moments, like Neil Armstrong (above) and Buzz Aldrin (below) taking their first steps on the moon, starting right now. These clips show side-by-side comparisons [ continue reading NASA’s new restored footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing ] Here’s his HOMEPAGE “WASHINGTON (CNN) — Jazz legend Duke Ellington is the first African-American to appear on an American coin, the U.S. Mint says in introducing the latest in its line of state-themed quarters. The District of Columbia coin honoring Duke Ellington will be introduced Tuesday at the Smithsonian. The District of Columbia commemorative quarter showing Ellington playing the piano will be introduced by U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy at a news conference Tuesday at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Ellington won the honor by a vote of D.C. residents, beating out abolitionist Frederick Douglass and astronomer Benjamin Banneker.” (Via Duke [ continue reading Duke Ellington becomes first African-American on U.S. coin ] Michael Johnson: “The question I have to ask is why do they support Phelps? Why are companies who had to pay a hefty fee to be one of an exclusive group of companies to have Phelps’s spokesperson services now supporting someone who doesn’t have much of a personality, isn’t that great a speaker, does not apparently learn from his mistakes, and who has proven to be pretty stupid? “ (Via Michael Phelps does not deserve the support he has received – Telegraph: .) |  
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