Naaktgeboren
“When Napoleon seized the Netherlands in 1810, he demanded that all Dutchmen take last names, just as the French had done decades prior. Problem was, the Dutch had lived full and happy lives with single names, so they took absurd surnames in a show of spirited defiance. These included Naaktgeboren (born naked), Spring int Veld (jump in the field), and Piest (pisses). Unfortunately for their descendants, Napoleon’s last-name trend stuck, and all of these remain perfectly normal Dutch names today.”
Link: mental_floss
Gilding the Newly Pad
Wondering where Gilding has been of late? NO!? Well, pretend dammit! Gilding has been moving! Yep, moving into her very own, lovely, two bedroom apartment. And no worries, she brought Mr. Gilding along too. What can she say, she loves the brooding, girl crazed husband of hers. He’s entertaining. And who says bitching gets you nothing. According to family and friends Gilding is now radiating so no need to worry for her — just worry about the rest of the populace to which she has been unleashed on.
The place isn’t truly a handicap accessible apartment but it is large enough that Mr. Gilding is able to move about freely in and function independently for the most part so that made them a winner in Gilding’s book.
So busy as a bee as Gilding has been she shall try to be more regular with her postings once again. Perhaps she will begin a new habit of posting while cooking — er, that sounds dangerous especially when Gilding is concerened. Perhaps, blogging while washing dishes — em, scratch that. Gilding is frightfully messy when washing dishes; water goes everywhere. How about blogging while unpacking — though that sounds terribly unproductive. Nope, looks like you’ll get blogging while Gilding is on the pot — the good old fashion way. Gives literal to this being her shittiest idea ever, eh.
Gobbled Thoughts
“I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character…The turkey is, in comparison, a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America…He is, though a little vain and silly, it is true, but not the worse emblem for that, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards.“
Benjamin Franklin, letter of January 26,1784
Tugging America Back to Greatness
After decades of decline, commercial shipping has returned to the Erie Canal allowing enterprising businessmen like Tim Dufel, assistant engineer on the tugboat Margot and an owner of the New York State Marine Highway Transportation Company, to push shipments, such as 2000 tons of steel, all the way across New York State.
Once nearly forgotten, the relic of American history has shown signs of life as higher fuel prices have made barges an attractive alternative to trucks. As a mate on the Margot said, “Sure it’s history, but it’s still relevant.”
This is the kind of thing Gilding likes to see. This is what makes America great and this is the road to bringing America back to greatness and away from its glutonous obsorbance and dependance on other nations for oil. If more shipping and transport were done via marine vessels utilizing the vast canals and waterways we spent trillions of dollars to create in the past, and railways were used much the same, our roads would be less clogged with umpteen semi-trucks, more shipment could be dispersed across the nation in a single load, and less fuel would be in demand thereby dropping the nations consumption of oil and subsequently its price since demand would be less. The networks are already there, the rails have been built, the canals have long since been there waiting. We should be utilizing what we have and making it better — which would also increase the amount of employment available across the nation — rather than depending on other nations. Free trade enterprise should be about choice, not about necessity. Its wrong that America’s corporate leaders have made us so dependant upon other nations rather than making global enterprise about choice. This is how we get our nation back! One fucking tugboat at a time.
The Last Conversationalist with America
Studs Terkel, writer, social commentator, talk radio host, and hailed as “the most extraordinary social observer this country has produced,” died Friday, October 31st, at 96.
Terkel’s radio program was broadcast daily between 1952 and 1997. His books of oral history — including one that won him the Pulitzer Prize — maked him as the “quintessential American writer,” Dennis J. Kucinic wrote on The Nations’s Web site.
Terkel took on the social world of the 20th century — “Hard Times,” “The Good War” or “Working” — and spoke to a range of people who spoke with him about the Depression, the Second World War or the world of the workplace: the bookmaker and the stockbroker, the carpenter and the washroom attendant, the mayor and the supermarket cashier. Terkel was the Listener to Americans.
Link: NYTimes — He Gave Voice to Many… | NYTimes– Listener to Americans…
Related: StudsTerkel.org
