First Looks category archive

Four years and lots of electrons and changes ago today . . . .

When my father died, he became the go-to guy for taking care of Pine View Farm.

His word was all I needed.

If he recommended someone, the person he recommended could be trusted implicitly, as could he.

I was never a big fan of his, but he certainly redeemed himself from his early mistakes and, after them, lived a life of integrity.

I do not know anyone who hasn’t made mistakes.

I know lots of persons in both public and private life who haven’t lived lives of integrity.

Addendum, the Next Morning:

Kiko’s House has more.

Captain First Son, USA, is once more in Afghanistan.

Off to drink liberally.

Tomorrow, Triumph Brewing Company, 2nd and Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pa., USA, 6 p.

I may actually be there for the first time in a month, though my days in this part of the world are numbered.

I just don’t know what the number is.

All seriousness aside, Pine View Farm World Headquarters will be relocating in the fall. Details will follow.

Via Susie.

Related to my post yesterday, I also believe the Obama administration was unprepared for all the lies.

Though, Lord knows, the last eight years should have tipped them off.

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace repeatedly cropped quotes from a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) document to falsely suggest that the Obama administration is pressuring veterans to end their lives prematurely . . . .

Follow the link for videos and transcripts.

Via Atrios.

See the full-sized image

From today’s Philadephia Shrinquirer:

Its owner, Star Cruises of Hong Kong, has put the vessel up for sale. Though the United States was the world’s fastest, and arguably most luxurious, cruise ship when it made its maiden voyage in 1952, career prospects for middle-age ocean liners aren’t particularly bright these days. “Scrap” gets mentioned a lot.

That hasn’t stopped a boatload of romantics from sending out a major SOS. An advocacy group called the SS United States Conservancy believes the ship, which arrived here by happenstance in 1996, carries too much history to be discarded so casually. So it’s mounting a campaign to save the vessel, starting Wednesday with a free screening of a documentary at the Independence Seaport Museum.

It’s happened only 15 times in the history of major league baseball. In contrast, there have been 18 perfect games pitched.

Story and video here.

Video (I found one last night and MLB had it pulled down:

Plus, the good guys won.

Afterthought: The stars have to aligned just right for a player to have a chance for one of these.

Video via Glomarization.

He’ll probably do a better job than most members of bank boards of directors:

A train-mad youngster has landed his dream job as “director of fun” at the National Railway Museum in York.

Six-year-old Sam Pointon from Leicester wrote to the museum and applied to replace retiring director Andrew Scott.

The Guardian reviews the history (herstory?) of Rigby & Peller, a British fashion institution. A nugget:

The tides of fashion may have ebbed and flowed, but one movement has been constant: Kenton has seen the British bust grow and grow. “In my mother’s day, there was nothing bigger than a C cup. If you were bigger than a C, you’d have to have something made for you. When Harold and I first got D and DD in 1970, we were over the moon. We had to buy them from America. Now women are much fuller in the cup and narrower around the back.” The average woman is 36C, and Rigby & Peller stocks bras up to a J.

Read it here.

Via Bartcop.

Outside, it’s still 98 Fahrenheits and sunny.

They also rearranged all their shelves and it took me ten minutes to find the crackers I like.

Criswell predicts that we’ll see Christmas decorations start to appear by the end of September.

And it’s not a Match dot com commercial:

Marine reservist Jeremy Piasecki went to Afghanistan to teach Afghan officers how to handle personnel tasks. He came back with a very different mission: coach of the newly created Afghanistan Olympic water polo team.

More oddities from the highways. Or, in this first case, the lowways; the highway is under the ship:

Read more »

I left my coffee grinder at a friend’s house (long story).

Fortunately, I have this, which I picked up at a resale shop for a couple of bucks several years ago; it filled a hole on my knickknack shelf.

It’s not as fast as electric, but I can use any exercise I can get.

(The pliers are for the adjustment ring under the wingnut. At last, a wingnut that works with the people, not against them.)

Via Cookie Jill.