There are several different periods of time that I remember, though I do not remember any transition ( Read more... )

The following is from a thread on my favorite web forum, written by an ex-Chicago police officer. He worked as a cop for four years in the late 60's to early 70's, quit because the corruption became too oppressive, and became a teacher for 25+ years. He's told all kinds of great stories in this thread, but this one is superlative. It's about his ( Read more... )

I'm filling out applications for cop jobs. Like any job, you have to supply your work history. While doing so, I think about the things I've done at each job, the people I've known, and the pleasure I've experienced in the work.

( Just memories for my own enjoyment. )

A planet has recently been discovered orbiting a red dwarf star that is about 20 light-years from the Sun. The Star is called Gliese 581, and is notable for being the largest known solar system outside our own (6 planets). One of the planets orbits in a "habitable zone", meaning that the distance of the planet from the star denotes an atmosphere on ( Read more... )

Watch the field behind the plow turn to straight, dark rows ( Read more... )

Sgt. Lawrence was a good man ( Read more... )

My favorite time-kill web forum is called "Something Awful" (somethingawful.com). I like it because the variety of topics and depth of discussion is very entertaining. Lots and lots and lots of real people post very real opinions about strange and detailed topics, so it's possible to stumble across really crazy and interesting comments about a wide ( Read more... )

Speaking of language, did you know that a punctuation mistakes caused a war? Okay, not all by itself, but surprisingly enough punctuation was a significant factor in the outbreak of the Second Boer War ( Read more... )

Stolen from theseamster. Because it's so awesome.

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This ad just reminded me of a time back when my brother and I backpacked around Europe for a while. We'd just got on a ferry in Amsterdam, en route to the British Isles. It had been a really shitty day- we'd tried to visit the Rijksmuseum only to find it locked tight(the one day of the week we were in that city, the son of a bitch was closed), we'd ( Read more... )