Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Painting: It must have been the roses

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge
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Neil Armstrong: How his moon walk helped Mr. Gorsky enjoy oral sex

By Pablo Fanque, Aerospace Ed.

[Reprinting this story because for some reason many folk on Twitter and Facebook are announcing his death.  He actually died last summer!]



37 years ago today [ed's note: this story was published here July 20, 2006], Neil Armstrong walked on the moon (yes, we believe this actually happened) and may have helped Mr. Gorsky enjoy oral sex.  Sure, the story has been debunked, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be repeated.

When Apollo Astronaut Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon, he made his famous "One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind" statement, and followed it by several remarks, including the usual COM chatter between other astronauts and Mission Control. Before Armstrong re-entered the lander, he made the remark "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky."

People at NASA thought it was a casual remark about a rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, there was no Gorsky in the Russian space program.

In Tampa Bay, FL, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26- year-old question to Armstrong. He finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had died and so Armstrong felt he could finally answer the question.

When he was a kid, Neil was playing baseball with his brother in the backyard. His brother hit a fly ball which landed in front of his neighbors' bedroom window. The neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorksy. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, he heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky, "Oral sex? Oral sex you want? You'll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"

This legend began racing around the Internet in the 90's and was picked up by the media. The inclusion of specific details (e.g., the name of Armstrong's neighbor, the date of the press conference on which he revealed the meaning of his remark) apparently led some to believe the story was true.

It has obviously been debunked and discredited numerous times (see http://snopes.com), by Armstrong and others. . .but, hey, it's such a good story that it bears repeating.
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Monday, August 26, 2013

The Yellowstone Supervolcano

by Jack Brummet, Cringe Ed.



On on January 1, 2009, a warning was posted by geologist Christopher C. Sanders:

"I am advising all State officials around Yellowstone National Park for a potential State of Emergency. In the last week over 300 earthquakes have been observed by the USGS. We have a 3D view on the movement of magma rising underground. We have all of the pre- warning signs of a major eruption from a super volcano. I want everyone to leave Yellowstone National Park and for 200 miles around the volcano caldera."

Mr. Sanders was off by some unknown interval. The supervolcano has yet to blow. If it were to blow, from what I saw on the island of Thira (a/k/a Santorini) in Greece, 200 miles might be just enough distance to survive.

Read the article on Santorini's supervolcano here, on All This Is That.
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Ivanov's landing: pilot error at the Gatchina Military Flying School

By Jack Brummet, Travel Ed.


Flying cadets, circa 1914, at the Gatchina Military Flying School near Petrograd, point fingers at student pilot “Ivanov" after the crash landing in which he "injured only his dignity."  This image is from the collection of Alexander Riaboff (1895-1984) who served in the Russian Army Air Service and trained at Gatchina. Riaboff is one of the cadets pointing fingers at Ivanov. 

[Image Number: SI-90-5858 Credit: National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution]"
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Favorite all time album titles

By Jack Brummet, Music Ed.



  • The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire - McLusky
  • The Smoker You Drink The Player You Get -  Joe Walsh
  • Seconds of Pleasure - Rockpile
  • Greatest Hits Vol. III - Umphrey's McGees' first album
  • Did I Shave My Legs For This? - Deana Carter
  • You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic - Ian Hunter
  • Vulgar Display of Power  -  Pantera
  • Ship arriving too late to save a drowning witch - Frank Zappa
  • Hairway To Steven - Butthole Surfers
  • A Momentary Lapse of Reason  -  Pink Floyd
  • Fear of a Black Planet  -  Public Enemy
  • Rum, Sodomy and the Lash - The Pogues
  • Weasels Ripped My Flesh  -  The Mothers of Invention
  • More Songs About Buildings and Food  -  Talking Heads
  • I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One - Yo La Tengo
  • Songs About F**king -  Big Black
  • Free your mind and your ass will follow - Funkadelic
  • Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan
  • You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish - REO Speedwagon
  • The Pope Smokes Dope - David Peel & the lower east side
  • In a Priest-Driven Ambulance by The Flaming Lips
  • Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death - Dead Kennedys
  • If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You - Caravan

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Smoke Farm Lo Fi Festival 2013 - Photos and videos, part 3

By Jack Brummet, Lo-Fi ed.

The exhibits and performances we saw Saturday at Smoke Farm, on the shores of the Stillaguamish River:





the bonfire gets going

torches lit for the march to the acrobats



Bonfire, continued

a curious exhibit with cool ambient music



This globe was a translucent sculpture (when illuminated), and felt airy, paper-y, and insubstantial. Kind of like a Japanese paper lantern. I saw the globe earlier, during the day as its own piece of art. At night, we were led by the wonderful Orkestra Zirconium on a 15 minute walk through the woods to see this acrobatic tour de force by Tanya Brno and Yuri Kinoshita. The globe was hoisted up about 30-40 feel in the air, suspended from a tree. The acrobat mostly stayed in the globe, at times dangling her head or legs out of the opening, and later descended to earth, twirling downward on a red, silky looking rope. In the dark, it was just amazing. I never could figure out how the thing could support someone spinning around and twirling and somehow standing on some sort of platform or strut in the globe, which looked flimsier than Papier Mâché.
. . .



A march through the woods with Orkesta Zirconium
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Saturday, August 24, 2013