Monday, February 29, 2016

The Civilian Conservation Corps

**  Fought forest fires

**  Constructed 125,000 miles of road

**  Built 13,000 miles of hiking trails

**  Created 46,854 bridges

**  Erected 3,000 fire lookout towers

**  Planted 3 billion trees

**  Created 800 parks

**  Restored 2,600 historic buildings

Good Work if You Can Get It.  --DaCoot

CCC Work Camp in Wisconsin-- Part 5: A Legacy

Fox River Park is the only park in the county that has work done by the CCC although workers from the New Deal's Works Progress Administration did similar projects in Petrifying Springs Park.

Dennis Elverman, chairman of Kenosha County's parks committee credits Jon Rudie with the push to honor the CCC.  Elverman is a descendant of the farm family that sold the property for the park to the county nearly 90 years ago.  His father grew up on the property before the CCC planted thousands of now mature trees.

Some 3 million men worked in the CCC and "dramatically changed the future, and today we enjoy a legacy of natural resources treasures that dot our landscape" from Yellowstone to Mount Ranier "to our very own Fox River Park," said Jim Kreuser.

--CootCCCer

Friday, February 26, 2016

CCC Work Camp Statue in Wisconsin-- Part 4: Fox River Park

Jon Rudie is Kenosha County's general manager of park operations and said he became aware of the CCC as a teen when he worked for the Young Adult Conservation Corps one summer and saw all the work they had done in northern Wisconsin.

He said that right away he recognized the buildings and stone wall in Fox River Park as being built in the CCC style.

Beyond the buildings, the CCC built the ball fields at the park which are in an area the corps filled in by hand.  On the banks of the Fox River north of Highway F, they built a fieldstone revetment and retaining walls made of hand cut Tamarack planks.  According to Rudie, you can still see the planks when the water is low.

--CootCCC

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Statue of CCC Work Camp in Wisconsin-- Part 3: Military-Style Training

Even though the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is largely unknown by most people today, they left a legacy that is still with us to a large degree.  Any park, road or other public works built in the 1930s was probably their work.

Their motto was  "We Can Take It."  Not only did the CCC provide hard-to-find jobs for young men, but since it was run military-style, a lot of its members went on to serve in the military once they got out.  And, of course, this provided a great basis for military training as World War II was approaching.

The recently dedicated bronze statue was created by the Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy, an organization that preserves the group's history.  Copies of the statue have been used to commemorate other camp sites across the country.

--Cooter

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Statue Marks CCC Work Camp in Wisconsin-- Part 2: $30 a Month

On Wednesday, September 30, 2015, Kenosha County (Wisconsin) celebrated the Civilian Conservation Corps' (CCC) work with the dedication of a bronze statue depicting a CCC worker was installed on a stone base at Fox River Park by Salem.  The project was funded by a $22,000 gift from the John & Ruth Kloss Charitable Trust.

Fox River Park was purchased by the county's newly formed park board in 1927.  After the Depression hit, the board asked the federal government for help developing the park.  The CCC camp that located there was one of 128 camps in Wisconsin, 4,500 nationwide.

At the Fox River Camp, the men worked six days a week from 7:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and were paid $30 a month.  The CCC was set up to provide jobs for the country's many unemployed young men.

--CooterCCC

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Statue Marks CCC Campsite in Wisconsin-- Part 1: FDR's New Deal

From the October 1, 2015, Kenosha News by Deneen Smith.

Located in Salem, Wisconsin, near the Illinois border, is Fox River Park.  It was built by young men looking for a lifeline in a time of crisis during the Great Depression.

The park was home to the first Wisconsin Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It provided a home and work for as many as 472 men.

The corps was an initiative by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his New Deal where men were paid to improve the nation's parks, forests and natural areas.

In Silver Lake Park there was a CCC barracks from August 1934 to October 1937.  Workers there leveled hills, filled a swamp using hand tools, stabilized the banks of the Fox River and planted more than 130,000 trees.

They also built stone walls, wash rooms and picnic shelters-- including beautifully crafted fireplaces.  This was all done by hand, using field stone they collected on the property.

The buildings are still in use today.

--DaCootCCC

An Empire Shrinks-- Part 3

1956:  The Suez Crisis leads to the evacuation of British troops from Egypt and, arguably, the beginning of the end of the British Empire.

1960:  The independence of Nigeria and the Somali Republic mark the beginning of a decade in which Britain loses loses almost all of its African colonies.

1968:  The beginning of the troubles in Northern Ireland.

1973:  Britain joins the European Economic Community, the precursor of the European Union.

1978:  Independence of Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.

1984:  Britain and China agree on a timetable for returning Hong Kong to China.

1997:  Britain cedes Hong Kong to China, ending British colonial rule in all but a handful of mostly island territories.

1998:  The Scotland Act creates the Scottish Parliament, which is given authority over some domestic issues such as education, health and social services, and the environment.

2011:  The Scottish National Party (SNP) gains a majority in the Scottish Parliament.

2014:  Scotland votes on independence from the United Kingdom.  They decided to stay.

--Cooter


Monday, February 22, 2016

An Empire Shrinks-- Part 2: The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire

TIMELINE OF EMPIRE'S DECLINE

1919:  After World War I, the British Empire is arguably at its peak.  With the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the British gain control of Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq through League of Nations mandates.

1921:  The Anglo-Irish Treaty partitions Ireland and establishes the southern part as the Irish Free State, which has the same constitutional status as Canada.

1930:  Mahatma Gandhi leads the Salt March, a major act of disobedience against the British salt monopoly in India.

1939:  Start of World War II.

1947:  The British partition India and Pakistan and grant both countries independenc1952:  Queen Elizabeth II ascends to the British throne.

More to Come.  --Dacoot

An Empire Shrinks: The British Empire 1920-2014-- Part 1

From the September 18, 2014, Chicago Tribune "An empire shrinks" by Jonah Newman.

A series of world maps showing the British Empire in 1920, 1940, 19601980 and 2014 accompanied the page.

Back in 2014, a map going over the internet listed just 22 of 193 countries which were not touched by British power.  But actually, at its height, after World War I, Britain ruled either directly or de facto, more than 60 countries from Antigua to Zanzibar.

Decolonization, like colonization, was messy.  Some took many years and several stages.  And, there remains 53 countries that are a part of the U.K.'s Commonwealth of Nations.

Scotland was headed to the polls to determine its independence.  After voting, 55.3% voted to remain a part of Britain which greatly surprised me.

--CooterBrit


Friday, February 19, 2016

How Did They Make the Snow in the "Wizard of Oz"?

From the August 24, 2014, Parade Magazine.

Question from Rita M. of Cincinnati.

Fans of the classic film, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year (2014) may be shocked to know that the magic snowflakes Glinda uses to revive Dorothy and her friends (well Cowardly Lion and Toto) after they fall prey to the Wicked Witch's poppies were made of asbestos fibers, a popular fake snow material at the time.

Find 75 more "Wizard of Oz facts at parade.com/oz.

--DaCoot


Tony Verna, Inventor of TV Instant Replay, Died in 2015

TONY VERNA, 81  Died Jan. 18, 2015.

A TV director and producer who invented instant replay for live sports 51 years ago, died.

CBS used instant replay for the first time in the Dec. 7, 1963, Army-Navy game in Philadelphia, after Verna developed a method to cue the tape to pinpoint the play he wanted to immediately air again.  he said he was looking for a way to fill the boring gaps between plays during a football telecast.

The concept was so new that when Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh scored a touchdown, announcer Lindsey Nelson had to warn viewers: "This is not live!  Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again!"

I sure like that instant replay, but really wish that whenever they do it, there be the words "Instant Replay" on the screen.  This has led to cheering and crying on several occasions.  Back when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2013, there were two quick scores within a few seconds at the end of the game and everyone was asking and wondering, "Did the Hawks score again or was that an instant replay?"


Thursday, February 18, 2016

Ten Reasons New Orleans Is Master of Macabre-- Part 2

Remember, the Listverse site has pictures and more information.

5.  Tomb raiders

4.  Exotic murders--  Gardette-LaPrete House at 716 Dauphine Street.

3. Even dogs aren't safe  On jan. 26, 2013, a Secret Service dog jumped to its death.

2.  Katrina victims

1.  Even Katrina couldn't wash out some stories.  In 1994, there were 421 murders  In the past decade there has been an average of 56 murders per 100,000 people.

New orleans, A Murderous City That Hates Its Confederate Heritage.  --Cooter

Ten Reasons New Orleans Is Master of Macabre-- Part 1: Marie Laveau

From the June 9, 2013, Listverse by William Bryan Layton.

10.  Above-ground cemeteries

9.  Jazz funerals

8.  Killer real estate  (The La Lourre Mansion in the French Quarter)

7.  Voo Doo and Louis Armstron  in Congo Square, today is Louis Armstrong Park.

6.  XXX Marks the Spot.  The burial plan of Marie Laveau in Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1, the most haunted cemetery in the U.S..  At her grave, draw 3 Xs for you wish to be granted.

I So Afraid!!  --DaCoot

--

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Presidential Also-Rans-- Part 5: "Woke Up and Cried Like a Baby"

9.  The 1948 election saw Strom Thurmond, the States Rights Party candidate, spit virulent racism at every turn, but it was the Progressive Party's HENRY WALLACE who walked into the buzz saw of public disfavor.  In the midst of a Red Scare, Wallace made the mistake of suggesting there was more than one way to  deal with the Soviet Union

The blow-back was staggering.  The Pittsburgh Press published the names, addresses and workplaces of Wallace's supporters.  Other supporters were arrested, beaten and even killed.  And in new York, a judge said support for Wallace could weigh against a parent in a child-custody case.

10.  BOB DOLE lost several bids for the presidency, but he never lost his sense of humor.  After his defeats, he said, "I slept like a baby.  Every two hours I woke up and cried."

Wonder What Wallace Said About the Soviet Union?  --Cooter

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Presidential Also-Rans-- Part 4: Catholic and Wet and the Nine-Vote Question

7.  New York Gov. Al Smith. the Democratic candidate in 1928, faced nasty campaign tactics targeting his Catholicism.  One example:  A photo of the Holland Tunnel linking New York and New Jersey with a caption saying it secretly led to the Vatican.

If that weren't enough, Smith also strongly opposed Prohibition, which put him in the wet camp.  Naturally, his campaign buttons read:  "Vote for Al Smith and Make Your Wet Dreams Come true."  He lost in a landslide to Herbert Hoover.  Well, at least he didn't get tagged with the Great Depression like Hoover.

8.  MARTIN VAN BUREN's Free Soil candidacy in 1848 was America's first serious third-party movement, but its Abolitionist stance didn't get it anywhere in the South.

Still, when Van Buren was credited with just nine votes in the whole state of Virginia out of 92,000 cast, his campaign called foul.  A Virginia wit responded, "Yes, fraud, and we're still looking for the son-of-a-bitch who voted nine times."

And I Thought That Only Happened in Chicago.  --DaCoot


Ten Things You Might Not Know About Presidential Also-Rans-- Part 3 Harold Stassen and Grover Cleveland

5.  HAROLD STASSEN started out as a prodigy, becoming the youngest governor of Minnesota at age 31.  He ended up as a joke, running for the Republican presidential nomination nine times and coming up empty.
Even so, he chalked up some impressive accomplishments, including appointing the first black officer in his state's National Guard and signing the United Nations Charter, one of eight Americans to do so.

6.  Just one man, Franklin D. Roosevelt, has been American voters' choice for president more than once according to history books.  But GROVER CLEVELAND did capture the most votes in three consecutive elections: 1884, 1888 and 1892.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, Republican Benjamin Harrison grabbed more electoral votes and the presidency in 1888.  Cleveland had to settle for being the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms.

--Cooter

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Presidential Also-Rans-- Part 2: A Hog Named Pigasus and Samuel Tilden

I understand that the Chicago tribune now has a book on these Ten-Things You Might Not Know pages.  Well worth buying.

3.  The anti-war protesters who descended on Chicago for the democratic National Convention in 1968 were adept at publicity.  near the Picasso sculpture downtown, they appeared with a hog named PIGASUS and announced him as their candidate for president.

Seven protesters were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace and Pigasus was taken to the Anti-Cruelty Society, later to be adopted by a farmer in Grayslake.  At the jail, a police officer told the suspects:  "I've got bad news for you, boys.  The pig squealed."

No way to treat a presidential candidate.

4.  SAMUEL TILDEN infamously lost the hotly contested 1876 election by one electoral vote to Rutherford B. Hayes, but that didn't stop Wichita Falls, Texas, from including him when it named streets after presidents, slipping Tilden Street between Grant and Hayes streets.  (In case you're wondering if you ever visit there.)

--Cooter

Monday, February 15, 2016

Looking Back: Beware the Chicken Pox and Altgeld Hall Rewired in 1941

From the Jan. 13, 2016, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  Looking Back.

JANUARY 1941, 75 years ago:  "Chicken pox was a somewhat prevalent illness during the month of December, according to the report of Health Commissioner Dr. J.C. Ellis.  During the month he placed 38 homes under quarantine due to chicken pox.  He also reported three cases of influenza pneumonia during December."

"The rewiring of the main building at the State Teacher College will be completed by the end of this week.  It started in late December just as school was closing for Christmas holiday."

--DaCoot

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Presidential Also-Rans-- Part 1: "Live Forever" Jones and Victoria Woodhull

From the Aug. 2, 2015, Chicago Tribune by Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer, researchers par excellence.

I don't know about you, but I haven't picked a candidate yet.  I don't like any of them, but regardless, someone is going to end up as an also-ran.

The two did this one because of the upcoming Republican presidential debate back then.

1.  Back in the mid-19th century, LEONARD "LIVE FOREVER" JONES of Kentucky believed that if people lived a sinless life, they would never die.  He envisioned a world of immortals where cemeteries would be unnecessary.  he ran for the High Moral Party, but never made much headway in elections.  He must have sinned because he died in 1868.

2.  VICTORIA WOODHULL of Ohio is considered the first female candidate for president.  She was quite an amazing public figure, advocating women's sexual freedom, a Wall street broker, spiritual healer and the first American publisher of "The Communist Manifesto."

Ran for the equal Rights Party for president in 1872, even though women did not yet have the right to vote and she wasn't the minimum age of 35.  She spent election day in jail on charge of sending obscene materials through the mail.  If she received any votes, they weren't counted.

She left for England in 1977 and became one of the first women there to own a car.

--Cooter


Deaths: Robert Taylor, Ad Agency Man Created "Big Mac Attack" and Vince and Larry

ROBERT TAYLOR, 76  (1935-2015)

Ad Executive Created memorable Campaigns.

McDonald's "Big Mac Attack" and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's public safety announcements featuring crash test dummies Vince and Larry.

Born in Canada.  Eventually moved to Chicago.  Joined Leo Burnette in 1982.  Also worked on Samsonite Luggage and Dewar's Scotch Whisky.




Friday, February 12, 2016

Charles Weeghman-- Part 2: Weeghman Park Became Wrigley Field

He also had a great interest in baseball.  In 1911, he tried to purchase controlling interest in the St. louis Cardinals, but failed.  He then founded the Chicago Whales in the new Federal League and built a new steel and concrete stadium he named Weeghman Park.  He chose the site specifically because it was by the "L" tracks.

After the federal league folded, he merged the Whales with the Chicago Cubs and became the majority owner and moved the Cubs into his new park which is now known better as Wrigley Field.

On August 16, 1921, he sponsored the first statewide rally of the KKK on his property in Lake Zurich, Illinois.  It was estimated that some 12,000 attended and another 2,000 were initiated into the organization.

His lunch counter business lost favor with the public and he had to sell more and more of the Cubs to chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr.  He was completely out of the Cubs by 1918.

--DaCoot

Charles Weeghman-- Part 1, Chicago Entrepreneur and Cubs Owner

From Wikipedia.

I have been writing about the KKK in the Chicago area in the 1920s and their big initiation ceremony at the farm of millionaire Charles Weeghman in Lake Zurich, Illinois.

March 12, 1874-November 1, 1938

A founder of the short-lived Federal league (1914-1915).  made a fortune running a type of early fast food franchise in the Chicago area..  he worked for Charlie King in his restaurant and came up the idea of serving only cold sandwiches and cramming his diners together at one-armed school desks so that he could fit more chairs into his stores.

He eventually owned 15 stores in the Chicago area.  It was reported that his place at Madison and Dearborn in Chicago served 35,000 people a day.  At one time his net worth was put at $8 million.

--Cooter

Thursday, February 11, 2016

KKK in Chicago in the 1920s-- Part 3: Newspaper Reactions

The city's black newspaper, the Chicago defender editorialized:  "The Ku Klux Klan has reached Chicago:  Full page ads in the papers, followed by the announcement that 12,000 of them had met at Charles Weeghman's farm thirty miles out of town, and in the pouring rain initiated nearly 3,000 more, ought to jar us off our do-nothing stools."

The Chicago tribune also decried the coming of the KKK, but said it went against the goals of the original KKK saying:  "The first Ku Klux Klan grew out of intolerable conditions in the south and passed away when the danger of Negro domination and the plague of carpetbagger were lifted.

"It was born in an emergency and, while evils were committed in its name, it served an important end, while contributing one of the romantic episodes of our history."

Imagine any newspaper saying this today?

--DaCoot


KKK in Chicago in the 1920s-- Part 2: On the Farm of Charles Weeghman

"The restored KKK's membership wasn't limited to the lower middle class, the traditional breeding ground of xenophobic political movements.  The mass initiation ceremony was held on a farm near Lake Zurich owned by Charles Weeghman, whose string of cheap Loop restaurants had made him a millionaire.

Weeghman built the North Side ballpark subsequently known as Wrigley Field and owned the Cubs from 1916-1918.

"Perhaps he was one of the business leaders attracted to the KKK by its hostility to the union movement, which the Klan equated with the Bolsheviks who recently seized power in Russia, a powerful argument during a wave of bitter strikes in America."

I looked up the location of Weeghman's farm and saw that it wasa 250-acre farm at the intersection of today's US-12 and Old Rand Road between Lake Zurich and Barrington.  Old Rand Road was the name of US-12 before the byopass was built and still exists.

--Cooter

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

KKK in Chicago in the 1920s-- Part 1

From the Jan. 25, 2015, Chicago Tribune Flashback "Chicago and the KKK" by Ron Grossman.

In the 1920s, the Klan found fertile recruiting ground in the North.

They gathered August 16, 1921, at Central Park Avenue, just south of Foster Avenue in Chicago and then formed a car caravan to a destination in the suburbs near today's US-12 and Old Rand Road.

There they held a mass initiation ceremony called "naturalization."

The Tribune reported the next day: "A huge bonfire had been lighted.  Thousands of members of the order, each bearing aloft a torch, took position in the form of a blazing cross.  The blindfolded initiates were herded inside.  Upon the weird assemblage the searchlights of the automobiles drawn about in a great assembly shone with white intensity.

"Pickets patrolled beyond the pale, terrifying the curious citizens of the countryside by their grotesque appearances."

--Cooter

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

10 Everyday Words With Unsuspected Origins-- Part 2: Quarrel

5.  VILLAIN (N)--  Person  guilty or capable of a crime. Origin:  farm workers

4.  POOP  (N)--  Well, you know.  Origin:  An abrupt sound from a wind instrument.

3.  QUARREL  (N)--  Angry argument or disagreement. Origin:  A square-headed crossbow bolt.

2.  SWASTIKA  (N)--  Symbol of the Nazi Party or Third Reich.  Origin:  Well-being and good luck.

1.  SABOTAGE  (N)--  Deliberately destroy, damage or obstruct.  Origin:  To walk noisily wearing wooden shoes.

Women in High Heels Sure Sabotage.  CootStompStomper

10 Everyday Words With Unsuspected Origins-- Part 1: Ostracize

From the June 10, 2013, Listverse by Andrew Handley.

10.  BLATANT (N) Completely lacking in subtlety, very obvious  Origin:  a thousand-tongued beast from hell.

9.  GEEK (N)  An unfashionable or socially inept person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest (computer geek).  Origin:  AQ circus sideshow freak.

8.  HAZARD  (N)  Danger or risk  Origin:  Gambling game played with dice.

7.  OSTRACIZE  (N)   To exclude someone from a society or group.  Origin:  A government procedure to literally  ban a person from Athens B.C. for ten years.

6.  TOXIC  (N)  Poisonous  Origin:  Greek archery

--DaGeeker

10 Topics Guaranteed to Start an Argument

From the June 10, 2013, Listverse by Morris M. June.

And, he has his reasons.  Check them out.

10.  The existence of God
9.  The Israel/Palestine Question
8.  Taxation

7.  Feminism
6.  Circumcision
5.  Islam
4.  Freedom of speech

3.  Climate change
2.  Holocaust
1.  Abortion

--CootArguer

Monday, February 8, 2016

10 Historically Significant Sites Destroyed for Awful Reasons-- Part 2

Continued from Jan. 25, 2016.

5.  And Most of China which has a really staggering lack of preservation because of land development.  Large portions of the Great Wall are gone.

4.  Buddha Statues in Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2001.

3.  Mayan pyramid, 2,300 years old in Belize.  used for gravel.

2.  The Berlin Wall.  Some of it still sands, but not much.

1.  Mecca  Holiest Muslim site.  A victim of urbanization and capitalism.

--Cooter

Friday, February 5, 2016

Looking Back 100 Years Ago: Kishwaukee River Rampage

Feb. 1916, 100 years ago.  "The old Kishwaukee (actually more of a creek than river) was on the rampage last Friday and Saturday.  The ice went out and considerable damage was threatened for a time.  Both Kirkland bridges escaped serious injury, but one of the abutments of the Cottrell Bridge was undermines, causing serious damage."

--DaFloodedCoot

Looking Back: 100 Years Ago in DeKalb County, Illinois: An Old-Time Dance and Chief Shabbona

From the February 3, 2016, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Ill.)

1916, 100 years ago:  "An old-time dance will be given at Pierre Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 2, under the floor management of August T. Peterson.  The Van Dresser Orchestra will furnish the music.  All are invited.  Tickets 50 cents."  I have to sort of wonder what old-time music 100 years ago would be.

Also Feb. 1916  "Chief Shabbona's grandson, John Shabbona, visited this area to obtain a certified copy of the deed by which 'Shab-eh-nay' conveyed for $600, 320 acres of land in this county reserved for him by the government."  Was this what the chief got for giving up claims for the land?  Was there some question as to the deed's legitimacy?

--Cooter

Thursday, February 4, 2016

100 Movies to See Before You Die-- Part 5: "To Kill a Mocking Bird"

Singing in the Rain  (1952)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs  (1937)
Some Like It Hot  (1959)
The Sound of Music  (1965)
Star Wars:  Episode IV: A New Hope  (1977)

Sunset Boulevard  (1950)
Terminator 2:  Judgement Day  (1991)
The Third Man  (1949)
This Is Spinal Tap  (1984)
Titanic  (1997)

To Kill a Mocking Bird  (1962)
Toy Story  (1995)
The Usual Suspects  (1995)
Vertigo  (1958)
When Harry Met Sally  (1989)

Wild Strawberries  (1957)
Wings of Desire  (1987)
The Wizard of Oz  (1839)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown  (1988)
The World of Apu  (1959)

--CooterTheGreatandPowerful

100 Movies to See Before You Die-- Part 4 "Psycho"

On the Waterfront  (1954)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest  (1975)
Paths of Glory  (1958)
Princess Mononoke  (1999)  Never heard of this one.
Psycho  (1960)

Pulp Fiction  (1994)
Raging Bull  (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark  (1981)
Raise the Red Lantern  (1992)  Never heard of this one either.
Roshomon  (1951)  Like the above.

Rear Window  (1994)
Rebel Without a Cause  (1955)
Rocky  (1976)
Roman Holiday  (1953)
Saving Private Ryan  (1998)

Schindler's List  (1993)
The Searchers  (1956)
Seven Samurai  (1954)
The Shawshank Redemption  (1994)
The Silence of the Lambs  (1991)

--DaAdrianCoot




100 Movies to See Before You Die-- Part 3: "Groundhog Day"

Grand Illusion  (1938)
Groundhog Day  (1993)
A Hard Day's Night  (1964)
In the Mood for Love  (2001)
It Happened One Night  (1934)

It's a Wonderful Life  (1946)
Jaws  (1975)
King Kong  (1932)
The Lady Eve  (1941)
Lawrence of Arabia  (1962)

The Lord of the Rings  (2001)
M  (1931
M*A*S*H  (1970)
The Maltese Falcon  (1941)
The Matrix  (1999)

Modern Times  (1936)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail  (1975)
National lampoon's Animal House  (1978)
Network  (1976)
Nosferatu  (1922)

--CootBelushi



Wednesday, February 3, 2016

100 Movies to See Before You Die-- Part 2: "Citizen Kane"

Casablanca  (1941)
Chinatown  (1974)
Citizen Kane  (1941)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  (2000)
Die Hard  (1988)

Do the Right Thing  (1989)
Double Indemnity  (1944)
Dr. Strangelove  (1964)
Duck Soup  (1933)
E.T. The Extra-terrestrial (1982)

Enter the Dragon  (1973)
The Exorcist  (1973)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High  (1982)
The French Connection  (1971)
The Godfather  (1972)

The Godfather- Part 2  (1974)
Goldfinger  (1964)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly  (1968)
Goodfellas  (1990)
The Graduate  (1967)

--Cooterfilm

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

100 Movies to See Before You Die-- Part 1: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

From Yahoo! Movies.

12 Angry Men (1957)
2001: A Space Odyssey  (1968)
The 400 Blows  (1959)
8 1/2  (1963)
The African Queen  (1952)

The Bicycle Thief  (1948)
Alien  (1979)
All About Eve  (1950)
Annie Hall  (1977)
Apocalypse Now  (1979)

The Battle of Algiers  (1967)
Blade Runner
Blazing Saddles  (1974)
Blow Up  (1966)
Blue Velvet  (1986)

Bonnie and Clyde  (1967)
Breathless  (1960)
The Bridge Over the River Kwai  (1957)
Bringing Up Baby  (1938)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  (1969)

Cue It Up.  --DaCoot




Ten Things You Didn't Know About Sweaters-- Part 4: Wall Street's Sweater Girl and Ugly Christmas Sweaters

9.  For a short time in late 1968, Francine Gottfried was famous.  Dubbed "WALL STREET'S SWEATER GIRL," the 21-year-old bank data processing worker took the same route to work every day, and large crowds of men began gathering near the New York Stock Exchange to ogle her tight sweaters.

Before the furor subsided, 10,000 gawkers showed up one day.  "These people in Wall Street have the responsibility of handling millions of dollars and they act like they are out of their minds," said Gottfried, who moved on to work somewhere else.  Her treatment inspired feminists to stage an "Ogle-In" on June 9, 1970, leering at male passers-by and commenting loudly about their body parts.

10.  UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATERS used to be what made your grandmother special.  Now they are a thing, a meme, a point of (ironic) hipster pride-- and big business.  There are a 21-event 5K charity race series and numerous pub crawls, and the so-called National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is the second Friday of September.

People hold ugly-sweater-themed parties, and if you can't figure out how to do it by yourself, there's a book.  Major retailers claim to have have THE ugliest sweater.

I feel that I Missed Out in 1968.  --Cootleer

Monday, February 1, 2016

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Sweaters-- Part 3: Hockey Jerseys?, Turtlenecks and TV

6.  HOCKEY PLAYERS don't wear jerseys; they wear sweaters.  Or, at least they are called sweaters, harking back to the days when games were often played outdoors.

7.  English playwright Noel Coward popularized the TURTLENECK SWEATER in the 1920s, giving men the courage to come out of their shells and flout the shirt-and-tie status quo.  But it was 1967 that was declared "Year of the Turtle" by a fashion magazine.  Popular with beatniks and artists, the fad was powered by the likes of Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr., Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Steve McQueen.

8.  In October 2013, Norway's NRK television network broadcast "National Knitting Evening," a show lasting about 12 hours-- that covered the complete sweater-making process from lamb shearing to the knitting of the garment.  More than 1.2 million people watched the program.

Winder how many fell asleep.

Must-See TV Indeed.  --Cooter

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Sweaters-- Part 2: Good Old Charlie Brown, Mandigans and Dust Storms

3.  Some people describe "Peanuts" character CHARLIE BROWN'S's zigzag garment as a sweater and others call it a shirt.  In any case that's not what he was wearing when the comic strip debuted in 1950.  "For the first two weeks of the strip, he wore a plain white T-shirt," cartoonist Charles Schulz recalled.  "But then I realized the strip needed more color, so i drew a sweater."

4.  A cardigan worn by a man is sometimes called a MANDIGAN.

5.  The inexpensive cashmere sweater you get for a steal cost more than you think.  The world's insatiable appetite for the famously soft garments led to overgrazing on the Alashan grasslands in China which in turn was a major factor in the increase of DUST STORMS so vast they crossed the Pacific Ocean and polluted the air in the United States.

--GreGen

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Sweaters-- Part 1: Assassination Attempts and Cardigans

From the December 25, 2015, Chicago Tribune  by Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer.

In this time of Ugliest Christmas Sweaters.

1.  Sweaters keep out the cold, but also might save your life.  In 1978, during the COLD WAR, an assassination attempt on Bulgarian defector Vladimir Kostov, a former state radio editor who lived in Paris was thwarted when a poison dart failed to penetrate his thick woolen sweater.

2.  JAMES THOMAS BRUDENELL was the British officer who led the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. he is also remembered as the man whose subordinates wore a distinctive type of knitted clothing to ward off Crimea's chilly weather.  The garment was ultimately named for Brudenell, the 7th Earl of Cardigan.

Warm Me Up.  --Cootsweater